Fulton County Ohio Media

The Annual Meeting/Luncheon of the Swanton Area Chamber of Commerce (SACC) was held this Wednesday in the banquet hall of the Swanton Sports Center where members gathered to hear highlights of the past fiscal year and look at what is ahead for the SACC and the business community of Swanton. 

President and Executive Director Neil Toeppe opened the meeting by introducing the SACC Board of Directors.  They are Julia Benfield (Board Chairperson) from Benfield Wines, Joyce Berry (Board Vice-Chairperson) from You-nique Bou-tique, Bill Bohney (Director) from Farmers and Merchants State Bank, Fran Nichols (Director) from Anne Grady Services, Seth Thomas (Director) from Thomas Construction and Remodeling, Rick Lederman (Director) from Soaring Software Solutions, Shelly Keifer (Director) from First Federal of Delta, DaNetra Smith (Director) from Level Fitness and Bill O’Connell (Director) from Swanton Sports Center.

Mr. Toeppe then addressed Strategic Highlights first.  “This past year was an opportunity for the Board to reassess our ability to provide better membership access to our programs,” he stated.  “To that end we are in the process of upgrading our website and our Customer Relationship Management program.  It will provide the ability of our members to sign up for and pay for events and dues on-ling.  You will also be able to offer business special sales through our website software.  You will be able to update your business information directly on-line.”

In the Financial Highlights, Mr. Toeppe said that the SACC has approximately 100 members and membership dues have not increased in the past 11 years, thanks, in large part to the revenue-generating events put on by the SACC such as the Annual Fine Art Exhibit, Golf Outing and advertisement sales from their annual calendar and biennial Swanton Community Directory.  He explained that they will lose some members every year because a business may close or relocate but they will also gain members each year because of the strength of their member Benefit Programs.

Looking ahead, Mr. Toeppe said, “the 2022-2023 fiscal year will be a year of change in how we communicate and provide services to our members.  We hope that you will take advantage of our member programs and the new and improved website.”

Following Mr. Toeppe’s remarks, a presentation was given by Dave and Pam Mills, the owners of the soon-to-be constructed Birchwood Meadow, a Premier Wedding and Event Barn Venue which will be located on a 27-acre site within the Turtle Creek Business District on Airport Highway in Swanton.  Mr. and Mrs. Mills explained that their new and unique venue will accommodate up to 300 people and is currently booking events for 2023.  They believe the expected influx of people will provide a major boost to other local businesses and the Swanton economy. An Open House is planned for some time next February.

Pictured:  Pam and Dave Mills with a photo of what the main hall in Birchwood Meadow may look like.

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Swanton High School held their After-Prom at the Swanton Sports Center. Click on the link above to access photos from the event.

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To help raise funds for college scholarships and their other benevolent works, the Swanton Lions Club held their annual golf outing at White Pines Golf Course in Swanton. One of the money-raising activities was having the male golfers pay five dollars to wear a dress and tee off from the women’s tee box. Photos from the event are on the link above, including many from the fashion show.

1st place was Team #12: Joel Studer, Jason Ramirez, Nicholas Cooper, Matt Pelland (4 rounds of golf with cart +$200)

2nd Place: Team #4: Jason Fredrick, Robb Shadday, Kyle Leatherman,  Max Reese( 4 rounds of golf with a cart)

Men’s Longest Drive: Brian Kahl

Women’s Longest Drive: Missy Cecil

Closest to the Pin: Nicholas Cooper

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Fresh from winning their second consecutive NWOAL Softball Championship, the Evergreen Lady Vikings defeated the Archbold Lady Blue Streaks 3-1 for back-to-back DIII Sectional Softball titles at William “Bill” Steck Field on Friday.  Evergreen had earned its spot in the championship match-up with a decisive 12-0 win over Montpelier and Archbold came in after a 15-5 victory over Delta.

It was a tight defensive battle against the Streaks, one of two teams the Vikings shared the NWOAL title with, along with Wauseon.  All the scoring came in the first inning then pitching and defense, from both sides, took over from there.  Evergreen senior Jocelyn Schuster turned in a Gold Glove performance in center field robbing several Archbold batters of what looked like sure hits, one with a full out diving grab.  “I just rely on teammates.  Communication is a really big part and if we’re communicating, we’re doing really well,” she explained.  I trusted my teammates to back me up in case I missed it.  We all just work together.”

The Archbold defense came up just as big in some spots including in the bottom of the third when the Vikings loaded the bases with nobody out and clean-up hitter Kennedy Coolman coming to the plate.  Coolman drilled a shot on one hop to third baseman Harley Phillips who fired to catcher Meghan Taylor at the plate for one out.  Base runner Skylee Raker stumbled rounding third, got caught in a rundown and was eventually tagged out at the plate by pitcher Natalie Nofziger for the double play. 

There were no real scoring opportunities until the Lady Streaks’ first two batters singled to start the top of the seventh inning.  Viking pitcher Brooklyn Richardson then settled down and easily retired the next three hitters to preserve the victory.

“We knew Archbold was going to be a tough team coming in.  It’s not the same team we played earlier in the year when we beat them 8-0,” said veteran softball coach Jim Zoltowski who is in his first year at the helm of the Lady Viking program.  Coach Zoltowski gave a lot of credit to his senior pitcher, Richardson, who was in the circle for most of the season for the first time in her career.  “She has really been stellar this year,” he said.

Zoltowski also commented on the defensive effort in the game by Schuster.  “Jocelyn is a tremendous leader.  We need her leadership out there in the outfield.  We knew she was capable of making plays like that,” he said.

Evergreen now takes on the top-seeded Otsego Lady Knights next Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. at Blue Devils Fields located at 1041 Albon Road in Holland.

Click on the link above to access photos from the game. Photos are in then jpeg format to allow for editing and can be downloaded fore no charge courtesy of the fultoncountymedia.com website.

North Star’s Expansion Project Creates More Than 100 New Jobs, Will Boost Production May 13, 2022

DELTA, OH – North Star BlueScope Steel opened its new expansion project on May 9th. The expansion project, which began in 2019 and cost over $700 million, has created more than 100 new jobs and will increase the plant’s annual production of hot-rolled coil by 950,000 net tons.

Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, the event’s keynote speaker, said, “When you make a $700 million investment, that’s no small deal; that’s a big deal. You can’t just pick up a steel mill and move it if things don’t go right. And so, the reassurances from the State of Ohio and local economic development officials, particularly regarding energy, were very important to North Star’s decision. We appreciate the collaboration between the company and our state officials to make sure we could sort out all those issues.”

“We continued to run throughout the build,” said North Star’s President Doug Lange. “It took a tremendous amount of coordination to build a steel mill in the middle of another steel mill.” Lange noted that the new building wouldn’t have been possible without help from the State of Ohio, Fulton County, the Fulton County Economic Development Corporation, Jobs Ohio, the local community and North Star’s team members.”

 “This was a difficult build because of the pandemic,” said Patrick Finan, BlueScope’s Chief Executive Officer, “but we were still able to complete the project. Next month, we’ll be making the first slab off the new caster, which is part of the expansion.”

Attendees enjoyed lunch, video presentations and various speakers, including BlueScope’s Board of Directors, who flew from Australia to the U.S. for the first time since the pandemic began to attend the event. Ohio Senators Sherrod Brown and Robert Portman sent representatives to formally congratulate North Star on the addition. Following the opening ceremonies, attendees toured the new building.

“We value great companies making great investments, creating great jobs and improving quality of life in communities within Ohio,” said Husted. “North Star is the supply chain for many things that get built throughout the Midwest. This project is important in helping many other businesses get materials that they rely on for success.”

To commemorate the expansion, Mark Vassella, BlueScope’s CEO and Managing Director, presented a large, framed photo of the mini-mill. He also announced that the North Star team earned the CEO’s Health and Safety Excellence Award for 2021.

Pictured:  Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, the event’s keynote speaker, addresses the attendees.

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The Swanton Bulldogs closed out their home varsity baseball season with a 19-0 victory over the Toledo Rogers Rams. Four seniors, Hunter Gowing, John Heckert, Wes Coon and Garret Swank played their final game wearing a home jersey for the Bulldogs.

Click on the link above for access to photos from the game and the Senior Night ceremony.

Worthington Industries (WI), the steel processing company in Delta, shuts down all operations once a year and sends groups of its employees out into several local communities to work on various projects or help out in any way they can. Most of the workers wear t-shirts bearing their slogan for the day, “Our Philosophy, Our People, Our Community”. In Swanton, a group of approximately 20 WI employees gathered at Memorial Park to help clean the grounds and paint some of the playground equipment.

The Swanton Lions Club awarded one of two Joe D. Kahl Memorial Scholarships in the amount of $1,000 to Swanton senior Reese Oberheim. Reese was chosen on the basis of his community service during his high school career and his high academic standing achieved in the past four years. He plans on attending Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and majoring in Accounting.

The late Mr. Kahl was a long-time teacher and coach in the Swanton Local School District and a charter member of the Swanton Lions Club, founded in 2009. Carolyn Kahl, wife of Mr. Kahl, presented Reese with the scholarship along with Lions Club President Jeff Patch.

Rosanna Hoelzle, Village Administrator who was hired on March 7, 2016, has submitted her resignation with an effective date of July 5, 2022. Ms. Hoelzle informed the Village Council of her plans to resign during an Executive Session this past Monday evening. Council returned to Chambers following the session and voted to accept her resignation. The need to focus on family health issues was the reason Ms. Hoelzle gave for leaving the position. According to Swanton mayor Neil Toeppe, the search for a new administrator has begun with job postings placed on various web sites including Ohio Means Jobs. Mr. Toeppe said that several applications have already been received.

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Mother Nature, who has wreaked havoc on the local high school Spring sports schedule, finally provided a weather-friendly day on Monday for the JV baseball game between the visiting Wauseon Indians and the Swanton Bulldogs. Unfortunately, she was not able to provide an officiating crew for the contest and the game was reduced to a scrimmage with the opposing coaches calling balls and strikes. Lousy weather and an umpire shortage. It’s been a brutal Spring.

Click on the link to access photos from the game.