Ontario’s 50th anniversary celebration in underway through Saturday.
Festivities include a ceremony at the city hall clock tower, the presentation of a new city flag, and a historical quilt being put on display.
Mayor Ken Bender says another big event is the dinner Friday night at 6:15 at the Road House Event Center.
And Bender says the celebration caps off Saturday morning at 10:30 with a parade in Marshall Park.
The parade will be followed by a “party in the park” with food and games. A big fireworks display concludes the celebration Saturday night at 8:45 in Marshall Park. Bender says there’s plenty of room for parking and to set up lawn chairs to watch the parade and fireworks.
State Representative’s Jay Goyal of Mansfield and Josh Mandel of Lyndhurst will soon introduce joint legislation to offer state tax credits to Ohio-educated graduates in return for their commitment stay and work in Ohio.
Under the bill, graduates would be awarded a nonrefundable tax credit, based on the type of degree they earn. Those graduates would commit to staying in Ohio for at least five-years, helping the state retain bright young minds and building a skilled workforce to attract new business investment.
Goyal said, quote—“thousands of people are educated here in Ohio, then leave for what they see as greener pastures as they set out to start their careers—we need to provide all the incentives we can to make Ohio a destination rather than a pit stop for the innovative, creative young leaders jour great colleges and universities produce”.
The state income tax credits would generally be claimed over a ten-year period. The legislation is currently in the process of being drafted.
The goal has been increased this year for the United Way of Richland County. It’s 1,930,000 in 2008.
Board President, and Richland County Commissioner, Ed Olson says the need is everywhere in the agencies they support.
John Rhodes, who is with Term-O-Disc, one of the area’s largest employers, says they want to do all they can for the Mansfield area.
The annual Day of Caring was held Wednesday in which volunteers assisted with projects at the agencies that are with the United Way.
Mansfield Police Wednesday tracked down a hit-skip driver and charged him after he fled the scene of an accident involving a child on a bike.
The girl on the bike hit the side of the car on Florence Avenue, suffering minor injuries, but the driver kept going.
However, several alert United Way volunteers working on a Habit for Humanity project as part of the “Day of Caring” witnessed the accident, got the license plate number and called police.
Officers tracked the car to the house on Florence but the person who answered the door told them the driver wasn’t there.
As police prepared to tow the car, the driver came out of the house and confessed.
He’s charged with hit skip and driving under suspension.
A controversial bill approving a five-dollar increase in court costs to fund 305-thousand-dollars in courtroom security upgrades at Mansfield City Hall got the nod from City Council Tuesday, but not without a few comments aimed at the judges.
Noting that the legislation authorizes bonds to pay the construction costs but does NOT cover the cost of new hires to staff checkpoints, Councilman Doug Versaw said he’s concerned.
Versaw thinks the judges budgets need closer scrutiny, because too many times in the past people have been hired with grant money, the grants run out, and the people end up staying on the job.
He went on to say it’s time City Council takes control of the free-spending that’s been going on in the courts.
Judge Jeff Payton predicted Monday that six new people to work security detail on the second floor could cost as much as 80-thousand-dollars in salaries and fringe benefits.
Shelby City Hall will be closed from eleven to two o’clock tomorrow for the calling hours for Mayor Jim Henkle.
He passed away Tuesday after a year-long battle with leukemia.
Calling hours are also from 3:30 to nine pm tomorrow, at Barkdull Funeral Home on North Gamble Street in Shelby.
Funeral services are Saturday at 10:30 at Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Shelby, with burial in the church cemetery.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit received information last Friday of a forged and counterfeit check operation that had depleted the commissary fund of more than 13-thousand-dollars.
During the investigation, a suspect was found and arrested at a local liquor establishments, and a vehicle containing several forged commissary checks was seized.
The primary suspect was identified as well as the location of the forged check operation. A search warrant was served at 1540 Reiser Drive in Mansfield, where another suspect was taken into custody.
The entire check operation’s computer system, printers, and software were seized. The search revealed this operation spanned
the entire state and including the forging and counterfeiting of multiple business’ payroll checks that were cashed.
Also identified were more than fifteen additional suspects who were involved in the statewide operation. More arrests are expected.
The operation involved the suspects calling businesses to ask if they cash payroll checks. The suspects would print off a forged or counterfeit payroll check and cash it. It’s believed this operation cashed more than 100-thousand-dollars worth of checks in Ohio.
A fire last night gutted a second floor bedroom and bathroom at 197 Sherman Street in Ashland.
Firefighters say the man who lives there was in his backyard having a cookout, when a neighbor noticed smoke coming from the bedroom window. The first floor sustained smoke damage.
The cause of the blaze is undetermined.
The resident is being sheltered by the Red Cross.
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