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Issue 38, Volume 127
Breaking news at ripleybee.com
Thursday, September 22, 2016 • $1
New officer in Ripley; police plan to address unlicensed vehicles BY Martha Jacob The Ripley Bee
Provided/RIPLEY BEE
This lovely pond and vegetation was one of 15 gardens visited during the Garden Tour.
Ripley’s ORHF Garden Tour enjoyed by attendees BY Jane Zachman The Ripley Bee Ripley’s first ever garden tour was held during this year’s Rural Heritage Festival. Organizer Dr. Sara Goldsberry said,” All the attendees enjoyed visiting the 15 lovely gardens featured on the tour.” It began at Dr. Sara’s home on 3rd Street with a house tour leading to her private backyard hillside cottage garden. Visitors could climb the stone steps to a blue slate walkway surrounded by ornamental trees and a variety of annuals and perennials. Perhaps the highlight of the tour was the next stop, the garden of Mick and Jeanne Grant. Jeanne, a very talented artist, had her series of summer and garden series paintings on display in the garden. Such an outdoor gallery of
beautiful work is rarely seen. Continuing on 3rd Street, walkers enjoyed Danny and Martha Fithen’s colorful front yard and structural backyard that featured a fish pond and stone sculpture. Across the street was Larry and Patty Fithen;s lovely craftsman home with a delux playhouse in the backyard as well as colorful flowers and a fish pond. Moving on to 2nd Street, the garden tour walkers enjoyed the antique delights displayed in the yard of Judith Gray and enjoyed a glass of tea. This was followed by a tour of the Ripley Museum and its beautifully decorated back yard. The displays at the museum were created by Don and Cindy Thompson who are part of the Ripley Heritage organ-
ization. When participants reached Front Street along the river they viewed John P. Parker Park and were able to walk in his footsteps as a freed American slave who aided hundreds of escapees to freedom. Next was the garden at the 1837 Carey Alexander Campbell home currently owned by Don and June Zipperian. In addition to the planting beds participants had a close look at the beautiful Victorian wrap-around porch lovingly restored by Mr. Zipperian. Continuing with historical homes, the next was the 1820 home built by Nathaniel Collins, the first mayor of Ripley and owned by Thomas Collins, a conductor on the Underground Railroad. The home and beautiful
See TOUR on Page 3
Just after convening, at its Sept. 13 meeting, members of the Ripley Village Council went into executive session to discuss several requests by Ripley Chief of Police Joel Barnett. Immediately following the executive session, council approved the appointment of two new part-time police officers, Robert Hensley and Michael Metzer. Also approved were actions to move Officer Josh Miller and Officer Donald Pendleton from part time to full time officers. Officer Cory Herren was promoted to Corporal Supervisor. “We’ve been operating shorthanded with one retirement, one resignation and one termination,” Chief Barnett said. “We have to keep at least four full time officers at all time, and these two appointments will put us where we need to be.” Chief Barnett went on to tell council that his department has been taking aggressive actions towards the heroin problem in Ripley. “I’m not going to go into all the details at this time,” Barnett said, “But I can tell you that our department has confiscated roughly 6 grams of heroin recently that we’ve been able to pull off our
Martha B. Jacob/RIPLEY BEE
During its Sept. 13 meeting Ripley Village Council approved hiring two new part-time officers, (left) Officer Michael Metzger and (right) Officer Robert Hensley.
streets. “Per gram of heroin, thats about 27 hits of heroin per gram, so that’s potentially like saving 100 deaths from overdose off our streets. We are currently still working this case and are slowly getting a handle on it. “I’m not ready to talk about it yet since it is an active, ongoing investigation. We are now working with the Brown County Task Force as well as the Hamilton County authorities.” Barnett did however stress that the heroin problem is not going away any time soon, but he is happy with the progress his department has made. Barnett added that once the new K9 officer goes on
duty Oct. 21, his job will become much easier, since a K9 can find drugs that his officers cant. Later in the meeting, local Ripley resident Jeff Bachman approached council and passed out copies of a notebook filled with 28 pictures of violations going on within the village. The notebooks included photos of old abandoned cars parked on the wrong side of the street, structures with broken windows, cars with expired license plates, piles of litter and graffiti. “I’ve taken all these pictures in this village in the last couple of days,” Bachman said. “You can see all the pictures of old cars, dilapidated houses,
See PD on Page 3
Scarecrows on the Fence coming to Ripley library BY Sonja Cropper The Ripley Library The Ripley Library is inviting the public to again help decorate the fence in front of the library for Fall with Scarecrows. The fence can accommodate twenty large and
ten small scarecrows. The small scarecrows are new this year. The library will provide the cross form and burlap for the head. You do not have to use the burlap to create a head and can get as creative as you like. There are many exam-
ples of scarecrows on the internet using things like buckets, plastic pumpkins, pillow cases and burlap for the head. The forms are for anyone who would like to create a scarecrow. There are very few rules. The scarecrow must be a traditional family friendly scarecrow. If you are not sure if your idea is family friendly, just
See LIBRARY on Page 3
Provided/RIPLEY BEE
Handmade scarecrows will very soon be seen on the fence in front of the Ripley Library. Submissions will be placed on the fence by Sept. 26.
Four sentenced in Common Pleas Court
Editorial: 4 Sports 7-8 Classifieds: 9-10
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Four people were recently sentenced in Brown County Common Pleas Court. Douglas Catron On August 31, 2016, a hearing was held for Violation of Community Control Sanction that was previously imposed on January 5, 2016, against Defendant, Douglas Brian Catron, in Case No. 20152281. The Defendant has been convicted of Aggravated Possession of Drugs and 2 Counts of Trafficking in Marihuana, both felonies of the 5th degree, having a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison and a fine of $2500.00. Defendant was placed on community control in
January for a period of 2 years. On August 31, Defendant appeared before Brown County Common Pleas Judge Scott T. Gusweiler. Defendant waived hearing and admitted to the violations contained in the Probation Department Report. Judge Gusweiler ordered that Mr. Catron’s community control will be extended 1 year. The Defendant is ordered to enter and successfully complete the STAR Program plus any Aftercare that can include Transitional Living. Chad Owen On July 14, 2016, a 7 Count indictment was
filed against Chad Owen, in Case No. 2016-2152. The indictment charged Count 1, Felonious Assault and Count 3, Burglary, both felonies of the 2nd degree, having a maximum penalty of 8 years in prison and a fine
of $15,000.00; Count 4, Grand Theft When the Property is a Firearm or Dangerous Ordnance, a felony of the 3rd degree, having a maximum penalty of 36 months in prison and a $10,000.00 fine;
See COURT on Page 3
Send us your fair pics! We want to see you at the fair this year. We will be publishing a special Brown County Fair photo section in the October 6 edition of The News Democrat and we need your help. Send your best fair pictures to info@newsdemocrat.com. We will publish as many of them as we can.
Please include names and other information in your e-mail so we can share them with everyone. The deadline for photo submissions is noon on Monday, October 3, so don’t wait. E-mail us your best pictures during fair week and look for them October 6 in The News Democrat.