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July 28, 2014

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Next time you see Gary Kirtland, ask him about the 1954 Ford he bought from Conner Stewart

Posted by Fred Steiner on July 21, 2014 - 5:32pm

Gary Kirtland says he bought his first car at age 15. Conner Stewart sold him the car. At the time Stewart owned a Sohio gas station at the corner of Main and Jefferson Streets (now owned by Kirtland).

“I told my dad that I wanted this car – a 1954 Ford – and I bought it,” said Gary. Stewart let Gary park the car on his Sohio lot.

Since he wasn’t old enough to drive, after school he’d go start it, rev up the engine and mess around with it. He eventually blew the engine simply by revving it up too much.

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It's mid-July in Bluffton; that means Marlin Gerber has arrived with this season's blueberries

Posted by Fred Steiner on July 13, 2014 - 9:00pm

Maybe Marlin Gerber is the Johnny Appleseed of blueberries. Leduc, Michigan, blueberries to be specific.

Bluffton likes blueberries and Marlin Gerber feeds our appetites for the tiny summer berry.

Who is Marlin anyway and why does he come to Bluffton with blueberries?

Originally from Sugarcreek, he enrolled at Bluffton College in 1953. He took off a couple years to volunteer in PAX. Then he returned to graduate in 1960.

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A chat with Henry Huber in his corn field on July 4, 1972

Posted by Fred Steiner on July 2, 2014 - 1:36pm

Todd Gratz, formerly of Bluffton, - brother of Kevin Gratz - and former editor of the Bluffton News read our story about Henry Huber and "knee high by the Fourth of July." (Click here to read that story.)

He took one of the iconic photos of Farmer Huber in 1972 and sent us a copy from his personal collection.

Thanks Todd.

 

 

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Iconoclast View: Bruce, how will we ever get by without you!

Posted by Fred Steiner on June 27, 2014 - 12:14pm

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A photo series three-years+ in the making

Posted by Fred Steiner on June 26, 2014 - 5:00pm

The Icon offers viewers a three-part photo series that took three years to complete. We intend to continue this series. Here’s the story about it.

A long time ago in a galaxy far away there was a newspaper editor in a small town called Bluffton, Ohio.

The editor’s name was Charles Hilty. He created a tradition that The Icon has adopted. Every year on or very close to July 4, he’d take a photo of an old farmer, Henry Huber, standing in Henry’s cornfield.

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Allow me to show you the oldest flower in my garden; what's in your's?

Posted by Fred Steiner on June 17, 2014 - 12:53pm

Tell us about the “oldest” flower in your garden.

Here’s mine, and while it’s a vintage plant, the details are hazy. I don’t even know its official name.

In my back yard is blooming a white iris that is very fickle. It blooms once every three years or so. There are also some blue irises in the mix. I’ve never seen the blue and the white bloom the same year. Perhaps they don’t like each other.

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33.07 tons of refuse in the dumpsters

Posted by Fred Steiner on June 16, 2014 - 9:58am

News flash:

During the May clean up the village reports 33.07 tons of refuse was collected over a two-week period at the Spring Street recycling center.

Using an estimated figure of 4,000 residents in Bluffton, how many pounds of crap was dumped per resident during spring clean up? First off, 33.07 tons is 72,906 pounds. The answer is 18.2 pounds.

This fact begs the question: Is every person in Bluffton – babe in arms to elder at Maple Crest –  collecting 18.2 pounds of junk each year, or slightly over 1.5 pounds per month?

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Bluffton's vehicle ghosts - I remember the cars from the 1940s and '50s

Posted by Fred Steiner on June 12, 2014 - 1:48pm

Rudi Steiner, a 1961 Bluffton High School graduate, may well deserve a master’s degree in Bluffton automotive science 1945-1961. During this period he watched who drove what and sometimes, why. Here’s a summary of the Bluffton’s chrome and fin vehicle age from one who observed it first hand. This column is reprinted from "Bluffton, A Good Place to Miss."

By Rudi Steiner

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Expand your reading horizon: Here's a summer book list to consider

Posted by Fred Steiner on June 11, 2014 - 8:33pm

The Icon invites you to consider a book reading list unlike most you've encountered. We invited our Bluffton University intern, Nnenna Onwukeme, to offer a reading list of African writers. Here's her list:

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Bluffton Bambi chapter 2, or the adventures of a newborn fawn

Posted by Fred Steiner on June 3, 2014 - 5:37pm

Bluffton Bambi Chapter 2:

On Sunday the Icon posted a photo of a new-born fawn discovered in an unnamed Bluffton location, which was near a familiar neighborhood. In that story we revealed that Bambi was alone, and curled up in some greenery. 

We concluded that:

1 - Bambi was an orphan, or
2 - Bambi's mother left the fawn with plans to return later.

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