March 2023

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Last week the Icon welcomed 10 new email subscribers and now has over 900 readers receiving daily updates.

Choose from a brief introduction to each story with clickable links or a full text, printable version. Both are issued at 5:00 p.m. Subscribe HERE.

The Bluffton Icon provides free news, updated daily, thanks to our advertisers!

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Mennonite Memorial Home of Mennonite Home Communities of Ohio is hosting an Easter Egg Hunt on April 1 at 10:00-10:30 a.m. sharp! (FLYER)

Sponsored by Lewis Family McDonald's, families can

  • Get pictures with the Easty Bunny
  • For kids 8 years old and under accompanied by an adult
  • Bring your Easter Basket

The event will be held in the backyard of the Mennonite Memorial Home, 410 W. Elm. The main building and restrooms will be closed.

Share your organization's flyer with the Icon by email or tag @blufftonicon on Facebook!

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Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 301 North Main Street, Jenera, will hold a Lenten service on Wednesday, March 22, at 7:00 p.m.

Pastor Kurtis Feimuth from Peace Lutheran Church in Deshler will lead the service following the theme: "His Final Steps Led to His Enemies" based on Luke 20:9-19. 

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Voting for military and overseas Ohioans has begun for the May 2 election. On Friday, March 17, Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) ballots were sent to men and women in the military who are stationed abroad and to Ohioans working overseas by county boards of elections. 

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A letter to Icon readers from Liz Gordon-Hancock:

I’ve been told that the basement barber shop at 125 N. Main St. Lower (currently Stoney’s Barber Shop) has been a barber shop in continuous operation for over 100 years. I’ve also heard rumors that this is one of the few remaining basement barber shops in the state of Ohio. 

Ever since I purchased this building (125 N. Main St and down the right side of Vine St.) from Richard Boehr in 2020, I’ve been trying to piece together all the different barbers which have used the basement premises, as a way of confirming its 100-year tenure and preserving the history of the place.

But I’ve found a lot of holes in my information, and wondered whether the community could help me fill in the gaps in my knowledge.  

According to the inimitable fount of knowledge Richard Boehr, the first barber at this location was "Curly" Basinger's great-grandfather. According to a quote in the Bluffton Icon, “The shop was later headquarters for a Mr. Day, Bob Lewis, Dick Smith and later Jerry Marshall.” I’ve been able to confirm some, but not all, of this. My research doesn’t seem to stretch much before 1921, and I still have a few gaps between then and 2011. 

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Do you know the way to www.AdaIcon.com? Here's an easy shortcut to our neighbors down SR 235:

Elzay Gallery hosts work by ceramic artist Joseph Delphia

2023 Ada chamber honors: Carol Slane Florist, Wynn Hauenstein and Hays Insurance

Ada Schools invite community to participate in Kindness and Inclusion month

Equitas Health fundraiser to be held March 25

Powder Buff prom fundraiser in pics

Check the Icon every Sunday for a Bluffton-Ada headline swap.

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On Monday, March 20, the Bluffton Exempted Village Schools will hold a regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the Media Center of the Elementary School. The agenda includes establishing a fund for the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC) K-12 Safety Grant in the amount of $300K, resignations and contracts including the resignation of Jodi Brauen and the hiring of Courtnee Morris as Technology Coordinator.

Details from the attached agenda include the following:

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By Fred Steiner
www.BlufftonForever.com

This flood became so devastating that it had a name: The Great Flood of 1913. It’s also called Ohio’s greatest natural disaster. And, Bluffton experienced it on March 23-26, 110 years ago this month.

Here’s a photo (at right, click to enlarge) of the swollen Riley Creek on Cherry Street at the height of the flood. How was this photo taken? In a boat? We don’t know.

The building slightly visible on the left today is Village Cut ‘N’ Curl, 207 Cherry Street. In 1913 the Cut ‘N’ Curl building and the building connected to it was the Ed Jones Furniture Store. 

The center building was the Phillip Wilch buggy shop. The two-story building on the far right was a Triplett storage building. 

Believe it or not, a fire occurred in the storage building during the height of the flood, believed to be caused by a short circuit. The Bluffton fire department somehow put out the fire.

The complete story and more photos are HERE.

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Jennifer R. High, age 32, passed away March 11, 2023, at 5:52 p.m., at her residence. Jennifer was born March 12, 1990 in Lima, OH, to Chris J. and Tammie G. (Lewis) High.

Jennifer is survived by her father, Chris J. (Jean Setser) High Sr. of Columbus Grove, OH, her life partner, Cody King of Lima, OH, her daughter, Emma King of Lima, OH, a brother, Christopher High Jr. of Columbus Grove, OH, a sister, Laura (Justin Veit) High of Columbus Grove, OH, a niece, Natalie Veit and 3 nephews: Blaike, Cameron and Chad Veit, special aunts: Freda, Debbie, Tina, Karen and Eva. She was preceded in death by her mother, Tammie High and a niece, Autumn Veit.

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From www.weather.gov, a Special Weather Statement from the National Weather Service Northern Indiana 529 AM EDT Sat Mar 18 2023

...BRIEF PERIOD OF HEAVIER SNOW THIS MORNING... A band of moderate to briefly heavy snow is expected to affect areas roughly along and south of the US Route 24 corridor across north central and northeast Indiana along with northwest Ohio.

Visibilities will drop to less than one half of a mile briefly as this band shifts from west to east through 10 AM EDT.

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