A few more out of the backlog

I managed to post all but one of the Waymarks that I discussed earlier; the ones I just had to get posted now. The one that I didn't, I realized I don't have decent enough pictures, so I'll have to head back out to that site soon to take care of that.

Anyhow I managed to resubmit the Honda plant in Marysville, Ohio. I originally submitted it to the "First of its kind" cat back in November, however it was declined because there is no sign on site showing that it was the location where the first Japanese car was built in the U.S. It was suggested that I submit it to the Superlatives cat instead. I kept meaning to do that, but never thought about it when I was able to do so. In addition to that I submitted a Horse Crossing Sign in the "Uncommon Crossing Signs" cat, a Drive-In Movie Theater (I'm hoping to get back there this summer to catch a movie, and Waymark the neon there. I want to get some good night shots), and a Former School.

The former school has actually been pretty high on my list to get posted for a while. I didn't attend this school, but I did go to school in one of the other 3 Marion County School Districts, and I worked directly across the road for a few years. Also, Dewgrl, DID go to this school, and graduated just a couple of years before the story broke that led to its closing. In short the school was built on a waste dump that was formerly part of a U.S. Army base and POW camp during WWII, and into the early 1960's. In the late 1990's a former student of the school noticed higher than normal Leukemia rates in students who attended the school. After some misleading information, and cover-ups from the Ohio EPA and Army Corps of Engineers, over 75 chemicals were found on the school's campus at hazardous levels. The schools were closed in 2003, after the OEPA, Ohio government, and Army Corps gave money to build new schools elsewhere. A longer, more descriptive narrative can be found on the Waymark page once its approved. I guess because it was handled through the Army Corps, it never seems to have been listed as a Superfund Site.

Nothing much new.

Last week I was on vacation with no real plans of any sort. I spent most of the week visiting a few places around the area, and driving some of the backroads to get there. This lead to visiting so smaller rural towns with a few Waymarks along the way.

I've already posted a couple of Lustron Homes in Team Farkle 7's new category. I've been interested in this since it was first brought up in the forums. It was something that I never knew about, and found there were a few in some nearby towns. I also grabbed a few new Ohio Historical Markers, a lighthouse, a unique weathervane, and a few others that got me some new icons.

In addition to that Dewgrl and I spent some time up in nearby Marion, Ohio. The Marion Area Convention and Visitors Bureau up there is have a contest of sorts called Marion's Amazing Treasures. Basically they have a list of various interesting and historical sites in and around Marion. You visit them and get either a stamp or sticker on a "game card." There are locations that are manned, such as the Union Station, and those that are unmanned like the Harding Memorial. The manned stations involve speaking to someone or taking a tour to get a sticker, and the unmanned stops have a green wooden box that has a small stamper inside so you can stamp your own card. Depending on how many of the 30 squares you check off, you qualify for various prizes. Many of the locations we were already familiar with, but some we were not. Either way it was still interesting to visit the various locations. It worked out well that I was on vacation...Dewgrl works nights so we were able to get to most of the various museums and such that hold odd weekday hours. There are still a few we need to visit, so we're planning to wrap it up this weekend.

Aside from the running around I got a little caught-up on my W'marking backlog. I mostly went through and posted those that are in categories I hadn't covered yet to get some new icons. I still have plenty more Waymarks to get through, so I've got some work ahead of me still.

Not much to talk about tonight...

I just got done listing some Waymarks. I've slacked off about that lately it seems. I'm not sure if it's the nice weather or what, but I've just not felt like sitting down to research, type up, and post Waymarks the past couple of weeks. Regardless I posted 3 antique stores, an AM/FM Broadcast station, a courthouse, and 7 National Register of Historic Places places...one of those I've saved to submit later since I realized that the actual Register title included 3 buildings instead of just the one that I took pictures of, so I need to return to get a few more pictures. I still have about 10-15 National Register places in my backlog along with a ton of other stuff.

I was thinking about heading out to Mechanicsburg for the dedication of an Ohio Historic Marker there, but I didn't end up doing that. I really only wanted to go because I had looked very hard for it to Waymark it. It was listed on the remarkableohio.com site for a while, and it's dated 2006, but I found out that they never had a dedication ceremony, therefore it was never there until today. I knew where it should be, but I kept driving all around the town thinking that maybe the website had its location listed wrong (they've been known to do that) or something...I just never considered that it hadn't been erected yet. Oh well, I'll get out there one of these days to mark it. I am planning to go to another Marker dedication up in Marion next weekend. I grew up in Marion county and spent a lot of time in Marion, so its history is interesting to me. This particular marker is one recalling the history of a WWII German POW camp that was located where the present day Marion Industrial Depot is. You can read the marker's text here. It's pretty interesting stuff that most folks from the area aren't aware of, even though it's relatively recent history.

Something that this marker doesn't mention is some even more recent issues with the former POW camp. Near the eastern end of where that camp was, and where the Marion Engineer Depot was sits the former River Valley High school. Back in the late 1990's there was a link to leukemia cases and graduates of River Valley High School. It seems someone noticed they were developing the disease at a higher rate than other residents of Marion and Marion county. The school was closed and a new school was built a mile or two away. The EPA and various other organizations have been testing the air, soil, and everything else around there but releasing little information to the public (I need to check whether this is listed as a super fund site or not.....). One thing they did find was an area of the school yard where a rail line used to come into the POW camp. They found high levels of Arsenic in core samples taken there. It was later determined that the rail was used to import people into the camp. When they got off the trains they were sprayed right on the spot with a delousing agent. That agent contained Arsenic, and is what they were finding in the soil some 50 years later.