iPads may find way in Catholic McComb football preview, p6 Mass, p7 THE ELPHOS ERALD D Telling The Tri-County’s Story Since 1869H 50¢ daily FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2010 Delphos, Ohio Upfront Cooper Medication collection set talks turkey Saturday BY CAITLIN EYTH Herald correspondent Allen County Children’s Services will hold a Most everyone has turkey on the brain this free medication collec- time of year. One area family has thought tion from 9 a.m to noon about turkeys for more than 70 years. on Saturday at 123 W. Cooper Farms has been part of the com- Spring St. in Lima. munity since 1938 when Virgil and Virginia Persons may drop off Cooper began with about 300 turkeys. Today, unwanted, unused and the business is run by the second generation expired medications, of Coopers; siblings Jim, Dianne and Gary. It including prescriptions in produces 14.5 million turkeys a year. original containers, liquid An estimated 46 million turkeys will be medications (in glass or consumed on Thanksgiving. However, that leak-proof containers), pet will not be the only turkey Americans eat all medications, inhalers, over- year. More than 300 million turkeys are con- the-counter medications, sumed in America each year. This is enough medicated ointments or for one bird or about 18 pounds of turkey per lotions, narcotics, medica- Photo submitted person. tion samples and vitamins. “Obviously the single biggest demand for For information, Kalida participates in world record attempt turkeys is the holiday season. It might seem call 419-221-3072. On Thursday, 285 students in grades K-6 at Kalida Elementary participated in the Guinness World a little confusing but the biggest demand in Rite Aid offers Records Day for the “Most People Sport Stacking at Multiple Locations in One Day.” There were 70 general is actually June to September. There Ohio schools, universities or organizations participating in the event. The nearest school to Kalida is about a 25-percent increase in turkey Elementary was the University of Findlay. Verification of the record will take several days. consumption in the summer. The industry flu shot clinic believes that is because people like to eat Rite Aid Pharmacy lighter in the summer- turkey sandwiches, in Delphos will hold a turkey salads, turkey burgers, turkey hot flu shot clinic from 11 dogs, all different types of products,” Cooper a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Farms Chief Operating Officer Gary Cooper Participants must be at Christmas Tree Festival said. least 14 years of age and Cooper Farms meets this year-round wear a short-sleeve shirt. demand by producing about 280,000 poults The 2010-11 flu (baby turkeys) a week and about 60 million shot contains H1N1. begins Nov. 27 pounds of turkey meat each year. This con- Shots are $24.99 for tinuous production method is very different cash patients and free for than the production style in the early days of Medicaid and Medicare Cooper Farms. Part B patients, with “When my father started and when I was presentation of cards. a kid, you would hatch turkeys in the spring, grow them in the summer, process them in Work to begin the fall and sell them for Thanksgiving and Christmas. You could shut down for the on Elida Avenue winter because people didn’t eat turkey deli meats or burgers back then,” Cooper said. L&W Construction will Cooper Farms still takes turkeys through work on Elida Avenue in the whole process, from hatching to pro- Delphos between Sommers cessing. Today, it is done on a much larger Lane and the Family Dollar scale. Of the 14.5 million poults produced Store beginning Nov. 29. at Cooper Farms each year, 7 million hens The roadway will be (female turkeys) and 2.5 million toms (male reduced to one lane for turkeys) are immediately sold to other pro- approximately one week. ducers, which leaves about 5 million toms for Cooper Farms to raise and process. “It takes 28 days for an egg to hatch, 142 Sports days (20 weeks) to raise the turkey to 44 pounds, about 2-3 days to process and 2-3 Martial Arts tourney Sunday days to get it to the store. From farm to fork it The 18th annual Martial is about a 24-25 week or six-month process,” Arts Tournament will Cooper said. again take place Sunday Each stage of the process is performed at at Jefferson High School. different Cooper Farms’ facility. Breeding It is open to all styles of and hatching at Oakwood; turkey-raising and martial arts, with registra- growing at Ft. Recovery; live processing at St. tion from 9 a.m. to noon and Henry; and cooked-meat processing is done the contests at 12:30 p.m. in Van Wert. Cooper Farms employs more All proceeds from the than 1,400 people in Van Wert, Paulding, tournament go to the National Mercer and Darke counties, including about Honor Society. For more 300 employees at the Van Wert facility. information, call Mike Cooper Farms prides itself on producing Maag at (419) 296-9931. turkeys in a safe, clean and humane way and Also, the Lima-Putnam uses a Certified Animal and Environmental Wrestling Club is holding System (C.A.R.E.S). It utilizes a specialist an informational meeting to monitor the animals’ food, care and living for parents and wrestlers From butterflies to M&Ms to hats and conditions. The live-processing facility uses a at the Schnipke Inn in scarves, one can find just about anything at Controlled Atmosphere Stunning (CAS) sys- Ottawa 7 p.m. Monday. the annual Christmas Tree Festival at the tem which is considered a more humane han- The club is for youth Delphos Canal Commission Museum. dling system. Cooper Farms also takes steps to in grades 1-8, as well as Canal Commission trustees, along with ensure turkeys are clean and disease-free. adding a separate class civic and other groups, decorate trees. Some Most Americans today have little knowl- for children ages 5-7 on trees are purely for viewing pleasure while edge about farms and food production. Cooper Saturday mornings. others will serve a dual purpose. For example, believes this is because fewer Americans If interested, contact Maag the Eagles Auxiliary tree is loaded with have connections to farming. at the phone number above. hats, gloves, scarves and mittens that will “It’s amazing how some of the younger Racer basketball be donated to needy families. The Catholic people in this country seem to think meat just The UNOH women’s Daughters of the Americas tree is filled with comes from the store,” Cooper said. “I think basketball team visits baby items that will also be donated. misconceptions happen as generations get OSU-Lima/Rhodes State In just one week, the festival will open to further and further removed from farming. At College tonight (6 p.m. the public, with hours 1-4 p.m. Saturdays one point, pretty much everyone in America tip) and hosts IU-Southeast and Sundays and by appointment. The was closely tied to a farmer but years went by at 2 p.m. Saturday at festival will also be open during Hometown and generations moved to the city and there Racer Gymnasium. Christmas on Dec. 4. The museum can also are less and less farmers. Today, I think it’s be viewed by appointment. Call 419-695- about one percent of the population feeds all Forecast 7737. of the population of America.” Sunny Saturday with high in Mount Vernon grieves after 3 missing are found hidden in hollow tree the low 50s. By ANN SANNER bound and gagged, but alive, tors were led to the bodies by Kody Maynard, and fam- dest day in Knox County his- See page 2. The Associated Press in the basement of a home an unemployed tree-trimmer ily friend Stephanie Sprang tory that I can remember,” about a 15-mile drive from accused of kidnapping the were reported missing after Prosecutor John Thatcher MOUNT VERNON — the wildlife area where the girl and keeping her for nearly Herrmann failed to show up said. “As elated as we were Index After more than a week of bodies were discovered. four days in the basement of for work at a local Dairy Sunday morning when Sarah Obituaries 2 searching and hoping, mem- Hours later, a vigil that his home in Mount Vernon, Queen on Nov. 10. was rescued, I think the trag- State/Local 3 bers of a tiny central Ohio had been planned near the about 40 miles northeast of Barber said the three dead edy today is just devastat- Politics 4 town began grieving as they family’s home to support Columbus. were killed in Herrmann’s ing.” Community 5 learned that the bodies of a search teams became, instead, “We were optimistic a few home in Howard, though he Barber declined to specu- Sports 6 missing mother, her 11-year- a memorial. days ago that maybe there did not say how, and that late on a motive, and it was Church 7 old son and a family friend Rita Bates, 60, who lives was a remote chance that the tree-trimmer, Matthew unclear how well Hoffman Classifieds 8 were found stuffed into gar- nearby, asked the question on these folks were possibly still Hoffman, gave investiga- knew the four. The sheriff TV 9 bage bags and hidden in a the minds of many: “Why?” alive,” the sheriff said. “This tors information through his has suggested that he had World News 10 hollow tree. Authorities couldn’t pro- is a homicide investigation attorneys that led them to the been watching them.