Ohio
Mid-Ohio Valley Sports Announcements
Sports Updates (Photo Illustration/MetroCreative)
Marietta Pioneer Club Golf Outing
Now in its 39th year, the Marietta College Pioneer Club Golf Outing is set for Friday, July 19 at the Marietta Country Club. BSN Sports and FieldTurf are presenting sponsors for the 2024 outing.
The entry fee is $120 per golfer ($480 per foursome) and includes 18 holes of golf, cart, golf favors, and refreshments on the course. The Young Alumni discount returns for the sixth year where members of the Long Blue Line from the classes of 2020-2024 can play for just $75 per player.
There will be two flights of golf with shotgun starts at 8 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. for the second. Each flight will be limited to a maximum of 20 teams. Flight preference will be on a first-come, first-served basis. To register for the Pioneer Club Golf Outing, visit: https://tinyurl.com/mr3avdnf.
***
2024 Summer All-Comer Track Meets
The 2024 Summer All-Comer Track Meets are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on June 13 and 20 at Belpre High School.
The event is for all ages, and entry fee is $10 per participant for unlimited number of events.
Rolling schedule with automatic timing. All events will be timed finals with heats based on the times that athletes submit at registration, held 5-6 p.m., the day of the meet, at the track.
Ribbons will be awarded to the top six place winners in each event.
Athletes must provide their own shot and discus. Starting blocks will be provided.
Spikes will be checked and must be 1/4″ or less pyramids. No needle spikes will be allowed. No spikes will be sold at the meets.
For information: Rod O’Donnell, rrodonnell41@gmail.com.
***
St. Marys Wrestling Golf Scramble
The St. Marys High School wrestling program is holding a golf scramble June 1 at St. Marys Golf Course.
Registration begins at 2 p.m. with a 3 p.m. shotgun start. Cost is $50 per person or $200 per team. Food and drinks included, and prizes include closest to the pin and longest drive.
For information: Jay D. Smith, 304-966-6577
***
Marietta Weeping Willow Church Softball League
The Marietta Weeping Willow Church softball league will begin play June 3.
There will be three divisions and teams play 14 games and a tournament.
For information: Mark Duckworth, 740-525-2376 or Scott Stalter, 740-376-0305.
***
MOV Sports Hall of Fame Banquet Tickets
Tickets are now on sale for the Mid-Ohio Valley Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024 induction banquet.
The banquet will be held 6 p.m. Saturday, June 8, at the Grand Pointe Center in Vienna.
Tickets are $50 per person and the deadline for purchase is May 26.
Tickets can be obtained from MOVSHOF committee members and inductees, or by contacted Sec./Treasurer Don Ullmann at:
Box 11
Belle Valley, OH. 43717
Email: drudou@gmail.com or call 740-732-5558.
Tickets must be purchased in advance and will not be available at the door.
The Mid-Ohio Valley Sports Hall of Fame Hall honors outstanding achievement in Sport in a seven-county region in Ohio and West Virginia.
Ten new members with major contributions to the area sport scene will be enshrined in the Class of 2024.
The inductees include: Bryan Canterbury, Jackson County; Michael Cox, Pleasants County; Janet Frazier, Wirt County; H. Dugan Hill, Noble County; Megan McAuley, Washington County; David R. Mossor, Ritchie County; Tim Phillips, Wood County; Rod O’Donnell, Washington County; Fred Sauro, Wood County; Jim Wharton, Wood County
***
Wirt County Sideliners Golf Scramble
The Wirt County Sideliners and the Wirt County High School football team will be holding their annual golf scramble on June 1 at Mingo Bottom golf course.
Tee times will start at 9 a.m., $200 per team, there will be cash prizes for first, $400, second, $200 and third place, $100, 50/50 and closest-to-the-pin prizes.
We also have a $5,000 hole in one prize on #10 Par 3 hole and some very nice prizes for a hole in one on all other par 3 holes. Food and drinks will be provided. Please pre register if possible.
For information: Yogi Peterman, 304-767-3150 or Billy Dotson, 304-275-3378.
***
Williamstown Offensive Skills Basketball Camp
The 34th annual Offensive Skills basketball camp will be held June 17-21 at Williamstown High School.
Campers in grades kindergarten through five will attend from 8 a.m. to noon. Campers in grade 6-9 will attend from 1-5 p.m. On the first day campers should arrive 15 minutes early for registration purposes. Cost is $100.
For information: Fred Sauro, 304-488-4522.
***
37th annual Ohio River Basketball Camp
The 37th annual Ohio River basketball day camp for boys and girls entering grades 3-8 will be held from 8:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. on June 3-6 at Ravenswood High School’s old gym.
All aspects of the game will be covered at the camp by director Mick Price. Cost is $70 and all campers will receive a T-shirt.
For more information or to register, email goreddevils@hotmail.com or call coach Price at 304-634-7312.
***
Mid-Ohio Valley Prep Baseball, Softball Stats
Area teams wishing to participate in the weekly Mid-Ohio Valley prep baseball and softball statistical leaders are asked to send in final full season to date cumulative stats by 3 p.m. each Monday to jbennett@newsandsentinel.com and jholland@newsandsentinel.com.
***
Wood County Rec Summer Tennis Program Schedule
Wood County Rec Summer Tennis Program at the City Park Courts will be June 10-July 29 excluding the 4th of July week.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8 a.m.-noon. Full schedule available on our website. Ages 5-18 (Boys & Girls).
The cost is $40 and includes a T-shirt. There are scholarships available. You can sign up now online at woodrecreation.com and we will have in person sign ups on June 8 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at the tennis courts. Players may be moved to a different time slot depending on their skill level.
For information: rec office, 304-424-7311.
Top headlines of the week, Nov. 21 2025
Here are some stories you may have missed this week in central Ohio.
A Dublin man will return to Ohio to face federal child exploitation charges after authorities discovered a modified play area in his attic with children’s writing on the walls, court records say.
The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Ohio said 72-year-old Wade Christofferson is accused of sexually abusing at least two children who were under the age of 10. There were at least 15 to 20 instances of abuse, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Christofferson is charged with attempting to sexually exploit a minor, coercion and enticement. Authorities arrested him on Nov. 20 in Utah.
Court records say Dublin police received a report about Christofferson on Nov. 12. An investigation determined one alleged victim lives in Ohio, and there is a second, who lived in Utah.
That same day, Dublin police searched Christofferson’s Wynford Drive home. Court records say a modified attic area of the home was accessible through a child-sized door with “H Potter” written on it. Inside that area, court records say there were children’s writing on the walls, as well as a mattress, pillows and blankets on the floor.
Additional investigation found searches on Christofferson’s phone for “In Ohio do clergy have to report child abuse confessions” and for defense attorneys who represent people accused of sex crimes, court records say.
According to court records, Christofferson had a sexually explicit FaceTime call with one of the victims that was overheard. In the call, Christofferson asked the child to see her “snow” and “friends,” code words for genitals he had taught her, court records say.
Christofferson is accused of sending coded letters to the Utah victim that would include handwritten messages he labeled “Top Secret.”
In one letter, Christofferson referenced seeing the child’s genitals while on a FaceTime call, as well as saying he would teach the child “games” that are believed to be code for sexual activity, court records say.
Christofferson is currently being held in Utah while awaiting extradition back to Ohio.
Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@dispatch.com or on Bluesky at @bethanybruner.dispatch.com.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Vice President JD Vance’s memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” has a storied history as a New York Times bestseller, as the then-31-year-old’s introduction to the nation as a “Trump whisperer,” as a divisive subject among Appalachian scholars, and, eventually, as a Ron Howard-directed movie.
Its latest role? Secretly transporting drugs into an Ohio prison.
The book was one of three items whose pages 30-year-old Austin Siebert, of Maumee southwest of Toledo, has been convicted of spraying with narcotics and then shipping to Grafton Correctional Institution disguised as Amazon orders. The others were a 2019 GRE Handbook and a separate piece of paper, according to court documents.
On Nov. 18, US District Judge Donald C. Nugent sentenced Siebert to more than a decade in prison for his role in the drug trafficking scheme.
Siebert and an inmate at the prison were caught in a recorded conversation discussing the shipment. He either didn’t know or didn’t care that a central theme of “Hillbilly Elegy” is the impacts of narcotics addiction on Vance’s family and the broader culture.
“Is it Hillbilly?” the inmate asks.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Siebert replies, momentarily confused. Then, suddenly remembering, he says, “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s the book, the book I’m reading. (Expletive) romance novel.”
A Republican-backed bill aimed at reducing access to abortion pills could make it harder to buy other prescription drugs, too
Abortion drug under scrutiny by RFK Jr.
USA TODAY wellness reporter Alyssa Goldberg covers why the abortion pill mifepristone is being reviewed by the FDA.
A Republican-backed bill aimed at reducing access to abortion pills in Ohio could make it harder to buy other prescription drugs, too.
House Bill 324, which passed the Ohio House 59-28 on Nov. 19, would require an in-person visit and follow-up appointment for prescribed drugs with “severe adverse effects” in more than 5% of cases. Doctors couldn’t prescribe these medications via a virtual appointment using telehealth.
“Many Ohioans are receiving medications from providers they may never meet face-to-face,” said Rep. Adam Mathews, R-Lebanon, who called the proposed law “life-saving.”
If the bill becomes law, the Ohio Department of Health would be required to create a list of dangerous drugs with a certain percentage of “severe adverse effects.” Severe adverse effects are defined as death, infection or hemorrhaging requiring hospitalization, organ failure or sepsis.
The bill is aimed at mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortions. The Center for Christian Virtue, Ohio Right to Life and Catholic Conference of Ohio support the change, which they say will protect women and children from risky medications.
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio called the bill a medically unnecessary barrier to a safe and effective medication. Ohioans voted in 2023 to protect access to abortion and other reproductive decisions in the state constitution.
“House Bill 324 is in direct conflict with the Ohio Constitution because it seeks to use junk science to override widely accepted, evidence-based standards of care,” said Jaime Miracle, deputy director of Abortion Forward, which helped pass the 2023 measure.
“It is very clear that it doesn’t matter what the people of Ohio stand and fight for,” said Rep. Desiree Tims, D-Dayton, before voting against the bill. “There are just so many lawmakers who are obsessed with a woman and her vagina.”
However, the bill could also make it more difficult to access prescription medications that the Ohio Department of Health deems too dangerous, from antidepressants to Amoxicillin, said Rep. Rachel Baker, D-Cincinnati. “It really could spill over to anything.”
The Ohio Council of Retail Merchants initially opposed the bill because of restrictions placed on pharmacists, but changes to the bill now put the onus on doctors to check if a drug is on the state health department’s list.
The Ohio Senate must review the bill before it heads to Gov. Mike DeWine.
State government reporter Jessie Balmert can be reached at jbalmert@gannett.com or @jbalmert on X.
Tell us what you think
Miracles! Mystery! An AI Jesus! How a new exhibit near Disneyland wants to lure young Christians
Sinclair Broadcast Group makes bid for Scripps TV stations
Cal Fire approach to SoCal’s wildfire crisis could make things worse, court says
High school basketball: Boys’ and girls’ scores from Tuesday
Hungary’s Orbán looks to meet Putin in Moscow amid Ukraine deal talks
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Hungary’s Orbán looks to meet Putin in Moscow amid Ukraine deal talks
National Parks to raise fees by $100 for international tourists to popular U.S. parks
War on badges: House GOP targets anti-police rhetoric amid ICE attacks
How a study on hormonal contraception and breast cancer was distorted
U.S. plans to cut ties with Boy Scouts. And, Comey and James’ criminal cases dismissed
-
Business1 week agoFire survivors can use this new portal to rebuild faster and save money
-
World1 week agoFrance and Germany support simplification push for digital rules
-
News1 week agoCourt documents shed light on Indiana shooting that sparked stand-your-ground debate
-
Science4 days agoWashington state resident dies of new H5N5 form of bird flu
-
World1 week agoSinclair Snaps Up 8% Stake in Scripps in Advance of Potential Merger
-
World1 week agoCalls for answers grow over Canada’s interrogation of Israel critic
-
Politics1 week agoDuckworth fires staffer who claimed to be attorney for detained illegal immigrant with criminal history
-
Business1 week ago
Amazon’s Zoox offers free robotaxi rides in San Francisco
