Blanchard River Buzz

Andersonville Confederate Prison Camp

By Jamie Baker
You know I’m not a big fan of the federal government. I hate a lot of the ways they spend our tax dollars.
But the National Parks Service is growing on me.
On our trip recently, the wife and I visited a pair of historic sites run by the National Parks Service — Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace in Kentucky and the Civil War camp in Andersonville, Ga.
The trip to Andersonville piqued my curiosity the most.
When we got there at about midday on a Saturday afternoon it was about 97 degrees according to the digital thermometer in the car.
After reading some of the accounts from the prisoners at the site at the National POW Museum also located at the site, I began to realize what a hellish place Andersonville must have been for the 45,000 Union soldiers who were imprisoned there from 1864 to 1865.
We baked under the hot Georgia sun as we walked around the facility where approximately 13,000 Union soldiers died and are now interred in a cemetery on the park grounds.
I could hardly imagine what those 25,000 prisoners packed into the 26-acre site went through each day with little or no food and the only drinking water coming from a small polluted creek which ran through the camp.
There are too many stories to tell from our trip to Andersonville.
Here’s a link that tells you more about the camp and if you are a history buff like me it’s a fascinating website.
If you ever get down that way in southern Georgia, it’s certainly worth the trip. And best of all it’s free.

Fourth of July Grillin' Ideas

By Jamie Baker
It’s Independence Day weekend.
A time for family, friends, fireworks and a little bbq.
That’s the problem...the grill. I love it but am tired of the same old, same old on the grill.
Brats, hot dogs and burgers are the staple of the Baker family grill out. I’ve even grilled some sweet corn recently too and it turned out pretty good.
What I want to know is what am I missing? What do you or your family make on the grill that turns out pretty well.
Let me in on a few of your grilling secrets what can I make this weekend that’s a little different?

Not such a crazy idea

By Dave Hanneman
Findlay’s 2009 football schedule is in and it looks like another huge challenge for the Trojans.
Findlay’s non-league schedule will again be brutal. The Trojans’ first five opponents were a combined 41-16 last season and three of those teams — Upper Arlington (10-2), Cincinnati Moeller (6-5) and Columbus DeSales (13-1) — made the state playoffs.
Three of those first five games will be on road, including a Thursday night season-opener with Toledo St. John’s. It’s the Titans’ turn to be the host team, and, according to Findlay High’s athletic calendar, the game is scheduled to be played at BGSU’s Doyt Perry Stadium. Findlay and St. John’s opened the 2007 season at BGSU. It was the first-ever high school game played at Doyt Perry Stadium, although BGSU has hosted other games since then.
Findlay’s Greater Buckeye Conference schedule will be a bit different this season. Every two years, the league rotates all but the tenth-game rivalry matchups (Fremont Ross vs. Sandusky, Findlay vs. Napoleon, Lima Senior vs. Marion Harding). That means that instead of opening GBC play against Marion Harding, like the Trojans did in 2008, they will now open at Fremont Ross.
Findlay nipped Fremont 37-34 last season and clinched the GBC title at 5-0. Ross went 4-1.
Ross lost some standout talent from last year’s 8-2 team, including two all-state players in receiver Terrence Davis and lineman Nathan Halbeisen.
But the Little Giants return three special mention all-Ohio players in quarterback Cody Foos, running back Aaron Spencer and receiver/defensive back Brett Mierkle. They also have a couple of D-I prospects in Devante Woods, a senior, and Greg Brown, a junior who I’ve heard has 4.4 speed and is getting a lot of interest from Big Ten schools.
After the GBC opener at Don Paul Stadium, Findlay returns home for three games against Sandusky, Lima Senior and Marion Harding. The Trojans wrap up the 2009 regular season at Napoleon on October 30.
That’s the lineup for 2009. Things are definitely going to change in the near future, though.
I’ve heard Moeller wants to get Findlay off its schedule. That spot might be taken by Greenville, a Division II-sized school between Celina and Dayton.
The major changes will come in two years. With Napoleon leaving for the Northern Lakes League and Sandusky moving to the Northern Ohio League, the GBC will be down to just four schools when the 2011-12 school years get underway. That means seven non-league games in football.
Finding five non-league opponents now is tough enough. Imagine finding two more teams for weeks six and seven.
Just on a whim, I speculated some time back that, if the four remaning GBC teams cannot merge, realign or hook up with another league, they might consider playing home-and-home games in football. In a couple of years, that crazy idea might not seem so crazy anymore.