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O, those 4-H songs

Carolissa was pleasantly surprised by my cold call. “Another song from 4-H Camp came out of my head,” I explained. “See if you remember this one: ‘I’ll sing you one O, green grow the rushes, O! What is your one O? One is one and all alone and ever more shall be so.’” Carolissa Wylie was the girl every boy fell in love with at Hancock County 4-H Camp. She was slim, tall, pretty, with a sweet personality behind big doe deer eyes. A couple of years ago she began re-connecting with 4-H friends through phone calls and letters. Several of us met for lunch. A great-grandmother ...

Beware of fraudsters now using turnpike reference

—Officers spoke to a person by phone at 9:33 p.m. Wednesday for a report of fraud. The caller advised that they received a text message claiming a fee for the turnpike needed paid and that after clicking on the link and paying the amount demanded the caller discovered the text was fraudulent. The credit card company for the card used was contacted and needed the caller to file a police report. A report number was provided. Fraudsters, being the conniving thieves that they are, have apparently taken their con game on the road. At least in a figurative sense. The paragraph leading off ...

Beware of fraudsters now using turnpike reference

—Officers spoke to a person by phone at 9:33 p.m. Wednesday for a report of fraud. The caller advised that they received a text message claiming a fee for the turnpike needed paid and that after clicking on the link and paying the amount demanded the caller discovered the text was fraudulent. The credit card company for the card used was contacted and needed the caller to file a police report. A report number was provided. Fraudsters, being the conniving thieves that they are, have apparently taken their con game on the road. At least in a figurative sense. The paragraph leading off ...

Reduced bureaucracy is good for taxpayers

Bureaucracy exists to serve itself, rather than the taxpaying public. Bureaucrats can wield licenses, permits, deadlines and other forms of red tape like precision weapons. Their zeal in doing so has bogged down our economic diversification and growth for far too long. But a plan presented by U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin, an independent from West Virginia, and John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, could speed things back up, at least for one sector. The Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 is meant to eliminate some of the time and hoops that stall energy projects of all kinds. “The United States of ...

Ohio Arts Council provides $22.7M to artists, programs

Schools and communities that value and support the arts and arts education understand such things are not a luxury. The arts are essential. Fortunately, it appears state officials and lawmakers understand that, too. This year, the Ohio Arts Council has been supported to the degree that it was able to approve a record $22.7 million in arts grants — 935 of them to statewide artists and arts organizations. It is the largest single round of grants distributed to OAC funding applicants in the agency’s history. “On behalf of the board, the Ohio Arts Council thanks Gov. Mike DeWine, Lt. ...

Got the lumber. Now what?

“That’s a lot of lumber. What are you going to do with it?” asked Mr. Mike, eyeing the piles of newly-sawn boards, beams and bridging that he was helping to stack. “I don’t know,” I said. “Sell it. Build something.” Mr. Mike was among family and friends donating their labor Thursday evening for a finishing-up session, cutting up the logs we couldn’t get to in a work project with a portable sawmill on a day in mid-June. This project was a 180 degree turn from one of a few years ago, when I had 75-year-old pines grown on our farm cut into planks to re-side the old ...