Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 129, Number 5, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 2 February 2006 — Page 1

AdvasiSc : News

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Embrace the Pace

jw^lee BLOOD DRIVE The American Red Cross will be conducting a blood drive Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Wakarusa Bible Baptist Church, 205 East Waterford Street, Wakarusa. The drive will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Please call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE to schedule your blood donation appointment. LITTLE PAWS The Friends of Little Paws Playground will have their annual meeting Monday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. at the Nappanee Public Library. The date for the annual clean-up and re-sealing of the playground scheduled for May will be made. If you would, like to join in please come, much help is needed to keep the playground safe for the children. Any questions, please call 773-3961. LOLLYPOP RELAY The North Wood High Schotol track and field team wiirmßt its fourth annual Lollypop Relay on Thursday, Feb. 9, at halftime of the North Wood Memorial boys basketball game. All children 8 and under may participate. Come dressed in athletic clothing and shoes. BASKETBALL BENEFIT SET BREMEN The 10th annual Swartzlander Basketball Benefit game will be held at 7 p.m. March 20 at Bremen High School. Local law enforcement officers and Bremen town employees will play the senior players from the girls' and boys' basketball teams, with a goal to raise $15,000 by March 20. Proceeds from the game will be used to help defray medical expenses for Patrick Reese Barr. Patrick will be 3 years old in April and has been battling Cerebral Palsy since birth. Anyone wishing to be a sponsor is encouraged to make their check payable to the Town of Bremen and send it to Steve Pittman, 123 S. Center St., Bremen, before March 1. Sponsors will be recognized in a program, at the game and in the newspaper. WRESTLING CLUB The North Wood Wrestling Club is signing up any student in the between kindergarten and 12th grade. This is open to anyone in the Wa-Nee school district. Practices are going to be held at the Nappanee Elementary School.. The practices will run from 6 to 8 p.m. The cost of the club is S3O per wrestler, and sls per additional wrestler. If you have any questions feel free to call Rob Nickerson at 773-5310.

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Legislators make a stop in Nappanee

By Anthony Godson Editor Area residents had the opportunity to interact with some of their local legislators on Saturday morning, courtesy of the Nappanee Area Chamber of Commerce. The chamber holds periodic Legislative Updates in order for locals to voice their concerns, and at the latest meeting, State Senator Marvin Riegsecker (R-Goshen) and State Representatives Bill Friend (R-Macy) and Jackie Walorski (R-Lakeville) visited Nappanee's Heritage House for discussion with their constituents. Topics covered by the legislators were the recreational vehicle tax, prayer at the Indiana Statehouse and job creation, but the biggest topic was, of course, the proposed leasing of the Indiana Toll Road.

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DAT PHOTO King and Queen of the Sweethearts crowned The voice of the North Wood High School students have spoken. Seniors Neil Trinkley and Kelli Myers were crowned Sweetheart King and Queen prior to the NorthWood-Warsaw boys basketball on Jan. 27.

Byrket set to take talent to the next level

By Anthony Godson Editor Scott Whetstone's NorthWood boys swimming team isn't at the top of its conference, but with each passing week, improvements are being made. "We've been doing well," senior Kyle Hochstetler said. As the team continues to improve, sophomore Todd Byrket has raced out as the attention-getter, posting times that are getting him more and more recognized at meets. "We are shooting for state for him," Whetstone said about the sophomore. "At least get him the experience of being down there." Byrket solidified his case as an elite NLC sprint swimmer on Saturday afternoon, tying Northridge's Kevin Troyer for first place in the 100-meter freestyle with a personal-best time of 48.49 at the conference meet, while placing second in the 50-meter freestyle with a time of 22.32, just behind Elkhart Memorial senior Benjamin Battjes' 22.01. "It was his lifetime best in the 100 free," Whetstone said of Byrket's conference championship time. . While its race to win confer-

Serving Nappanee & Wakarusa

After opening up the meeting to questions, the first question posed to the three legislators was Gov. Mitch Daniels proposal to put the toll road into an outside entity's hands. "No one is talking about selling the toll road," Friend pointed out. "What is proposed is a long-term lease." That long-term lease is proposed to be 75 years, with the consortium of Statewide Mobility Partners offering $3.85 billion for the opportunity to "rent" the road. Statewide Mobility Partners is a partnership between the Sydney, Australia-based company Macquarie Infrastructure Group and Cintra of Madrid, Spain, and was the winner of four bids to win the lease of the toll road. In receiving the $3.85 billion, Daniels has proposed completing all Indiana road projects, which total $2.8 billion.

ence, Byrket's speed may take him even further to state. In order to qualify for state, a swimmer must either win sectionals, or match the state time standard in his event. For Byrket, that means he can either place first in his respective events at sectionals, or post times of 21.97 in the 50 and 48.41 in the 100. To date, he has put up low times of 48.49 in the 100, and 22.30 in the 50. "It's possible," Whetstone said of Byrket's potential to match those times. In sectionals last season, Byrket placed third in both the 50 and the 100, with the first place time in the 50 being 22.40, posted by Battjes, and 49.34 in the 100, recorded by Northridge's Logan Elliott. To date, Byrket has swum faster than those two times this season, really hitting his stride in the past couple of weeks. Between Jan. 14 and 21, Byrket took first place in the 100 against the likes of Elkhart Memorial (with Battjes), Northridge (with Elliott) Bremen and Concord. Against Bremen, he posted his then-per-sonal best of 48.60, which he then matched two days later against Concord. "That was his fourth meet in a

week, so I was a little surprised he went that fast," Whetstone said of Byrket's time against the Minutemen. "He does swim in Concord's summer league, so he may have had some added motivation." Byrket has been swimming in the Concord summer league for a number of years, and it was there that he realized he was pretty good at his craft. "After my first year of swimming at Concord, I went to state," Byrket said. Byrket was only 10 years old when he began swimming in the Concord age groups, which was shortly after he learned to swim. "I began swimming, when I took swim lessons with Jason Casteel at the Nappanee pool," he said. Ever since then, swimming has been his life. He believes that swimming in the Concord program over the summer has benefited him for obvious reasons. "It's just year-round swimming," he said. Classmate Daniel Hendry has also been dropping his times in the 200 and 500 freestyle, through his work in the Goshen See BYRKET, Pag* 3

"We could do all of the maintenance with the large amount of cash paid up front," Friend said. With the money left over, Daniels has decided that an additional $l5O million could be passed out to counties, cities and towns. The money would be distributed based on fuel tax contribution, which would mean Elkhart County could see upwards of $2.14 million over three years. At the same time, Nappanee could receive $92,484.81, while Wakarusa could get $22,301.10. The idea of leasing the toll road was brought up because, according to Friend, Indiana has been losing money on it. "We're losing sls million a year," Friend said. "That's not even enough to do the necessary maintenance." In the proposed 200-page lease, guidelines are drawn which would hold

Local business changes owners

By Anthony Godson Editor His work space just keeps growing, and growing and growing. Lee Schwartz began his woodworking business in 1975, and now in 2006, he's in his fourth shop. "I began my business in Berne, back in 1975, before moving here to Nappanee in 1990," Schwartz said about his local woodworking business, L&L Woodworking, LLC. Since 1975, Schwartz has gone through three spaces, from his 24 by 24-square foot garage to a 24 by 50-square foot pole bam, then onto a 36 by 72-square foot, before expanding even more with his purchase of Hepton Woodworking, LLC, 8884 West Hepton Road.. "We're just trying to stay on track here," Schwartz said about following his trend of moving into bigger spaces. Former Hepton Woodworking owner Delbert Miller and Schwartz finalized the acquisition on Dec. 31, 2005, although it could have been done sooner. "We've been working on it for about six months," Schwartz said about his purchase. "We tried to pull it all together on Oct. 1, but just didn't have all the paperwork ready. We decided that it would be nice to do it as an end-of-the-year thing, for a fresh start." While still working at his old shop, Schwartz was beginning

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Statewide Mobility Partners responsible for maintenance, and upkeep, of the road. Along with maintenance, toll increases are also mentioned in the lease. "1985 was the last time the- toll was increased," Friend said. Daniels has already stated that tolls will increase this year, but after this initial increase, the tolls will stay the same until 2010. At that time, the tolls may increase anywhere between 0 and 5 percent each year. While there seems to be significant short-term benefits, many northern Indiana Hoosiers are still uncertain about the proposal. "In my opinion, I'd say nine out of 10 people oppose the idea," Riegsecker said. "It does feel like (the toll road)

See LEGISLATORS, Page 3

to think about expanding his operation. "I had two boys looking to get into the family business, and at the time, there was only so much to do with the business at 700," Schwartz said. At that shop, Schwartz worked mainly with Amish made furniture and craft lines, while also supplying chair frames and wooden parts to the recreational vehicle industry. Following the acquisition, Schwartz now has such equipment as a Mareen Johnson gang rip saw, a Baker resaw, a Northtech Leadermac moulder, up-to-date finishing equipment, and much more, expanding his operation. "1 used to have to have my items milled by someone else, but now I can do it myself," Schwartz said. To go along with his previous products, L&L Woodworking will now be able to furnish complete moulding and stairway packages, products previously made by Hepton Woodworking. Along with acquiring the equipment, Schwartz has also inherited Hepton Woodworking's clients. "I've already rubbed shoulders with many of them," he said. While working at the previous L&L Woodworking shop, Schwartz was in charge of three employees, himself and his two See L&L, Page 3