News Briefs Week of 1/27/20

Serenity Farm
enrolling riders
Serenity Farm, 21870 Lemoyne Rd., Luckey, is enrolling riders ages 3 and up for therapeutic riding sessions. The Saturday-morning sessions offer fun combined with therapy. Sessions are conducted by professional staff and trained volunteers on well trained horses.
Call 419-833-1308 or email info@serenityfarm.org to schedule an appointment to get started. Visit www.serenityfarm.org for more info.

Red Cross issues
call for blood donors
The American Red Cross has extended its urgent call for donors of all blood types to give blood or platelets.
With influenza escalating across the country and preventing some donors from giving, and winter weather threatening to cancel blood drives, the Red Cross has a critical shortage of type O blood and urgently needs donors to restock the shelves.
Currently, the Red Cross has less than a three-day supply of type O blood available for patient emergencies and medical treatments. Type O positive blood is the most transfused blood type and can be given to Rh-positive patients of any blood type. While just 7% of the U.S. population has type O negative blood, it can be transfused to patients with any blood type and is what hospital staff reach for during emergencies when there isn’t time to determine a patient’s blood type.
Donors of all blood types – especially types O positive and O negative – are urged to make an appointment to give blood or platelets using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or enabling the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device.

Chamber annual
dinner meeting
The Oak Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner Meeting will be held Friday, Jan. 31 in the Ottawa County Fairgrounds Hall, 7870 W. SR 163, Oak Harbor.
The evening will begin with a social hour at 6 p.m., followed by a hot buffet dinner at 6:30 p.m., a short business meeting at 7:30 p.m. and entertainment by comedian Billy Ray Bauer from 8-9 p.m.
There will also be a Chinese auction, cash bar and 50/50 drawing.
The cost is $15 per person. RSVP and payment are due by Monday, Jan. 27. For more details, call 419-898-0479.

Museum offering
movie double feature
National Museum of the Great Lakes, 1701 Front St., Toledo, will present a movie double feature Saturday, Jan. 25 from 2-3:30 p.m.
The first film will be “Cutter Rescues,” which chronicles the career highlights of four Great Lakes Coast Guard cutters. The second film, “Safe Ashore,” tells the story of Lake Michigan’s most terrifying storm, the 1940 Armistice Day Storm.
Tickets are $5 for NMGL members and $7 for non-members. Admission includes the movies, popcorn and a soft drink. Museum admission is not included in ticket price.
Tickets are available online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nmgl-movie-club-ric-mixter-double-feature-t....

“Red Letter Edition”
“Red Letter Edition” is the 2020 theme for Ashland Church, which was recently introduced by Dr. Jeff Cooper, senior pastor at Ashland, located at 2350 Starr Ave. Oregon.
Each year, a theme is used to determine what messages will be preached. Red letter edition bibles have only been around for about 120 years. Those are bibles that have all of the words of Jesus in red print to easily identify what Jesus said. The main scripture for this 2020 theme is Matthew 7:24-27.
All sermons preached this year will be based on the words of Jesus. Besides sermons, the church has been given a challenge, which the community is encouraged to participate in as well. The Red Letter Creativity Challenge is to come up with a poem, song, skit, painting, word art, sculpture, video, pictorial or any creative project based on the words of Jesus. After submissions are provided to Pastor Jeff, it will be determined when and how best to present it.
For more info, email pastorjeffcooper@gmail.com.
Ashland Church worship takes place Sundays at 10 a.m. Watch on livestream at www.facebook.com/ashlandchurchoregon.

“Absolutely
A Capella”
Heartland Sings will present “Absolutely A Capella” Saturday, Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Historic Pemberville Opera House. 115 Main St., Pemberville. The performance is part of the ongoing Live! In the House concert series.
Heartland Sings is a nonprofit vocal music production company based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Founded in 1997 by Maestro Robert Nance, Heartland Sings has grown into a broad-based vocal arts company that entertains and enriches audiences and serves as a professional, educational resource for the vocal arts community.
Tickets for the performance are $12 and are available at Beeker’s General Store, 226 E. Front St., Pemberville, by contacting Carol at carol@pembervilleoperahouse.org or 419-287-4848, or at the door.
Visit www.pembervilleoperahouse.org for more information.
Group dropping
referendum effort

Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts, the group that was attempting to place a referendum on the state-wide ballot to repeal House Bill 6, is ending its efforts, a spokesman said Thursday.
The organization filed a motion last week to dismiss its appeal pending before the Sixth District U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, effectively ending its bid for more time to gather signatures on its petitions and have voters decide the fate of the controversial bill.
“Our suit in federal court is now dismissed at our request,” said Gene Pierce.
The group sought to block the enactment of HB 6, which has drawn criticism from a coalition of environmentalists, industry associations and others who see it as little more than a bailout of coal and nuclear power plants in the state. OACB contends the bill also guts renewable energy standards
The bill went into effect Oct. 22 but a provision in it that enacts a monthly surcharge to raise about $1 billion over seven years for nuclear plants operated by FirstEnergy Solutions won’t go into effect until 2021.
OACB had 90 days has to collect 265,744 signatures required to place the referendum on the 2020 ballot. The group faced an Oct. 21 deadline to collect the signatures.
The group filed in U.S. District Court for more time to collect signatures on its petition, claiming it didn’t actually have 90 due to the state taking 38 days to verify its petition forms.
District Court Judge Edmund A. Sargus held the group turned to the wrong court seeking additional days to collect signatures. Sargus instead sent the case to the state Supreme Court.
The Ohio Supreme Court agreed Dec. 24 to rule on the federal court questions concerning the bill and referendum process.