Banner Graphic, Volume 16, Number 318, Greencastle, Putnam County, 19 August 1986 — Page 1
BannerGrapHic Greencastle, Putnam County, Tuesday, August 19,1986 V01.16N0.318 25 Cents
Robe-Arm restrooms a city budget surprise
By ERIC BERNSEE Banner-Graphic Managing Editor Budget-cutting time is usually bad news for city department heads and board presidents. And as the Greencastle City Council whittled the proposed 1987 city budget to approximately $1.3-$1.4 million (not including the user-fee-based Sewage and Water department budgets), there was one clearcut winner Monday night. THE PARK BOARD and President Paul Wilson had expected to hear bad news about a proposed $20,000 project to renovate restrooms at Robe-Ann Park. And, in fact, Mayor Gerald Warren had indicated the asking price would at least have to be cut in half before facing county and state tax reviews. The project the Park Board had considered its 1986 priority and targeted No. 1 for 1987 looked in jeopardy. But Councilman Bobby Albright had the right answer for this jeopardy question. He suggested using a portion of $97,000 in Cumulative Capital Improvement funds that the city has on account. CCI funds, he noted, can only be used on existing buildings. Their latest use came when the Fire Department recently built a storage room. Albright’s suggestion was happily seconded by Councilman Bob Sedlack, who had already voiced displeasure over the cuts due in the 1987 park budget. The Council voted unanimously to fund the restroom renovation with CCI funds, asking that the work estimates be brought before the Board of Works for approval. BOARD PRESIDENT Wilson was ecstatic Tuesday morning when informed of the park’s good fortune.
Joint session set for Greencastle
The Greencastle School Board and the Greencastle Middle School Building Corp. Board of Directors will meet in joint session at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Miller Education Center, 522 Anderson St. The session will be open to the public. Supt. James Peck said the two
SSOO across-the-board raises proposed for county workers
By BECKY IGO Banner-Graphic Area News Editor The Putnam County Commissioners will recommend a SSOO across-the-board raise for full-time county employees’ 1987 salaries, it was decided Monday night. Meeting in public session were Commissioners Gene Beck and Don Walton. Commissioner John Carson was absent due to a death in the family. The commissioners’ suggestion will now be passed on to the sevenmember Putnam County Council, who will meet Aug. 26 for a public hearing on the 1987 county budgets. THE COUNTY COUNCIL has full authority in finalizing salaries for all county departments, but won’t make that determination until the two-day
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“It feels just like a heavy burden has been lifted off our shoulders,” he told the Banner-Graphic. “Now we can get on with other work that needs to be done (at the park).” The restroom renovation was stricken from the 1987 as a line item. Use of CCI funds, Albright explained, could be accomplished as soon as the Board of Works approves estimates and a resolution to that effect is passed. Meanwhile, items lost in the final city cuts include a $57,000 listing for a new police computer system, which sparked a lengthy debate between Albright and Police Chief Jim Hendrich. Albright said any computer system ought to be one that could be used city-wide, while Hendrich cited a need for security access to such data as juvenile records. STREET DEPARTMENT cuts include a $6,000 brush chipped, $30,000 from a $68,000 suggested figure for street resurfacing and $30,000 from a suggested $60,000 for storm sewers along Fifth Street. The Council and Street Commissioner Jim Wright, however, urged that funds for new guardrail be restored as close to the original $15,200 proposal as possible. Mayor Gerald Warren’s recommendation had been to cut guardrail funds to $8,200 for work on Manhattan and Albin Pond roads. “Since it’s a matter of public safety, I’d like to see that $15,000 kept in,” Sedlack said. “If the county wants to cut it, then the blood will be on their hands.” A COMPROMISE IN the Fire Department budget saw a proposed capital outlay of $160,000 for a new rescue pumper trimmed to $49,500, a figure Fire Chief Bob Elmore says will get a good-as-new used vehicle.
boards will hear architects’ recommendations on the planned middle school and high school building projects, but will not make any final decisions on scope or design. The building corporation will sell bonds this fall to raise an estimated $8.5 million to $10.5 million to finance
1987 budget work session in September. Meanwhile, it was the commissioners who first struggled with what salary increases would be offered to county employees at the board’s three-hour session Monday. Only Sheriff Gerry Hoffa was in attendance for that part of the meeting, saying he wanted to clarify the raise proposals listed in his sheriff’s budget. AT FIRST GLANCE, Hoffa told the commissioners, it appeared the sheriff was asking for hefty increases for his four full-time deputies. But that is definitely not the case, Hoffa said. “We are on a different longevity system,” Hoffa explained, referring to the sheriff’s department. “We are
'Stormy'ordeal a fake, pro wrestler's girlfriend admits
By ERIC BERNSEE Banner-Graphic Managing Editor Putnam County Sheriff’s Department personnel wrestled with what they thought was a kidnapping caper Saturday afternoon. The more they grappied with the situation, the more confusing it became. And before it was over, police were ready to pin a false crime reporting charge on a 20-year-old Frankfort woman. But not before her professional wrestler boyfriend did his best Dick the Bruiser and Incredible Hulk impression all rolled into one, Det. Richard Lyon told the BannerGraphic. THE INCIDENT BEGAN when Mikki Conwell, who lives with pro wrestler Stormy Granzig, 27, Frankfort, called the sheriff’s department from the Quick Mart
Elmore’s $23,000 request for a oneton step van for hazardous materials operations was deleted, while funds for one-hour airpacks and air bottles remain as submitted. Also surviving the latest budget hurdle was the fire chief’s request for $35,000 to repair the Mack fire truck, which has a badly rusted body and “serious structural problems.” A complete refurbishing of the truck, Elmore said, would help it last 15-20 years. In other park budget items, supplies were cut from a proposed $16,000 to $6,000 and SIO,OOO baseball diamond lighting and $15,000 tennis court resurfacing projects were deleted. While glad to see the restroom project approved, Sedlack was less than pleased at other park cuts. “We’ve got a gem of a park,” the Fourth Ward councilman who lives just across Anderson Street from Robe-Ann, said. “If we’re not going to put money into it, what sense is there in having it? It’s a crime we’ve let the park get in the shape it’s in. “LAST MONTH,” SEDLACK continued, “we spent $30,000 on a highway (Southern Highway) that doesn’t even exist. And now we’re cutting out money for things that do exist and are used by our residents. To me, it doesn’t seem right.” The pool budget, meanwhile, was sliced to $28,250, deleting a capital outlay of $4,000 for a new slide and reducing repair funds to $3,500 (from $8,500). The cemetery budget was cut to $93,109 (from $117,000), with a $17,000 request for a new truck eliminated. The Council will meet at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 25 for formal adoption Col. 3, back page, this section
the bulk of the building projects. Serving on the corporation’s board of directors are Dale Pierce, Bob Hutchings, Jerald Calbert, Dave Hurst and Bob Shuee. School board members are Bayard Allen, Ed Meyer, Clyde Spencer, Pat Hess and Bob Delp.
on a three-year, six-year, nine-year and 12-year percentage system, which is based on years of service. “After three years, you receive a three per cent longevity raise,” Hoffa pointed out. “After six years, you receive four per cent. After nine years, you get a five per cent longevity raise. “Then,” Hoffa continued, “after 12 years of service, you receive six per cent and that is the maximum.” FOR 1987, HOFFA noted, he is asking for raises of $1,200 for each deputy. In 1986, the sheriff added, the deputies received no raise or longevity increase. Hoffa also related he himself was unaware of the three-, six-, nine-, 12 year longevity plan for the sheriff’s department, until it was recently
Shell Station, five miles south of Greencastle. The woman claimed to have been criminally abducted and held against her will for a week in the Farmersburg area, Lyon said. The Frankfort woman told authorities three white males came up behind her in Frankfort, threw something over her head, put her in a car and drove to the Farmersburg area. She related how she had escaped once, but got only a block away before being recaptured. BUT FRIDAY NIGHT she escaped again and made it on foot to Brazil, she said. That is where the woman’s story started to resemble a fake wrestling match, Lyon said. Lyon, who had videotaped the alleged victim’s story as she told
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City Councilman Bobby Albright's car is parked along the south side of the Putnam County Courthouse awaiting a parking ticket Tuesday morning. Albright, protesting a new city ordinance and the continuation of
Yea, that's the ticket...
Albright wants parking citation to use as test
By ERIC BERNSEE Banner-Graphic Managing Editor Councilman Bobby Albright is a man of his word. At 8 a.m. Tuesday, 12 hours after making a vow before the Greencastle City Council Monday night, Albright parked his gold 1979 Grand Marquis on the south side of the courthouse, directly behind the spot designated as reserved for the county highway superintendent. “I’LL HAVE MY car up there,” Albright promised Monday night, nodding toward Police Chief Jim Hendrich, “you’d better get your ticket book out.” Albright’s comments followed a 3-2 vote on third and final reading of the city’s new allencompassing parking ordinance, 1985-18. Included within the ordinance is a list of the designated “privileged parking spaces” around the courthouse, adjacent to City Hall and on the DePauw University campus. “I’ll tell you another thing,”
pointed out to him. It was a plan instituted under the administration of former county Sheriff Jim Baugh, who is now a deputy with the department. However, Hoffa said he could find no written policy establishing the system. It was approved, however, by the Sheriff’s Department Merit Board. “I EVEN CAME UP and looked at the county minutes,” Hoffa said. “All I could find was that the policy was explained and approved, but it didn’t specify what it was.” As for Hoffa, he is requesting he receive no salary increase for 1987. Instead, the sheriff seeks another deputy. “We really need another man,” Hoffa told the commissioners. “I
it, then asked the Frankfort woman to write out the facts. “SOME OF THE facts were proven untrue during the investigation,” the detective said. “Confronted with a lie, she confessed and said she’d had a fight with her boyfriend and had run off with a friend to Terre Haute.” Lyon said Miss Conwell had concocted the story with intentions of gaining sympathy from Granzig, whom she called to meet her at the Quick Mart. But when he insisted that she call police, problems began. Deputy Robert Patton and Noble New of the Indiana State Police were first on the scene at the U.S. 231-40 junction. As Miss Conwell’s story got deeper and deeper, Lyon said, Granzig got angrier and angrier. “It got kind of theatrical out
privileged parking spots, vowed Monday night to get a ticket and “test the constitutionality” of the new city measure. (Banner-Graphic photo by Bob Frazier).
Albright said Monday night, “those police cars better not be parked out there on the sidewalk (in front of the police station) tomorrow. This ordinance says it’s against the law.” Albright said the fairness of the ordinance is at issue. “I’M GOING TO TEST the constitutionality of this ordinance,” the councilman-at-large said. “I want you to give me a ticket, because I’m not going to pay it. I don’t think it’s fair.” Albright said he will ignore all delinquent payment letters from police and hopes to be summoned into court concerning the fine. Stressing his effort is not a publicity stunt, Albright pointed out that the City Council recently denied a request by the Greencastle Chamber of Commerce to have two parking spaces near its office reserved for visitor parking and a request by the Armed Forces recruiting office for two reserved spots on the north side of the square.
just wanted to make sure you knew that I was asking for another deputy for next year.” As far as the overall sheriff’s department and jail budgets are concerned, Hoffa said both have been decreased for 1987. “Both the jail and sheriff’s budgets are lower for the coming year, than this year,” he said. WITH COMMENTS FROM Hoffa aside, the commissioners turned attention to other raise requests submitted in the 1987 county budgets. Most proposals were in the SBO9 range, but others asked for as much as $1,900. “I make a motion for a SSOO across-the-board increase for each full-time county employee,” Beck said. His
there at the scene,” the detective told the Banner-Graphic. “I guess he stepped back and ripped his shirt and starting growling like a bear. He demanded Bobby (Patton) take him to Farmersburg immediately so he could start looking for these guys and beat them up.” PATTON REFUSED to be intimidated by the imposing Granzig, a 5-10,225-pound muscleman. “He looks like the Incredible Hulk,” Lyon commented. Instead, police transported the pair to the Putnam County Jail for further investigation. “She loves him,” Lyon said, “but she’s afraid of him apparently, that’s why she whipped this story on him. What got her in trouble was him insisting she call the police.” Her claims to have walked
HOWEVER, IN passing Ordinance 1985-18, the Council upholds the reserved spots for, among others, license branch driver’s tests, circuit and county court judges, mayor, fire chief, police cars at the courthouse, and others. Not included in the ordinance as presented on final reading Monday night, however, was the county highway superintendent’s spot. Albright explained that although the parking space was acknowledged in a 1948 resolution signed by Mayor Harold Stewart, the sign designating its reserved status did not go up until about a month ago. That was after Police Chief Hendrich and Main Street Greencastle Project Manager Bill Dory inventoried the reserved spots. “THAT’S SOMTHING that was done 40 years ago,” Hendrich commented, “if you still considered it apropos, you can inCol. 3, back page, this section
motion was seconded by Walton and passed. As stated earlier, that proposal will be submitted to the Putnam County Council. In addition, the commissioners will leave two other elements up in the air for the council to decide. One is the “longevity” increases for county employees. The second is what raises will be given to part-time county employees. As far as the “longevity” aspect is concerned, the commissioners felt since the County Council implemented the plan last year, that board should make those decisions for the coming year. DURING LAST YEAR’S budget reviews, the County Council voted to implement “longevity” increases on Col. 3, back page, this section
cross country from Farmersburg to Brazil-abou*. 20 miles as the crow flies-tipped Lyon off. The veteran detective said he asked her how many state roads she crossed, which she could remember only one or two. She also couldn’t account for having made pay-phone calls after claiming to have no money or purse. “SHE’S NOT CHARGED at this point,” Lyon said, “but the case is to be reviewed by the Prosecutor’s Office with the possibility of filing false crime reporting charges.” Lyon, Patton, Cpl. New and Jeff Cox, deputy Cloverdale marshal, all worked on the case. “It took three of us two to three hours to break it down,” Lyon said, noting the seriousness of false crime reporting.