5 uplifting stories: A flash mob in wedding proposal, Fairfield student wins 3 straight national archery titles and more

Credit: Journal News

Here is a look at five positive Butler County stories that were in the news this week.


VIDEO: Butler Tech principal includes students, flash mob in wedding proposal

Butler Tech Principal and Creative Director Kimheart Moeung recently staged a flash mob dance performance - using high school dancers - to make his marriage proposal to Fairfield High School ESL tutor Lindsay Cator.

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FAIRFIELD TWP. — The rhythm of a loving heart proposing marriage can be enough to make someone dance — sometimes even an entire flash mob of area high school students.

Two former dancers — one now a principal of Butler Tech’s School of Arts high school student program and the other a classroom tutor at Fairfield High School — had been talking about getting engaged for months.

For Butler Tech Principal and Creative Director Kimheart Moeung that was his cue to step up and step out with a surprise, flash mob dance performance — and marriage proposal — for his girlfriend last weekend at Hamilton’s Fitton Center for Creative Arts.

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Kyle Schwarber: Becoming multi-millionaire, first-time father ‘the best day of my life’

Kyle Schwarber called signing a four-year, $79 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, then becoming a first-time father “definitely the best day of my life.”

Actually, those two life-changing events spanned two days.

Schwarber, 29, a 2011 Middletown High School graduate, signed with the Phillies late Tuesday night, then an hour later, his wife, Paige, went into labor.

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Fairfield HS student wins 3 straight national archery titles

Fairfield High School senior Reid Garrity recently used his archery sharpshooting skills to win his third consecutive national title. The 18-year-old Garrity, who says he has been an archer for half his life, is also a National Honors Society student and is headed to Purdue University after graduation this spring. (Photo By Michael D. Clark/Journal-News)

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An area teenage version of Marvel’s Avenger “Hawkeye” character has hit a national championship bullseye as a top archer for three straight years.

Reid Garrity, a senior at Fairfield High School, recently won his third consecutive Scholastic 3DA Eastern Indoor National Archery Championship.

The 18-year-old sharpshooter, first started shooting arrows as a youngster and now his bow and arrow skills have earned acclaim as well as college scholarship offers.

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Butler Tech police academy honored as among the best by Ohio attorney general

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost spoke to cadets and honored Butler Tech Police Academy as a STAR Academy Thursday, March 17, 2022. The designation of a STAR Academy is for agencies that are continuously raising the bar, have achieved a higher professional standard of excellence among law enforcement approved by the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA). NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

Credit: Nick Graham

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Credit: Nick Graham

FAIRFIELD TWP. — Ohio’s top law enforcement officer visited Butler Tech on Thursday to award the career school as one of the state’s best in requiring high standards for students training to become police officers.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost came to Butler Tech’s Police Academy to designate the adult career school as one of the first in the state to earn a STAR Academy status for its higher training and certification standards for students.

The STAR Academy program was created by Yost’s office last year in partnership with the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission to help improve the preparation of those entering law enforcement careers.

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McCrabb: Vietnam veterans getting deserved recognition nearly 50 years later

Middletown Mayor Nicole Condrey reads a proclamation during last week's City Council meeting declaring March Vietnam Veterans Day in the city. From left, Mike Gomia, Harvey Poff, Condrey, Paul Hannah and Randy Cornett. RICK McCRABB/STAFF

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After serving in Vietnam for one year, Paul Hannah and the rest of the Seabees in the U.S. Navy, were given this advice: When you fly back to the United States, take off your uniform and wear civilian clothes.

It will be safer, they were told. Reduce the risk of spit flying in your eyes. Vietnam wasn’t a well-supported war, and there was a better chance of seeing anti-war protesters burning American flags than patriotically waving them.

It wasn’t until American soldiers returned home after serving in Afghanistan and Iraq that the perception of Vietnam veterans changed. They can wear baseball caps embroidered with “VIETNAM VETERAN” without the fear of retaliation.

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AND, for an extra sixth story of the day ...

In athletic complex plans, Badin High School to honor football coach Terry Malone

Badin High School football coach Terry Malone happily holds the trophy on Nov. 23, 1990, after the Rams captured the Division III state championship with a 16-6 victory over Richfield Revere at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in Massillon. JOURNAL-NEWS FILE PHOTO

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In a proposal for a new Badin High School athletic complex, the stadium field would be named in honor of one of the Catholic school’s most beloved coaches and teachers.

At the time of his retirement in 2003, Malone was the winningest high school football coach in Ohio, which included 16 trips to the state football playoffs eight state semifinals, three finals, and the 1990 Division III state title when the Rams beat Richfield Revere 16-6.

Nearly two decades after his retirement, and five years since his death in January 2017, he is third on that all-time winningest coaching list.

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