Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 128, Number 43, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 27 October 2005 — Page 1

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Vol. 128 Issue 43

M& Embrace the Pace SCHOOL PLAY "All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten," will play at the North Wood High School Auditorium this weekend. The first show is on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. A showing will also be held at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 29 with a matinee scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 28. PANCAKE BREAKFAST A pancake breakfast to help raise money for the Red Regiment Marching Band's upcoming trip to Hollywood will be held on Saturday, Oct. 29. The breakfast will be held from 6 to 11 a.m. at the North Wood High School Cafeteria. The Nappanee Rotary, Noon Kiwanis and Early Bird Kiwanis Clubs have organized the event. FISH FRY An Original Jonah Fish Fry will be hosted by the Nappanee Fire Department, with proceeds going to help Nappanee firefighter Loren Borkholder in his bout with cancer. The fish fry will be held on Saturday, Oct. 29 from 4 to 8 p.m. Cost for adults is $7, $3.50 for children between the ages of 4 and 12, and children under 4 eat free. HEALTH FAIR The Heritage House Assisted Living Community of Nappanee will host a Community Senior Health and Wellness Fair on Friday, Nov. 4 from 9 a.m. to 2 p:m. Participants of this event will have access to over 40 professionals representing the health and wellness field. A variety of health screenings will also be offered, including cholesterol, osteoporosis, vision, hearing and body mass index. The Heritage House is located at the intersection of CR 7 and CR 52 in Nappanee. While admission to the Community Senior Health and Wellness Fair is free, individual screenings may carry a nominal charge. CRAFT BAZAAR The Nappanee Church of the Brethren will hold its 10th Annual Craft Bazaar and Cookie Walk on Saturday, Nov. 5 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., at 301 Mack Drive. Contact Kelly Kuhn at 773-7892 with any questions. See AROUND, Page A 2 in

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ADVANCE NEWS PHOTO/ANTHONY GADSON Students at Nappanee Elementary utilize all space, with this group of students learning in an air lock area.

Public input dates set by school board

By Anthony Godson Editor Public meetings regarding the proposed Wa-Nee elementary school renovations have been set. During Monday night's meeting of the Wa-Nee Board of School Trustees, Nov. 8,10 and •15 were designated as the times for the public to interact with the board about the possible renovation. The Nov. 8 meeting will take Klace at Nappanee Elementary, lov.. 10 will be at Wakarusa Elementary and Woodview Elementary will be fire site of the Nov. 15 meeting. All meetings will take place at 7 p.m., with Kara Vilamaa of Barton-Coe-Vilamaa and Ralph Gerhart of Municipal Finance on hand. During the meetings, a review of the overall educational plan for Wa-Nee Community Schools will be discussed along with enrollment trends and projections. The board will also discuss space capacity and future

Actors come together for a cause

By Anthony Godson Editor The Amish Acres Round Bam Theatre was alive with song, dance and improvisational comedy on Sunday night, with all the fun benefiting those affected by recent hurricanes. While attending church one Sunday morning, Round Bam actor Jason Whicker had the idea of holding a sort of variety show, along with his fellow actors. All the donated proceeds would then go to hurricane victims. "We had sung the song, 'The Prayer', then decided, let's do a show," Whicker said about the early stages of planning the event.

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ADVANCE NEWS PHOTO/ANTHONY GADSON The cast of actors come together at the end of the show to sing “You’ll never walk alone.” Among the actors are: (k) Jeff Salisbury, Amber Burgess, Emily Laudeman, Jason Whicker and Sam Brown.

Serving Nappanee & Wakarusa

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needs. "We will also be open to questions and comments from the audience, and make more of a discussion on our facility needs," jqe, Sabo said. Sabo also mentioned that elementary principals were asked to take digital photos of their facilities as part of Power Point presentation. During the half-hour school board meeting, Sabo pointed out that the Wa-Nee board had been recognized as an Out-standmg-Board during its Fall Regional meeting at Plymouth on Oct. 19. To attain such an honor, board members must earn 75 points, which are awarded through attendance by board members at state meetings. Sabo also took time out to recognize accomplishments achieved by the North Wood High See SCHOOL, see Page A 2

The actors first tried the variety show at a local establishment, with it not going so well. They then received the support of Amish Acres owner Dick Pletcher to hold the show at the Round Barn Theatre. "Dick Pletcher was really excited about the project," Whicker said. "I had no idea about how many people would be here. We had hoped for about 200, and I think we had about that many." Everyone that attended the show, was admitted free to witness the hour-and-a-half show. While they weren't charged for the show, free-will donations were accepted. The donations then went to

Thursday, October 27,2005

School grows out of space

By Anthony Godson Editor In December 1994, students from Union and South Elementary Schools joined forces and became students of Nappanee Elementary School, and all was merry. Now, 11 years later, class sizes are growing, but the actual class space is not. In that equation, something has to give, and it may be an increase in class space at the school. Of the three elementary schools which are bejng proposed for renovations, Nappanee Elementary seems to be in the most need. The school was renovated to accommodate 500 students, and its enrollment was at 482 last week. But according to principal Genie Tobias, its not that

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Breaking . the line After this water main break on the comer of State Road 19 and Walnut Street, just outside of the Marathon station, 11 city blocks were without water. The break occurred at approximately 10:30 a.m. on Monday afternoon, with Water Superintendent Gale Gerber calling it the biggest one he’s ever seen.

the Family Christian Development Center, which then supplied the money to any displaced families from the hurricanes. Money that wasn't used for displaced families, then went to Disaster Child Care, a program which "trains, certifies and mobilizes volunteers to disaster sites in the United States to provide crisis intervention to young children of families suffering from natural or manmade disasters." FCDC Executive Director Joan Andrews recently visited Pensecola, Fla. as part of the DCC, where she worked to provide comfort to young ones, while they're parents worked to get their lives back to normality.

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there's too many students, there's just too many programs. "We'd love to have more rooms for speech, special education, English as a New Language (ENL)," Tobias said during a tour of the school. Currently, Nappanee Elementary's ENL teacher occupies space wherever available to teach her 20-some students. A majority of the time, the class is taught in the conference room of the school's office. Other makeshift rooms include two locker rooms off the school's gymnasium, which house speech and Brain Train, a class specialized in improving students' motor skills. The school's Enrichment Room, which once was used by any class in the school, has been converted into a fifth grade

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"I've been sitting in the back, and a word keeps popping into my head," Andrews said during a presentation. "That word is 'heart.' While having heart is good, sometimes a heart need legs and feet to get moving. I want to thank the actors, Dick Pletcher and the Pletcher family for putting on this performance, and having hearts with legs and feet." During Andrews two-week stay in Florida, she saw communities similar to the ones in the area. "There are many small communities like Nappanee and Wakarusa that have been totally wiped out," she said. To help those that may have moved from that area, to this one, the "Help is on the Way" concert was held. During the concert, 14 of the Round Barn Theatre actors showcased their talents. "1 had a bit more time than the rest of the actors, because I'm not in Plain and Fancy," Whicker said about his heading the project. While heading the project, along with A. Michael Tilford, the two had each actor submit four songs or skits they'd like to do. The two men then selected the appropriate acts to showcase. "We wanted to pick items that would be kind of short and sweet," Whicker said. "We didn't want it to go too long, and we also wanted to add some improvisation in as well." One form of improvisation came in the form of Tilford orchestrating four actors. See ACTORS, Page A 2

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classroom. "There is a kitchen area in this room, and it was used by the whole school," Tobias said as students were working with an overhead. "Now it can't." While the school isn't at its capacity, classroom sizes have also been on the increase. "Our class sizes right now are about 24 or 25, and they used to be 21 or 22," Tobias said. When the school was renovated in 1994, it was built to be a 3section school. Currently all but the third and fourth grade are four-section classes. "This school was designed to be a three-section school for every grade level, but over the years, we've grown," the principal said. See NES, Page A 2

ADVANCE NEWS PHOTOS/ANTHONY GAD9QM

Monaco makes cuts » By Anthony Godson Editor Increased gas prices and a decline in motorhome sales have hit close to home, with Monaco Coach laying off 225 employees nationally, almost half of which'came from its Wakarusa and Elkhart pfjts. The lay offs stem froßSow third quarter results, were announced on Oct. According to Monaco's Web site, the company's third quarter revenues were approximately $297 million, a net loss of almost $6 million for the quarter. By comparison, third quarter revenues in 2004 were $359 million. Combined with lower than expected wholesale shipments, Monaco's promotional ventures led to the low revenues. "The wholesale environment continued to be very difficult and led to lower than expected shipments," said Monaco Coach Chairman and CEO Kay Toolson from a press release on the company's Web site. "Our financial results also reflected promotional activity we undertook to move 2005 model-year products off our dealer partner lots, which we believe will help their inventory situation going forward." Because of the low revenues, approximately 17 percent of See MONACO, Page A 2