Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 135, Number 4, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 28 January 2016 — Page 1

102 W. Mmrtmt SL, Nfrmtt • 574-713-07*

|PI WAKARUSA BASEBALL/ SOFTBALL 2016 SEASON INFO WAKARUSA Registration for all players is from Feb. 2 to Feb. 23. There are no fees charged for this league, however, there will be a $lO late fee per player for forms turned in after Feb. 23. Sign-up forms will be available at Wakarusa Elementary, North Wood Middle School, Cook's Pizza and J & N Stone. All forms must be signed by a parent or Siardian. Divisions are by e grade you are in as of June 2016. Peewees: Minor league: Boys in grades 3-5 (Must have completed kindergarten by June 2016 or be 6 years old by May 1). Majors: Boys in grades 6-8. Jr. softball: Girls grades 3-5. Senior girls softball: girls grade 6- 8. With questions, call Nadine at 862-4251. BIGGEST LOSER COMMUNITY CHALLENGE NAPPANEE —The Nappanee Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with NBC and The Biggest Loser, will be participating in NBC's "Biggest Loser Community Challenge". Starting nationally in February, the program is open to area residents who are encouraged to get healthy by establishing a team of four participants to compete to lose the most weight. Cost of entry is SIOO per team and includes over SIO,OOO in possible prizes. For more information visit the Nappanee Chamber of Commerce website or www. Biggestlosercommunity .com. 2016 APPRECIATION DINNER NAPPANEE The Nappanee Chamber of Commerce invites residents to join them on Monday, Feb. 29 for the chamber's annual Appreciation Dinner. Nappanee Mayor Phil Jenkins will be the guest speaker and share his vision for Nappanee. The event will be held at DalMar Banquet Hall (159 E. Lincoln St.). Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m. with dinner served at 6 p.m. Registration begins at 5:15 p.m. AMERICA IN CONCERT AT THE LERNER THEATRE ELKHART - The rock SeeWaNee, page AS

miiimiiihii ||| || il I|||

Aclt £&«?£ IN

North Wood hosts Special Olympics, event a real slam dunk

By Neil King Correspondent WAKARUSA—Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and Spider-Man were at North Wood Middle School on Saturday, Jan. 23. The Elkhart County TipOff Basketball Tournament, an annual Special Olympics Indiana-Elkhart County event, used the comic book characters to label their divisions for 3-on-3 and 5-on-5. There were also individual skills contests. In 5-on-5, the Fulton County Dreqm Team earned first pjace m'theCaptain America Division, the Porter County Crusaders won the Iron Man Division and the Allen County Comets took first in the SpiderMan Division. In 3-on-3 the Elkhart County Blazers, Huntington Thunder and the Marshall-Starke Firecats all took first place. Isis Huff

City moves to fix sewers

Photo provided A new water treatment facility is planned for Nappanee. The city opted for a new treatment facility in lieu of reworking all combined sewer overflow points around Nappanee.

ByDavid M. Palmer Assistant Editor NAPPANEE Qty water. The cool drink has become a hot issue in recent weeks, and Nappanee's water supply is not free from the spotlight. With city water making headlines recently, from Flint, Mich/s lead-poisoned water supply to water shortages in Western states, the question of city water safety has seen a lot of attention. Now, Nappanee's wastewater is under the microscope as an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) directive dictates the town's wastewater system be reworked. According to Utilities Manager Gale Gerber, the issue revolves around the city's combined sewer overflow, or CSO. In a CSO system, sanitary wastewater from homes and storm water runoff from the streets are combined into one pipe system as they head toward the water treatment facility. Now, according to Gerber, the EPA has changed that, demanding that all CSO systems be separated into two systems that transport water to the treatment facility. "In the old days there used to be,a paying: The solution to pollution is dilution,'’ Gerber said of the preexisting CSO. "Now, the EPA is requiring communitif&to capture the water and treat it the best they can. In Nappanee's case, I believe we have 14 CSO points." Gerber said that, since the implementation of CSO laws by the EPA, there toe 109 communities in Indiana that must crane up with a plan to deal with their CSOs. jpter take care of this problem, Oeibsr sard. So

SPORTS Good luck, Black Swish Page A 9

SEk v xino in APPANEE & WAKARUSA

I T S P — W —I j it W r 1 I 1 V\i \ ■ ■ mfim: J mwa 1 It \ %JH 1 j-jcHU bkJl' A-i u I uRt T flkk MB t MM Vi ■ wmk * * * ‘w •, V ’bHHBH *

Photo provided Boy Scout Collin Moore of Troop #776 says the Pledge of Allegiance before the Elkhart County Tip-Off Basketball Tournament Saturday, Jan. 23. (From Left to right): Beth Harsh, Moore, DeShawn Gilbert-Miller, Jose Rojas, and Carson Moore.

and Noah Oldeam won the individual skills competitions. Athletes and spectators came from six different

combined sewers would have to be tom up and separated, a project that Gerber said would have cost the city upwards of S6O million. But that figure is not practical to the city of Nappanee, and a new plan has been established by the city. "When we got to looking at it, we found it that it is cheaper to do a collection of all that water in the CSO areas, transport it and treat it through a new treatment facility. That way it's gone." The new plan established by the city is called 'end of the pipe treatment 7 , and collects all of the storm water and sanitary water. The water would then be transported to a new treatment facility for secondary treatment. The new treatment facility that the city is planning for is of European design, according to Gerber, and is known as an Acti-Flow system. At its most basic, water in an ActFlow system is chemically treated, and a special chemical is used to attach sand to wastewater, with pollutants sinking with the sand and the dean water moving on for treatment by ultra-violet light. The project is currently estimated to cost $29 million, of which sl3 million is outright grant money from a known grant combination to help pay for the project. Gerber and the city of Nappanee, however; wished to make it dear that the issues with Nappanee's wastewater are not the same as the issues facing communities like Flint. Unlike the areas where water is poisoned or at an extreme shortage, this project is only the result of a mandate from the EPA, and is happening to keep up with the existing laws and codes. "We need to keep these issues separate," Gerber said. "Our drinking water meets all of the standards set by the EPA. We are required to test for lead and copper in our water, and those tests are passing. What Flint has going on is absolutely not what we have going on. This is all just to stay up-to-4«*jvith the current laws."

m

counties to the tournament, according to Shay Mathews, county organizer for Elkhart County Special Olympics. Mathews said there were

INSIDE Special section: Thank you Larry Thompson

News

50$

over 500 athletes that participated on 27 teams. "These events take lots of volunteers," Mathews said. "The coaches, the referees,

H WBm Y| ■ ) a JH

Photo/David M. Palmer Empty storefronts line Market Street in downtown Nappanee. While they remain empty, a majority of the buildings have been purchased and plans are in place to see them reoccupied.

Nappanee seeks to fill gaps, reopen vacant storefronts By David M. Palmer Assistant Editor NAPPANEE Recently-vacated storefronts in downtown Nappanee have been a bit of an eyesore, but those spots may soon be filled. After a local business owner's meeting on Thursday, Jan. 21 at the Nappanee Center, Nappanee Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jeff Kitson addressed the issue of vacant storefronts, noting that the empty buildings bring a look to the dty that is not indicative of me town as business center, and the sooner they can be reoccupied, the better for Nappanee. "These empty storefronts, well, they're tough," Kitson said following the meeting. "They're hard on our community. When you hear people say that they have to go outside of our community to get this or that, it breaks your heart, and I believe within the next six to 12 months, we should be seeing some new growth and some new businesses beginning to take effect in Nappanee." While the storefronts remain vacant for the time being, the buildings themselves have been sold and tentative plans are in the works for how to best occupy them. According to Kitson, the problem with some of the currently empty stores is that the condition of the spaces is in such a state of repair that, while the monthly rents are low, the utilities costs are high. This is due to the state of the building structures not being new enough to keep heating, cooling and electrical costs low, adding to the overall cost of renting the properties each month. "As you go around to the stores craning up Market Street to the west, those buildings have been sold to Gravelton Properties, the gentleman's name is Harley Schwartz. He is working hard to getfhe utilities, insulation, electrical whatever it may be—under control so tenants don't have to spend up to SI,OOO a month to heat that building on top of that, have their rent" Kitson said that the building's new owner is open to many new ideas for what should occupy the empty storefronts. From established businesses to young startups, Kitson said B®® Storefronts,

ryjA AAA tY7f\A

anyone working here is a volunteer. There are more than 60 people here helping. Some play high school basketball, or are involved in basketball in some way outside of this, but a lot of the people are just members of the community who want to help out. The season for basketball goes from Nov. to March. So, that's a lot of work, and if s great seeing everyone that comes out to help with events like this." Mathews, now 25 years old, has been volunteering since she was 8. She credited her grandparents, Dan and Noreen Penny, for getting her involved in the program. Connecting to the Special Olympics through a family member is one Rusty Elliot, coach of the Elkhart County Blazers, knows well. Elliot's daughter, Laura Elliot, is a special needs athlete on his team. It was her, See Olympics, pageA2