Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 129, Number 18, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 4 May 2006 — Page 1

m 157 N MAIN ST _ A NAPPANEE, IN 46550-1937 Advance News

Embrace the Pace

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CURRENT CLUB Current Club will meet on Monday, May 8 at 1:30 p.m. at the home of Marilyn Strakowski. The program will be presented by Barb Moore. MILLER'S • Miller's Assisted Living will hold a Mother's Day Buffet on Sunday, May 14 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Cost is $9.50, and a free carnation will be given t& each mother. • Weight Watchers At Work Program will hold free meetings on May 2 and 9 at 5 p.m. at Miller's Assisted Living in Wakarusa. Call 862-1918 with questions. ORGANIZATION DAY The Wakarusa Baseball/Softball Organization Day will be held on Saturday, May 6 at the new gym in North Wood Middle School. Shirts, .hats, schedules, rules -and pictures will be taken care of on this day, and 100 percent attendance by players and coaches is greatly appreciated. Please be approximately 10 minutes earlier than your scheduled time. If you are interested in purchasing pictures, they must be paid for that day. The schedule is as follows: • 8 a.m.: Pee-Wee League • 9: 30 a.m.: Minor League • 10 a.m.: Girls Softball (Junior and Senior League) • 10:30 a.m.: Major League UTTLE PAWS • Show your support for the upkeep of Little Paws Playground by eating pizza! The Nappanee Pizza Hut will donate 20 percent of its sales from coupons on May 1,2, 3 and 4 to the Little Paws Playground maintenance fund. You can pick up coupons at the Nappanee Public Library and the Nappanee Area Chamber of Commerce. Then, show the coupon to your server on May 1,2,. 3, and/or 4. Thank you for your support! See AROUND, Page A 2 Contact Us Advance News 158 W. Market St. . P.O. Box 230 Nappanee, IN 46550 Office Hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Friday Phone: ' 574-773-3127 (news) 1-800-933-0356 (ads) ’ Fax: 574-773-3512 E-mail: [email protected]

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Discussions continue on Heritage Center

By Anthony Godson Editor As discussions continue on whether or not a Heritage Center will be coming to Nappanee, money continues to be the main topic. At Monday night's meeting of the Nappanee Common Council, board members elected to have two appraisals done on the John Hartman House, 306 W. Market St., which is owned by Amish Acres founder Dick Pletcher. The asking price for the building is around $400,000, but because of requirements by law, if neither appraisal reaches that price, the city can only pay the price of the highest

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Students celebrate Arbor Day

To help celebrate nature and honor Arbor Day last Friday, third grade Woodview Elementary students wrote essays, illustrating their fondness for trees. Members of the Nappanee Tree Board then visited the school, and planted a pear tree in the school’s playground. Winners of the essay contest had their photo taken in front of

Disabilities and business d

By Anthony Godson Editor For Kris Best, shopping can be quite a chore. Because of Multiple Sclerosis, Best is restricted to a wheelchair, meaning that climbing the two steps in front of a business is quite an obstacle. To combat such problems, the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in the early 19905, but Best is hoping for more Nappanee businesses to comply. "I'd say there are 45 to 50 percent that aren't (compliant)," she said. "I know all the (business owners), and love them. If they'd just understand that it's a law (to be handicap accessible). If you have less than 10 employees and if you make less than $500,000, you had until July 1993 to comply. And that was a law passed in July 1990." To help educate area business owners, the Nappanee Area Chamber of Commerce sponsored an ADA-information session on Friday morning, with Dwight E. Greiser, president of C&D Development, facilitating. "I've been made aware in the past two or three months about handicap accessibility, especially in our community," Chamber Executive Director Larry Andrews said. Greiser, who works with businesses to make them handicap accessible, spoke for over an hour on the different types of disabilities, be them sight, hearing, mental or, such is the case for Best, mobility. Greiser opened up by talking

Serving Nappanee & Wakarusa

appraisal, To purchase the building, Nappanee Mayor Larry Thompson talked about using Economic Development Income Tax (EDIT) Funds. The funds are designed to be used for capital projects, with Nappanee using the funds on such projects as the roads at Heritage Farms and the softball diamonds at Stauffer Park. Thompson compared the project to the expansion of the airport, the purchase of the fire department's ladder truck and Nappanee's parks. To purchase the building, Thompson also talked about borrowing money from the city's utility funds, a practice

about his family, and the disabilities, which have affected his life, and what a disability is. "A disability is a condition, or health issue, that affects life's major functions," he said. By talking about functions, he mentioned waking up, taking a shower and eating breakfast. In America, Greiser said that 40 million people are currently disabled. By 2030, that number is projected to rise to 50 million. "The question is, how do I serve customers with disabilities?" Greiser said. "What am I doing to invite them in?" Government buildings, buses and others are made to follow ADA guidelines, but Greiser was on hand to talk about just being conscious of disabled customers. In making his points, Greiser had sight, hearing, mental and mobility impairments written down, then had ways that a business could help a disabled customer for each. For those with a sight disability, Greiser suggested just having an employee help the customer out. For hearing, a pad and pencil were suggested, while for mental impairments, Greiser suggested being patient, and also mentioned his mental-ly-impaired nephew, Clifford. Whenever Greiser takes his nephew to a fast food restaurant, he has his him order his own food. After time, the employees of the establishment gradually get to know Clifford, and if they aren't patient and cordial? See ADA, Page A 2

used to purchase the ladder truck. "We could borrow the money from ourselves to buy the building, taking the money in 2007, 2008 and 2009 to pay it back," he said. "In total, we'd be paying $37,000 back to ourselves in interest." And by 2010, Thompson said the building would be paid for. "The interest we are paying, is to ourselves," he said about borrowing money from the Utility Fund. For Nappanee ClerkTreasurer Kim Ingle, it isn't the purchase of the building that concerns her. "My concern is not on the purchase, it's the operating

the school’s new pear tree, along with tree board member, Dr. James Zimmerman. The winners are (left to right) Emily Lehman, 4th Place; Vikki Miller, 3rd Place; Konrad Dallas, 2nd Place and Marisa Hochstetler, Ist Place. The Nappanee Tree Board plants a new tree at a Wa-Nee Elementary School each year as part of Arbor Day.

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ADVANCE NEWS PHOTCVA.W. GADSON Tim Ptetcher of Primerica, tries his hand at putting a golf ball without the use of his fingers. The activity was performed to illustrate how difficult activities can be to the disabled.

costs, and having those funds," she said. "The city will have to budget (the building) into it's (annual) estimated budget." To pay for the maintenance of the building, which would be around $42,000 annually, the city would use rental money from PK & Company and the Nappanee Area Chamber of Commerce. Memberships, booth sponsorships, donations and fund drives would also be used. "We could have successful fundraisers," Thompson said. "We've got the help of the Evelyn Culp family, and we couldn't have a better family to do it." With all that money counted up, the city would still be nearly

ADVANCE NEWS PHOTOS/A.W. GADSON

iscussed

$5,000 short annually. Because of this, Thompson also talked about a possible Museum Tax. For the Museum Tax to work, the Wa-Nee School Corporation would first have to adopt a resolution, giving the tax money to both the Nappanee and Wakarusa Heritage Centers. "We wouldn't be taking anything away from their funding," Thompson said about the schools. Through calculations, it was shown that $47,000 would be generated through the tax, which would increase the property tax of a $150,000 assessed See HERITAGE, Page A 6

Help is offered By Anthony Godson Editor There's no "I" in team. At least that's the way a few downtown merchants think when it comes to improving the area. As a project for the Learning Generation Initiative, Lisa Walenceus and Carol Ludwig have taken on the task of finding ways to improve Nappanee's downtown by preparing new business owners for the vigors of a new business. On April 27, the ladies sat down- with members of Nappanee's Leadership Academy and downtown merchants to share ideas. "We want to find out what (current) business owners feel is important, as ways to increase the chances of a new business' success," Walenceus said. Walenceus and Ludwig first went to speak with three downtown merchants about what they felt is important for new business owners to know. They then formed summary statements, outlining the information they had received. One thing the two heard was that new business owners must realize that a successful business takes time. Evidene Graber, co-owner of Graber's Carpet Studio with her husband, Arden, testified to that statement. "We were told to give it five years, but I'd say 10 years," she said about the time it takes to make a successful business. "A lot of people aren’t aware of this, and it can be a real downer." Dean and Sally Guard have been running their business, Antiques on the Square, for many years, and have seen many come and go. "People think you make money right from the get-go," Dean said. "People then get discouraged, because they don't have a good income after a year or two." Downtown merchants have seen many new business owners come and go, as well, and would like to see more stability in the area. Because of that, they are happy to help give pointers. "You ease in slowly in your customer base," Liz Mullet, co-owner of Liz's Furniture Shoppe with her husband, Ken, said. "You can then learn from your mistakes, and grow." Mullet commented that only after she had accumulated a large enough customer base, did she move into a larger store. She also said that early in her career, die may have fallen for a few scams. One such scam she ran into, Sea BUSINESS, Page A 2