WESTON – Village council wants to see the ball diamonds alive with children this summer but is unsure how
to make that happen.
During Monday’s meeting, Mayor Howard Lashuay and members discussed the role of the Recreation Board;
past use of contracting with Citizens for Sports which ran the ball program, but is no longer in
existence; and the possibility of hiring someone to organize and oversee it this summer.
No ball teams were fielded in Weston in 2010 because only 29 children of diverse ages signed up to play.

"The power is in the hands of the citizens of Weston and the children," said Councilwoman Tammy
McClellan.
Councilman Jeff Helberg said there had been talk that when Otsego sends out a newsletter about ball
sign-ups in spring, the district would approach it as a single letter to the Otsego community and list
the dates for all four villages, Weston, Haskins, Tontogany and Grand Rapids.
"There are no separations between the towns, no (letters) ‘getting lost,’ everyone gets the same
copy and each town is listed," he said. "I’d like to follow through" on it.
"We have to get our people fired up to play baseball," said Councilman Mark Sheffer, who was
re-elected president of council later in the meeting. "There are a lot of merits to having children
involved in sports in summer instead of having nothing to do. Let’s put our heads around this thing to
get it done."
Mayor Howard Lashuay suggested eliminating the Rec Board and using the village’s new part-time employee
to take care of the parks. But because of concerns about restarting the ball program, news that two new
people were interested in joining it, as well as the Rec Board’s role in sponsoring the Halloween parade
and Christmas tree lighting ceremony, it was agreed to continue discussing the issue at the Jan. 18
meeting, moved because of the holiday.
Members heard a presentation from Rex Huffman, president of the board of the Wood County Economic
Development Commission, and Tom Blaha, its executive director. They had been invited to attend to talk
about local economic development.
Of particular interest to the mayor and members was whether or not Weston can benefit from the opening in
spring of the CSX intermodal railyard outside of North Baltimore.
During the men’s talks they noted that people hired for the 2,000-plus spin-off jobs will need to find
homes and some may move to Weston; the village can expect increased truck traffic on Ohio 235; and
manufacturers can get their products farther since Northwest Ohio will be connected to five Atlantic
ports.
"We see bright days ahead. We see a turnaround coming," stated Huffman. "Those communities
most ready will be poised to take advantage of that."
He praised Weston for having a good infrastructure and for joining the Northwestern Water & Sewer
District which has led to a new water tower for the town.
Blaha urged the village to make sure zoning is right for the area and noted among the economic
development commission’s members were real estate people to help promote land sales around the village
for industry.
Council later approved renewing its membership in the Wood County Economic Development Commission for
another year.
After the meeting, in regard to the CSX project, Sheffer said there are houses for sale in the village,
which, if they were purchased, would increase the town’s local business traffic. In addition, he hoped
the village could capitalize on the occasional purchase of food and fuel in town by the increased truck
traffic on Route 235.
"We need to be able to use those guys (the economic development commission) for research," he
said. "We don’t know the whole scope of the project."