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Michael D. Pitman reports about Butler County, Ohio, politics, county government, countywide issues and Butler County people just like you for Cox Ohio Publishing (including the Hamilton JournalNews, Middletown Journal and several weekly papers in Butler County). He wants your suggestions and questions for more news stories. Leave a comment for him here or e-mail Michael at Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2011 > February > 02
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Fallen Marine may get a highway honor
COLUMBUS — State Rep. Courtney Combs, R-Hamilton, on Tuesday, Feb. 2, introduced legislation to name a stretch of Ohio 4 after Lance Cpl. Taylor Prazynski.
Prazynski was killed in May 2005 while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Karmah, Iraq.
“I watched Taylor grow up his whole life and it was a great tragedy when we lost him,” said Combs in a statement issued by his office. “This is but a small token of appreciation we can do to remember Taylor for his service to his community and country.”
House Bill 65 would name a portion of Ohio 4 — from South Gilmore Road to Symmes Road — the Lance Corporal Taylor Prazynski Memorial Highway. The bill now moves on to the Transportation, Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee. Combs is the chairman of that committee.
Prazynski joined the Marines shortly after graduating from Fairfield High School in 2003.
Before taking on the Butler County government beat, I had covered Fairfield for a number of years. I started about a month after Prazynski did in Iraq. His father, John Prazynski, constantly told me that his son’s memory only lives on if you continue to tell his story.
From the release, John Prazynski is quoted as saying: “With this bill, Taylor’s story is told by more than just his family and friends. Thank you to Representative Combs and the State of Ohio for recognizing his sacrifice and helping us keep his memory alive.”
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Butler County, State House of Representatives
TweetBCEO reports road conditions have improved
I try not to do this too often, but here’s a press release from the Butler County Engineer’s Office about the ice storm cleanup update:
Butler County Engineer Greg Wilkens reports that conditions have improved significantly on County roadways; however, motorists should continue to watch for downed trees, limbs, and icy patches. “Most roads are now clear and relatively dry but with temperatures falling again any wet spots could re-freeze,” he said. “As high winds continue throughout the day motorists could still encounter some debris and branches in roadways, but hopefully the risk of entire trees falling over has decreased since the ice melted.” BCEO crews worked through the overnight hours salting roads and clearing fallen trees.
Last night during the height of the ice storm trees and power lines were falling across and blocking roads, particularly in rural sections of northern and western Butler County. In some cases roads were completely blocked by downed trees, or limbs were hanging so low from the weight of the ice that salt trucks couldn’t get through to treat the roads. To make matters worse, at times the freezing rain fell so hard it was washing the salt off of road surfaces leading them to ice over, according to BCEO road crew supervisor Wayne Sears.
The Engineer’s Office had to call in additional crews to assist with clearing fallen trees off of numerous roads. “Even some of our salt truck drivers who couldn’t get through blocked roads were pressed into chain saw duty,” Sears said. Large trees were cut enough to allow the trucks to push them to the side of road with their plows. Crews will return to clean up debris today and throughout the remainder of the week.
High winds blew in after most of the freezing rain had come to an end raising fears of even more problems. But the wind ushered in warmer temperatures and within a few hours early this morning most of the heavy ice coating had melted. Sears noted that the wind actually prompted the drying of roadway surfaces. “That was unexpected and very fortunate,” he noted. “For a few hours last night things were pretty bad, but we eventually caught a big break.”
BCEO snow and ice control crews have been on duty since 8:00 Monday night, treating roads through the first wave of freezing rain and then through the second, a more powerful wave which moved in late yesterday afternoon. Wilkens says that his crews will spend the rest of today spot treating any slick spots and cleaning up. Motorists who encounter any fallen trees or hazardous debris on County roads should report it to the Engineer’s Office. The numbers to call are 513-867-5744 or 513-424-9144.
Tell me your thoughts.
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TweetDynus timeline
Pulse Journal reporter Lindsey Hilty will continue to cover the Lang trial today, Feb. 2, in federal court in Cincinnati.
In light of Lang’s trial, which is expected to last five days, we have updated our Dynus timeline which connects a lot of Butler County officials with this scandal. Click the hyperlink to review it.
It starts on Aug. 9, 2004, when then-Butler County Auditor Kay Rogers signed a mutual confidentiality agreement with Jim Smith, chief marketing officer of CBS Technologies, which later became Dynus.
In late 2005, the beginning of the end of Dynus starts with two lawsuits — one by Fifth Third and one by National City Bank. Dynus files a counter suit, but drops it and never refiles.
Rogers is outed in March 2006 and she pleads guilty in 2008 to bank and mail fraud, and tax evasion.
The still-evolving timeline continues this week with Lang’s trial, and will still grow when Fox’s scheduled trial happens in April.
Read the timeline and tell me what you think.
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