Banner Graphic, Volume 18, Number 142, Greencastle, Putnam County, 23 February 1988 — Page 1

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A cast of some 70 local residents began preparing Monday night for their April 8-9 performances of The Music Man." Under the direction of Putnam County Playhouse veteran Vickie Parker, passing out sheet music (above), the production will be stage in Kresge Auditorium of the Performing Aits Center M DePauw University. Proceeds from the musical will go to the Greencastle Fourth of July celebration. Among the many youngsters concentrating on their parts are (at right) Jeff Small (right) and buddy Bradley Folck. Small plays the part of Winthrop, the lisping youngster who sings “Gary, Ind.,” and The. Wells Fargo Wagon." The lead role of Prof. Harold Hill, the Music Man himself, is being played by Steve Jones, with Marian the Librarian being portrayed by Sandi Ulrey. Ticket information will be announced at a later date. (Banner-Graphic photos by Eric Bernsee).

Neese finds county post offers food for thought

By BECKY IGO Banner-Graphic News Editor For someone who has only been on the job since last November, new Putnam County Food Sanitarian Greg Neese has kept himself quite busy. Neese’s job came about after an increase in cigarette taxes occurred at the state level. Those excess funds were later awarded to Indiana counties which saw a need, and could justify, expanded health programs at their respective local levels. IN PUTNAM COUNTY, it was determined a food sanitarian was needed. The person would be responsible for not only inspecting local restaurants and grocery stores for cleanliness, etc., but who would

All-too-common cold

Very cold overnight with low 10-15. Mostly clear with westerly wind at 5-10 mph. Partly sunny and continued cold Wednesday with high near 30. Indiana Extended Outlook Thursday through Saturday: Very cold Thursday with highs from about 20 in the north to the low 30s in the south. A chance of flurries in the north and partly sunny in the south. Cloudy statewide on Friday, with a chance of light snow in the north on Saturday and rain or snow in the south. Highs in the low 30s

Banner Graphic Greencastle, Putnam County, Tuesday, February 23,1988 Vol. 18 No. 142 25 Cents

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also be on hand in case food-related illnesses occur. The Putnam County Board of Health selected Neese for the job after soliciting applications, and once the salary was approved by the County Council. “No one had been in the food file for seven years,” Neese pointed out at the Board of Health office located on the fourth floor of the courthouse. “So that was one of the first things I had to do ... get the food file updated,” he added. “I used that information as a lead in to where I wanted to go first (to inspect).” ONCE HE BEGAN getting out into the field, Neese said he has completed two to three inspections a day. There are approximately 157

to low 40s Friday and Saturday, and lows from 15 to 25. Index Abby A 4 Calendar A 4 Classifieds AIO,AII Comics A 6 Crossword AlO Heloise A 5 Horoscope All Obituaries Al 2 People A 6 Sports A7,A8,A10 TV A 6 Theaters Al 2

food establishments in Putnam County, Neese points out. So that Putnam County inspection standards would be identical to the way the rest of the state is graded, a representative from the Indiana State Board of Health met with Neese early on and assisted him with inspections. “We’ve done about 90 inspections total,” the food sanitarian relates. “We did 50 on our own and 40 (with the State Board of Health * representative).” From the beginning, Neese looked at his duties as being preventative and precautionary in nature. His theory is to work with county restaurant and food establishment owners to take care of any potential problems before they

Planners important to city, mayor stresses

By ERIC BERNSEE Banner-Graphic Editor Planning is, of course, the name of the game for the City Plan Commission. And its members can certainly plan on a busy future. That was the promise of Greencastle Mayor Mike Harmless, who Monday night officially joined the Plan Commission, which was meeting for the first time in 1988. Also making their debuts were Sheri Roach, as City Council representative, and Terry Hall, as Zoning Board appointee to the Plan Commission. “MY FEELING IS that this is going to be the most important

Elementary changes just idea at this point

By JOE THOMAS Banner-Graphic Assistant Editor Janett Boling, director of special programs for the Greencastle Community School Corp., says a proposal to restructure the elementary schools is just an idea at this point, though she would like to see it become reality. The proposal would move all GCSC kindergartners and firstgraders to Ridpath School, 405 Howard St. Second- and thirdgraders would attend Northeast School, 500 Linwood Drive, while fourth- and fifth-graders would go to Jones School, 209 W. Liberty St. BOLING SAID SHE has previously discussed the reorganization idea with selected parents and school board members, though she did not take any action until this year. She said she has talked to the GCSC faculty, asking them; “Do you think this is a good idea?” Had the faculty clearly rejected it, Boling says the idea would have died. But teachers and administrators embraced the idea, so Boling said she is taking the next logical step in the process. Tuesday night (tonight) the PTOs of the three GCSC elementary schools will meet at 7:30 p.m. at Northeast School to discuss the topic with parents. Boling said she simply wants to ask the parents of current elementary school students if they think the idea is a good one. If the parents clearly reject it, Boling said the idea will die. “We don’t know if this is a good idea for us to introduce in our community,” she said. She hopes to get some idea from parents at tonight’s PTO meeting. The proposal would replace the current elementary school alignment, in which each of the three school buildings is home to grades K-5 with attendance depending on the location of residence in the school district. HOWEVER, THE current alignment is not perfect, largely because of Project Prime Time, which forces maximum class sizes upon the GCSC. Prime Time, affecting grades 1-3, is a state project designed to keep teacher-to-student ratios at 1:18 or lower. For example, if there are 25 firstgraders at Ridpath, but only 10 at Jones, seven children will be asked to move from Ridpath to Jones to equalize the class size and bring the

actually occur. AND HOW receptive have those managers been to the food sanitarian? “They’ve been extremely cooperative,” Neese praised. Neese recalls the first complaint he received had to do with a concern expressed about a dairy product from a local food restaurant. “We went out and performed an investigation,” he noted. Samples were taken and sent in to the lab to be analyzed at the Indiana State Board of Health. “We found a coliform level there which was at a standard beyond the acceptable perimeters of the dairy division of the state Board of Health ” Neese related. OVERALL, NEESE said 16

group in city government over the next four years,” Harmless said, noting that he had expressed that very idea to Ms. Hall and Mrs. Roach prior to their acceptance of commission appointments. “This committee has its work cut out for it,” the mayor continued. “So many issues are going to have to be discussed right here, and some very hard decisions are going to have to be made.” One of those decisions came Monday night But the only difficulty was in how Plan Commission members comprehended just what was to be done with 212 acres of property, formerly known

Kindergarten orientation slated at South Putnam

Parents of kindergarten-age children in the South Putnam Community School Corp. can enroll their kids for the 1988-89 school year in March. Fillmore Elementary School will hold its kindeigarten orientation 8:15 - 11 a.m. March 15. Reelsville Elementary will hold orientation in two sessions on March 16. The first session is slated for 8:30 - 10:40 a.m. for last names beginning A-M, while the second session is 12:30 - 2:40 p.m. for last names N-Z. And Central Elementary will hold orientation 12:30 - 3 p.m. March 17. PARENTS SHOULD take their children to the orientation session of the school the child will attend in the fall, and provide the child’s official birth certificate and immunization

GCSC into compliance with Prime Time mandates. Boling said when the GCSC currently targets which children to move, it looks first to families that have only one child, and then to families that have only one child in an age group. However, that policy has led to the same families being asked to change schools time after time. “ SHE SAID THE NEW alignment would bring an end to that practice because every first-grader would attend the same school, ending the necessity transferring students ,to even out class sizes among buildings. But that is only one advantage to the idea, Boling said. It would also maximize the talents of the GCSC teaching force by pooling teachers of the same or similar grades in one building. That would make it easier for teachers to consult with one another, as well as to meet to share ideas on teaching techniques. But it will also make it easier for the GCSC to implement its evolving Gifted and Talented (G/T) program, as well as its At-Risk Student program. * BOLING POINTS out that, statisically, only about 5 percent of the students in the GCSC are going

samples have been collected to date from various restaurants and sent to the state Health Board lab for testing. “Of those tested, nine out of the 16 samples were illegal,” he added. “But once we did get those results back, the operators were more than cooperative in getting things corrected.” Slowly but surely, the public is recognizing that Neese is available to make inspections and check out legitimate concerns. And so far, five complaints have been registered with him directly at the local Board of Health office. “One thing I do want to stress is that if anyone suspects they make have contracted food poisoning to Col. 3, back page, this section

as the Rafferty Farm on the south side of State Road 240, immediately west of Edgewood Lake Road. THE REQUEST WAS for rezoning. But discussion invariably returned to annexation. Yet annexation was apparently accomplished in late January by City Council action alone, and is merely awaiting expiration of a 30-day remonstrance period. Plan Commission member Warren Harlan wondered aloud why the annexation of the Rafferty property now known as Enterprise Park Phase II and the home to SherwinWilliams Co. and Happico Corp.

record, as required by law. During the orientation session, a pre-school screening check will be administered to each child. All children must be screened before being admitted to kindergarten for the first time. Those children who are not screened during .the orientation will be screened the first week of school, and then admitted to kindergarten. EACH SCHOOL is taking a survey to determine the number of students who will participate in orientation. Parents are asked to notify the school if they have a child or know of a child who will be entering school next year. For more information, persons may contact Fillmore, 2466136; Reelsville, 672-4248; or Central, 653-6175.

to qualify for the G/T program. That means the school system can expect to have about 41 students qualify for the GfT program. The program options for teaching those students increase if the students are in larger groups, Boling said. The current elementary structure puts only about two G/T students per age group in each building. The restucturing proposal would put about 13 G/T students in each of the school buildings, by age group The same principle applies to the newly identified at-risk students those kids who are in danger of flunking out or dropping out of school before completing their high school diploma. However, those kids have yet to be formally identified in the GCSC, so accurate figures do not yet exist. THE IDEA IS NOT perfect, Boling admits, saying there are some trade-offs. She pointed out that the elementary library system would have to be dismantled and reorganized to serve the specialized clientele at each school. Since there are no fulltime elementary librarians, that job will most likely fall to volunteer parents, she said. If a family has two or more Col. 3, back page, this section

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GREG NEESE County food sanitarian

did not come before the commission first. “I find nothing in the statutes that requires annexation to go before the Plan Commission,” City Attorney Larry Wilson, present in Monday night’s audience, commented. PREVIOUSLY, Harlan noted, a request for annexation by Fillmore Road residents came before the City Council initially and was then dispatched to the Plan Commission. Mayor Harmless said, however, that timing was a prime factor in the Rafferty rezoning issue. “If there had been more time, we would have gone through the proCol. 1, back page, this section