BETHEL JOURNAL
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2020 | BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS | PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK ###
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Bethel’s local-celebrity columnist for more than 30 years ...
The Ole Fisherman David Lyman
Special to Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
“Howdy folks.” For more than 30 years, that’s been the opening line of George Rooks’ weekly “Ole Fisherman” column that runs in the Community Press' Bethel Journal and Eastside Press weekly newspapers. To be frank, I’d never heard of George until a month ago. That’s when my editor asked me to write a story about him and his column. I didn’t think I was a good fi t for the job. I don’t fi sh. Nor do I garden, another of the passions that fuel George’s writing. But then I started reading his columns. First, it was just a handful. But then, I couldn’t stop reading them. Today, I am a convert. There is something incredibly appealing about George’s writing. It’s straightforward, much like he is in person. George doesn’t gussie up his columns with $5 words. He’s not snarky or trying to prove how much smarter he is than we are. He’s just sharing information, much like he did when he was a ranger at East Fork State Park before he retired 30 or so years ago. The only thing that changed is that instead of answering phone calls about fi shing conditions at the park, he put it down on paper and sent it around to local publications. Unexpectedly – to everyone but George – the column was a hit. Before long, he started including anecdotes about his cats. And his church. And his wife Ruth Ann’s recipes. “The Lord only knows what direction it would go,” laughed George. All he knew is that they let him write what he wanted. The one thing he was adamant about was pay. “They don’t pay. If they’re going to pay me, I’m going to quit.” Fortunately, they never paid him. So George kept writing. Theresa Herron was his editor for 12 years at the Clermont Community Journal Newspapers. She’d known him since she was a kid, and her father and George were park rangers at Stonelick State Park. “Back at the park, he always had lots of stories,” Herron recalled. “He still does. And people listen to what he has to say. People would tell me they read George and would plant their gardens according to what George said.” George’s column is so much more than fi shing and gardening, though. He’s become the modern-day equivalent of a town crier, a character somewhere beSee OLE FISHERMAN, Page 5A
George Rooks, author of The Ole Fisherman column, poses for a portrait at his apartment in Bethel on Oct. 20. HANNAH RUHOFF/THE ENQUIRER
Rooks rides his scooter down West Plane Street in Bethel. HANNAH RUHOFF/THE ENQUIRER
Ruth Ann and George Rooks were married 56 years when Ruth Ann died in 2014. PROVIDED
Purina announces huge new factory in Clermont County Alexander Coolidge Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Nestlé Purina PetCare said Oct. 26 it will build its fi rst new American factory in 45 years in Clermont County that will employ 300 workers. Construction is set to begin shortly and the $550 million plant will become operational in 2023. It will become the 10th American facility producing dry pet food, including Purina Pro Plan, Purina One and Dog Chow. The Williamsburg Township plant will become the company’s 23rd overall plant in the U.S.
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Once completed, the 1.2- million-square-foot facility will be as large as the Kenwood Towne Centre. Ohio and local offi cials have agreed to provide a package of at least $6.8 million tax incentives to secure the project. “Close collaboration between JobsOhio, its local partners and the Development Services Agency were essential to attracting Purina’s newest facility and 300 jobs to Ohio,” said Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. State offi cials said Ohio won the project over competing bids by North Carolina and Kentucky. Purina’s incentive package includes an estimated $2 million state job creation tax credit of 1.714% over 10
years. The incentives also include an estimated $4.8 million sales tax exemption on construction and supply costs from the Port Authority of Clermont County. Further incentives Purina is getting are a 100% local enterprise zone tax exemption from the township and Clermont County, while the Williamsburg school district will receive at least $320,000 per year payment in lieu of taxes. Local offi cials said they haven't determined the value of the enterprise zone exemption. “We are grateful for the partnership at the state and local levels, and we’re excited to call Clermont County See PURINA, Page 2A
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