What's going on with the Waynesville Sauerkraut Festival?

This weekly column is a lookaround Butler and Warren counties from Enquirer Reporter Keith BieryGolick. Scroll to the bottom to get all the news.

What's going on with the Sauerkraut Festival?

"To be honest, I don't know. I don't know where we are at with everything."

That was Brittany Lindsay's answer. Lindsay is the office and event coordinator for the Waynesville Area Chamber of Commerce.

And that sums it up.

Sauerkraut is Waynesville. "Home to the Ohio Sauerkraut Festival" is one of the tiny Warren County village's slogans.

These days, some 350,000 people attend the festival every fall. The village's population is about 3,000.

Last year, Waynesville Village Council terminated its contract with operators of the festival. There were still three years left on the deal.

The question immediately became: Will next year's festival be canceled? 

I don't think anyone involved is stupid enough to let that happen. But the idea has been floated.

“Their stance on this is putting this entire event in jeopardy,” Martin Hubbell, the chamber’s lawyer, told the Dayton Daily News about village council last year.

Earlier this month, Hubbell warned council again.

“If the chamber doesn’t put on this one, there’s nobody else,” Hubbell said.

You could argue this was just a lawyer spinning the situation to help his client. There's little doubt that was part of it.

But it did take about 90 minutes to get through a recent public participation portion of council's meeting on Feb. 21.

Why? Most simply, the Sauerkraut Festival. More specifically, an ordinance about background checks on vendors for special events.

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Mayor Dave Stubbs said village officials recently repealed the ordinance requiring background checks because of that meeting. He said the village terminated its contract for the sauerkraut festival because the agreement was signed 10 years ago.

It was outdated, Stubbs said.

"I personally have been to every festival and worked at them as a kid. My grandfather helped start the festival," the mayor said. "There's no way I'd let anything happen to it."

An agreement for all special events, to replace individual contracts, is being reviewed by Hubbell. I asked Stubbs if the festival was in any danger.

"No danger. Zero. Zip," he said.

Rest easy, sauerkraut lovers.

Like father, like son

It was one of the largest food-stamp fraud cases in Ohio history, Butler County's sheriff said at the time.

That was 2015. Officials say the scheme involved door-to-door meat truck drivers exchanging food stamp benefits for cash as well as Oxycontin, marijuana and heroin.

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Since then, the case against Fairfield business U.S. Beef, its owners, their children and several employees has flown under the radar. But the legal case is heading toward a conclusion.

Here's what you've missed:

• Scott and Joey Traum, after pleading guilty to one conspiracy charge each, are scheduled to be sentenced in April and June, respectively. 

Documents related to their sentencing, and one of their sons, Dalton, have been filed under seal. They've been ordered by the court to forfeit eight vehicles, including a Hummer and Corvette, and more than $6,000.

In a hearing last year, their attorneys argued the nearly 30 drivers working for the company acted on their own.

• Brandon Traum, after pleading guilty to two charges, starts his own business.

Traum, son of the two owners, bought the business from his parents and is now operating it as U.S. Finest Foods. He works six days a week trying to grow the company, according to a sentencing memorandum.

The 22-year-old is scheduled to be sentenced in April.

• Keith Blankenship, after pleading guilty to two charges, says owners abused his addiction.

In a sentencing memorandum, his attorney said Blankenship's father was jailed and absent through much of his childhood. From ages three to 13, according to court documents, Blankenship was beaten, starved and forced to stand in corners for hours by his mom's alcoholic boyfriend.

This led to a conviction for theft at the age of 12 and drug use by 16.

"Eventually, Keith resorted to trading meat products with customers for prescription pills to feed his addiction," his attorney wrote.

"Keith desired to enter a substance abuse treatment program while employed with U.S. Beef, but instead, his employer merely supplied him with Suboxone and prevented him from entering treatment."

Blankenship was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $764,000 in restitution.

• William King, after pleading guilty to one charge, plans to continue his schooling.

King, 23, tested positive for marijuana, benzodiazepines and alcohol while on pretrial supervision. Before this case, he was enrolled in a welding trade school in Fairfield. He plans to continue once his court obligations are completed, according to court documents.

King was sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay about $373,000 in restitution.

We couldn't have done it without our volunteers

People always thank their volunteers. It's one of the safest statements you can make.

"We couldn't have done it without our volunteers," said every business owner and event organizer ever.

Perhaps DonOeters realized this.

Oeters is the owner of EnterTRAINment Junction in West Chester Township. It's the largest indoor train display in the world. We were talking in his office a few weeks ago about how it all started.

He pulled out a book of plans, pictures and business cards he created when everything was just an idea. Then he brought up his volunteers.

"But no, seriously," he started.

Oeters tells me he sent out proposals for the 80,000-square-foot display before it opened in 2008. The quotes he received said it would have cost more than $16 million to hire someone to build the intricate display you see today.

Oeters has a lot of money from his time as co-owner of the pool and spa business Watson's, but not that much.

"So I literally couldn't have done it without the volunteers," he finished.

Former Mason star found guilty in Kohl's incident

Bryson White, a former star athlete at Mason High School, was found guilty of assault on Tuesday.

White was accused of choking a coworker and telling her he was going to kill her at a Kohl's in West Chester Township. White was at the center of an Enquirer investigation into Mason High School's handling of sexual offense allegations.

What's been the fallout from Enquirer's Mason sex offense allegation story?

He testified in Butler County Area 2 court the incident was a joke, according to a report from WLWT-TV.

"That's why people like me," White said. "I always like joking around with everybody. I was like the up guy; always happy."

A judge sentenced him to one year of probation, anger management and ordered him to stay away from the victim and Kohl's. White is still awaiting trial on robbery charges in Michigan.

Follow Enquirer Reporter Keith BieryGolick @kbierygolick. Send tips, questions and comments to kbierygolick@enquirer.com.