The Independent-News, Volume 106, Number 19, Walkerton, St. Joseph County, 16 October 1980 — Page 4

- THE INDEPENDENT NEWS - OCTOBER 16, 1980

4

| EDITORIALS!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! This Sunday, October 19, the Walkerton Volunteer Fire Department is going to give a birthday party. They are giving the special party to themselves for in this year of 1980, the Walkerton Volunteer Fire Department became 100 years old. Coming on the heals of the national Fire Prevention Week, the celebration is one of pride for the local fire department. All the firemen are proud to be a part of this volunteer organization but really, it is us, the general public, who should be overly excited about the group of men making up this fine necessary part of our community. It is for sure that any volunteer organization such as this, will have its shortcomings as well as its good moments. They after all, are men of a different profession first, and firemen second, giving freely of their time and abilities to help protect not only their homes and property, but the homes and properties of everyone in this area. They are not professional firemen, but do give everything they can in the time of need. The past couple of month’s reports by the fire department had the best news they could report . . . both from their standpoint and the public’s ... no fires reported. This has to be words of good news, but knowing that the some 23 men and their equipment is here in waiting is very comforting to all. Over this 100 years, there have been many serve on the department and in the future many more will take their turns at helping to protect our area. We owe a great debt of gratitude to all who have served, all who are presently serving, and to the families of these men who also make sacrifices so we can all have a more comfortable feeling about that dreaded disaster, fire. Happy anniversary and many, many more. TO CLEAR SOME THOUGHTS We would like to take a few minutes and a few lines of type to help clear up some thoughts on the possible Liberty Township and PLJ School Corporation merger. This is a very important thing, especially for the Liberty Township people, and very possibly could be for the residents of the PLJ school corporation also. The action that has taken place and is currently taking place is just preliminary action to what will actually take place. It has been misunderstood by some that the actions of the South Bend Community School Board and the study and consideration by the PLJ School Board is the determining action in this matter. This is not true as of this time. Both are preliminary actions. The case, an unprecedented one in Indiana since the School Reorganization Act of some 20 years ago, causes problems never handled before by schools in Indiana or the State agencies. Add to it the fact that the South Bend Community School Corporation is under fire from the U. S. Department of Justice on an integration program, and you further complicate the matter. Liberty Township and only Liberty Township has been given the okay to pull out of the SBCSC by that school board to merge with the PLJ Corporation, and not just to seceed. It yes, there are still those fighting for a Liberty/Greene Township School Corporation, the first choice of those involved when the entire situation arose some 16 months ago. Another point to be considered is that Liberty Township has not officially asked to become a part of the PLJ system although the concerned citizens did ask the PLJ Board to consider such a move. Nothing is going to happen until a formal request is made other than the fact that the PLJ Board is looking into the matter to see whether or not they feel it would be beneficial to their school district. If and when such action should come, the two boards, PLJ and SBCSC would have to get together and work out an agreement for the merger. There certainly are points that would need to be discussed and a contractual agreement reached before the move could become final. Right now it is just a waiting game until further studies and actions already undertaken can be completed. It might be added also that the telephone survey of Liberty Township parents of school children which sampled some 93 percent of the families and had a reported 88 percent favoring a PLJ merger, was not everything it appeared to be. It was not just an open choice, but a choice between the PLJ system and staying with the South Bend system. Other alternatives were not discussed. It is still our wish to have a thorough study made, have the right outsiders involved with the obtaining of information and certainly not personal or petty feelings being a determining factor in this matter. It is still the Liberty Township people who are being hurt, they are the ones that will see their present school split up with friendships, associations, etc. of the Liberty and Greene township high school the one that is going to be taken away from them. They are the ones that will be faced with the hard decision of where and why and they will not be united together on this decision regardless of what it is. We hope the best can be worked out for everyone involved whether it be Liberty Township alone or possibly Liberty and the PLJ school system. This is not a small matter, but one of the utmost importance to all involved.

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE These Brademas signs are an affront to vour neighbor and the people of Walkerton! Why don't we see Bayh. Hillenbrand and Carter signs instead? Now. Bradcmas is blasting the Kcmp-Rother-Hiler bill as a rich man's bill. He should be reminded the last tax reform bill was blasted by Carter as a rich man's bill and was “peanuts for the little man." But Mr. Brademas voted for it and pushed it through Congress. How many people in the 3rd district net SIOO,OOO on the sale of their homes and go tax-free? It is high energy costs that is driving industry from Indiana to the southern states. Look in the encyclopedia. More coal was burned 50 years ago than today. Who votes consistently for government regulation? John Brademas —that's who! Whs doesn't .1. B. point out the federal money that went into South Bend's downtown mall? He has brought back federal money to the 3rd district. I believe John Hiler will do the same. The difference is Indiana and the 3rd district don't get their fair share; far from it. And will somebody recall who passed the school consolidation bill that started the North Liberty mess in the first place! Proud We Have A Loc?l Boy Running For Congress ThEMENDOIS THIELES IHE JAtkASS IHA I DISC OX I Kt I) IHE WOKI DS (iRt Al MINE UnExlicvable bin hue. the bray of a siraved jackass led a prospcclor lo the '.hike lh.it tinned out io be one of the greatest silver lead finds in history. Hack in 1885. N S. Kellogg, a caipentei in his nenes. tinned prospector when the gold boom in Murray, Idaho subsided Ihe building boom was over also, a ghost town was in the offing, and Kellogg found himself unemployed and almost destitute. If gold had been discovered in Murray, he reasoned, why wouldn't there be more gold in the mountains.’ He sought help from many until two persons. (). (). Peck, a contractor. anil Dr. J. T. Cooper, a former surgeon in the British navy, consented to grubstake him. But not handsomely, he found out, for they gave him less th in twenty dollars for food, lo this they added a jackass—which they Exiught for three dollars—to carry his pack. Th? jackass was a'vagrant about town, having been running loose on the streets for months, braying day and night. Miners and their families had indicated a desire to shoot him. For two days Kellogg moved into the mountains. The second night in Milo Gulch, he unrolled his pack and tethered the jackass. I he next morning the jackass was gone, his tether broken. Without that blankety animal he was lost, so Kellogg, his age work.ng against him, labored up the mountain. As he approached the summit, all hope of finding (he jackass gone, a harsh bray floated out from somewhere aEsove him. He found the beast grazing contentedly on the mountain. Exhausted from the climb, Kellogg sat down to smoke and rest. It was then that his hand dislodged a rock and the ore beneath was almost pure galena. With a pick, he worked down the mountain, across the gulch and up the opposite side, finding a continuous vein of the silver-lead mineral running through it. The discovery on that August day in 1885 by Kellogg became known as the famous Bunker Hill and Sullivan mine. And the braying announcement of a jackass started it all. Happy Ads Only $1 .00

F^^emembeS^^ WHEN... (Taken From The Files Os The Independent-News)

1975 A first at John Glenn High School this year is that the student body will vote on a king and queen for the 19^5 football homecoming crowns. “Come Share A Song", scheduled for October 19 at *’:00 p.m. at the Koontz Lake Missionary Church for all interested persons has been arranged in conjunction with the financing of the spring Bicentennial Cantata. Local students at the Harold C. Ures School were honored to get a peek at the future when they viewed the General Motors Previews of Progress on Tuesday held in the school gymnasium. The show demonstrations depicted work being done today in America's research laboratories and pointed out the contributions of research to modern living. At the market this week pork steak was selling for $1.29 a pound; pork roast, boneless. $1.39 a pound; stuffed sausage at $1.19 a pound; slicing bologna at 99 cents a pound as well as ring bologna and honey loaf. A gallon of Vim milk was selling for $1.19; Kraft longhorn cheese at $1.49 for a 16 ounce package; Aunt Jane's dill pickles at 69 cents for a quart jar; Prcam at 9K cents for 16 ounces; a quart of Hellmann's salad dressing for 83 cents; a can of chunk light tuna for 55 cents; a V/i size can of apricot halves for 59 cents; Joy liquid at 88 cents for a 32 ounce bottle; Gala paper towels, large roll. 49 cents; Comet cleanser, three 21 ounce size for $1.00; Folger's instant coffee. 10 oz. jar for $1.99; cabbage al 9 cents a pound and homemade apple cider at $1.19 a gallon. The construction work for the new county highway garage near North Liberty, on the east side of Indiana 23 just north of Quince, began on Monday with groundbreaking ceremonies. 1970 Ihe fish population at Koontz Lake will be sprayed by a chemical on October 15 if it does not rain. If it rains then the Indiana Department of Natural Resources will spray the lake on Friday. The lake will be restocked with bass, blue gills, crappie, red ear and channel catfish later. At the market pork chops were selling for 89 cents a pound; spare ribs at 69 cents a pound; chuck steak at 69 cents a pound; bacon at 49 cents a pound; Wieners at 79 cents a pound; honey loaf at $1.19 a pound; baked pumpkin pie at 99 cents each; Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, four for $1.00; three 46 ounce cans of Donald Duck orange juice for $1.00; five 303 size cans of cut green beans, cream style corn, whole kernel corn, peas or carrots for $1 00 during the Stokelv’s sale; a pint of half and half for 29 cents; a half gallon of Borden's chocolate skim milk for 39 cents and a head of lettuce at 29 cents. 1965 The Board of School Trustees of Polk-Lincoln-Johnson School Corporation are in the process of selecting a site for the district’s new school. Site selection is controlled through two state agencies, the Division of School Plant Planning in the Department of Public Instruction and the State Board of Health. The North Liberty PIA Fall Festival will begin at 5:30 on Saturday , October 30. with the food to be cafeteria style. In the evening will be the Parade of Ghosts and Goblins at 6:30 and there are many new and exciting things in store for vou this night. 1 he UNICEF Drive in North 1 ib erty, being sponsored by the North Liberty Ministerial Association, w ill be held on Sunday. October 31.

1960 The Lions and Chamber will head the local drive of the United Fund which is now in progress. The United Fund drive covers the finance appeals of 35 different organizations and all worthy of our consideration. Mike Finley. 14 year old son of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Finley, caught a 33-inch Northern Pike while fishing at Koontz Lake on Thursday evening. At the market, sliced lunch meat, pickle and pimento, old fashioned, bologna or spiced loaf, was selling for 49 cents a pound; wieners at 39 cents a pound; three pounds of sweet potatoes for 25 cents; Manor House coffee, five ounce jar for 59 cents; three pounds of ground beef for $1.49; picnic hams at 29 cents a pound; three pounds of Jonathan apples for 19 cents and a pound of margarine for 17 cents. Work has started this week on the new building which will house Wilcox Brothers Supermarket lo cated on Center Street and State Road 4. between Jefferson and Maple Street, in North Liberty. The new building and parking lot will occupy a full half block and afford shopping facilities not found in manv communities. 1955 Fire destroyed a barn on the old Sherland farm now owned bv D. A. Pearse. It is thought that the fire started from lightning and the barn became an inferno in moments. New officers were elected for 1955-1956 year of the North Liberty Chamber of Commerce. The of fleers, elected by the Board of Di rectors, are presient, Milo Cool, vice-president. Ed Osenga: secretary. Mrs. Maurice Quigley; treasurer. Jim Newcomb; and publicity. Neil DeCoudres. The Department of Religious Work and Evangelism of the Council of Churches of St. Joseph County have made extensive plans for the 1955 Reformation Observance in the county. Some of the highlights will be the showing of the motion picture. “Martin Luth er". Walkerton. North Liberty and Mishawaka and practically every other city and tow n in this area w ill revert to Central Standard time on Sunday. October 30. Helen Hayes, first lady of the American stage, will be the honor cd guest at Saint Mary’s at the eighth annual Indiana Centenary celebration. 1950 During the next few weeks. Northern Indiana muck crop grow ers and members of the Chamber of Commerce will complete ar rangements for the 18th annual Muck Crop Show to be held in the Armory at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds, in Warsaw . This is a special invitation to Mr and Mrs. Walkerton parents to at tend the Dad's Night of the PI A w hich will be held tonight at 7;30 in the high school gym. A jubiliant high school band returned to Walkerton on Saturday evening after winning first place in the Northern Indiana School Band. Orchestra and Vocal Association contest held in Hobart. In 1976, only 54.4 percent of America’s eligible voters turned out for the Presidential election. A stand of bristlecone pines in California’s White Mountains is an estmated 4,000 years old. Arkansas produces 97 percent of the country's high grade bauxite orethe source of aluminum.