Booker: 2022 is ‘Year of Interest’ for arts consortium:
Ned Russell Hall:
Masks no longer required on Mansfield City Schools buses
Students, staff and visitors of Mansfield City Schools will no longer need to wear masks on school buses or inside school buildings. Superintendent Stan Jefferson told district parents and guardians that while they still highly recommend masks indoors, they won’t be required in school buildings anymore.
The change comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its own guidance. The CDC announced last week it would no longer require masks on buses or vans operated by public or private school systems. School districts are still allowed to require masks; however, most Richland County institutions have already announced an end to the school bus mandate.
Superintendent Rob Peterson of Madison even posted on the district’s website Sunday that masks are not required on school transportation “effective immediately.” Meanwhile Ontario Local Schools and Lexington Local Schools shared similar messages.
The change aligns schools with more general updated guidance from the CDC. As of last week, counties with low or medium COVID-19 Community Levels are advised to consider masking based on their personal preferences and risk. Masks are also still recommended in public indoor spaces in areas of high COVID-19 transmission.
Annie Oakley was a Buckeye
Next, some local history. To celebrate Women’s history month, we’ll be spending the first week of March featuring famous women from our state. Today we’re celebrating Ohio’s very own Annie Oakley. The infamous lady-sharpshooter, who spent years touring with Buffalo Bill and his Troupe, was born in Darke County in 1860.
Sorting out the public image of Annie from her private life is nearly impossible. Some people compared her to Calamity Jane–but she wasn’t much like Calamity Jane at all. Annie wasn’t wild in the way we think of Calamity Jane being wild. Men who grew up on the Wild West shows admired Annie because she fit the so-called feminine ideal –– petite, athletic and exceptionally demure.
But Oakley represented something else entirely for the women who’d grown up watching the sharp-shooter and reading about her exploits in newspapers and magazines. Annie was a wildly successful entertainer, whose skills were on par with that of an Olympic athlete.
She was only five feet tall, and incredibly strong. And she had to be: Annie’s rifle weighed 6 ½ pounds, and she’d shoot it at targets hundreds of times a day, thousands of times during the run of a show, all the while running and riding her horse and doing handsprings.
Near the end of her life, Oakley said something that endears her to this day to the proud citizens of Darke County, when she told a reporter from the Newark Star-Eagle this: “After traveling through 14 foreign countries and appearing before all the royalty and nobility, I have only one wish today. That is when my eyes are closed in death that they will bury me back in that quiet little farmland where I was born.”
Annie Oakley is buried in Darke County, in Brock Cemetery in York Township, about eight miles from her birthplace.
Mount Vernon Arts Consortium to take next step
Next, After two years of dealing with COVID-19, Martin Booker says the Mount Vernon Arts Consortium is poised to take local entertainment to the next level.
Booker, who started as the consortium’s executive director in April 2021, said MVAC spent the last 10 months creating a vision. Calling 2022 “The Year of Interest,” Booker said MVAC will have a heavy focus on promoting the three venues that make up the consortium: Knox Memorial, Ariel-Foundation Park, and The Woodward Opera House.
In July 2021, the commissioners contributed $300,000 in American Rescue Plan Act money to the consortium to help make up for lost revenue due to COVID shutdowns. Booker said that that funding allowed MVAC to “elevate” its offerings and rival the entertainment level of larger cities.
This includes bringing in upcoming shows from Ace Frehley, Kevin Nealon, and Amy Grant. An aerial acrobatic show is slated for June, and a nationally known country act is on tap for September. Tickets will go on sale March 9th.
Ned Russell Hall
Finally, we’d like to take a moment to remember Ned Russell Hall. Ned was born in 1931, in Ashley, Ohio. He graduated from Mansfield Senior High School where he was a member of the boxing team in 1949.
He held various jobs throughout the years working at Westinghouse Manufacturing, was a route driver for Isaly Dairy in Mansfield, Hood’s Dairy, and most notably was the owner and operator of Sign Craft in Lucas where he was a silk screen printer for 40 years.
Ned had lots of talents and hobbies. He was part owner of 3H’s Race Team where he shared time as a stock car driver. He served as a basketball statistician for Lucas High School, and was a little league baseball and flag football coach.
He loved to fish, collect and repair clocks, repair and restore dolls, as well as lapidary work. He also enjoyed doing yard work and had a special appreciation for the roses that he grew and nurtured.
Ned was a lover of many sports and participated in several bowling and golf leagues in his younger days. He also had an eye for art and a beautiful stroke with whatever utensil was in his hand.
He is survived by 4 children, 11 grandchildren, 15 great grandchildren, 4 great-great grandchildren, two sister-in laws, numerous nieces and nephews, and special friend, Marla.
