Morning Briefing | The opinions of our editorial board

It started with just one inflatable in 2007. Now the home on Central Drive in Beavercreek is Halloween Central.

In today’s Morning Briefing, we up the scare factor with the story of a couple that moved to the area from Arizona and fully embraced the spooky season. We also update you on what his going on with the Warren County Agricultural Society and the end of harness racing at the county fairgrounds

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Beavercreek Halloween House ups the scare factor this season

Credit: Chris West

Barrett and Carrie Wentworth’s home at 1836 N. Central Drive in Beavercreek has turned into Halloween headquarters.

• How it started: When the couple moved to the area in 2007, they had just one inflatable.

• How it’s going: Their front yard now includes a winding pathway with an array of skeletons, witches, gravestones and even fortune tellers. Carrie said the decorating got bigger and bigger every year, and the introduction of the 12-foot skeleton in 2020 cemented it as the Beavercreek Halloween House.

• New this year: A backyard trail that features a spider tunnel and fog machines.

• Lots of work: They begin putting up decorations mid-August, and it takes about a month to take everything down. Most of their decorations are run on batteries and solar power. Carrie even grew corn this year, so the dying stalks would add a little bit more to the backyard.

• Always on the spooky side: “We were in the bride and groom of death costume when he proposed,” Carrie said. “He made me a ring and proposed. We would have gotten married on Halloween, but we had friends that had already done that.”

• Community welcome: The couple encourages the community, young and old, to take a tour of all the frighteningly fun displays.

Online petition seeks to stop Warren County ag group from ending harness racing, evicting horses

Credit: Nick Graham

The Warren County Agricultural Society is ending harness racing at the county fairgrounds and evicting more than 300 horses that call the group’s Lebanon site home.

• What’s happening: The ag society’s board of directors decided this week to remove “all harness racing renters and their respective sublettering(s)” at its fairgrounds property.

• What the board is saying: A “difficult decision was made to discontinue harness racing at the WCAS facility and barns due to the overwhelming financial burden it caused,” the organization said in the notice emailed and posted on its property.

• Online petition: In response, Victor Gray, whose family has owned and worked with horses at the Warren County Fairgrounds for decades, started a petition that has several hundred signatures, perhaps close to 1,000. The petition aims to prompt action by the board.

It “needs to look at the overall situation and stop blaming the horse people for their lack of accountability for their running the organization,” Gray said. “There’s no reason to kick the horse people out. They just need to make some changes internally so they can be profitable.”

• Timeline: The society’s notice stated “all harness racing renters and their respective subletters must vacate the WCAS fairgrounds property and remove all of their property from the fairgrounds” effective Dec. 1.

• Warren County Fair: The county’s 4-H program said the society’s action “does not affect” its activities for the 2025 fair.

What to know today

• One big takeaway: A judge has issued a permanent injunction against the state’s “heartbeat bill” on the basis of the abortion-rights amendment enshrined in the Ohio Constitution by 57% of voters in 2023.

• Big move of the day: Linh’s Bistro is opening a second restaurant location in the Dayton region at the end of this month focusing on fast-casual service.

• Quote of the day: “If I can get them in a positive mind frame before going to class, I think that they’ll be able to respond positively to situations that happen to them during the day.” — Zack Lewis, an intervention specialist at the Springboro second through fifth building.

• Dayton history: Was television invented by a native Daytonian? Read about the life and work of Charles Francis Jenkins.

• Election 2024: Here are the local tax increases you will be asked to vote on Nov. 5

• Happening today: The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force is having a special Halloween-related “Troops and Treats” event today.

• Community Gem: Bruce Langos’ background in computer science made him uniquely positioned for his role in battling the opioid crisis.

• Things to do: The city of Dayton says it has 1,300 pounds of candy to distribute during its Fall Harvest Festival today at the Kettering Field sports complex.

• Photo of the day: Greene County Parks & Trails recently hosted the Backyard Jamboree, featuring Xenia-based national bluegrass act Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers at Caesar Ford Park in Xenia. Check out the photo gallery here.

Credit: Tom Gilliam