{"id":201137,"date":"2026-01-02T23:42:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T04:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=201137"},"modified":"2026-01-04T21:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T02:55:08","slug":"top-2025-local-stories-that-didnt-quite-make-the-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/01\/02\/top-2025-local-stories-that-didnt-quite-make-the-cut\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 2025 stories that didn’t make the cut"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 is now in the rear-view mirror but the year provided some notable moments at the local level. The VW independent<\/em> wrapped up its Top 10 stories of 2025 series on December 31, but here are five other stories\/events that didn\u2019t make the cut but are worth a second look. They are listed in no particular order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pharmacy break-ins<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September, three men dressed all in black broke into three pharmacies in three different counties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first was at Hicksville Pharmacy and Home at 5:20 a.m. September 11, followed by Oukley\u2019s Pharmacy in Paulding about 25 minutes later. The burglars then made their way to Van Wert and broke into the Genoa walk-up pharmacy at Westwood Behavorial Center in Van Wert about 45 minutes after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just one of the break-ins was successful. According to Hicksville Police Chief Mark Denning, the suspects were in Hicksville Pharmacy and Home for less than five minutes and were able to steal an unknown amount of narcotics from the pharmacy area, plus a small amount of cash from the register. The men left the other two pharmacies emptyhanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To this day, no charges have been filed.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
There was a heavy law enforcement presence at Westwood Behavorial Center after a September 11 break-in. VW independent file photos<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Council gets a raise<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After months of discussion, members of Van Wert City Council approved raises, which took effect with the 2026 term. No one is getting rich though. In 2025, council members had an annual salary of $4,900. This year, they\u2019ll make approximately $5,400, or about $42 more per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crestview picks a new superintendent<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early March, the Crestview Local Schools Board of Education unanimously approved the hiring of Matt Dube as the district\u2019s new superintendent. He was chosen to replace Kathy Mollenkopf, who retired after serving in that role since 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dube had served as principal at Fort Jennings Elementary for 11 years and also served as varsity boys soccer and baseball coach. He decided now was the time to make a move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(Crestview) is a very similar school district to Fort Jennings, just a little larger,\u201d Dube said. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to be a superintendent but I had not looked anywhere else. This one came across my desk \u2013 my superintendent actually passed it on to me and said this would be a great one. I took a chance, threw my resume out, my wife and kids supported it and here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Dube\u2019s first official day was August 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mid-June storms<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after 6 p.m. on June 18, a powerful storm system blew into Van Wert County \u2013 literally \u2013 and left behind a wide path of damage. It wasn\u2019t a tornado, just stong straightline winds, a microburst and a gustnado. Trees fell on homes, garages and cars, fell across streets and roads and took down power lines but fortunately, no injuries were reported. Along with downed trees and other damage, the storm left power outages around the city, including 12 transmission poles that came down east of Vantage Career Center, along with several in front of Trinity Friends Church. Those poles feed the northern portion of Van Wert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grocery store saved<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In mid-March, much to the chagrin of its regular customers, it was announced that discount grocer Save A Lot would close its Van Wert store. However, one day after employees at the S. Shannon St. store were informed of the decision, they were told that Save A Lot corporate purchased the store and would keep it open. The grocery employs roughly two dozen workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are links to the VW independent\u2019s Top 10 stories of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. 10, No. 9<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. 8, No. 7<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. 6, No. 5<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. 4, No. 3<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. 2, No. 1<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor 2025 is now in the rear-view mirror but the year provided some notable moments at the local level. The VW independent wrapped up its Top 10 stories of 2025 series on December 31, but here are five other stories\/events that didn\u2019t make the cut but are worth a second look. They are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 16:30:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201137"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201230,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201137\/revisions\/201230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}