Medina Co. youth pay tribute to accident victims

MEDINA, Ohio – Fairs are about family, farming and youth, the future of Ohio, according to Gov. Bob Taft.

After a stop at an area hospital to talk with victims of the July 29 steam tractor explosion that resulted in the loss of five lives and injuries to more than 30 others, Taft paid a visit to the Medina County Fair and the junior fair livestock auction.

He told the audience that the state is already investigating what they can to do prevent a tragedy such as this from happening again.

Bought animal. Following his remarks, Taft fine-tuned his auction technique by buying an animal during the auction. He donated it back to the livestock committee to be sold again, with the proceeds to benefit a fund set up to benefit the victims of the accident.

Taft was one of countless individuals during the sale to donate all or part of the proceeds from the sale of an animal to the victims’ fund. Fair officials reported that a group of business people would add $25,000 to whatever amount was raised during the day.

The sale of 516 lots totaled $246,367. Of that, youth donated $21,063 to the victims’ fund.

Riley donates all. The largest donation of the day came from Chance Riley, who donated all of the entire proceeds from his 266-pound grand champion market hog to the fund. The animal was purchased by Simmons Brothers Construction for $15 per pound.

Riley’s grand champion last year sold for $6.50 a pound.

Emily O’Neill’s 258-pound reserve champion market hog was purchased by Baker Sand, Critchfield Law Firm and Jill Heck for $3 a pound.

O’Neill also had the grand champion swine carcass. The 187-pound carcass sold for $2.10 a pound to Markley Country Meats. The young exhibitor donated $100 to the burn victims’ fund from the sale of her live hog and another $100 from her carcass hog sale.

Jerry and Marianne Grziacic bid $2.25 a pound for Carmen Howard’s 186-pound reserve champion carcass.

Steers. Tom and Cathy Keller bid $3.10 a pound to purchase Ryan Gulliford’s 1,145-pound champion steer for Whitehead Meats. Gulliford donated $200 to the victims’ fund and another $50 to the 4-H Endowment Fund.

Bobby Guccion sold his 1,222-pound reserve champion steer for $3.25 per pound to Ron Pfaff for Pfaff Electric. Guccion also donated $500 to the burn victims’ fund.

The champion beef carcass was exhibited by Brittney Smith. The 760-pound carcass sold to Chatham General Store for $3.20 a pound. Jared Boyert’s 765-pound reserve champion carcass was purchased by Gene Reusch of Reusch Excavating for $2.50 a pound.

Morlock Materials bid $1.10 for Shanna Keller’s 1,358-pound champion dairy steer. Kimberly Morlock sold her 1,467-pound reserve champion dairy steer for 871/2 cents a pound to Whitehead Meats.

Both exhibitors donated $100 each to the victims’ fund.

Lambs. Melissa Sulzener sold her 128-pound champion market lamb for $12.50 per pound to Dennis Insurance.

Air Conditioner Contractors of the Akron-Canton Area bid $9 per pound for Adam Black’s 133-pound reserve champion lamb. Black donated a third of his sale proceeds to the victims’ fund.

Sulzener also exhibited the champion lamb carcass, which sold to Remington Farm for $11 a pound.

Tim Farnsworth sold his 71-pound reserve champion lamb carcass for $6 per pound to 5 H Farm. He donated all of the money to the victims’ fund.

Veal, goats. Aungst Ostrich Farm and Aungst Hog Farm bid $2.50 a pound for Erin Smith’s 379-pound champion veal calf, while Kimberly Morlock sold her 378-pound reserve champion veal calf for $1.70 per pound to Gunkelman Farms.

Cassie Clark sold her 88-pound champion meat goat for $6 per pound to Lloyd Construction and Doors and More. Chatham General Store bid $3.90 per pound for Adam Clark’s 91-pound reserve champion meat goat.

Spencer Feed and Supply bid $5.50 per pound for Louis Blaha’s 69-pound champion dairy market goat, while Reed Concessions bid $2.50 per pound for Marcella Hamilton’s 62-pound reserve champion dairy market goat.

Small animals. State Sen. Ron Amstutz bid $775 for Kimberly Tekus’ champion pen of meat rabbits. Lloyd Construction bid $325 for Amelia Dull’s reserve champion pen of meat rabbits. Tekus and Dull both made donations to the victims’ fund.

Melanie Hamlett sold her champion pen of broilers to Lloyd High Tensile Fence for $450 while Wolff Brothers’ Supply bid $275 for Beth Steidl’s reserve champion pen of broilers.

Sandridge Food Company bid $550 for Eric Berthold’s champion turkey. Tom Bahr bid $225 for Ben Zacharias’ reserve champion turkey.

Lloyd Construction, Doors and More and Medina Landmark teamed up to bid $625 for Mike Goins’ champion meat goose. Adam Henslee sold his reserve champion meat goose for $225 to Tom Bahr.

Daniel Sotak’s champion meat duck sold to Remington Mechanical for $850 with $100 going to the victim’s fund. Jacob Deeks donated half of the $300 proceeds from the sale of his reserve champion meat duck to State Rep. Chuck Calvert to the fund.

Dairy items. Junior fair dairy exhibitors also benefited from the auction crowd’s generosity. The sale of four baskets of dairy products and other items generated $1,130, which was divided among the 15 exhibitors in the junior fair dairy show.

Based on a theme of the Four Seasons, a “Spring Basket” sold for $200 to Lori Farnsworth; Fairway Electric bid $230 for a “Summer Basket” and $350 for a “Fall Basket” and Lloyd’s High Tensile Fence bid $350 for a “Winter Basket.”