Banner Graphic, Volume 21, Number 73, Greencastle, Putnam County, 28 November 1990 — Page 1
BannfirGraphic Greencastle. 21 Bi
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BILL PATTERSON First tourism director
Entries sought for fifth annual home decoration contest
The fifth annual Greencastle Merchants Association Christmas Home Decoration Contest is under way and open to all Putnam County residents. Last year’s judging took the panel on more than a 100-mile trek around the county as they checked out all the entries before deciding on winners in the Judges’ Choice, Daytime Elegance and Children’s Theme categories. JUDGING THIS year will take place the week of Dec. 9. Entrants are asked to keep their displays lighted from 5-11 p.m. that week so that judges are sure to view them when illuminated. Entrants are also urged to provide clear directions to their home, especially if it does not have an actual street address. Winners in all three categories will receive a SSO prize. The 1989 Judges’ Choice winners were Curt and Sharon Hoskins, who decorated their
GREENCASTLE MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION 1990 CHRISTMAS DECORATING CONTEST ENTRY FORM
Name: Address: Directions to home if not a street address: Home phone number: Return this form by mail no later than Dec. 8 to Greencastle Merchants Association, P. O. Box 389, Greencastle 46135.
November’s here at last
Clearing late but cold overnight with low in the lower to middle 20s. Partly sunny and cold on Thursday with high around 40. Westerly winds diminishing to 5 mph overnight. Indiana Extended Forecast Dry and cool Friday through Sunday. Lows each morning from the 20s to the lower 30s. Highs from the 40s to the lower 50s each day. No precipitation in the immediate forecast.
Kentuckian gets county tourism post
By LISA MEYER Banner-Graphic Staff Writer Putnam County has numerous natural attractions that draw tourists, and their vacation dollars, to this area covered bridges, a state park and several festivals, just to name a few. Until this year, however, those attractions had to fend for themselves when it came to promotions and marketing. BUT LESS THAN a year after being established, and following several months of policy making and deciding what direction they should take, members of the Putnam County Innkeepers Tax Commission have chosen an executive director for the county’s tourism
Torr Road home in Madison Township with an estimated 4,000 lights. ALSO WINNING last year were Fred and Elaine, 407 E. Walnut St., Daytime Elegance, and Dewayne and Elizabeth Higgins, 103 W. Berry St, Children’s Theme. The three 1989 winners are ineligible to compete for prizes in the 1990 contest. Other previous winners include: The Charles Carman residence, Chadd Valley, 1988; the Rollie Cushman home, Russellville, 1987, and Michael Poor residence, East Washington Street, Greencastle, 1986. THE DEADLINE to enter the home decoration contest is Saturday, Dec. 8. Entrants can mail the accompanying form to the Greencastle Merchants Association, P.O. Box 389, or present it in person at the Putnam Partnership Center, 2 S. Jackson St.
Index Abby AS Calendar AS Classifieds A9,A10,A11 Comics A 4 Crossword All Farm A 6 Heloise AS Horoscope All Obituaries Al 2 People A 4 Sports A7,A8,A9 Theaters Al 2
bureau. Now, when future promotions entice travelers to visit Putnam County, it will be Bill Patterson who is dangling the carrot of tourism. Following the interviews of three candidates during a lengthy executive session Tuesday night, Patterson was named executive director of the tourism bureau after impressing members of the commission with his extensive experience in the tourism industry. Patterson served as director of tourism for the Clark-Floyd-Har-rison Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau in Jeffersonville for about four years, and has also been marketing director for a motor coach company.
Public speaking Residents express traffic concerns to City Council, mayor
By ERIC BERNSEE Banner-Graphic Editor More inquisitive than critical, nearly two dozen Greencastle residents went face to face with the city administration Tuesday night For more than two hours, residents recited individuals concerns like neighborhood flooding, overflowing trash, burgeoning junkyards and traffic difficulties. Concerning the latter issue, Randy Thomas asked if local residents should take up a collection to buy the state a traffic signal at State Road 240 and 10th Street, an intersection marked by repeated accidents. THE GOOD NEWS, Mayor Mike Harmless told the audience at the PSI Energy building, is that the Indiana Department of Highways has at least agreed to study that intersection. The mayor said he accompanied Street Commissioner Jim Wright and Building Commissioner Bill Lawrence to Crawfordsville recently to discuss traffic and related problems along State Road 240, which is destined to come under city control after the Southern Highway is completed. State highway officials are currently evaluating the speed limit in front of Putnam Plaza. “Fifty miles per hour is ridiculous,” Harmless said, explaining that city officials would like to see the speed limit reduced to 40 mph in that area. A STOPLIGHT FOR that intersection, however, seems doubtful any time soon. The state has agreed to fund stoplights at State Road 240 and the start of the Southern Highway
Rain, roof ruin books at Cloverdale
By JOE THOMAS Banner-Graphic Assistant Editor CLOVERDALE When it rains, it pours and when you mix that with high winds and a loose roof over a school library, disaster results. The results of that dastardly recipe were found Tuesday morning in the Cloverdale JrJSr. High School library and the effects are still being measured. THE SCHOOL IS undergoing a renovation and expansion project, with much of the new construction focusing on the north courtyard. That courtyard will be transformed into hallways, classrooms and
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27 shopping days to Christmas
MOST RECENTLY, Patterson was executive director of the Bullitt County Tourist Commission in Shepherdsville, Ky. “I’m incredibly excited about the potential here,” Patterson told the Banner-Graphic following the meeting. “This board has done an exhaustive, extensive research effort to establish criteria for not only its search for an executive director, but for beginning a truly outstanding tourism effort Yes, I’m sincerely proud to be associated with this level of leadership.” Commission president Phil Junker said about 75 resumes were received after the director’s position was advertised in October. A resident of the Clarksville-Je-ffersonville area, Patterson said he
Santa Claus sets hours for his house downtown
Santa Claus may have come to town in Monday night’s parade, but he’ll take up residence beginning Friday at his house at the northeast comer of Indiana and Washington streets in Greencastle. DESPITE A BUSY holiday schedule, Santa will be available to meet and greet youngsters in his downtown house each Friday, Saturday and Sunday through Christmas.
(across from Mallory Capacitor Co.), the Southern Highway and 10th Street and the Southern Highway and U.S. 231. “The question they have now,” Harmless said, “is if they lower the speed limit to 40 and put a stoplight down here (pointing toward Mallory) and have another down there (pointing toward McDonald’s), do they need another one? They say, ‘no.’ “We say ‘yes,’ because of the traffic coming from Round Bam Road (which is actually 10th Street extended north of Indianapolis Road). But they still control what happens because it is still a state road.” RESPONDING TO a question about when the city will assume control of Indianapolis Road as a city street, the mayor said, “We don’t expect we’ll get 240 back un-
locker bays that will be used as a junior high wing. But right now, that courtyard is on the outside of the school’s library, meaning the library’s books are part of a construction area. And when workers had to begin cutting away the 70 to 80 feet of the roof to get ready for the next phase of the construction project, the books fell worse for the wear. “YOU HAVE AN interior wall going up and an exterior wall going up right beside it,” Supt. John McKinney explained. The roof slopes down to meet those walls. Roofing material is pulled tight, tucked under the eaves
Plan addresses DPU parking
By ERIC BERNSEE Banner-Graphic Editor A solution to long-standing parking problems in the DePauw University campus area may be as close as the completion of the city’s revised comprehensive plan. The plan, in its final stages of development under the guidance of Michael Shaver of Wabash Scientific, will include a university zone section. Monday night Shaver passed out copies of a preliminary draft of that manuscript to City Plan Commission members. Full-blown discussion, however, was put on hold until city officials
has been involved in the Indiana tourism industry for the last six years. “INDIANA IS MY second home,” the Louisville native said. “I’m sort of an adopted Hoosier.” Patterson said that one of his objectives is to have the county tourism market’s infrastructure in place by next spring. But his first goal is to listen and learn. “Research comes first. Learning comes first,” he said. Patterson said he intends to be relocated in Putnam County by Jan. 1. BUT WHILE THE commission has chosen its director, it has yet to chose a location for the tourism bureau.
Santa’s visits are being sponsored by the Greencastle Merchants Association. Friday hours are 5-7 p.m. Nov. 30 and Dec. 7,14 and 21. Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 1,8,15 and 22. SANTA HOURS on Sundays are 1-3 p.m. Dec. 2,9, 16 and 23. Photographs, at a charge of $2.50 per shot, will be taken during those hours.
til a couple of years after the Southern Highway is done.” That’s because the state must complete improvements to the road before the city is willing to accept its maintenance forevermore. Those improvements call for the raising of 240 west of First Street and the lowering of the road surface east of the same intersection to eliminate the hump in the road that causes visibility problems. A STOPLIGHT ALSO was originally planned for the intersection of First Street (Zinc Mill Road) and Indianapolis Road, but the state has changed its mind, the mayor said Tuesday. “With their statistics and the studies they’ve done,” Harmless said, “they now feel a third of the traffic currently on Indianapolis Road will be using the Southern Highway.”
and nailed down. Flashing is added for decoration and to help keep water out. That normally prevents leaks. But the construction project is going to raise those two walls, and workers removed the eaves and flashing late Monday to get ready for that work. The roof was left just resting on the walls. And Monday night brought high winds and I*A inches of rain to Cloverdale. Tuesday morning brought soaked books and a soggy library. “THE DAMAGE IS limited to the guidance area and the library,” McKinney said. And in the library,
can confer with DePauw representatives about elements of the plan. Once that transpires, the university zone will be featured at a public hearing. NONETHELESS, Shaver did address a couple of the highlights. “The biggest impact is on parking,” the planning expert said. “Of course, that’s the area you’ve had the biggest warfare on anyway.” City Plan Commission members recounted war stories concerning the lack of parking around DePauw facilities like the Union Building and Performing Arts Center. The new Media Center, being
Bids for the tourism office location have come from both the Cloverdale and Greencastle chambers of commerce, but the commission was unable to reach a deciding vote at its regular meeting earlier this month. President Junker said that issue will hopefully be resolved at the next commission meeting, set for Tuesday, Dec. 11 at the Bainbridge Town Hall. Commission members at Tuesday’s meeting were Junker, Frank Hutcheson, David Jackman, Linda Katula, Eddie Mannan, Matt O’Neill, Steve Walters, John Zeiner and newly appointed members LeRoy Blocher and John Wentzel.
City officials haven’t given up that stoplight fight yet either, the mayor said, noting that he will continue to work with Greencastle Community Schools and others since the intersection is one frequented by school bus traffic. JOHN BUTTREY, 506 Ritter Ave., wondered if the addition of a third lane, as a turn lane in the middle of Indianapolis Road, might not alleviate part of the traffic congestion. “The problem is,” Harmless responded, “there are too many curb cuts (driveway accesses to businesses) along 240.” Adding a middle lane, the mayor theorized, would only make matters worse because of it. “You’d wind up with is he going to turn into Hardee’s or is he going down to turn into First Citizens Bank? I’m trying to turn into the barber shop and, uh-oh, we ended facing each other in the middle of the road.” ONE THING CITY officials promised concerning such problems is to “work to make sure 231 South doesn’t become another 240,” Councilman Bob Sedlack said. The Council and mayor acknowledged that commercial growth is already occurring along U.S. 231 South (Bloomington Street) because of the forthcoming Southern Highway. Such development is only expected to escalate as the highway heads toward what is now an anticipated July 1, 1991 opening. Bems Construction Co. officials offered that revised target date Tuesday, the mayor said. Previous Col. 5, back page, this section
it is just the books that were hurt by the downpour. The floor, furniture and shelves all withstood the water, the superintendent said. “Some of those books, I’m sure, will be irreplaceable,” McKinney said, “because they have been in our library for so long.” Work is continuing on determining how many books were damaged and how many were ruined. MEANWHILE, the library is closed for student use. McKinney said he expects arrangements to be made for students to use another library until the Jr./Sr. high school’s is repaired and reopened.
built at Elm and Locust streets, meanwhile, is the latest example of campus progress without proper parking, members noted. “It’s a beautiful building,” Plan Commission President Terry Hall shrugged, “there’s just no place to park.” SHAVER BELIEVES the university capsule of the comprehensive plan might help solve that dilemma. He said it offers alternative parking solutions based on university population, assigned locations for each building and development of a Col. 3, back page, this section