The Independent-News, Volume 105, Number 14, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 13 September 1979 — Page 4

SEPTEMBER 13, 1979 — THE INDEPENDENT-NEWS

EDITORIALS

A VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM For several weeks now the North Liberty and Greene Township area has been the subject of quite a controversary concerning the future of their school situation. In the early 60's when the big school reorganization was taking place, these two townships were taken in by the South Bend Community School Corporation and have since been a part of that group. Things continued on a similar basis with only a couple of changes being made, one addition of some facilities to the North Liberty High School which had been lacking since it was constructed, and second, the combining of Greene Township and Liberty Township students into one high school at North Liberty and a middle school housed in the Greene Township building. Other than these two things, the school continued on a steady basis, with no great moves one way or the other. Now things have started to happen . . . things that are being forced by facts other than just a desire to continue as it has been or upgrade the schooling for the students of this area. One is the continuing deterioration of the very old North Liberty Elementary School Building. The other is an overall school corporation integration movement. With the changing of superintendents of the SBCSC, the picture has changed. The new superintendent, taking over just this summer, has made some various recommendations concerning the future of the North Liberty and Greene students . . . most of which are not favorable to the community that so much would like to retain their own high school. In the 60's, when the big reorganization push was made, many school corporations faced the merging of smaller schools to get the school systems on a level of at least a minimum of 1 ,QOO students average daily attendance. A lot of personal, petty feelings entered into the entire picture . . . many of them concerning the "extra curricular activities” mainly sports. The old rivals just couldn't be put into one school This was on more people’s minds than was the overall general outlook . . . education of their kids. These organizations did go forth and for the most part, have been very successful. The job of such as Walkerton. Lakeville and New Carlisle in St. Joseph County, was to petition out of St. Joseph County jurisdiction into another county’s control and the areas then through their advisory committees, planned the school corporations and the people voted on them. North Liberty and Greene did not explore many other avenues. They. North Liberty in particular, were told this and promised that by a committee that was very South Bend orientated. They were basically forced into this as even the vote, when taken, found the Liberty township people voting against it almost two to one, but the combined vote easily made them a part of South Bend School City. There have been a lot of advantages as well as disadvantages to both those who formed their own corporations and those who were taken into larger school corporations. None of the operations of a school district is easy. However, there is that feeling of independence of the new corporations such as PU, Union-North and New Prairie as they, the people living in the smaller towns do control their own fates. There have been a lot of disagreements, a lot of decisions made which maybe were for the best or maybe not, but at least they were made by the local people who have to live with them and pay for them. This is not the case for North Liberty. Their decisions have been made for them by people complete away from the local situations. The committee of Liberty and Greene Township people studying this present problem, is a good, hard-working committee that is trying to get what they feel will be best for their children as they go through school. They are undertaking quite a problem but seem to "have their heads on straight” and are giving every angle and thought good consideration and will weigh the various benefits and well as problems that may arise. We wish them luck and hope that they can explore all facets of the situation to gain that one thing most needed . . . the good future for the education of their young. WHEN... (TAKEN FROM THE FILES OF THE INDEPENDENT NEWS)

1974 In the football season openers the Falcons lost to the Bremen Lions in a final minutes of the game. 20-16. The North Liberty Shamrocks are blanked in their first game by North Judson. 14-0. John Glenn will have an Open House on Monday evening. September 9 at 7:00 p in. for parents of Glenn students. A modified schedule of their son or daughter’s classes will be given to each parent. The grand opening of The Brass Lion was held September 6 and 7. 1969 Enrollment at the P-L-J Schools totals 1303 according to figures released by the sch<x>l officials. I his figure includes kindergarten students through grade 12. At the market pork steak was selling for 69 cents a pound; semi boneless ham at 79 cents a pound; stuffed sausage at 69 cents a pound; rolled pork roast at 79 cents a pound, pork tenderettes at 89 cents a pound; creamettes at 10 cents for a seven ounce box; Ore-Ida french fries at 25 cents for

a 12 ounce package; ice cream at 79 cents for a half gallon; lettuce at 23 cents a head and celery at 29 cents a stalk. 1964 A community building in North Liberty becomes a reality. The Community Building Association met on Monday. August 31 for making final plans for the purchase of the building. At the Rialto this coming Sunday will be "Bye-Bye Birdie” with Janet Leigh. Dick Van Dyke. AnnMargaret and Ed Sullivan. Playing at the Rees is "The Long Ships” with Richard Widmark, Sidnev Poitier and Russ Tamplyn and coming next is "One Man’s Way" with Don Murray. Dianna Hyland and Carol Ohmart. which is a story of Norman Vincent Peale. 1959 Labor Day can be variously defined as the end of summer; the beginning of the school year; a national traffic jam or simply an excuse for a long week end away from the office. But the founder of the holiday, Peter J. McQuire. a leader in the Knights of Labor.

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■ One of the key decisions made by Midwestern governors at their recent annual meeting was an endorsement of an energy supply policy that is continental in scope A three-nation partnership of the United States, Canada and Mexico could resolve a number of problems now associated with fuel supply. The Midwest has the most to lose if we fail to develop a coordinated, mutually beneficial arrangement For years, the governors have urged the federal government to negotiate an energy trade agreement with Canada but our recommendations went unheeded. Aggressive action by Washington is required if we are to secure enduring energy trade arrangements with Canada and Mexico in order to maximize Alaskan oil and natural gas production, utilize surplus Canadian refinery capacity, continue expiring Canadian export oil contracts and obtain Mexican oil and natural gas Agreements in these areas will benefit all three nations but could be of special significance to Indiana and other Midwestern states, since this region is the primary market for Alaskan and Canadian oil and gas and is the

proposed that a day be set aside to honor the working man in 1882. He conceived it as a tribute to "the industrial spirit, the great vital force of every nation." He suggested the first Monday in September, since it came almost midway between Independence Day and Thanksgiving Day. The Central Labor Union of New York adopted his proposal and held the first Labor Day celebration on September Sth. As McGuire had suggested the union paraded through the streets of Manhatten. to show the strength and spirit of trade and labor organizations. Shortly after, the Knights of Labor voted for an annual celebration. In 1884 the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor voted to make the celebration national. The first state to make Labor Day a legal holiday w as Oregon in 1887. Don Blosser, freshman trumpet player from North Liberty, is among 192 candidates invited for tryouts on September 8 at Indiana University's annual Marching Hundred Hoosierettes band camp. Enrollment for the Liberty Township schools for the new year show a slight increase over last year. The total this year is 780 against 770 last year. 1954 The Indiana Toll Road Commission set September 21 as the date for the groundbreaking on the $280,000,000 East-West Toll Road across Northern Indiana. The Laundry Basket in Walkerton and the Lanudrymat at Kingsford Heights have been purchased by Mr. and Mrs. William Kranenburg, of Koontz Lake, who began operation of the same last Saturday. The Laundry Basket was established in Walkerton four years ago by Charles F. Johnson, who has operated several similar establishments in many places. At the meat market beef steak was selling for 45 cents a pound as well as sirloin and club steaks. Ground beef was at 29 cents a pound and at 39 cents a pound you could buy smoked picnics, ring bologna or pork roast. Hill Brothers coffee was at $1.17 a pound. 1944 An arrangement has been worked out by the schools of the county concerning action to be taken when

Capitol Commentary Governor Otis R. Bowen

most promising potential market for Mexian oil and gas. Given these facts, the federal government's actions in recent years have been disappointing. It is clear that the Energy Department did not press seriously for an energy agreement with Mexico because the department did not want cheaper Mexican gas to undercut more costly domestic ventures such as the Alaskan natural gas pipeline proposal However, we now have the worst of results — no Mexican fuel, an Alaskan gas pipeline venture that is stalled on dead center with little or no hope of completion and a coal gasification program that is being whittled in scope almost daily as critics place it under fire A trade agreement would help correct the mistake made in routing the Alaskan oil pipeline West Coast refineries cannot absorb its output and the Alaskan oil fields are pumping 800,000 barrels a day below capacity In addition, several of the most promising route options for another oil pipeline involve crossing Canadian territory A partnership arrangement would enable us to expedite a pipeline project that would serve both nations.

an armistice is signed ending the war with Germany. If official news of such action is received in the morning a short program will be held immediately; then the buses will take the pupils home, at noon. If news comes in the afternoon similar action will occur, or if the word comes after school there will be no school the following day. Melbourne. Austrailia, has a population of 1,076,000. In 1940, home building in this city was valued at $21,(XX),000. Last year, because of shortages of labor and material, home building expenditures total S39,(XXX) about enough for 12 six-room houses. To help meet the acute shortage in housing in which will have to be faced after the war. the Victorian State Hous- 1 ing Commission has drafted a five-year program, providing for 50.(XX) homes at an estimated cost of $150,000,000. The first shipment of food to be stored in the Atchison. Kansas, mine, which was converted into a huge cold storage warehouse, is ready for moving, the War F<x)d Administration reports. The new storehouse is located two miles from Atchison and will provide storage space for a wide variety of Agricultural products. There are only 20.(XX) new passenger cars in the country today. This is the smallest quota since passenger car rationing began, and a 40 per cent cut from the August quota of 5,000. The new September quota is less than 8 per cent of the quota for 1943 which was 40,600 cars. The quota for this year is 3,000. 1929 Incomplete enrollment figures from the office of Supt. B. A. Swei-

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gart, Wednesday, indicates a total enrollment of 267 pupils in the Walkerton School. Two big community meetings have been planned for Walkerton by the Flying Squadron Foundation, of Indianapolis, in the interests of better government with special attention to prohibition and law enforcement. H. C. Havener, of South Bend, came to Walkerton Saturday to take over the management of the local A & P Store. GLENN GIRLS DROP FIRST NSC VOLLEYBALL MATCH The John Glenn girls volleyball team hosted New Prairie Tuesday evening in volleyball, the first conference action for the Glenn girls this fall. The New Prairie team held off to defeat the Glenn girls 15-11, 015 and 14-11. The best spikers for Glenn were Barb Peacock with 19 kills and Pam Aitken with 14 kills. Anne Huffstetter had the best serving average. 3.14 out of a possible 4 and Traci Florian had the best passing average. 2.16 out of a possible 3. The loss dropped Glenn to 0-3 for the young season and 0-1 in conference play. New Prairie gained their first win in three tries. The Junior Varsity also lost to New Prairie by score of 15-0 and 15-11. Their record is also 0-3 while New Prairie is perfect at 3-0. "Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessaries." Mark Twain The Appian Way, a 2,000 year-old Roman road with a deep foundation, is in better condition than many modern roads and streets.