Local Headline News


ZONING BOARD NIXES SPORTS FIELDS
(Whitewater Valley)--The Richmond Board of Zoning Appeals met Thursday night and dealt with a request to develop athletic fields off of Backmeyer Road.  The board voted uanimously to reject the request for a zoning change.  The land in question is on 13 acres just north of Christ United Church and just south of Wal-Mart.  Plans called for four sports fields and the development of the Cal Ripken Youth Baseball League.  But, most neighbors opposed the development – fearing things like increased traffic, noise, and light and decreased property values.  The city’s planning department originally supported the development, but then rescinded that support after hearing from real estate appraisers at the zoning board’s meeting last month.

PREBLE COUNTY REMAINS IDENTIFIED
(West Alexandria, OH)--Here’s more on the identification of the body that was discovered in Preble County in the summer of 2008.  The man was identified Thursday as 54-year-old James Rembowski of Dayton.  Rembowski was a registered sex offender from Florida who had moved to Dayton.  In April of 2007 – more than a full year before his body was discovered – Rembowksi got into an argument with a group of friends at his Dayton home and was never seen again.  His body was discovered on Lexington-Salem Road just north of West Alexandria.  It leads Preble County Sheriff Mike Simpson and other investigators to the obvious.  "It certainly lends you to believe that it's suspicious.  We will continue down the homicide track," Simpson said.  Meanwhile, investigators in Richmond are still working to positively identify the skeletal remains of a white male that were discovered near the Wayne County Fairgrounds last Friday.

PENCE ADDS STOPS TO AREA VISIT
(Whitewater Valley)--Congressman Mike Pence has added several stops to his trip to the Whitewater Valley Saturday.  Pence will begin with a town hall meeting at Reid Hospital in Richmond at 10 o’clock Saturday morning.  At 11:30, he’ll hold another town hall meeting at Henry County Hospital in New Castle.  Pence will be back in Wayne County to visit with Western Wayne students at the elementary school at 1:30 Saturday afternoon.  And, he’ll wrap up his area visit with a town hall meeting in Connersville.  It begins at 3:30 at the John Miller Community Center on Park Road.