Playing at home, the Bluffton High School softball team crushed Spencerville 18-4 in a run-rule shortened Northwest Conference contest Thursday evening, April 27.
The Pirates scored seven runs in the second inning and plated eight more in the third frame to break the game wide open.
The 61st annual Lima Symphony Orchestra National Young Artists’ Competition will be held on Saturday, April 29 at Yoder Recital Hall on the campus of Bluffton University. The competition this year features piano, winds, and brass. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Including both a Junior and Senior Division, competitors represent the universities and conservatories from across the country.
This year the Friends of the Symphony welcome judges Da Eun Choi (piano), Michele Gingras (clarinet), Stephen Campbell (trumpet), and Hamilton Tescarollo (piano).
Winners will receive cash prizes. First-place winners, upon recommendation of the Lima Symphony Orchestra Music Director, may appear as featured soloists with the Lima Symphony Orchestra at a future date.
The following construction projects have and will continue to impact Bluffton. ODOT District 1 has announced these details, noting that all outlined work is weather permitting.
State Route 103 (Bentley Road) between Main St. and Harmon Rd. in the village of Bluffton closed on Feb. 24 for approximately 64 days for reconstruction and waterline installation. Reopening is anticipated on or near May 5.
Even faithful readers of the Council Summary may not recall that the last meeting ended with an Executive Session. This often means that all Councilors and Administrators troop off to the small adjoining conference room, and those of us not invited to join them head home. Ohio law provides six reasons for legislatures to meet behind closed doors and they are obligated to state which one they're invoking. This time, it was "ongoing litigation." This reporter learned only this week, upon reading the April 10 official minutes, that Council had some time later returned to regular session and voted to enter mediation in a dispute. It's a legal matter with a property owner along the S.R. 103 Pathway project and, when asked, Administrator Jesse Blackburn assured me that it would not delay the project.
On the morning of April 26, the Bluffton Lions Club presented the Bluffton Police Department with its first women’s police patrol bike. The presentation was made with Lions and police department representatives at Bike Crazy LLC, 127 N. Main.
Police Chief Ryan Burkholder notes that “The history of the Bluffton Police Department patrol bikes goes back to the late mid 1990s, which consisted of three men’s bikes. Over the years, the needs of the department have changed with three full-time female police officers and no bikes to fit them properly.
“Corporal Eric Rayle, Stephanie Larcom and I had a discussion when Cpl. Rayle returned back from a Police Bike Instructor course early in Spring of 2022 about moving forward with the appropriate bike for our female officers. Stephanie Larcom suggested a partnership with the Lions Club and was willing to present the idea to the Lions Club at a meeting for us. Corporal Rayle, who is a bicycle enthusiast, spent many hours researching different brands and models which would benefit our female officers. Corporal Eric Rayle found several bikes and then went to our wonderful local business, Bike Crazy, and worked with Raymond and Liz Harner on purchasing the bike through them. At the last Lions Club meeting it was approved and the Lions Club graciously covered the cost of the bike for the department.
Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar: Do you know the difference? Seventh graders Wyatt Moser, left, and Jacob Dawson, right, were prepared to tell you all about them. The April 26 Night At the Museum event at Bluffton Middle School featured many historical figures, as shown in these Jamie Nygaard photos.
