Five Things You Might Have Missed: 8-18

Top articles from this weekend's editions of The Blade

Andrew McClure, Collins Park Water Treatment Plant superintendent, points out the roofing replacement on Toledo’s treatment facility. The plant was built in 1941.

THE BLADE/KATIE RAUSCH
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Andrew McClure, Collins Park Water Treatment Plant superintendent, points out the roofing replacement on Toledo’s treatment facility. The plant was built in 1941.

1. Toledo leaders see big battles on many fronts in water crisis

Toledo faces a quandary in the aftermath of its historic water crisis: Does it focus on reducing the threat of toxic microcystis algae, which temporarily made the tap water for 500,000 Metro Toledo residents unsafe to drink?

Or, does it turn up the heat on state and federal lawmakers whom city leaders accuse of taking too much of a business-as-usual approach and delaying overdue improvements to water-treatment plants in Toledo and across the country?

Toledo officials are wrestling with those decisions now, knowing that whatever they decide will likely cost one of America’s most cash-strapped cities — one ranked by the U.S. Census Bureau just a few years ago as the nation’s eighth most impoverished — millions of dollars it doesn’t have. READ MORE

Jack Fisher, executive vice president of the Ohio Farm Bureau, speaks during a special Lake Erie Legislative Caucus meeting at Maumee Bay State Park in Oregon, Ohio.

2. Water caucus draws hundreds to air concerns

With as many as 13 members of the Ohio General Assembly hearing testimony and a standing-room-only crowd of as many as 250 people at a time — many of them northwest Ohio office-holders and other public officials — a special Lake Erie Legislative Caucus was held Friday at Maumee Bay State Park. It was a rallying cry in response to the algae-induced Toledo water crisis earlier this month, when 500,000 metro Toledo residents were deprived of safe drinking water for three days.

Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins, the city’s point man throughout the ordeal and one who has taken a lot of heat for overdue repairs to Toledo’s Collins Park Water Treatment Plant since then, was there to listen but didn’t offer testimony. READ MORE

Miriam Reeves is escorted down the aisle by her father Bernard Reeves, 64, who has Alzheimer's, and her mother Marie Reeves, right, during Reeves-Davis wedding at Foundation Park Alzheimer's Care Saturday. Ms. Reeves wanted the ceremony to take place at the facility so that her father could participate in the happy affair.

3. Michigan bride brings wedding to ailing father in Toledo

Miriam Reeves and her fiance, Mark Davis, were planning a traditional wedding ceremony at their church in Ypsilanti, Mich., when she realized about a month ago that someone very special would be missing: her father.

Bernard Reeves, 64, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia in 2006, and moved to the Foundation Park Alzheimer’s Care Center in Toledo about two years ago when his symptoms worsened.

So the former Ms. Reeves, 31, of Canton, Mich., decided to bring the wedding to her father. The couple held a small, informal garden ceremony at Foundation Park on Saturday. READ MORE

BGSU football players and brothers Travis, left and Trenton Greene.

4. Brothers back together at BGSU

Do not misunderstand: Travis Greene enjoyed last season as much as any member of the Bowling Green State University football team.

Greene played a huge role as the Falcons marched to the Mid-American Conference’s East Division title in 2013, then upset Northern Illinois to win the MAC Championship Game before earning a berth in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.

For Greene, something was missing.

Or, to be more accurate, someone was missing.

So yes, Greene is excited for the coming season because of the expectations of a repeat title. But he’s also excited because his younger brother, Trenton Greene, is back on the BG roster as well. READ MORE

Tiffin's welcome sign says the community was founded in 1817, but it decieves.

5. Tiffin‘‍s founding date deliberated by local leaders

A sign greets motorists at Tiffin’s city limits, near the big-box stores and fast-food chains that founders of this Seneca County seat would not have recognized as belonging to the same bend of riverbank they first settled.

“Welcome to Tiffin,” the gold letters read. “Founded 1817.”

The sign deceives.

A volunteer committee of local historians convened by Tiffin’s heritage-minded mayor recently concluded the city is actually five years younger.

The group contends the founding year should be 1822, when Josiah Hedges had the town surveyed and platted. On Monday, the city council is expected to discuss a resolution that makes the founding date official. READ MORE