Banner Graphic, Volume 19, Number 263, Greencastle, Putnam County, 14 July 1989 — Page 1

Banner Graphic Greencastle, Putnam County, Friday, July 14,1989, Vol. 19 No. 263 35 Cents

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The faecade of the old Opera House on the west side of the Greencastle square, its window boarded up since a September 1985 fire, may come back to life if a Main Street

Detours set at Fillmore

Motorists near Fillmore may want to take detours around two Conrail Railroad crossings to be closed for repairs Monday. Pat Sager of the county highway department said crossings

Late settlement in health board-Fairway case

By JOE THOMAS Banner-Graphic Assistant Editor Attorneys arguing over the proper role of the Putnam County Health Department in a case involving the Fairway Restaurant did not wait until the 11th hour to reach an agreement, but they did wait until the 10th hour. Special Prosecutor Robert G. Andree Jr., and Greencastle attor ney James W. Phipps met in Cloverdale at noon Thursday to sign an agreement that avoided a Putnam Circuit Court hearing slated for 11:30 a.m. Thursday. The two attorneys agreed in principal to the settlement late

Gough elected North Putnam board president

By LISA MEYER Banner-Graphic Staff Writer A reorganization of the North Putnam School Board kicked off a meeting Thursday night that included an increase in school lunch prices and textbook rentals for 1989-90. The oath of office was issued to three board members, including the recently elected Ron Richardson who enters his first year on the board. In the election of board officers, Byron Gough was elected 4-3 over David Ferrand to serve as board president. Ferrand was chosen vice present Mary Martin will serve as the secretary. THE BOARD DECIDED to keep its meeting time for next year as 7:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month. The board will continue to meet in the library,

The great outdoors

Clear and cool overnight with low in the upper 50s. Mostly sunny and mild Saturday. High around 80. Fair and mild Sunday. High around 80. Indiana Extended Forecast Fair and mild Sunday. Lows from the 50s to the lower 60s. Highs from the upper 70s to the lower 80s. Increasing cloudiness with a chance of thundershowers Monday. Lows in the 60s. Highs in 4he 80s. Clearing Tuesday. Lows in the 60s. Highs in the 80s.

Greencastle project wins approval. MSG is seeking $217,000 in loans to renovate the strucuture into retail space. (Banner-Graphic photo by Gary Goodman).

on County Road 550 East and County Road 625 East north of Fillmore will close at 7 a.m. Monday for minor repairs. They should reopen the following day.

Wednesday afternoon and filed with the court early Friday morning. THE AGREEMENT calls for no further contempt litigation in the suit as long as restaurateur William Rosenstein “acts in good faith and continues ... in compliance with applicable court-orders and duly established Board of Health policies.” The agreement resolves a motion for preliminary injunction against Putnam County Board of Health inspectors Greg Neese and Doug VanDemark, which sought to prohibit them “from acting beyond the scope of the legitimate authority and from continuing to take action against (Rosenstein, the

with a possible change of location when work is complete on the new administration building. In the appointment of corporation treasurer, the board kept Donna Gibson at that position. Meanwhile, food service director Linda Nelson told the board that the past school year was not successful for the lunch program due to sky-rocketing food prices. Mrs. Nelson said that a case of corn that sold for around $lO two years ago was priced at $25-$26 per case last year. The price of peas also increased and green beans were unavailable by the end of the school year. TO COMBAT THE food prices, she recommended a 15-cent increase, taking elementary lunch prices up to sl.lO and the high school rate up to $1.15.

Index Abby A 3 Calendar A 3 Classifieds A9,A10,A11 Comics A 6 Crossword All Heloise A 3 Horoscope All Obituaries Al 2 People A 6 Sports A7,AB TV B Section Theaters All

$207,0 )n of Opera pi uposed

By ERIC BERNSEE Banner-Graphic Editor A $207,000 effort to resurrect the old Opera House on the west side of the square in Greencastle was unveiled Thursday. The former Granada Theatre, or old Opera House, was virtually destroyed by a Sept 24, 1985 fire that left only the facade of the historic structure intact. Main Street Greencastle, unsuccessful in attracting a developer to undertake the project, will do it itself, project manager Bill Dory told the Citizens Advisory Commission for Industrial Development Thursday. MAIN STREET IS hoping to make the Opera House come alive again as a retail establishment with 4,500 square feet of space on the ground floor, 1,500 square feet in a second floor and 3,800 square feet of storage area in the basement. Dory said. Bui in order to do so, several loans will have to be obtained. Main Street, Dory said, has received a commitment for a $102,000 joint loan to be provided by the three local banks, Central National, First Citizens and First United Savings. That loan is to be secured by a $50,000 loan guarantee through the Historic Landmarks Foundation Inc., which is expected to ratify approval on July 25. Dory said Main Street will also be applying for a $75,000 loan from the National Preservation

Fairway’s owner) or his business endeavors.” The Fairway itself was the target of an injunction preventing it from doing business as long as it continued to dump its effluent on open ground. On June 2, Putnam Circuit Court Judge William C. Vaughn 111 ordered the Fairway to stop the illegal dumping, closing the restaurant “until an adequate sewage disposal system is installed and is fully operable as determined by the State Board of Health.” PHIPPS’ MOTION for preliminary injunction noted that on June 2 Rosenstein had installed holding

“I feel $1.15 is still a cheap price for a school lunch,” Mrs. Nelson said. The a la carte sales were down SII,OOO for the year, she said, and that is where food services had the most business. The new lunch lines that included potato bars and hot dog bars were the salvation for the past year, Mrs. Nelson said, explaining that students paid the same $1 price for the bars as for a regular meal, but usually only took about 50 cents worth of food. WHEN ASKED IF the school system had an increasing number of students eligible for the free lunch program, Mrs. Nelson said there were more students receiving free lunches. If every student were on that program, however, the food service would have no problems.

Southern Highway right ‘on track’ now

By ERIC BERNSEE Banner-Graphic Editor Greencastle’s Southern Highway project is “totally on track,” Mayor Mike Harmless said Thursday. - He told the Greencastle Board of Works that the city has received a notice to proceed with right-of-way engineering from the state. That means once the loose ends of right-of-way purchase are complete, the project will really hit full stride. SOME 60 SMALL pieces of right-of-way remain to be purchased by the city along the old Penn Central Railroad right-of-way between Indianapolis and Manhat-

Loan Fund. The requested loans total $217,000, with the SIO,OOO difference to be held in reserve. THE REMAINING $40,000, however, is being requested as a loan from the TechnoTrim Revolving Loan Fund, which includes state-loaned funds to TechnoTrim that have been recaptured locally as they were repaid. Approval of the use of those funds must come from CACFID and the Greencastle City Council. A decision is expected to come at a joint CACFID-Council meeting at noon Friday, July 21 at Walden Inn. The State Department of Commerce has agreed that such funds can be used to restore “blighted” structures, but cannot account for more than 25 percent of such a project. THE REVOLVING loan fond is actually set up to offer low-interest loans to industry, but the city and state have discovered that industrial concerns have expressed little interest in such relatively small sums. In this case, the TechnoTrim fond is presently comprised of two $20,000 annual payments and about $5,000 in interest money. , “The DOC agrees that $40,000 isf v not a significant amount to an industry,” Mayor Mike Harmless said. “That amount would probably just sit there (in the revolving loan fund).” That fund cannot be used by the city for projects such as street resurfacing or capital improvement

tanks at the Fairway, making arrangements to have effluent and waste trucked off. It claims Neese and VanDemark knew that on June 5, when they showed up at the restaurant Phipps alleged Neese and VanDemark “interfered with defendant’s contractural relationship, causing breech of contract, resulting in loss of profits, excessive and unnecessary hardships, loss of goodwill and virtually rendering defendant’s attempts to continue in compliance with said court order impossible.” The monetary loss to Rosenstien could run as high as $250,000,

shesaid. The . normal government reimbursement for every $1 lunch is 14 cents, she said, explaining that once she receives the final reimbursements, the school corporation gets a total of sl2l for a regular paid lunch. Reimbursements for a free lunch, however, total slightly more than $1.41 per lunch. The year-to-date cost for serving one meal is $1.51, she said. MRS. NELSON POINTED out that without the price raise, food services would suffer deeper losses next year. The program spent SIB,OOO more than it brought in. In justifying the 15-cent increase, Mrs. Nelson told the board that a 10-cent raise would only generate $13,000. “We’d just go in the hole again,” she said. A 15-cent

tan roads. But the state has set a definite timetable for the project now, Harmless said. Bid letting is scheduled for March, with construction slated to being next April. “It’ll be done in a year,” the mayor said of the 2.7mile project COST OF THE city-state-federal project has been estimated at $2.7 million. And the Board of Works approved payment of some $34,000 of that total Thursday afternoon as preliminary engineering and right-of-way engineering work claims from Bemardin-Loch-

projects. REMINDING CACFID board members that the $40,000 is still a loan and would be repaid to the revolving loan fond, the mayor said he believes renovation of the Opera House is an “important statement to the community.” “It’s important to take care of the Opera House,” he said, “and then move to step two and go to the Mac’s property and work with him (owner Robert McCormick). As long as those properties exist downtown, there will always be that skepticism that the city’s not taking care of this.” Main Street, Dory said, has no intention of being in the landlord business. The organization’s goal is to fond the renovation and then market the building to investors upon completion of the project Should investors not be found immediately, Main Street Greencastle will seek a long-term conventional mortgage and repay the sources ot funding used during renovation, it was noted. The renovation will be done as a Tax Act Project and qualify for investment tax credits. Main Street will also request tax abatement on the project, Dory said. ALL THREE LOCAL bank presidents are represented on the CACFID Board. And Thursday Tun Clark of Central and William Marley of First United were in attendance and spoke favorably about CoL 2. back page, this section

Phipps alleged in his motion. THE AGREEMENT is an attempt to cut those losses. It forbids Neese and VanDemark “from making any statement whatsoever, public or private, or take any action with respect to Rosenstein’s business enterprise or its progress toward compliance” with a new septic system or any court orders, unless they are required to “by statute, duly established policy, or legal counsel.” The agreement says the Fairway Restaurant “is progressing toward completion of the approved septic system,” and is now awaiting “only CoL 5, back page, this section

increase would bring in $19,620.30. Responding to board members questions about the status of the Russellville Elementary lunch program, Mrs. Nelson said Russellville was still losing money last year, and it will continue to lose money unless the student census increases. SHE SAID THAT the labor costs are the same for Russellville as the other schools and the food costs are also the same. “It will always be in the red unless there are more students over there,” she said. The board voted unanimously for the 15-cent raise. In another area of increase, the school board learned that textbook prices at some elementary levels will increase 10-20 percent since Continued on Page A 4

mueller and Associates, Evansville, were okayed. Once the Southern Highway is completed, the state will turn over to the city the present State Raod *240 (from the entrance at Mallory Capacitor Co. to Bloomington Street). That is primarily the reason for the presert restoration work along the state highway. Mention of the roadwork caused board member Bill Lawrence to question the First Street-In-dianapolis Road intersection, where visibility is restricted because of a dip in the road. THE MAYOR NOTED that the

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GINGER LYNN MARYIN Fair Queen hopeful Queen title would spice Ginger’s life Ginger Lynn Martin, 16, Bainbridge, hopes to become Miss Putnam County, but if she can’t, she wants “to have fun and meet new people.” Miss Martin is one of 13 candidates vying for the tide at the Queen Contest, Saturday, July 22 at the Putnam County Fairgrounds. THE DAUGHTER of Joe and Paula Martin, she is a member of the Class of 1991 at North Putnam JrJSr. High School. She is the younger sister of Jolie Martin. The Fair Queen hopefol is active in varsity cheerleading, the NP student council, the Cougar band, the Cougarettes and Winter Guard. At school she works at a class officer and as an office helper. She attends First Baptist Church of Greencastle. After graduation from North Putnam, Miss Martin is looking to study fashion merchandising and design at Purdue University. IT ALL ADDS UP to a wellrounded young woman whose hobbies reflect her interests. She says she likes to spend her spare time leading cheer, shopping, and being with friends. When she can’t be with her friends, she is frequently on the telephone talking with them, she says. In describing herself. Miss Martin says she is, “friendly, energetic, talkative, outgoing, social and easy to get along with.” The queen candidate said she values her good health, learning a difficult lesson “watching my grandmother slowly fade away with Alzheimer’s disease.” HER PARENTS are her role models, she says, “because they have guided me and have had confidence in me.” When advising young people, Miss Martin tells them: “Be yourself, don’t let your peers turn you into someone you are not.”

intersection is designated for future improvements, including a stoplight, turning lanes and smoothing out of the road surface. Those improvements will be done, Harmless said, before Indianapolis Road is designated a city street. The state has the intersection work on its 1991 drawing board, he said. Most of the meeting was spent dealing with claims resulting from the many ongoing projects within the city. The paperwork caused the mayor to remark: “We’re doing a lot of work out there,” he said Col. 2, back page, this section