News Briefs Week of 6/15/20

Meeting canceled
The Ottawa County Genealogical Society June Meeting will not be held this month because the Ida Rupp Library is not currently open for meetings.

Latta lauded as
“Taxpayers’ Friend”
Congressman Bob Latta (R-OH5) earned the “Taxpayers’ Friend Award” from the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) for his votes supporting limited government, economic freedom, and low taxes in 2019.
“In order to rein in spending in Washington, we must prioritize protecting taxpayer dollars,” he said. “As the Representative for Ohio’s Fifth Congressional District, my job every day is to work to ensure we are responsibly governing. I am proud of my strong record supporting legislation that limits the power of the federal government, empowers Americans to make economic decisions that benefit their families and businesses, and ensures people can keep more of their hard-earned money.”
This year, Latta received an “A” rating from the NTU. In comparison, the House average was just 40 percent while the Senate’s average was just 30 percent. Latta is one of 48 members of the U.S. House of Representatives to receive this recognition.
Since 1979, NTU has annually recognized Representatives and Senators who earn high voting scores to qualify them for the “Taxpayers’ Friend Award.” One hundred forty-two House votes are included in the 2019 scorecard. NTU’s rating program is designed to calculate a member’s voting record on fiscal responsibility by evaluating every vote that has an impact on tax, spending, trade, and regulatory policy utilizing a methodical weighting system.

Church reopening plans
Ashland Church, Oregon, announced plans for resuming worship services.
“We are ready to slowly and carefully come back together for worship,” said Pastor Jeff Cooper, who noted that plans may be altered if conditions warrant.
Worship during the month of June will take place outdoors in the front yard of the church. In the event of inclement weather, services will be livestreamed, and a recording will be available later on YouTube.
Guidelines for attending in person include:
• Leave one space between you and the next car in the parking lot.
• Bring your own lawn chair.
• Attendees are welcome to sit close with their families who are normally together, however, keep at least 6 feet apart from others.
• Wear a mask when leaving your car. Masks will be provided for anyone not having one.
• The church will be open for restroom facilities if needed. Please use hand sanitizer (provided) as you enter and exit the building.
• Offering envelopes and bulletins will be handed out by people wearing gloves.
• An offering box on a stand will be available to use before and after worship; online giving or mailed-in offerings are welcome.
• Pastor Jeff will remove his mask when preaching but keep a distance of at least 15 feet.
• At this time, there will be no special activities for children.
“We will follow up with any announced changes and what our plan will be going forward for July and following,” Pastor Cooper said.

Water to be
removed from
excavation site

With the clean-up project at the former Brush Beryllium plant near Luckey nearly 35 percent complete, work crews are planning to begin shipping water from site excavations off the grounds for disposal.
The Army Corps of Engineers last week said the water will be loaded into tanker trucks and discharged into pre-approved sanitary sewer lines maintained by the Northwestern Water and Sewer District that lead to the City of Toledo treatment system.
The corps said the use of district sewer lines is temporary and will be discontinued when the amount of water stored on site is low enough to be managed by an on-site treatment system.
To date, about 64,083 cubic yards of contaminated soil have been excavated from the site and the corps considers the first phase of the project about 96 per cent complete.
The corps is removing soil contaminated with beryllium, lead, radium thorium and uranium.
Soils which are above the site cleanup goals for beryllium and lead are packaged and transported off-site for disposal. Soils that meet or are below the site goals for beryllium and lead may be used as backfill in the excavation areas or remain on-site.
In April, the corps said it had excavated about 55,583 cubic yards of soil from the site.
The results of sampling of groundwater last spring were consistent with earlier tests. Some on-site wells show contaminant concentrations above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant levels for drinking water. An off-site residential well located to the north of the site is not showing any trends for beryllium, lead, or total uranium, and does not contain any site contaminants of concern above the maximums, the corps said.
The Luckey site is one of 21 throughout the country the corps has designated for its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program.