The Mail-Journal, Volume 19, Number 29, Milford, Kosciusko County, 4 August 1982 — Page 4

THE MAIL-JOURNAL —Wed., August 4,1982

4

Editorials

Open house Sunday Citizens of the Lakeland Community will be given a chance to tour the new Milford Junior High School and the elementary school during an open house set for Sunday, Aug. 8, from 1 to 4 p.m. The new junior high school is a building the entire corporation should be proud of with facilities second to none. The building replaces the old Milford High School built in 1914. It is being built at a cost of $3,378,743 with the pupil capacity being 400. Additional classrooms have been added to the elementary school to allow for the fifth grade to be retained in the elementary school as in other schools in the corporation. Because of limited space, fifth graders at Milford have in the past been housed in the junior high school in past years. With school scheduled to begin in just a few short weeks away this opportunity presents an ideal time to get acquainted with the new building and the changes made at the elementary school. People will be free to browse in the buildings. Plan to attend the open house on Sunday! Is 'police brutality' justified? The somewhat ominous term “police brutality’’ has been bandied about freely in the North Webster community, if not throughout Kosciusko County, the past week in connection with the apprehension of William Wheatley, the first person to break out of the new $7 million Kosciusko County Jail and Justice Building, last Wednesday afternoon. It stems from the fact that Sheriff’s deputy Tom Brindle grabbed the prisoner by the hair and jammed him into the back seat of the police car at the time he was apprehended in a dense wooded area just north of North Webster. It didn’t help one bit that the unseemly incident was shown over Fort Wayne television. Without doubt members of Sheriff Al Rovenstine’s police department were exasperated to have a prisoner walk out of what appears to be an impregnable bastion, and to elude them and their K-9 dogs as he did. They could see the cloud of criticism that would be theirs over the entire affair, and the frayed nerves that resulted were a contributing cause of deputy Brindle’s actions, to be sure. This we would like to believe, until we heard of another incident where deputy Brindle used a large flashlight to work over a prisoner, also in the North Webster area, some time ago. No one is suggesting a “go easy’’ policy on prisoners, but brutality such as was witnessed in the North Webster case last Wednesday afternoon is uncalled for. Sheriff Al Rovenstine would do well to take this matter seriously. The actions of deputy Brindle do not reflect well on Kosciusko County, nor the type of sheriff’s department Rovenstine runs. This is all the more true when he considers the fact he is running for reelection to a second term as sheriff of Kosciusko County. August, 1982 The last full month of summer, August, is today also the month in which most Americans return to school. A few years back, summer holidays invariable lasted until September. Now the last of August finds most high school and college students back at desks. August, then, has a nostalgia as the last of summer, and as John Parris, the veteran Appalachian Mountains writer says, August in the hills and mountains is summer passing, with autumn just beyond the hills. In the deep south, August and September remain hot all month long. But for most of the country August is summer’s last fling. It’s time for canning and freezing, enjoying nature’s garden pleasures, the year’s harvest — and the last lazy, hazy days of summer, 1962. Thinking usually means less talking. Mental vacations are more necessary than physical rest.

What others say — A sense of obligation . . . Man’s ability to think sets him apart from the creatures, and allows him to maintain a superior position over other living things. Since it is easier to trust what is subservient, it is natural to assume that man is more skeptical of fellow human beings, and more trusting of the ‘faithful’ animals. About a month ago, the Neighbor ran a letter to the editor from an elderly man whose dog was dying because the man was unable to pay for the treatment that would cure him. Within the first hour after that week’s edition was distributed — and over the days that followed — the newsroom was deluged with phone calls offering financial and medical aid. Letters likewise poured in through the day’s mail, with contributions from readers who were moved by the animal’s plight. Many of the callers and letter writers said that the story touched their hearts and that they emphathized with the animal who was helpless in his suffering. In total responses, the Neighbor handled about 75. In last week’s newspaper, we ran a similar letter, with a variation in the subject matter. It was a correspondence from a woman who told of two people in need of help. The husband was dying of leukemia and the wife was disabled. The couple, in their fifties, were getting by on a disability check since neither was-well enough to work. The total amount of their income did not cover half their expenses; most was absorbed by the husband’s chemotherapy and medications. The writer expressed great concern. She had tried to help but also had limited finances. Watching the couple suffer and go through what money they had, doing without food and necessities, and standing to tose the modest home they had worked for all their lives —she was seriously distressed. A singular response was received on this one. The Leukemia Society of America wrote to the Neighbor immediately, and that letter is printed in ‘voice of the People’. The couple has since begun the necessary applications for assistance through the Society and its executive director promptly called to thank us for passing on the information. At this writing there have been no other communications. Something is to be gleaned from this, but we’re almost afraid to attempt a conclusion. If one was to be given, however, in part it could be that while people indeed possess compassion, it is perhaps in the order of things that they be skeptical of the motives of fellow human beings. After all, man can and should fend for himself, while the lesser creature cannot. It leads one to wonder what would happen if forces greater than man were to utilize the same option, but took a different stance. “A man said to the universe: ” wrote Stephan Crane in War is Kind, “ ‘Sir, I exist,’ ‘However,’ replies the universe, ‘The fact has not created in me, a sense of obligation —The Neighbor, Tampa, Fla.

Open house will be held on Sunday. Aug. 8, at the new Milford Junior High School and at the elementary school. Court news

MARRIAGE DISSOLUTIONS The following couples have filed for marriage dissolutions in Kosciusko County Circuit and Superior Courts: Himes — Bonnie Himes vs Jack Himes, r 1 Leesburg. The couple married December 8, 1967 and separated July 13, 1982. Plaintiff seeks the dissolution of the marriage, an equitable division of property, attorney’s fees and costs Bryan — James A. Bryan vs Kathleen M. Bryan, 212 E. Washington St., Syracuse. The couple married October 1, 1977 and separated July 15, 1982 Plaintiff seeks a dissolution of the marriage, an equitable division of property and custody of the two minor children to be determined by court MARRIAGE LICENSES The following couples have filed for marriage licenses in the clerk office of Kosciusko County Clerk Jean Messmore : Martz-Gaerte Richard Clee Martz, Jr., 28, box 69 Leesburg and Pamela Sue Gaerte, 23, box 69 Leesburg Smith-Baumgartner Gerald Lynn Smith, 28,4908 W. SOOS, Lafayette and Carlynn Kay Baumgartner, 27, r 4 box 94H. Syracuse

Unsung heroes —

Harold Hughes has been a fireman for 16 years

Harold Hughes had been considering joining the Syracuse Volunteer Fire Department for some time before be finally became a member in 1966. “I had two brothers with the department, and when the opening came up in 1966,1 finally took it,” he said. Hughes said that one of his brothers, Joe, continues to serve on the force with him. i During his 16 years as a fireman, Hughes has noted major improvements in the equipment used by department members. Hughes said that he had no specific duties at the scene of a fire. “Whatever there is to be done, that’s what we do," be said. Hughes said few members of the Syracuse department had specific, pre-assigned , duties, other than members of the EMS units. “I would have liked to become an EMT, but the amount of time my job keeps me out of town just won’t allow it,” Hughes said. “As it is, I’m strictly a fireman.” A native of Syracuse, Hughes

COUNTY COURT The following area residents of Kosciusko County have had fines assessed and have paid those fines in Kosciusko County Court, Jim Jarrett, judge: Speeding — Betty L. Hite, 36, North Webster, S4O; Robert E. Seitz, 65, North Webster, SSO; Jeffrey P. Glon, 17, Syracuse, SSO; Danny L. Pischke, 23. North Webster, SSO Illegal consumption — Gary L. Kiser, Leesburg. $Bl Public intoxication — Melvin Oliver Greenfield, Syracuse, $56 Time article features research of Dr. Shipman The August 2 issue of Time Magazine carries several articles on “Herpes,” in which a local doctor is mentioned. The article “Battling and Elusive Invaders” mentions, as one of the researchers, Dr. Charles Shipman, a microbiologist at the University of Michigan. Dr. Shipman is the son-in-law of Mrs. H. Carrington Yeager, r 2 Leesburg. Dr. Shipman spends time on Lake Tippecanoe with his family and has friends in this area.

said be gets great pleasure in serving the people of his hometown. Hughes has a wife, Ruth Maxine, and a daughter, Laura He has been employed at Johnson Control in Goshen for the past 32 years.

THE MAIL-JOUMAL (U S.P.S. 325*0) rrmwatmu my itw ’on• imy y gg C»lg66 mgttgr gt me Rest Office at SyrecwM, lagdana aaMJ. Sacaad class pasta** paid at iw E. Maia Slr**l. Syraona. ladiaaa ««M7 and at addiWaaai entry afficas Subscription: Ml per year in KaeoMke CanarySiSaalsidocaaaty. POSTMASTERS Send data** at address term* to The Mail Journal. P.O. Ban IM. Millard. Indiana USC

"CRUZIN AROUND 'CUSE"

DON'TB€ A dumb bunny 1 1 ! —~~ if L H k I li M ~ \t\ I * 1 <\l

THIS LARGE sign offers good advise for any young person who might be entertaining the idea of dropping out of school. It represents the handiwork of Pam Oswald. 1982 Wawasee High School graduate and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Oswalt, owners of the Three Flags in the Village. Pam is managing Three Flags No. 2 at Southeast Bay Marine, Lake Wawasee. during the summer months. Pam posed with the sign for the purpose of this photo. She and Scott Stutzman, who will be a WHS senior this coming year, were among those school art students who took part in a contest (perforce) sponsored by the Burkhart Sign Co. of Fort Wayne. The sign company selected Pam and Scott's drawings to enlarge into road signs. Pam’s, shown above, is located on the northeast corner of SR 13 and CR 1000 North, while Scott's rests somewhere in Elkhart County. The two young artists were students in Jerry Johnson’s art class at Wawasee High. —o— THE SYRACUSE-Wawasee Chamber of Commerce is attempting to put together an Activity Day sometime during the month of September when its members — professional, retail and industrial — can “eajoy a day off” and get to know one another better. Interested? If so, call president Phyllis Louden, 457-4911; Jim Caskey, 457-3165; or Bill Beemer, 457-3274 by August 4. —o— ONE DAY last week Vince Leo of Maxweiton Country Club restaurant turned up at his Syracuse Case for breakfast and wore a wireless telephone on his belt — something fairly new in the world of gadgetry. Convinced it was more than a gadget, waitress Patti Richey persuaded Leo to leave it on the “Breakfast Club” table during the morning rush hour so customers could call their office and visa versa. —o— RUDY CESCO has been an industrial arts teacher and coached golf (girls in the fall and boys in the spring) for some 13 years at the high school. A let of people know that, but they don’t know of the work he's doing with 8 to 13-year-olds during the summer months. He has 20 young aspiring golfers (three of them girls) he has been working with on his own time this summer. The motive of it all is to “get kids interested in golf.” in his own words. He adds that this year’s efforts appear to be paying off, as he has a couple youngsters who are looking real good. They practice on the North Webster driving range Monday mornings and sort of fit themselves in at South Shore and Maxweiton as they can. None of these establishments make a charge for Rudy's youngsters. IF THIS emphasis on young golfers keeps up, this area will be turning out some real “pros.” To carry this a step further, each Thursday at about 9 a m. Jeff Bridgford, the pro at South Shore, schools 15 to 16 youngsters on the basics of golf — most of them youngsters of regular members — for a nominal fee of $lO.

p > • * 11 t ffi - BOAT WEDDING* — An unusual wedding occurred at North Webster recently when Ron Johnson and Nancy Underwood of Muncie were married on the pontoon inside Jim Miller’s Ye Olde Pub. In the above photo, taken following the wedding, are, from left. Rev. Paul Garner, retired minister who lives on Kuhn Lake; Charles Underwood, brother of the bride and best man; the bridegroom and bride; and Janet Underwood, sister-in-law and matron of honor.

CABLE TELEVISION is coming to the Syracuse area and part of the lakes area at a fast pace, according to workmen of Noble County Cable TV, which has the contract for installation , here, working under Bob Kocher. About 150 have already been connected up in Wawasee Heights and such places as Boston and Medusa Streets. And good news for those people who just spend their summers here: they can disconnect while they are not at their local homes, and for4s they can re-connect when they return. -O'north WEBSTER’S “Camelot'' theme came in for another dose of big-city publicity a week ago Sunday when the influential Indianapolis Star featured the neighboring town in its Spectrum section. Earlier, the Chicago Tribune did a piece in which it made much of the fact that, with J. Homer Shoop departing from the local scene. King Arthur's Court has lost much of its luster. The Star piece, complete with numerous photos, gives a lot of space to Shoop as the originator of the whole thing and to sportscaster Chris Schenkel who has made North Webster and Lake Tippecanoe his home. In the article Shoop, who calls himself Merlin, explains “Well, you know. Merlin was always the guy behind the scenes, Arthur's right-hand man. I guess you could say I was the sparkplug in getting ail this put together.” Schenkel joined Shoop's efforts to rejuvenate a town and finance scholarships for area high schoolers after buying a home on nearby Late Tippecanoe 13 years ago, the article goes on. Together the two have lured some of the sports' biggest heroes to tiny North Webster, population 456. “Once here, they march in a parade, lunch at the local country club and finally don the robe and crown identifying them as a King of Sports.” The Star goes on, “Infidels remain, dwelling in un-crenelated homes and doing business in such un-Arthurian locales as the White Front Grocery.” It quotes grocer John Bockman, who said, “Well, it didn't ruin the town, but it really hasn’t helped all that much either.” Such continuing hereticism worries Shoop, who harbors a lingering fear that his prairie Camelot soon may be as faded a memory as King Arthur’s legendary realm. Even Schenkel. although vowing. “I'll never let anything with my name on it go under,” admitted that not enough townspeople have accepted responsibility for perpetuating the festival, the foundation and the character which has made their village unique. The town and the sports palace need each other to survive.” For his part, Homer Shoop remains convinced that devotion to the Camelot theme will lead North Webster to the Holy Grail of economic success. He said, “I only wish I had thought of this idea 30 years ago, then I might have had time to make it ! all come true.” —o—“BREEZY” may be gone from the Syracuse community but its memory lingers on. It lingers on, no less, than ta a fancy belt buckle one of its former owners, “Bub” Whitehead, sports. Breezy almost became a member of Bub's family — and that of the community, for that matter. (Continued on pages)