Strong opposition to House Bill 154, a bill under consideration in the Ohio House of Representatives that would take away the powers of small-town mayors to decide guilt in traffic cases, is spreading through Clermont County. Since its introduction by Ohio State Representative Larry Wolpert (R-Hilliard) April 17 of this year, the village councils of Amelia and New Richmond and the city council of Milford have all discussed and passed resolutions opposing the state legislation.

Clermont County resident William Stephens has self-published his first novel, “11 Bravo Twenty Five Miles This Side of Insanity.” Stephens, 38, who has lived in Amelia for the past five years with his wife Kimberly, based the fictional novel on the personal experiences he endured while in military basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia in the mid 1980′s.

The Batavia Township Board of Trustees recently met in a special session to solve an issue revolving around an expired liquor license in the township. Benjy’s, a convenience store located on Old 32 near Greenbriar Road, was faced with the loss of its liquor license after a mix-up resulted in a failed reapplication for the permit.

The Clermont County Park District is looking for help. In an effort to create a better park environment for county residents, the district is giving park users a chance to help choose what amenities their parks will receive in the future. To this end, the district has posted an online survey for residents who can take a few minutes to let the park officials know what works, what doesn’t, and what would be really cool to have.

The Felicity branch of the United States Post Office has designed and created a cancellation stamp for the 2007 Clermont County Fair. And for the first time in the fair’s 158-year history, there will be a fully operational Clermont County Owensville branch of the post office booth set up on the fairgrounds every day (July 22 – 28) of this annual event.

One local Boy Scout learned that the motto “be prepared” is more than something you memorize for scout meetings. While finishing his Eagle Scout project, Brian Kittrell found out that things don’t always go as planned. Recently, Kittrell and Batavia Township partnered to place 20 bluebird boxes in the new Batavia Township Park. The project, which effectively completed the requirements for Kittrell’s Eagle Scout project, came just days before Kittrell turned 18, the deadline to complete the necessary requirements to attain Eagle Scout status.

Frog jumping, candle dipping, gospel singing, tomahawk throwing, pie eating, husband hollering, and a watermelon-eating contest were only a few of the popular events that attracted an estimated 1,000 people to the Bethel Founders’ Day Festival at Burke Park June 29-July 1. Last weekend’s successful Founders’ Day historical festival was the first such celebration of its kind since the village of Bethel celebrated its bicentennial in 1998. Bethel is second only to Williamsburg, which was founded in 1796, as the oldest village in Clermont County.

The Bethel-Tate varsity girls track and field team was just 1.5 points short of tying Western Brown for the Southern Buckeye Conference American Division track and field crown.