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Saturday, January 7, 2023
SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 2023
HARRISONNEWSHERALD.COM
Jewett Local siblings Nov. PD graduate from election shows enters West Point every year vote with no counts open cases BY CORNELIA GRACE Harrison News-Herald Reporter
BY CORNELIA GRACE Harrison News-Herald Reporter JEWETT—The Jewett Village Council met on January 2 for the first of their regularly scheduled monthly meetings. Jim Thompson spoke to the council about two lots belonging to Jewett that had been put up for bid. Thompson pointed out that the lot numbers that were run in the paper under legal notices were incorrect. Fiscal Officer Linda Ager had recently noticed this as well and was prepared to bring it up at the meeting. The notices ran for two weeks, but the village had not yet received any bids on the properties. The council thanked Thompson for bringing the problem to their attention and eventually decided it would be best for Jewett to keep the lots for the village after all. Police Chief Ron Carter shared his yearend report, “This is my favorite time to give a report,” he said. “We’re a high visibility department. So for 2022, we had 227 calls for service with 227 reports completed, 258 traffic stops, with 161 of those cited.” He read through the types of cases handled by the department over the year and announced that they are entering 2023 with no open cases. “I think that shows quite a bit of the work we do. Even though we are a small town, a lot of things happen here,” he said. Mayor George Bailie gave a short progress report on grants and demolition projects, “Hasn’t moved too much,” he said. “I’ll call the commissioners again tomorrow … as far as the Brownfield … hopefully this week we will find out the process for the Brownfield. As far as the school and the gym, they’ll be tearing down both.” He then shared that for the Ohio EMA, regarding damages incurred during the February flood, all paperwork will be completed soon and turned in. Ager commented on how impressed she was with the work of those who helped with flood damage. “The documentation they did for the flooding, they were spot on with everything,” she said. With the holidays just passed, the topic of Christmas lights was brought up. A couple of members discussed looking for new decorations for the 2023 holiday season since the current decorations are very old and don’t cover most of the village. To update the decorations, new electrical lines will need to be installed since the current ones are not even adequate for what was used in 2022. Council members expressed that it is a good idea to begin working on the project now, so they’re not scrambling toward the end of the year.
Sage and Lane Peters pose together on campus at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. PHOTO PROVIDED
‘You get the most out of yourself when you invest in others’
‘I firmly believe in living my life with a servant’s heart’
BY CORNELIA GRACE Harrison News-Herald Reporter
BY CORNELIA GRACE Harrison News-Herald Reporter
UHRICHSVILLE—First Lieutenant Lane Peters understands the value of hard work. Growing up on a family farm in rural Ohio, “We had a lot of chores, cutting firewood, feeding animals, making hay, always very involved in that,” he said. But he found ways to appreciate the work, “That doubles as family time… and a workout.” He and his sister, Sage, both participated in 4H, raising hogs and learning lifelong skills in the process. Although neither of his parents are in the military, Lane felt that it was the right path for him. “My decision to go to West Point was two-fold: how I was raised in my faith and wanting to serve others, and then being in sports, I appreciated that structure.” His heavy involvement in sports lent itself to a military career. He wrestled all four years of high school, where he was a three-time state place winner, collected Journeyman AllAmerican accolades in 2016, and won a Senior Nationals title also in 2016. “Ultimately, I could’ve wrestled anywhere,” he said. “But I could only wrestle and serve my country in a few places.” He was recruited to wrestle for the Military Academy at Westpoint. Once enrolled, he didn’t slow down and wrestled a 21-15 record as a freshman, had the quickest pin at the 2019 conference tournament, and finished his senior year with the EIWA Academic Achievement Award. Being in the military almost always brings the opportunity to travel and see the world, “When I was competing, we traveled all over the country. Now that I’ve graduated, I’ve been stationed at West Point as a wrestling coach.”
UHRICHSVILLE—Cadet Captain Sage Peters grew up on a 12-acre farm in Tuscarawas County with her family. She participated in 4H from the time she was nine years old through her last year of high school. Through 4H and growing up with the added responsibilities of caring for animals, Sage said she learned not just about dealing with farm life but also built people skills and many other valuable life lessons, “Looking back, I see that it taught me a lot more than I realized then.” In addition to 4H, she played volleyball and captained the softball team. She was named her team’s player of the year and earned firstteam all-district honors in 2018 and 2019. Sage says that her experiences with sports helped shape her into the person she is today, “Sports taught me how important hard work is. You have to be willing to work on yourself.” Just before high school graduation, she was recruited by the United States Military Academy at West Point, where her hardworking attitude helped her not only in advancement but in standing out as a strong team player, student, and leader. “A team in any sport or the military is really important, and I think both taught me the value of hard work and leadership.” She said she always knew she wanted to go into the military, following in her brother’s footsteps, “Lane getting recruited introduced me to the other military academies, and I visited a few of them because I didn’t want to choose West Point only because my brother was there, but after the visits, I realized it was the best fit for me because it is gritty and the people there were who I wanted to be like.”
See LANE PETERS Pg.- 5
See SAGE PETERS Pg.- 5
CADIZ—The board of elections held its regular monthly meeting in mid-December. While it may feel like the election is already part of the distant past, the results were not certified until the end of November, and the board was still completing audits in December. A post-election audit is a comprehensive review of the results to ensure that they are accurate. In auditing the November 2022 election, Ohio boards used percentage-based audits to determine the accuracy of the results. Secretary of State Frank LaRose said in a press release on December 9, “Yet again, the bipartisan teams of election professionals in all 88 counties delivered another inclusive and secure election for the people of Ohio.” By December 22, the county election boards had finalized their post-election audit of the November 2022 general election. The results show a 99.9% accuracy rate. “Accessibility, security, and accuracy are the crucial elements of maintaining the confidence that voters should have in their elections, and in Ohio, we have all three,” said LaRose. “Because of our dedicated bipartisan election officials, Ohio is devoid of the drama and controversy we see in other states. Another important reason Ohioans know that they can trust our elections is because every election is audited by bipartisan teams of election professionals in our county boards, and the results prove definitively that our elections are run openly, accurately, and honestly. As we wind down 2022, I am grateful for the hard work and dedication of thousands of Ohioans who run our elections and for the exemplary service they provide to Ohio voters and taxpayers.” Harrison County Board of Elections Director Dion Troiano explained how the audits work, “If any results are within half a percent of each other, we conduct our audit immediately because that triggers a recount. If we don’t have anything that triggers a recount, then we conduct an audit afterward, and we have to audit at minimum five percent of the vote. But we usually do about 15-20 percent. That’s to ensure the accuracy of our machines and that everything is correct and everything was counted the way it should be.” The audits have to be performed within a few weeks after the election, but Harrison’s board made sure to start the process as soon as they could. Five percent, or even 15-20 percent, of the vote, is not that many ballots to go through, but with the required 99.7% accuracy in ballot counting, that means smaller counties have very little margin for error as even just one ballot could be a whole percentage. From LaRose, “The November 2022 election resulted in a number of extremely close votes, and eight races resulted in either a tie or were decided by two votes or fewer, proving once again that every vote matters. The mandatory audits and recount requirements are critical in ensuring that certified results are honest and accurate and that voters maintain faith in the outcomes.”
OBITUARIES Beatrice L. “Billie” Dunfee-Smigel Richard Lewis Mutton USPS Publication No. 236-080 One Section, 10 Pages Vol. 55, No. 35
Margaret Jane Frew Brienza Coy Louis Bishop Roberta Lee Kersey Pratt