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THE BROWN COUNTY PRESS Serving Brown County, Ohio since 1973
Vol. 38 No. 33
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Dallas Tincher sentenced to life in prison for murder Dallas Tincher has been sentenced to life in prison for ordering the murder of John Carpenter in April of 2010. He will have to serve 28 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. Tincher is 71 years old and in poor health. “I feel great relief and I’m happy for him to get on the bus to Orient”, said Brown County Prosecutor Jessica
Little. Orient is the intake facility for the Ohio Department of Corrections. Tincher was convicted of two counts of complicity and one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder in early January. Visiting Judge Thomas Nurre merged sentencing on the three counts, sentencing Tincher to 25 years to life in prison for the murder charges and three years for a gun charge.
Tincher was originally set to be sentenced Jan. 24, but that was put on hold after Joseph Hensley, who testified against Tincher, recanted his testimony. Hensley claimed he was forced to confess to being the triggerman hired by Tincher to kill Carpenter, doing so in a letter presented to the court by Tincher’s attorneys, Gary Rosenhoffer and Christine Tailer. Tincher’s attorneys asked for a new trial because
Hensley also claimed in the letter that Tincher was innocent. Before sentencing, Nurre turned down motions to dismiss the charges and for a new trial for Tincher. “The court finds that Hensley’s testimony at trial under oath was extremely incriminating and more believable than any later recantation”, Nurre said from the bench. “Testimony of Hensley ridCONTINUED ON PAGE 12
The Brown County Press/WAYNE GATES
Tincher is placed in handcuffs by Bailiff Robert Green following his sentencing.
Patterson resigns as BC Hospital CEO BY Wayne Gates The Brown County Press Michael Patterson has resigned as Chief Executive Officer of Brown County Regional HealthCARE, the parent company of Brown County General Hospital. Joan Phillips of Southwest Healthcare will take over as CEO under an management and consulting contract already in place with the hospital board of trustees. A reason for Patterson’s resignation was not provided. Brown County Hospital Board of Trustees member Ben Houser said that Patterson “had worked hard and served well in his capacity as CEO and deserved to be treated with respect.” Phillips said that Patterson will be employed for three months as a consultant as the
Mike Patterson
Joan Phillips
sale process for the hospital moves forward. The working target date for the sale to close is on or before April 4. “it’s just a few more pieces of paperwork that have to be completed, but we are on target right now to close”, Phillips said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 12
Wahlsburg annexation not likely in near future By Martha Jacob The Brown County Press During a recent Georgetown Village Council meeting, Mayor Dale Cahall reported that a request to annex an area of land in Wahlsburg was temporarily on hold due to the current financial situation of the village. Approximately a year and a half ago several residents of the Wahlsburg area approached the council to find out if it was a possibility to extend sewer system rights to
Index Classifieds ..Pages 20, 21 Court News......Page 17 Death Notices.........Page 7 Education .........Pages 8, 9 Opinion ..............Page 4 Social..................Page 8 Sports ........Pages 14-15
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their area. “We paid attention to their request to be annexed into the Village of Georgetown,” said Georgetown Mayor Dale Cahall, “We would love to extend our corporation limits out to Wahlsburg. “We tried to get grant funds for the project which could cost as much as 3 to 4 million dollars. That would include about 40 properties.” Cahall said the village applied for several grants but the project didn’t qualify for any of the 80/20 grants or any 50/50 grants. “We held a town meeting to talk to all the property owners and we sent out letters to them,” he added, “we wanted to know what the majority wanted, and it was about half and half. Half wanted to annex to Georgetown and half wanted to remain a township. “And on top of that, in the mean time, the Ohio EPA has mandated that we build a new waste water treatment plant that is going to cost us over $10 million. So it’s not looking good that this project is going to happen any time soon.” Joe Kovach is the owner of Grandma’s and Grampa’s Carryout in Wahlsburg, located right on St. Rt. 68. “I’ve had this business over a year and would really like to CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
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Western Brown Chorale goes to state! On Saturday, March 19, 2011 the Western Brown Choirs competed in the OMEA District 16 large group contest. They sang three songs for three judges and received a rating from each judge. They then proceeded on to sight-reading, where they were judged by one judge on their ability to sing a song they had never seen before. The Men's and Women's Choirs received Excellent ratings overall and the Chorale received a Superior rating, which is the highest rating given at this contest. This is the first time in seven years the Chorale has received a Superior rating and will move on to OMEA State contest in May. This is also the first time Chorale has received a Superior rating in sight-reading. Congrats to all the choir members!
Mount Orab to seek levy to pay for a police dog By Martha Jacob The Brown County Press The Village of Mount Orab will be placing a 1.5 mill public safety levy on the ballot this November to pay for a K-9 unit. Mount Orab Police Chief Bryan Mount appeared before council Mount Orab to outline the Police Chief need for the Bryan Mount request.
“We are requesting this additional 1.5 mill levy because everything in our village has grown, almost doubling in size,” Mount said. “The last time my department requested a levy was in 2000, 11 years ago.” A replacement 4.0 mill public safety levy will also be on the ballot. He said the village has added over 500 new houses and 52 new businesses with an increased in residents from 2,307 to over 3,600. “We are dedicated to the protection of the residents of Mt. Orab and providing one of the most diversified police force in the area,” Mount continued,
“We are now faced with new challenges daily, as the outbreak of heroin and pills is to epidemic proportions.” Mount said in the past year his department has seen the number of burglaries and thefts in the area increase dramatically. “Five years ago it was uncommon to have one residential burglary a week in the county,” he said. “Now we are seeing at least one a day.” “We are utilizing traffic stops to check on vehicles which may seem out of place or are driving around neighborhoods repeatedly as if to case houses which they may break into”, he continued.
The chief went on to say his department is in desperate need of a police K-9 unit the new levy would provide, which would provide the probable cause to search for narcotic drugs or heroin in vehicles. “A K-nine unit can also be used to complete weekly drug searches within the Western Brown Schools,” he added. He also discussed some of the ways his department is working to be more efficient such as, all his officers are crossed trained in both police and fire training. “My officers provide support to the fire department by carrying their turnout gear and CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
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Township trustees across the county brace for cuts By Martha Jacob The Brown County Press With the recent cuts in local government funding from the state, the trickle down effect will be a hard pill to swallow for many of the 16 Brown County Townships. The fund will be cut 25 percent over each of the next two years. Perry Township will be hit especially hard by the cuts, according to Township Trustee Louis Johnson. He said the township receives about $500,000 annually for maintaining roads, bridges, six cemeteries, mowing sides of roads, purchasing and maintaining equipment and paying for the 5-year old
community building, salt shed, garage and employees. “That seems like a lot of money,” he added. “But what residents of the township don’t understand is, when $150,000 is for road maintenance, that is absolutely the only thing those funds can be used for. “We aren’t allowed to move money around in our budget. If money is earmarked to be spent on blacktop, not one dime of it can be spent on fixing a snow plow, or any other form of maintenance.” He said the township has about 36 miles of roadway to maintain and that blacktop for one mile of road can cost anywhere from $30,000 to $35,000 depending on the original condition of the road sur-
face. “New black-topping of a road lasts anywhere from four to five years,” Johnson said. “Then in between those years the road surface has to be tarred and chipped. It’s a never ending process, and we take pride in doing it right. We lost a percentage of the personal property tax and it was replaced with a CAT (Community Action Tax) and now I understand we’re about to lose our percentage of the estate tax. Those cuts really hurt the townships.” Johnson said he believes that when funds are taken away from a township, they should be offered a way of getting the funds back. “Right now, we have 2 or 3 phone towers in our township,”
he said. “the county get a percentage of cell phone taxes. We have the towers, but they get the tax revenue. “We have tornado towers in our township. Block grants paid to put the towers up there, but the townships get no money to maintain them.” He added that the county helps the township a lot and the trustees appreciate the help. Johnson said he and the two other trustees from Perry Township, David Brinkman and William Pritchard are currently working with the economic development director to expand a local shop in the township which will create new jobs. CONTINUED ON PAGE 11
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