Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

St. Henry ranked fourth best place in U.S. to raise children

By Shelley Grieshop
ST. HENRY - The church, school and sports programs found in this small Mercer County village have earned it fourth place in a national ranking for the best places to raise kids.
The 2012 Best Places to Raise Your Kids was released this month by Bloomberg's Businessweek, a weekly business magazine headquartered in New York. Last year, the village nabbed a second-place honor among Ohio communities for a similar designation.
"It's really something to be proud of," Mayor Jeff Mescher said during a village council meeting Monday night.
Officials are excited about the designation but puzzled about how the town has caught the eye of Businessweek. Communities do not apply or submit information for the distinction; they are simply chosen.
Businessweek evaluated 4,169 places with a crime index less than 10 percent above the national average, populations between 1,000 and 50,000 people and median family incomes within 20 percent of the state median.
The popular magazine also evaluated educational factors, economic factors, amenities such as daycare centers, recreation and green space, as well as air quality before choosing 50 communities.
"School performance, expenditures and income were given the most weight," according to the company's website.
St. Henry's "gothic revivalist" St. Henry Catholic Church is described as "great for kids." But catching the most attention was the athletic programs that have notched numerous state championships. To date, the school has earned 20 state championship titles (seven volleyball, six football, four boys basketball and three baseball).
Three athletes from the school have played in the National Football League and another earned a spot in Major League Baseball.
Ranking at the top of the list is Blacksburg, Va., with second and third going to Arlington, Neb., and Morton Grove, Ill., respectively. For further information about the ranking, go to Bloomberg.com.
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Subscriber and paid stories on this date
Villages, cities throughout Ohio oppose the move
CELINA - State Rep. Jim Buchy, R-Greenville, says the idea of central collection of municipal income tax by the state is just an idea.
But if the idea came before him as a bill, he would encourage legislators to look at making the central collection system optional for communities.
ST. MARYS - City coffers are up $1 million from the beginning of the year.
According to the treasurer's report presented during Monday's council me
ST. HENRY - Action was taken Monday night to give village salaried and hourly employees a 2 percent across-the-board wage increase beginning in January.
COLDWATER - Village council members heard first reading of the 2012 wage ordinance, which gives a 50-cent pay raise to all full-time employees.
The
LIMA - Austin Bruns had to watch from the sidelines a year ago as his Coldwater teammates played Youngstown Ursuline in the Division V state final at Canton.
ST. HENRY - As a seventh grader, St. Henry's Kenzie Kleinhenz was unable to make the cut and play on the Redskins' volleyball team.
Now, she's going to play volleyball at the collegiate level.
CELINA - The Bulldogs have 37 athletes focused on trying to unseat Shawnee as the top swimming and diving program in the Western Buckeye League.
Sh
COLDWATER - The Coldwater swim and dive teams hope that a group of returning veterans will be enough to lead the Cavaliers to a strong season. The Cavs have six returning letterwinners for the girls while the boys, whom have just six swimmers competing, boast three letterwinners.
FORT RECOVERY - The Fort Recovery swim team is growing by leaps and bounds, especially on the girls' side.
After having two girls on last year's team, the Indians have grown to 10 swimmers this year while the boys' team enters the season with five athletes.
MARIA STEIN - First-year Marion Local swimming coach Scott Smith is excited for the season to begin as the Flyers have 24 swimmers on the roster for the second straight year.
MINSTER - Laurissa Dalrymple is excited for her second season in charge of Minster's swimming program.
On the boys' side of the pool, Dalrymple welcomes back Andy Borges and Nick Kemper, who are both juniors with a year of varsity experience on their resumes.
NEW BREMEN - A very young girls' squad ended last season with an overall mark of 16-47, but New Bremen's swimming coach Cresta Ritter is hoping that the experience the girls gained will propel them to better things this year.
ST. MARYS - After one season as an assistant coach, Amy Wenning steps in as the head coach of the St. Marys' swimming program this year and the former Roughriders' standout is energized to push her teams to better results.
CELINA - The Celina wrestling team will have a new look as the Bulldogs look to rebound from a sixth-place showing in the Western Buckeye League last season.
COLDWATER - With half of his wrestlers in training camp and the other half still working on the Cavaliers' football team, Coldwater's coach Rob Schmidt thinks his team may be a little young in the early season until he gets his entire squad assembled.
ST. MARYS - It was a struggle last season for the St. Marys wrestling program as the Roughriders were 10th in the Western Buckeye League tournament and finished ninth overall, but head coach Larry Gruber has reason for optimism.
CELINA - It has been a rocky road in the early going, but Celina's bowling coach Cory Coats is optimistic about this season once the Bulldogs are eligible to compete.
COLDWATER - With an experienced team returning for both the boys and girls' teams, the Coldwater bowlers will look to maintain their spot among the elite in the West Ohio High School Bowling Conference.
The Fort Recovery boys' bowling team finished 3-12 last season in West Ohio High School Bowling Conference play, and the Indians must get consistent efforts from a young group in order to move up in the league standings.
MARIA STEIN - The Marion Local bowling teams will have a total of 26 students competing in the West Ohio High School Bowling Conference.
Just like most of the other Midwest Athletic Conference schools, bowling at Marion Local is not an official school sport but is instead run as a club sport.
MINSTER - Dan Brinkman is prepared to splash into his third season in command of the Minster boys' bowling program and is excited to be led by a solid stable of six seniors, two of whom earned varsity experience from a season ago.
NEW BREMEN - For first year New Bremen bowling coach Bryan Trego, it has been a whirlwind the past couple of weeks.
After being approached to be t
ROCKFORD - After finishing in the middle of the pack in the West Ohio High School Bowling Conference in both the varsity boys' and girls' standings, Parkway's bowling teams are aiming for a better finish on the lanes this season.
ST. HENRY - Redskins' boys head coach Jim Stout has quite a few fresh faces on the lanes this year after graduation stripped his squad of a few key veterans.
ST. MARYS - The Roughriders' bowling teams appear to have the right mix of talent and experience to remain in the upper-echelon of the West Ohio High School Bowling Conference.