Banner Graphic, Volume 14, Number 121, Greencastle, Putnam County, 27 January 1984 — Page 1
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Music still does the talking for this Cloverdale native By ERICBERNSEE Banner-Graphic Managing Editor For most children of the television age-those of us under 40 who have not known life without “I Love Lucy,” “Bonanza” or “The Tonight Show”~the family TV set has been a focus of free entertainment. But right in the middle of this video boom, 32-year-old Cloverdale native Rick Cummings is still letting his music do the talking. A child of the TV age, Cummings has adopted radio as his Cabbage Patch Doll of life. “I GUESS I WAS ALWAYS pretty close to both radio and TV,” the son of Frank and Tootsie Cummings, longtime Cloverdale residents who now live near Cataract, said from his office at WENS radio in Indianapolis this week. “I really don’t remember why I picked radio, but that’s where most of my background was in school (at both Cloverdale High School and Butler University).” For a guy who can’t remember why, Cummings surely knows how. He’s been promoted to national program director for Emmis Broadcasting, parent company of not only WENS, Indianapolis-Shelbyville, but KSHE, St. Louis; KMGG, LO6 Angeles, and WLOL, Minneapolis. Admittedly, that’s a fast rise for a fellow who just 15 years ago was doing play-by-play of Cloverdale basketball games for WXTA (now WJNZ in Greencastle). “I ALWAYS THOUGHT that’s what I wanted to do,” Cummings said, alluding to being courtside with microphone and mouth simultaneously engaged. “But when I was at Butler my horizons broadened and I saw that sports was far from the be all and end all.” Instead of worrying about sports records whirling around his head, Cummings turned to spinning those records for listeners. But his career as a disc jockey and talk show host will end at WENS (he still does the 6-10 a.m. drive-time show) within the next month as Cummings absorbs adminstrative duties. “I’ll be responsible for overseeing programming at all four of our stations,” he said, explaining that although he’ll be based in Indianapolis, much of his initial time will be spent sprucing up the LO6 Angeles station’s image in a 16-station market. “I’ll be basically living out of a suitcase for the next year,” he added. IF CUMMINGS MAKES HIS mark on L.A. as quickly as he and WENS did on the central Indiana audience, he’ll probably barely have time to unpack. After all, Cummings and station owner Jeff Smulyan are the geniuses behind those clever WENS “We-let-our-music-do-the-talkin”’ commercials. You know, the ones that mimic WIBC’s Gary Todd (“I’m playing golf with the governor”) the WIRE country deejays and WNAP’s Chris Conner (“I partied so hard last night”). “We got an awful lot of good feedback from those,” Cummings said, acknowledging that although the idea was Smulyan’s, the voices were his. “I had lunch with Chris Conner the other day and he said he was flattered by the commercial.”
Classes canceled by boiler check
By BECKYIGO Banner-Graphic Area News Editor FILLMORE-Fillmore Elementary School classes were canceled Friday due to lowering room temperatures, which occurred after a maintenance check concerning the school’s one of two boilers, according to South Putnam School Corp. Supt. James Hammond. “We just had the boiler repairman at the school Thursday, trying to alleviate some of the rumbling noise we are getting out of one of our boilers,” the superintendent explained. AS WAS REPORTED to the South Putnam School Board Wednesday evening, one of the boiler units at the school had not been producing sufficient heat due to the extreme temperatures being experienced.
Nothing too terribly ominus
Mostly clear and cold overnight with low in the low to mid 20s. A 30 per cent chance of afternoon showers under cloudy skies Saturday. High Saturday in the upper 90s. Winds light and southwesterly. Indiana Extended Forecast Increasing cloudiness Sunday, with a chance of rain showers or snow flurries by Monday. Clearing Tuesday. Lows each day from the upper teens to the 20s with highs from the 30s to the mid 40s.
Banner Graphic Putnam County, Friday, January 27, 1984, Vol. 14 No. 121 20 Cents ( n »
Daze Work
An outside contractor increased the boiler’s pressure setting in an attempt to increase the unit’s heating capacity. What resulted from the increased boiler pressure was a stronger rumbling sound in the burner, Hammond told school board members. He added an inspector who checked the unit said there was nothing wrong with the boiler and it posed no safety problem. “He (the inspector) said we could tune the burner as best as is possible and we will still get a rumble,” Hammond related Wednesday evening to the school board. THE SUPERINTENDENT also confirmed that a state inspector had looked at the unit and advised that schoolchildren were in no danger due to the boiler’s rumbling sound.
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RICK CUMMINGS: Radio his career
WNAP must have been flattered, too. The station altered its format to compete with WENS in the adult contemporary market. WENS, Cummings said, aims at listeners 25-54 years old. That group is considered the portion of the population with the most “disposable income” and is a popular target for radio advertisers. WITHIN THE COURSE OF a week, Cummings said about a quarter-million Hoosiers would hear his voice on the morning program. And quite nicely, his mom and dad could just tune the FM dial to 97 and listen to their son do his job. “This is the first time they’ve been able to do that,” said Cummings, who spent a year in New Orleans as a talk show host and three years in Hartford, Conn., as a radio personality. “I asked my mother the other day if she had heard something in particular, and she said, ‘No, I was listening to Gary Todd (on WIBC).’ So I gave her a real hard time and said, ‘He’s more your speed anyway, Mom. But if you get a ratings book, lie and put me in it.’” Cummings admits that he’ll probably miss the on-the-air portion of his radio routine, but thinks it will be exciting trying to find air talent and acting as an adminstrator. "I LOVED DOING TALK shows,” he said. “I still miss them. But I’ve had people ask, ‘As a disc jockey, don’t you get tired of playing the same, old records?’ Truthfully, you get tired of the same calls and the same voices and the same conversations on radio talk shows,’’ he said. “Two or three years ago I realized I was never going to make a great career out of being a disc jockey,” he admitted. “I had plenty of offers for places like Detroit, but never that L.A. or New York or Chicago offer. Those are the only three places where there’s any money to be made as a disc jockey.” The 1969 Cloverdale High School graduate, however, explained his entry into the radio world very simply. “I truthfully just love to play music.” And that’s been true since the mid-’6os. “I GUESS I GREW UP listening to WIFE (Indianapolis),” he mused. “That was the first real top 40 station I can remember listening to. And I can still remember the first time I got a transister radio. The Beatles were just getting to be big. Yeh, good, old ‘Lucky 13’ hit radio.” Like we said, Rick Cummings has always let his music do the talking. Yeh-yeh-yeh.
Hammond told the Banner-Graphic Friday morning that when the unit was again checked Thursday evening, it appeared the unit did not “refire” to start the furnace. This left the school with temperatures in the low 50s Friday morning, Hammond said. “The unit would fire and then it would misfire and not come back on,” Hammond explained. “We felt like we couldn’t get the temperature up in the school where it should be so we decided to call school off at Fillmore.” HAMMOND RELATED that a structural engineer from James Associates was summoned to the school to determine what is causing the “rumbling” noise and accompanying vibration. Col. 4, back page, this section
Pipe bomb sentencing includes school visits, lectures
By BARBARA CARHART Banner-Graphic Staff Writer Bruce A. Bonebrake, 19, Dolton, 111., was sentenced Thursday afternoon in Putnam Circuit Court for his part in an Oct. 14 pipe bomb incident on the DePauw University campus. Accepting the recommendations of the probation officer, the court gave the former DPU sophomore a one-year suspended sentence and one year unsupervised probation. In addition, Bonebrake was ordered to pay a *SO initial probation fee and SIOO fine and court costs, as well as write an essay on the dangers of explosives. ASIDE FROM THE recommendations
Delinquent city parking tickets worth $4,000
By BECKY IGO Banner-Graphic Area News Editor If personnel at the Greencastle Police Department seem a little dry-mouthed lately, it could be due to moistening stamps for the notices reminding city and county residents of the delinquent parking tickets they have in their possession. According to Greencastle Chief of Police Jim Hendrich, 125 notices were sent in an effort which he said could return approximately $3,000 to $4,000 to the city. “We just finished up the inventory and began sending out the first batch of letters after the last (City) Council meeting,” Hendrich told the Banner-Graphic. “SOME OF THESE tickets go quite a ways back,” he related, referring to the delinquency date. The chief of police again cited the wide range of cost associated with the unpaid fines. “You have one notice that the person owes about S3OO, but most are for $4 and $5 fines total. “We were sending out about 20 to 30 letters at a time and should be seeing some of the fines being paid by Feb. 5,” Hendrich related, explaining that is the 20-day limit on the first group of mailings. If the fines are not paid within that time span, the offender could be taken to court. “In the first batch of letters we sent out, there were about nine or 10 people involved, but the number of delinquent tickets totaled 1,506, Hendrich said, giving an idea erf the volume involved. “Any of the fines over SSO, the person was sent a notice by registered mail.” CHALLENGING a parking ticket, or any ticket for that matter, is always at the discretion of the offender. But if people do decide to challenge the latest effort for collection and lose, the $1 fine against their registered vehicle may increase, the chief of police points out. “If it is taken to Putnam County Court, and if the person is still found to be in violation, there is an ordinance that was passed earlier by the city which would increase the fine to $lO per ticket. “So sending out notices on 1,500 $1
Jan. warnings, but Feb. arrests Police spot-checking for car seats
By BECKY IGO Banner-Graphic Area News Editor Non-compliance with Indiana’s child passenger restraint system law could provide adults with a Putnam County Court appearance, if offenders are cited by Indiana State Police working out of the Putnamville District. Since the first of the year, when the new law came into effect, state policemen have been stationed at various locations in Greencastle and Putnam County, making it known the department intends to see the law enforced. “IT’S SOMETHING WE decided to do here to draw attention to the law,” Lt. Donald Aldrich, Putnamville Post commander related. “We took the policy that during the first month, in January, we would only write warning tickets for persons who were in violation of the child restraint system law. “But in February,” he continued, “we anticipate we will start making arrests, if we find violators during actual roadside checks.” According to Aldrich, the law states that children from birth to two years of age must be secured in a child restraint seat, if riding in a motorized vehicle. Children from ages three to four years must be either secured in a child restraint system, or a seat belt. DATA FROM THE PUTNAMVILLE District, comprised of how many individuals were issued warnings for an infraction, is to be submitted to Indiana State Police headquarters in Indianapolis.
of the probation officer, Judge William C. Vaughn 111 also ordered Bonebrake to visit five high schools and address a class or assembly on the dangers of his actions. The defendent must also request the principal to send confirmation to the court that the lectures took place. During a hearing held Jan. 12, the court accepted a plea agreement in which Bonebrake pled guilty to recklessness (Class A misdemeanor) in return for dismissal of the possession of a bomb charge (Class C felony). Although he recognized that reducing the charge from a C felony to an A misdemeanor was an exception, Putnam
Fire inspections set to begin The Greencastle Fire Department will be inspecting buildings around the downtown area and the Greencastle square, beginning Monday, Jan. 30. Lt. fire inspector Bill O’Brien announced the start of the inspection program today. Under the leadership of new Fire Chief Bob Elmore, the department will be conducting inspections of local buildings frequented by the public. Visits by the local inspector will be announced in advance, Elmore has said, rather than come as surprise inspections.
tickets could mean $15,000 for the city, instead of $1,500,” Hendrich said. All revenue from parking fines is funneled back into city coffers to pay for the bond issue associated with two parking lots built years earlier by Greencastle officials. “SOME PEOPLE ASK us why we can’t get rid <rf the parking meters,” Hendrich advised. “Well, that’s why They were put there to obtain revenue to pay off the bond issues for the parking lot construction. That’s the reason we can’t do away with the meters.” However, Hendrich said the funds are also used for meter repair and replacement. Soon, there is to be an all-out effort to get all the meters repaired and in proper operating order. Greencastle Mayor Gerald Warren has heard “positive” comments from city merchants pertaining to the crackdown to collect upaid parking fines. “I feel the general feeling among the merchants is, if
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Lt. DONALD ALDRICH Putnamville Post commander
“They will be gathering statistics from the different departments all over the state and will figure a grand total to see how many warnings were issued,” Aldrich said. Checks made by the state police in Putnam County included a stop at the U.S. 231 and U.S. 40 intersection. Another took place within the Greencastle City limits. “We have plans to make other checks close to incorporated limits throughout Putnam County,” the post commander points out. Within the Putnamville district, which includes Putnam, Morgan and Hendricks
County Prosecutor Delbert Brewer told the court an extensive background investigation had revealed that Bonebrake was not a terrorist and “wasn’t out to hurt anybody.” Police reports show that the pipe bomb thrown from Bonebrake’s third-floor room at Longden Hall had caused damage to several of the building’s windows but no one was injured. THE FORMER DPU liberal arts student was later suspended as a result of an Oct. 18 student conduct hearing. He is presently enrolled at Illinois Wesleyan University. In other court action Thursday, a trial date was set for a former Indiana State
there is a requirement for parking, it should be enforced.” CHECKING WITH CITY Clerk Janice Inman, Mayor Warren related the city still has a 15-year commitment to the parking lots bond issue that requires a $5,000 per year payment. Saying parking meters are “selfgenerating,” the mayor added he endorses the idea that funds are first be used to pay off the bond issue and for meter maintenance. Later, the money should be applied to downtown improvements, Mayor Warren said. Downtown improvements are what Greencastle Merchants Association President Ken Eitel hopes to see some of the parking meter revenue used for in the future. "AS A MERCHANT,” Eitel, the owner of Eitel’s Flowers in Greencastle, began, “I would feel that the monies coming from the parking meters and fines should be channeled for two things. “First, I feel the money should be used to help retire the bond issue the city has with the two parking lots that were built,” Eitel said. “Secondly, I feel the money should be put into the existing facilities, and any type of improvement coordinated with something like Main Street Greencastle, rather than being transferred to the (city’s) general fund. “The money collected could eventually be channeled into improving such things as downtown streets, curbs, or even get into something like to aid the traffic flow...the whole ball of wax,” the merchant’s association president said. OF THE RECENT MOVE by the Greencastle Police Department to collect delinquent parking fines, Eitel indicated he, as a businessman, welcomes the effort. “I think any merchant would feel that the turnover of cars in a business district is important for the convenience of all shoppers,” Eitel maintains. “Personally, I feel there does need to be a publicly known policy that is enforced so that the consumer knows what the ground rules are.”
counties, 26 warning tickets were issued by state police following road checks so far. “A bulk of those warnings were issued to persons in Putnam County,” Aldrich said, referring to records. ACTUAL TICKETS ISSUED for violations beginning with the month of February will see the violator take center stage at a Putnam County Court appearance, the post commander added. According to Aldrich, there is a provision in the law where a first-time offender can receive the benefit of the doubt. The violator will be released, following a court appearance, if it is shown that there has been compliance with the child restraint system law. “But that is only for the first-time offender,” Aldrich stresses, “and he must show proof to tue court that he has complied.” And for those persons who may believe they can talk an officer out of a ticket by pleading ignorance of the law, Aldrich advises those persons should think again. “I think there might be some people who may try that,” he admits, “but I think that would be doubtful since there has been a lot of publicity connected with this law. “SOME PEOPLE THINK if they say they are unknowing of the law, their chances of getting a ticket are slimmer, I suppose. There is a possibility of that occurring, or it may be just the fact that they’re procrastinating in buying a child restraint seat,” Aldrich said. A lot of the ticketing related to the child restraint law will be left up to the officer’s Col. 4, back page, this section
Farm inmate who allegedly abducted a rural Greencastle woman on Jan. 27,1963. The trial for Robert Lee Correll, 38, is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 17. Correll faces charges of escape (Class D felony), kidnapping (Class A felony), two counts of burglary (Class B and Class C felonies, respectively) and two counts of theft (both Class D felonies). ALSO DURING THE hearing Thursday morning, Correll’s court-appointed attorney, James Harvey Young, formally filed his motion to withdraw from the case and the court appointed Stephen Pierson to represent the suspect. Col. 4, back page, this section