Banner Graphic, Volume 12, Number 88, Greencastle, Putnam County, 19 December 1981 — Page 1
Operation Life contract, appointments for 'B2 await commissioners
By BECKY IGO Banner-Graphic Area News Editor The Putnam County Commissioners will be faced once again with a busy agenda when they convene in regular session at 9 a m. Monday at the courthouse. One item of top priority will be consideration of the county’s 1982 contract with the Operation Life ambulance service. OL DIRECTOR Gary Boswell told the Banner-Graphic earlier he anticipates no difficulties in getting the pact signed. There have been no major changes in the 1982 proposal, although the commissioners did agree to eliminate the need for a yearly audit of OL. Previously, the OL board of directors requested Boswell appear before the commissioners to possibly seek a contract with a term longer than one year. The commissioners took the proposal under consideration, but finally voted to keep the agreement under its original one-year status. Originally, the county was asked to approve SIOO,OOO funding for next year’s OL
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Compiled by ERIC BERNSEE Banner-Graphic Managing Editor JEFF ELAM, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence C. Elam, 2060 Fairway Drive, Greencastle, and GREG FONTAINE, son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Fontaine, 639 E. Seminary, Greencastle, have been selected by DePauw University to serve in its 17th annual Winter Term in Mission Program. During the month of January, DePauw University will sponsor seven medical and five construction teams in Honduras, Jamaica, Peru and Mexico. Tlje DePauw teams will provide medical service to more than 15,000 persons, while constructing schools, churches, irrigation systems, and farm-to-market roads requested by the mission agencies. Fontaine will be serving as a member of DePauw’s team to Juarez, Mexico, where DePauw students, working with medical doctors, nurses, dentists, and engineers will provide health care treatment to 2,000 persons while building a church for the Presbyterian Mission Board. Elam, meanwhile, will be serving as a member of DePauw’s team to San Marcos, Honduras, where DePauw students, working with medical doctors, nurses, dentists, and engineers will provide health care treatment to 2,000 persons while building a vocational school for the Episcopal Diocese of Honduras. Effective Jan. 1, Lt. CARL KAUFFMAN will be the commanding officer of the Putnamville District of the Indiana State Police, according to ISP Supt. John T. Shettle. Kauffman moves to District 53 from Indianapolis. Meanwhile, RON MILLER remains as first sergeant at Putnamville, with squad sergeants RON MAHLAN, GEORGE SCHNEIDER
Wetter but warmer
Clearing and very cold tonight. Low from near 5 above to about 10. Sunny Sunday and not quite so cold. High in the low and mid 20s. Warming trend Monday through
budget. The County Council later trimmed the amount to $90,000. MONDAY’S SESSION may also see further discussion of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department taking over operation of the county’s Civil Defense program. Chief Deputy Jim Hendrich went before the Putnam County Council last Tuesday, saying Commission President Don Walton approached him about heading the program. Hendrich told Council members the department had been trying to determine a better way of utilizing the sheriff’s reserve deputies and said unifying the agencies, might be a solution. During the Council meeting, President Gene Clodfelter did acknowledged a letter written by Gordon Hanks, Putnam County CD director, who was appointed earlier this year by the commissioners. HANKS WROTE he would combine the CD efforts with law enforcement, fire departments and other emergency personnel. But the Council noted there was not a definite plan listed for doing so and no Col. 2, back page, this section
Banner Graphic Putnam County, Saturday, December 19, 1981, Vol. 12 No. 88 20 Cents
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and JIM CRAMER. Investigator JACK HANLON remains in charge of detectives and special investigationa. Patrolman TERRY K. KENDALL of the Greencastle Police Department was one of 100"' officers graduated Friday from the Indians' Law Enforcement Academy at Plainfield. Indiana requires all nonelected law enforcement officers to successfully complete a minimum of four hundred hours of basic training within their first year of service. Failure to complete the training results in the officer losing the power to arrest. Kendall joined the Greencastle Police Department early in 1981. More than 160 FFA members from throughout the state of Indiana participated in the second annual Winter Leadership Camp held Dec. 4-6 at the Indiana FFA Leadership Center, near Trafalgar. Members from the Greencastle FFA Chapter attending the camp were: BARRY BENSON, TIM CHANEY, GARY NEELEY and TIM BEHLE. Throughout the camp, members participated in group meetings, leadership sessions, cooperative recreation, leadership contests, and competitive recreation, consisting of volleyball, basketball and swimming. Top groups in cooperation, enthusiasm, leadership contests, and overall performance were presented awards at a noon banquet Dec. 6, which featured John Lehman, former state FFA secretary, as guest speaker. Members of the Greencastle FFA chapter recognized at the awards banquet were TIM CHANEY, a member of the first-place team in Cooperation, and TIM BEHLE, a member of the second-place team in the overall competition. DePauw University faculty members with recent publications to their Col. 1, back page, this section
Wednesday with chance of rain or snow Monday and Tuesday. Highs will be in the upper 30s and 40s. Lows 10 to 20 Monday and in the upper 20s and 30s Tuesday and Wednesday.
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Avoid debt in'B2?' Yes, Greencastle's Peck says, but the coming year will be a tough one
By LARRY GIBBS Banner-Graphic Publisher Can the Greencastle Community Schools Corporation avoid an operating deficit in 1982? Probably, answers Supt. James Peck, but there are a number of “ifs”. The local school system will finish 1981 in the black financially, although year-ending balances in the various funds are the lowest they’ve been in nearly two decades. Peck’s projection for the coming year is that the corporation can avoid a debt situation, if there are no major surprises during the next 12 months. But he cautions that a number of factors -- ranging from the severity of the winter to spiraling utility costs -- will directly influence Greencastle’s financial posture. The upcoming session of the Indiana General Assembly could produce action to ease the situation, but Peck isn’t counting on it. “Yes, there’s a pressing need for the legislature to help us - and all public school corporations -- financially,” Peck said. “Realistically. I don’t expect it for three reasons: It’s a short (30-day) session, it’s an election year and the economy is bad. We couldn’t have a worse combination. “I WOULD AT LEAST like to see the legislature help us in two specific areas,” he added. “We need help in meeting the cost of rising utility bills and we need financial assistance in making needed maintenance and repairs.” Peck suggested the financial strain in both areas could be relieved if the General Assembly would permit schools to treat utility and maintenance costs seperately, as is the case now with transportation. Two years ago, the legislature permitted schools to remove transportation costs from their general funds and establish a separate account funded by an individual element of the tax rate. “By breaking out transportation from the general fund, schools have been able to cope with rising fuel costs and increased expenses for repairs,” Peck said. “I believe that a corporation-by-corporation analysis would show that the transportation element of the tax rate has not been abused. It simply reflects the greater costs in that area. The same should be true -for utilities and general building maintenance.”
Putnam Patter Getting too smart too early can be unwise
By DAVID BARR Banner-Graphic Civic Affairs Editor Knowing more than you have any business knowing will seriously damage the reputation of Santa Claus and you will be forever sorry. I found this out at an early and meddlesome age and learned that there’s a difference between being curious and just plain nosey. OL’ SANTY WAS ONCE a very real visitor at our house, often coming in person through the front door. He would visit a spell, dish out his goodies and then disappear out into the night. These house calls put to rest the fiction that the jolly old fellow with whiskers and nose as red as his suit came down the chimney. A kid didn’t have to be verysmart to realize that anyone that fat could never squeeze past the last bend in the stove pipe and that he would be in deep trouble trying to get out of the stove, even
LIKE ALL OTHER Indiana public school corporations, Greencastle’s operating budget is based on the calendar year, not the August-to-May academic year. The 1982 budget process began last summer, included public meetings on Aug. 20 and Aug. 27 and culminated with a local hearing in September, conducted by the State Board of Tax Commissioners. Although not officially certified yet by the state, it appears Greencastle's tax rate payable in 1982 will be $3.86 per each SIOO of assessed valuation. The projected rate includes an estimated $2.67 for the general fund. 35 cents for the debt service fund, 50 cents for the cumulative building fund and 34 cents for the transportation fund. The rate is based on a total assessed valuation -- encompassing Greencastle and Madison townships and the City of Greencastle - of $50,388,160. UNEXPECTEDLY, the state rejected Greencastle’s application for reimplementing a cumulative building fund rate of 80 cents per each SIOO of assessed valuation for a five-year period. Instead, the tax board approved only a 50-cent rate for one year. As proposed by the school corporation, the 80-cent rate would have raised $368,000 in the first year and approximately $2 million over the five-year period requested. The one-year. 50-cent rate authorized by
if he made it that far. Nearly every Christmas, the routine was the same. There was a knock at the front door, and the folks insisted that one of their kids answer it. AND EACH TIME THERE stood the whiskered gentleman bearing unwrapped gifts which he handed out to the right persons. How he knew who got what was no problem to recipients. 01’ Santy always knows kids by their first names. After grandma passed away, grandpa lived with us, and since he was part of the family, it seemed altogether fitting and proper that 01’ Santy should ask where he was. And it seemed he always missed the holiday visitor because he had just gone out to bed down the horses. But Santy didn’t forget him. He would leave several packages of scrap chewing tobacco, and since he knew all things about grown-ups, too, he always brought the
JAMES PECK Cautious 'B2 forecast
brand of “eating tobacco,” that grandpa chewed. SINCE THE KIDS WERE getting some of the things they’d been waiting for since last year, they were wide-eyed, but not very observant. There’s no need spoiling a good thing by being too technical. That Santy was not in full regalia like he was pictured in storybooks was unimportant. Under more normal circumstances, I would have noticed that he was wearing the same kind of overalls and jacket grandpa was wearing when he went out to tend to the stock. I also failed to notice that Santy used a shoestring as a “chain” for his dollar watch, just like grandpa did. The meaning of all these similarities, I figured out at a later date. And things were never again the same. GRANDPA’S ROOM AT our house was definitely off limits to younger members of the family. He wasn’t exactly fussy, but he
Second-graders at Russellville Elementary School gathered Friday to rehearse a rendition of "Packages”, one of several songs students will perform at the school's annual Christmas program at 7:30 p.m. Monday. The second-graders are taught by Linda Jones. The program is under the direction of music teacher Pat Hetrick. (Banner-Graphic photo)
the state will yield only $250,000. Prospects for renewing it for 1983 are uncertain. “If I have a gripe about the cumulative building fund decision, it’s that we had hearings locally. People could have come in to protest, complain, even remonstrate. None of that happened,” Peck said. “However, the State Tax Board chose to limit us to 50 cents, even though no local people complained. "WE ASKED FOR $2 MILLION (over five years) and got $250,000. What I was asking was money to repair buildings, not build new ones.” Greencastle currently has a balance of approximately $1 million in its cumulative building fund. While that might seem like a fiscal bonanza just waiting to be tapped, the situation isn’t quite that simple. “The corporation will earn nearly $150,000 in interest from investments made from the cumulative buildifigtrmd-in 198L”_Peck explained. “We are not in the investment business, but without that interest we would have to cut something else from our budget. By law, we can apply that interest to our general fund, and that’s exactly what we do. “I don’t want to cut our programs. Children are not like products turned out in a factory. We can’t work overtime or at night to go back and catch up. If a program is cut, then that instruction time is lost. PECK EXPRESSED THE HOPE that the corporation will not have to dip into its cumulative building fund balance in 1982, but he emphasized there is no guarantee that such action can be avoided. The $250,000 raised by the 50-cent rate will be received in two equal installments in June and December. As the category implies, cumulative building fund revenue is used for construction of new facilities. But the law also permits money from that account to be used for remodeling, repair or maintenance of existing facilities. At Greencastle, the need is for maintenance. “There are things we are going to have to do within the next year or two,” Peck noted. “We have work on our boilers that will have to be done soon. Since we haven’t done any paving at any of the schools in the last three years or so, there no doubt will be some repaving projects. “HOPEFULLY, WE CAN put off reroofing Coi. 1, back page, this section
didn’t want his grandkids messing around with his personal belongings. But there came a time on a summer afternoon when temptation overwhelmed me. I was alone in the house and if I would be careful, who would be the wiser if I trespassed? I slipped into the forbidden room with all the caution of a burglar and there was further tempted to open a dresser draw. What I saw caused OT Santy’s stock to hit rock bottom. THERE WAS A MASK and set of whiskers exactly like those worn by our holiday visitor. It might have been a concidence, of course, but by then I was old enough to “smell a mouse" when something didn’t seem right. Christmas kept coming regularly after that, but the holiday was not the same. All those, who at an early age get too smart for their britches live to regret it.