The Mail-Journal, Volume 22, Number 42, Milford, Kosciusko County, 16 October 1985 — Page 1

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Phones: Milford 658-4111 & Syracuse 457-3666

VOLUME 22

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DECORATE A PUMPKIN — Syracuse-Wawasee Retail Merchants Association is sponsoring a pumpkin decorating contest with the judging to be held on Friday, Oct. 25. The winner will be announced during the community costume party at 8:30 p.m. that evening in the Kale Island Beacon. Pumpkins may be purchased at Pilcher’s Shoe Store or Augsburger’s Super Valu, Syracuse. When the decorated pumpkin is entered with the receipt from one of these two places the owner will be reimbursed by Augsburger’s. All entries will be displayed at Augsburger’s Super Valu, Syracuse. Anyone may enter. Age categories are: six and under, seven to nine, 10-12, 13-15, and 16 and up. Cash prizes will be given to first and second place in each category as well as the “Best of Show” award. Shown in the photo are Jim Evans, president of the retail merchants association and Bob Pilcher of Pilcher’s Shoes decorating a pumpkin. (Photo by Deb Patterson)

Halloween Madness Sale, pumpkin contest next week

The Syracuse-Wawasee Retail Merchants will have their annual Halloween Madness Sale and pumpkin decorating contest during the weekend of October 24,25, and 26. Many activities are planned, including special sales events by the merchants as well as a pumpkin decorating contest. The pumpkin decorating contest is open to all with the decorated pumpkins on display at Augsburger’s Super Valu, Syracuse. Pumpkins may be pur-

Syracuse Town Hall slated to be finished by Jan. 1

The Syracuse Town Board was informed at its monthly meeting last night that the new town hall will not be completed by the November 1 completion date. However, Carl Myrick, board president, assured board members that it will be occupied by December 1 and he knows for certain by January 1,1986. Myrick said he is pleased with interior work progress and that

Sesquicentennial meeting to be held October 21

A public meeting will be conducted Monday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m., in Syracuse Scout Cabin concerning Syracuse’s Sesquicentennial Celebration in 1987. The date of the celebration has been set for July 3-11,1987. The meeting will include discussion on possible fund raising ideas, information needed for a sesquicentennial brochure, and help on the various committees established. Those committees include historical research, historical walk, publicity, parade, festival, museum, fund raising and sesquicentennial book. There will also be some discussion concerning future meeting dates, times and location for 1986. A goal set by the executive committee is to have the events for the celebration established no later than June 1986 for publicity purposes. Any club or organization wanting to learn more about the ses-

chased at Pilcher’s Shoe Store or Augsburger’s Super Value in Syracuse. All decorated pumpkin entries which are accompanied by the receipt from Augsburger’s or Pilchers will be reimbursed by Augsburger’s. Judging will be on Friday, Oct. 25, with the winners being announced at the community costume party, sponsored by the merchants. Prizes will be awarded in each of the five age categories as well as a Best of

with two more weeks of good weather the outside phases can be completed. Exterior doors are now in place and the building can be secured at night. The board’s approval of three multiple item construction change orders came after some heated discussion with Donald Appenzeller of James Associates Architects about the approval methods of the Indiana Fire Marshal’s office. Appenzeller pointed out that office will not make final

SESQUICENTENNIAL SY R £ c y s E INDIANA 1987

quicentennial celebration, persons are available for presentations. If interested contact Jeanne Gardiner, State Bank of Syracuse, 457-3165, or Deb Patterson, publicity chairwoman, 658-4056 after 5:30 p.m.

Cofuolidation of THE MILFORD MAIL (E»t. 1888) and THE SYRACUSE-WAWASEE JOURNAL (Est. 1907)

Show award. The age categories are: six and under, seven to nine. 10-12, 13-15 and 16 and up. There will be cash prizes for first, second and “Best of Show.” The merchants are also sponsoring a free community costume. party on Friday, Oct. 25, in the Kale Island Beacon. The party will begin at 8:30 p.m. Prizes will be awarded for costumes and the winners of the pumpkin decorating contest will be announced at that time.

building approval until after the building is completed even though it has approved the project at various phases of completion. This discussion centered around the fact that additional fire safety steps have been ordered by the state. The least costly method at an additional $3,865 was agreed on by the board. Charlene Knispel, township assessor, stated her concern and frustration about the pricing methods of United Telephone Company for installation of phone jacks and equipment. Relative to her asking if United would be billing for the flat under carpet wire from jacks to phones, she was told they will and Jenny Lewis, clerk-treasurer, was instructed to contact United today to get verify that answer. Appenzeller raised the subject of his firm’s fee, stating that since the cost of the building is higher than was planned, their fee should be increased accordingly. Board members were adamant in their position that the town had been given the choice initially of a percentage fee or a solid known amount for architectural services and had chosen the latter. The contract did not, according to Appenzeller, guarantee a price and the cost of the building construction is the responsibility of the contractors and not the architects. Joe Morganthaler, board member, said somebody at James Co. made a bad decision in offering the choice of fee method. Town Attorney Bob Reed stated he also feels the board was assured by James Co. that the building could be built for $314,000 and this is what the fee (Continued on page 2)

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16,1985

Effective Jan. 1 —

25 % sewage increase at Webster

By DEB PATTERSON Staff Writer North Webster Town Board officials adopted a 25 percent sewage rate increase ordinance, effective January 1, 1986, at the regular monthly meeting Wednesday, Oct. 9. In other action the board voted to designate the eight lots at Lancelot Lounge as an Economic Development Target area for the developing of Teghtmeyer Ace Hardware. The sewage rate increase came after several months of discussion by town board members and sewage rate consultants, H.J. Umbaugh and Associates, Plymouth. Originally the consultants proposed a 30 percent increase. Following last month’s board meeting North Shore Public Utilities (Epworth Forest), Jay Clutter, owner of Joyland Mobile Home Park ; and Lloyd Gump, owner of another mobile home park, objected to the 30 percent increase. Rex Reed, town attorney, stated based on the last meeting the sewage rate consultant indicated the town could eliminate a couple of items in the 30 percent proposal for a 25 percent increase, across the board. Reed suggested the town adopt the rates and also proposed the board add a section to the ordinance permitting an appeal process concerning wholesale user rates where the inadequacies can be adjusted with the town board having the final decision. Myron Clark, board president; Robert James and Sid Markley, board members, all voted in favor of the increase. The town will be advertising

Tot Finders available

This is a picture of “Tot Finder,” a sticker that is put in the window of a home where a child or invalid sleeps. In case of a fire, the fire department will immediately go to these windows first. These stickers may be obtained from the area fire departments free of charge. Take advantage of this—it could save a life.

MAD to hold bake sale on Saturday

By LESLIE MILLER Staff Writer , The main point of business at the Saturday, Oct. 12, meeting of the Milford Area Development Council centered around its October 19 bake sale. The sale, which is slated to begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning, will continue until sold out. Weather permitting, the sale will be held outside of Doll’s Decorating along Milford’s Main Street. MAD is still in need of baked goods and is requesting that any individuals or organizations wishing to contribute items should contract any of the MAD members. Volunteering to work at the sale were Marci Haab, president; Don Arnold, treasurer; and Eva Hamilton, custodian. Arnold followed this discussion with the financial report. Ending the August balance with $602.47, there was $249.40 deposited and $396.54 in expenditures, making the September balance $455.33. In donations, MAD received a private donation of SIOO, which greatly helped to counterbalance the month’s expenditures. This balance is expected to suffice until MAD’s annual fund raiser.

the ordinance with the final adoption of the ordinance to take place at the November 13 meeting. The Rates The new rates, 25 percent across the board increase, will be a $2.89 increase over the present rate for sewage customers in the residential user classification. This includes single family residences, apartments, duplexes, mobile home court/space and recreational park/space. These customers will be paying $14.45 instead of $11.56. The user classifications of commercial, institutions, governmental, industrial and wholesale users will also be paying a 25 percent increase over the current rates but based on various guidelines as set out in the user classification ordinance. Eve Payne, clerk-treasurer, asked Reed to explain the appeal procedure which will be used for anything not clear and set out in the ordinance. Reed’s example was the start up of a new business and the extra ordinary use of metered flow usage, which is not set out in the current ordinance. EDC Target Area Steve Snyder, Syracuse;' who is representing Larry Teghtmeyer owner of Teghtmeyer Ace Hardware, Syracuse and North Webster, requested an area within the town limit be designated as an Economic Development Bond area allowing Teghtmeyer to receive EDC bonds. Teghtmeyer has the-op-tion to purchase the old Lancelot Lounge building to move and expand his hardware store, now located on Main Street (SR 13) in North Webster. The old Lancelot Lounge is located at the south edge of town.

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Concluding the financial report, Don Arnold mentioned that as treasurer of Milford’s Sesquicentennial he will be placing all cqntributions for that project into MAD’s account. A separate accounting of all financial transactions will be included in MAD’s monthly report. Eva Hamilton, who had opened the meeting by reading the minutes in the absence of Evelyn Orn, continued with the custodial report. There were 15 meetings held in the community building during the past month and several are already scheduled for this month. As custodian of the building, Eva Hamilton is now taking holiday reservations for use of the building. The last point of business in her report was receiving approval to purchase paper products in bulk from a local merchant. With no further business on the agenda, the meeting was adjourned with the reminder that Donn Kesler, vice president, was currently working on officer nominations to be presented next month and voted on in December. The next meeting of the Milford Area Development Council will be held on Saturday, Nov. 9, at 9 a.m., in the community building.

Snyder stated the move and expansion calls for a 56-foot addition to be built onto the existing building, relandscaping and dressing up of the current area. The town’s economic development commission recommended the bonding to the Kosciusko County Council for bond issuance. In deciding if an area should be targeted for EDC bonding, Snyder pointed out the two areas to consider, can economic development of the area occur without the availability of bonds and what is the cause for the lack

Bussing is concern of North Webster parents

By DAVE STRAUB Staff Writer

When the time came for patrons to express concerns, busing problems immediately popped up during last night’s Wawasee School Board meeting. The meeting was held at Syracuse Junior High School and attended by over 70 persbns. Those expressing concern about recent busing problems were North Webster residents Bob Jaress and Dean Anderson. Both want their children to be picked up by buses, but because of residence location, their children now have to walk to school under questionable circumstances. Such circumstances include * areas with no sidewalks, forcing the children to walk on the sides of the streets as welfas distance. “I’ve had my children riding the school bus for a long time, but since we live in the southwest corner of North Webster, they aren’t included on the route anymore,” said Anderson. “That’s because we live in the city limits while some people who live out of the city limits are the same distance away from the school as we are. Yet, the kids in that situation get picked up.” Furthermore, Anderson and others who questioned this issue have noticed that some of the buses only have about 40-50 riders, leaving room for those who aren’t included in the route to be picked up. Assistant Superintendent for Business Roger Kryder responded by saying that he has tried to meet with several displeased families, explaining that this situation is not an easy one to solve. “We must remember that we’re dealing with a policy, and

Milford accepts Haskins' bid for sewer lines to Barth Corp.

By JIM BRODERICK Staff Writer

The Milford Town Board accepted the bid of Haskins, Inc., of Plymouth, for the sewer system improvement project which would extend sewer lines to Barth Industries, at its monthly meeting on Monday, Oct. 14. The bid, which was in the amount of $85,717, was one of three submitted to the board. Robert Noble, chief sanitary engineer for Lawson-Fisher associates of South Bend evaluated the bids, which were opened on Oct. 7, and submitted a letter recommending Haskins, Inc., be granted the contract for the project. The two other firms which submitted bids were Smith Excavating and Concrete, Warsaw, and Beer and Slabaugh, Inc., Nappanee. In other business, the board approved two resolutions allowing Bonar and Associates to submit an application for the town of

of renovation. The attorney stated it is questionable if the area could be developed without the bonds and there had been no renovation to the property because of it being vacant for so long for its intended use as well as the structure’s theme style and the significant amount of remodeling enabling the use of the structure. Teghtmeyer received a hardware market report for the North Webster area, which showed 16 percent of the market area was untapped and over $1.3 million spent in the hardware area. The

that’s never easy to change,” said Kryder. “Os course, there are areas within the corporation that would like to have transportation. We can certainly understand that, but there has to be a line somewhere. We can’t treat anyone differently because the same thing applies to Milford and Syracuse. We have to be consistent.” Kryder noted that the board will decide on this issue at the Oct. 29 meeting. “It’s time to get my kids back on the bus,” added Anderson. “If there are kids who don’t ride the bus and are included in the route, they shouldn’t ride and the ones who live the same distance away from the school should be picked up.” In other business, there was a special presentation concerning the readiness program. Three corporation teachers commented on the aspects of the program and its potential value. Kindergarten Teacher Karen Huey explained that the readiness program helps children who have finished kindergarten but are not quite ready for the first grade. “Growing rates differ among children,” said Huey. “Some kids may have problems with discipline or frustration and don’t have the concentration necessary to move to first grade. So, this is a way to let time take care of some of those problems.” Readiness Teacher Joy St. Germain added that the program helps children feel good about the learning process. Motor skills, listening, reading, baking and making books are heavily focusedon. And, First Grade Teacher Jane Wieczork concluded that “we want children to have success. Readiness is away to give children that opportunity.” In addition, Fifth Grade Teacher Larry Pletcher gave a

Milford for a department of Commerce Community Improvement Program grant. LuAnn Erickson, of Bonar and Associates, told the board that $288,750 would be requested. The funds would be used toward the Milford-Syracuse Street improvementproject. The project involves improving Milford-Syracuse Road from Higbee to old State Road North; and old State Road North from Milford-Syracuse Road to CR 1300 N. The project also involves the installation of off-site storm sewers, along the improved Additional funding for the project would come from the town, which will contribute $291,470, and the Federal Highway Administration, which will commit $989,280 to the project. Erickson explained to the board the criteria for acceptance of a grant application, and said that the Indiana Dept, of Commerce would make its announcement about the grant by Dec. 3. Bill Leemon, town attorney, introduced three ordinances, two of

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expansion of the hardware store would allow Teghtmeyer to draw a part of the 16 percent area into town. Board members raised a question as to the total amount of area the town can designate as an EDC target area, since only 15 percent of the town can be named as such. The board earlier had targeted the area just north of town where Northeast Lindsay built. Snyder assured the board both of the areas combined would not total the 15 percent required and would not affect any other business surrounding the lounge.

presentation on computer use for student records. The board also approved two Wawasee High School field trip requests. The first one was for the varsity singers, concert choir and string orchestra members who will be traveling to New York city in the spring of 1986. According to Schools Superintendent Dr. Kenneth E. Webster, about 100 students plan to go on the trip, which features the New York Festival of Music. Fundraisers to help pay for expenses are being planned. The other trip is fpr the DECA club, which will attend the DECA Central Regional Leadership Conference at Milwaukee. This will be held in mid-November. Webster added that 11 students will participate. Also 'discussed was the $4,000 grant the corporation received to participate in a technical assistance study concerning ways to conserve energy. Earlier in the meeting, the board gave special recognition to Phil Fawley, an English teacher at Wawasee High School for recently being selected as a Hoosier Teacher of English by the Indiana Council of Teachers of English. Other items included the corporation’s 2.1 percent student enrollment' increase from last year. According to Webster, this marks the third straight year that enrollment has gone up. The board approved three more moves. One was the hiring of Virginia Bess, the new recorder for meetings. Another move was the approval of adult education course offerings. Finally, an SBOO sidewalk enlargement project at the Milford School was affirmed. Kryder said this will enhance walking areas for students and the work will be done during fall break.

which were accepted by the board. The first ordinance established a 20 mph speed limit for Charles Bird Lane. The second ordinance adopted the zoning ordinance, subdivision control ordinance, and mobile home park ordinance ' of Kosciusko County. Both passed * unanimously. The board tabled a third ordinance which established regulations for displaying house numbers on Milford residences. There was some question regarding whether or not each , residence had been assigned a proper number. The board said it would look into the matter, and reconsider the proposed ordinance at a future meeting. An agreement was formally approved at the meeting to absolve Milford’s elected and appointed officials from any liability claims resulting from repair of the repeater radio system housed in and on the water tower in Milford and used by the Milford EMS. .The agreement states that (Continued on page 2)