Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Local sheriff's office adds new features to website

By Margie Wuebker
The Mercer County Sheriff's Office has upgraded its website, www.mercercountysheriff.org.
The revised format was unveiled this week with the work being done in-house by technology coordinator Kory Hoffhines.
The new home page contains a link to NIXLE, which allows residents to sign up for notification of amber alerts, weather alerts and road closures through e-mail or mobile phone. Other new links will take the user to law enforcement or government agencies throughout the county and state.
Visitors to the site can report such things as mailbox vandalism and generate a report for insurance purposes. They also can schedule visits with jail inmates once the corrections staff provides them with a required username and password.
The new website kept valuable tools from the previous version, such as a listing of sex offenders and jail inmates along with their photographs. Visitors may sign up for e-mail or text notifications when a sex offender registers in their neighborhood or an inmate is released.
The tip line remains on the site, allowing people to provide anonymous information such as suspected drug activity or underage drinking.
A recent tip regarding a woman planning to leave the area despite probation guidelines led to her arrest at a bus station in Lima.
"Tips from the public are taken seriously," Sheriff Jeff Grey said. "Callers may not see immediate action such as in the probation case, but that does not mean we overlook anything."
A new feature allows people to communicate directly with administrative personnel, and Grey hopes communication with deputies is added.
The site also includes a preparedness guide for travelers, tips for safely shopping online, drug prevention facts, credit card fraud schemes, identity theft, home invasion/robbery prevention, road rules, a dozen things students can do to stop school violence and teen driving laws.
Specific sections outline the application process for concealed carry permits and for electronic background checks by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification or FBI.
Grey believes the new website will reduce the number of calls coming in to the sheriff's office and Mercer County Central Dispatch.
"We used to pay a vendor $1,500 per year to manage the site, and it frequently took time to make needed changes," he said. "Now everything is under our control and changes can be made as needed."
Additional online stories on this date
A 21-year-old Lewisville man reportedly had cocaine and heroin in his system when he caused an Oct. 3 traffic accident that critically injured a member of the Mercer County Emergency Response Volunteers. [More]
Division II District Soccer at Celina
CELINA - A very stingy defense and a well-placed boot by Kelly Heitkamp helped the St. Marys Roughriders advance to Saturday's Division II district final. [More]
Subscriber and paid stories on this date
Optometrist's wife testifies in second day of husband's rape trial
WAPAKONETA - A local optometrist admitted in an interview last year "it's very possible" he mistakenly touched the elderly woman he's accused of raping in his home in October 2009.
Early voting by absentee ballot has been steady in both Mercer and Auglaize counties this election season, according to officials.
Mercer County Bo
CELINA - The city now has eight voting precincts, not 10.
Mercer County Board of Elections members this week unanimously approved the changes required by House Bill 194, which mandates incorporated municipalities have at least 500 active registered voters in a precinct.
Tamara "Tammy" Evers of St. Henry, a former baby sitter found guilty in the July 2008 death of an infant in her care, will be sentenced Dec. 20 in Mercer County Common Pleas Court.
ST. MARYS - School officials agree tennis courts should be built at the new Memorial High School but are undecided on a design.
The school board's building and grounds committee Wednesday reviewed nine options for tennis courts presented by MSA Sport of Cincinnati.
CELINA - No way she'd ever write a book, she thought. Not until she woke up one morning with the idea in mind right down to the title - "Bloom Girl Bloom: Real Women with Real Answers." Now she's even working on a second book.
Division II District Volleyball at Liberty-Benton High School
FINDLAY - A pair of Western Buckeye League teams will square off for a second time this season on Saturday evening with a district championship hanging in the balance.
Division III District Volleyball at Kalida
KALIDA - The Ottawa-Glandorf Titans rallied from a poor first set to defeat the Coldwater Cavaliers 24-26, 25-21, 25-18 and 25-17 in the semifinals of the Division III district tournament on Wednesday night at Kalida High School.
Computer Point Projections
Last week, an upset was brewing in Coldwater.
New Bremen (0-8) stayed close to Coldwater (6-2) all night and the Cardinals trailed by just two points and had the ball in the final two minutes with a chance to stun fans throughout the area.
The last time the Midwest Athletic Conference had three teams share the football championship was in 1989, when St. Henry, Minster and Delphos St. John's each went 5-1. Later that year, Minster went on to win the Division V state title.
The Celina football team will wrap up a disappointing 2011 season on Friday night with a road contest against Bath.
Good news has been few and far
By The Numbers:
2 - Out of the three previous occurrences, the number of times Coldwater was part of three-way tie for the MAC title (1975, 1987).
3 - Out of the three previous occurences, the number of times Minster was part of the three-way tie.