The Mail-Journal, Volume 26, Number 9, Milford, Kosciusko County, 15 April 1987 — Page 4

THE MAIL-JOURNAL — Wed., April 15,1987

4

Editorial

Easter, 1987 v Easter, the principal ecclesiastical event year, gets its name from Eostre, a Teutonic goddess, whose festival was celebrated in the spring. Her name was given to the Christian festival, as it was she, according to legend, who opened the portals of Valhalla to receive the White god and sun god, representing purity and light. " The Christian observance, this year on the 19th, is a symbol of the Resurrection, and intertwined with many religious customs and observances, some dating back hundreds of years before the time of Jesus Christ. The Easter egg became associated with Easter because eggs were forbidden to be eaten during Lent and on Easter Sunday they were traditionally served. The Easter egg, though, dates back to the Egyptians and Persians, and also the Greeks and Romans, who ate eggs annually in spring festivals. In any event, it’s appropriate that Easter comes in the spring, when the renewal of life is so apparent. Sunrise services in our churches — an observance of recent origin in most churches — symbolize the Resurrection at sunrise. Tnis practice is observed in practically all churches today as a symbol of hope, inspiration and faith. It is the public's business We think it’s time to tell our readers that we really don’ f care if the governing bodies in this newspaper’s coverage area have a population of 1,000,10,000 or one million, the laws of the state of Indiana are clear and we have the right to know when meetings are being held and to decide whether or not we want to cover them. Lately, people in the greater Lakeland community have been trying to make this decision for us! It makes us suspect that they are trying toh ide something or cover something up. • “Public business IS the public’s business,” says the Hoosier State Press Association. We agree and we are trying our best to keep the public informed. In 1979 The Indiana Open Door Act went into effect. It declares that this state and its political subdivisions exist only to aid in the conduct of the business of the citizens of this state...that deliberations and actions of public agencies are to be conducted openly, unlessrrtherwise expressly provided by statute, in order that the citizens may be fully informed. A “governing body” means the board, commission, council, or other body of a public agency which takes official action upon public business and includes any committee appointed by the governing body or its presiding officer to which authority to take official action upon public business has been delegated. A “meeting” means a gathering of a majority of the governing body of a public agency for the purpose of taking official action upon public business. Official information includes receiving information or deliberating on public business; yo make recommendations pursuant to statute, ordinance or executive order; to establish policy; to make decisions on public business; or to take final action. Public business means the function for which the public agency is created. Executive session means a meeting from which the public is excluded and except for a few reasons which are listed in the section, all meetings of the governing bodies of public agencies must be open at all times for the purpose of permitting members of the public to observe and record them. The act further states that news media which have requested notice of meetings (we do this every December) must be given the same notice as given to the members of the governing body. And, notice of executive sessions must state their purpose or subject matter. We expect local entities to adhere to Indiana’s open door policy as stated in the law.

What others say — Without responsibilities Four years after our Founding Fathers formulated the Constitution of the United States, Congress enacted the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Known as the Bill of Rights, they guarantee, among other things, freedom of religion, of speech, of the press and of the right of the people to assemble peacefully and to petition the government for a redress pf grievances. This year, as we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Constitution, another remarkable document called the Bill of Responsibilities is swiftly gaining acceptance across the country. The result of nearly two decades of study and deliberation, the Bill of Responsibilities was drafted by a group of scholars and other prominent citizens commissioned by the Center for Responsible Citizenship at Freedoms Foundation in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, as a complement to the Bill of Rights. Unlike the Bill of Rights, the Bill of Responsibilities does not carry legal weight. But in defining the principal duties of citizenship, it nonetheless imparts a moral persuasion that is undeniable. It also is an idea whose time has come. The bill’s ten articles call on all of us to: 1) Be fully responsible for our own actions and for the consequences of these actions. 2) Respect the rights and beliefs of others. 3) Give sympathy, understanding and help to others. 4) Do our best to meet our own and our family’s needs. 5) Respect and obey the laws. 6) Respect the property of others, both public and private. 7) Share with others our appreciation of the benefits and obligations of freedom. ’ „ . 8) Participate constructively in the nation’s political life. 9) Help freedom survive by assuming personal responsibility for its defense. 10) Respect the rights and to meet the responsibilities of which our liberty and our democracy depends. Speaking of the project, Robert W. Miller, president of the Freedoms Foundation, said: “People often talk about ‘my right to that’ until rights have almost become a license in our society. Seldom do we hear these same people talking about the flip side: responsibilities. ’ ’ Today more and more Americans are talking about the Bill of Responsibilities and endorsing its principles. Nearly three dozen national organizations have joined an educational consortium to spread the word. The roster reads like a list of “Who’s Who” in public service. Included are the American Association of School Administrators, Boys Clubs of America, Boy Scouts of America, Civilian International, the General Federation of Womens Clubs, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, National 4-H Council and Optimists International. When the American Federation of Teachers carried an article about the project in its publication, more than 3,000 teachers wrote to request classroom posters of the bill. Mack Trucks, Inc., printed 15,000 copies for distribution to employees, teachers and students. Florida Power and Light printed over 40,000 copies, distributing three-fourths to Florida teachers. To top it all off, the Boy Scouts of America are reprinting the full text of the bill in their Scout Handbook. - CARROLL COUNTY COMET

' • - ■ JH2 111 ? ? ml . Take time this week to remember the risen Christ.

Court news

Marriage Licenses The following couples have applied for marriage licenses in the office of Kosciusko County Clerk Jeanne Weirick: Hawkins-Teghtmeyer Warren Ellsworth Hawkins, Jr., 18, Jackson, Mich., and Tamara Kay Teghtmeyer, 19, r 1 box 636, North Webster Bess-Kasten William Newton Bess, 51, P.O. Box 238 Milford, and Marilyn Lee Kasten, 54, P.O. Box 553 Milford Greene-Vanderßeyden Robert Charles Greene, 21, 225 North St., Apt. 5, Syracuse, and Jane Marilyn Vanderßeyden, 23. r 5 box 335, Syracuse Yoder-Hochstetler Daniel L. Yoder, 24, r 2 box 85-B, Milford, and Ruth Hochstetler, 23. r 2 box 202, Nappanee County Court The following persons have been assessed and have paid fines and costs in Kosciusko County Court, Judge James Jarrette presiding: Operating motor vehicle while intoxicated — ErnestM. Dragoo. 51, North Webster. $331, license restricted 180 days, 6 days KCJ with good time credit Public intoxication — Janice Kaye Wood, 26. Cromwell, SB9 Illegal consumption — James Cavender, 16, Syracuse, and Gregory A. Lehman, 16, Syracuse, SB9 fine, 60 days KCJ suspended, one year probation Battery — Tim Crabtree. Milford, SB9 Operating vehicle without financial responsibility — Brian R. Nebert, 30, Leesburg, $71.50 Speeding — Tracy Minnix, 24. Syracuse, S6B. Paying $53 were: Melvin Keck, 59, Syracuse: Marilyn J. Moore, 55, Syracuse; Lorin Hendsbee, 24, Milford. Also, Gregory A Lehman. 17. Syracuse, S4B. Disregarding automatic signal — Arlen D Brenneman. 29, Syracuse, $53. Disregarding stop sign — Paying $53 were. Michael A. Rehborg, 17, Syracuse; Mary J. rtoach, 59, Syracuse; Larry D. Germonprez, North Webster No operator's license in possession — Myra Newton, 46, North Webster, $53. Passing in violation of double yellow line — Joseph Sechrest, 38, Cromwell, $53 Goshen Division The following tines plus court costs have been levied and paid in Elkhart County Court, Goshen Division: Speeding — Benjamin E. Canfield, 38, Syracuse, $52.50; Jason W. Stouder, 18, Syracuse, $50.50 Disregard automatic signal — Dee J. Stamper, 22, Warsaw, $52.50 Expired license plates — Jack W. Layne, Jr., 23, Warsaw, $48.50 Superior Court The following petitions have been filed in Kosciusko Superior Court, Judge Robert Burner presiding: Complaint On Promissory Note State Bank of Syracuse versus Donald James Schlabach, r 1 box 283H1, Syracuse. The plaintiff is seeking judgment against the defendant for the amount of $600.84 plus pre-judgment interest and all costs of action. Complaint State Bank of Syracuse versus Robert R. Laskowski, r 3 box 76, Pierceton. The plaintiff is seeking judgment against the defendant for the sum of $636.82 plus pre-judgment interest and all costs of action. Circuit Court The following petitions have been filed in Kosciusko Circuit Court, Judge Richard Sand presiding:

Petition For Support Sylvia Reavis versus Max W. Reavis, Milford, for support of minor child. Complaint For Personal Injuries Pamela H. Risher versus Michele Berger, P.O. Box 9 North Webster. The plaintiff is seeking judgment against the defendant in an amount sufficient to compensate for damages and injuries received in an automobile accident November 12,1986. Marriage Dissolutions The following couples have filed for marriage dissolutions in Kosciusko Superior and Circuit Courts: Skaggs — David Michael Skaggs. Syracuse, and Debbie Sue Skaggs, Ligonier. The couple was married June 11. 1985, and separated Dec. 1. 1986. There are two minor children. Two rescused from Wowosee Karen Skaggs. 18, and Paul Williams, 23, both of Syracuse, fell into Lake Wawasee about 1.000 feet from the shore of Cedar Point on the southeast side of the lake when their canoe overturned Friday afternoon, April 10. The couple was picked up by an unidentified fisherman and transported to shore. The rescue occurred shortly after 4 p.m. according to the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Boat Patrol. Syracuse man receives sentence Christopher Harmon, 21, Syracuse, was sentenced on March 25 from Kosciusko Circuit Court Judge Richard ’ Sand to serve three years in prison for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and causing a death. The class C felony carried a fiveyear sentence of which two years were dropped. Harmon was driving a jeep on October 4, 1986, that crashed into a utility pole on CR 750 N near Leesburg, killing Jeffrey Leigh Phend, 22, Leesburg, a passenger. Harmon suffered cuts to the head and was treated and released shortly after the accident. He later was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and causing a death. Clubs stolen at Big Boulder John Weiss, owner of Big Boulder Golf Course, SR 15, Milford, reported to Milford -Town Marshal Dave Hobbs that someone broke into the clubhouse and stole new golf clubs sometime Monday, April 13. Taken in the theft were Wilson X3l right handed clubs which included three woods and eight irons. They are valued at S3OO. The theft is still under investigation.

THE MAIL-JOURNAL (U.S.P.S. 3258-4000) Published by the Mail-JournoJ every Wednesday and entered as Second Class Matter at the Post Office at Syracuse, Indiana 46567. Second class postage paid at 103 E. Main Street, Syracuse, Indiana 46567 and at additional entry offices. Subscription: sl6 per year in Kosciusko County. $22 outside county. POSTMASTERS: Send change of address forms to The Mail-Journal, P. 0.. Box 188. Milford, Indiana 46542.

“CRUZIN around/CU S E"

MARJORIE (MRS. Joe) Hogan, 331 Medusa Street, remembers people referring to her section of town as “The Jungle,” and she says she never knew why. . 4T Perhaps it’s because the term “jungle” has reference to an area along the railroads where hoboes (they liked the term “itinerants” better) would pause for some coffee or something to eat, a night’s stay < and some camaraderie. That’s a day long gone, but old timers remember when this type person, down on his luck, would “ride the rails” and travel, usually aimlessly, across the country. Nearly every community had its jungle along a railroad. & All this is interesting as Lynn Adrian, an assistant professor of American studies at the University of Alabama, delved into this period of American history. She called it the country's subculture of the late 1800 s and early 1900 s. Prof. Adrian wrote that a hobo was a person who wandered and worked; a tramp wandered and wouldn’t work; a bum couldn’t wander and wouldn’t work. Hobo life ended for the most part in the 19305, as the country embarked on social programs and eventually went into war and absorbed this classr of person. This writer vividly recalls when itinerants would come into Milford, drop by our house a short block from the railroad depot and ask for a handout. Mother never refused to make up a plate of food, meager though it might have been, and as the “knight of the road” ate we’d sit alongside, looking up and thinking “this must be the real life,” as images of distant places flashed through our young mind. A sit-down, said the good professor, was when an itinerant was invited to eat with a family, a prized invitation, and “reefers” were refrigerated railroad cars. There’s such a nostalgia for the “good old days” that one entertainer dubs himself “Boxcar Willie” and appears at coupty fairs for a handsome fee, strumming out his ballads. (Note: He’ll beat the Elkhart County Fair in July). These itinerants tended to stay away from the South because of chain gangs and strict enforcement of vagrancy laws. Mrs. Adrian listed KI names for lice, including crumbs, cooties, and sear-squirrels. The term buggy, often used to mean crazy, comes from lice and the feeling that qpe's head is crawling. , Allow us to quote at length from Mrs. Adrian's research: “Hoboes gave us bull for a policeman, cush for easy as in riding <>n a cushion inside a railroad car, collar for getting arrested, and on the lam for fleping. "Chy forChicago, K.C. for Kansas City, ly for Philadelphia and Minnie for Minneapolis come fromhoboes “Hoboes usually went by nicknames. Since injuries were common, some names stemmed from physical problems. Blinkies were those who had lost an eye. Lefties weret|pse who had lost an arm. “ The way.you spoke identified you as a part of the subculture,’ Mrs. Adrian said. “Hoboes would leave large pots in their jungles for other hoboes. A hobo would bathe in the nearest source of water and use thi pots to “boil up," boil his clothes. “Carrying the banner meant walking all night to keep from being arrested. “Mrs. Adrian said hoboes foritfed a migratory work force, unskilled or semiskilled, working in such jobs as harvesting, lumbering, railroad track repair and construction. “Women hoboes sometimes were harvesters or cooks, or just chose to travel, usually disguised as men and always wearing pants, because that’s the only way they could ride trains. “There was de facto segregation in the hobo jungles but blacks and whites sometimes traveled together, another reason for avoiding the South in that era. -“Hoboes liked to spend the winter in cities, in areas called hobohemias: districts with cheap lodging, second-hand clothing stores, saloons and other businesses that catered to them,. “Mrs. Adrian said most hoboes were under 30, after which they tended to settle down unless they were stricken with wanderlust. In 1924, she said, there were close to 2 million hoboes., “Almost every major city outside the South had a hobo college that served as an educational forum, a social gathering place and a source of information about social programs and train schedules. The colleges were sponsored by the InternationaLßrotherhood Welfare Association. “Hobo colleges faded in the 1920 s and the subculture all but died in the 19305, she said, because there was less need for the kind of labor hoboes did and because there was a large population base everywhere and no need for a traveling workforce.” This whole dialogue sort of separates the Pepsi Generation from the Golden Oldies. THE OCCASION for meeting Mrs. Hogan was the "For Fun” group that meets once a month at the Calvary United Methodist Church south of Syracuse for a carry-in luncheon and a lot of friendship and talk, and perhaps a short program of one sort or another. This writer had occasion to talk-on USSR — 1985 at their last Tuesday meeting. The occasion brought us into the presence of two other delightful ladies, including Donna Willennar of Morrison Island (Lake Wawasee)

and Erma By land of r 4, Syracuse (Oakwood Park). „' ' • Erma supplied us with a lengthy family genealogy, going back to her great-grandfather, one Andrew Nikolai, a circuit riding minister who began, his service in the ministry in his native Germany. She supplied us with this information: In 1852, a minister’s annual salary w.as $73.92 plus reasonable traveling expenses. This figure rose to $84.84 in 1858, and as much as SIOO in 1862. That’s for a year, mind you. By 1866 this amount rose to $125, and by 1882 a married preacher received the princely sum of S3OO, and $33.33 additional for eaph child under 15. By 1896 a married Elder received $475 and rent, while “city stations” received S7OO and rent. The great calling didn’t pay well in the century past, but that could probably be said for itinerant printers as well. SYRACUSE POLICE officer Bob Hauser seen on crutches following an operation on his left foot several weeks ago. It’s a result of a nasty spill at his Pickwick Road home some time ago. However, Officer Bob continues to make it to his desk each day to tend to necessary chores. SOME TELEVISION viewers expressed surprise to see former Second District Congressman Floyd J. Fithian on the screen last Thursday 'night when Illinois U.S. Senator Paul Simon announced his candidacy for President of the United States. Fithian is Sen. Simon’s administrative assistant. —o— WITH THE formal announcement at the Boy Scout Cabin Monday night of the eight candidates for the Syracuse mayoral race, we can expect campaign promises and slogans to fly thick and heavy. If you think the campaign has already begun, just wait a month or two. Darlene and Mike Calobrace have completed the remodeling and redecorating of their Sleepy Owl, and they have no intentions of standing on the sidelines. In fact, they are preparing for a bigger-and-better Dyngus Day for Monday night, April 20, and all mayoral candidates will be receiving a special invitation to be present to "meet the voters.” This could turn into a campaign of the Boss Tweed variety. CAMPAIGN VIGNETTES — “Scoop" Claybaugh has his campaign in high gear a week early. Not only has he come out with a caricature drawing of himself by local artist Dave Butler, but he has it plastered on cans set out in several business houses where contributions can be made. Jerry is going in for a number of fundraising ventures. When Syracuse Town Board President Jim Hughes was told eight people were out campaigning for his job, he replied, “They can have it!" implying they have to take the grief that goes along with the office, too. At which point, mayoral candidate Bob Troutman said. “Wait a minute. That's only mayor for a day!" —o— INDIANA SECRETARY of State Evan Bayh told a cheering audience of Kosciusko County Democrats, at their Friday night JeffersonJackson Day dinner at the county fairgrounds Shrine building, he was 30 years of age when he was sworn into office at the State House Building. He said his father, former U.S. Senator Birch Bayh, was just 30 when he was sworn in, in the same building, as Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives. Bayh is the only Democrat in a state office, having defeated Robert O. Bowen, son of HHS Secretary Otis R. Bowen of Bremen, by a 124,000-vote plurality, carrying 62 of the 92 counties in Indiana. MANY WHO heard Evan Bayh Friday night were longtime friends of his father, and took the occasion to remind Evan that he had large shoes to fill. One of these was Lewis S. Immel of r 4 Syracuse. Immel was former superintendent of the Lakeland School Corporation, now the Wawasee School Corporation. THEY AREN’T exactly "county mounties, ” but they’re having a lot of fun on their motorcycles. Syracuse’s Herschel ("Bud") Harper (Maple Grove); Danny Gallmeier, r 3; Bill Fisher of Fisher's Rent-All have teamed up with Judge Robert Burner of Warsaw in what they find to be a most exhilarating hobby. They've even made some trips into the Southland. Harper is a retired state police officer, and is now Kosciusko County Probation Officer, while Gallmeier is with the Syracuse Police Department.