HAMILTON COUNTY, Ohio —

Parents in the Forest Hills School District are making their feelings known about the possibility of a consolidation.

It’s an issue that continues to resurface year after year. When and if the Anderson High Raptors and its rival the Turpin High School Spartans will become one.

Parents and community residents against the merger said the plan will be costly, create a traffic mess and destroy the district.

At Wednesday night’s meeting, school board members also went back and forth about the proposed changes.

“We didn't gather this group…I'm talking. Um, we didn't gather this group or form a committee this was an idea that was brought to us. These were their ideas and we simply listened,” Forest Hills School board member, Sara Jonas said.

Another board member Dr. Leslie Rasmussen responded to Jonas at the meeting, disagreeing with her point.

"Sara do you realized you just said that these community leaders, these business leaders they wanted to talk to y'all and you so we listened? That's what I was asking for ... for the people who live here and pay taxes and send their kids to this school,” Dr. Rasmussen said.

Parents clapped in agreement.

The meeting ultimately went to executive session and board members said no action would happen after Wednesday’s meeting.

Other topics discussed such as bullying, bathroom policies and the “Cultural of Kindness”, which was the district’s resolution to banning critical race theory, led to more outbursts and arguments from attendees.

ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio —

Two people were rushed to the hospital Saturday after a train and car collided in Anderson Township.

According to a sergeant on scene from the Hamilton County Sherriff's Office, the crash happened around 7:30 p.m. on Broadwell Road.

The extent of injuries and cause of the crash are not known at this time.

ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — After you've decluttered your wardrobe for the new year, why not sell your used clothes and make a little extra cash instead of throwing clothes away to clutter up a landfill?

RELATED: Local service helps you clean out your wardrobe for the new year

Clothes Mentor in Anderson Township is a resell store, which means they buy gently used items and give you cash on the spot.

Since reopening in May after closing for the pandemic, Mary Kucynski, the store's manager, said Clothes Mentor has seen a surge in people buying and selling clothes. The store is buying, on average, between eight and nine items from a single seller.

The shop tries to stay current with their styles and what they offer and that means they are in need of cozy work-from-home clothes.

"We're looking for soft pants, joggers, casual sweaters and cardigans, trendy denim, ankle boots," Kucynski said. "It's that comfy, casual outlook that's everybody's sticking to. Definitely athletic wear."

If you sell items at Clothes Mentor in January, you will be entered into a raffle for a $50 store gift card. And if the store doesn't buy all your items, you can donate those items at the store to Matthew 25: Ministries, which comes by the store twice a week to pick up donated items.

ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Anderson High School football coach Evan Dreyer avoids field goals and punts (the team punted 15 times all last season) when he can.

Having a long snapper is a luxury he rarely indulges, but when he does, he knows he’s in the good hands -- some of the best in the country, in fact -- of Zach Zoglio.

“I just don’t remember us thinking about long snapping in four years,” Dreyer said. “Now he’s going to graduate and we’re thinking, how do we develop a long snapper?”

It’s a problem Dreyer never anticipated.

Zoglio is nearly a self-made success story. With the help of his dad, Bob, a former specials teams coach at Walnut Hills and Turpin, Zach has made himself into one of the best long snappers in the country.

In the latest Kohl’s Long Snapping Rankings – considered the gold-standard of the industy – Zoglio is the eighth best snapper in the 2021 class.

“Snapping is a skill,” he said. “Not a lot of people can grip the ball, snap it the same way in the same spot.”

It’s a skill where perfection is the expectation. In addition to Anderson’s practices, Zoglio estimates he does 10 hours of extra individual work. Snap, after snap, after snap.

“Our motto is ‘No days off,’” Bob Zoglio said. “On Thanksgiving Day – it was a nice day – we were on the Anderson field snapping, before turkey.”

Zoglio knows the work he puts in away from all the eyeballs will prevent eyeballs focused on him during games.

“A snapper, their job is to be perfect,” said Kohl’s Kicking Camps long snapping coach Casey Casper. “When Zach steps up there and grabs the football, he doesn’t have mistakes. He doesn’t put it on the ground or left or right. Always a clean rotating ball that’s easy to catch.”

College recruiters are increasingly trying to snag skilled long snappers.

“It’s not a position everyone hoots and hollers about,” Zoglio said. “Usually long snapper is the last position, if not the last position, that (coaches) will look at.”

He’s getting his share of looks – Eastern Michigan just offered him a spot on their roster.

Zoglio has become a name to know at an anonymous position, even at the Blue-Gray All-Star Game in Dallas, where he was questioned by his teammates.

“I told people I’m a long snapper and they’re like, ‘Oh … ‘” Zoglio said.

His next step – becoming some college coach's non-worry.

CINCINNATI —

A terrifying scene played out over the weekend in Anderson Township. Video shows fireworks being shot off at homes early in the morning.

“If it hit an evergreen or hit the house in the wrong place, a wooden housed it would go up in smoke,” Jim Thompson, owner of Lucy Blue Pizza, said.

At Lucy Blue Pizza, you can enjoy a hot slice and good conversation, but all the talk now, according to Thompson, is the video from Royal Green Drive.

“It feels like a prank, but yes that's serious. If it's a roman candle, they have potential of starting a pretty good size fire,” Thompson said.

Thompson has employees that live in what they say is normally a quiet area. It's all that's being talked about among friends and family who are all wondering who could do something so irresponsible.

“That completely was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen,” Lucy Blue Pizza employee Bella Bolin said.

Bolin has heard fireworks in the area, but what she saw on video goes well beyond holiday fun.

“Shooting roman candles out of a moving car? I wouldn't think that would be very fun especially if they have it on camera and they're going to get caught,” Bolin said.

The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office reminds everyone this behavior is illegal and dangerous. They say all their units have been notified to be on the lookout. For Jim Thompson, he hopes whoever is behind this stops before something serious happens.

“They're in that age group where they want to have fun, but I don't know if they understand the risk and the consequences that come along with that,” Thompson said.

If you recognize the car in the video or know who is responsible, reach out to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department.

ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio —

A heavily damaged car illustrates how destructive a crash was Wednesday night along Beechmont Avenue.

"Just very sad, very sad," Margie Wright said. "It's a tough stretch of highway."

Deputies with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said around 10 p.m., 48-year-old Andrea Bengal was driving westbound. Her car suddenly veered into a bike line on the other side of the road, where 57-year Jee Han Park and Joseph Sowma were walking.

Calls to 911 captured what happened next.

"There's been a terrible accident on Beechmont Avenue," one 911 caller said.

"Somebody just went through a pole and they just split the pole," said another 911 caller. "The car is in half, almost. And they're not breathing, And it's somebody else on the side of the road hit, as well."

Emergency crews found Park's body several feet away.

Sowma, Park's 67-year-old husband, was not injured.

Crews had to extricate Bengal from behind the wheel. She was trapped inside as live electric wires sparked outside the vehicle. Bengal was eventually flown by Air Care to UC Medical Center with serious injuries.

The crash and its aftermath weighed heavily on Wright's mind Thursday as she watched her granddaughter play at nearby Beech Acres Park.

"Who knows where they were coming from," Wright said. "Maybe they thought it was easier to just walk, but unfortunately, yeah, I would I would not walk on there at nighttime. ... I'm sure everybody feels really bad whether you're from this community or not. I think everybody feels bad about that stretch of highway and the accidents that happen on it."

The crash victim's home is just a few doors away from the deadly scene on Beechmont Avenue. A neighbor said Park and Sowma liked to take at least two or three walks a day.

The crash investigation is ongoing. Deputies said Bengal was not wearing a seat belt. They do think drugs or alcohol played a role in the deadly collision.

ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — On Tuesday, Hillcrest Cemetery started to get a bit of a face lift on behalf of the GE Veterans Network.

Over a four-day period -- more than 100 volunteers from GE will clean up the grounds, removing debris, cleaning headstones and planting flags.

Brian DeGennaro, the co-lead of the network, said the goal is to beautify the spot while also honoring men and women who put their lives on the line for our country.

"Cleaning up the tombstone areas and a lot of the tombstones have fallen over -- we're looking at putting them back up making sure that they are aligned,” he said. “Cleaning up some of the trees and brush around the area, just to really make it that kind of place that a veteran who served their nation deserves."

There are about 1,400 U.S. military veterans buried at Hillcrest -- spanning from the Civil War to the Vietnam War -- and about 95% of those buried veterans are African American.

GE Veterans Network, the GE Women’s Network and the GE African American Forum will work together during the four-day cleanup.