Farm Bureau holds informational forum

BLOOMINGDALE -- The Jefferson County Farm Bureau held its Township and Municipality Leadership Forum Saturday at the Jefferson County Joint Vocational School. Approximately 40 people were in attendance, including township trustees and other area officials. During the three-hour morning session, various topics were discussed.

Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla Jr. served as the featured speaker, telling those in attendance about the measures his department takes when dealing in an emergency situation.

The sheriff covered issues such as mass casualty, first responder situations, inter/intra-agency cooperation, public involvement and community education programs.

Ohio Farm Bureau representative Dale Arnold addressed the audience regarding the various types of energy production the area may possibly see in the future.

Examples included natural gas-fired electricity production, micro-nuclear, biomass and solar and wind energy.

Arnold spoke about carbon sequestration and noted several of the questions which township trustees must ask prior to giving the go-ahead for any project.

Edison High School teacher Derek Gulling talked with participants about his drone program, saying there are currently 11 students enrolled, but interest is continuing to grow.

Gulling talked about the ways drones can be used at the county and township levels. Such uses include locating people, locating fires, property boundaries, the global positioning system of land, estimating crowd size, promotion of events or locations and for various agricultural uses.

Gulling addressed the cost of drone training, how to obtain certification, the cost of drones, drone types and the types of cameras available for drones.

Guests attending Saturday's forum commented this was another informative, educational program provided by the Jefferson County Farm Bureau. Anyone interested in joining the bureau can go online to jefferson@ofbf.org or call (330) 339-7211.