News Briefs Week of 5/17/2021

Purple Heart Village
The Village of Gibsonburg will be officially designated as a “Purple Heart Village” by the Military Order of the Purple Heart during a special ceremony on Thursday, May 20 at 6 p.m.,
The purpose and meaning of the Purple Heart Village designation is to honor and remember military personnel wounded or killed in combat.
The Purple Heart, America’s oldest military medal, was first created by Gen. George Washington in 1782 and was then known as the Badge of Military Merit.
Gibsonburg will be the first community in Sandusky County be designated a Purple Heart community, and will become part of the National Purple Heart Trail. Visit www.purpleheart.org for more details.

Partnership
to continue
Juvenile-Probate Courts’ Judge Frederick (Fritz) Hany II and Ottawa County Job and Family Services are continuing their collaboration with The Robert F. Kennedy National Resource Center for Juvenile Justice.
The program streamlines services to youth and families who find themselves in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
“The Ottawa County collaboration of youth serving agencies has done an extraordinary job over the past year to develop an innovative approach that addresses their most vulnerable, marginalized and challenging population of youth and families,” said John Tuell, executive director of the RFK Juvenile Justice Resource Center.
The complexity of the situations that face youth involved in both systems can be challenging not only for their families but also for one agency to deal with. The Dual Status Youth initiative was created to assist each family and its unique situation.
“Research shows that dual status youth present distinctive challenges requiring new and different ways to manage their cases as compared to juveniles without dual-system connections,” Stephanie Kowal. director of Ottawa County Job and Family Services.
“These youth experience troubling and costly life trajectories that often involve future criminal justice involvement, education failure, and absence of gainful employment,” Tuell said.
Over the past couple of months, the court has identified several youth and their families who may benefit from this collaboration. “Having spent so much of my professional career working in the adult justice system, my primary concern is to focus our efforts and resources toward keeping our youth out of the adult system,” Judge Hany said. “I believe that this Dual Status Youth initiative will guide our agencies toward that goal.”

Special meeting
of park board
The Wood County Park District commissioners have scheduled a special meeting for May 17 at 4 p.m.
The board plans to discuss the Reuthinger Preserve roadway project and guidelines for the park district’s COVID policy.
The meeting will be held at the W.W. Knight Nature Preserve, 29530 White Rd., Perrysburg.

Meeting cancelled
The Ottawa County Genealogical Society meeting for May 18 has been cancelled. The Ida Rupp Library is still not allowing in-person meetings due to the pandemic.