Tuesday, December 21, 1999
Dearborn committee establishes unity theme
BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
As the 20th century fades away, a Dearborn County committee is trying to capitalize on the region's past and prepare for the future.
Its 15 members want to bring together farmers and developers, business leaders and naturalists, longtime residents and their new neighbors.
And they will do it all under a banner or in a T-shirt proclaiming the county as “united and growing.”
The Millennium Committee, appointed by the county commission, will carry its theme throughout the area. Members will ask all of the county's townships and towns to add items to a time capsule for burial next fall.
Each week throughout the year, a story in the local media will highlight a significant place or event from the region's past. Kids who clip and save them all will get a certificate in 2001.
“Let's look at this year as a time to look at all the great things we have here in Dearborn County and that we're all a part of it,” said committee chair Jane Ohlmansiek, a preschool teacher whose family has lived in Clay Township near Dillsboro for five generations.
“It's a time for new beginnings, a new awareness of who we are as citizens of Dearborn County — and to celebrate,” she said.
This county, sitting on the Ohio River and state line, is filled with farmers' fields and the municipalities of St. Leon, West Harrison, Moores Hill, Dillsboro, Aurora, Lawrenceburg and Greendale.
Cincinnati commuters and employees of Lawrenceburg's Argosy Casino have moved in alongside families who have lived in the county for genera tions.
“Our community is becoming really diversified. ... We're trying to reach out to old people and young people. We're trying to get things that would interest all parts of the community, the farmers and the business community,” Ms. Ohlmansiek said. “Our theme is basically unity.”
With that in mind, organizers decided to incorporate their theme into the county's many existing annual events during 2000, rather than starting a separate effort.
“We hope that by picking up our theme, that will just add to those events,” said Jerry Abner, assistant director of the county Convention, Visitor and Tourism Bureau. “We view it as a community relations-type project ... with a really positive outlook on where Dearborn County is heading into the millennium.”
The millennium committee will kick off its campaign at the county's New Year's Eve celebration, co-sponsored by the bureau at Perfect North Slopes ski area. There will be skiing, dancing, a torchlight parade and fireworks.
“Dearborn County is a very special place. It's a beautiful place,” said Ms. Ohlmansiek. “The Millennium Committee is a way to look off into the future a little bit and see what we can do.”
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