Several declarations of candidacy and local issues were filed Thursday with the Mercer County Board of Elections, the deadline for the primary election May 4. Write-in candidates for the primary have until March 3 to file, and non-partisan candidates running in November have until Aug. 19.

Mercer County Auditor Mark Giesige on Thursday announced he would not seek a fifth term in office.

Giesige - who has served as auditor for more than 17 years - will finish out his current term, which expires March 2011.

Celina Board of Education members may consider whether to adopt an ejection policy for athletic events.

The subject was broached at this week's regular meeting as Superintendent Matt Miller talked about an incident at a soccer match last fall.

ROCKFORD - Parkway board members are considering a modification of the district's open enrollment status as recommended by the superintendent.

At Thursday's meeting, Superintendent Greg Puthoff asked the board to consider open enrollment with statewide boundaries.

An 80-year-old Versailles man was injured Thursday when his SUV collided with a train on state Route 47 east of the village of Versailles.

John Simon, the driver of the SUV, was taken by Versailles Rescue Squad to Wayne Hospital in Greenville, where he was treated and released.

DELPHOS - Two teams toward the top of the Midwest Athletic Conference standings tangled in the conference finale of the season.

Fort Recovery and D

LIMA - Winning a league championship is a great feeling, but preventing a rival from doing the same thing can be pretty special too.

That was the case for the Celina girls basketball team on Thursday night as the Bulldogs defeated Lima Bath, 64-50, in Western Buckeye League action.

Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry

Shawnee put together a strong third quarter to pull away from St. Marys and capture its first-ever Western Buckeye League girls basketball title, beating the Roughriders, 66-45, at McBroom Gymnasium.