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 Members of the Wapakoneta Middle School Student Council pose for photo outside the classroom earlier this year. To date, the group has raised nearly $2,300 in which they have donated to various local and area organizations throughout the 2009-2010 school year. Photo provided By KRISTA HAYES
Staff Writer
With the end of the school year nearing, Wapakoneta Middle School Student Council members are hoping to end their term on a positive note.
During the school year, the school government raised nearly $2,300 for various local and area organizations.
“Each year, we try and raise as much money as we can for various clubs and organizations that we vote on and decide to help support at the beginning of the school year,” Wapakoneta Middle School Student Council President Neal Maxson said.
Elected a Student Council representative of his homeroom, Maxson, a seventh-grade student, said this is his second year serving on the council. This year as president, his main responsibility is to set forth an agenda and preside over the group’s monthly meetings which are held the first and third Thursday of each month.
“I joined the Student Council because I was looking for a new activity to do and thought it’d be challenging experience,” Maxson said. “Politics have always been one of the things to stick out in my head and when I grow up, I want to be a lawyer.
“Overall, as president I think I have done a pretty good job,” he said. “Being president is a lot harder than what I thought it would be since I have to make the agendas, run the meetings, and keep the advisers in the loop. I have the whole weight of the council on my shoulders, and at times it can get frustrating, but I would recommend it to all the kids coming to the middle school next year because it’s a fun activity to be involved in.”
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Snow hits, hampers travel: Blowing snow seen as next problem for roads |
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Monday, 28 December 2009 |
 A Wapakoneta Electric Department worker uses a small snow plow to clear the parking lot at its building on Industrial Drive this morning. Snow fall varied from 2.6 inches to more than 5 inches in the county. Staff photo/William Laney By WILLIAM LANEY
Managing Editor
City, county and township crews hit roadways Sunday evening after a winter snow blanketed the area with a cold, wet snow of approximately 2 inches making streets hazardous.
The Sunday snow, which started in mid-afternoon and lasted until approximately 10 p.m., was the second snow in the past 10 days to prompt crews to plow snow and spread salt on roadways.
Snow fall ranges from approximately 3 inches in Minster to 4 to 5 inches in the northeast part of the county, a weather observer says.
Wapakoneta weather observer Dan Dietz reported 2.6 inches of snow.
Wapa-koneta Safety-Service Director Bill Rains said Public Works Superintendent Meril Simpson had city crews plowing Sunday evening and again early this morning. Crews spread extra salt at intersections where roadways became slick and potentially dangerous.
“I saw Meril briefly this morning but he wanted to get back out plowing the streets so I didn’t get to talk to him, but I do know crews were out again early this morning,” Rains told the Wapakoneta Daily News. “When I came to work this morning, the roads were not as bad as when I left the here (Wapakoneta City Administration Building) at 5 p.m. yesterday (Sunday) during the middle of the snow storm.
“I did not have any problems on the roads or at any of the intersections, all things being considered,” the safety-service director said of his commute this morning. “It was a wet snow and temperatures were falling so it made for slick conditions Sunday, but they are much better now.”
Wapakoneta Police Chief Russ Hunlock told Rains of two accidents he attributed to the weather. Dispatcher Nicole Sawmiller also noted three reports of vehicles having slid off the road.
Auglaize County Engineer Doug Reinhart said he dispatched crews Sunday morning to pretreat overpasses, intersections and railroad crossings prior to the storm and again in the afternoon during the storm. Crews went out again at 4:30 this morning.
“The scenario was the wet pavement and the temperature drop overnight froze everything again,” Reinhart said. “The blowing snow is going to be a problem for the next couple of days.
“People need to realize if we treated everything then the roadway and ice would get a little wet on top and catch the blowing snow and create more ice and thus make the roadways that much more hazardous,” he said.
Reinhart received reports that winds are to persist between 20 mph and 30 mph for the next couple of days at which time the next storm is supposed to hit.
“The roads are passable, there is some ice underneath, but they are passable,” Reinhart said. “Motorists want to be careful, take their time and give themselves more time to stop or start to slow down and stop earlier than they normally would at an intersection.”
He said if the sun comes out for even a couple of hours that it would help clear some of the roads of snow and ice.
Auglaize County Sheriff Al Solomon reported five vehicle mishaps, vehicle crashes or vehicles ending up in county ditches or off the roadway.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 December 2009 )
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