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THE EARLY BIRD NEWSPAPER
S U N D A Y, J U N E 2 5 , 2 0 1 7
THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE GREAT DARKE COUNTY FAIR!
Discovery brings Discovery Channel to Greenville SUSAN HARTLEY
STAFF WRITER shartley@earlybirdpaper.com
GREENVILLE – A Greenville barn-find was enough to get a lot of classic car enthusiasts excited, including some at TV’s Discovery Channel. Richard Rawlings, star of Discovery’s Gas Monkey Garage made the trek all the way from Texas to Greenville just to check out some dusty old cars. But not just any old cars. Here’s the rest of the story. Left with liquidating his Aunt Betty Brewer’s estate, former Greenville residents Gene and Wanda Weyant, now of Troy were thrilled when they found not one but three antique cars sitting inside a barn across the alleyway from Betty’s home. Betty’s husband and Gene’s uncle, Harold Brewer once ran a used car lot in Greenville. After suffering a heart attack, Mr. Brewer passed away in 1975. “He never got to work in his brand new barn or live in the brand new brick home,” he and Betty were in the process of building, Gene said of his uncle. In January 2014, nearly two years prior to his aunt’s death in September 2016, Gene and Wanda found what was to become
Richard Rawlings was in Greenville recently to film an episode of his Discovery Channel hit, Gas Monkey Garage. (Gaylen Blosser photo)
a surprising discovery inside the barn. “I’d always suspected there might be cars in there,” Gene said. It took quite a while to find keys to unlock the barn. “(Betty had given) us suggestions on where to look for the keys. It took a long time to connect,” Wanda said. Gene and Wanda can now enjoy a laugh when they recall Aunt Betty handing them a shoebox full of skeleton keys. Upon locating the right key, Gene found the main room of the barn to be chock full of items collected by his uncle and aunt over the years. A large shelving unit and filing cabinet left just enough space for Gene to get through. “I had a lot of trouble getting through a 14-inch
Broadway kiosk to go to third reading SUSAN HARTLEY
STAFF WRITER shartley@earlybirdpaper.com
GREENVILLE – Darke County Visitors Bureau and Main Street Greenville will have to wait until July 11 to see if their proposed informational kiosk will be approved for installation on South Broadway. During their regular meeting held Tuesday, June 20, five members of council voted against atlarge member Todd Oliver’s request to suspend the rules for a third reading. Due to the July 4 holiday, council’s first meeting in July will be a week later, July 11. Leon Rogers also voted for suspending the rule. Council heard the first reading of the ordinance June 6. The visitor’s bureau and Main Street Greenville have proposed installing the informational kiosk so visitor’s to Greenville could have quick access about places to visit and different happenings taking place in Greenville and around the county. A similar kiosk has been
approved for installation in downtown Versailles. Also Tuesday, at-large councilman Tracy Tryon, who was filling in for council president John Burkett, read a report from the city’s safety service director Curt Garrison, who also was absent. Garrison has asked council form an ad-hoc committee to review the county commissioners’ recent proposal to combine city and county 911 dispatch services. Tryon announced the ad-hoc committee would include himself as the member, with councilmember John Hensley as chair and at-large councilmember John Schmidt as the vice-chair. Garrison has requested the committee review the “feasibility of Greenville’s City dispatch” and report to council its findings to either accept county commission’s offer or retain the city’s dispatch center. The committee is to provide information on what it would take to update the city’s center so proposals may be made by the next budget cycle. The deadline for the committee’s report is July 11.
space,” he said. The effort turned out to be well worth it. After moving several items and cardboard out of the way, Gene saw the grill of a car he didn’t recognize. “I got a corner up (cardboard) and saw the grill of a Shelby, but didn’t know what it was at first,” Gene explained. “I’d seen Shelbys on the road, but not up close. I’d never seen a front end like that.” After some searching on the Internet, Gene discovered the car was a 1968 Ford Mustang Shelby GT Fastback. “It’s absolutely in original condition – white with black leather seats. I thought ‘we really have something like this?’” Gene recalls. Neighbor Mark Wolf said he had watched Betty open the garage doors on the barn for several years to get her lawnmower out,
but couldn’t see the car for all the other items. “It was rumored there was a Mustang in there,” Wolf said. “But not a Shelby.” After making the surprise discovery of the Shelby, the Weyants were then faced with finding a key to open the separate windowless room inside the barn. “We went through a lot to find the key to open that door,” said Wanda. Opening that door revealed two other antique automobiles – a 1929 Model A and a 1940 Ford Deluxe 2-door convertible – sitting back to back. “Uncle Howard invested his money into real estate and cars,” Gene said. As executors of Betty’s estate, the Weyants contacted local auctioneer Kirby Lyons. After auctioning her household belongings, as well as other antiques found in the barn, the Weyants asked Lyons,
who also works with several automobile auction houses, to find buyers for the three antique cars as well. Lyons said he started calling contacts from across the U.S., including Wayne Carini of Chasing Classic Cars. as well as Legendary Motor Cars out of Canada. “They didn’t make any offer at the time,” Lyons said of the Canadian-based television show. “They had some (Shelby Mustangs) in stock already.” Lyons did receive offers from six enthusiasts after sending photos of the vehicles – some local dealers from Middletown and also from Indiana and Kentucky. “Gas Monkey Garage contacted me asking for more photos,” Lyons said. “I sent 63 additional photos. They had
specific things they were looking for – serial numbers, different areas of the cars, under the hood.” Lyons said all six offers were close. “The main thing we were trying to do was sell all three cars to one person,” he explained. Gas Monkey Garage won the bid and set a date to travel to Darke County. Rawlings and his crew were in Greenville for just a few hours on June 8, filming the cars as well as an interview with the Weyants in the yard of Aunt Betty’s home. “This is the first time in a while I’ve been to Ohio to buy cars,” said Rawlings, who admitted he wasn’t planning to restore the Shelby – just clean it up and go for a spin. “A car like that, its imperfections are what’s it’s earned,” he said. The Greenville episode of Gas Monkey Garage is set to air in November.
This 1968 Ford Mustang Shelby GT Fastback was found “hidden” in a Greenville barn by a Troy couple in 2014. (Gaylen Blosser photo)
Judge Hein explains benefits of state-funded TCAP program CLINTON RANDALL
STAFF WRITER crandall@earlybirdpaper.com
DARKE COUNTY Though some funding has been in place since the mid90’s, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (ODRC) implemented the Targeted Community Alternatives to Prison (TCAP) program earlier this year. With the overwhelming prison population and lack of resources to help rehabilitate those fifth-degree felony, non-violent offenders, ODRC Director Gary Mohr and key members of the Senate helped instate the TCAP program to give local courts a better opportunity to treat these offenders on a local level rather than just to punish. “I’m grateful for the leadership of President Obhof, President Pro Tempore Peterson, Finance Chair Oelslager and the members of the Senate for taking this important step to incarcerate and rehabilitate Ohioans convicted of low level offenses in settings that will provide for better outcomes and increased public safety,” Director Mohr told The Early Bird. Each court participating in the program receives funding to hire new staff and implement other addi-
Darke County Common Pleas Court Judge Jonathan P. Hein. (Clinton Randall photo)
tional resources to try and rehabilitate the offender at a local level. “TCAP may sound like a huge change, but it is really just the next logical step,” explained Darke County Common Pleas Court Judge Jonathan P. Hein. “It is pushing to be more creative in trying to solve social problems...rather than just lock people up.” Today it costs the state roughly $26,000 every year - which falls back on Ohio tax payers. “It is too expensive to lock everyone up, and the tax payers don’t want to pay for it. Why pay for something that doesn’t do any good anyway,” continued Judge Hein. “This funding helps give some local accountability to try and help them make a difference and be a positive member of the community.” The Darke County Com-
mon Pleas Court has been receiving funding to aid in the treatment and monitoring of these low-level convicted felons since the mid-90’s, according to Judge Hein. With the change in the law from the passing of House Bill 86 (HB 86) in 2011, the state has encouraged local courts to not sentence offenders to prison that meet the criteria which validates a community control sanction. Since the passing of HB 86 the common pleas court receives an additional $10,000 per month, in which $5,500 goes to the Darke County Recovery & Wellness Center for helping to treat offenders suffering from drug and alcohol addiction, along with other social and mental health conditions. The money has made it possible for the local agency to staff within the Darke County Adult Probation Department to work as a liaison between the court and recovery services. “Our judges here in Darke County get it and understand the importance of recovery,” said Cynthia Cook, CEO of Recovery & Wellness Centers of Midwest Ohio. “Alisa Bubeck is our liaison for the court inside the probation office, which helps give the judge a better understanding based on our recommendations prior to sentencing.”
The state funding has made it possible for the Darke County Adult Probation Department to now employee 10 staff members, which is the most ever, according to Chief Probation Officer James Mollette. “The funding definitely helps this office continue to do what we need in monitoring and hopefully rehabilitating these low-level offenders,” added Mollette. “Prison is not always the solution and we are definitely fortunate to have such a great working partnership with recovery services.” Judge Hein noted that though the concept has been around for some time, the TCAP program is still in its infancy stages and continues to be tailored to best fit the differences within communities around the state. “Friends and family are the first line of defense for these type of offenders. Someone needs to get to them before they go out and break the law,” Judge Hein concluded. “To our community’s credit, we have a lot of great churches and outreaches in Darke County that all play some sort of role in helping to make a difference.” Get complete information about the TCAP program online at http://www. drc.ohio.gov/tcap