Afternoon catchup: 5 Butler County stories you need to know today

This is the Hamilton Pride logo, created by LemonGrenade Creative, LLC. PROVIDED

Credit: Rutledge, Mike (CMG-Dayton)

Credit: Rutledge, Mike (CMG-Dayton)

This is the Hamilton Pride logo, created by LemonGrenade Creative, LLC. PROVIDED

Here’s a look at five big Butler County stories today to catch up on the news:


Hamilton to host first in-person Pride event this weekend: What’s planned

This is the Hamilton Pride logo, created by LemonGrenade Creative, LLC. PROVIDED

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Hamilton will host its first in-person Pride event along the streets and parks of downtown Hamilton on Saturday.

Organizers planned the first-ever event last year, but it couldn’t be held due to COVID-19 precautions. The Saturday event will include three sections: A parade, festival and concert.

The parade, which is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. at Rotary Park, and the festival, scheduled for noon until 6 p.m. at Marcum Park, will be free and open to all ages. The festival plans to havevendors, food trucks and activities, including live music.

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Victim ID’d in fatal train strike in Hamilton

ajc.com

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The Butler County Coroner’s Office has identified a man killed early Monday after a train strike in Hamilton.

Kenneth Granville Cramer, 35, died about 1:30 a.m. Monday on the tracks at Laurel and Zimmerman Avenues. Cramer died of multiple traumatic injuries, and the manner of death is still under investigation.

A CSX worker called police to the location reporting a pedestrian had been struck. The police report says the person was under the train when officers arrived.

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‘I’m a lifer’: Woman retires after 47 years with Middletown

Kay Sauer retired last week from the City of Middletown, ending a 47-year career that began in 1974 when she was hired as a typist/clerk in the human resources department. SUBMITTED PHOTO

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To understand how long Kay Sauer has worked for the City of Middletown, consider she’s the only employee who moved her desk from the former City Building on Central Avenue to the City Building on Donham Plaza.

The City Building was dedicated on July 4, 1976, and opened to the public in 1977.

By that time, Sauer had already worked for the city for three years.

She retired last week, ending a 47-year career that began on July 29, 1974, when she was hired as a clerk/typist in the human resources department. During that time, she worked on typewriters, computers and received work emails on her cellphone.

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Hamilton building named among most endangered historic sites for 2021

Hamilton Mayor Pat Moeller and others want to save the historic CSX station and move it elsewhere, but he is concerned the railroad is preparing to tear it down. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

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Preservation Ohio, a non-profit organization that calls itself the state’s oldest statewide historic preservation organization, today listed Hamilton’s CSX station, formerly the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton depot, among its 11 most endangered buildings for 2021.

Hamilton City Council and city staff in recent weeks have been struggling with the issue of whether, and how, to save the station. The estimated cost of moving the station about two blocks north along Martin Luther King Boulevard and placing it on a concrete base is $600,000. But that would not include the costs of renovating the building, and officials do not know how the building might be used.

One possible use is as parking and bathroom facilities that Amtrak is considering placing in Hamilton, along with Oxford, on its route from Cincinnati to Indianapolis and Chicago.

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Butler County residents will see unpaid utilities on property tax bills: What to know

The Butler County Government Services Center. STAFF FILE

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Butler County will be including unpaid utilities on property taxes for those who have overdue balances, a signal that bill forgiveness happening throughout the region during the COVID-19 pandemic is ending.

Butler County Water & Sewer Director Martha Shelby recently received approval from the county commissioners to charge an estimated $93,000 to the tax bills of county water and sewer users who have not paid their delinquent bills. Past-due amounts added to taxes average around $300.

She told the Journal-News the number could decrease now that the process to collect via tax bills has begun. The second half tax bills will reflect the additional charges.

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

B-25 Mitchell bomber to land at Butler County airport this weekend: How to go

The "Champaign Gal," a B-25 bomber that's normally on display at the Champaign Aviation Museum in Urbana, is shown in a file photo. The aircraft is stranded at an Indiana airport after engine issues. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Credit: Bill Lackey

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Credit: Bill Lackey

A small fleet of World War II-era planes will be on display at the Butler County Regional Airport Friday and Saturday, including one model made famous by the Doolittle Raid in 1942.

The Hogan Field Fly-In at the Butler County Regional Airport in Hamilton is a free event on Friday, starting at 3 p.m.and admission is $10 when gates open at 10 a.m. Saturday. It will feature the military aircraft and rides in a B-25 Mitchell, a twin-engine medium bomber flown by allied air forces in every World War II theater, and a T-6 Texan, an advanced trainer that pilots had to master before being sent on war missions.

A P-51 Mustang, which also flew during the Korean War, and TBM Avenger, the type of plane flown by former President George H.W. Bush during combat missions in 1945, will also be at Hogan Field.

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