THE EARLY BIRD NEWSPAPER
www.bluebagmedia.com
SUNDAY, JULY 13, 2014
Banner year for The Early Bird benefits Darke Co. residents GREENVILLE – For over 45 years, residents of Darke County have RYAN BERRY been relying Managing Editor on The Early bluebagmedia.com Bird for local news and features about the people and events in the community. In addition to providing timely news, The Early Bird has partnered with local businesses promoting their products and services, which gives residents an opportunity to save money and, of course, a chance to support locally owned businesses in Darke and surrounding counties.
Only six months into 2014 and it has already been a banner year for the newspaper. At the beginning of the year Editor & Publisher, the leading trade magazine for the newspaper industry, included The Early Bird in its list of 10 newspapers that do it right. Two months later, Brothers Publishing and The Early Bird unveiled its revamped website, Bluebag Media. More recently, Judge Jonathan Hein, of the Darke County Court of Common Pleas, ruled The Early Bird is a Newspaper of General Circulation. While the locally owned
and operated newspaper is already considered by many to be Darke County’s first choice for news and savings, the designation by the court was important to provide Darke County’s governmental offices and attorneys a choice when placing legal advertisements. Weekly and daily newspapers in the county will now be able to compete for legal advertisements, which ultimately means taxpayers, businesses and citizens will save money. Plus, with nearly 28,000 copies of The Early Bird distributed each week, these notices will be available to more peo-
ple, which is what legislators intended when they amended the law in 2011. In addition to finding legal notices in the newspaper, they will also appear on Bluebag Media. Since the site was re-launched in May, online traffic has more than doubled and continues to grow. The law requires a newspaper be printed in English and be not less than eight pages in broadsheet or 16 pages in tabloid form; contain at least 25% editorial content; have been published continuously for at least three years; have the ability to add to its distribution list; be distributed by
carrier delivery or mail; and file a Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation with U.S. Postal Service or have an independent audit. The court ruled The Early Bird met each and every requirement. Jim Haigh, government relations consultant for Mid-Atlantic Community Papers Association, played an active role during the legislative process of amending the law and said, ““We are pleased by Judge Hein’s clearly reasoned ruling. It upholds the letter and the spirit of the law we fought for years to modernize.” The newspaper’s most
recent audit by Circulation Verification Council showed 81.8% of the households that receive the newspaper regularly look through or read the paper. The same audit showed 83.2% frequently purchase products or services from ads seen in The Early Bird. Both are far above the national average of 73% and 65%, respectively, as reported by the National Newspaper Association. For information on how to get your legal notice read by more people, email or call Keith Foutz, publisher, klfoutz@earlybirdpaper.com, 5483330.
Visit The Early Bird tent at The Gathering at Garst
Darke County Commissioners Diane Delaplane, Michael Rhoades and Mike Stegall signed a proclamation declaring the week of July 13-19 as Paint the County Purple: Darke County Relay for Life Week. Left to right: Lisa Irey, Vickie Miller, Rose Schlater, Joyce Johnson, Ray Johnson and Sarah Burke. (Clinton Randall photo)
Paint the County Purple Week DARKE COUNTY – In conjunction with the Darke County Relay for Life, the Darke County Commissioners proclaimed the week of July 13-19 as “Paint the County Purple! - Darke County Relay for Life Week” All citizens and businesses of Darke County are urged to join in the fight against cancer by decorating the towns, homes and businesses in purple! Consider making it a block competition. Then take a picture of your neighborhood or individual decorations and submit your photo to schlater48@embarqmail.com. Be sure to submit your name, address, phone number along with your picture. Win-
ners will be announced at the Relay on July 18. The business winner will receive free advertising on the 2015 Relay T-Shirts. The homeowner winner will receive a Relay Basket full of goodies. The deadline to submit a picture is 2 p.m. on July 17. Questions may be directed to Rose at 526-5151. Please show your support by decorating your house, town and business district purple. The Darke County Relay for Life will be held at Heritage Park in Versailles beginning July 18, 6 p.m. with an opening ceremony and going throughout the night (because cancer never sleeps) until noon (the closing ceremony) on
July 19. Relays are for Celebrating (with those who are survivors) – Remembering (those who lost their battle) – Fighting Back (to find a cure and educate). During the relay luminaries are available to purchase. However advanced purchases are encouraged by contacting Michele Alt at malt@midmark. com or going online at www.relayforlife.org/ darkecounty and click on the “Dedicate a Luminaria” icon. Luminaries are $10 each. Each luminary is inscribed with the name of the person to be honored or remembered. The luminaries are placed around the track and at dusk (ap-
proximately 9:45 p.m.) the Luminary Ceremony will begin reading the names and lighting the luminaries. Also on Friday starting at 7:30 p.m. is the Relay for Life Auction with many great items that would appeal to individuals, families, young and old. Cincinnati Red’s tickets, tickets to a NASCAR truck race held at Eldora Speedway, a beach bag filled with gift cards & lottery tickets, and gift card to the Inn of Versailles to name a few. There are also many activities designed for the young children with entertainment by Tyler &
RELAY
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House fire erupts in New Madison N E W MADISON – Crews battled a multi-alarm house fire at CLINTON RANDALL 350 S Main Staff Writer St. in New bluebagmedia.com Madison in the early morning hours of Tuesday, July 8. The New Madison Fire Department called for mutual aid as flames were clearly visible as they arrived on the scene just after 1 a.m. Crews from both Darke and Preble County rushed to help contain the fire a block from the Tri-
Village school and only feet from neighboring homes. The cause is not yet confirmed and remains under investigation. It was reported the fire started in the upper part of the home as flames shot out from the roof. According to a 911 caller, they could see fire in the kitchen light socket before exiting the home. Two juvenile residents were able to get out of the burning home without injury. The rest of the family were in Florida on vacation at the time.
The single story home suffered extensive damage throughout and is reported to be a total loss.
Police Beat .................pg. 2
Church/Social ........ pg. 6/7
On Your Mind .............pg. 5
Obituaries ...................pg. 8
Grumpy Side of 60 .....pg. 5
Senior Scribes...........pg. 15
Log on to blubagmedia.com for exclusive video of the fire and auto of actual 911 call.
GREENVILLE – The Early Bird and Bluebag Media will have a booth at this year’s The Gathering at Garst. Be sure to stop by for a chance to win burritos from Hot Head Burrito or a meal from The Bistro Off Broadway. In addition to offering the giveaway, local cartoonist Paul Ackley will be present on both days drawing caricatures. Ackley has been expressing his opinion through cartoons for almost 40 years. His editorial cartoons currently appear each week in The Early Bird. Many of those cartoons will be available
for sale during The Gathering. Proceeds from the sale of his editorial cartoons will be donated to the Senior Scribes Scholarship Fund to help local students further their education. The Gathering at Garst will be held July 26 and 27 on the grounds of the Garst Museum. Be sure to stop by the tent, visit with The Early Bird and Bluebag Media staff, meet Paul Ackley, signup for the daily e-mail newsletter and have a chance to win dinner from Hot Head Burrito or The Bistro Off Broadway.
Darke County approves balanced mid-year budget GREENVILLE – Darke County Commissioners approved a balBOB ROBINSON anced midAssociate Editor year budget bluebagmedia.com on June 30 for the first time in three years. The General Fund budget for 2015, at least at this point, is $16,882,522. Because a balanced mid-year budget is not required by law, it is treated more as a “wish list,” or an anticipated budget if funds come in as expected, according to commissioners. The mid-year budgets for 2013 and 2014 were both approved in the “red,” with anticipated expenses exceeding anticipated income. They were approved by 2-1 margins, with Commissioner Diane Delaplane voting no on both occasions. This year the vote was unanimous. In her report to the commissioners, Darke County Auditor Carol Ginn noted the county had seen an $872,998 increase in income tax receipts from 2011 to 2013. During the same time period, however, Local Government revenue decreased $316,394. She noted the state will likely reduce local income again, “so any increase in sales tax would be offset by the reduction of Local Government Revenue.” “Taxpayers don’t understand how the loss of Local
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Government revenue impacts their services,” she said. “Originally, the state had asked the people to support a tax increase; in return they promised the local governments would get a share.” She added this decreasing Local Government revenue impacts governments at all levels: county, city, village, township and other tax-funded entities. Ginn acknowledged the previous two years of midterm budgets were passed in the red, but was pleased to note this one is balanced. “It’s really like we look at the dollars coming in as anticipated money,” adding the end of the year budget, by law, must balance. “This year it looks like we’re going to be right on target,” she said. Neither the commissioners nor Ginn rely on anticipated casino revenue or sales tax increases in determining potential receipts versus appropriations. The funds coming from those sources helped in creating a carryover balance for this year of $3,543,184. In her report, Ginn also noted the Darke County Wagner Avenue facility debt, as of Dec. 31, will be $6,125,214.37. Principal and interest due in 2015 will be $535,407.51. “The county General Fund will need to continue to help support this facility,” she added.