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THE EARLY BIRD NEWSPAPER
S U N D A Y, J A N U A R Y 1 7 , 2 0 1 6
Township has plans for Woodland Heights site RYAN BERRY
MANAGING EDITOR editor@earlybirdpaper.com
GREENVILLE – Greenville City Schools will soon face a dilemma. What will they do with the properties at Woodland Heights, East, South and the Junior High Schools? Greenville Township helped answer one part of that question last week when they presented a down payment to the district to purchase the Woodland Heights property. According to Greenville City Schools Superintendent Doug Fries, a contract was signed on the 20-acre site by the township for a cost of $175,000. Township Trustee Justin Hines pointed out the township put $100,000 down on the property this week and will pay the remaining $75,000 once the school building is demolished. The township is getting the property for $8,750 an acre. The Woodland Heights property is very near the center of the township. It will likely be another year and a half before the township will take
control of the property. The township hopes to eventually open a second fire and rescue station and move the township office and equipment to the new location. However, Hines pointed out it may take another 5-10 years before those plans are realized. Chief Steve Wenning, of Greenville Area Emergency Rescue (GAER), believes there is a need for a second and more centralized station. Their runs have been on a steady increase with 3,077 reported in 2014 and 3,227 in 2015. The current station is located in the southeastern corner of the township and the response time to the northwestern corner (corner of Coletown-Lightsville Road and Hillgrove-Woodington Road) is approximately 18 minutes. A station at the corner of Children’s Home-Bradford Road and State Route 118 would cut the response time in half. The fire department is evenly split on calls north and south of Greenville Creek, while GAER continues to have approximately 58 percent of calls on the
Greenville Township has plans for the Woodland Heights Elementary property once the school is torn down.
south side. “You’re covering 56 square miles and doing it from one station. We’re the largest township in the county,” said Wenning. Although the plans have not been drawn up for a new building, township officials have discussed how they envision the two station system working. Fire and rescue would split their equipment with half at each station. Fire volunteers could report to either station. GAER would have both stations manned. The northern station would be the first to respond to incidents north of Greenville Creek and the current station would respond to ev-
Weights & Measures checks protect consumer and business BOB ROBINSON
ASSOCIATE EDITOR brobinson@earlybirdpaper.com
GREENVILLE – The skimmer will pull up to the pump with a box truck or another vehicle designed to block the security camera, open the face of the pump with a generic key, insert an electronic device, return later, remove the device and pull out the credit card information of anyone using that pump… “Keys and skimmer parts can be bought on EBay,” said Darke County Weights & Measures Sealer, Jeff Surber. He noted a number of counties in Ohio that have already been hit and said it was a topic covered heavily in his most recent training session. “Darke County is fine, however,” Surber added. “The gas stations here have taken extra steps to assure the security of their pumps.” Still, if there is a question or concern he responds. Surber by law checks every one of Darke County’s 331 gas, diesel and propane devices at least once a year. “I check to make sure you get what you are paying for,” he said. “And it’s not just to protect the consumer...” There were times when he found consumers were getting more than they were paying for. “The business was actually losing money,” he added. Checking the pumps
Jeff Surber, Weights & Measures Sealer
is a time-consuming process. “Go into a gas station with four pumps – regular, plus and premium on both sides – that’s 24 delivery systems I have to check,” he said. He noted he also has to check each pump for ‘slow flow’ and ‘fast flow.’ According to Surber’s boss, Darke County Auditor Carol Ginn, his efforts are appreciated by both consumer and business. Surber, who has been on the job since May 2013, said he does a lot of evening and weekend checks so business isn’t interrupted. “Once a customer asked me, am I okay to pump here? Yeah, I said… thank you! Keep up the good work,” Surber added. Ginn said she has gotten calls from businesses thanking her and Surber for their consideration. Surber’s job also includes price verification and checking scales… Not
only at retail establishments but also livestock scales at the fair and high school scales for wrestlers. For price verification he takes a sampling of 50-100 products, depending on the size of the store, and verifies the price actually scans the same as noted on the shelf. “This is not an easy job,” Ginn said. “Not only is it hard work, you have to be good at math.” Both Surber and Ginn said they would like Darke County residents to be aware they are being well taken care of. “Typically it’s consistency in checking both scales and pumps,” Surber said. “Frequent checks keeps people honest. Infrequent? They get lax.” Anyone with questions or concerns may call the Darke County Auditor’s office at 547-7310 or reach Surber directly at 4177389.
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erything south. Hines felt it was imperative for the township to purchase the property at this time. By working with the school district they will be able to preserve some of the asphalt and sewer system. The school district will soon be bidding out the demolition project and they can write the township’s requirements into the specifications. This is ultimately expected to save the township money. According to Hines, money from the fire fund was used to purchase the
BOB ROBINSON
ASSOCIATE EDITOR brobinson@earlybirdpaper.com
GREENVILLE – The Darke County Adult Probation Office currently has 427 individuals on probation, up about 10 percent from the previous January. Most have been convicted of drug and property crimes, approximately 70 percent. “They go hand in hand,” said Chief Probation Officer James Mollette. “Fortunately we don’t have that percentage with violent and/or sex crimes,” he added. That number is about 20 percent. The remaining 10 percent are considered “catch-all”… non-support, failure to appear, protection orders. In addition the office deals with about 50 (plus or minus at any given time) pretrial investigations. The drug problem goes far beyond Darke County. “It isn’t just us,” Mollette said. “It’s across Ohio. It’s across the country.” At the same time, Darke County has some new tools to deal with the issue. Vivitrol has been in use for a year. “I’m glad we have it. It does what it’s supposed to do… blocks the craving the addict has for heroin. The problem is it isn’t magic. We still have to deal with behavioral issues… “Just because you take away the cravings doesn’t change the mindset,” Mollette said. Vivitrol is injected every 28 to 29 days through a licensed physician. It can’t be abused like
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aren’t new. It has been discussed off and on since 2010. The township is also working to speed up response times before it opens the new building. They have started training GAER’s staff as level 2 firefighters. The fire department currently has 32 members and rescue has 34 members. With GAER manning its station constantly, they will be able to get a fire truck on the road immediately without needing to wait for volunteers to arrive. A grant has been received to pay for the level 1 training (approximately $25,000) and the township, through the fire fund, will pay $15,000 to provide level 2 training. Approximately 80 to 90 percent of the department will be level 2 firefighters. Hines added there will be some additional costs to provide equipment for the new firefighters.
Probation gets new tools as the drug challenges continue
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property. “One-hundred percent of it will be under the Greenville Township Fire Department.” There is approximately $400,000 in the fund. These funds were acquired through the fire levy and is the money saved after the township broke ties with the city and established its own department in 2008. The department has a budget of $80,000 a year. The fund currently generates $170,000 to $200,000 a year. The plan will have the township pay its share of the cost for a new building out of its general fund while the fire department and rescue service will fund their portion out of their respective funds. Long range plans for the township will include vacating and selling its current office on State Route 571 once a building is built at the Woodland Heights site. Chief Wenning noted plans for a second station
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Chief Probation Officer James Mollette
Methadone and Suboxone could. A resulting side issue is a portion of addicts will look elsewhere. “Once they realize they can’t handle heroin some will start chasing other drugs.” The probation office has a Community Service Program. “We partner with the Darke County Solid Waste District with many of its projects,” Mollette said. They also have their own, such as roadside pickup and other projects. “We completed over 8,500 hours of community service in 2015,” he noted. Mollette said he thought it helped, depending on the mindset of the probationer. “If he’s just filling out a sheet? No. But if he takes ownership of what he’s accomplishing, then it’s valuable.” Two new tools are a partnership with Job & Family Services (JFS) and the startup of probationfacilitated AA meetings. “We now have a dedicated case worker from JFS to work with us… just kicked it off this week,” Mollette said. “We expect big things
from that.” Probationers will receive training and hopefully gain employment. He noted that of the 113 probationers released in 2015, 46 were deemed successful. “Employment had a lot to do with that,” he said. “They were able to pay off fines, restitution… support their families.” The 67 deemed unsuccessful? According to Mollette they went to prison, back to jail or died. The probation department’s AA program is also new. They meet twice a week at a local countyowned facility. “We expect our probationers to participate,” Mollette said. This is in addition to other state and county services available to addicts in Darke County. They now have some additional options. Overall Mollette said the department had a good year in 2015. “I’ve no regrets on anything we’ve done,” he noted. “But the challenges are still continuing… I don’t expect them to go away anytime soon.”
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