News Briefs Week of 5/18/20

By: 
Staff writer

Memorial Day Service
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the American Legion and the VFW will hold a modified Memorial Day Service at the Veterans Circle at Union Cemetery on Monday, May 25 at 11:30 a.m. The cemetery is located at 11565 W. SR 105, Oak Harbor.
The simplified service will include a benediction, a firing squad salute and raising of the flag at noon. There will be no band, speakers or stands. Attendees may remain in their vehicles. Those who exit their vehicles are asked to maintain social distancing standards. Masks are permitted.

Food assistance
The Oak Harbor Alliance Chapel, located at 11805 SR 105, will continue to provide food supplies to anyone in need by appointment only. Call 419-343-0126 for more details or to make an appointment.

Food pantry hours
Woodville Food Pantry, 213 Bridge St., is available to help those struggling through these difficult times. The pantry is open the last Thursday of the month from 6:30-7:30 p.m. and the last Friday from 8:30-9:30 a.m. Assistance is available to all Woodville village and township residents. Applications are available at the pantry.

Services canceled
Memorial Day Services at Allen Township Cemetery are canceled due to social distancing restrictions.

Ohio OKs garage sales

Spring and summer are when we see garage sales, yard sales, and other outdoor sales pop up all over Ohio. Although the sales had been banned as a result of the pandemic, the Ohio Department of Health recently announced the lifting of restrictions, but want the public to follow guidelines.
Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton, M.D., MPH, strongly recommends that Ohioans take the following actions when having and/or attending these sales:
•Practice social distancing by doing the following:
•Place posters encouraging social distancing for customers to see upon arrival and while shopping.
•Set up tables and chairs within 6 feet apart.
•Use heavy-duty tape to form a flow for customers to follow throughout the sale.
•Ask customers to stand in a line, while spread apart, during a high traffic times.
•Clean all tables and chairs several times throughout the day.
•Make sure all merchandise is washed and dried and/or wiped down with a disinfectant product before placing on a table or chair for sale.
•Wipe down all tables and chairs using disinfectant at the end of the day or in the morning before the next day of the sale starts.
•Wear masks and disposable gloves at all times during the sale.
•Have hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol on tables and other places for customers to use.
For answers to your COVID-19 questions, call 1-833-4-ASK-ODH (1-833-427-5634).

Tornado memories
The Press Newspapers is seeking your recollections of the tornado that hit Millbury and its surrounding area on June 5, 2010, as part of an upcoming series of articles on the 10 year anniversary of the deadly twister. If you have any memories of that day and/or its aftermath that you would like to share with our readers, please contact The Press Features Editor Tammy Walro at twalro@presspublications.com or write to The Press, 1550 Woodville Road, Millbury, OH 43447, by May 25.

Parking rule
enforcement
resumes in city
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz has announced that enforcement of parking violations, such as no parking zones, would resume May 14 and that previously approved changes to metered parking downtown would be suspended.
“Starting today, we will resume enforcement of parking in areas where parking is prohibited, and on May 18 metered parking enforcement will resume downtown,” Mayor Kapszukiewicz said. “We have decided to suspend the changes to parking that were enacted last year, and were set to begin earlier this year. This is a decision we made jointly with the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. Now is not the right time to implement those changes.”

The changes that will be suspended include eliminating the free 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. parking, lengthening the hours during which people must pay to park, and expanding the parking enforcement area into UpTown and the Warehouse District.
The mayor also spoke about ways the city is assisting restaurants and bars.
“We are working right now with restaurants and bars so they can expand their footprints into the public right-of-way to allow them to meet social distancing requirements,” Mayor Kapszukiewicz said, adding that this policy will begin May 29.
During the news conference, the mayor also:
-Urged Toledoans to complete the 2020 Census.
-Thanked Fiat Chrysler Automobiles for a donation of 7,000 face masks to the city.
-Urged Toledo microenterprises (businesses with five or less employees) to apply for the city’s new emergency microenterprise recovery grant (EMRG) program, which can be done at https://toledo.oh.gov/emrgrant through May 24.

Board to meet
The Genoa Area Local Board of Education will conduct a workshop May 18 at 5:30 pm. Due to the coronavirus, the meeting will be held in the high school auditorium, 2980 N. Genoa Clay Center Rd.

Adoption bill passes House
The Ohio House of Representatives has unanimously passed House Bill 405, the Family Forward Act, which creates the Adoption Linked Deposit Program to help remove financial barriers for families wanting to adopt.
Rep. D. J. Swearingen, R - Huron, is a co-sponsor of the legislation.
“Many families who are wanting to adopt to build a loving family for a child are met with financial difficulties, as it can be an expensive process,” said Swearingen.
According to the Department of Job and Family Services website, adoptions in Ohio can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000.
“With the Family Forward Act, we want to ensure that adoption should be a celebratory time and that’s why this bill takes the initiative to help those families in their efforts as they use adoption to grow their family in our state,” Swearingen added.
To ease the financial burdens, under the legislation, the process will work similarly to existing linked deposit programs in Ohio. Families apply for the loan through their local lending institution, if approved, the treasurer’s office will deposit funds with the lending institution at a below market rate. The institution then passes the interest savings onto the borrowers with a reduced interest rate. This gives Ohio families a reduced interest rate loan for these adoption costs.
The loans are available up to $50,000 and can also serve as a line of credit for a five-year term with the opportunity to extend for an additional five years.
Many lending institutions and adoption organizations acknowledged their support of the legislation including Nationwide, Choosing Hope Adoptions, Ohio Children’s Alliance, Ohio Credit Union League, Ohio Bankers League, Adoption Network Cleveland, and the Public Children Services Association of Ohio.
The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.

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