News Briefs Week of 2/8/2021

Aspire Program
orientations set
Vanguard Sentinel Career & Technology Center’s Aspire Program is enrolling new students for in-person and online virtual classes.
The program provides free adult education classes focused on helping students improve reading, math, writing and basic skills. Aspire classes are available for adults interested in obtaining a GED or preparing for college, an apprenticeship, a certificate training program or additional workforce training.
Virtual ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes are also available for English language learners. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several classes in Ottawa, Sandusky, and Seneca counties have temporarily moved to virtual platforms. In-person services are available at select locations.
Orientation is required before enrollment in Aspire classes. Orientation allows participants to set goals; complete placement testing and develop an individualized learning plan.
Upcoming orientation dates at the Vanguard Adult Workforce Development Center in Fremont include Feb. 9 and 11, 9 a.m. or 5 p.m.
For more details, call the Vanguard Sentinel CTC Adult Workforce Development Center at 419-334-6901, ext. 2700.

Singing Valentines
The “Voices of Harmony” chorus, part of the Northwest Ohio Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, is preparing to fill hearts and email in-boxes with the sound of four-part harmony, as they deliver singing Valentines on Sunday, Feb. 14.
A limited number of in-person singing Valentines, with quartets performing one song and delivering a rose and personalized card, will be available throughout Northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. Quartet members will be wearing masks and will remain socially distanced. The cost of in-person deliveries is $45.
Other COVID-19-friendly options include a video Valentine, one pre-recorded song and a personalized message for you to send to loved ones for $20, or a live song and message to be delivered over the phone for $10.
Orders may be placed online via the Voices of Harmony website at www.thevoicesofharmony.org; by calling 888-741-SING (7464), option 3, or by emailing thevoicesofharmony@gmail.com.
For more information, visit www.thevoicesofharmony.org.

‘Second Saturdays’
Feb. program set
Kids can learn about Chinese New Year traditions and make a paper dragon chain during Second Saturdays R 4 Kids on Saturday, Feb. 13, at the Hayes Presidential Library & Museums in Fremont.
The paper dragon chain is inspired by the paper dragons used during Chinese New Year celebrations. Participants can stop in between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. The program is open-house style, and admission is free. The program is focused for kids in kindergarten through third grade, however, kids of any age are welcome to participate.
Second Saturdays activities focus on Col. Webb Hayes’ travels around the world. Webb Hayes was the son of President Rutherford and First Lady Lucy Hayes, and he founded Hayes Presidential, which is America’s first presidential library. Activities and crafts are inspired by Webb Hayes’ adventures and locations he visited.
For information, email Hayes Education Coordinator Joan Eardly at jeardly@rbhayes.org.
The Hayes Presidential Library & Museums is located at Spiegel Grove at the corner of Hayes and Buckland avenues.
For information, call 419-332-2081, visit rbhayes.org or follow Hayes Presidential on social media.

Contract awarded
The Northwestern Water and Sewer District Board of Trustees has awarded a construction contract for an elevated water tank project in Lake Township.
The project has been awarded to Landmark Structures for $3.97 million and will include the construction of a 1.5-million gallon storage tank and a 16-inch water main to provide for better flow distribution.
The additional storage will improve water quality and flow during normal operations and provide increased capacity during a water emergency.
The tank will distribute water from the City of Toledo and serve approximately 8,000 homes and businesses in Rossford, Northwood, Troy and Perrysburg townships. The new tower will be built on Lemoyne Road between Latcha Road and the Ohio Turnpike in Lake Township.
Construction is expected to start this summer. Construction updates will be announced in the future.

Corps removing
Brush site buildings
The Army Corps of Engineers is starting the removal of the former production building and two smaller buildings from the former Brush Beryllium site near Luckey.
The buildings are being removed to provide safe access to sample and remediate soil underneath, which is contaminated with beryllium, radium-226, thorium-230, uranium-234, uranium-238, and lead.
The production building, which covers 1.5 acres of the site, was used to produce beryllium from 1949 to 1958 under a contract with the Atomic Energy Commission. Since the Luckey site is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, the district has coordinated with the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office regarding the historic record, and will be recording the deconstruction of the building through time-lapse photography.
Unlike building demolition, building deconstruction involves disassembling a building in smaller pieces. Building deconstruction reduces the amount of dust generated and prevents the spread of airborne ontamination. Deconstruction of the former production building and disposal of the debris is anticipated to take approximately seven months.
Soil remediation will resume upon completion of the building removal operation. The entire site remediation is approximately half complete. The Phase 1 excavation area was completed in July 2020 and excavation in the Phase 2 area was completed during December 2020. Backfill and restoration of the Phase 1 and 2 areas are being conducted as weather permits.

Kindergarten
registration set
Benton-Carroll-Salem School District will hold kindergarten registration for incoming students for the 2021-2022 school year on Feb. 11 and 12 and kindergarten screening on June 3 and 4.
The screening dates are a change from the current B-C-S calendar, which had the screening dates scheduled for March 25 and 26. Because of the change, current kindergarten students will have school on March 26.
The R.C. Waters Elementary office will be open for walk-in registration for parents/guardians of kindergarten students on Feb. 11 from 3:15 p.m.-6:45 p.m. and Feb. 12 from 8-11:30 a.m.
Parents/guardians who cannot make it during these times may call the school office at 419-898-6219.
During registration, parents will receive enrollment paperwork and schedule a kindergarten screening appointment June 3 or 4.
In order to be eligible for kindergarten, a child must be 5 years old by Aug. 1. All kindergarten students should be screened and registered to begin the school year.