The Mail-Journal, Volume 26, Number 26, Milford, Kosciusko County, 12 August 1987 — Page 5

"CRUZIN AROUND CUSE"

(Continued from page 4) ..- ANN AND Rex Yentes of Winter Haven, Fla., are visiting with Don and Judy Storey at their Woodland Acres home. Rex, former owner/manager of Gulliver’s Travels in the Pickwick Block, is a travel professor at Webber College at Winter Haven. Ann is a sister to M-J adv. salesman Mike Skevington and has a birthday today (Wednesday), while Rex’s is coming

.Letters to the editor

A mistake was made Dear Editor: I am against the proposed two middle schools for the following reasons: 1. I grew up in what is now the West Noble School system (Ligonier, Cromwell and Wawaka) and watched as the high schools consolidated, then the junior highs and finally the elementary schools. I think that most people in those communities will agree that it was a mistake to take the elementary schools out and probably feel it may have been a mistake to eliminate the junior highs from each community. I think it is important to the children and to the small communities to keep the students in the small town environment as long as is practical. 2. As a businessman, I do not think the total costs of two new schools have been completely estimated. What will the sewage plants cost to build and mainWhat are the extra busing costs arid eWra driving costs incurred by parents for school functions? What is the total cost of building and maintaining two new schools, etc. In short, I do not think I have sufficient data on aii the alternatives to make a businesslike decision. You must remember that you are not spending your money, you are spending our money! In closing, I have witnessed the school battles in the West Noble system and hope that we can minimize the lingering hard feelings here by gathering all the pertinent facts! I love this community and plan ; to spend the rest of my life here. I do not want this community burdened with unnecessary taxes • that can lead to its destruction i (as has happened to out nearby Michigan neighbors). Respectfully submitted, Joseph K. Todd Representing taxpayers Dear Editor: Kudos to your editorial in last week’s paper. I’ve long been wondering when the issue of ; money representing the taxpayers’ point of view would be raised. We need to put the school issue in perspective. We’ve already heard from a man who was near the top of his small high school class who struggled to get through college. I have a feeling that, had he gone to a large high school, his college experience would have been the same. But this is not the issue here, and to draw a parallel between his small high school and his horrible college experience — and a new middle school for us is missing the mark by a mile. I’ve had it with the “Indiana is the last in education” argument for a new middle school. Our children don’t go to school in a last place Indiana; they go to school in Wawasee School Corporation. We know that our school corporation is way above the Indiana, as well as national, average. So this argument also misses the mark. If the board and our new school superintendent want to do this job properly, and not just ram these schools down our throats, more work needs to be done — NOW! J 1. Cost of alternatives — the two school concept has to be the most expensive proposal one can imagine! The premium of about $1 million per school is surely underestimated. Milford just put $4 5 million in our school six short years ago. When interest charges are added, the $4.5 million will be more than doubled! The fact is, Milford does not need more i school capacity, and won’t for a ; number of years. The two propos- ; ed rural schools will require their iown water and sewer systems jand separate security personnel • as well, and as such are the most '< expensive options available to us. ! We need — and it’s long overdue ! —a cost analysis of alternatives. ; Such things as construction costs j operational costs and transportation costs (busing) need to be ; shown for each option, along with ; expected educational benefits ; and drawbacks. •• 2. Location — No one argues >the case for a new school at ■ Syracuse. In my mind, however, !the need for a new school for ! North Webster is marginal and is i based on statistics of dubious ; lineage. To give the board the ; benefit of the doubt, let’s say that ; North Webster really does need a yiew school also. But Milford? We

up Sunday. No ages, please! IF 808 Troutman seems to be limping a bit, it’s because he fell off the wagon! Well, sort of. Bob and Marge were Saturday guests of Larry Yoder at Vinegar Bend (ask Larry where Vinegar Bend is, not us) when Bob jumped off a farm wagon loaded with bales of hay for seats. His foot sprain was severe enough to send him to Dr. Clark’s office for an x-ray.

already built our school. The superintendent should be told to leave Milford out of his plans. We already have our school! Schools need to be located so as to minimize busing. Not only is busing expensive, but it is a terrible hardship on the parents and students. The last kid on the bus in the morning has to get up at 6:30 a.m. in order to be ready in time. It is apparent that no importance has been given to this issue by the superintendent who must not be aware of what hardship this busing business is to all involved. His proposal of the rural schools would mean that every student would have to be bused. One would have to bet that he never got up at 6 a.m. to catch a school bus when he was a kid! 3. Needs — So Syracuse needs a school, Milford already has one and North Webster may need one. Fine, the logical proposal would say, yes even scream — build Syracuse a new school in town! Size the school to accommodate some North Webster overflow if indeed it is ever needed. Build the North Webster school if and when it is needed. 4. Growth — We’ve heard the “explosion” of growth that the people in Warsaw expect in our school corporation. Before- we take these figures too seriously, we should remember that Turkey Creek Township and Syracuse (pop. 6700), Van Buren, East Jefferson and Milford (pop. 3700), and Tippecanoe Township and North Webster (pop. 5500) are areas which are 150 years old. We don’t see companies such as Zimmer’s, DePuy, etc., moving into our area. We will be making a big mistake if we think that the small growth we’ve experienced in the last 150 years will suddenly be reversed in the next five years. So come on, school board! Let’s get a proper evaluation done and let’s don’t let a superintendent who is new to our area sell us a bill of goods for which we’ll be paying forever! John C. Weiss (Editor’s Note: Mr. Weiss is a member of the Milford SAC Committee and owner with his wife Elaine of the Big Boulder Golf Club in Milford.) Vandalism didn't stop performance Dear Editor: Although vandalism occurred at the Kosciusko County Fair, there are still some good people. This letter is to give a special thanks to one great lady and six great guys. Since sand and gravel had been thrown on the piano keyboard making it useless, Georgia Gooding offered the use of her piano, Max Shively offered to move the piano and with the help of Cornelius Rueter, Paul Hollar and Paul Warstler to help load and unload, they got it moved and on stage in time for our performance. Then Max, Cornelius and two young men, whose names we didn’t get, returned the piano back after our performance. We are grateful for the assistance given us so that we could have accompaniment for our performance. Thanks a lot to Max also for the use of his organ. Due to the goodness of these people, it was a pleasure for us to sing at the fair. Hope to see you again next year. Sincerely, Melloaires Marie Stephenson Wawasee property owners Dear Editor: The Wawasee Property Owners Association, Inc., has appointed a special task force committee to examine options with regard to middle school construction and realignment in the Wawasee School District. M.D. Umbaugh h< been asked to serve as chairman of this committee and William Beemer has been asked to serve as cochairman. Other committee members are Paul Phillabaum arid Thomas Tuttle. In addition, an advisory group of several association members, including seasonal as well as year-around residents, is being enlisted to help the committee evaluate information that it receives. The committee has been asked to examine any proposals now on the table with regard to middle

school construction as well as to look at viable alternatives, and to report on same to the association’s board of directors. We ask the school district administration and members of the school board for their assistance in helping procure the information this committee needs. Os immediate concern is the announced August 27 date for a final decision on pending construction plans, a date which we feel might not give sufficient time for a meaningful study of those plans and the cost to the taxpaying residents of the community. The Wawasee Property Owners Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and orderly development of Indiana’s largest natural lake and the area around it. There are more than 700 duespaying members. Sincerely, Wawasee Property Owners Association, Inc. Wiley W. Spurgeon, Jr. President Replace the superintendent Dear Editor: As one who has carried the petition to keep the junior high school in Milford, Syracuse and North Webster, I have heard many comments about the current school controversy. One which I thought deserved passing on was that as taxpayers who will be burdened with the tax indebtedness of two additional very expensive junior high schools built in rural settings plus the vacating of a six-year $4.5 million one in Milford, we would be dollars ahead to pay off the current superintendent’s contract and secure one who is willing to listen to the people who are paying his salary. If each school board member had carried the petition in his own township to the people who had voted him into that positron? there is no doubt they would ( vote on August 27 to keep a junior high school in each community. Berniece H. Dwyer Milford Library Board approves 1988 budget The Milford Public Library Board held its regular monthly board meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 4, at 4:30 p.m. with Terry Beatty presiding. During new business, Form 3 of the library budget was approved for publication. Librarian Mary Jurss explained the Carnegie Fund will match S3OO from a local organization for purchase of a VCR for the library. A trustee questionnaire from the Indiana State Library was explained and distributed. In old business, invitations were sent out to Maxine Brembeck, Mr. and Mrs. Karl Keiper, Mr. and Mrs. William Troup, and Mr. and Mrs. Carl Shearer for the trustees’ recognition dinner to be held at the Viewpoint in Warsaw on August 29 at 7:30 p.m. Personnel policy was also discussed. Research was done by Della Baumgartner with Syracuse and Nappanee libraries being compared. The wage schedule and the personnel policy were tabled until the next meeting. Present were Mrs. Baumgartner, Elmer Hartter, Julie Myers and Mrs. Jurss, librarian. Absent were Julie Gunden, Phil Beer and Bill Leemon. Secretary Myers read minutes of the July 7 meeting which were approved. Hartter gave the treasurer’s report. Claims in the amount of $5,133.90 were approved for payment. The librarian’s report was given and filed. The next meeting will be a public hearing on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at 4:30 p.m. The next board meeting will be 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 1.

TRINITY LUTHERAN (Missouri Synod) 4th & Martin In Ligonier Invites You To Worship Sunday + Church 9 A.M. Bible Classes 10:30 A.M.

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Here's a cooling picture for the hot days of August. Even before the turn of the century the B & O (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad) harvested ice from Syracuse Lake. The Syracuse Register reported in its Thursday, January 6, 1898, issue: The B & O has a large force of men here putting up ice and they are getting out about 35 car loads a day. Our business men are also getting out ice and every man in town who wants to work need not be idle. Horses were used to pull the blocks of ice to the ice houses, like the one shown here on Medusa Street. Although the teams did their “natural thing" on the ice. it didn't seem to deter the gentlemen from cooling their drinks with lake

Democratic Editorial Assn, meets at French Lick

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana Democratic Editorial Association (IDEA) will hold what could be one of its most significant annual meetings in the organization’s 107-year history, announced IDEA President Richard Wheeler, editor and publisher of the Wolcott. Indiana Enterprise. “Our meeting will be vitally important because the future of the Democratic Party and its resurgence into national and Indiana State government will be examined by officeholders, candidates, journalists, political analysts and experts from across the nation and across the State. We have also invited all seven declared Democratic candidates for president,” Wheeler said in a joint announcement with former Indiana Secretary of State and Co-Chairman of the event Larry A. Conrad. The theme for this year’s IDEA four-day weekend event will be “Democrats! It’s Our Turn!” It will be held August 27-30, 1987 at the grandly remodeled French Lick Springs Golf and Tennis Resort in French Lick, Indiana, where Franklin Delano Roosevelt launched his successful campaign for President in 1932, and where the IDEA annual meetings have been held for the last 50 years. “A key issue at this year’s Baumgartner Reunion to be Sunday, August 16 The Baumgartner Family Reunion will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, August 16, at the Apostolic Christian Church Fellowship Hall on State Road 15 in Milford. Guests are asked to bring food and table service, and children are asked to bring along bathing suits. The Baumgartners are heirs of Benedict and Anna Marie (Hofer) Baumgartner, who emigrated to North America from Riedwil, Kanton Bern, Switzerland in June 1869. For the most part, the family has continued to reside in Illinois and Indiana. Arch Baumgartner of Milford is president of the family reunion this year; Mark Baumgartner is vice president; and Judy Sharp is secretary.

Sesquicentennial Memories

Ice harvested from Syracuse Lake by railroad

IDEA annual meeting will be the Democrats role in Indiana’s mayoral races in the fall of 1987 and we expect interest in the 1988 Indiana gubernatorial election. The IDEA annual meeting has become much like a miniconvention for the Democratic Party. It has historically been a place where potential waters are tested and we may see the

No other directory gives you more calling, shopping and community information than this one. ■ I*lX7 DwrdonrtAnirnca. Im

ice in the plush club cars on the trains. The photo shows the conveyor belt used at the ice house on Medusa Street that took the ice inside. The man to the left of the belt as well as the three men in the back right are all unidentified. The photo was loaned to us by John Sudlow from his collection of photographs. If anyone can identify the men in the photo or would like to submit other photos to be used in this column, they may do so by contacting the Syracuse office of The Mail-Journal, 103 East Main Street. Extra steps are being taken to ensure the safe return of all photos.

emergence of additional Democratic Candidates for Governor, U.S. Senate and other statewide offices," Conrad said. Wheeler and Conrad noted that the weekend event will feature a plethora of politically significant candidate stopovers, workshops, and seminars and celebrity appearances. “We’ll have a chance to talk

Wed., August 12, 1987 — THE MAIL-JOURNAL

with Indiana’s six Democratic Congressman led by Representative Lee Hamilton. There will be a tribute to former Governor Matthew E. Welsh, Indiana’s Democratic mayors and candidates for mayor will be here, and we’ll have workshops and seminars led by nationally known pollsters, fundraisers and political television program pro-

ducers. We’ll also have some noteworthy entertainment throughout the Weekend,” Wheeler said. Founded in 1880, the IDEA consists of primarily print media organizations that associate themselves with the Democratic Party. The IDEA annual meeting is open to all working news media.

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