INSIDE THIS ISSUE Back to School ............................A12-14 Business & Professional .....................A18 Classifieds .............................................A19 Community Calendar ....................A20-21 Healthy Times........................................A22 Library Times............................................A5
Serving Northwest Fort Wayne & Allen County
July 27, 2012
www.FWDailyNews.com
Huntertown Heritage Days coming Aug. 3 By Nichole Hacha-Thomas nthomas@kpcnews.net
The 2012 Huntertown Heritage Days festival will arrive in town Aug. 3, and along with it will come live entertainment, the annual Miss Huntertown pageant and more. The theme of the festival this year is “Sign of the Times.” “Generally every year the committee chooses a theme that has to do with something historically significant to the community,” said Cher Fischer, parade director and treasurer of the festival committee. “A lot of the parade entries will be relative to the theme.” The town’s historical society will give a demonstration Aug. 3 from 4-7 p.m. and the Lions will host a fish fry. In addition, the eighth annual Miss Huntertown pageant will be held at Huntertown Elementary School beginning at 6 p.m. The pageant will crown winners in four age divisions including
Oak View ISTEP scores lead NACS Valerie Caviglia pr@timespubs.com
leader will be held after the parade. Aug. 4 also is Kids’ Day with free activities and games for children from noon to 5 p.m. Fischer said there will be bounce houses, games
Six of nine middle and elementary schools in Northwest Allen County Schools saw improved scores on the 2011-12 state administered ISTEP+ exam, with Oak View Elementary School at the head of the pack at 94 percent passing. Oak View’s combined pass rate in English/ “Please keep in mind language arts (E/LA) and math was a 5 percent that ISTEP is not a increase over the previous reflection of school year. Huntertown Elementary School students everything that also performed 5 percent better than last school year happens in our with 86 percent passing, up from 81 percent passing in classrooms.” 2010-11. However, while the district generally saw Chris Himsel improvements across the board, the Arcola School’s NACS Superintendent scores fell by 12 percent. “Please keep in mind that ISTEP is not a reflection of everything that happens in our classrooms,” Superintendent Chris Himsel said in a letter to the NACS community. “ISTEP is a snapshot on current individual student performance on very limited criteria. In most cases, the differences between our 2012 scores as
See DAYS, page A19
See ISTEP, page A8
Courtesy photo
A local Indianapolis Colts cheerleader will be on site to meet and greet festivalgoers during the Huntertown Heritage Days festival Aug 3-4. 5-7, 8-11, 12-14 and 1519. The fun will start early Aug. 4 with a 5K run at 8 a.m. and the opening of both food and merchant booths. A fly-over featuring planes from Smith Field will take place at 11 a.m.
followed by the singing of the national anthem and the 2012 parade. The grand marshal of the parade, Fischer said, will be an Indianapolis Colts cheerleader who hails from the area. A meet-and-greet event with the Colts cheer-
A new home Thrivent Financial for Lutherans sponsors Habitat build for area family By Nichole Hacha-Thomas nthomas@kpcnews.net
Courtesy photo
Volunteers from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raise the walls on the future Aboite-area home of Nelly Othman. The Habitat for Humanity dedication is planned for late August. Othman’s home on Blake Drive, in the Aboite area, on June 9 by a team of volunteers from area Lutheran churches and the build’s primary supporter, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Thrivent, 9921 Dupont Circle Drive W., is a staunch supporter of Habitat for Humanity across the country, with the
company pledging $9.2 million to build 142 homes in 32 states in 2012 alone. Four of the homes are in Indiana and one is Othman’s. The non-profit fraternal benefit company actually has built more than 1,600 homes nationwide — and across the globe — since 2005. See HOME, page A16
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When Nelly Othman, her husband and two small children moved to Fort Wayne four years ago from upstate New York, they never thought they’d need the assistance of Habitat for Humanity. Things change, though. In 2010, Othman and her husband divorced and she was left raising the children on her own. The family lived in an apartment and longed for a place to call their own, a place for the children to have their own rooms. It was then Fort Wayne Habitat for Humanity came to the rescue. “A friend told me about the program,” Othman said. “It was sort of ironic because she didn’t get accepted and I did.” The walls were raised on
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