OSCARS
Division IV boys basketball preview
The Crescent-News Entertainment | B7
50 cents
South Clinton project to start on Tuesday By TODD HELBERG
@cntoddhelberg cnedit@crescent-news.com
Defiance’s South Clinton Street will be interrupted — starting Tuesday — for the next six months as a widening project begins. Utility work along South Clinton has been underway for some time, but general contractor Helms & Sons Excavating, Findlay, plans to get started on the street project this week, though work is “weather dependent,” according to city engineer Melinda Warner. Messages noting the upcoming closure of southbound traffic have been flashing on a portable city sign on South Clinton since
Monday, February 29, 2016
Defiance, Ohio
Blown down
last week. The southbound prohibition will continue for the duration of the sixmonth project which will address South Clinton from near Williams Street to about 700 feet south of Deatrick Street. Northbound traffic through the work zone won’t be prohibited, but it will be maintained. The project will have two phases, Warner explained, each lasting approximately three months. In the first phase, she noted, work will occur on the northbound lane of the street; in the second, work will proceed on the southbound lane. The designated detour • PROJECT, Page A8
Jenny Derringer/C-N Photo
High winds throughout northwest Ohio over the weekend caused a bit of damage. A wind gust brought down a 95-foot portable Verizon tower just before 3 p.m. Sunday. The tower is located along Defiance’s Ginter Road on Camp Lakota property. A
Verizon assessment team from Columbus and a crew from Toledo Edison were expected to be on the site Sunday evening. In addition, trees were blown across the roadway in the 30000 block of Ohio 281 and Overly Road, Sunday afternoon.
Big changes ahead for area festival John Paulding Days goes patriotic with new date
By LISA NICELY
@CNLisaNicely nicely@crescent-news.com
Jenny Derringer/C-N Photo
Jake Lambert, information technology worker for the city of Defiance, checks on the sign notifying motorists that work on South Clinton Street will begin Tuesday.
PAULDING — There are a lot of changes happening with John Paulding Days. The annual festival held in Paulding is moving from June to July, and fireworks are planned. John Paulding Days, which is sponsored by the Paulding Chamber of Commerce, now will be July 8-9 around the courthouse square. “Everything in Paulding County was congested around that first and second weekend in June,” said Peggy Emerson, director of
the Paulding Chamber of Commerce. “We wanted to provide folks a fun community event for people to do during the summer.” Emerson said the festival originally held in July about 20 years ago. Sometime in the past, though she isn’t certain exactly when, it was moved to June. “With the fair (being in) June and Relay for Life growing, we didn’t want to compete with either one of those,” she said of John Paulding Days. “We (the chamber board) have been discussing this for quite awhile and decided to do it. It also allows us to coincide with July
Clinton allies prep for Trump nod COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Emboldened by her South Carolina landslide, Hillary Clinton is shifting her focus to Republican front-runner Donald Trump as her party seeks consensus on the best ways to challenge the billionaire’s unpredictable nature in a general election. As Clinton enters the series of Super Tuesday contests this week, allies of the former secretary of state, unaffiliated Democratic strategists and the national party are stockpiling potential ammunition about Trump, reviewing reams of court filings, requesting information about his business dealings from state governments and conducting new polls to test lines
Scan to visit crescent-news.com
Racial feud erupts in GOP campaigns
of attack. Among the likely options: Questioning Trump’s qualifications and temperament to be president, scrutinizing his business practices and bankruptcy filings, and re-airing his inflammatory statements about women and minorities who will be central to the Democrats’ efforts in November. “Is this the guy you would trust with the nuclear codes? Is this the guy you would trust with your son or daughter in the military? Is this the guy you would trust to run the economy?” AP Photo asked Gov. Dan Malloy of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton Connecticut, a Clinton backer, pointing to a likely argu- takes a photo with a supporter at a rally to promote ment from Democrats. early voting ahead of Super Tuesday at the University • CLINTON, Page A8 of Arkansas at Pine Bluff on Sunday in Pine Bluff, Ark.
INSIDE TODAY
Classified B4-5 Comics B6 Deaths A5 For the Record A3
Opinion Sports TV Weather
A4 B1-4 B7 A8
CHECK THESE STORIES
Two vie for Putnam sheriff post Host families sought for program Toledo museum offers art scholarship
4. We have a rich historic tradition here and want to celebration it with John Paulding Days.” Emerson said a few other changes also will be seen with the festival. “We’re changing from more of a carnival to more of a hometown festival atmosphere,” she said. Instead of carnival rides, there will be inflatables and a rock-climbing wall. “(There will be) a wide variety of family-friendly inflatables like an obstacle course the whole family can do together,” she said. “Because we are doing it that way, we will be able to significantly decrease the
cost of wristbands to participate.” Fireworks are another big change. The chamber is hoping to raise $8,000 to have a fireworks show on July 9. Donations are being accepted through the Paulding County Area Foundation. To donate, contact the foundation at 419-3998296 or pcaf@pauldingcountyareafoundation.net. Make sure to mark that the donations are for the John Paulding Days fireworks. “It’s been a long time (since there was a fireworks show),” Emerson said. “We want to put on a high quality professional show as well. ... Donations can be for any amount. It • PAULDING, Page A8
LEESBURG, Va. (AP) — Republican front-runner Donald Trump drew sharp criticism from his rivals in both parties Sunday for refusing to denounce an implicit endorsement from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, raising the specter of racism as the presidential campaign hits the South. Trump was asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” whether he rejected support from the former KKK Grand Dragon and other white supremacists after Duke told his radio followers this week that a vote against Trump was equivalent to “treason to your heritage.” “Well, just so you under-
ONLINE CRESCENT-NEWS.COM A2 A2 A5
Facebook.com/ crescentnews
Twitter.com/ crescentnews
stand, I don’t know anything about David Duke. OK?” Trump said. “I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists.” Trump’s comments came the same day he retweeted a quote attributed to Benito Mussolini, the 20th century fascist dictator of Italy. And in a boost for his campaign in the South, he scored the endorsement of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, one of the most strident opponents of immigration reform on Capitol Hill. But it was Trump’s statements about Duke that sparked a wave of censure with just two days to go
For home delivery, call 419-784-5441, ext. 234
• GOP, Page A8