SYCAMORE — The students of Mohawk Elementary School were given two challenges Monday morning. The challenges were issued by a fourth-degree black belt, originally from Reno, Nevada, who has traveled to Africa nine times to visit orphanages.

TIFFIN — A public forum titled “How Clean Is Our Water?” will take place Oct. 21 at the Great Hall of Campus Center at Heidelberg University, 310 E. Market St., Tiffin. The forum is being sponsored by the National Center for Water Quality Research, Heidelberg University, the Franciscan Earth Literary Center and the Sandusky River Watershed Coalition.

SYCAMORE — The village of Sycamore received $10,600 for three out-of-service trucks in a recent auction, administrator Chuck Clark reported during Tuesday’s council meeting. A bucket truck netted $6,600, while a 1997 utility truck brought in $2,100 and a pickup truck with a plow made $1,900 for the village, Clark reported.

HARPSTER — Harpster Village Council looked to follow the trend of multiple other area municipalities by checking into the possibility of implementing a stricter lawn maintenance ordinance Tuesday night. Mayor Jim Robertson brought council a copy of the recently implemented ordinance in Upper Sandusky as an example of what such an ordinance could look like.

MARSEILLES — With a lack of quorum for its October meeting, Marseilles officials and two residents in attendance at Tuesday night’s meeting discussed a proposed ordinance detailing the regulation and enforcement of exterior maintenance requirements.

Wyandot County Special Olympics athletes (in red, from left) Tim Wickham, Grace Searls, Christy Gossman and Amber Clinger introduced bocce to statehouse staff Wednesday in Columbus. Staff members were split into four teams, with a Special Olympics athlete on each team.

Eli Smith (from left), Ben Frey, Tyler Counts and John Vogel competed for Wyandot County in the unified Special Olympics golf tournament in Cincinnati last month. Smith and Frey shot a 43 to earn a bronze medal in their division, and Counts and Vogel shot a 52 to win a sliver medal.

REYNOLDSBURG — The chief of the Fire and Explosion Investigations Bureau at the Ohio Fire Marshal’s Office on Friday explained how investigators work closely with the office’s forensics lab and law enforcement officials in piecing together evidence and witness statements after a blaze.

The Ohio Department of Public Safety’s Ohio Traffic Safety Office has awarded Wyandot County Public Health $25,000 in federal traffic safety funding to conduct Safe Communities grant activities, according to a press release from Wyandot County Public Health.

SYCAMORE — The second five-year forecast for the Mohawk Local School District was presented at the school board meeting Monday. Treasurer Rhonda Feasel presented a slideshow presentation to the board and those in attendance and spoke on predicted revenues and expenditures.