Story and photo by Cort Reynolds
• Ada fall banquet volleyball special award winners, from left: seniorsn Kaiti Newland, Olivia Alexander, Maddie Gossard, Melina Woods and Nikki Lehsten, sophomore Sidney Gossard.
• Ada seniors Melina Woods (left) and Maddie Gossard (right) played in the Div. IV District 8 Senior All-Star Game recently. Ada coach Melissa Gossard (center) coached the Bulldog duo on the East squad. Woods was named District 8 Player of the Year.
Photos by Monty Siekerman
A bigger than usual crowd - 338 to be exact - dined at the Ada Kiwanis Club annual spaghetti dinner on Thursday evening at the school cafeteria. About 70 more people than last year supported the service club fundraising effort. The club does much for youth in the community.
• In the photo above, taking a sheet of hot rolls from the oven are Club President Jack Jeffery (left) and Dr. Mark Shull, DDS.
• Working the "To Go" line are (from left) Heather Cox, Marlene Hoorman, Mallory Taylor, Joanne Berg, and Katerina Linz.
Payton Williams, 3, enjoys cake at the Ada Public Library centennial. She is the daughter of Sara Lansing and Blake Williams. It is conceivable that Payton could live to see the library's 200th anniversary, but she needs to take good care of herself and, in the future, obey all the "rules of the road" when driving her spacecraft, drone, or jet pack. (Monty Siekerman photo)
By Monty Siekerman
The Ada Public Library celebrated its 100th birthday on Thursday evening. The library can only be described as "You've come a long way, baby" because it began a century ago in the women's restroom of the town hall.
That arrangement didn't last long. By 1918 the library found a home in the Brewer Block on Main. By the next year, the books (and staff) were housed at 108 E. Highland, a distinctive brick building that is now for sale. The library remained there until 1953.
The library moved into its current building in 1953. An addition and renovation in 1994 expanded and modernized the facility.
James Lee Hadley, age 70, died on Thursday, November 16, 2017 at 7:31 a.m. at his residence in Ada.
He was born on August 14, 1947 in Warren, Ohio to the late Alvin Dwight and Betty Jean (Standley) Hadley. On April 29, 1967 James married Melody A. Hare and she survives in Ada. James and Melody just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in April.
Keith Durkin is a man on a mission. Durkin, professor of sociology at Ohio Northern University, has seen how drug use has ravaged the area during his seven years as a quality assurance specialist for the Hardin County Juvenile Court.
“The abuse of opioids is now at epidemic levels in the region, and juveniles are now abusing these dangerous drugs,” he said.
In response, Durkin has teamed up with Hardin County court official Wade Melton to develop a plan to combat this epidemic. Melton is director of programs for the Hardin County Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division. Their efforts were supported by an Ohio Department of Youth Services Competitive RECLAIM grant.
