Author: Newspaper Staff

By: Rex Stump Wauseon, Ohio In the month of October, we celebrate cooler weather, nature changing its colors, and harvest! Of course, there are others who celebrate a holiday of sugar and scares. I’ve often thought, as fun as Halloween may or may not be, why do we need a holiday to provoke an unwanted emotion of fear? In the book Fearless, I read of a story that happened on March 3, 1943, in London. Bomb-raid sirens blared through the air above, causing people on the streets and in their vehicles to panic and run for shelter. In the process of racing…

Opinion

Column: PASTOR’S PONDERINGS – Love Protects

By: Steve Wilmot Paul asserts love is the most excellent way to live. Hard to argue with that. Everyone wants to be loved. A wide range of negative emotions converge upon those who don’t experience the love God created them to receive and give to others. Too often, love is defined as a feeling. Some emotion that makes you feel good. And that’s where many marriages go wrong. The warm, cuddly, goosebumps present when you dated and in the early years of marriage fade away. When those feelings disappear, it’s easy to think you’ve fallen out of love, and there’s…

Opinion

Column: A FRESH PERSPECTIVE – The Christian Response To Halloween

By: Mike Kelly Retired Pastor So, what do we do about Halloween? Curse it? Ignore it? Celebrate it? Redeem it? It seems that good people have varying and vastly different answers to this question. First, let’s look at its beginning. The ancient Celts believed that on the night before their new year began (November 1), the space between the other world and this world blurred, and spirits could cross over into this world to create havoc. So, they dressed up in costumes to confuse these evil spirits. They also carved scary faces into turnips and potatoes to scare off the…

Opinion

Column: IS IT REALLY SO? – Rats As Miracle Workers – Part 2

By: Dr. Jerry Bergman Montpelier, Ohio As mentioned in part 1, Rats have poor vision, but their other senses are highly developed, especially their sense of smell, touch, and hearing. Their complex nervous system and brain give them very sophisticated cognitive skills, including empathy, abstract rule learning, and advanced problem-solving. Rats also effectively communicate with each other by using body language like humans. Rat brains are structurally so similar to human brains that, for centuries, researchers have studied rat brains to understand the details of the workings of our brains. They navigate primarily by using their sense of smell, which…

News

Montpelier Man Injured In Two-Vehicle Crash In Defiance County

PRESS RELEASE – The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Defiance Post is investigating a two-vehicle fatal crash that occurred on October 28, 2025, at approximately 1:56 P.M, at the intersection of The Bend Road and Buckskin Road in Delaware Township, Defiance County. A 2018 GMC Acadia, operated by Robert Peel Jr, age, 33, of Angola, Indiana was traveling east on Buckskin Road. A 2021 Kia Soul, operated by Mary Chapman, age 63, of Ney, Ohio, and her front seat passenger, John Chapman, age 42, of Montpelier, Ohio, were traveling north on The Bend Road. The GMC Acadia failed to yield at…

News

Defiance County Two-Vehicle Crash Kills Archbold Man

PRESS RELEASE – The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Defiance Post is investigating a two-vehicle fatal crash that occurred on October 28, 2025, at approximately 11:21 A.M, at the intersection of U.S. Route 127 and State Route 249 Washington Township, Defiance County. A 2007 Buick Rendezvous, operated by Cierra Jaquillard, age 26, of Toledo, Ohio, and her right rear juvenile passenger, age 3, of Toledo, Ohio, were traveling east on State Route 249. A 2012 Thor Chateau Motorhome, operated by Jay Shaffer, age 61, of Archbold, Ohio, was traveling north on U.S. Route 127. The Buick Rendezvous failed to yield at…

Local History

Historic Reflection: Edgerton Bridge Wreck

This very interesting colorized vintage photograph, believed to have been taken circa 1909–1910, shows a “Bridge Wreck Near Edgerton, Ohio.” What caused the bridge collapse, the waterway it once spanned, and whether there were injuries involved (note the upset wagon on the left side of the photograph) are all unknown. One possible clue is this brief article from the February 25, 1910, issue of the Edgerton Earth newspaper: “The new steel bridge across the St. Joe River south of town was completed last week and is now open for traffic. The bridge is very substantially built and good for…

Local History

Historic Reflection: 1950 – Fulton County Fair Board

The Fulton County Fair Board in 1950, left to right: Lewis Ryan, Frank Tanner, Mr. Taylor, Rev. Zimmerman, E. J. Mershon, Mr. and Mrs. Keller, Elmer Leu (President), Clair Ham, Robert Borton, Ray Gallup, Corwin Howard, L. B. McQuillan, Carrie Cline, Helen Zimmerman, Carl Morr, Glenn Galloway, Albert Seiler, Jacob Fether, and Otto Roth. Do you have a Fulton County historic photo you would like to share? Email: publisher@thevillagereporter.com.

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