Council hears annexation, rezoning requests, QTS update

Peony pageant applications available

Submitted information

The Van Wert Peony Scholarship Pageant Committee has announced that the application window is open now until December 11. Potential candidates must be female members of the Class of 2027 at participating schools, or a home school student from within those districts. Participating schools include: Antwerp, Continental, Crestview, Delphos Jefferson, Delphos St. Johns, Fort Jennings, Lincolnview, Kalida, Ottoville, Parkway, Paulding, Van Wert, Wayne Trace and Vantage Career Center. 

One candidate will be selected from each school and will receive a minimum scholarship of $300. Total scholarships awarded total over $5,000.  

Applications are available from each school’s office or by emailing vanwertpeonypageant@hotmail.com. 

Gas prices spike, then slowly recede

VW independent staff/submitted information

So much for cheaper gasoline due to a suspension of Ohio’s gas tax. Pump prices locally and around Ohio have climbed above what they were before the state hit pause on the gas tax.

According to GasBuddy’s survey of nearly 5,500 stations in Ohio, average gasoline prices in Ohio have risen 36 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $4.40 per gallon on Monday. Prices in Ohio are 8.0 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and stand $1.49 per gallon higher than a year ago. Locally, gas prices rose to nearly $4.50 per gallon at most stations before falling slightly throughout the weekend.

What’s the reason for the latest increase?

“Average gasoline prices fell in a majority of states over the last week, though a fresh spike in the Great Lakes driven by a regional refinery issue nearly offset the broader decline, with that situation now beginning to clear up,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.

According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Ohio was priced at $3.42 per gallon on Sunday, while the most expensive was $5.69 per gallon, a difference of $2.27 per gallon.

The national average price of gasoline is unchanged  in the last week, averaging $4.24 per gallon on Monday. The national average is down 22.3 cents per gallon from a month ago and stands $1.24 per gallon higher than a year ago, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million weekly price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.
 
Historical gasoline prices in Ohio and the national average going back five years:

October 26, 2025: $2.91/g (U.S. Average: $3.00/g)
October 26, 2024: $2.82/g (U.S. Average: $3.10/g)
October 26, 2023: $3.19/g (U.S. Average: $3.50/g)
October 26, 2022: $3.62/g (U.S. Average: $3.76/g)
October 26, 2021: $3.19/g (U.S. Average: $3.38/g)

Dollar General being sued again

VW independent staff/submitted information

COLUMBUS — Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson and 19 other state attorneys general have joined the Federal Trade Commission in its lawsuit against Dollar General, alleging that the retailer has knowingly persisted in overcharging customers and willfully failed to fix its deceptive pricing.

“The prices on store shelves are what customers should be paying,” Wilson said. “Dollar General has allowed the overcharges to continue at the expense of the very people who keep its lights on.”

The lawsuit marks the second time in recent years that the Ohio Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has sued the retailer. The state sued Dollar General in November, 2022 after numerous consumers complained to the office that the retailer was advertising one price on its store shelves and charging a higher price at registers.

A year later, the AGO reached $1 million settlement with Dollar General that included specific steps for addressing the pricing discrepancies.

With overcharges continuing in Ohio and other states, the attorneys general joined the FTC’s lawsuit, which alleges that Dollar General has for years mislabeled prices, overcharged consumers, and failed to correct the problems despite company executives’ extensive knowledge of them.

According to the lawsuit, Dollar General:

• Has extracted millions of dollars in unlawful overcharges from customers at thousands of its stores by failing to correct the pricing issues.
• Has been the subject of tens of thousands of complaints from consumers nationwide who say the company did not honor its advertised prices, demonstrating widespread consumer harm and underscoring the retailer’s knowledge of the problem.

The FTC and states allege that these practices violate the FTC Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act.

Joining Ohio and the FTC in the lawsuit are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin.

Saunier shares local winter outlook

By Matt Saunier/Van Wert County EMA Director

The question over the last few weeks has been “What will winter be like with a Super El Nino?” To most, “Super El Nino” sounds ominous, but we should keep in mind that “Super” in that term is not an accepted scientific term in the atmospheric science community. Super El Nino was a term coined in the early 2000’s to depict the strength of the current El-Nino Southern Oscillation. NOAA officially categorizes the strength of such conditions as “Very Strong El Nino.”

While the terminology is largely semantics, it sounds a bit more aggressive than it really is, especially for our area of the globe.
 
El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a periodic fluctuation in sea surface temperatures and atmospheric pressure in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that drives global weather and rainfall. (National Centers for Environmental Information) A Very Strong El-Nino is in place when El-Nino region 3.4 surpasses 2°C+ temperature departure from normal. Currently, this region is at a 2.5°C departure.

Looking towards winter time, the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) has published their winter outlook (see maps below). Overall, the temperature outlook leans above normal while the precipitation outlook stays consistent with equal chances of above normal and below normal accumulation of precipitation.

“What is the average temperature and precipitation for Van Wert?”
 
I’m glad you asked! Looking at the 2 charts below pulled from (https://www.weather.gov/wrh/Climate?wfo=iwx) we see that the average temperature for Van Wert over the winter months (January-March) dating back to 1991 is 30.7°F and precipitation is 2.36″. Do understand that this precipitation is not the equivalent to snowfall, we’ll get to that in a second.

City releases leaf pickup schedule

VW independent staff/submitted information

The City of Van Wert has set this year’s leaf pickup schedule.

Make sure that your leaves are in paper biodegradable bags and placed by the curb. If your leaves are not placed in paper biodegradable bags and by the curb, they will not be picked up.

There is not a break down from ward to ward so make sure you place them out by 7 a.m. each of the following Mondays:

• Monday, November 16
• Monday, November 30
• Monday, December 7
• Monday, December 14

Brush will not be picked up.

Fire department hosts push-in ceremony

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

The newest addition to the Van Wert Fire Department’s fleet was given a traditional welcome Monday morning.

The fire department held a “push-in” ceremony with firefighters, city officials and members of the community “pushing in” Engine 3 into its bay at the Municipal Building.

“Years ago when we had horse-drawn fire apparatus, we’d get back from a fire and then they’d unhook the horses and push the apparatus back in the building, so this kind of represents that,” Van Wert Fire Chief Jon Jones said of the push-in.

Many fire departments conduct a push-in ceremony to welcome a new fire engine. Monday’s ceremony also include an official blessing.

Chief Jones described Engine 3 as a rescue engine.

“We carry our tools on it and we put a lot more specialized rescue equipment on it,” he explained. “On our old trucks were didn’t have room for tools for a grain bin rescue but this truck has what they call ‘coffin compartments’ on top. We have a lot more rope rescue, some water rescue stuff that we just didn’t have room for physically on our old trucks.”

Engine 3 welcomed…

Members of the Van Wert Fire Department, city officials and others gathered Monday morning to “push-in” the department’s newest vehicle, Engine 3. The new addition is classified as a rescue engine. Video by Scott Truxell/Van Wert independent

More workers for data center construction

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Original estimates had approximately 1,500 construction workers needed to build Van Wert’s $10 billion QTS data center but those figures have been revised. The number is now larger – a lot larger.

During Sunday’s “Commissioner’s Corner/Mayor’s Conference” program on radio stations 99.7FM WKSD and 1220AM/104.3FM, Van Wert Area Economic Development Director Brent Stevens said

Stevens said ground was recently broken on Phase I of the project, which will include four buildings at the Mega Site on Van Wert’s east side.

“Each building is roughly 650,000 square feet apiece and they’re all being built at once, so that has shifted their numbers up quite a bit,” Stevens said. “There’s going to be a couple of hundred people on this massive ground excavation over the next six months, then they’ll start to go vertical. For the first 12 months, we’re going to be in that 2,000 (construction worker) range, then all the subcontracters are coming in.”

That when the number of construction workers is expected to climb to as many as 5,500 per day.

“5,500 people in town per day, I would say after March of 2028,” he stated.

With several thousand workers coming to the area, the question is – where will they stay?

“I’ve been in the process of going to everybody that can facilitate new housing and going ‘we need to work on getting this done,” Stevens stated on the show. “We’ve been talking about housing for the last year and a half or two years, it’s just sinking in to everybody. I’m talking with several different developers – I’ve been talking to developers in Fort Wayne about building over there as well.”

LHS Theatre Dept. to present fall play

VW independent staff/submitted information

The curtain will soon rise on the Lincolnview High School Theatre Department’s presentation of the hilarious comedy “You Can’t Beat the House” by Pat Cook.

Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, October 31; 2 p.m. Sunday, November 1; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, November 5, and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, November 7, all at the Van Wert Civic Theatre, 118 S. Race St.

In You Can’t Beat the House, two bumbling burglars, Howie and Merle, break into what they believe will be an easy target. However, their simple robbery quickly spirals into a hilarious series of misunderstandings, unexpected visitors, and outrageous twists. With chaos around every corner, nothing goes according to plan in this fast-paced comedy of errors.

The cast includes Graham Kill as Merle, Aaron Sawyer as Howie, Marcus Kerns as Conrad, Katie Kundert as Glenda, Kylie Cummings as Courtney, Destiny Breese as Fern, Adam Baer as Officer Milo, Finn Howard as Lillian, Yaddo Von Stetina as Madame Zenobia, and Parker Goins as Brittany.

Behind the scenes, Gracen Hubble serves as stage manager, with Daphnie Johnson, Sierra Grime, and Chloe Scrader on stage crew. Xander Cowdrick is responsible for lighting, and Josh Spaulding handles sound.

Audiences will also enjoy a short comedy sketch following intermission featuring Owen Dannenfelser, Jackson Purk, Dimitri Linser, Elisha Buehrer, Elex Dunn, Aiden Smith, Zae Dee Lippi, Cora Geiger, Jaycee Kill, Jenna Evans, Sylvia Watkins, and Izzie Bowers.

The production is directed by Chad Kraner, with Adam Ries assisting as assistant director. Mary Ann Falk serves as technical director, and Josh England is the set coordinator.

Convoy-area crash…

One person was taken by medical helicopter to a hospital in Fort Wayne, after a two-car accident at U.S. 30 and Convoy Rd. in Tully Township. The crash occurred at approximately 2 p.m. Saturday. At least one of the vehicles caught fire and truck drivers with extinguishers were able to snuff out the flames. Other passersby rendered assistance as well. The Van Wert Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating the accident. The Van Wert County Sheriff’s Office provided assistance at the scene, along with Convoy Fire & EMS. Mutual aid was provided by the Van Wert Fire Department.Bob Barnes/VWFD photographer