By Jake Dowling, Icon intern
Ready, get set, swim! That command starts Friday at the Bluffton Community Swimming Pool.
This year, Bluffton hosts the Western Ohio Aquatic League meet championships. The event, will bring hundreds of fans and swimmers to Bluffton for the next two days.
"Warms-up is at 7 a.m. followed by festivities at 9 a.m. and swimming beginning around 10 a.m." said Liz Diller, one of the two Bluffton swim team coaches. "Normally we have a couple thousand fans here, so it adds up pretty quickly."
A book signing party at Common Grounds will launch a children's book titled "Look For Something Good," written by Bluffton resident Steve Yoder. The event is from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Thursday, July 12.
Yoder says the book is a story with a lesson, adding, "It's a parable, which deals with a tough set of circumstances involving a young boy."
Yoder, who is lead pastor of First Mennonite Church, Bluffton, says that the book is written for youth, particularly at the fourth grade level.
By Jake Dowling, Icon intern
There are hundreds of social networking websites. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Pinterest, Google+ and Instagram are just a few. That is great and all but do we really need all of these sites that share something in common?
For example, MySpace and Facebook, what is really the difference between the two? Yes, there are major differences, but here is a question older generations have always asked... why would you post something, sometimes private, and let other people see it? Who cares why do it?
By Jake Dowling, Icon intern
If anyone watches college football, many would agree that the sport is fun to watch, with all of the upsets and great matchups. But, one would also know that it can be frustrating at times as well, especially if your team was not selected by a hand full of computers to play in the National Title Game.
Each year Maple Crest residents participate in an international party. On July 2, 2012, they celebrated the legal holiday of "Canada Day," since the July 1 anniversary date of the 1867 enactment of the British North America Act fell on Sunday.
That Act united three British colonies into a single country (within the British Empire) - Canada.
Maple Crest resident Gladys Simmons was raised in Canada and found herself drawn to the Royal Family, partly because Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, was born the same year as Gladys.
A great big thank you to the people of Bluffton for your support of the Motor Coach Safety bill, which was passed by Congress this past week as part of the Transportation bill.
Thank you for signing the petition to members of Congress and for writing to them. It has been five years since the Bluffton University bus crash and the beginning of the petition drive, and finally now the US will have buses with seat belts, safer glass, stronger bus bodies, better training for drivers and other safety features.
