Welcome to Memorial Day weekend. There is no doubt the traffic in the area will be extremely heavy, so please drive with extra caution, especially on Perry Street in Port Clinton where the annual Walleye Festival will be taking place. Expect a lot of pedestrian traffic in that area.

Catawba Island’s premier historian, Don Rhodes, who passed away recently, was honored by his many friends and by the Catawba Island Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday. A procession around Catawba was followed by the archway provided by the CIVFD. He will be sorely missed.

Barb Chrysler, who had so many friends on South Bass Island, was given a special Memorial Service at Maple Leaf Cemetery on Saturday. Barb worked many jobs on the Island, most recently as manager of Put-in-Bay Yacht Club.

I was not really surprised to learn that the News Herald will cease daily publication at the end of June. Since the onset of the internet, daily newspapers across the country have been struggling to maintain paid circulation and subscriptions. According to the announcement, they will publish a combined issue on Saturdays with the Fremont News Messenger. They will focus on primarily digital news presentation.

Fortunately, since The Beacon is a free paper, we are not negatively affected by loss of readership due to online news presentation. In fact, our website news coverage and social media posts serve to strengthen our readership in our coverage area of Ottawa County.

Andy Aranyosi was selected from among 135 entries who found Wylie Walleye hiding in the ad for Otterbein North Shore on Page 3B in last week’s Beacon. So, Andy wins our weekly $25 gas card graciously donated by Friendship Stores.

Each week we hide Wylie in an ad for our readers to find. When one does, they can either bring in a contest entry cut out of the paper, or log onto our website, www.thebeacon.net and let us know where he is!

This Sunday is the Linda Hartlaub Memorial 5K run benefitting Ruth Ann’s House and Ottawa County Transitional Housing. Registration starts at 8:30 a.m. in the blue kiosk at the north end of Jefferson Street in Port Clinton. Walk-up runners are welcome.

The 33rd Annual Chick Schaffner Memorial Charity Golf Classic co-sponsored by Materion and Schaffner Publications, Inc. will be held at the beautiful Catawba Island Club golf course on Monday, June 27. The tournament is named for longtime Materion Plant Manager, Henry “Chick” Schaffner who also happens to be my father. To register your team for the 4-person scramble, log onto the website, steinhospice.org and click on the link to the tournament.

This past Sunday was not only graduation day for Port Clinton High School, but also for Oak Harbor and Danbury seniors as well. We wish the best to all of our local graduates.

Congratulations to the 2022 Benton-Carroll-Salem School retirees Jeaney Diefenthaler (22 years), Susan Nowlin (33 years, Amy Behm (27 years) and Barbara Lorensen (40 years).

American Legion Post 279 in Elmore is hosting a Veterans Honor Ride this Saturday from the Elmore Post to the Veterans Home in Sandusky. Registration starts at 11 a.m. with the ride to begin at 12:30 p.m. The fee is $10 per rider and funds will benefit the Veterans Home and Post 279.

The Benton-Salem-Carroll School District will be breaking ground on their new Intermediate School Building at 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 2 behind RC Waters School. This is an event long hoped for by many BCS parents and citizens.

The Marblehead Peninsula Chamber of Commerce will hold its 14th annual Golf Outing on Monday, June 6 at the Catawba Island Club. The fee is $140 per player and includes: Green fees, golf cart, box lunch and dinner. Call Teri Cassell at the Chamber office at 419-702-7492 for more information.

Congratulations to Tate Smith of Oak Harbor, who earned a bachelor’s degree in sports management with a minor in coaching from Bluffton University.

Please remember that Monday is Memorial Day, the day we pause to remember all those individuals who gave the last full measure of devotion of defending our freedom in the United States of America.