<Sheriff Says Beware of Scams

Monroe County Sheriff Tim Price holds a copy of one of the checks which was brought in by a resident. It, along with others, were found to be scams which attempted to take money from unsuspecting victims.
Also shown is Chief Deputy Manifred Keylor.

by Martha Ackerman
Staff Writer
        Monroe County Sheriff and the Prosecutor want to warn
the public about scams which are making their way into
Monroe County.
        According to Monroe County Sheriff Tim Price, his
Chief Deputy Manifred Keylor and county prosecutor
Lynn Riethmiller, several scams are targeting
residents.
        According to Riethmiller, residents are receiving
checks or money orders in the mail. The recipient is
asked to send money to cover the costs. “I’ve never
seen one legitimate yet,” he said.
        “These scam artists are preying on those who don’t
have money. The checks look legitimate,” continued
Riethmiller.
        Keylor had several in a file, one which was a
cashier’s check for $4,000. According to Keylor, there
were a lot coming into the county about 14 months or
so ago and then it stopped.
        “We’ve had a rush on them the last two weeks,” said
Price, noting a number of them are telephone scams.
        “It’s hard for people to resist with the economy as
it is,” said the prosecutor.
        According to the officials, some of the telephone
solicitations tell people they have won a lottery and
even threaten the recipients that if they don’t pay
the taxes they could be in a lot of trouble.
        There is another pigeon scam that is targeting the
Amish community.
        These officials want residents to be aware and
suspicious of anything that looks too good to be true.
        “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,”
said the sheriff, who noted some of these scams also
target the elderly.”

<Benton Twp. Road to be Vacated

        Commissioners viewed a portion of Benton Township
Road 562 during their July 29 meeting, per a petition
to close. According to discussion, the road has
already been vacated on the Washington County side.
County commissioners viewed the area last week. During
a public hearing, held during the afternoon session,
there was discussion about putting in a turn-around at
the location of a creek, where closure will begin. It
was decided to take the petition back to those who
have signed it and ask them to okay additional footage
for a turn-around. Part of the land for a turn-around
would be on Ken Cisler’s property.
        According to Commission President John Pyles, action
to vacate the road was to be taken at the Aug. 5
meeting.
        Those attending the meeting were residents Harry
Cisler and Mark Romick, and Benton Twp. Trustees John
Semon and Jim Beaver.
        Tom Scott, workforce/economic developer, approached
officials regarding action taken on May 20 to allow
Swiss Lands Realty and United Country-Realty Done
Right to market land at Monroe County Commerce Park.
        The motion, made by Pyles, was contingent upon
approval from the department of development’s legal
counsel. According to discussion, Clerk Allison Cox
faxed a letter to the department in May but officials
have not received an answer.
        No further action was taken on the matter.

< Town Hall Meeting Set

        Representatives of Buckeye Hills will host a town
hall meeting August 12 at Monroe County Senior Center
complex, 118 Home Ave., Woodsfield, from 6 to 8 p.m.
        Attendees will have a chance to voice thoughts on a
variety of topics and share ideas for partnerships and
working toward solutions. As a result, the true voice
of those living in the county and region will be
gathered, offering needed insight for future planning.
The perspectives raised in the meeting will help
Buckeye Hills learn how to best serve residents across
its eight-county region.
        For more information, call 740-374-9436 or visit
www.buckeyehills.org.

< Obituaries

GEORGE C. JONES
        George C. Jones, 81, Phoenix, Arizona, died July 16,
2008. He was born June 2, 1927 in Woodsfield, a son of
the late Samuel Jones and Edith Kerr Jones.
www.campbellplumlymilburnfuneralhome.com.

EDWARD C. KNOTT
        Edward C. Knott, Sr., 77, of Monroe County Care
Center, Woodsfield, went to be with his Lord Aug. 2,
2008, at Wheeling Hospital. He was born July 26, 1931
at Stow, a son of the late Willis and Dorothy Landon
Knott. Online condolences may be expressed at
www.wattersfuneralhome.com

<Our Readers Write:

Dear Editor,
        To all pet owners or to the people who believe that
they are true pet owners.
        The responsibilities we all have as pet owners are to
provide proper food, water and shelter to our animals.
That is according to the State of Ohio. I believe that
the sentence should read: “The responsibilities we all
have as pet owners are to provide a loving home, clean
water, proper shelter (not a tree or hillside), yearly
shots and yearly vet visits, and, last but not least,
true owner companionship and affection!”
        I am truly writing this letter to inform people of
our family's loss and our loss of love for our dog
Kemo of 18 months. Due to people’s irresponsibility my
daughter’s dog Kemo had to be put to sleep because of
lack of knowledge or just plain stupidity on some
people’s part. I get my dogs vaccinated not only for
their own health but also for the health of other
dogs. Not having vaccinations for  your animals puts
not only your own dogs at risk but also everyone
else’s dogs that they may come into contact with.
        Kemo was 18 months old, was completely vaccinated,
and tested positive for Parvo. He tested positive for
Parvo, not because of my irresponsibility of
vaccinations but because of someone else’s. The dogs
who contaminated our yard and brought Parvo to us were
dogs who were running loose and who were never
vaccinated.
        Our two surviving dogs are  completely vaccinated and
show no signs of Parvo, yet. We have taken all
precautions and preventative actions for Parvo, but
again it is not only my job as a pet owner but also
everyone else’s to do the same.
        My daughter, Ayden Russell, a cancer survivor of
almost two years, received Kemo as a gift. She named
Kemo on her own and loved him unconditionally. Now
having to bury Kemo and to explain to her why her dog
has died is heartbreaking.
        Thanks for listening.
Jaya Russell
Lewisville

<Around the Burnside

To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to
hate correction.
        Everyone admires a person with good sense, but a
warped mind is despised.
        Maybe you can help me. What is a “catbird”? I heard
this growing up talking about someone. “He’s sure a
catbird” or maybe, “He’s sitting in the catbird seat”
or other statements to this effect.
        I’m thinking I took this as a compliment. I’ve used
it among my family and others with this in mind. I
guess it’s nature to do the same thing and my daughter
called her grandkids, “catbirds.” Their mother, who is
not up on this kind of talk, asked her, “What is a
catbird?” No answer and she has a master’s degree.
Guess what? I received a catbird question. I don’t
have the foggiest idea.
        Not being fully computer minded, I went to my
outdated, rusty, dusty, dictionary, not expecting to
find anything. Guess what? I found it! Catbird - A
dark-gray North American song bird with a call like
the meowing of a cat. There you have it, a “catbird.”
I never dreamed there was such a thing as a catbird.
        I got to thinking. If this bird sounds like a cat, it
would make all the other birds sit up and take notice.
If birds had a special roost, the catbird could take
charge of it because it sounds like a cat. You know
birds do not care for cats and take to the air when
hearing the slightest cat sound.
        I’m still not sure if calling someone a catbird is
bad or a compliment. I like to think it’s something
special. What do you think?
        Regardless, it’s better than being called a turkey,
a buzzard or maybe a cowbird. On the other hand, I’ve
heard people call someone a long-eared animal and
that’s no compliment.
        Then on second thought, how could you have any
friends among the bird population if you sounded like
a cat?
        They tell me there were a lot of blackberries this
year. In fact, I think this has been an excellent
fruit year as I see apple trees so loaded with green
apples, they look like berry bushes.
        The thing I remember about picking berries is the hot
gum boots I had to wear and giggers. I somethings
would eat a number of berries while picking. Nothing
like a big juicy ripe blackberry straight off the vine
unless a stinkling had crawled over it. Then it took
several to get rid of the taste.
        We normally buy our produce from one market. They
know how to put the price on things. They do have
excellent produce.
        For example, a little box of blackberries, maybe a
quart, a tink over four dollars. That’s not the worst.
Sweet Georgia peaches, a basket of 10 peaches over
five dollars. This is more than 50 cents per peach.
Could you guess what a bushel of peaches would cost at
this rate? We didn’t buy any fruit.
        Guess what happened? This afternoon a good friend and
neighbor who lives at the end of our street brought us
two baskets of peaches from his trees. One of the
baskets had peaches almost the size of a baseball.
Talk about eating high on the hog.
        Pericles said in 430 B.C. “Just because you do not
take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics
won’t take an interest in you.”
        I understand we have some right decent horseshoe
pitchers in our county. Several of them attended the
World Horseshoe Pitching contest recently and finished
among the leaders. I believe a picture and more
information will be coming along. Their success just
proves that folks from Monroe County can pitch more
than you know what.
        Do you raise pansies? Here is a little story from
Germany. Pansy - At one time the pansy had a lovely
scent, so lovely that people come from far away just
to smell this fine flower. That was a problem because
they trampled the grass and herbs that grew around the
pansy. Deeply saddened, the pansy prayed that it might
have its scent removed so that the plants around it
could continue to grow. Its wish was granted and it
reminds scentless to this day.
        Sometimes you goof and don’t know it. I own two pair
of shoes that are exactly alike. One pair have been
worn a bit longer.
        One morning last week, the lady of the house said,
“This would be a good time to finish painting our
deck.” Not being able to come up with a good reason to
put it off, I agreed.
        I picked the pair of shoes I thought had been worn
the most and we started to paint. Things went well and
we finished up in time for me to take Around the
Burnside ahead of the Beacon deadline.
        Sometime later, I was putting on my shoes and I
noticed something printed inside. 10W, I got to
wondering and looked inside the other shoe. I saw 9
1/2 W. I wore the different size shoes all morning
painting and I’m not sure how many more times. I guess
maybe it’s like the man who wears 9 1/2 but 10 feels
better so he buys an 11.
        A lot of things took place over last weekend. I hope
you took part. Just think, the county fair will be
here before you know it. Get ready! School starts
shortly after. Yuck.
        Question, If you come to a stop sign and you can see
both directions before you actually get to the sign,
is it legal to make a rolling stop without coming to a
complete stop? Must be in Lewisville.
        Remember church Sunday. It gets the week off to a
good start.
        Bible readings: Isaiah (Mon.) 11:1-3; From Luke
(Tues.) 4:14, 15; (Wed.) 4:31-37; (Thurs.) 6:17-23;
(Fri.) 6:24-26; (Sat.) 5:38-45; (Sun.) 20:1-8.