APD on missing person: No update
Athens Police have no update on the ongoing investigation involving Samuel J. Wiater, who was first reported missing three weeks ago on March 13.
Wiater, of 21 N. Lancaster St., was originally reported missing by his mother. He is described as a white man, 6-foot-1 and about 175 pounds. He has long, reddish brown hair and hazel-green eyes. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, black tennis shoes and a blue Baja hoodie.
Athens Police Lt. Jeff McCall said he couldn’t confirm if Wiater has any sort of disability or not. He added that officers are taking all steps possible to locate Wiater.
“Time causes peoples’ memories to fade and we must remind the public that we are still actively searching for him,” McCall said. “The more the public remains engaged and vigilant, our chances of locating Mr. Wiater vastly improve.”
Officers had reason to suspect that Wiater headed toward the Hocking River after leaving his residence at about 9:30 p.m. on March 13.
Ohio University Police Chief Andrew Powers said his department has assisted APD when requested.
Designation puts Athens in Ohio history books
The city of Athens received a distinct honor last week when it was designated as a certified Local Government for Historic Preservation by the National Park Service and the Ohio Historic Preservation Office.
The certification was given to Athens when city officials created a special commission dedicated to historical preservation. Athens is the 61st community in Ohio to receive this designation. The first was the city of Mansfield in 1985.
“This is a really big deal as far as I’m concerned,” said city planner Paul Logue. “It really does say a lot about how we’re thinking about historical preservation.”
The certification allows the city to apply for certain grants to aid in local preservation projects that would not be available to non-certified communities.
But Logue said that the ability to receive grants was only a secondary motivation behind the choice to get certified.
“The certified local government standard is the gold standard with which a community should handle historic preservation,” Logue said. “Because we’re going through a best-practice process, by design that should make us more competitive for grants for historic preservation.”
Other nearby communities that have received this certification include Zanesville, Lancaster and Gallipolis, which was approved for certification in 1999 and has used the designation to ensure that its historical board is reputable rather than to receive grants.
“I think when people come before our board, our board wants to keep the historical flavor of downtown Gallipolis,” said Brett Bovis, the code enforcer of the city.
The commission in Lancaster applied for a grant several years ago in order to have a third party historical conservation group update its preservation guidelines, but the commission hasn’t applied for any grants for specific preservation projects, said Brad Fagrell, the city engineer.
Fagrell said that at one point, the commission considered applying for a grant in order to preserve the city’s historic Mithoff Hotel but had to find alternative funding because the grant would have taken too long to be approved.
The historical board in Zanesville also updated its preservation guidelines using a grant made available through its certification.
“I actually want to learn more myself about what opportunities the community can have because of this designation,” said Patrick Denbow, Planning and Zoning Commissioner of Zanesville.
— Allan Smith and William T. Perkins compiled this report.
