The Mail-Journal, Volume 19, Number 31, Milford, Kosciusko County, 18 August 1982 — Page 1

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Phones: 658-4111 & 457-3666

VOLUME 19

® w Mil JjHy •, | ffiflL CHAMBER POT i* <■. - fl ■?£JK I . .&K WH ft/ffiW •• ■ '* •Jflf *OOll3l * * > Z ■ > O » jfiwr * mKJI tv--?®- ft-vtSM -'Wat * • mloWlffiWiir' , iia?ij£iiiii'MMKi ;®W • Jjf ■'>t7>.'lr?v| -* IIW J* M • y~ W g 4g jKTTf 1 ' J «*r WiA 1 J., ■ ■ WFI-. r -».■ tX* v ' 3m| -ar *> " ■' 13 ,» Jt ' w1 ■'•' IB I • CHILI WAR LOSER AND WINNERS— Ralph Thornburg, representing the Syracuse Lions Club, is shown presenting a check to Paula Darr. Executive Director of the Indiana Kidney Foundation, as Joe Gray of the Syracuse Chamber of Commtrcf looks on. Thornburg and Gray engaged in a *‘chiH war*' Saturday afternoon at the Chili Cook-off in _ Syracuse, with Gray eventually winning when his chili recipe was judged to be superior to Thornburg's by the judges. (Photo by Doug W alker)

Lights for Wawasee — Street lights installed at 6 potential trouble spots

Streetlights have been installed at six intersections and potential trouble spots on roads around Lake Wawasee Another five lights are scheduled for installation The 6.000-lumen mercury vapor streetlights are being erected by Northern Indiana Public Service Company personnel under a contract with the Wawasee Property Owners Association “Its part of our safety program," says property owners president Wiley (Bill) Spurgeon. Jr. “The main roads around the lake include some dangerous intersections and curves, and lighting them at night reduces the accident potential.” Spurgeon said that still other locations might be lighted in the future • These aren’t neighborhood’ streetlights or night-lights' but full-power lights.” Spurgeon said “Our budget does not permit us to light neighborhoods or roads that are not generally traveled ’’ Lights installed so far include the intersections of Pickwick Road and Warner Road. Warner Road and Eli Lilly Road. Bayshore Dnve and former SR 8, Vawter Park Road and Highland

The Mail

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

✓ See photo on page 2. View Road and the north intersection of Waco Drive and SR 13. A light has also been installed at a double-reverse curve on former Ind. Alt. 13 near Waveland Beach. Yet to be lighted are the intersections of Pickwick Road and East Shore Drive. Pickwick Road and the north road to Kale Island and Pickwick Park, and the south intersection of SR 13 and Waco Drive. “This is just one of our public safety projects." Spurgeon said. Other Wawasee Property Owners Association projects in the public safety area include

Cool wcafhai school is mar The recent cool temperatures and folks getting ready to go back to school remind us that fall is not that far off. This week Goshen College weather observer Lores Steury reports on the growing season for this area. The average length for the growing season over the past 67 years is 153 days, counting from the last frost in the spring to the first fall frost. The shortest growing seasons came in 1917 and in 1929 with 122 days. The longest occurred in 1973 with 200 days. According to Steury. the 1973 season was from April 18 to November 4. The earliest fall frost on record was on September 11,1917; October 7 is the average. The earliest spring last-frost-date came on April 10,1960; the latest on May 26,1984; the average is May 10

support or me wawasee ano Syracuse lakes patrol of the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department, through donations for gasoline and boat expenses in excess of $2,500 annually for several years, seeking erection of railroad crossing gates at the East Shore Drive crossing of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, accomplished last year, and a study of fire proptection needs for the south end of Wawasee and the Papakeechiearea. In 1981. the association sponsored a dispatchers seminar for local police and fire personnel; it was attended by dispatchers, firemen and police officers from a four-county area.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 18,1982

Syracuse board in 3-2 vote to proceed with town hall plan

By GARY LEWIS Opposition to the proposed Syracuse Town Hall may have come too late as board members came one step closer in making the $60,000 building a reality. Mrs. Hoerr files for re-election Mrs. Robert (Marguerite B.) Hoerr, first woman to serve on the Lakeland Community School Board representing district three (Van Buren and the east half of Jefferson Townships), filed for re-election to the school board vn Tuesday. Aug. 17 (flk If re-elected, Mrs Hoerr win serve a second four year term on the board assuring the “con tinuance of an excellent system. ” # There are always ways to make * the board better, stated Mrs. Hoerr not voicing complacency, but rather a continued strive toward improvement. As of now. Mrs. Hoerr is running unattested however, competition has until August 31 to file. After four years on the board. Mrs. Hoerr - s opinion of the board's composition as "very sincere, caring people” has been verified and work on "Project Up, Up and Away" and the new school in Milford gives her "great pleasure.” She also credits Superintendent Don Arnold and Vice Superintendent George Gilbert for being "extremely hard working* members. Being a mother of five and grandmother of five, the children's best interest is still Mrs. Hoerr s main concern Mrs. Hoerr is a life-time President of Milford with the ex iSuHion of 11 years and is the wife Robert (Bob) Hoerr. superintendent of the pattern sho|> for Dalton Foundaries. Warsaw Her children and grandchildren are Mrs Richard A (Rebecca) Pelath. registered nurse in the Intensive Care Unit of Memorial Hospital in Michigan City, has three sons. Scott, Marc, and Tony; Robert A. Hoerr, doctor of internal medicine in Somerville. Mass., is conducting research in nutrition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Frederick J. Hoerr, pathologist for the state erf Alabama in Auburn, has two sons, August and John; Douglas E Hoerr, landscape architect at D. A. Hoerr Nursery. Peoria. 81.. and Jeffrey L. Hoerr. metallurgical engineer at Timken Roller Bearing. Canton. Ohio. MM w K MARGUERITE B. HOERR

Architect Wayne Schmidt of the Indianapolis architectural firm narrowly gained approval to go ahead with the contract documentation phase. The vote was 3-2 with board president Carl Myrick, Joe Morganthaler and William Hess voting in favor while Steven Butt and James Hughes voted against further progress on the building. This was the first time any real opposition by board members was expressed In an earlier meeting. Butt voted against the schematic design approved by ' the other board members. Three Syracuse businessmen were in attendance at the meeting and voiced their disapproval of the project saying more research is needed on what the government bond for building «tbe town, ball wpuld do to local taxes. Joe Toda" asked "how much is it going to raise the average taxpayers bill?** Todd, Bill Beemer and Ernie Rogers mentioned two existing buildings in the town as possible alternative sites — the old post office and the Pickwick building Todd said used buildings are a better investment in the present economic conditions and Beemer said the board would be better off if it "stayed here, save the money and buy it with cash.” "If we float a $600,000 bond, interest alone would be $5,000 a month, or $60,000 a year. "I can lease you buildings all over town," Todd said. He added that his rough estimates did not include utility and other expenses. "I would like to have a little more homework.” Todd said. Todd asked the board if any research was done to estimate the affect on the tax base if the bond is obtained. Town attorney Bob Reed said the board has a couple of alternatives in financing the construction of the town hall. Later in the meeting, Reed said he would look into figuring the actual affect on the tax base and would report to the board his results. Butt told the board members before the vote to "make sure we look at it closely, and that it is what we want to do. ” By accepting the design documents presented by Schmidt, the board has obligated itself to pay an additional $17,000 to the architect for work done so far in developing a design for the new town hall. Within Budget Schmidt said "the bottom-line is that we’re still within the budget.” The town authorized a $650,000 budget and the latest estimate of construction cost is $641,480. The major objection to the developed design was made by Myrick who questioned the amount of parking space on the property. Presently, Schmidt's plans call for 15 parking spaces but Myrick pointed out that zoning ordinances required more parking spaces Schmidt said the parking lot across the street from the site could be used for employee parking and the 15 spaces on the site would be enough for customer parking. “In most zoning ordinances, exceptions to the law are made for lots near the property. Zoning would probably allow you to include the parking lot across the street,” he said. Schmidt explained to the board that his firm requires a construction meeting at least once every two weeks with the contractor hired — after the body approved the lowest bid. “Our concern is that it gets done (Continued on page 2)

■ f K TOWN HALL PLANS — Architect Wayne Schmidt, representing an Indianapolis-based architectural firm, points out some of the features in the design of the new Syracuse Town Hall. Plans for the proposed town hall came under fire when three Syracuse businessmen voiced their disapproval of plans to construct the $60,000 building at a three-hour town board meeting last night. (Photo by Gary Lewis)

Six escape injury in boat fire

. By GARY LEWIS Six passengers narrowly escaped injury when the boat they were riding in while skiing on Dewart Lake was engulfed by flames moments after they jumped out of it. Tim Sheets. 27, Indianapolis, was driving the boat while his brother, Trent, 18, Nappanee, was skiing. The boat was 200 to 300 yards from shore and was traveling about 30 mph when it suddenly slowed down. Sheets smelled gasoline and was just about to shut the boat off when he heard a sound he described as a “poof.” Moments later, the back engine cover Mew off and he saw a flame shoot straight up. One of the passengers in the boat, Lynn Couse, Nappanee, did not know how to swim, said

mmma W - ~~ - v nL E■fen oik PILLAR OF SMOKE—A pillar of flames and smoke is all that’s left of a speedboat belonging to James Mfller, Nappanee. Milford firemen borrowed a nearby pontoon boat and guided the bunting bant to share so fire hoaes canid rench it. Six paasengera were on board when the boat caught on fire tart all escaped injury. (Photoby Gary Lewis)

Sheets. She managed to grab a seat cushion just before they all jumped off the deck, he said. Another passenger, five-year-old Trisha Speicher. Milford, was grabbed by Sheet’s wife, Beth, as they both dove in the water The other passenger in the boat was Jeff Stillson, 16, Nappanee. The boat belonged to James Miller, Nappanee. All six were spending the week at Miller’s cottage on Dewart. “It was lucky it (the flame) shot straight up,” said Tim Sheets. “It did not go in the direction of anybody.” he said. “Everybody’# alright, everything is okay,” Pat Sheets said to a group of onlookers as the Milford Fire Department arrived at the scene. Mrs. Sheets, mother of three of the passengers in the boat, was on shore when she saw the flames. “They were skiing

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out in the water when I heard a pop,” she said. “I looked and counted six beads in the water. ” The Milford Fire Department arrived on the scene about 15 minutes after the Thursday (Aug. 12) mishap, said Tim Sheets. The six passengers were yelling to shore for help when a nearby pontoon boat came to the rescue. Milford fire fighters guided a neighbor’s pontoon boat out to the burning craft and managed to push the boat toward shore where a waiting group of firemen extinguished the flames with a hose. The firemen fought the flames for 15 minutes before they completely doused the fire. The cause of the fire is unknown, but firemen speculated it was due to a gasoline explosion in the engine. The boat, an in-board-outboard 16-foot Johnson, was a total loss.