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It's possible no one is sorry to see 2024 go. Sadly, our area is not immune to international cyber crime. Natural disasters were in the news again - but so was an amazing natural phenomenon that brought us thousands of tourists. Another person was arrested on Jan. 6 charges. And a beautiful new school replaced a beloved old one.
Like most years, there was heartbreaking tragedy and heartwarming good news.
Crown was completely shut down when international cybercriminals hacked into the company's computers.
An international cybercriminal organization hacked Crown Equipment Corp. in June, forcing the company to temporarily shut down its operating systems to investigate and resolve the matter.
The company, one of the area's top employers, resumed operations by July.
Federal law enforcement agencies and cybersecurity experts initiated targeted operations to protect Crown, its employees and data.
However, Crown identified that an unauthorized third party gained access to various company records.
Due to the law enforcement initiatives, Crown executives have a high degree of confidence that any Crown data or personal data associated with the incident will not, and cannot, be used for malicious purposes.
Tourists came to Mercer County from several states this summer to observe the remarkable solar eclipse. Our area was smack-dab in the center of the eclipse's path.
Flocks of sungazers gathered throughout the Grand Lake region on April 8 to watch a stunning total solar eclipse unfold under nearly perfect conditions, with mostly clear, sunny skies before and after totality.
A solar eclipse is when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, Wayne Schlingman, Director of the Ohio State University Arne Slettebak Planetarium said.
While the viewing experience was about as good as it could have been, crowd numbers didn't come close to matching those predicted for the area.
A little girl watches the solar eclipse.
Multiple local venues held events for the once-in-a-lifetime event, including the Auglaize County and Mercer County fairgrounds, Rush Sports Complex and Grand Lake St. Marys State Park.
There won't be another U.S. eclipse, spanning coast to coast, until 2045. That one will stretch from Northern California all the way to Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Several tornadoes ripped into the area, causing considerable damage.
Multiple tornadoes touched down in Mercer and Auglaize counties during the spring, resulting in at least a handful of injuries, heavy damage to barns, homes and other structures and a citywide power outage.
Six tornadoes touched down in central and western Ohio on the night of March 14, three of which traveled through parts of Mercer and Auglaize counties.
One of the tornadoes started near Rockford, moved into Auglaize County north of St. Marys, crossed over U.S. Route 33 at some point and combined with another before hitting the Glacier Hills Campground south of Wapakoneta.
In Mercer County, storms inflicted significant structural damage to the R.J. Corman distribution center and Maverick Mechanical Installations on Albers Road, Victorum Learning Center on Staeger Road and Menards on Havemann Road, according to authorities.
Tornadoes touched down on the evening of May 7 in Mercer and Auglaize counties, resulting in massive structural damage but no injuries or fatalities, local officials confirmed.
Two funnels touched down in Mercer County with one traveling into Auglaize County. A separate funnel formed but didn't touch down in Auglaize County.
The damage in Auglaize County was isolated to residential homes and farming structures.
Coldwater school district voters twice defeated levy proposals.
Coldwater school district voters during the March 19 primary election resoundingly struck down Coldwater schools' proposed 1.75% earned income tax levy.
The levy was defeated with 71% or 1,972 votes cast against it.
The proposed levy would've replaced the existing 0.5% traditional income tax with a 1.75% earned income tax.
The current 0.5% traditional income tax levy first passed by voters in 1999 generates about $1 million annually, according to district treasurer Jenn McCoy.
Additional revenue from the replacement earned income tax levy would've gone toward general operating expenses.
Following the levy's failure, the school district tried again with a five-year, additional 0.5% traditional income tax on the Nov. 5 general election ballot.
That levy failed narrowly by a mere 42 votes.
The district is projected to begin deficit spending in fiscal year 2027 to the tune of $29,417. In fiscal year 2028, the district is projected to see deficit spending of $600,682, and in fiscal year 2029, $1.2 million.
In addition to a number of ongoing priorities that are either financed by grants, donations or existing school funds, the district has a laundry list of capital improvements to make which officials have dubbed "unfunded priorities."
Those include worn-out middle school carpet, cracked bricks on the school exterior, aging gymnasiums, old windows sealed shut due to leaks, a near-obsolete fleet of school vehicles and other areas that need addressed and could become an issue any day.
At a school board meeting in November, McCoy said that school board members, along with superintendent Doug Mader and herself, are discussing another go at an income tax levy.
"If you look at this forecast, we're going to have to do something," she said. "Or we're going to have to make some cuts."
Controversy over a priest and the contents of a laptop earned the church statewide attention.
A priest from the Mason area who ordered the destruction of potential child pornography while serving at Holy Rosary Parish in St. Marys over a decade ago returned to the area in October.
Priest Barry Stechschulte relocated to the Holy Cross Parish, which includes churches in Coldwater, Fort Recovery, St. Anthony, St. Joseph, Philothea, Sharpsburg and St. Peter in Mercer County.
The new assignment came after Stechschulte resigned as pastor from St. Susanna Parish in Mason in July, following complaints from parishioners for not reporting potential child pornography that was found in 2012 on a computer used by former Holy Rosary priest Tony Cutcher.
The events were widely reported in Cincinnati media over the summer.
Several parents at Holy Rosary School remain concerned to this day about what Stechschulte did - or rather didn't do - that potentially enabled Cutcher. Cutcher was later investigated in Montgomery County in 2021 for inappropriately texting a teen boy and eventually resigned the same year.
Several area residents died in accidents involving motorcycles, ATVs and electric vehicles.
Nearly 10 Grand Lake residents, some minors, tragically died in 2024 after motorcycle, ATV, automobile or electric vehicle accidents.
"Our hearts are breaking right now," Jason King, local pastor, assistant wrestling coach and Celina City Council president said at a prayer vigil following the death of 14-year-old Celina student Benjamin Ly. "Ben was the kindest of souls, you all know that. You know Ben was a kind, considerate, respectful, young man. The Ly family should be proud of him. His legacy will live on."
Ly died at 2:43 p.m. May 21 at Dayton Children's Hospital from injuries sustained in a head-on collision with a semitrailer that occurred on May 20, according to Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey.
See the Sports section for the story of how Coldwater's football team rallied around the memory of teammate Cale Wenning, who died from injuries suffered in an electric bike accident.
No one was injured in a massive fire at Kerns Chevrolet in April.
The Kerns Chevrolet GMC dealership was gutted by a fire that broke out in the early morning hours on April 3, forcing the business to relocate operations to Kerns Ford on Logan Street.
No one was injured in the blaze believed to have started between the service area and offices on the north side of the dealership at 218 South Walnut St., but the facility was considered a total loss, Celina Fire Chief Joel Lange said.
The fire has since been deemed an accident by the state fire marshal, according to dealership president and chief executive officer Mike Kerns.
Kerns told the city planning commission in August that he plans to build a new Chevrolet GMC dealership on an existing 9-acre section of land beside the Kerns Ford dealership at 500 W. Logan St. in Celina.
A new Joint Ambulance District was formed in July and, later, voters overwhelmingly OK'd a levy to fund it.
Voters during the Nov. 5 general election overwhelmingly passed an additional five-year, 1-mill property tax levy for the newly established Mercer County Joint Ambulance District.
The additional tax will be collected for the purpose of ambulance and emergency medical services, and to help fund the newly formed Mercer County Joint Ambulance District.
Specifically, it will provide for on-call pay for six volunteers - three at the Coldwater EMS branch and three at the Rockford EMS branch. Volunteers would earn $5 for every hour they're on call.
"The plan behind that is to encourage the volunteers that we do have to pick up the on-call (shifts)," Mercer County Emergency Medical Services Director Kara Smith said. "It also entices more people from the community to join the EMS."
"The community has definitely stepped up and showed their support," said Smith. "It's great to see that they really see the need for EMS and came out to support us."
The levy will generate $1.18 million annually and cost the owner of a $100,000 home $35 per year. It will commence in 2024 and be first due in calendar year 2025, according to ballot language.
Old beloved Celina Primary school was razed to make way for a new 7-12 building.
Crews began the demolition of Celina Primary School on June 12 to make way for a new school building for grades 7-12, which is scheduled to be completed in late fall 2026 or early winter 2027.
Celina City Schools is in the midst of a nearly $130 million building project.
Celina Elementary School, previously called Celina West, is temporarily housing students in grades 4-6 as the Celina Intermediate School undergoes renovation. It, too, will eventually be razed.
Contractors were ahead of schedule and the CIS was set to be ready for occupancy on Dec. 18, school facilities director Phil Metz previously said.
Students in grades 4-6 will relocate there on Friday, Jan. 10, after Christmas break, according to superintendent Brooke Gessler.
2024 got off to a tragic start when a woman died in a fire Jan. 2.
A 65-year-old Celina woman, Vickie J. Schumm, was killed and her residence was deemed a total loss after a fire at Hecht's Landing on Jan. 2.
The fire located in the 8500 block of Behm's Road was reported at 8:57 p.m., according to Montezuma Fire Chief Lee Braun. A 20-by-10-foot building that was converted into living quarters was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived, he said.
Approximately 35 firefighters and nine trucks from the Montezuma, Coldwater and St. Marys Township fire departments responded to the fire, which Braun estimated was under control within 15-20 minutes.
Once the fire was under control, Braun said firefighters began to pull the collapsed roof off of the building and initiate search efforts.
Braun said foul play is not suspected. The fire is still being investigated by the state fire marshal's office.
Todd Bills
A former Coldwater school board member was arrested in mid-September on multiple federal charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and faces up to two years in prison.
Todd Michael Bills, 59, of Coldwater was apprehended by an FBI agent in Toledo, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Bills was charged with four misdemeanor charges: entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
The FBI established that Bills was present at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, using GPS data and information, per the criminal complaint.
No indictment in 2023 shooting
Mercer County Grand Jurors in February decided not to pursue any indictments in the August Celina police-involved shooting.
Van Wert County Prosecutor Eva Yarger, who assumed the role of special prosecutor in the fatal police shooting of 24-year-old Corey Andrew of St. Marys, said the jurors found the officers' use of deadly force was "objectively reasonable."
Yarger said she presented her case to the jury on Sept. 15. No charges will be filed with the department or the officers involved, she said.
Election
Voter turnout was tremendous in Mercer and Auglaize counties for the high-stakes presidential election on Nov. 5 in which the area reinforced its status as a Republican stronghold, delivering a staggering 81-83% of the vote to Donald Trump.
Several uncontested Republican officeholders in both counties earned another term. Following the election, Mercer County welcomed a new sheriff and county commissioner.
In Mercer County, a total of 23,713 ballots were cast in the general election cycle, representing a 79.87% turnout, slightly below the 2020 general election turnout of 81.31%
Nationally, the election season was anything but normal.
Trump faced charges and was convicted of a felony in New York City. A bullet from the rifle of a would-be assassin grazed his ear.
The current president, Joe Biden, dropped out of the race weeks before the Democratic convention in July, bowing to unrelenting pressure from his party following a disastrous debate performance.
He was replaced atop the ticket by Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman of color to be nominated for president by a major party.
Harris lost to Trump, with 226 electoral votes to his 312.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
