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BHS swim teams make top three at conference championships

Bowlus and Verb set league records 

The Bluffton High School boys and girls swim team competed on Saturday, January 28  in the North Central Ohio Swim conference championships hosted by Colonel Crawford high school in North Robinson, Ohio. Bluffton joined eight other teams from Colonel Crawford, Upper Sandusky, Ada, Bucyrus, Fostoria, Elgin, McComb and Mt. Gilead high schools. 

The girls team finished in second with 253 points behind Colonel Crawford with 302.5 points. The Upper Sandusky team finished in third place with 241.5 points. 

The boys team finished third with 220 points. Colonel Crawford boys won with 315 points, with Upper Sandusky in second with 224.5 points.

Three conference records were broken by the Pirates. Jackson Bowlus now holds the conference record in the boys 50 freestyle with a time of :22.99. Riley Verb holds two conference records, one in the boys 200 IM with a time of 2:13.97 and the boys 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:02.62.

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February calendar shaping up

Have special dates for your Bluffton area organization to share with the community? Email [email protected] to put them on our Community Calendar.

February 2023 programs and services at Bluffton Public Library

Here comes February and plenty of new events and programs at the Bluffton Public Library, 145 S. Main St. 419-358-5016.

READING CHALLENGES
From Feb. 1 to Feb. 28, Bluffton Public Library is participating in “For the Love of Reading,” and “Black History Month” Reading Challenges sponsored by Beanstack.  Earn badges while you fall in love with reading this month or as you learn more about Black history, celebrate authors and illustrators and explore events in our community honoring Black experiences.  Keep Reading Bluffton!

STORYTIME
Family, Pre-K, & Baby Storytime (R): Begins on February 6 to April 26. Register on our webpage, phone call, by QR code https://tinyurl.com/Storytime2023, or stop by the library front desk to register. Storytime is a reading and song-filled half hour to encourage a relationship with reading. Register for Monday evenings @ 6:00 p.m. OR Wednesday mornings at 10:00 & 10:30 a.m.  

BOOK GROUPS
Noon Book Group (R) meets in person Wed. Feb 1 to discuss The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave. On Wed., March 1 the group will discuss Grandma Gatewood's Walk by Ben Montgomery.  Stop by the library's front desk to pick up the book for the next discussion and to sign up for email updates and reminders. 

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From Wilson Football Festival's Punt Pass & Kick to national finals

This past weekend PPK USA hosted their national punt, pass and kick contest in Tampa, Florida, including competitors advancing from the Made in Ada Wilson Football festival regional event. 

Jamarcus St Laurent is now the National Champion 1st place overall ages 8-9 and Kamden Sampson placed 2nd overall ages 6-7. See additional phots on the Ada Area Chamber of Commerce Facebook page.

Also advancing from the local competition were

Brody Donley, Bluffton

Aubree Fischer, Delphos

Tanner Hirsch, Bluffton

Trace Hirsch, Bluffton

Dash Torres, Lima

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A book reviewed during a storm

By Robert McCool

After a spell of ill health, I find myself back at the books and the keyboard during a winter storm, ready to talk about a book I wanted to hate, but couldn't.

Barbara Kingsolver is a great writer who presents her stories as plain-faced as a tale can be. This leads to some unpleasant topics sometimes when a story absolutely must be told. Such is “Demon Copperhead” ($34.50 ISBN:987-0-06-326746-6), an Oprah's Book Club 2022 selection.

The book is all about a boy (Daemon) with red hair (Copperhead) growing up up in the Apalachicola South, with all its poverty–which means plenty of teen mothers and drugs, among other things like high school football, drinking excessively and having not much future to look forward to. On the other hand, family is tight and most important in life.

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BHS boys basketball nipped in 2-OT by P-G

By Cort Reynolds

The visiting Bluffton High School boys basketball team lost a double-overtime thriller to Pandora-Gilboa 58-56 Saturday night.

The Pirates knocked down 11 three-pointers, but came up just short in the annual non-conference rivalry battle.

Bluffton fell behind 17-6 after the first quarter, but rallied in the second stanza to be down only 21-18 at halftime. 

The Pirates inched within 34-32 heading to the fourth period.

Bluffton drained four triples in the final stanza to tie it up 44-44 at the end of regulation.

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