Darke County View

Ansonia completed that unbeaten season Friday night, holding off a good Miami East team 15-7.

10-0!!

A well-deserved, tip of the cap to coach Hoening, his fine staff, and a gritty bunch of athletes that would not lose.

East is out, Ansonia is in, and Covington? appears to be next, if the internet projections are correct.

We’ll all know, for sure, on Sunday!

Ansonia practices in preparation for Miami East... Go Tigers!!!

As Clinton Randall has already said, the Ansonia Tigers will go up against the Miami East Vikings in a couple of hours… And I am excited!!!

For me, the thrill is exceptionally great, as I am a graduate of Ansonia.  And I’ve known Coach Hoening for years, so I really hope that the night goes the Tigers’ way.  Mr. Hoening is a great guy and has put a lot of time and heart into this football team, year in and year out.  He deserves all of the praise that any Ansonia fan can bestow upon him.

And, of course, you can’t forget the players!  They fit football practice into their busy school schedules and go out there and give it their all every Friday night.  I was lucky enough to get to interview the Bubeck brothers the other day, and I must say that they were very polite young men.  Great to interview, though I could tell that they were definitely outside of their comfort zones talking to me about themselves.  The interviews turned out great in the end, and I thank them for talking to me!!!

And as for tonight’s game, I wish all the luck in the world to all of the coaches and players!  Win or lose, you guys are all the best!  Congrats on your amazing season!!!!

2009 Ansonia Tigers

This Friday night the Ansonia Tigers go for their first undefeated season. The 9-0 Tigers will travel to Miami East who are 8-1. This is a HUGE game with payoff implications for both programs. I am stoked that I get to be part of the event as I will be assisting our Sports Writer Amanda Rodeheffer with photos and videos from the game. Hopefully I will get to witness first-hand, Ansonia complete their season with a big fat “0″ in the loss column. GO TIGERS!

It didn't look exactly like this, but you get the idea.

Yesterday, I decided to try something new for lunch. The Hometown Grill (right? I think that’s the right name) had a sign offering a “Dagwood” sandwich and chips for under 5 bucks. I’ve never had a Dagwood, and I enjoy supporting local businesses, especially when said support can be achieved with less than a fiver.

It was… delicious. And big. And cheap! When something tastes good, is inexpensive and there’s a lot of it, I’m the happiest kid on the playground. It had this sauce, too, and I wish I knew what it was. Check it out.

Are there other places like the Hometown Grill around here? Local specialties made by local people? Cause, I’ll tell you, I’m getting sick of fast food. Howsabout letting me know what your favorites are?

Read the full story about this unique support group here.

Remember kids: vote for "C.C." in the next Arcanum election!

I’ve been attending meetings of the Arcanum Village Council since I got this job. At first it, was overwhelming: like coming into a movie in the middle of the third act. Everyone was talking about numbers and appropriations and vouchers, and I’ll admit with little-to-no arm twisting that I didn’t want to be there. But after a while, I got used to it. I could follow things from week to week, see the changes that were happening, and start seeing intentions.

Last night floored me.

The Arcanum Village Council has issued a vote of no confidence in Mayor Wallace Alderman, and there were over 20 citizens present to voice their dissatisfaction with the Mayor’s performance. FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF.

It’s the council’s job to keep an eye on the mayor, to an extent, but it’s the public’s job to point him in the right direction. Over the last 4 months, I’ve missed maybe 2 meetings, but every time I was there, it was maybe me and one other person. Usually, just me, and I don’t even live in Arcanum. I have no stake in the place. I’m saying this to say that anything the guy did, he did because the public at large LET him by not being involved.

The way the public was talking about him, the guy is some mix of Cobra Commander and Napoleon, in it just for the power and control.

If I could epilogue this with a statement that, yes, I’m passing judgment, but my aforementioned “High Horse” is one issued me by the Daily Advocate, with a Brown Publishing brand burned into its hindquarters. The only reason I’m at these things is because I’m required to be. I haven’t been to a Greenville meeting, the city that I call home and should be involved with, in, like, forever.

It might be time that I changed that. You should, too.

The OHSAA released the official computer rating numbers late Tuesday, and they virtually match the internet numbers at the respected site of www.joeeitel.com.

So, the crazy scenario is that 3-6 Greenville could still get in the playoffs, with a win Friday night, of course.

So could 4-5 Marion Local, even with a sixth loss Friday night.

While 5-4 Versailles is mathematically eliminated, and a three-loss Covington team could be knocked out by Local, even if the Buccs win Friday over MV.

Oh, and MV, at 5-4, is still in the playoff hunt, when the 5-4 V-Tigers are not.

So it is with this playoff system, and we may have an idea late Friday night how this will all play out, and maybe not.

Officially, we won’t know until 2 p.m. Sunday.

Now let’s play football!

"And this is us at the beach! Would you like to put it in the pa-" "No. A thousand times, no."

Okay, here goes:

You care about your friends and family. Pals, girlfriends, brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles… that’s your monkeysphere. I don’t know why it’s called that, I just know that it is (it’s also known as “Dunbar’s Number). You probably don’t care about your girlfriend’s cousin’s boyfriend’s roommate. They are outside of your monkeysphere. It’s impossible to care about everyone on the planet, and depending on the person, the number you are physically able to actually maintain a stable relationship is around 150.That doesn’t have to mean a close relationship, either. That includes the butcher you exchange pleasantries with, or the other mom’s on your kid’s soccer team.

There are over 13,000 people in Greenville alone. The Advocate delivers to people all over Darke County. That’s a lot of monkeyspheres, and a lot more people outside of them.

A lot of people expect others to care too much, as they believe everyone will care about their monkeysphere, which gets impossible after a while. I’m saying all this to get this point across: your neighbor might, might, care about your family’s umpteenthousandth reunion, and there might even be a couple of people outside that who glean a strange enjoyment out of reading page after page of family tree names, along the lines of the book of Leviticus (Jedidiah begat Phyllis who married Doug and begat Doug Jr.), the majority of the people who read the paper just don’t care.

That is why the 75 pound volume that makes up Jed’s submitted “article” didn’t get published. There was too much of it, and even if there wasn’t, no one but Jed will really care. I’m not saying this to be mean, just like saying “Her hair is red” isn’t mean: it’s just a statement of fact regarding human biology. Yes, Jedidiah thinks it would be nice to see his family in the paper, but you and your monkeysphere are too busy worrying about your own family to really care about poor old Jed’s.

Heck, I have enough trouble just loaning twenty bucks to people I actually like. I know I don’t care who Doug, Jr. was begatting 50 years ago. Do you?

Four area cross country teams, plus two individuals, moved on to regional races in prep cross country Saturday morning.

In just over an hour.

And the day wasn’t nearly over.

Versailles girls volleyball rolled back to the districts, with Greenville cross country and FM boys soccer not yet accounted for.

It was quite a Saturday, cold, rain and wind notwithstanding!

Nights can be memorable for the bad-and for the good.

Friday night’s prep football had some of both, as Ansonia and Greenville had good home wins, Bradford and MV good results in home losses, and Arcanum and Versailles tough defeats.

Ansonia’s historic run continued with a 55-7 win over TCN, now comes Miami East for the CCC title!

3-6 Greenville had a home win, and believe it or not, kept playoff hopes alive.

Bradford fell 50-34 to TVS, and MV 27-19 to Bethel, both at home and on Senior Night, with losses in good performances, regardless of the scoreboard.

While Arcanum and Versailles got dominated by rivals Covington and Anna, respectively, never a good thing.

Week 10 is going to be something!

Another Friday dawned this morning with gray skies, pouring rain, wind, and a forecast for more of the same.

But as the day has progressed, it is brighter, and I even saw a glimpse of sunlight, or at least I thought that’s what it was.

What, nice weather for Friday night football?

Well, maybe it won’t be nice, but how about three hours without rain, from around 7 to about 10 p.m.

Is that too much to ask?

Check back tonight for a report on the games, the results, and maybe a weather story as well.

Kinda like this, but the dude's face is my shoes and the ball is Murphy's Law.

I’ve never been one to be fussy about what I look like or what I wear. As long as a shirt doesn’t smell like… well, like it’s been worn hard and put away wet, I don’t mind wearing it. I’m a jeans and flannel shirt kinda guy, easy to please, easy to keep happy.

Then I got a job where they want me to look like a professional.

It’s just another uniform, like a t-shirt with a logo on the chest. I can do that. Then, after a while, I started noticing that, y’know, I look kinda good. I started to take pride in my appearance: those are my good khakis, that shirt looks great on me, I got a new snazzy watch with actual clockwork gears that you can see moving… I’m digging this. The final step was a pair of shoes.

I just got these things from Wal-Mart, literally yesterday. And as long as something looks good on me, I don’t care where it comes from: that hasn’t changed, I’m not a brand-snob. But I like these shoes. So I decide to wear them today.

“Nothing will happen,” I thought. “What are the odds that today I’ll be sent out on an emergency response call, in the midst of a downpour, and the house, which happens to be on fire, will be half a mile away from the road on a dirt-and-gravel driveway that I’ll have to walk down? Slim to none, really.”

WELL GUESS WHAT HAPPENED.

I feel very sorry for these nice people that lost their home, I’m not trying to downplay that. My prayers are with them, and I hope they land on their feet. But, really, dirt and gravel? Not even straight up gravel? *sigh*

My shoes will clean up fine, but still. It was the first day I’ve worn them.

I'm the big red one.

As far as I can remember, I don’t think I’ve ever worn a store bought costume for Trickin’ and Treatin’. My mother spoiled me on that front. My first costume was some kind of cow suit, with an udder with a handle to carry my goodies in. Then, Mom went to the now-defunct JoAnn fabrics and bought a pattern and made my brother, my sister and myself Power Ranger costumes. I’m just gonna say it: we looked good.

Then I went to college. Art college. Where the biggest event of the year was the Big Boo, a costume contest and dance the likes of which hasn’t been seen anywhere outside of Columbus EVER. Art students go all out for stuff like that. The winner, most years, quite deserved their prize, and even if I disagreed with the judge’s choice, there was always fun stuff to look at.

I went as Hellboy my freshman year, and it was… okay. Looking back, there were problems, but it was a good first attempt. Sophomore year, I shaved my chest, got some stretchy pants and went as Nacho Libre. Lots of laughs, but no prize. I didn’t go Jr. year, which I regret, but Sr. year, I pulled out the stops. ALL OF THEM.

I went as Hellboy again, but I utilized 3.25 years of art school in the process of making the costume. I made a cement mold of my head on which to construct actual Hollywood quality prosthetics, traveled as far away as Youngstown to put my wardrobe together, and even got a buddy to portray HB’s sidekick, fish-man Abe Sapien. He looked better than I did, but we both looked awesome together.

I busted out the Nacho costume again for the contest in the office, and I won, which is cool. I think it was my complementary butt-squeeze that won them over…

Nacho Libre aka Tony MacKenzie

The Daily Advocate’s held it’s annual costume day to correspond with Beggar’s Night in Greenville. Nacho Libre aka Tony MacKenzie was awarded best costume and received 25 Chamber bucks as a prize. Great costume Tony!

Check out other Advocate employees’ costumes here.

A prep varsity volleyball season dominated by two teams, Mississinawa Valley and Versailles, is now quickly down to those two in sectional play, after just four days of action.

On Thursday night, 18-5 MV battles Riverside in the D-IV sectional semifinal at Piqua, another challenging early test for the Lady Hawks.

It has been a breeze for the 22-2 Lady V-Tigers, who next play versus Miami East at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the D-III sectional final at Brookville.

Continued wins are expected for the Lady V-Tigers, but would break new winning ground in recent years for MV.

According to a parenting blog out of Cincinnati, parents are surprised when their child’s day care centers don’t celebrate Halloween. According to the author, Halloween can be very frightening to children under 5 and though Halloween is widely accepted as a secular activity by most, it does conflict with the religious beliefs of some families.

I agree that most children can’t yet determine fantasy from reality at a young age so they tend to frighten easily, but how cute are some of those little costumes.
I think that if you keep it fun and lose the scary stuff, kids can really enjoy Halloween.

As far as not accepting Halloween as a holiday, I know that we live in a growing diversified population, but parents are always given a choice whether they want their child to participate or not and I think it should remain that way.

Do you know your day care’s policy on Halloween? What do you think? Share your thoughts…

Talking to Marc “off the record” he has received an overwhelming amount of support from the community since his appointment as the new economic development director. He shared with me last night that he felt that it was hard for him to be viewed as a reporter right now, people seem so excited that #1 we have finally chosen someone for the county and #2 it’s Marc.

What do think about Marc’s new appointment? Share your thoughts.

Here is the pic of Samantha that ran in the paper... She can be seen much better on a computer screen!

First off, I want to apologize for the poor print quality of the photo that ran with my story, “A haunting in Greenville”…  for some reason beyond me, the picture printed EXTREMELY DARK and you could not see Samantha at all.  I know where she is in the pic and I could barely find her!  So I have added her photo to my blog so that hopefully you can see her a little better.  Also, to clarify, you can see the side of her head towards the top of the photo and follow down her side to the point of her dress just above a space heater that is located in the background.  Hope that helps…

Now, as for an update… After the investigation, Walter became less and less active until one day, I no longer sensed that he was in the house.  That was a month or so ago, and he has yet to make his presence known to me again.

Toward the end of the article, I referred to a female spirit who only made an appearance via EVP during the investigation.  Since then, I have done a bit of ghost-hunting on my own and found out that she is Samantha’s mother, Elizabeth.  I also discovered the last name of the family, but I will not disclose that information since it is a well-known surname in Greenville.  As for the reason the mother and daughter are in the house, is has been determined that Samantha fell in the bathtub and hit her head, causing her death.  Her mother, who was present when her little girl died, passed away a year later.  Both are still in the house because of their love for each other and their desire to remain together.

The next investigation of the house will take place either this weekend or on Nov. 7th.  If anything new comes to light, I will be sure to post another update.  Until then, sleep well 

Mallory Livingston from MV goes up for a block against Fairlawn

Wow is all I have to say after covering the Mississinawa Valley volleyball match Saturday.  That is definitely one of the closest matches I’ve covered all year, as well as one of the most exciting.

It was amazing to me the difference between the beginning and end of the match, as far as the way the Hawks played.  While they didn’t look the best at first, they didn’t let that get them down and came back in a strong fashion and gave the crowd quite a show.

Even when they were down in the beginning, I also thought it was great to see the girls on the bench yelling for their teammates and encouraging them as much as possible.  There’s nothing better than seeing a group of girls come together and play as a team.

With the strength and success of the Versailles volleyball team, the MV Black Hawks have been overlooked this season.  (Saturday was the first time I’ve had the opportunity to attend one of their matches this year.)  And I must say that they impressed me in a big way.

So congrats to the Mississinawa volleyball team!  Great job girls and good luck against Riverside!!!

This weekend’s college and professional football results for Ohio teams prove again the adage that won-loss records don’t sometimes mean very much.

On Saturday, Ohio State, then on Sunday, the Cincinnati Bengals, lost to teams with worse season records, in games that both OSU and the Bengals were favored to win.

The OSU defeat was more shocking, as the 5-1 Buckeyes lost to the 1-5 Boilermakers.

Make that 5-2 OSU and 2-5 Purdue.

It was a road game for OSU, but the Bucks have made a habit of winning road games since Tressel has been on the scene in Columbus, at least road games that don’t involve USC, or any team from the SEC.

In the NFL, the Bengals loss wasn’t as surprising, because the Houston Texans are a good team, and the Bengals are not yet a playoff-caliber team, at least in my opinion.

All of this just means that here is no such thing as a sure win, you still have to go out and play the game, and demonstrate which team is better.

Every time out.