The late days of winter set the sap pulsing through the maple tress of Ohio and Kyle and Shelby Brammell are ready to tap onto that natural process to develop it into syrupy treat. For the next two weekends, people will travel from throughout the state to their sugar shack in Dudley Township as part of the annual March Maple Madness Driving Tour. The tour is sponsored by the Ohio Maple Producers.

This summer, the business square around the Hardin County Courthouse in Kenton will call attention to the sacrifice local veterans have paid for the residents of the community. Commissioner Roger Crowe is heading up a program which will place vinyl banners on utility poles featuring the pictures of veterans who are currently serving or have been in the armed services.

Members of the Hardin County Chamber and Business Alliance received updates on the activities of various organizations and economic development in the community at a breakfast Friday morning at the Elks Lodge in Kenton. The event was sponsored by the Alber Enterprise Center of the Marion Ohio State University campus.

Ken Albert challenged the staff of Simon Kenton School and Harco Industries to become stones. Albert, who is the business manager for the Hardin County Board of Developmental Disabilities, shared stories of people with disabilities whose life he has touched and those connections only happened because someone made waves.

For several years, the board members of the Alger Public Library insisted they were not getting their fair share of the public library funding dispersed by the county to each of the local libraries. But, said Fiscal Officer Jane Wilcox, the situation had deteriorated to the point that the Alger board had no choice but to take the rare step of challenging the Hardin County Budget Commission at the state level.

With basketball teams squaring off in tournament competition this week, a team of three Kenton Middle School students will compete against other teams from throughout the state for another championship. Eighth-graders Zach Heintz, Theo Jesionowski and Noah Ketcham will compete as Kenton 1594B in the 2018 Vex Robotics Competition Middle School State Robotics Championship in Columbus on Saturday.

ADA — Derrick Jamison calls Oct. 25 “the worst day of my life and the best day of my life.” It was on Oct. 25, 1985, that he was sentenced to die for the murder of a man working at Cincinnati nightclub.

When the Kenton-Hardin Health Board convenes an advisory board meeting in March with township, village and city representatives to consider the 2019 budget for the department, it will be seeking an $18,000 increase. The last time the advisory board approved an increase for the health department was 2010, said Clerk Pam Romanko.

A former Allen East music teacher charged with crimes after he admittedly requested nude photos of a former male student was found guilty of four of the eight counts against him this morning in Hardin County Common Pleas Court.

McGUFFEY — Upper Scioto Valley Schools is attempting to get their young students excited about reading with a summer program which will put books in their hands. Teachers Jamie Sanders and Melissa Rofe outlined their plans to the USV school board on Monday night.