The Mail-Journal, Volume 22, Number 11, Milford, Kosciusko County, 13 March 1985 — Page 1

, f .• -r* i /And good luck in the Congratulations, Tigers ! / Fort Wayne semi-state

Phones: 658-4111 & 457-3666

VOLUME 22

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SALUTING THE LADY WARRIORS — Wawasee Girls’ Basketball Coach Dale Brannock and Hilliard Gates, vice-president and general manager of television station WKJG in Fort Wayne, proudly display a poster honoring the 1985 state runner-up in girls’ basketball, the Lady Warriors. Gates was the featured speaker at last Wednes-

Hear Hillard Gates —

Area Lions tip hats to girls state runners-up

By CHRIS CAULEY Staff Writer The state runners-up in Indiana high school girls' basketball in 1985, were honored last Wednesday night in a special program at Wawasee High School. The program; sponsored by the LionsXiubs of Milford, Syracuse and North Webster, was attended by some 175 persons, including the Lady Warrior players and their parents, Lions Club members of the three communities and other invited guests. A cafeteria-style dinner preceded the program. The special guest speaker for the event was Hilliard Gates, the vice-president and general manager of television "* station WKJG, Channel 33 in Fort Wayne. Gates is better known as the sports anchorman on Channel 33 and as the longtime play-by-play broadcaster of the high school boys’ and girls’ basketball tournament series in Indiana. Other speakers included Rita Price, the popular radio per-

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Consolidation of THE MILFORD MAIL lEst. 18881 and THE SYR ACUSE-WAWASEE JOURNAL <Est. 19071

sonality of station WRSW in Warsaw, and Wawasee Girls’ Coach Dale Brannock, who was also celebrating his 47th birthday last Wednesday. - The Wawasee - Speech Choir, under the direction of Steve Bailey, provided some laughs — in what was a program filled with good humor — with an amusing and well-done chorus about basketball. (We didn’t catch the name of the chorys, but it was something about dribble-dribble, shootshoot, swish-swish and winning a pair of free throws.) Conductor Bailey, wearing a , black-and-white striped referee’s shirt, finished the chorus by sliding a chair across the floor, a la Bobby Knight. D.G. “Bud” Seely, Master of Ceremonies for the program, was roasted several times by the speakers for falling off the narrow platform where the head table was. That occurred during the dinner when Seely slid his chair back from the table. "The biggest athletic,event I ever did was getting out of that chair without going backwards,” said Rita Price.

day’s “Lady Warriors’ Night,” which was sponsored by the Lions Clubs of Syracuse, North Webster and Milford. “If you can’t be dumber One, Number Two ain’t all that bad,” Gates told the Lady Warriors. (Photo by Chris Cauley)

“Bud, I’m delighted to notice you’ve learned your emcee’s job from the ground up.” Hilliard Gates said. Gates also chided Seely for his directions to Wawasee High School. Gates'told Seely over the phone that he’d been through Syracuse before but did not know where the high school was. “Know where North Webster is?” Seely allegedly said to Gates. “Know where Syracuse is? Well, you just go into Syracuse and turn left at the bowling alley.” Those were fine directions. Gates noted with a laugh, except that, “For all I knew, there might be six bowling alleys in Syracuse.” Price Recalls Lady Tigers Rita Price, during her discussion, remembered the Warsaw girll' state finalists of 1976 and 1978. She said she watched tapes of the games after returning from the state finals two weeks ago. (The Warsaw girls were honored at halftime of the championship game for being the first girls’ state champions in 1976.) k “We laughed for about 10 years,” Price said, “basically

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13,1985

because of how much the sport has improved in 10 years.” Mainly, though. Price talked about the Wawasee Lady Warriors. The team finished 23-2 and beat Austin in the Final Four before losing to Crown Point. “We have had the opportunity to be involved and close to something special this year,” Price said. “Success comes to very special people, and I think this year we have had the privilege of being around very special people.” And, Price added, “I predict that one day the whole ball of wax is going to come back here. The program is set. The girls know it can be done.” Gates Highlights Career Hilliard Gates gave a lengthy but entertaining talk on a variety of subjects, beginning with a list of the top three highlights of his career. Those he listed as the day he was married, number one, and broadcasting the Rose Bowl games of 1967 and 1968, plus broadcasting the first NBA AllStar game at Boston Garden on Feb. 11,1950. (Continued on page 2)

Nearly 100 at Milford meeting —

School board considers resetting district lines

By CHRIS CAULEY Staff Writer A new plan intended to alleviate projected overcrowding at the Syracuse Elementary School highlighted the Lakeland Community School Board’s monthly meeting Tuesday night. The plan, proposed by Superintendent Dr. Kenneth E. Webster, would seek to solve the overcrowding problem by redefining current school boundary lines and by renovations of the Syracuse, North Webster and Milford school buildings. The proposal would create parity among the student populations at the three elementary and junior high schools. It would sharply decrease lhe number of students attending Syracuse Elementary while increasing the number of students at Milford and North Webster. If accepted, the proposal would go into effect for the 1985-86 school year. Dr. Webster is asking the school board to make a decision on the proposal by Tuesday, April 9, the board’s next regularly scheduled meeting. In the meantime, interested citizens can ask questions and offer opinions on the proposal at three special public meetings, to be held during the next two weeks. All three meetings will start at 7:30 p.m. The first meeting will be on Wed nesday, March 20 at Syracuse Elementary School. , The second will be at North Webster Elementary on Tuesday, March 26, and the school board will return to Milford, the site of last night’s meeting, on Wednesday, March 27. Syracuse most over-crowded In a study of the projected population problem at local schools. Dr. Webster determined that Syracuse Elementary — due to the implementation of the state mandated “Prime Time” program and a recent rise in population — will be the hardest hit by over-crowding in the next several years.

Syracuse Elementary’s projected enrollment for the 1985-86

Dr. Kenneth Webster guest speaker for Lakeland Kiwanis

Dr. Kenneth Webster, new Superintendent of Lakeland Community School Corporation, was guest speaker for the Kiwanis Club in North Webster on March 11. The speaker was introduced by Richard Long, principal of North Webster Elementary School. Dr. Webster was born in Illinois where he taught in both junior and senior high school and served the State Department of Education as Director of Pupil Personnel Services He was also Assistant Superintendent of Schools In Pinellas County, Fla., before assuming his present position on January 1. Webster expressed his appreciation for the pride and support the community shows for the schools in the Lakeland Community area. He outlined some phases of the local school program that need immediate attention. Need Redistricting He pointed out that there is

school year is 666, 28 students more than the school’s enrollment in the present school year. The school, already “far beyond capacity” according to Webster’s study, would require two more classrooms for the extra students. The elementary school enrollments at Milford and North

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BIG CROWD — An estimated 100 persons showed up at Milford Junior High School Tuesday night for the Lakeland Community School Board’s monthly meeting. They listened as Superintendent Dr. Kenneth E. Webster unveiled his new plan for alleviating the over-crowded elementary school at Syracuse. (Photo by Chris Cauley)

BZA reverses x decision z In the March 11 meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals, the commission reversed an October 15, ' 1984, decision to deny a variance for a residence addition on a lot along Lake Wawasee. An appeal to the Kosciusko Circuit Court was made by Jack Laughner concerning the matter. Due to the recent changes in state variance laws, Judge Richard Sand ruled that the BZA must review the case again. In a 4-0 vote by Hartzell, Grady, Hoppus, and Boyer, the petition was approved. The property in question is located east of Trusdell Avenue and north of SR 13. It is in a residential zone.

need for redistricting on the elementary level to decrease overcrowding in some of the schools. No new room construction will be required if existing classroom space is used efficiently. Attention is being given to Prime Time requirements which ’ will lower the class size in kindergarten and grades one through three, thus creating a better teacher to pupil ratio/ Changing from a seven to an eight period day is being con-, sidered and a study to determine if improvements are needed in the junior high school curriculum is in progress. Dr. Webster emphasized that he believes in an open door policy and will welcome hearing from any person in the community who has a question about bur educational system. Board of Education meetings will be held every other month in a different town in the community. The May meeting will be in North Webster and public hearings on school policies, beginning with March 26 at the North Webster school v are scheduled.

Webster are projected to rise by a combined total of 26 students next year under current conditions. Webster proposes changing the boundary lines to even elementary school populations and alleviate the projected overcrowding. The new school boundaries, as proposed in Webster’s plan:

Syracuse Merchants zero in on promotion problems

By LESLIE MILLER Staff Writer A meeting of the SyracuseWawasee Chamber of Commerce Retail Merchants’ Division was Friday, March 8, at 8 a.m. irhme State Bank of Syracuse. \ Attending the meeting\were Jim Evans, president; Mike Skevington, vice president; Gerry Bauer, secretary; Jeanne Gardiner, treasurer; Bob Pilcher,.advertising spokesman; Mim Speicher and Don Melton, both committee members./ First on the agenda was a review of the “Cabin Fever Days” that was held in February. Sales were not nearly as high as expected. Jim Evans felt the merchants “had a real problem with the weather,” and that “it’s hard to base the sale’s success.” Jeanne Gardiner said, “It was unfortunate that, because of the snow, ‘the Paper’ wasn’t delivered until after the sale had already begun.” To alleviate this problem, Evans asked the committee members what could be done. “Promote it earlier,” was Jeanne Gardiner’s suggestion, “so that should there be a break in the weather like we had before, • at least people would be aware of the sale.” All agreed to start the promotion a week earlier next, year. Evans posed the question, “Do we want to look at a broader type of advertising?" Gerry Bauer, for one, thought, “some were ready to go with TV adve'rtising.” She gained the support from all that were present. To do so, Evans felt that “Cabin Fever Days” should be “planned around November or December and the money should be raised at that point.” This would allow ample time to organize better coverage of the event. The suggestion was accepted with enthusiasm. Next on the . agenda was the girls’ basketball team. Evans asked whether or hot there was “anything the merchants, as a

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NUMBER 11

— All students in kindergarten through sth grade in the Papakeechie Lake area south of Road 1100 North and south of 1000 North, including Marineland Gardens, would go to North Webster. — The Milford school boundary (Continued on page 2)

group, would like to do to help the contributors” purchase rings for the Lady Warriqrs. After a lengthy discussion. Evans proposed to “Draft a letter, under the auspice of the Booster Club or the school, saying that we are working with the schools and,” he continued, “send out a letter to all of the merchants in Milford, North Webster, and Syracuse asking for a donation to help defray the cost of the rings.” Concerning»other school projects, Evans said, make our position that we will support whatever moves the town chamber decides to make and support the individual service organizations who contact us on a personal basis.” The members were in unanimous agreement. A brief discussion about the Rotary Bike-A-Thon, scheduled for May 11, came about. Evans asked, “Would we like to be involved to the extent that the proceeds from this be awarded to the park pavilion?” Jeanne Gardiner summed up the members’ feelings best by stating — “You bet!” The merchants decided not to get directly involved in the actual Bike-A-Thon, but felt that “it’s a good way to raise money,” and, “are willing to support it.” . On July 7, the Sunday after Independence Day, the Flotilla is scheduled. The Flotilla committee has asked the merchants to become involved in two areas. First, the committee would like the individual merchants to build floats. The theme this year is “Slogans USA.” Secondly, they would like the merchants to use signs along SR 13 to help publicize the event. Those present at the meeting favored the idea. “In terms of sales events, is there anything in particular that we want to do along with Flotilla?” Evans asked. It was decided that a weekend sale would be nice, but nothing definite was set. For the next meeting, April 5, Bob Pilcher and Jim Evans will format several activity ideas for the Flotilla weekend.