The Mail-Journal, Volume 18, Number 6, Milford, Kosciusko County, 25 February 1981 — Page 1

Phones: 658-4111 A & 457-3666

VOLUME 18

j * jMi*J A JMHHHMffib a~—* gg Bk\ * mm . a. --T 9Sav SUPPORT SHOWN — Milford residents turned out at the Lakeland School Board meeting Tuesday night in support of the new Junior high school to be built in their community. Board (nembers held a public hearing on the lease-rental of the new building which could be started in 45 days. .An approximate 22month building period will be required to complete the new junior high building and addition to the elementary school. (Photo by Arch Baumgartner*

Milford citizens show support —

OK lease-rental agreement for new Milford Junior Hiah

By JERI SEELY Over 50 persons, the majority of whom .were from the Milford community, appeared at a hearing of the Lakeland School Board last night Tuesday to show support for the hoards decision to build a new junior high school at Milford * Upon calling the meeting to, order. Board President Bill Little* said approximately one year ago the school board made a public commitment to replace the Milford Junior High School He said rumors had been circulating tn the three communities that it was the intent of the school board to shelve the Milford construction and to build a central junior high school at the Wawasee High School./site He assured those present this was not the intent of the board He noted the board was two members short - Mrs Robert Hoe it and David Carex . but they had a quorum and would hold the public hearing as advertised Little also noted the members who were not m at-' tendance took the same stand as those w ho were present Taxpayers attending the hearing were told the board was 1 meeting m accordance with a notice which appeared in this newspaper on February 11 calling for a hearing on the proposed lease between the school board and Milford Lakeland Community School Building. Inc . for payment of the new school Following Littles remarks. Mrs Arnold Doll said she would speak for those present, telling the board members the majority of those present were there to encourage the board in its decision and to tell them the Milford community would fight

|| Rivalry as favorite Mexican sun spa —

Cancun to compete with Acapulco

By ARCH AND DELLA BAUMGARTNER CaNCUN. Yucatan, Mexico, February 1981 — Northern sun- :<<•: worshippers have for years been seeking warm climates where they could comfortably elude the cold winter months. The growth of such areas as the two Florida coasts, the southwest and Brownsville, Texas, is well known. But as the cost of wintering in these sun-havens has increased, the effort continues to seek out less-expensive places to vacation. We want to report on one which we thought would be H considerably less expensive, but ruefully found it to be not so. We’re speaking, of course, of Cancun, Mexico. That’s right, an el cheapo vacation in Mexico, as we experienced it. would have to be in some boondock place which would quickly turn the average gringo off. For vears we’ve heard, “If you want to retire at a price-you can $| afford, try Mexico.” This might still be good advice, but it would have to be somewhere other than Cancun. r What brought us here is the Mid-Winter Conference of the B National Association of Advertising Publishers (NAAP). These are p people who make up the growing number of free newspaper

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

should a remonstrance be filed against keeping the building in Milford A discussion followed on remonstrances and the fact patrons of the school corporation have 30 days in which to file objections to the project Should a petition be filed it would be sent to the state tax commissioners and a hearing would then have to be held in the corporation limits Taxpayers present assured the board if a remonstrance is filed they would be at the hearing to back the board's position If no remonstrance is filed < no one present at the meeting objected to the passing of the lease agreement) construction could begin within 45 day’s with the construction period estimated at 22 months Should a remonstrance be filed construction would be delayed, the project would have to be rebid and costs would probably be much higher Current bids are eight per cent under the estimate Clark Smith asked if remonstrators couldn t be held responsible for the extra costs He was told only if the case Was taken to court and not settled at the local level Former Milford Town Board President Dr T A Miller said he wanted to compliment the board and appreciated the job done He also seconded Mrs Doll's comments Board members John F Kroh said if it made persons feel any better, the school corporation paid for the six acres of land purchased from Mr and Mrs Virgil Zimmerman at the Milford elementary site earlier m the day James Redslob told the board to take note of the number of

persons present in support of the w ho had taken the time to attend lease and the new building Little the meeting said the board members had Charles Koser asked board received a number of telephone members if thev had studied the fron L£ erS ° nS (Continued on page 2) tendance and appreciated those

Five-hour search fails to find possible downed plane

A search for a possible downed airplane was called off Friday. Feb 20, after approximately five hours of search by state and county police officials A Syracuse dispatcher received reports at approximately 12:45 a m that morning from two residents who heard a plane in distress and what sounded like a crash The search proved to be uneventful “We feel there definitely was an airplane in the area, but we found no indications of a plane crash in the area where two people reported hearing it." commented Captain Ron Robinson of the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department An Indiana State Police helicopter was called to help

AAAD banquet March 21 It's time once again to cast ballots for the Milford Citizen of the Year. A blank appears elsewhere in this issue. The banquet will be held on Saturday. March 21. with the program to be presented by the Wawasee High School Varsity Singers No tickets wiM be saM at the door this year. All must be purchased in advance from Milford Area Development Council members or merchants.

publishers in the United States. Ours, as is generally known, are the three regional editions of ‘the paper’. Our first thought: “Oh, great. Cancun, and it’s in Mexico, t Probably something we can afford. ’’ What an illusion! First, its location. Cancun is a narrow strip of coral and sand in the form of the number 7, situated in the blue Caribbean Sea (they • don’t call it “Gulf’ here), just off the coast of the Yucatan i Peninsula. More people have heard of the island of Cozumal. located about 18 miles south of Cancun. It’s a brief air flight to ’ Cozumal from Cancun. ’ Cancun, in native Maya, means “pot at the end of the , rainbow.” It’s inhabitants are Maya natives, a race that for some unknown reason flourished from 250 to 900 8.C., then disappeared. Our hotel literature informs us that the first Spaniard to come was Francisco Cordoba who landed in 1517. The country took on the Spanish language and many of its customs, and blended into a pleasant, courteous people. Most Mayans were short with jet black hair. Their history and culture was largely lost until recent years when a re-discovery of the Mayan ruins, many in the Yucatan Peninsula, excited interest in this region of the world. (Continued on page 2)

survey the area after a threehour man hunt was called off because of fog The helicopter search covered from SR 5 to Dewart Lake and from Syracuse to North Webster Tom Gilbert, dispatcher on duty at the time, and ‘Steve Knispel. Syracuse Police Officer on duty, both reported hearing a plane flying low and apparently having engine trouble But a check with air traffic control stations in Fort Wayne and South Bend revealed no late or missing planes. Following the hearing of a distressed plane over Syracuse, the dispatchers office received two reports, one individual said he heard what sounded like a crash southeast of CR 1000 N. A women reported to police the

FIRST OF A TWO-PART SERIES

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25,1981

mail-journKl increase EFFECTIVE ON MARCH 4 The subscription price of The Mail-Journal will increase to 112 per year for incounty subscribers and to 114 for out-of-county subscribers, effective March 4. Counter sales will remain at 25 cents per copy. These price increases are caused by a continuing rise in the cost of newsprint and other general production costs, according to Arch Baumgartner. president and publisher of The Papers Incorporated. Subscribers will have until March 4 to renew their subscriptions at the current rate. Persons over the age of 65 will continue to receive their 10 per cent discount on subscriptions. Area drivers in accident at Patons John S. Krozon. 27. r 3 Syracuse and George J. Hartter. 58, r 1 Milford, were involved in a twocar accident Saturday. Feb. 21. at 3:37 p.m. at CR 300E and CR 700. N. Krozon told Kosciusko County Police he was southbound when a car driven by Hartter failed to yield the right of way. He said that he got over as far as possible to avoid hitting him and slid sideways, hitting a sign at George Paton's. The Hartter vehicle was not hit in the incident. Damage to Kozon's car was listed between S2OO and SI,OOO

impact caused items on the wall of her mobile home to shake. About 40 individuals from the sheriff’s department, state police. Syracuse and North Webster Fire Departments and emergency medical services then covered the area for three hours until the fog hampered the search The search continued after daylight with county and state police checking all roads in the area They also talked with residents andrequested that they check their property. Shortly after noon the fog had lifted enough to assure visibility from the police helicopter, piloted by Sgt Barry Black The helicopter flew over the area with observers from the county sheriff’s department. Included in the air search was a five mile radius search around one of the homes where the crash was reportedly* heard Following the two-hour air search officials became satisfied there was no downed plane. Capt Robinson stated there was no false reports made on the incident but there was no evidence found to continue the search and there were no reports of people or a plane missing.

. ***— r _. _ w ~. f ' EMERGENCY ACTION — Residents in Syracuse may have noticed some strange occurrences at the lift station in Lingofelter Park last Friday. For approximately 45 minutes employees of the sewer department pumped out the lift station at the park in order to remove the defective pump. William Hess, liaison officer, stated the water which was pumped out was 90 per cent rain water or more and it was an emergency procedure. Since January 26. Donald Niles. Wawasee Septic Tank Company, has been pumping out the lift station. He could not keep up with the amount of incoming sewage so the action was taken to pump out the station low enough to put a man in the well to remove the pump. The pump was then sent to the contractor, Richard Haskins, w ho in turn was to send the one pump removed earlier by him and the second pump to the manufacturer near Chicago. HI. The company has said a pump will be leased to the town until the two new pumps are repaired. » ' Until the pumps are returned the department has hooked up a pump which is running the sewage through an enclosed hose to the next man hole until the problem is solved. The conservation department was called in on the matter. Officers, in turn, contacted the State Board of Health. To the knowledge of the town attorney, Robert Reed, no action will be taken against the town on the situation. Shown in the picture are town employees John Treece and Alvin Mast at the lift station and Howard Kyle, superintendent of the utilities, in the background. (Photoby Deb Fox)

Milford, Van Buren Township draw up new fire contract

By TERRI CHILCOTE The Milford Town Board and the Van Buren Township Advisory Board have agreed to a new fire contract for 1981-1983 The two boards met Tuesday night at the fire station The boards agreed to allow Van Buren Township to keep the SI,OOO Jefferson Township pays annually for fire protection In the past. Van Buren Township and the Town of Milford has split the SI,OOO in half between them to help pay for operational costs This has become an area of contention in recent years M Since there is no town in Jefferson Township, it pays the Milford-Van , Township Fire Department and the Nap-

Golfb de Mexico — ÜBIMMS T ait^>7A V/ „..... s * K

panee Fire Department for fire protection “The funds from Jefferson Township are going to have to be cut completely out (of the contract).’’ stated Van Buren Township Trustee Walter Wuthrich at Tuesday’s meeting. In September 1979, Wuthrich informed the town board he was no longer willing to split the Jefferson Township funds The town board had objected, because it had planned on receiving the money, as it had in past years, and figured it into the 1979 and 1980 budgets Wuthrich had felt it was unfair to continue to split the funds, because he believed the town was •Receiving additional tax revenue from newly annexed areas The

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town board assured him it was not because of the state imposed frozen tax levy. After several months of negotiations, Wuthrich and the town board agreed in December 1979 to allow Van Buren Township to keep $750 of the Jefferson Township funds and $250 went to the Town of Milford with the stipulation the contract be for one year only. This year's fire contract will remain, the same as in previous years, except the town and township will no longer divide Jefferson Township funds. The traditional 65 35 split in operational costs will remain the same as in past years with the town paying 65 per cent and the (Continued on page 2)