Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 121, Number 8, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 25 February 1998 — Page 1

Vol. 121 Issue 8

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REGIONAL TICKETS Tickets for the girls’ basketball regional championship game at North Wood High School, Saturday, February 28, will be available in the NWHS athletic office Wednesday through Friday, February 25-27, 9a.m.-4p.m. Tickets are priced at $5 each. Tipoff for the game is 7:30p.m. NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH The Neighborhood Watch group will meet Thursday, February 26, 7p.m., in the Emergency Medical Services Building, W. Lincoln St., Nappanee. All interested persons are encouraged to attend. COMMON COUNCIL The City of Nappanee Common Council will meet in regular session Monday, March 2, 7p.m., in the council chambers at the Nappanee Municipal Center, W. Lincoln St. Meetings are open to the public. SCHOOL BOARD The Wa-Nee Board of School Trustees will meet Monday, March 9, 7:30p.m., in the administration building, 1300 N. Main Street, Nappanee. Meetings are open to the public. BOARD OF WORKS The City of Nappanee Board of Public Works and Safety will meet Monday, March 9, 3:30p.m., in the council chambers at the Nappanee Municipal Center, W. Lincoln St. Meetings are open to the public. PARK BOARD The Nappanee Board of Parks and Recreation will meet in regular session, Wednesday, March 11, 4:30p.m., in the Emergency Services Building, W. Lincoln St. Meetings are open to the public. LIBRARY BOARD The Nappanee Public Library Board of Trustees will meet in regular session Wednesday, February 25, at 7:30p.m. The public is invited to attend the meeting. BLOOD PRESSURES The Elkhart County Health Department will offer free blood pressure screenings, Thursday, March 12, 10-lla.rfl., at the Elder Haus, 258 E. Market St., Nappanee. RETAIL COMMITTEE The Retail Committee of the Nappanee Area Chamber of Commerce will meet Thursday, March 5, at The Homespun Country Inn, 302 N. Main St. Breakfast will begin at 7a.m., with the meeting following at 7:30a.m. All interested persons are invited to attend. FREE SHOTS The Elkhart County Health Department will offer free childhood immunizations at the First Church of God, 72036 CR7, Nappanee, Tuesday, March 3, from 10a.m.-2p.m. Please use the northeast rear entrance to the building. TORNADO SHELTERS The following sites have been designated as tornado shelters in the Nappanee area: First Mennonite Church—9oo (W. Market St. Church of the Brethren —Mack Drive. St John’s Lutheran Church—--651 S. Main St. Keyßank —161 E. Market St. NBD Bank —351 W. Market St. Nappanee Municipal Center — 300 W. Lincoln St. OFFICE HOURS The office of the Nappanee Advance-News, 158 W. Market St., is open Monday through Friday,' 9a.m.-4:30p.m. The mailing address is PO. Box 230. Nappanee, IN. 46550. The display advertising deadline is Friday noon, with news and photos accepted for the Advance-News until Monday noon, for that week’s edition. All classified ads are due by 10a.m. Monday. The telephone number is 219-773-3127 FAX 773-3512.

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SPRING IS COMING—Each sunrise brings the arrival of Spring one day closer, and folks who have enjoyed this milder-than-usual winter in Northern Indiana are hopeful that there will be no late snows. Have you noticed that a few brave spring flowers are

ISTEP monopolizes discussions

By Merrie Chapman Results of the recent ISTEP tests were again a focal point for WaNee School Board Trustees as they gathered Monday evening. Joe Sabo, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, gave a report outlining the success of students during the recent testing. He again reported that 79% of third grade students throughout the corporation had passed the English portion of the test, while 83% passed the math section. The results at each progressive grade level were equally high. Sixth graders had a 76% good showing in English and 77% in math. Eighth graders earned 87% passing in both areas. With the pressure on to pass the test or fail to graduate, Wa-Nee sophomores stepped up to the challenge with 81% passing the English portion and 77% making the grade mathematically.

Opening production fez changed at Round Barn ®

“Cloger Than Ever,” a musical from Maltby and Shire, one of the theatre’s leading songwriting teams, has replaced “Forever Plaid” as the opening show for The Round Bam Theatre’s 1998 Repertory season. The change of shows is in response, perhaps, to the theatre’s sincerest form of flattery to date. Chicago’s Royal George Theatre has protested Amish Acres’ right to produce the show. Music Theatre International (MTI), the licensing agent for Stuart Rose’s Forever Plaid, issued a contract for The Round Bam Theatre to be one of the first regional theatres to produce the popular show. A member of the Chicago cast was contracted to direct and choreograph the show. Auditions and casting the fourman show were completed. Then the producer of The Royal George Theatre, in a phone call to Amish Acres, has now threatened legal action against MTI and The Round Bam Theatre if it proceeds to mount the production. Although Amish Acres lies outside their 100-mile exclusive radius, The Royal George fears that a Round Bam Theatre production of the show would take away too many patrons from the Windy City’s four-year running musical review. “I would never have guessed that The Royal George Theatre had ever heard about The Round Bam Theatre at Amish Acres, let along considered it a serious competitor for its audience," said Richard Pletcher, producer of the Nappanee company. “We are flattered MTI is upset with the situation, but instead of making this another drama about lawyers, of which there are too many on television, we have substituted a musical about real life, and agreed to move on to Closer Than Ever. Our sophisticated audience will love it as much as any Plaid production. An increasing number of Off Broadway shows like Forever Plaid and Closer Than Ever are

Nappanee, Indiana 46550 Wednesday, February 25,1998

already poking their heads up through the earth, and some plants seem, to be greening? Enjoy the weather, and the bird songs that seem to be filling the air most days. (Sheri Bradway photo)

For those not appearing in the vast majority at each level there is still hope for catching up to their peers. North Wood High School Principal Louis Bonacorsi reported on the many tutorial programs being provided at all grade levels. This is being done to help insure that students have the opportunity to learn and strengthen the skills needed. In most cases students receive tutoring at least twice a week and as much as five days a week depending on their individual needs and skills. The reports left school trustees with an optimistic view. “This is not the life changing thing it appears to be then,” said president Jim Hartman, “unless they allow it to be.” His statement was aimed at the nervous sophomores who will have three more opportunities to

being recognized for their sophistication and charm.. This intimate show, like Tintypes from a year ago, is the perfect way to start our season.” As Stephen Holden said in The New York Times, “The songs of Maltby and Shire communicate something rarely found in theatre music nowadays; a rich sweeping sense of lives being lived and people changing over time.” The production won two Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Off Broadway Musical and Best Score. Jerry O’Boyle, artistic director of The Round Bam Theatre, stated, “We had hoped to bring Forever Plaid to Nappanee for fun, but, since we’re considered a major threat to Chicago, we’ll produce an equally interesting show in its place. There are hundreds of small musicals written, never seen on Broadway, like Closer Than Ever, that are wonderfully entertaining and enlightening. We always tell the story; this one is in every lyric and hits home time and again.” The authors of the show have been quoted as saying that, although Goser Than Ever is a revue of 20 musical numbers without dialogue, it should not be thought of as a concert. It is very much like a series of short one-act plays told in song. To perform the numbers, the local theathe has put together an ensemble of four talented singers and a pianist. Leading the production will be John C. Brown, at the keyboards, who was a featured performer at The Bam Theatre in Augusta, Michigan, last season. Arlene Hill, a one-time Enchanted Hills Playhouse performer, and a veteran of many recent Chicago-area productions, returns to Michiana for this very unique project Joby Raines, Laura Freeman and Jerry O’Boyle, all three of whom have been featured in musicals at the Nappanee theatre, as well as around the country, will complete the cast.

take either or both portions of the test if they failed to pass them in this first round. General education diplomas were issued to Beth A. Crawford, Connie L. Gill and Tommy G. Elsea Jr., following their successful completion of the GED program. Wa-Nee teams up with the Nappanee and Wakarusa Public Libraries to offer the general education programs. Members gladly approved the awarding of the diplomas and commended those earning the honor. The board also announced a two hour delay in the normal class schedule for Thursday, March 12. This will be the final delay allotted for teachers to work on the performance based accreditation project. Members also approved conference leave requests and special service contracts. That information will appear in next week’s issue.

Tickets for Closer Than Ever, and season tickets, are on sale by calling the box office at 1-800-800-4942, ext. 0. Ticket prices are S2O for adults and $lO for children. Season tickets for the ‘9B season of six Broadway musicals, including many patron benefits, are $136 for adults and S6B for children (or add SB4 per adult and $46 per child to enjoy dinner in the Restaurant Bam before or after each performance. The season will consist of Closer Than Ever, Big River, My Fair Lady, 1776, Zorba and The Sound of Music. In addition, subscribers receive a Plain & Fancy Visa. Closer Than Ever runs March 5April 19, Thursday through Saturday evenings at 8:00 and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00. There will be no performance Easter Sunday.

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OPENING SOON—the March 5 opening date for the '9B repertory season at The Round Barn Theatre, Nappanee, Is fast approaching, with rehearsals underway for the first show of the season, ‘Closer Than Ever.' From left, Laura Freemdh, Joby Raines, John C. Brown, Jerry O'Boyle and Arlene M.

Henschen Oil presents new fuel option to city

By Merrie Chapman The Nappanee Board of Public Works and Safety met Monday afternoon at city hall. During that time, Rob Henschen, Henschen Oil Inc., outlined the general use practices of the Pacific Pride Card Lock System. In December of this year the city and all other.property owners with underground fuel tanks —both those in use and others long abandoned —will be required to remove the tanks. When this happens the city will have the opportunity to reinstall newer, better-lined tanks with monitoring systems at a high cost ratio, or find an alternative fuel source. Henschen presented his company’s Pacific Pride Card Lock System as a possible alternative to reinstalling city fuel tanks. The cards could be used at any Amoco site. Users would simply approach the gas or diesel pumps and insert the identification cards, punch in a code number, and fill the tanks of city vehicles. One unique feature of the Pacific Pride cards is that they are optically read. That would eliminate the use of magnetic strips which are easily damaged or demagnetized to the point of being unreadable. The new optical cards “would last for many years” according to Henschen. The cards would be issued to the city in whatever format the board chose. Possible options are issuing each city department different pin numbers that would be punched in like a code after inserting the card. Without the pin number the fuel would not be released to anyone. In addition, the city can issue up to two cards for drivers per mobile unit, while mandating a single vehicle card for each city truck. Purchase of fuel would require both the vehicle card and one of the driver cards. Use of the cards would automatically provide an odometer reading each time a city truck was filled. Such measures are implemented to monitor not only the amount of gas being used but also the number of miles being driven, and the persons responsible for using that fuel. This would keep city department heads informed of any misuse of the vehicles, and make employees accountable for both the mileage and the fuel being used. Another option available to the city would be restricting gas or diesel portions by dollar amounts

Second Bulldog Alumni Banquet scheduled

October 17 has been chosen as the date for the second Nappanee High School Alumni Banquet. It will be held at the Nappanee Elementary School and DaJ-Mar Catering will again provide the meal. Nearly 700 people attended the first banquet to meet with former classmates, friends and teachers. The committee is working on a

HBL star In the caberet-styte musical review at the theatre, located at Amish Acres, The powerful and wttty reflection of the times we live In runs through April 19, with productions Thursday through Saturday at Bp.m. and Sunday at 2p.m. See related article for details. (Photo provided)

219-773-3127

with increasing increments. Board members thanked Henschen for his presentation and took the information under advisement. No further decisions were made concerning the adoption of the system or installation of new tanks following the December mandate. In other matters of business the board voted to award McCormick Motors a bid of $69,928 for the purchase of a new heavy duty dump and plow truck. The street department will purchase the vehi-i cle without any trade in. •I An application for a sewer con-* nection at 552 North Amott Street was approved. Likewise, members; voted to allow the proposed drive-; way entrances on Cheyenne Drive; to accommodate local industrial needs. ; A reimbursement request for preliminary engineering costs on the Oakland Avenue project was; also approved. Clerk-Treasurer Kim Ingle was authorized to accept the lowest bid for new carpeting in city hall. L.J. Wagner Home Interiors gave the, lowest cost estimate with a quote of approximately $4,029. “We will be replacing the carpet in the council room, main area of the building and the landing by the stairs,” said Ingle. “This will not include the offices.” Park Superintendent Wayne Schuemann requested an exemption from the local noise ordinance on behalf of the McCormick Creek Municipal Golf Course. Currently the law does not allow for lawn mowing before 7:30a.m.. Scheumann stated that in order to accommodate the business hours of the golf course, the park board needed exemption from the' noise ordinance so they could begin mowing the greens up to an hour earlier. Members granted the exception. Emergency Medical Services Director Jim Sumpter presented the specifications for the new ambulance his department plans to purchase. The board will receive the bids during the March 23 meeting. The Nappanee Board of Public Works and Safety meets the second and fourth Monday of each month, 4:30p.m., at the municipal center, 300 West Lincoln Street. • Meetings are open to the public.

new mailing list of all the graduat-! ing classes of the old Nappanee High School. If you have a recent list of your classmates please get them to Marge Jensen or Frank Hartman. The next committee meeting will be held March 2, at the Nappanee Public Library. All interested people are urged to attend to help plan this fun event.

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