Editor’s note: Following is a month-by-month look back at the top local news stories from 2021 as reported by The Times-Gazette. We wish our readers a Happy New Year.
November
3 – The results of the year’s General Election were announced and all issues on the ballot passed. The year’s voter turnout was less than the previous comparable election, which was the General Election in 2017, which Highland County General Elections Administrator David Tolliver said was 26.7 percent, while this year’s turnout was 18.9 percent.
11 –Highland County Economic Development Director Julie Bolender announced that a Workforce Development Center would be coming to Greenfield. Bolender said that the brick-and-mortar store was planned to be located at the Jefferson Street Business Center, but would be open to all residents, industries and businesses in the county.
17 – Scott Miller, a county 911 coordinator, announced at a Highland County Board of Commissioners meeting that text to 911 was coming to the county. Miller said that the county’s current recorder system was from 2015 and that Applied Digital Solutions, Inc.’s NICE System was the choice for the new system.
30 – County commissioner Jeff Duncan announced at a meeting of the Highland County Republican Committee that he would not seek re-election to the Highland County Board of Commissioners after his term ends in 2022. When Duncan’s term ends, he will have been on the board of commissioners for eight years.
December
1 – The Whiteoak boys’ Passers 1 soccer team and the Leesburg Soccer Club’s U12 Boys Strikers both won state championships.
7 – New data from The New York Times COVID Tracker showed that the rate of COVID-19 cases nearly doubled. The new data showed that Highland County was seeing 28 new cases of the virus a day or 66 cases per 100,000 population, while a week prior the county was seeing 15 new cases a day.
13 – The Hillsboro Lighted Christmas Parade had its route slightly changed and presented 39 different parade entries. The top award went to a float entered by the Silver Spurs 4-H Club that “shot off confetti and belched smoke in the center of town.” Second place went to a float by the Bartley family, while third place went to a float by Miller Mason Paving/Ohio Asphalt and fourth place was won by the Harper family. There were also holiday parades or celebrations in Mowrystown, Lynchburg, Greenfield and Leesburg.
22 – Jeff Duncan, president of the Highland County Board of Commissioners, announced that the new dog pound would be located off North Shore Drive on the right going toward the Highland County Airport. Adam Raines, a project manager at DS2 Architects, said that the new facility would have 40 kennels for dogs, a puppy room and a cat room.
Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.
