Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 135, Number 30, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 28 July 2016 — Page 4

Page A4

• Advance News • Thursday, July 28, 2016

Tabby’s Star The science and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke not only wrote great books like "Childhood's End" or "The Songs of Distant Earth" and of course "2001: A Space Odyssey" ne

also said a lot of quotable things. My favorite Clarke quote is "The universe is not only stranger than we imagine. It's stranger than we can imagine."

1 don't want to live in a simple universe and I'm pretty sure we don't. Actually, if I wasn't convinced before, I sure am now! The past couple years I've been doing a lot of reading about a star in that part of the sky dominated by the constellation Cygnus. It's not visible to the naked eye so it didn't have a name, just a designation: KIC 8462852. Not very easy to remember, but now it has an unofficial name Tabby's Star. It's named after one of the scientists who has been studying it, Dr. Tabetha Boyajian, Astronomer Royale at Yale University. She has called it "...the most mysterious star in the universe." First of all, it grows brighter and dimmer. Now some stars brighten and dim because they are orbited by planets. Some do so because they are older. But Tabby's Star is a regular star that shouldn't act like this. One of Boyajian's first theories was that its surrounded by a cloud of comets but that theory fell apart once it was realized it would take more than six hundred thousand comets dancing in a precise pattern to create this phenomenon. That leaves what some people call the LGM solution Little Green Men. Actually, no one knows if they are little or green. j What's going on here? Now some decades ago Hugo Dyson suggested that a sufficiently advanced intelligent species could conceivably convert all the matter in its solar system into a some sort of mega-structure that the creatures could live within and which would allow them to convert a substantial portion of the star's energy for their own use. Science fiction writers have written stories about Dyson Belts and Dyson Spheres that covered up a big portion of a sun's light. If these extraterrestrials are building something around their star, they've been doing it for over a century. Scientists started looking at all the photos taken of this star and it 7 s clear it's been growing dimmer and dimmer since at least 1890. Maybe the mega-structure is growing larger and larger! Tabby's Star is 1400 light years away. We might be seeing evidence of life out there. But if they look in our direction they won't see any evidence of life around our star, the Sun. When I think about the hatred that is being displayed by individuals in our society, the murder of nine people at a church a year ago, and the murder of five police officers more recently, and the mass shootings we've been experiencing in schools and businesses and homes it's nice to know mat none of these evil things is having the least effect on the rest of the universe. If we're under quarantine, it's for a pretty good reason. Frank Ramirez is the Senior Pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren.

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County Road Seven I By Frank Ramirez

Community

I am sixteen, going on seventeen

Surely most of us are well aware of the song from "The Sound of Music," in which Liesl croons, "I am sixteen, going

on seventeen..." That represents a season of my life that took place exactly 30 years ago. And it was one that I had a blessed chance to gloriously revisit

one Saturday evening. It happened without notice, without warning, and certainly without expectation. As we prepare to move in the very near future, the nuisance tasks come drearily along, such as cleaning out the basement. In the process of unearthing some long forgotten boxes, one withered cardboard square jumped to the forefront of immediate attention. When I opened it up to reveal its contents, it was something of a cartoonish moment, in which animated confetti and fairy dust seemed to spill across the room. In reality, it was blanketed by a cottony mess of dust bunnies and mushy cobwebs. "How amazing," I thought to myself, for so very many reasons. I had long ago dismissed the notion of ever finding that box intact, as I had assumed it was lost in a crazy sweep of flood waters that inundated our Michigan basement when once we lived on Spring Street in Wakarusa. But amazing as well, because I was alternately charmed and somewhat saddened by the ironic epiphany that those glory days, the very same time of our lives that we thought would never leave our memory, had rather done precisely that. Names, faces, events, places, feelings, moments that had not drifted into my stream of consciousness for decades came fearlessly, ferociously, and faithfully back. Coming of age in the 1980 s was a truly outrageous era to be alive. My Bremen classmates and I were barely ten or eleven years old at the start of the decade, yet by trie close of 1989, we were adults. There is much to laugh uproariously about, which we certainly do. The hair. The clothes. The slang...how in the world did the phrase "gag me with a spoon" ever catch on, anyway? But although we didn't recognize or realize it at the time, there was a certain pattern and predictability to our world back then. We knew that summers would be delightfully remiss of schoolwork, we knew that we had scholastic

All those years ago

100 YEARS AGO JULY 27, 1916 Injurious incidents about town...while unloading coal at the water works Saturday afternoon a little after 1 o'clock, Morris Bowser was thrown from a wagon by a team becoming scared and sustained a frapture of his left limb midway between the hip and the knee. Dr. Defreese reduced the fracture and he is resting as easily as possible. Roland Gentzhom had his right arm broken while cranking an automobile Thursday. He was attending the Goshen fair and was just starting for home when the accident happened. In "The Movie Man," with Miss Wanita Wallace which comes to the Auditorium on Tuesday evening, you will see impersonated in real life such well known stars as Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and Frances Bushman. "The Movie Man" is not a motion picture but satirizes that most popular craze of the day in a refined way. It is three acts and very funny. An excellent company and complete scenic production are carried with this attraction, so if you want to have a pleasant evening's entertainment, don't miss "The Movie Man." 75 YEARS AGO JULY 31,1941 Thursday morning Freese's cream truck, driven by Harry Gibble, was forced off the road and into the ditch a mile and a half east of Nappanee. Earl Hartter, traveling west forced the truck off the pavement as he failed to see the local truck traveling east. It was foggy and Hartter was passing a westbound truck, causing the accident. The creamery truck was forced into the ditch and the Hartter car was badly damaged where it sideswiped the truck. Two-way radio conversations between state troopers and state police radio network dispatchers will soon be effected in a limited number of state police cars over the state, and as a twin move an emergency power supply is being installed at the headquarters state police station at the State Fairgrounds, to extend the usefulness of the network in civilian defense and to protect against interruption of electrical power. Superintendent Don F. Stiver of the state police has placed Chief Engineer Amet A. Curry in charge of the project to test two-way radio in nine car, one in each of the major state police posts. A sergeant in each post will carry the equipment in ms car and use the equipment within its

11l ,t s hard to bel,eve ls football time ism again and we want you to put on your calenders the sth of August. fp| m This Is when each fall. Just before the m football season starts, the Wakarusa rfp jgjV Chamber of Congress, Dr. Robert B Abel, and Cook's Pizza put on the fl S Wakarusa Ice Cream 1 and Cookie Social yy on the Town Square in Wakarusa. ds It will start at 7:3OPM. EE) 77\ Just in case of bad weather, It will /T 7 be In the Northwood Middle School gymnasium. This is to meet and fl&j m honor the championship NWHS m 5531 football team and coaches, the MB? wjjm NWHS championship band and the life championship NWHS cheerleaders R and coaches. Last year was an 31 Br outstanding year for all of them. .-J) Please come out at 7:30, August sth, 7 . taut 2016 to meet them and have Cook's y&j 8 Pizza Ice Cream, and homemade B cookies from Grandma's Pantry. B IB This is for the entire Wa-Nee area and « flf is FREE. ■ jf Any questions, cat Dr. Abel at 536-4537 H

Wisdom and Whimsy By Amy Wenger

schedules to abide by for nine months of the year. We knew who our friends were, how to navigate our community landscape via bicycle routes, and where to score the best deals on penny candy. And how often did our minds become encircled in magic memory gossamer, when you found yourself sighing, "I'll never forget this moment...this day...this person..." But it happens. Try as one might, it does fade away. Not lost entirely, just crept further down into the depths of the mind and the heart. That is, until the night you open a crumpled and broken box and it all returns to haunt and heal you. Spiritual friendships become restored, some to resume on this Earth, while others must wait until the heavenly hereafter. There were countless photographs, notes, and cards from one of my most dearest friends, Norma Dalton, who passed away in November of 1988. There were also a number of trinkets and treasures from Robert Boenne, another cherished soul who also left us far too soon, in September of 2012. And although it would be unwaveringly easy to declare that if you could change a certain part of your life, you would, the way that certain events played out across the years are integral and inspirational to the very person you eventually become. The good and the bad, the wondrous and the wicked, it all knits together spectacularly to form a patchwork of the perpetual and a dreamscape of the past. What you learn along the way is what lights you and guides you toward the future. A life harbored in regret, remorse, and resignation is not fully lived. If someone would have told me back then about the insufferable losses that were forthcoming, I would have wailed in horror, railing to prevent these occurrences from leaving holes in my heart. In just this one past year alone, I received an ominous health diagnosis, survived the anguishing and sudden loss of my beloved father, and as I write this, I stand reassessing my future and that of my children in light of and beyond divorce. I could spend the rest of my days being bitter, being resentful, but I will refuse. Every little thing, every great person, every second of existence is spent bringing us all to this new day. And for one spectacular night, I was given a magnificent reminder to be grateful of where exactly we are today...in the present.

effective range of a thirty-five mile radius of the state police post and its affiliated radio station. 50 YEARS AGO JULY 28, 1966 If anyone asks how Nappanee's doing, it's still booming. There are all kinds of events taking place. On the west side of town is the foundation for the new Pletcher Furniture warehouse which will be ready for business this fall. Beer and Slabaugh is hard at work constructing new roads in the industrial area west of town. On the east side, the new Ben Franklin store is getting ready to open in a few weeks and the merchandise is starting to arrive. Deisch Supply Company has moved its offices to the warehouse which houses its booming wholesale business, separating it from its thriving retail operation. The Gold Crown Lanes, which will be one of the finest bowling alleys in this whole area, is getting to the stage of interior decoration, and paintbrushes are busy as a multitude of last minute details are concluded. They are busy moving for the former Kindig house to make room for the St. Joe Valley Bank. Summit Street and North Elm have been improved, and the area along by Central School has been widened to relieve congestion there. And to the north, work has begun on a beautiful new church, which, until another name is picked, is still called the Village Church. How's Nappanee doing? Just great! The new apartment building being constructed by Ray Hopewell is rapidly taking shape on the east side of Nappanee on Route 6. Called the Hopewell Village Apartments, it will have four one bedroom apartments and six two bedroom units. The building is situated on the site so that occupants won't be aware of Route 6 and will each have patio area on one side and porch on the other. There is parking space for 22 cars. The building will be of brick colonial design. Mr. Hopewell's office will occupy the first unit, and the present office space will eventually be removed, allowing more space around the apartments. Each unit will be connected, but will actually be separate. Double walls will eliminate sounds from one apartment to the next, and each patio will be gardened or landscaped according to the individual tastes of the occupants. 25 YEARS AGO JULY 31,1991 At a reception held earlier this month, during the American Library Association Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, the Nappanee Public Library was among the honored recipients of a 1991 John Cotton Dana Public Relations award. The special award was presented "for an outstanding public relations program that joined library and community in supporting local history through the 'Railroad Remembrances' project." Awards are given annually to libraries or library organizations of all types for public relations programs or special projects ending during the preceding year. Members of the Ball State University Charrette Team worked on their ideas for Nappanee for a revitalized and renovated Nappanee. Among those who have submitted suggestions was Phil Jenkins of Wakarusa, who shared sketches and drawings of how he envisions Nappanee in the future. Scott Thiex, project director and North Wood High School graduate, explained Jenkins's drawings at a community forum which was held at the Methodist Church on Wednesday.

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