The Mail-Journal, Volume 14, Number 5, Milford, Kosciusko County, 23 February 1977 — Page 1

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VOLUME 14

Land area of Milford doubled with annexation

The town of Milford officially doubled its size last Wednesday, when Judge Gene B Lee of the Kosciusko Circuit Court ruled in favor of the town and against remonstrators of a 1972 annexation ordinance The land annexed lies north, south and east of the old boundaries The docket entry dated February 16 reads as follows: • The judge of this court having examined the transfer book in the office of the auditor of Kosciusko County. Indiana and the tax duplicates m the office of the treasurer of Kosciusko County. Indiana for purpose of determining the total number of land owners m tiie area sought to be annexed, the assessed value of the real estate within said annexed area and the sufficiency

/ s I /./ . ■ ■ — * / c < I J z • • SIGNALS ERECTED — Traffic signals were erected late last week at the intersection iff Pickwick Road and State Road 13. south of Syracuse. A NlPMf'o crew worked Monday, clearing some of their lines to make way for cables which will be hooked-up to the signals.

Parkina meter alternat

Three members of the Syracuse Parking and Traffic Committee agreed to table their discussion of possible nonuse of the parking meters tn the uptown area, when no merchants attended the Tuesday nightmeet mg "If we don't get the feedback from the merchants. I don't think we can do anything," said James Tranter Several committee members surveyed uptown merchants and found most in ■ ■

Spurgeon testified in favor of policy

An article in last week's Mail-Journal concerning wetlands legislation being consider ed by the Natural Resources Committee of the Indiana House of Representatives contained an error with regard to an appear ance before the committee by Wiley (Bill) Spurgeon, president of the Wawasee Property Owners Association. Representing the association, which Spurgeon told the committee has approximately 450 members on Lake Wawasee. Spurgeon said that his organization was delighted to see that Indiana was considering a wetlands policy at the legislative level.

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Consolidation of THE MILFORD MAIL (Est. 1888) and THE SYRACUSE-WAWASEE JOURNAL lEst. 1907)

ol the remonstrances filed in this pi-oceeding, now files in open court as a part of the record in ths case its report as to landowners and assessed values of land in the words and figures fcllowtng. to-wit: (HI), and the court now determines that on the Hth day of February. 1977, there were 87 owners of land within the aea annexed by said ordinance; that the assessed value of real eitate within the annexed terri lory on said date was in the total amount of $622,200, that a total of 3p owners of land having an assessed value m the total sum of $159,020 have filed remonstrances in writing against tne annexation; and that tie remonstrators herein do not constitute or represent either a majority of the owners of land in the territory annexed or the owners of more than 75 per cent in assessed valuation of the real

favor of some kind of change in parking with some restrictions, such as a two-hour time limit Tranter said there wasn't money m the budget for the meter removal and patrol of an alternate parking system About $3,000 annually is raised from the meters Betty Dust, clerktreasurer said each police officer receivess2o per pay period. twice monthly, for patrol of the meters If the meters were removed such money would to be budgeted ■» * ■

Committee Chairman Richard Wathen. R Jeffersonville. told Spurgeon at the conclusion of the statement that several Wawasee Property Owners Assn, members had sent telegrams to the committee, and Wathen said "most" were in favor of the legislation. A report in last week's article that Spurgeon opposed the bill, and presented a petition in opposition to it. was unfounded and erroneous. The Mail-Journal regrets the error and any embarrassment of confusion which may have resulted from it.

estate m said territory It is. therefore, considered, ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that as of the 10th day of February. 1977, the remonstrators herein do not constitute or represent either a majority of the owners of land in the territory annexed by the town of Gilford Junction pursuant to" ordinance number 72-1 or the owners of more than 75 per cent in assessed valuation of the real estate|in said territory; that the remonstrances filed herein do not contain the necessary number of signatures as required by law; and that the appeal from the annexation by the remonstrators in this cause be and the same is hereby dismissed It is further considered, ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that the costs! of this action be and the sanjie are hereby taxed to the remonstrators,”

ives tabled

from funds other than] the meter revenue The town also has only one officer on day-time duty Loren Knispel, committee member,. said some uptown merchants could be deputized to ticket the habitual offenders. Town board member David Nine said he had talked to some people, who said if fines were graduated under a new parking system, they wouldn-t park uptown Knispel said an ’alternative system would have to work with two fluctuating populations in the town. He added that the merchants could use gimicks to draw trade. Nine offered an idea from Ron Robinson, town marshal, that the meters be capped in the winter and used in the summer. "Are we really gaining that much in the wintertime?" he asked Joyce Smith said 15 people in the Pickwick building were not surveyed The committee replied that Ray Yoder, who was absent, was to have contacted them Smith also said the Pickwick merchants complained about delivery trucks double-parking cr parking on sidewalks uptown. Tranter and the committee said the police would look into the possibility of creating loading zones.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 23, 1977

Miller Comments Milford town board president Dr T. A. Miller said he could see long-range benefits for both the older portion of the town and the newly annexed area. He further commented the annexation should tie the community together and give each group a better tax base. The legal description of the land annexed follows: “Commencing at the intersection of the east right-of-way line of the Penn Central railroad, formerly the New York Central railroad, and the center line of County Road 1150 N, proceeding thence westerly on and along the center line of CR 1150 N to its intersection with the west right-of-way line of Indiana State Highway 15; thence north to a point which would be on the

TOURNEY SUPPLEMENT INSIDE Team, cheerleader, coach photos and details of the teams participating in the Triton Sectional appear in The Mail-Journal supplement inside this issue. The 28-page supplement also contains comments from the Warsaw and Wawasee coaches on their teams performance as the basketball season ends and tournaments begin.

Citizen of Year to be named Saturday night

The annual Milford Area Development Council’s “Citizen of the Year" banquet is slated for Saturday night at 7 in the Apostolic Christian Church’s fellowship hall. The two highlights of the evening will be the naming of the new “Citizen of the Year” and tl»e speech by Sam Smith, sports director of WSBT radio-TV. Smith is noted for his television and radio sports, programs, for covering all Notre Dame basketball games and play-by-play on the high school “Spotlight Game of the Week" plus all. games of the Indiana High School tourna ment. He has been with WSBT since June of 1973, coming to South Bend from Florida. A native of Borger, Texas, Sam won all-state honors in both football and basketball while in high school there. He was named to the third team of the Junior College All-American basketball team and later, at Texas Tech, he was

Knispel said he would like to see the committee divide up the areas of the town and determine the main traffic arteries and possible solutions Then, he continued, some input from residents in public meetings would be needed. The committee agreed to a special meeting at John Walker s First Charter Insurance, next Tuesday at 7:30 pm for that purpose The next regular meeting will be March 22. at the town hall. 7:30 p.m. The new traffic signals, under installation at Pickwick Road and State Road 13 south were discussed. Knispel said he didn't believe the lights had left turn arrows, which w*ould create traffic problems, especially in the summer Tranter said he believed the lights had arrows, but in either case the lights should be tried before any conclusion is reached Tranter said the members of the committee should also be working independently On a list of top priority streets which need paving The top priority streets submitted by the committee, town board and police will be compiled, with the top ones being paved until the funds are used Tranter said Boston Street is already scheduled for paving Mrs. John Stetler. committee member, did not attend.

center line of CR 1300 N if such road were extended due west; thence east on and along the center line of CR 1300 Nif extended to its intersection with the east right-of-way line of Old State Road 15; thence south on and along the east right-of-way line of Old State Road 15 to the north right-of-way line of County Road 125QN; thence east to a point in line with the east line of Schafer Street; thence south on and along the east line of Schafer Street and the extension of such line to the center of Turkey Creek , thence meandering westerly along the center line of Turkey Creek to the point where it intersects the east right-oi wayline of the Penn Central railroad aforesaid, .hence south on and along the east right-of-wa/line of said railroad to the place of beginning.”

selected for the All-Southwest Conference Basketball team. •Citizen’ This year’s “Citizen of the Year" will be the seventh such person to be chosen for the honor. Previous citizens so honored are Dorothea Kerlin, Carl Duncan. Harold Young. Edith I. Baumgartner. Bertha Wehrly and Dorothy Williams. Most are expected to be present at Saturday’s banquet. Tickets are still available for the banquet from MAD members or they may be purchased at the door.

Park overseer selected by board

Members of the Milford Park Board, continuing their work to have the park open and in operation by the Memorial Day week end, have selected Jay Smith of Goshen as overseer of the town's lakeside park on Waubee Lake. Smith and his family will be moving their mobile home to the beach location as soon as the sight can be made ready. Smith is employed by Coachman Industries at Middlebury He and his wife Denise have two small children Park board members commented they felt this was the first and most important step in preparing the park for use by the Milford community With an overseer on the location, the board feels steps can be made to improve the park and with someone living (here it is hoped the vandalism which has been extensive in past years can be stopped Seek Funds The town has budgeted SI,BOO to the park board, but with the MAIL-JOURNAL INCREASE EFFECTIVE MARCH IST The price of the annual subscription to The Mail-Journal will be increased, effective March 1. from 17 to SB. and out of county cost will increase from $9 to $lO. These price increases are necessitated by a dramatic rise in newsprint costs and other general production costs, according to Arch Baumgartner, president of The Papers Incorporated. At the same time over the counter costs for single copies of The Mail-Journal will be 20 cents. I Subscribers will have until March 1 to renew their subscriptions at the current rate.

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expenses in making the site ready, hiring a lifeguard and needed improvements, this money will not go far The park board is therefore seeking donations for park improvements. Persons wishing to make such donations can contact any of the park board members or can send donations to the board at box 495, Milford. If sufficient funds are received the board hopes to purchase additional picnic tables, improve the pier, put up new signs, and a platform for the lifeguard. The board is also making plans to mark the drop off. purchase equipment and make repairs to the beach house and pavilion. The board is looking into die possibility of receiving federal funds to aid in these plans. Lifeguard Applications are being taken for a lifeguard and someone to run the concession stand this summer. The park is open annually from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Persons interested in either of these positions should write to the park board, giving qualifications. The pavilion can be rented for reunions and parties. Persons 'wishing to rent said area should also contact the park board via the address listed above. Clean-Up A spring clean-up day will be set later. At that time the community will be asked to aid the board in cleaning the park to make it ready for the summer season Persons with suggestions or ideas for the park are asked to contact park board members. Marion Acton is serving as president of the park board. Other members are Levi J.Beer, vice president; Connie Smith, treasurer; Dorothy Williams, secretary; and D. G. (“Bud”) Seely.

’ \ - 1 X 0 ■ al wJLZi'l : SURVEYING DAMAGES — Milford Park Board President Marion Acton is shown above with one of the swings at the park damaged during recent years by vandals. Park board members hope to make many improvements at the park this spring including the replacement of picnic tables, playground equipment and other items damaged by vandals in past years.

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