Springfield News-Sun from Springfield, Ohio • 14

B3 LOCAL FOCUS CONNECTING WITH YOUR COMMUNITY Clark County Champaign County SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2016 SPRINGFIELD NEWS-SUN COMPLETE. IN-DEPTH. DEPENDABLE. is to promote and improve downtown St. Paris.

A brief presentation by Steve Singer will be followed by sandwiches and pizza provided by Jim's Pizza Chalet. RSVP to Billie Jo Dever at 937-408-2697. STAFF REPORT ST. PARIS Group to host annual meeting Our Town St. Paris will host its annual meeting at 7 p.m.

Monday at The Ivy Inn of St. Paris, 322 S. Springfied St. in St. Paris.

The organization's goal us Mrr.ajH: rtv-. CRIME Police in murder case seek clues on curtain Top graduates The Clark County Educational Service Center hosted the Larry K. Zerkle Excellence in Education Awards on June 6. The Zerkle Awards honor the top students graduating from public high schools, as well as an outstanding teacher chosen by the students who made an impact on their lives. Students honored at the 2016 Zerkle Awards are: Andrew Aldredge, Jake Bertemes, Scott Blackburn, Taylor Bowman, Hunter Brown, Madison Crawford, Kamila Duff, Kalie Entler, Jessica Fulton, Jerrod Gruber, Jason Holbrook, Libby Hudson, Ann Justice, Jennifer Kerr, Abigail Krakora, Christopher Lingane, Brent Morris, Lindsey Nartker, Leah Parker, Nicholas Pavlatos, Josh Ricket, Mary Rodriguez, Landon Rohrer, Christina Ross, Grace Scarberry, Nathan Sterzenbach, Jamie Summers, Will Thompson, Rachel Wells, Rebecca Wells, Lindsey Whitley and Connor Wyckoff.

contributed PIKETWP. Ayres Pike closed Monday for work A section of Ayres Pike in Pike Twp. north of New Carlisle is scheduled to be closed for a culvert replacement project from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday.

The affected section of Ayres Pike is between Fields and Studebaker roads. Send us your news, community events The Springfield News-Sun publishes news items, community events and other notices daily in Local Focus. Community-focused photos are also welcomed. Submit your news or photograph for Local Focus by sending the information to newssuncoxinc.com. STAFF REPORT Summer Arts Festival events Upcoming Summer Arts Festival events include: A community-wide praise and worship celebration presented by the Nehemiah Foundation called "When Springfield Sings!" invites you to raise your voices and praise God with the Springfield community.

The event will be held at 8 p.m. Sunday. To let them know you will be participating, go to http: www.nehemiahfoundation orgwhen-springfield-sings html. The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, which has performed quality jazz music for 31 years throughout northeast Ohio, will grace center stage at the Summer Arts Festival at 8 p.m. Wednesday.

A Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons tribute band, Let's Hang On! will honor the songs of the '60s when they perform at 8 p.m. Thursday. All performances will be at Turner Pavilion in Veterans Park, 250 Cliff Park Road. For more information about the Summer Arts Festival, contact the Springfield Arts Council at 937-324-2712. SPRINGFIELD 70th annual juried exhibition tonight Springfield Museum of Art members submitted over 100 works of art, including paintings and sculptures.

An opening reception to recognize local artwork will take place at the museum from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. today. Admission is free for members and $5 for nonmembers. Awards will be presented at 6 p.m. Cleveland-area girl kidnapped in 1989, later found dead.

By MarkGillispie Associated Press CLEVELAND Law enforcement officials said Thursday they hoped that someone can identify the origin of a homely, homemade curtain to help them solve the 1989 disappearance and slaying of a 10-year-old Ohio girl. Amy Mihaljevic went missing on Oct. 27, 1989, from her hometown of Bay Village, an upscale Cleveland suburb. Her body was found by a jogger in February 1990 in a field in rural Ashland County, about 60 miles southwest of Cleveland. She was stabbed twice in the neck and struck with a blunt object to the back of her head.

Amy's disappearance drew national attention, generated tens of thousands of fruitless tips and a dogged pursuit of her killer by the FBI, Bay Village police and other law enforcement agencies. "This has never been a cold case for us," said Bay Village Police Chief Mark Spaetzel, who worked on the case as a patrol officer and as a detective. "We've worked this case from Day 1 until today." Investigators gathered garbage and other objects near where Amy's body was found, including a blanket and an avocado green cur the rest to the Red Cross. Over the years, the event grew in stature, attracting competitors and audiences from throughout Northeast Ohio. It went from an afternoon show to a two-day affair, a memory-maker for families who lingered late into the night when the ring's lights came on, nibbling hot dogs and reuniting with old neighbors.

"It was a time when the whole community turned out, the one time they would all get together and socialize because they were always busy on their farms," Konstand said. tain, fashioned out of a quilted bed spread. Investigators think a recent microscopic examination of the curtain and blanket found fibers that match fur clipped from the Mihaljevic family dog early in the investigation. Those fibers, they believe were transferred to the curtain and blanket from Amy's clothing. "Our belief is that these two items are from the crime scene, whether it was a trailer, a house or a barn to wrap her and then transport her to the farm field," said retired FBI Special Agent Phil Torsney, who has worked on the case since its inception.

"We're hoping somebody recognizes it (the curtain)." The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office hired him in 2013 to continue the pursuit of Amy's killer after he'd retired. Investigators will circulate an image of the curtain to every law enforcement agency in Ohio and hope to get it before the public through television, print and social media. Amy was last seen talking to a man at a shopping center across the street from the Bay Village police station. Investigators believe her abductor called her at home, posing as one of her mother's acquaintances, and asked her to come to the shopping center to buy Margaret Mihaljevic a gift. Amy's mother died in 2001.

Fire department fundraiser A couple of years after its inaugural run, the event became a fundraiser for the then-new Bath Fire Department, which took over the event when its creators went off to college. For most of its existence, the show was held in a field off Everett and Revere roads. Two of the original founders barely sweet 16 at the time were Robert Wyatt, now 88, and the late Susie Cranz, who went on to marry. Their daughter-in-law, Connie Wyatt, is the one who led the charge to rescue this year's event. Connie Wyatt is commissioner of the Bath Pony Club, a youth educational program with a five-county reach that teaches horse care and riding skills.

Organizing a horse show is just another way members can give back to their community, she said. And her accomplices are a nod to Bath Township's past and future: BVS, a voluntary service organization that has been providing elbow grease for area nonprofits since the 1960s, and the two-year-old Bath Community Fund, an endowment expected to award its first charitable grants later this year. "One of the reasons the foundation was created was to reinforce and preserve Bath's historic legacy, and the horse show certainly qualifies as one of those legacies," said Konstand, chair of the fund's advisory board. SUMMIT COUNTY Groups unite to keep 72-year-old horse show tradition alive The art will be juried in the show starting today until Sept. 4.

The art will be on display at the museum for the duration of the exhibition at 107 Cliff Park Road. For more information, contact The Springfield Museum of Art at 937-325-4673. SPRINGFIELD Global Impact STEM Academy meeting A regular meeting is scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday at the STEM Academy, 700 Limestone St. The meeting will be held in conference room 203 on the second floor to consider business concerning the Governing Board.

Call the Global Impact STEM Academy at 937-328-6600 with any questions. when a group of horse-crazy teenagers from sleepy Bath couldn't bear the idea of show season coming to an end. Sitting in study hall at the former Bath High School, they decided to organize one final hurrah as the leaves were turning. It seemed simple enough. They just needed a field for a show ring, some ribbons and trophies, a judge and a loud speaker system.

How hard could that be? Their parents were more skeptical, fearing the youngsters would rack up more debt than they could pay. The grown-ups tried to talk their kids out of it, a show of force that only made the teens more determined. As word spread, veteran horsemen eager to see those hopeful ambitions nurtured 2 Lauren Mansky, 13, of Hudson, practices wrapping her horse, Daisy, before showing her to the national horse examiner at the Bath PonyClub in Granger Township. PHOTOS BY LEAH KLAFCZYNSKI AKRON BEACON JOURNAL -Vr Emily Garside (left), 14, of Canal Fulton, shows her horse, Heathen's Gold-N-Blue, to national Pony Club examiner Linda Konstof Lexington, Kentucky, at the Bath Pony Club. The Bath Horse Show will be today and Sunday.

Bath Horse Show to go on, thanks to work of volunteers. By Paula Schleis The Akron Beacon Journal BATH TWP. It's been a long time since anyone would characterize Summit County as an agricultural community. With industrialized Akron encircled by well-developed suburbs, you'd have to skirt the fringes for any hope of glimpsing livestock. So it wasn't particularly surprising that the Bath Firefighters Association this year ended its involvement with the Bath Horse Show, a 72-year event that seems a throwback to a bygone era.

But there is inherent value in tradition especially when passed through generations of a tight-knit community and Connie Wyatt, Jody Miller Konstand and Amy Bowers couldn't let it slip away. "We're losing horse shows and farms and facilities every year, and there's very few left," Wyatt said. "So for us, there's a need for it. That's a reason to save it." Thanks to a community letter that raised $16,000, a band of dedicated volunteers, and more than 300 adults and youngsters committed to showing their horses and their skills, the show will go on. The 72nd annual Bath Horse Show will be today and Sunday, starting at 9 a.m.

both days, at the Bath Pony Club, 141 Remsen Road. The club is at Allardale Park, just west of the Bath Township line in Granger Township. This year's event will mirror the most recent horse shows, with a variety of classes and events for horse owners and riders. There will also be concessions, canine exhibitions, mounted police and carriage rides. Proceeds from the event will support the pony club, Bath Volunteers for Service and the Bath Community Fund.

Teenage ambition Like every great tradition, this one started with a story. It was the fall of 1944 -daily newspaper headlines were filled with news from the World War II battlefront started working the phones, encouraging their friends to turn out. There was no pre-registration, so it was anyone's guess if they would. When the day arrived, the students ran to the valley to make final preparations on a donated field off Ira Road. Then they waited.

They collectively exhaled as they saw the first horse vans making their way down the street. After darkness fell and the last trailer had pulled away, committee members gathered to empty their pockets of crumpled dollar bills and change taken as entry fees and admission. They paid all their bills and gave.