The Mail-Journal, Volume 14, Number 51, Milford, Kosciusko County, 11 January 1978 — Page 2

THE MAIL-.MH HNAI. —Wed.. January 11. 1978

2

wH R 'O' } IS ■*».« NEW OFFICERS — Newly elected officers of the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission are left, Robert Bruce, vice chairman; Victor Virgil, chairman; and Charles Brower, secretary. Virgil chaired his first meeting as chairman last week, when the commission met.

Rezoning denied for future RV park

A petition to rezone 108.55 acres, for possible future use as a recreational vehicle park near Syracuse, was denied by the Kosciusko County Area Plan Com mission last week. Petitioning for the rezoning from residential to agricultural were Runge Development, Albion National Bank and Kinder Realty. Don Runge appeared to request the rezoning, stating the future intent was to use the land as a recreational vehicle park. ' Jerry Hickman, president of Lake of the Valley Corp., appeared as a remonstrator, saying, “We, of course, are completely against a recreational vehicle thing on the lake.” Hickman purchased a Cfeouthem section of land behind the petitioned area, which is now a housing development. Hickman opposed the rezoning because he said an RV park would devalue the houses in the development and there would be no way to police the channel between Lake Elizabeth and Lake Rachael, the first lake belonging to Runge Development. Jack Wells, Syracuse realtor, who appeared also, remarked on the property and surrounding areas, which include a hog feeding operation and a feed mill. He said the property was too hilly and wooded for single family dwellings. “I think it’s (the future intended use) the highest and best use of the property.” Two letters* of remonstrance from Lake of the Valley homeowners were also presented. Phil Kappes, attorney for the petitioners, assisted in outlining the area. A preliminary diagram of possible use as a park was presented by Dick Pollock of an Indianapolis design firm. Jerry Grade made a motion to deny the petition, with Ron Baumgartner, both commission members; referring to the possible grounds for denial. Baumgartner asked on which ground the motion was based. Grady said a possible devaluation of property which exists previously in the area. The motion was seconded and brought to a vote, with Baumgartner and new commission member Jim Frieden opposing the motion. Approved was the petition to subdivide nine lots, called Beacon Shores, at the intersection of old state road 13 and Dalm Drive in Syracuse. David Benning, agent, and Beacon builders petitioned. Several remonstrators asked questions on the subdivision concerning the drainage in the area, quality of the intended housing and the possibility of the lots being used for anything besides single family structures. The secretary of the Oakwood Property. Owners Association, said he has been told Syracuse has problems with sewage disposal and asked the town okay the hooking up of the camp homes before those in the proposed subdivision be considered for hook-up. Mrs. Betty Dust, clerktreasurer of Syracuse and commission mem'ber, answered, saying those areas inside the city limits are being hooked into the system first. A remonstrance from Barbara Clouse was concerned with the quality of housing to be built in the subdivision. Postponed until 1 meeting of the planning comTHE MAIL JOURNAL Published by The Mail-Journal every Wednesday and entered as Second Class matter at the Post Office at Syracuse, Indiana 44547. Publication No. 315140 Second class postage paid at 103 E Main street, Syracuse, Indiana 44547 and at additional entry offices. Subscription: $8 per year in Kosciusko county; >lO outside county ■' lx l V I '

mission, was the petition of Hubert Dunithan, Todd Realty agent. The 1.54 acres is being asked rezoned from residential to commercial. The site is east of Lake View Drive, between Warner Road and Lake Wawasee. Tom Leonard appeared as a representative, and heard that several property owners had not been notified of the hearing in time, and had asked the petition be postponed. “I believe that we’ve complied with the requested requirements,” Leonard said. Notices were mailed December 30. Attorney John Geberin spoke on behalf of adjacent property owner Jack Scheid- He said Scheid lives in Frankfort and received his notice Tuesday before the Wednesday night meeting. Property owned by Paul Beezley, south of state road 8 and east of state road 13, was rezoned from agricultural to commercial. Jack Wells said a storage building for recreational equipment is the intended use, with local residents requesting such a structure. George Hickman and Glenn Bowen had their rezoning okayed. The petition was for 10.5 acres east of state road 13 and north of Epworth Forest, North Webster. The rezoning was from agricultural to light industrial.

Physical Fitness Course —

(Continued from page 1) tone primarily. It gives one a jaunt in his step, but as far as losing the old avoidupois, forget it, it isn’t there. The way to lose weight, we’ve concluded, is that one important exercise of placing one’s hands firmly on the table and pushing hard. Cut the calories to cut the weight, that’s our gem for the day. / Rev. Paul Koepke, an avid member of our friendly little group, was puffing around the gym with us one day last week, and came up with this sage piece of information, “I’ve found out one thing, this exercising and dieting has to become away of life.” The Test Last Friday Dr. John told me he wanted me to go around the gym 26 times, adding, “I don’t care if you decide to run and walk, just do it the best you can.” This is like a red flag to a man of 60 with more determination than stamina, and so we set out, clocking ourselves on our own watch. Somewhere between the fourth and sixth time around, we thought, “26 times around, no way.” Then it was seven, eight and nine, and the next we remember we passed that magic 17 rounds we Jiad earlier set for ourselves. But 26! We kept on, slipping into numb unreality, thinking of the U.S. Olympic runner who went 26 miles averaging some five minutes per mile. Somehow it made 26 times around the college gym seem a little easier. No way were we going to walk . . . run it was, and finally we passed the 20 mark and 26 seemed like a small, dim light at |he end of the tunnel. Would you believe 24,25 and finally 26 made ds feel like a horse going for the bam after a full day’s work? We looked at the watch and found it took us 18 minutes and 45 seconds, and our heart beat was 180 per minute. We had a very real feeling of what a thoroughbred feels when finishing the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. Our heart would go out to them for all time to come. The 26 laps, or a mile and a half, made a real mockery out of the joke Dr. Zehr and I had bantered about, . that our graduation would include a run from Goshen College to our jobs in Milford! Another Class Due to the holidays and illnesses, our class is being extended through January 27, but

The final plat for Stanton Lake Estates division II was approved by the commission. The division will have 21 lots on Stanton Road in Tippecanoe Township. No members of the public were present for the public hearing on the ordinance amendments for new fee schedule and nonconforming uses. Each was okayed by the commission. The fee schedule bases the permit charge on the square footage of the structure. The nonconforming use amendment states the structure can be rebuilt with the same use up to one year following its destruction, unless it poses a health or safety hazard to the public. When okayed by the county commissioners, the amendments become effective in county area. However, towns in the plan commission have 60 days to remonstrate against their adoption. Dan Richards, plan commission director, asked the discussion on a mobile home ordinance be postponed. He presently has ordinances from six counties and five towns, and needs to get recommendations prepared for the commission, based on these ordinances. Victor Virgil, county agent, was elected chairman for the com mission in 1978. Other officers are Robert Bruce, vice chairman; and Charles Brower retained the office of secretary.

there are already those signing up for the February Class. Dr. Ingold says he is pleased at the public response he has had and is looking forward to a good class. Os those in the OctoberJanuary class, several have plans of continuing on a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday basis. Colleges, hospitals and clinics, and even some high schools have gone in for Adult Physical Fitness classes and the response has been surprisingly good. Physical fitness is “in” across the country right now, and it has resulted in a sharp decline (about 14 per cent) of heart disease. Is it all worth it? you ask. We think so. We feel better and have lost a lot of weight, something we’ve wanted to do for a number of years. Anyway, meeting and working with John Ingold and others at Goshen College has made it all worth while. Complex — (Continued from page 1) munity building so the grants can apply. He said future plans fa the present town hall are to dismantle it. He said, “The building is unsafe.” At the new location, Tranter said the town will do some cleaning and painting within the next three months before the town offices move in. He said there will be no structural changes at least fa one year. Within the building, Tranter said they are planning on having a large meeting room which will seat from between 150-200 people. Tranter said the room will be known as a “community meeting roan,” and would be available fa groups in the community to use besides town meetings. Syracuse Rubber Plant officials were also present at the meeting and made a few comments on the transaction. President Dean Pittman said he would like to see the town expand, which is why he felt the

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company should sell the building to the town. He said, “The town has been good to us. We wanted to give a beneficial price.” Pittman added that they have had other parties interested in the building, but wanted to sell it to the town. He said, “We’ve held off making a decision to see if the town wanted it.” The rubber company moved out of the building between Christmas and New Year’s. They * are now located at 1135 South Sycamore Street. Pittman said the company has 113,000 square feet at their new plant, plus an additional 70,000 square feet with a new addition. He said they can now park around 180 cars. The company had a problem with parking at the South Huntington Street location. , Pittman also said the company is planning an open house early this spring. Tranter concluded by saying, “These facilities will make the town more efficient and more organized.” Flu 'bug' — (Continued from page 1) ache all over, sore throat and cough. He said some people also experience a running nose and nausea. He said the flu affects individual people in a number of different ways. He said older people usually take a little longer to get over the virus, while children snap out of it quicker. Dr. Meyers said to help prevent catching a virus, a person should avoid crowded places. And, if a person already has the flu, he shouldn’t go out for at least two days after his fever leaves. Dr. Meyers says he gives a card stating this last stipulation to all his flu patients as they leave the office. Dr. Meyers said he isn’t having to work many extra hours as yet, but said he has noticed more people coming through his office. He also said the number of cases of flu aren’t as numerous as they have been in the past. Mrs. Ellie Graff, receptionist at the Syracuse Family Practice, says there have been a lot more people in the office with the flu lately and that she, the nurse and Dr. Clark have had to work until 7 p.m. about every night. She said, “People have been really sick.” She said she noticed the increase in the number of patients sick with the flu about three weeks ago. She also said they have had quite a number of cases of pneumonia, too. Dr. Robert A. Craig was out qf his office and couldn’t be reached for comment. Employees at the office of Dr. Floyd Rheinheimer report more persons than usual are coming into the office. The “bug” seems to be thriving in the cold weather. Schools in the area also report they have noticed more kids with the flu, due to their high absenteeism rate. Syracuse Elementary School says they have had a lot of illness since Thanksgiving. The latest, more prominent types of illness seen at the school are a bronchial type of illness and pneumonia or near pneumonia. Monday, 100 students were absent out of 619 and on Tuesday, 93 were out. Syracuse Junior High School also reports a high absenteeism rate with most of the children out due to illness. A total of 73 were absent Tuesday. Flu seems to be the major illness students are absent from, reports the school. At Wawasee High School, 122 students were absent on Monday, which is probably the highest ever in the school’s history. The attendance office reports that most of the students are out because of flu and not bad weather. The office also says they are sending quite a few students home, too, who either have or are coming down with the flu. North Webster schools are also experiencing a high absenteeism rate. North Webster Elementary School says their absent rate is 12 per cent higher than normal. Principal Richard Long said he isn’t sure the high number of students absent is due to flu, however. The number of students absent at North Webster Junior High School isn’t as high as the other schools. A school spokesperson says, “We haven’t really noticed an increase since Christmas.” The school says that most of their children, if they get sick, don’t stay out of school long, so their absenteeism rate remains pretty steady. According to Eudora Hurd, secretary at the Milford Elementary School, 50 students were absent from school on Monday, Jan. 9, and 55 students were out Tuesday. The normal absentee rate is

12-15. Virginia Bess, secretary of the Milford Junior High School, reports there has been no attendance problem, indicating few Milford Junior High School students, like North Webster, are suffering from the flu at this time. Radios — (Continued from page 1) whole corporation and should probably involve FM radios, which have a better frequency and range than CB radios. Superintendent Don Arnold said Business Manager Marion (Bud) Lantz, who was not present at the meeting due to a recent illness, had contacted several firms to check on prices for an FM two-way system. Arnold said Lantz received responses from five companies who quoted prices ranging from $16,000$26,000. Prices were for a base station and 33 units for the buses. William Eiler, from Eiler’s Radio and Television Sales and Service, Warsaw, one of the five companies quoting a price, was present at the meeting to answer any questions board members had concerning an FM radio system. Mark Grady, one of Eiler’s customers, was also present. Eiler said with the 15-18 mile radius of the corporation, he would recommend they use 45 watt radios and an 80 foot tower. He said the 45 watt radio has better penetration, especially since the corporation’s terrain is so uneven with some high and low area causing dead spots. Eiler also said that maintenance is almost nil with the FM radios. He said, “There is not much maintenance on this, it’s reliable gear.” He said FM radios are also Relatively noisefree, making them clearer than CB radios. “FM is more noisefree. You don’t have the squeaking that you do with CB.” Grady agreed with Eiler, saying he hasn’t had any problems with his FM radio system. He said he can’t see any vibration problem and that with an FM radio, the corporation would have the potential to talk at a longer distance. Board members asked Eiler several questions, one dealing with the problem of channel overlapping. Eiler said there is some overlapping with FM radios, but that there is no such thing as a “clear frequency.” Board members also wanted to know what the difference is between a one channel and three channel unit. Eiler said he would recommend three channels so the police or fire departments could be contacted if no one is manning the base station. Eiler added that only the base station and a unit put in Carl Hadley, director of building and ground’s, pick up would have three channels. All units put in the buses would only have one channel. Threat Os Liability Board members felt there could be a need for these units in the buses because of the growing threat of liability if a child is injured while in a bus. At the present time if a school bus breaks down, or is involved in an accident, a student has to be sent to a nearby residence to contact the school of the problem. The bus driver cannot leave the bus. Hadley also said the radios would be beneficial because often times he doesn’t know the problem until he reaches the bus. He said v is he could talk to the bus driver, he could bring all the equipment needed. Arnold said money is available to pay for the radios out of the school bus bond money. He said, “It’s within range to the amount of money available.” Grady will assist Arnold and Lantz in preparing the specifications for the system. In other business, Janet Bales, r 3 Syracuse, was appointed as Vocational Home Economics teacher at Wawasee High School effective January 23. Mrs. Bales, a graduate of Purdue University, replaces Betty Arthur. The board also accepted the resignation of Elaine Hibschman, business education „ teacher at Wawasee High School, to be effective January 20. Mrs. Hibschman is moving to Florida. A one-year maintenance agreement with Havel Brothers, Inc., Fort Wayne, for the corporation’s boiler systems was also approved. The agreement will pay Havel $19.75 per hour, if eight or more hours are worked during the year, or $21.50 per hour, if less than eight hours is worked. This agreement is a renewal of a present agreement paying Havel $18.25 per hour. Authorization was also granted to advertise to receive bids to borrow operating funds not to exceed $720,000. Last year, the amount was $643,000. Only $382,000 of the amount was actually used. Arnold was also granted permission to file an application for $6,000 for funds under ESEA Title IV. The money is used in an area of need in the curriculum. Arnold said this year it will be used under the special education and handicapped program. Several reports were also given

to the board for its information. Hadley reported on building progress at the new physical education facility. He said that work should be completed in the auto mechanics building by March. He said the roof is almost put on and flooring is to be poured in starting today (Wednesday). He said work isn’t progressing as rapidly at the facility, however, due to the cold weather. Arnold reported on Milford and North Webster fan buses. Board member Phillip R. Payne wanted to know more information on the buses at a previous meeting. Arnold reported that students are charged a nominal fee to ride the buses to Wawasee High School home games and all money is turned into pay for the transportation fund. He said usually 17-46 students use the buses. Certificates of payment for building projects in the corporation was another item approved. Billy Little, school board president, and Floyd Baker, secretary, were also reappointed president and secretary of the corporation's board of finance. Claims were not approved because the machine used to process the claims broke down over the holiday. Board members have called a meeting for 1 p.m. next Wednesday to approve claims. This is a public meeting. An executive session was held following the meeting last night regarding student and staff personnel. Feelings on rezoning expressed At last Wednesday’s Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission meeting, a recommendation to deny a petition submitted by Runge Development 1 Corporation and Kinder Realty for the rezoning of 108.55 acres of land from residential to agricultural was approved. The recommendation to deny the petition was approved because the majority of commission members felt Runge’s intended use of the land, turning it into a recreational vehicle park, would devaluate a housing development situated nearby. Donald Runge, of Runge Development Corporation, said he feels his proposed park would

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not devaluate any property. He said, “A planned recreational community is not going to deteriorate any proporties out here.” Runge said a lot of time and money has been spent on planning the park, which he hopes won’t be wasted. Runge originally had the land, located on the Syracuse-Milford Road near CR 1300 N, rezoned from agricultural to residential because he wanted to develop it into single family homes. But, he said since that time, the plan canmission has given a special exception to Maple Leaf Farms to construct a feed mill operation across the street. He said, “We didn’t feel it (the feed mill) was real conclusive to family dwellings.” Runge also said that with so many people caning in for the ski show on nearby Lake Rachel, a recreational type park would be ideal. He said, “We thought it’d be a natural to make spaces for these people.” There was much concern at the commission meeting that Runge’s proposed park would conflict with a nearby housing development owned by Jerry Hickman and Camelot Lake of the Valley Corporation. Runge said that mainly people involved with the ski show are buying property in the development, which has already led to the devaluation of the property. Runge said, “Devaluation had already taken place before we made our plans.” Runge'also said he felt there were more personal than objective feelings involved in the plan commission’s decision. He said, “I think they’re more personal feelings on the judgment than anything else.” Runge added that he would like the commissioners, who make the final decision on the rezoning, to cone out and look at the land. “We would like them to come out and inspect the property and make an objective decision on the best and highest use of the land.” Runge also said he feels he would not be creating any tax burden on local citizens but in fact, would be benefitting them, due to the influx of capital spending, which would result with a RV park. Commissioner’s Feelings Mrs. Betty Dust and Dee Stiver, area commissioner members, were two of the five commission members voting for denial of the petition. Mrs. Dust said she voted fa denial because

“I feel it will depreciate the values of homes in the area.” Mrs. Dust feels there is a need fa a camp park in the area, but not next to a place with existing homes. She said, “I just feel there was a better place for it than next to homes costing from $40,000 to $50,000.” She said more thought should be put into where a RV park should be placed. She also said she would like to see Runge come back with more definite plans or mae restrictions put in. Stiver agreed with Mrs. Dust, saying he also feels a RV park would devaluate neighboring property. He said, “I don’t feel it is fair to him (adjacent developer Jerry Hickman) to throw a trailer park in front of him. I don’t think we need another Yogi Bear park in this area.” Stiver also said he was in favor when Runge wanted the area residential, but doesn’t feel a homeowner shoud lose his investment because a RV park is ' put in. He said, “I don’t feel you should lose your investment.” Ron Baumgartner, one of the two commission members voting against the recommendation to deny the petition, said the canmission is not supposed to consider the intended use of the land. He said the commission is only suppoed to determine the classification for a piece of land and not be concerned about what it is to be used for. He said, “We’re not suppose to consider what the use of land will be when it is rezoned. It’s only ours to consider suitable use for the land.” He said that fa a RV park, Runge would have to get a special exception, whidh only can come from the Board of Zoning Appeals. “I really didn’t feel it was our job to determine if the land is used as a RV park, it’s the BZA’s.” Baumgartner also said that Runge was not able to develop the land under residential, so it is up to the commission to see if the land could be used, even under a different classification. He said, “If he could make use of the land in another classification, we should consider it.” The recommendation will be acted upon at the commissioner’s next meeting, February 2. The ancient Greeks believed that eating fennel would help them regain their youth.