The Mail-Journal, Volume 21, Number 28, Milford, Kosciusko County, 25 July 1984 — Page 1

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VOLUME 21

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KING OF SPORTS — 1983 Indianapolissoo champion Tom Sneva. center, was crowned the 1983 King of Sports at the International Palace of Sports, North Webster, on Tuesday. Helping Sneva into his royal attire are Marilyn "Hirasher. director of the International Palace of Sports, and Hilliard Gates, a Prince of Heraldry of the Palace of Sports. (Photo by Tom Charles)

68th county fair opens Monday

The 68th Kosciusko County Fair will commence Monday, July 30, and continue through August 4. The Burket United Methodist Church has again organized the Gospel Sing for Sunday evening from 6 to 9:30 p.m Everyone is welcome to this event held in the grandstand The fair officially opens on Monday evening with the 4-H Tenure awards program at 7 p.m. immediately followed by. the 4-H Fashion Revue. Both these events will be held at the high school The grandstand attraction will be the demolition derby at 7 p.m. The 4-H judging begins on Tuesday morning with swine and poultry, rabbits and pigeons. At 7:30 p.m. the livestock judging contest and at 8 p.m. the Buckeye

‘Yes!’— , / By CATHY BRILL Staff Writer As a woman I am well aware of the complexities created by our ever-changing society. Changing roles, the “new morality” can cloud the decisionmaking of anyone. To one barely more than a teen, yet learning of herself, the complexities of society are understandably overwhelming. Such was obviously the case with Vanessa Williams, the 21-year-old selected last September to represent the nation as Miss America. While it is regretful that Miss Williams must be the object of such public scandal, it is perhaps more regretful that damage has been done to The Miss America Pageant, which has grown to be such a symbol of our nation and to our nation in its 63-year history. However, it is apparent that the only possible repair for damage done by this public outrage has come to place with Miss Williams relinquishing her title.

Indians State Library ll|O North Senate Ave. Indianapolis, IN hb2ol|

Consolidation of THE MILFORD MAIL <Est. 1888) and THE SYR ACUSE-WAWASEE JOURNAL fEst. 1907)

Midget Racing will take place. Kiddies' Day is Wednesday afternoon from noon to 5 p.m, with reduced prices on rides. Kids may register for two bicycles and many other prizes to be given away at 5 p.m. at the grandstand. Throughout the day, the beef, dairy beef, goat, pony and sheep shows are scheduled. Bonnie Nelson performs for two shows in the evening at 7 and 9 p.m. in the grandstand. All day Thursday is Senior Citizens Day. Senior Citizens park for free until 3 p.m. Many activities and a drawing are also planned'. Old time farm machinery will be on display all day in the Machinery Field. Rabbits, beef and dairy will be shown. The Hoosier State Tractor Pull is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. The 4-H horses at halter and open halter classes start the day

Vanessa Williams\ 'Miss America' justified ?

off Friday. The 4-H club livestock auction begins at 10 a m. A SemiTruck Pull is in the grandstand at "7:30 p.m. The fair winds down on Saturday with dairy, horse and sheep shows during the day? Sprints and Street Stock Auto Racing will begin at 6 p.m. in the grandstand. In the Shrine Building, the new Kosciusko County Fair Queen will be crowned. The second annual 4-H reunion will be held in the show bam all evening. Various demonstrations will be presented in the Women’s Building Tuesday thru Thursday. These include: a microwave demonstration and the Kosciusko County Fashion and Wool Show on Tuesday, The Art of Spinning on Wednesday and Folk Art and Tin Punching on Thursday. All week, World of Pleasure Shows and Rides, will provide the midway attractions

Admittedly this pageant, as others, is a moneymaking “business.” However, despite its commercial qualities, it has become a symbol of Americana with incredible proportions. I can recall, as an eight-year-old child watching the pageant on television in all its glitter, I thought how wonderful it would be to be on that stage. Someday, I thought, I would wdnt to look and be just like that. An American dream, certainly, and a definite role model for our nation’s youth, Miss Americahas a responsibility. While it is true that no one is perfect, and we all make mistakes, Miss America must show upstanding moral character. In total, she must display exemplary behavior. Her behavior must be an appropriate role model for children in their formative years. Just as Miss America is a symbol to Americans, she is also a symbol of America. She represents our nation, not just to us, but to every other nation in the (Continuedon page 2)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25,1984

WPOA to hear Oakwood plans Members of the Wawasee Property Owners Association will hear about plans for the proposed Oakwood Spiritual Life Center at the annual meeting Friday, Aug. 3, in the South Shore Pavilion, SR 13S Syracuse. Representatives of Oakwood will present a program and slide show following a social hour, dinner and business meeting, according to Wiley W. (Bill) Spurgeon Jr., association president. “Oakwood Park has been a part of Wawasee for nearly a century and we re delighted that Hunter Colpitts and Bruce Ough have accepted our invitation to tell us their plans for the future,” Spurgeon said. The property owners’ meeting will begin at 6:30 with a social hour. Dinner will be at 7:30, followed by a brief business meeting and thte Oakwood program. Reservations are needed for the dinner although members are welcome to attend just the business meeting. Reservations are due by Monday and should be made with association executive Jane G. Nearing, 457-4768. Four directors will be elected by association members at the business meeting. Directors whose terms of office expire this year are Harry S. Bishop, Harry Isch, Raymond Gans and Verna Knauer Other directors are Robert Jones, Robert King, Richard Henderson, Richard Newcomer, Helen Alfrey, Richard Ruddell, Charles Walker Jr., and David Grandstaff.

Firemen respond to grass, car fires Syracuse Fire Department was called to'a grass fire and a car fire last week. Damage was limited to S2OO in the car fire. Fire Chief Joe Anderson checked out a report of a trash and grass fire on Thursday, July 19, at 10:49 p.m. near the Royce Myers residence at CR 1250 N and old SR 13. When he arrived at the scene he found the fire was burning along the road and railroad tracks and contacted the department to extinguish the fire. There was no charge. Steve Tindal notified fire officials at 7:05 a m. Friday, July 20, when his car back fired through the carburetor and started a fire. When firemen arrived at the location, Pickwick Road along Chinese Gardens, the fire was out. Damage was estimated at S2OO.

Executives fired or resigned —

Commodore Corporation to keep its headquarters at Syracuse

By RANDYJACOBS Staff Writer Despite rumors concerning the relocation of company headquarters, officials of Commodore Corp, of Syracuse have stated that there is no possibility of a move. The recent executive shake-up of the mobile and modular home producer has attracted national attention as the search for a new company president continues. When Commodore’s acting president, John A. Bacon, was asked if plans for a relocation were in the offing, he replied, “Unequivocably no. We have not even thought of moving.” Bacon was elected interim sucto farmer chairman Ray J. Gans and former company president George M. Carriker at a board of director’s meeting on

Dana sales4>p; declare dividend

Dana Corporation, a Toledo, Ohio based firm with a plant ip Syracuse, reported sales for the first six months of 1984 of $1,842million compared to $1,365 million in 1983. Profits were reported at $94.0 milltan through June 30,1984, and $44 J >’million in the same period in 1983. Earnings per share for the first six months are $1.67 compared to SO.BI last year. x Sales for the three-month period ended June 30, 1984, were $925 million and profits for the period were $45.8 million. Sales and profits for the same period in 1983 wete $714 million and $27.1 million. Earnings per share for the quarter were $0.82 compared to $0.49 last year. Profits for the second quarter of 1984 were reduced by a onetime charge of $6.7 million or $0.12 per share due to costs related to the write-off of its investment in Cherokee Insurance Company by Diamond Financial Holdings, a wholly Owned subsidiary of Dana. As a result of its financial condition, Cherokee will seek rehabilitation under the laws of the State of Tennessee. Second quarter profits included a $6 million or sO.ll per share gain

'No!' — ByRANDYJACOBS Staff Writer Ethics is supposed to be a grand subject. It is supposed to be the philosophy of morals, the enlightening study of moral choices that helps keep us on the straight and narrow. Sometimes it is. Most of the time, however, discussions involving ethical choices become circular arguments for which there are no solutions. Should Miss Williams have given up her crown? Should she have confessed to posing nude before she became a contestant for Miss America? Should Tom Chiapel have sold the photos to “Penthouse?” Should Bob Guccione have published the pictures? Etc. The media seem to be terribly interested in these questions, not just because of their presumed high ethical importance, but because of the hype that surrounds Miss America.

July 17,1984. Bacon said the company is now actively engaged in an executive search to find permanent replacements. “We are talking to people within the company, outside the company and in the industry at large,” said Bacon. “We plan to have a member of the mobile home industry as the chief executive officer of this company.” The “Wall Street Journal,” the nation’s largest business daily, reported on the firm’s financial and managerial condition in its July 20 Midwest edition. The “Journal” stated that Commodore Corp, fired Gans and Carriker because of the company’s “souring financial performance.” In »an earlier news release. Commodore said the two executives had resigned and that their resignations had been accepted with regret. The release stated, however, that “The board determined that the interests of the company would best be serv-

' because of a retroactive tax adjustment and related interest income. / Robert Byrket, chief financial officer, said, ‘'Sales and profits for the first six months represent a new high for for Dana Corporation. We are particularly pleased with these results because they reflect significant productivity gains as well as the effects of cost reduction programs implemented by.,Dana people throughout the corporation. Dana people understand that our success is dependent upon our internal efforts and not on price increases to our customers.” The Dana Board of Directors declared, a quarterly dividend of $0.30 per share, payable Sept. 14, 1984, to shareholders of record Aug. 24, 1984. This action coninues the $1.20 annual dividend rate established by the board in April of this year. Gerald B. Mitchell, chairman of the board, said, “Our sales for the past two quarters reflect both the overall increased demands in all the markets we serve and the fact that in most market segments, Dana sales are growing at a faster rate than the market Sales into the original equipment truck markets and the

ed with a change in leadership. ” According to Gans, the “Journal’s” report was not entirely accurate. He maintains that he and Carriker were not fired, but that they stepped down on their own initiative. "I think the Journal’ article sounds awful,” he said. "I don’t know where they got all that information.” Commodore, which has 23 plants in the United States and Canada, reported a loss of $8.7 million for the nine months ended March 31, compared with a net loss of $2.2 million for the same period a year earlier. Gans, 57, would not say whether he could have turned the company around had he stayed on as chief executive, and he has not determined what direction his career will take. “I haven’t made any plans,” he said. “My resignation was not a long, drawn-out thought process.” Carriker, 52 years old, joined Commodore Corp, in November of 1983. He had previously been

vehicular distribution markets have been strong all this year and our sales into the mobile offhighway and industrial markets have increased appreciably during the pafct quarter. “Results from some of our international operations.” Mitchell concluded, “are, for the first time in several quarters, reflecting the improved economies in most of the countries where we have operations.” Ends term on merchants' committee A report of the July 16 Syracuse Retail Merchants meeting incorrectly stated Jeanrte Gardiner had resigned her post as the organization’s president. In reality Mrs. Gardiner’s term of office had ended. Upon the end of Mrs. Gardiner’s term, then vice president Jim Evans assumed the presidency. This left the vice presidential office open. Until a vice president could be selected. Barb Myers agreed to fill the office.

I am tempted to answer these questions by, saying, “Who cares?” But, for the sake of argument, and because I feel this way, I will forge a definite answer: no, she should not have been asked to forfeit her title as Miss America. True, people must be responsible for their actions, those of us who are not in the public eye as much as those who are. She did pose for the pictures, but 19-year-old models do that kind of thing daily. They just don’t become Miss America. She should be forgiven of a mistake she made as a young model trying to break into the field. Mistakes are common to all members of the human race. Everyone has a skeleton in his or her closet, maybe even some of the Miss America Pageant officiate. Miss Williams was not difficult to replace. There were plenty of other women where she came from (Continued on page 2)

NUMBER 28

chairman, president and chief executive officer of Kirby Group, a division of Scott and Fetzer Co., Lakewood. Ohio. According to the “Wall Street Journal,” slumping sales in the Midwest prompted Commodore to expand into the Sun Belt. The “Journal” reported that this strategy led to a costly incident last year. Commodore attempted to acquire All American of Ashburn Inc., a producer of mobile homes, based in Ashburn, Ga. However, Ashburn filed under Chapter 11 of the federal Bankrupcy Code just as Commodore was about to purchase it. Under Chapter 11, a company continues to operate with court protection from its creditors while it decides how to pay its debits. Bacon could not elaborate on the company’s plans to begin a financial turnaround Another "company official, however,thinks that a recovery is imminent.

f y oi NEW LOAN OFFICER - The State Bank of Syracuse recently acquired the skills of Robert G. Sloop as installment loan officer. He was manager of American Fletcher Financial Services, Valparaiso, for six years prior to coming to the bank. Sloop is an eight-year veteran of the United States Marine Corp. He enjoys swimming, baseball and football and lists woodworking and antique car repair among his hobbies. Sloop, his wife Katherine, and two children currently live in Wanatah, but plan to move to Syracuse in the-near future.