While installing fiber optics on Walnut Street Friday afternoon, crews hit what is believed to be an underground gasoline tank with an unknown amount of petroleum product inside.

Lt. Brant Schmitt with the Wilmington Fire Department told the News Journal that some of the material from inside the gas tank somehow floated into some storm sewers and leaked into a creek.

He said while any kind of contamination is a bad thing, by the time the product reached the creek it had been diluted. Schmitt said he is in communication with the property owner about excavating the area to remove the tank and decontaminate the soil.

Schmitt said he has been told there was a gas station in that area during the 1940s or 1950s.

Port William bridge to be replaced

Beginning Monday, July 6, weather permitting, Port William Road will be closed for a bridge replacement. This bridge is located between Faulkner Road and Bone Road in Liberty Township.

The last address that will be accessible from the west (Faulkner Road/US 68) will be 845 Port William Road, and the last address that will be accessible from the east (Bone Road/SR 134) will be 906 Port William Road.

The project is anticipated to take 12 weeks.

Rosenberger set Wilmington hours

Speaker of the Ohio House Cliff Rosenberger (R-Clarksville) will hold district office hours in Wilmington on Monday, July 6 at 12:30 p.m. in the Ohio Room at the Wilmington Public Library, 268 N South St.

The in-district office hours are to encourage constituents from around the region to share their thoughts, one-on-one, with Speaker Rosenberger. Conversations about state government, state agencies, and related issues are welcomed. “As your state representative, it is my job to represent the needs of my constituents in Columbus,” said Rosenberger. “It is always great to hear ideas, discuss state government and answer questions at home in the 91st Ohio House District.”

No appointment is necessary and all are encouraged to participate.

WNJ reporter earns accolades

Wilmington News Journal reporter Nathan Kraatz earned several honors at the recent Mississippi Press Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest in New Orleans.

Kraatz, who previously was a reporter for The Enterprise-Tocsin in Indianola, Mississippi, won third place awards for In-Depth/Investigative Coverage, for Lede, and third place along with two others for Pictorial Series for a two-page photo spread on the B.B. King Homecoming. He also won fourth place for Spot News Photography.

The awards are for work published in 2014. The North Carolina Press Association judged the contest. The meeting was the second of two joint gatherings of the Mississippi and Louisiana press associations.