YWCA announces special celebration and campaign

Photos: Wetzelland 2026

Wetzelland 2026 is in the books. The four-day event ran from last Thursday through Sunday near Grover Hill and was billed as the premiere motorcycle party in Ohio. It was a celebration of motorcycle culture, camaraderie and adventure that drew bikers and enthusiasts from across the U.S., Canada, and beyond. Wetzelland featured bike shows and games, live music and food, drinks, vendors and more. Charles Cochran of New Bremen was the winner of the 40th annual bike drawing. The bike came from Joe Bayliff’s Route 20 Harley-Davidson in Upper Sandusky. Bob Barnes/Van Wert independent

THM fix in the works, along with vouchers

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

It’s a longstanding problem that hasn’t gone away but that’s about to change.

For several years, the City of Van Wert has dealt with higher than accepted levels of THM (total trihalomethanes) in the city’s drinking water. The EPA’s standard is 0.080 mg/L but at times, Van Wert’s levels have come in slightly above that. Notices sent out by the city have said the levels detected do not pose an immediate health risk. However, some people who drink water containing trihalomethanes in excess of the MCL over many years may experience problems with their liver, kidneys, or central nervous systems.

Now, the Ohio EPA has approved plans for the city to address high levels of total trihalomethanes in the drinking water supply.

During Monday night’s Van Wert City Council meeting, council members approved an ordinance allowing Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming to seek bids and award and sign contracts for a project to fix the problem. Fleming said the work is expected to cost appromixately $2.1 million.

He previously explained that the state EPA is requiring the city to replace the gates on the reservoir structures, and noted there are three structures on each reservoir that allows water to come in for three different depths.

“The reason it’s so expensive is the sluice gates of that size are extremely expensive and it’s all going to have to be done with divers,” Fleming said. “We are excited to get this underway. We have already installed mixers in the water towers and have seen positive results. Not specifically with THMs, but our chlorine residuals have been much more stable and easier to control in the distribution system.

Fleming said if all goes as planned, work should start in September and last into next spring.

“The type of winter will have a lot to do with progress,” he noted.

During the administrative reports portion of Monday’s meeting, Mayor Ken Markward said beginning next month, the city will once again offer trash vouchers for use during the month of September.

DAR attends Celina Lake Festival parade

VW independent staff/submitted information

CELINA — The Isaac Van Wart Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution celebrated their patriotic heritage, with their beautiful DAR America 250 float at Saturday’s Celina Lake Festival parade.

DAR members can prove their lineage back 250 years to a family member who fought or otherwise served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Their float featured the National DAR official logo for the 250^th celebration and the members dressed in “Continental” costumes or official chapter 250th shirts. A DAR husband built and drove the float and a DAR grandchild who portrayed Isaac Van Wart was in the parade. In addition, two DAR grandchildren in Continental costumes including General George Washington and Elizabeth, Washington’s niece were in the parade, along with a DAR member who portrayed Betsy Ross sewing the first flag of the United States of America.

Of utmost historical value, the members carried the three recently acquired busts of American Revolutionary War Heroes John Paulding, David Williams and county/city namesake Isaac Van Wart. The busts are 3-D printed by permission of the John Henri Isaac Browere Collection, where the original bronze busts are housed in the Fenimore Museum in Cooperstown NY. The busts were commissioned in the early 1800’s and were the men’s “live” or life busts created by artist John Henri Isaac Browere using warm wax on living subjects.

These three Revolutionary War Heroes, as young militia men, captured the British spy Major John Andre who had just left West Point New York Colony, where he had conspired with American General Benedict Arnold to commit treason and hand over Fort West Point. The trio made the Andre strip down and found, in his boot, the incriminating documents. After a trial and conviction, Andre was later hung as a spy. Benedict Arnold got away and served the British for the rest of his life, but his name goes down in infamy.

Paulding, Van Wart and Williams were each rewarded with a farm, a $200 stipend yearly for life, and had a county named after each of them in the wild state of Ohio – Williams, Paulding and Van Wert counties. They each received the first every silver Fidelity Medal of Honor from the second Continental Congress and General George Washington himself.

Rockford church plants special tree

Submitted information

ROCKFORD — The membership of St. Paul’s Country Church of Rockford recently celebrated America 250 with a Christian dedication ceremony for an America 250 Liberty Tree which they planted on their church ground.

Consistory president Susan Cully Etzcorn, in her dedication address thanked God, and said the tree honors the nation’s 250th birthday by blending faith and patriotism.

“We have a Heritage in the United States of America and in our state of Ohio and these roots run deep through our ancestors,” she said.

She then shared this scripture: Isaiah 61:3 (NIV) – says “…They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”  

The scripture was perfect for dedicating the church’s nine foot tall white oak sapling that will grow for generations. White oak trees typically live between 300-500 years. They grow slowly, about 12 inches per year. In Ohio, it is a hearty tree.

Chris Canary read scripture, and reminded the members to share the Heritage of the tree with family and friends and remind them of 250 years of the United States of America and God.

Sheila Baltzell-Linn organized the event for the Consistory, registered the Liberty Tree with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and placed a plaque beneath the tree.

Van Wert tree commission to return?

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

After many years of dormancy, Van Wert’s tree commission may come alive again.

At Van Wert City Council’s meeting earlier this month, an ordinance was introduced by Fourth Ward Councilman Eric Hurless to strike the commission from the city’s code of ordinances, but Councilman At-Large Hall Block objected and said he knows of people willing to serve on such a commission. During Monday night’s meeting, two speakers, Bob Motycka, who lives just outside the city limits, and local resident Rachel Hoverman spoke about the benefits of trees and having a tree commission. Later in meeting, Hurless said he was surprised by the outpouring of support for the commission, changed course and said he’s willing to give it a shot.

“If it works great, if it doesn’t, we can always get rid of it in the future,” he said.

After that, council members voted 7-0 against the proposal to do away with the commission. It will have its third and final reading at the next meeting, and the vote is expected to be the same. At some point after that, Mayor Ken Markward will be tasked with selecting five people to serve on the commission.

An ordinance that would prohibit smoking in all city owned parks was also voted down on its second advisory reading. The vote was 5-2, with Block, who came up with the proposed ordinance, and First Ward Councilman Jeff Agler voted in favor. The measure will be brought back for a third and final vote at the next meeting and is expected to fail, meaning the ordinance will not go into effect.

A pair of ordinance up for second advisory readings were tabled for more revisions. One deals with private wells within the city limits while the other concerns door-to-door salespeople. The suggested revisions did not sit well with Agler.

“This should have already been hashed out and discussed before the ordinance was even prepared,” Agler stated. “Now we’ve prepared it and we’re going through all these changes…you’ve got me lost.”

City Auditor Erika Blackmore read aloud a statement after an effort to place a zoning initiative on the November ballot came up short, due to an insufficient number of valid signatures. The full statement can be found in a separate story.

Full statement on petition rejection

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

As first reported early Monday afternoon, a data center zoning initiative will not appear on the ballot in Van Wert this fall.

The proposed initiative would have given city residents the opportunity to repeal an ordinance passed by Van Wert City Council in May that permits data centers in I-2 zoned areas of the city.

Petitions to place the initiative on the November 3 ballot were circulated by city resident Joe Jared and others, with the idea of potentially stopping QTS from building a $10 billion data center in Van Wert.

However, petitions to get the issue on the ballot fell short of the required number of valid signatures. According to Pam Henderson, Director of the Van Wert County Board of Elections, the petitions needed 323 valid signatures, but only 255 signatures were deemed valid during the vertification process.

She also said because the petitions were submitted to the Board of Elections, new signatures cannot be added to them, effectively killing the proposal.

During Monday night’s meeting of Van Wert City Council, City Auditor Erika Blackmore read aloud a statement about the petition. This is the full text.

As the City Auditor, I am presenting the certification received from the Van Wert County Board of Elections regaring the initiative petition filed with my office.

Pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Section 731.28, an initiative petition proposing an ordinance change must first be filed with the City Auditor. Upon receipt of the petition, I carried out the duties assigned to my offce by the Ohio Revised Code. My responsibilities in this process are administrative and procedural, as prescribed by law. They do not include determining the merits of the proposed ordinance, interpreting its legality, or deciding whether it should be adopted.

In accordance with Ohio Revised Code Sections 731.28 and 731.34, the petition remained on file in my office for the required ten (10) day statutory period following its filing. During that time, the petition was kept open for public inspection during normal business hours, as required by law, and any member of the public had the opportunity to inspect it.

MSVW offering free movie night

VW independent staff/submitted information

A fun-filled evening of entertainment is in store, as Main Street Van Wert welcomes the community to Ohio Goes to the Movies, featuring Disney’s highly anticipated Zootopia 2 this Saturday, August 1, at Fountain Park.

The evening’s festivities will begin at 6:30 p.m., giving families time to gather, enjoy the park, and spend time together before the movie. Disney’s Zootopia 2 is expected to begin around 8:45 p.m., once it is dark enough for the best viewing experience.

Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, blankets, and their favorite movie snacks.

The free community event is sponsored by Van Wert Manor.

“We’re thrilled to continue offering free events that bring our community together,” Main Street Van Wert Executive Director Mitch Price said. “A special thank you to Van Wert Manor for sponsoring this event and helping provide a memorable evening for local families.”

For updates and additional community events, follow Main Street Van Wert on Facebook.

Breaking: data center initiative falls short

VW independent staff

It appears as though a data center zoning initiative will not be on the ballot in Van Wert this fall.

The initiative would have given residents the opportunity to repeal an ordinance passed by Van Wert City Council in May that permits data centers in industrial zoned areas of the city.

Petitions to place the initiative on the November 3 ballot were circulated by city resident Joe Jared and others, in hopes of stopping QTS data centers from building a $10 billion data center on Van Wert’s east side. According to Pam Henderson, Director of the Van Wert County Board of Elections, the petitions needed 323 valid signatures but fell short. 255 signatures were deemed valid during the vertification process.

Because the petitions were submitted to the Board of Elections, new signatures cannot be added to them.

Council to hold second meeting of July

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Van Wert City Council’s first meeting of July was the longest one in recent memory, lasting two hours and 45 minutes. Monday night’s meeting could be another lengthy one.

During the July 13 meeting, council members spent a significant amount of time about legislation proposed by Councilman At-Large Hall Block that if enacted, would prohibit smoking cigarettes, cigars, vapes, pipes and other smoking devices at all city-owned parks. The proposed ordinance does not include marijuana, because pot consumption is already banned on all city-owned property.

The no-smoking proposal was met with some resistance from audience members who said they smoke or are former smokers. In addition, a couple of council members questioned the need for such a law and after that, the ordinance was revised to allow smoking only in the parking lot of each park. The vote on the first advisory reading was 5-2, with council members Jana Ringwald and Eric Hurless casting the “no” votes. The proposed legislation will have its second reading Monday night and will likely have its third and final reading at council’s August 10 meeting.

Two weeks ago, a long discussion was held by council members about legislation proposed by Hurless that would do away with the city’s tree commission, which was established 45 years ago but has not been in use in decades. Block objected to idea of no tree commission on the books and said he knows of 10 people interested in serving on it. The ordinance to do away with a tree commission advanced to a second reading by a 5-2 vote.

Among the other items on Monday’s agenda:

Property tax bills due next month

Submitted information

A reminder – in Van Wert County, the second half real estate and manufactured home tax due dates will be moved from their original dates due to the passing of the House Bill 186 inflation cap. The new due dates will be August 5, for real estate bills and August 31 for manufactured homes.

The HB 186 inflation cap may cause adjustments to be reflected on property and manufactured home bills if the parcel(s) meet the applicable criteria, but not all parcels will do so. Should you have questions regarding if your parcel meets the criteria, the Auditor’s office will be available to assist with this.

If you paid your taxes in full with the first half payment and the adjustment caused an overpayment on your parcel, the overpayment will be issued as a credit to the parcel. Should you have any questions regarding bills or payments, the Treasurer’s Office will be available to assist with this.