The Mail-Journal, Volume 19, Number 4, Milford, Kosciusko County, 10 February 1982 — Page 1

Phones: 658-4111 & 457-3666

VOLUME 19

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Great flooding potential Goshen College weather observer Lores Steury reports that he has recorded 14 inches of snow currently on the ground, . making a great flooding potential for the spring. The total snowfall for this winter is now 59 4 inches. Record snowfall for one winter was set in 1977-78 with 70.5 inches. Temperature extremes recorded for some dates this week are highs in 1925 of 58 degrees on February 7, and 65 degrees on both February 8 and 9. In 1933 the mercury dipped to a bitter cold -20 degrees on February 9, to set the record low for that date

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

Too much wind... Again, too much wind stopped the flight of the hot air balloon at the Syracuse-Wawasee Winter Carnival Saturday. The balloon was filled with air. and with passengers, however, it was decided the 15 mph winds were too heavy and would be dangerous. Balloon operators prefer winds to be between eight and 10 mph before lifting off The carnival was termed a success and while the winds were high and the weather was cold the area did escape the snow storms which have been common place on week ends this winter. Additional Winter Carnival information and photos appear elsew here in this issue. Holiday post office hours Lakeland area post offices. Milford. Syracuse and North Webster, will be closed Monday, Feb. 15. in observance of Washington s birthday. The Syracuse and Milford post offices will have no residential or business mail deliveries and no lobby service on Monday The North Webster Post Office will also have no residential or business mail deliveries, but the lobby will be open until 10 a m. on MondayNormal mail service will resume Tuesday.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19,1982

Building on schedule — Board OK's library furniture for new Milford Junior High School

By MORRINE HALF ACRE Members of the Lakeland Community School board voted on and approved the recommendation made by George Gilbert, assistant superintenden’ of schools, that Lee Company. Inc. of Terre Haute supply the library furniture for the Milford Junior High School currently under construction. The vote was taken at the board's meeting on Tuesday evening. Feb. 9. The bid, $21,590. submitted byLee Company. Inc., was the lowest received for the furniture and it met the specifications set by the school for the solid oak desks, tables, shelves, and other furniture items. Some of the other bids by suppliers did not meet the specifications in that prices were quoted for furniture containing particle board cores. Gilbert said that Lee Company, Inc. had also supplied other libraries in the school system, which he visited before making the recommendation. He also visited a library that had been contracted by Riddle School Equipment. The board was pleased with the fact the school will be getting one of the best grades of quality school furniture for the lowest price. . k Progress Report A special construction report was given by Jack Sullivan, job superintendent, for the new Milford Junior High project. Also present for the progress report was Doug McCoy, architectural representative, and Carl Hadley, director of building and grounds for the Lakeland schools. Sullivan reported that an estimated 70 per cent of the construction project was complete and is on schedule. In some areas they are ahead of schedule with 30 per cent of the plaster and lathing complete., Most of the finishing material provided by Herman & Sons of Indianapolis has already been delivered and installed or is being stored until time for installation. Sullivan also reported that onlyone day of work was lost due to the recent bad weather. When asked if they had been any problems Sullivan reported that it is only natural to have problems occurring every day on a construction site and as they arise solutions are worked out. So far no problems of great significance have turned up. The job superintendent went on to ad. “I am very pleased with the progress on the job and I feel we are on schedule.”'Blacktop and sidewalks will be the last items to be added to the junior high This should be done Hyndman fund drive chairman Lakeland Day Care Center Board of Directors held a special meeting, Thursday evening. Feb 4 for the examination and discussion of preliminary drawings of the proposed new center. Steve Vanderbur, president, announced Rev. David Hyndman will be chairman of the fund drive committee. Co-chairmen for the following areas are. Contractor project. Vera Hall and Carol Hurd; presentations and brochures. Mary Tracy and Carol Hurd; club and organizations. Rosaetee Pletcher and Becky Thomas; Retail and professional business, Marty Kon opinski. Don Tatman and Sherry Leedy; manufacturing. Greg Smith and Steve Vanderbur; individual donations. Bob Ahrns and Vera Hall; and churches. Ann'Haffner and Rev. Hyndman. During the meeting Mrs. Allen Shively presented the board with a S2OO donated from the Calvary United Methodist Women’s Missionary Society.

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sometime in July. School Calendar The 1982-83 school calendar was approved at the meeting with only two changes from previous years. The first change is that the students will be returning a few days earlier to school this coming fall, one full week prior to Labor Day, with the first day for students on August 30. The second change occurs on March 11 when teachers will be given a half day for Teacher in Service Day. This allows the various educational departments and committees the opportunity to meet and give their reports andrecommendations Superintendent Don Arnold reported there has been a total of eight snow days to date. He also passed out a report to board members comparing the snow days of the Lakeland schools over

Milford's old dump truck auctioned off at $ 2,650

By TERRI CHILCOTE The Milford Town Board auctioned off the street department’s old dump truck for $2,650 to Hursey Lawn Service at its meeting Tuesday evening, Feb. 9. The bidding started at S9OO with several bidders present. Other bidders dropped out at $1,500, but Milford Motors and Bill and Harlan Hursey of Hursey Lawn Service continued until the Hurseys offered the final bid of $2,650. The old 1973 Ford F 350 dump truck was sold for cash and must be removed from the town’s property within seven days of the purchase. In other business, Milford Fire Chief Max Duncan reminded residents to dig out fire hydrants buried in the snow in front of their homes and businesses. Town Board Trustee Darrell Orn added that residents at least mark where the fire hydrants are if

first of a series — New justice building resulted from a look into the future 20 years ago

By VICKI HYDE-HICKEY It was a look into the future — nearly 20 years — and the financial acumen of a group of farsighted men that made the recent opening of the Kosciusko County Justice Building a reality in 1982. According to Kosciusko County Auditor Jean Northenor, councilmen Gail Robbins, Ralph Oyler, John Deaton. Seth Mason. Harry Beatty, Charles Bryant and Harry Zimmerman and commissioners Dale Sponseller. Millard Stokey and Raymond Lash and county auditor Tom Warner saw the need in 1958 to establish a commutative jail and commulafive courthouse fund and began to save for that eventuality. “They saw that, in the future, there was going to be a very definite need,” Mrs. Northenor said. “And at that time, it was very logical, and relatively easy. to save money ” Then, in 1978, in a council meeting, the point was raised that "We were in big trouble with the jail; we knew that at any time we were facing a liability suite because we couldn’t separate the prisoners properly,” Mrs. Northenor explained. “Someone was going to get hurt or a girl was going to get raped — that

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the past 10 years. Only two other years, 1976-77 and 1977-78, had more days out to the weather with a total of nine days and 11 days respectively. The years and days are: 1972- 0 1973- 2 1974- 0 1975- 0 1976- 9 1977- 11 1978- 2 1979- 1 1980- 4 1981- B<todate) Arnold reported that the state law requires students to attend 175 days of school per year and that snow days are not to be made up because of the fact they are considered to be acts of God. There was some discussion on the fact Indiana legislatures need to be more involved with getting

they don’t want to dig them out. In discussing recent snow emergencies, Duncan stated. “We’ve got this (procedures) down almost to a science.” Hobbs suggested during snow emergencies persons call the Milford Fire Station office number. 658-4141, not the fire number, in emergency situations unless it’s a matter of life or death. Hobbs expresses his appreciation to Syracuse Enterprises for giving him access to their building and allowing him to take whatever was needed during this winter’s snow emergencies. Duncan also thanked the company for donating four cots and one emergency stretcher to the fire department. Orn informed the board, since he is now a town board trustee, he can no longer serve on the Milford Economic Development Commission and the board must

potential was just there constantly.” It was at that point that the planning began in earnest. Architect Robert Cain was contacted and began a feasibility study to determine present and future needs. Following the study, a committee, composed of all seven councilmen, the three county judges, the three commissioners, Mrs. Northenor and a couple of newspaper reporters started looking at other buildings. “We were all over Indiana, Michigan — just all over — looking at anyone who was building a new jail and or justice building.’* Subsequently, in late 1978, Mrs. Northenor said that the commissioners decided that action on the proposed building was necessary. A land committee was appointed; on the committee were Gerald Smalley. Bob Anglin. Rex Reed and Mrs. Northenor. Their task was to determine the proper location for the building. “We were to decide whether the building was to be in downtown Warsaw, whether we should decide to go outside Warsaw, and if that was to be our decision, what direction we were to go.” Mrs. Northenor said the task was a difficult one — not only did

this problem solved. There was concern expressed on the part of some board members that students were required to learn more and more and allowed less time to do so. Letter Os Thanks President Bill Little reported that Wawasee’s new Principal H. J. Hull has been fulfilling his duties now as principal for the last three weeks. Little said he was doing a fine job and read a special letter of appreciation addressed to Donn Kesler and the staff of Wawasee High School. In the letter they were credited for continuing the educational process in an extremely orderly manner throughout the transition period between principals and were commended for the additional hours of labor put forth during this time. The letter was signed by Little, John Kroh,

make a new appointment. The appointee must be a Democrat, property owner and Milford resident. The board decided to ask Robert Auer, former town board trustee, to serve on the commission The board voted to approve the 1982 salaries of police department personnel and announced Deputy Rich Schneider will be attending the police academy at Fort Wayne in May. Hobbs informed the board he, Schneider and fire department personnel will soon attend an arson seminar in South Bend. School Crossing Guard Needed Hobbs reported no one has applied for the school crossing guard position. The position pays SI,OOO a year. The hours are Monday through Friday, 7:40 to 8:10 a.m., 11 to 11:20 a m. and 2:45 to 3:30 p.m. Anyone interested should contact Milford Clerk-Treasurer Maria Lozano or

they want to consider what was best for Warsaw, what was best for county government — but mainly — and they were in agreement on this point — what was best for Kosciusko County as a whole. “Following all this deliberation.” Mrs. Northenor explained, "We took our recommendation back to the board. We felt it should be downtown and adjacent to this (the existing courthouse) building, if possible. We decided this because we felt that the different offices are tied together in so many ways, that there is no real way to separate them. Os course, you can separate the jail (as we had before) but then you have to transport the prisoners and that presents problems, too.” She added emphatically, “There was never any thought of doing away with the existing courthouse.” The logical step then was to find land downtown. “One of our main considerations was to find land that we didn’t have to condemn; we felt very strongly about that.” Two different pieces of property became available downtown and following study, it was decided to build where the justice building was finally constructed. “We were able to purchase the buildings at an

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Philip Payne, Dave Carey and Marguerite Hoerr. Assistant superintendent Gilbert said during the that the school lunch program was holding its own. Some students began carrying brown bagged lunches earlier this year as a result of the increase in hot lunch and milk prices, however, hot lunch is regaining its popularity and he reported that 86 per cent of North Webster students are eating in the cafeteria Some additional good news for the school and parents is the fact that Allen Dairy, the schools supplier of milk, is not anticipating any further increases in the price of milk for this area in the near future. Many are&s are facing price increases once again to keep up with rising costs of suppliers.

Marshal David Hobbs. Town Board President Steve Miller said Sewer Tech, Inc., the firm who cleans the town’s sewer lines periodically, wants to clean out part of the sewer lines now, but Miller said he felt it was a bad time, because of the weather. “I don’t think it would be advantageous at all,” Street and Water Superintendent Ron Conley agreed. The board decided to tell Sewer Tech, Inc. to wait till warmer weather. In other street and water ! department business, Conley reported the street department will begin hauling away the huge mound of snow on Main Street across from The Papers Incorporated. Conley asked about the possibility of the town providing him with a beeper, so he can be reached at all times when (Continued on page 2)

appraised value; there were no condemnation proceedings.” Additional acquisitions later included property which will be made into a parking lot in the spring. Financing was completed with about 70 per cent monies-on-hand and the rest was handled with a $3 million bond issue. “We’re talking about a total projected cost — in land purchase, in renovation of the exisitng building and the new construction and the parking lot — at right about $7 million. And the bond for $3 million of that,” the auditor explained. When discussing the fire which damaged the courthouse, Mrs. Northenor explained that, from a financial point of view, she doesn’t believe that it added any cost to the total expenditure. “In fact, I believe it actually helped,” she said. “From the standpoint of the renovation, the fire helped, because we hadn’t really anticipated the costs, costs we now see we would have had. The fire ended up picking up a large part of the expense that we would have had with the renovation.” She added, “The fire wasn’t good » —by any stretch of the imagination — but from a strictly financial viewpoint, it helped us.”