Northwestern Ruritans hold August meeting
The Northwestern Ruritan Club met Aug. 9 at Northwestern High School. President Kim Wellert welcomed members along with guests Paul Mickolick and Paul Keener. The group joined in singing “America,” and the invocation was given by Jim Johnson. The meal was prepared by school chefs Wendi and Tammy.
Bill Cletzer introduced Mickolick, who gave a talk on his position as a flight paramedic with the Cleveland Clinic. He also helps as a paramedic with the West Salem Town & Country Fire Department when time allows. He and his family recently moved to Congress Township and love living there.
The clinic has two large helicopters that are used to fly patients for emergency care to various hospitals. They can fly at 180 mph for a distance of 250 miles. A nurse practitioner and paramedic always fly together. The clinic also has three airplanes with which they can fly to other states. Trainees for the job take on a self study. They are required each year to do an additional 150 hours of study. They do fly patients to the Wooster Hospital, which has a cath lab when that is needed. He said the Wayne County Airport houses Med Flight helicopters that are not part of the Cleveland Clinic.
Dick Wiley introduced Keener, a young dairy farmer living near Jeromesville at Rosedale Farms. He is the son of Bruce and Deanna Keener and is a 2006 graduate of Northwestern High School, after which he attended the ATI in Wooster. He owns 512 acres and shares another 200 with neighbors with all new cow barns, buildings and equipment. He now has 970 cows that are milked three times a day with an average production of 92 pounds of milk per day, and cows are going through his milking parlor almost 24 hours a day.
In 2019 Keener purchased his own tank trucks to haul the milk, which may be 80,000-100,000 pounds per day. There is a very efficient set-up, using the heat collected from the cooling milk to heat water. He also recycles the sand, used for bedding in the stalls. The sand is separated from the manure as the manure is flushed into storage pits. The government has strict regulations that he must follow in spreading manure on the fields.
Keener double crops his land by sowing rye in the fall after the corn is harvested. The rye is harvested the next spring, and he then plants corn, which is harvested that fall, making two crops a year. The rye and corn are chopped and stored in bunker silos until they are fed to the cattle.
During the business meeting, the July 12 meeting minutes were dispensed with due to the shortness of time. They had been sent to and approved by the directors. Michelle Bowman’s treasurer’s report was approved, subject to audit. A thank-you letter was received from the Wooster Salvation Army for the club’s donation.
Jamie Bowman reported the Parade of Flags will be back out for Patriot Day on Sept. 11 while Chuck Beck announced the Huskie Brigade will send out packages in November to beat the Christmas rush in the post office. Members signed up to assist people bringing recycling material to the Congress Township bins on Aug. 21 and Sept. 4 and 18. Beck said the next roadside cleanup between Pleasant Home and Lattasburg will be Sept. 8, meeting at the Northwestern Middle School parking lot at 9:15 a.m.
The Sept. 7 club meeting/dinner will be at 7 p.m. at Northwestern High School. The program will be the Zone 9 Quarterly Meeting headed by Zone Gov. Ted Payn. The directors will meet at 6:15 p.m. in the school library.
With no more business, the meeting was adjourned with the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.