SIDNEY — “Super Saturday was a tremendous success,” Sidney Mayor Mike Barhorst said following the event Saturday, April 16. “Cars were lined up and as a result we opened early. During the first hour, we had approximately 175 vehicles drop off electronics, prescriptions drugs, documents to be shredded, and used books. The pace slowed a bit, but even so, we had 376 vehicles drop off materials so that they could be disposed of properly. I have every reason to believe that we set some new records this year.”
Shelby County Sheriff’s Deputy Jim Couchot was on hand to collect prescription medications. He was assisted by Shelby County Commissioners Robert Guillozet and Tony Bornhorst. Greg Mitchell, city of Sidney Water Pollution Chemist, also assisted. He has worked at every Super Saturday event since the program was initiated.
Together they processed more than 100 pounds of prescription medications.
“When you think that a single capsule weighs just a couple of grams, that’s a whole lot of drugs.” Guillozet remarked as he helped clean up the building following the event.
Minster Bank Sidney Branch Manager Rhonda Keister saw a steady stream of cars dropping off old bank and tax records for secure shredding. Minster Bank has participated in this event for the past four years, and as a result, the paper shredded and then recycled has saved a forest of trees.
“We won’t know how many tons of paper were shredded this year until we receive word back from officials at Shred-it,” Keister stated, “but we kept busy the entire day. Keister was assisted by Minster Bank Executive Vice President of Commercial Lending Dan Heitmeyer and Senior Commercial Lender Jason Wagner.
Staff from Shelby County Libraries were kept busy with a record number of books dropped off. The library staff sorted the books into three categories: books that are suitable for library use; books that are placed in the library’s annual book sale; and books that are recycled.
Library staff hauled several loads of books to the main library for processing. In addition, several large containers of books were loaded onto a truck to be taken to the Shelby County Transfer Station for recycling. Those containers included more than three dozen sets of encyclopedias.
“On-line resources have made encyclopedias outdated virtually overnight,” Shelby County Libraries Executive Director Suzanne Cline stated.
The staff from Goodwill/Easter Seals of the Miami Valley (GESMV) filled two semi-trailers with electronic items including big-screen televisions, computers, vacuum cleaners, cell phones and coffee makers.
“Some of the television sets were monsters,” said Lehman Catholic’s Varsity Football Coach Richard Roll.
Roll recruited several members of Lehman’s football team to assist with the event. They included Seth Brown, Mike Bunker, Colin Haller, Ethan Neu and Chris Shepherd. One Anna High School football player, Anthony Billing, also helped.
Joe Laber from Hits 105.5 again broadcast live from the event.
“We had a great time,” Laber said. “The weather was great, and people just kept coming and bringing material that otherwise would have been sent to the landfill. I always enjoy broadcasting from this event.”
“We’ll hold our final wrap-up meeting in a few weeks,” Barhorst said. “We’ll have our final numbers then and know if the community has again set a new record for GESMV – something we have continued to do for five consecutive years.”
