The Mail-Journal, Volume 19, Number 50, Milford, Kosciusko County, 29 December 1982 — Page 1

Hie lliiilK-loiiin.tl

Phones: 658-4111 & 457-3666

VOLUME 19

, pll It. ~ M Readers Poll \ u’ 3L inthis Bv av.-' issue .' * e <•' K ■Jw/ '"" / , **► " ' _ [^* s> '* nr — .->■- ' v««Mk. < ..- ■ k w ''° A ** a '

Preposterous! Ridiculous. Absurd. Bizarre. Far-fetched. Funny. Laughable. That’s what Ron Baumgartner, managing editor of The Mail-Journal, thought when he saw this year’s Readers’ Poll results! We were a bit disappointed that only 50 persons took the time to participate in this year's poll But we are thankful for most of the answers received Some were unprintable! Some are ridiculous How can you hold the Winter Carnival in the summer’ Why would Dolly Parton want to buy the old school grounds in Milford* What advantage would NEW SALESMAN - The Paper* Incorporated has announced the appointment of a long-time Syracuse resident to the sales department. Kip Schumm. North Shore Drive, has been named as sales representative for the Warsaw office of ‘the paper.' Schumm has lived in Syracuse for 13 years. A 1973 graduate of Wawasee High School. Schymm attended Indiana State University where he majored in vocational technical education and graphic arts. Schumm'* appointment replaces Jim Webb who resigned to open his own business. Born in Willshire. Ohio. Schumm has been active in various community functions. The 27-year-old is a member of the Syracuse-Wawasee Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is vice president of the Syracuse Park Department. A member of the Calvary United Methodist Church, he is also co-chairman of 1 the Syracuse-Wawasee Winter Carnival committee. Schumm has worked with Kosko Printers. Milford, for the past eight years. His wife. Pam. is a biology teacher at Wawasee and they have been married for three years.

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

there be in North Webster holding the Mermaid Festival on Yom Kippur* And. really, when we ask people how to spell relief, we really didn't mean we wanted them to spell relief Some of our readers did just that. Obviously they don’t watch television commercials or they don’t credit us with having a dictionary on hand! We just love reading the answers but some of our readers went a bit overboard with their suggestions! Really now. how can the country wait for the next ice age to get it moving* Why would you stuff a bra with The MJ? Groceries mean relief! “Sale” is a favorite word* How can they hold the Flotilla in the winter* A total of 50 persons participated this year — the oldest

Lakeland Schools to seek temporary loan

The Lakeland Community School Board held a special meeting on Thursday at 4 pm to request permission to advertise for a temporary loan against tax warrants of June 30.1983. The amount requested was $1 million against the general fund and $150,000 against the trans-

Holiday records Weather records for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day is Goshen College weather observer Lores Steury’s report this week. The average temperature for December 25 is 27.3 degrees. The warmest temperature was 56 degrees in 1932, and the coldest reading was five degrees below zero on Christmas in 1935. The most snow to fall on Christmas Day was the 6.9 inches in 1951. There was a record of 13 inches on the ground that day. Last year there was 10’ 2 inches on the ground. The week following Christmas holds the record cold reading of 25 degrees below zero, December 28, 1924. The warmest temperaure during that week was the 62 degrees recorded on December 28, 1946, however, that temperature was broken this year with record readings of 65 degrees or higher in some places on Christmas Day. Steury also reported that the most snow received on one day in that week period was eight inches on December 29. 1980. The warmest January 1 readings were 53 degrees in both 1952 and 1966. A reading of 11 degrees below zero was also a record, set in 1968. The most snow received on a New Year’s Day was 7.8 inches which fell in 1928. Lores Steury wishes everyone a Happy New Year.

was a 76-year-old man and the youngest were two 16-year-olds, one boy and one girl. The average age of participants was 39.2 years. One answer came from Florida. Last year 66 persons participated with the average age being 46.6 years. Millicent Fendwick and Sandra Day O’Conner were the names that appeared most as the person who should be the first woman president of the USA. Both received five votes. One reader said we have enough trouble, three said no woman, one thought her mother would be great most of the time, still another thought her daughter should be president and two women wanted the job for themselves. Women from this area who

portation fund. These amounts are equivalent to the same request two years ago. George Gilbert also requested permission to pay the balance of all bills before January 1,1983. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, Jan. 11. when the board will accept bids on the temporary loan.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29,1982

were named are Kosciusko County Auditor Jean Northenor, Wawasee High School’s Ruth Angle, Della (Baumgartner we guess but no last name was given) and M-J employee Renita Owen. Those receiving more than one vote includes Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton and Bess Myerson. Thirteen people said they were ‘‘absolutely’’ happy with what they saw when they look in the mirror. Eighteen “could use some help” and 15 were “kind of” happy. Only one person checked “no” alone, while another checked both “kindof” and “no.” One avoided all of our suggestions and said “most of the time.” (Continued on page 10)

Break-in at Syracuse Town Hall Burglars broke into the Syracuse Town Hall in Wawasee Village some time during the night last night, according to Syracuse Police Chief Robert Houser. • See photoon page 2 Entry was discovered shortly after 7 am. this morning (Wednesday) by first deputy clerk Vella Baumbaugh when she reported for work. Mrs. Baumbaugh said she first noticed her cash box was missing, which gave her cause for alarm. She later discovered the rear door of the building had been jammed. Chief Houser and Corky Wong were working along with other officers late this morning to obtain clues in the break-in. Mary Lou Smith and Susie Runge, both deputy clerks, said late this morning, the amount of cash taken was something under S2OO. Normally the clerk's office keeps no less than SSO cash overnight, plus what checks and cash that come in late in the afternoon following the last bank deposit of the day. Mrs. Baumbaugh went to the local banks to stop payment on checks that she knew from her records had been stolen. Chief Houser said a half case of one-pound bricks of butter was taken from the township trustee’s office, and Deputy Wong lamented that they took his Christmas candy and cookies. No clues were readily available in the break-in, obviously the work of a novice, officers speculated.

Syracuse Town Board to accept bids on town hall

By GARY LEWIS A price tag for the construction of a new Syracuse Town Hall will now be obtained, it was announced at last night's year-end town board meeting. Syracuse board members voted 3-1 to accept bids on the building of the proposed town hall last night. A motion by Joe Morganthaler. seconded by Bill Hess, was approved, giving the architects the green light to advertise and finalize contract documents for potential bidders. Trustee Steve Butt cast the lone dissenting vote. Town attorney Bob Reed was instructed to notify the architects of the board's action. He said the bids need to be obtained soon, since a portion of the proposed building — the township trustee office — is conditioned upon funding and approval from the county. Reed said this would take some time to go through the Fallen pole causes power outage Residents along Waubee Lake were without electricity for approximately one hour due to a fallen 45-foot electric pole. The pole, felled by strong winds, was located near the Waubee Lake Park Pavilion. According to Jay Peffley, manager of the Northern Indiana Public Service office in Syracuse, there were no other outages reported. Syracuse Police Department personnel said the only other wind related incident was a tree on the road at CR 33 and CR 146 which blew down.

Inside... 1982 in pictures pages 8, 9 Local runner , reaches goal page 13

>rr i i |ijW||iKb fl 1 i’lJfl JEFF WELLS HOME

Landmark home destroyed by fire

Fire destroyed a landmark home on the Syracuse-Webster road in Syracuse Monday morning, Dec. 27, at 5:08 a m. The home, located south of Wawasee High School, is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Wells, r 3 Syracuse. Damage was estimated at $40,000.

process properly. After the board’s vote, president Carl Myrick read a letter from Richard K. Harman, controller, of the Dana Corporation. "Recently, we were requested to support a petition limiting expenditures relative to constructing a new town hall, to a maximum of $300,000. We have elected instead to reaffirm our original position. “Our feeling that town business should be conducted in ample, comfortable facilities, is unchanged, as in our belief that the cost of these facilities should be in relation to the town's ability to support them. We question the merit of any tax increase, given the prospect of an agonizingly long road back to economic recovery.” The letter said the board should take into consideration the affect on local industry and "the subsequent erosion of the industrial tax base, that a forced plant closing would cause, should be factored into a long term decision in the magnitude of the new town hall building program. Thus we once again ask that a thorough analysis of all alternatives be conducted before you commit local taxpayers to a series of increased tax bills” Once the bids are received, the board must select the lowest acceptable bid if it decides to seek funding. However, the board also has the option to reject all bids if, for example, the building cost would be prohibitive. Four financing plans are available if the board elects to construct a town hall. The board could form a building or holding corporation of local citizens. This body would then sell bonds and rent the building back to the town. Another method would be to hire a private financing firm with that firm selling the bonds and

A Syracuse police officer saw the fire while on patrol and notified the fire department. When firemen arrived the fire was through the roof in the rear of the home. No one was home at the time of the blaze. The fire started in a chimney. Syracuse firemen, who

the town renting the building back. The third method, government loans, would probably be a Farmers Home Administration loan from the federal government. If the the town hall can be constructed for less than $340,000. the board could raise the funds through general obligation bonds. These bonds are limited to two per cent of the town’s assessed valuation of 17 million. At last week’s meeting, representatives of the architect. Schmidt and Associates, presented a modified plan on the heating and cooling plans for tve proposed town hall. The change involved installing reflective glass to the all-glass walkway at the front of the building and changes in the entrance to the offices.

NIPSCo justifies rate increase request

“It is important to Northern Indiana Public Service Company’s customers that the company be financially sound,” James T. Doudiet, senior vice president and chief financial officer of NIPSCo said last week as he testified in behalf of the utility’s request for emergency interim rate relief. The testimony was presented at a summary hearing held in Indianapolis on December 20 concerning the utility’s request for an emergency rate increase of $54.3 million or 6.7 per cent in annual electric revenues. “An early emergency interim decision is needed to improve NIPSCo’s financial performance," Doudiet said. “Weak financial performances result in increased costs to customers, decreased service, or both.” The utility executive said emergency interim rate relief would be effective in combatting the impact of the company’s low rate of return on equity which has left earnings below dividends. “In our two most recent electric rate cases, September 1981 and August 1982, we received a little more than half of the amount we requested. In both instances, we said that inadequate rate relief would result in additional rate cases

remained at the scene until 9:10 a.m., contained the blaze to the kitchen, where it started, but there was smoke damage throughout the home. Mr. and Mrs. Wells have been restoring the landmark since purchasing the home ap-

NUMBER 50

The changes would cut the airconditioning costs by one-third, but would have little affect on the heating costs. The architect’s median cost estimate for the project — including all incidental fees, site preparation and architectural fees — is now at $626,305. The construction cost is estimated at $542,500. In making his motion, Morganthaler said the board needed to start accepting bids because “if we get the numbers then we’ll know what we’re talking about." He said if the county elects not to enter into the agreement to pay for the partial costs of an assessor’s office, then it would make a big difference in the total cost of the project.

both earlier and in greater amounts than if rate orders had been timely and adequate,” he said. “NIPSCo’s dividend has not been increased since the first quarter of 1977. Our earnings per share of common stock have been lower than the dividend per share paid in the last two years." For the 12 months ending September 30, the utility’s earnings per share were $1.20. Doudiet’s testimony included a list of the 50 largest electric and combination utilities in the country and ranked by return on equity for the 12 months ended June 30. NIPSCo’s 7.6 per cent return on equity for that period placed the utility 49th or next to last. “The average return on equity for the group during this period was 13.44 per cent,” he said. “Obviously by this comparison, our return on equity is severely depressed. “NIPSCo must continue to seek equity investment to support the renewal of and the addition of new energy facilities for this jobsensitive area," he said. “We believe that it is appropriate and to the advantage of customers and investors alike that the Commission act favorably and quickly on this request."

proximately three years ago. Neither of the Wells were available for comment on what will be done with the home. The home was known as the Searfoes home, being owned by Charles and May Searfoss for a number of years.