Vol. 38, No. 50
PO Box 603, Wabash, IN 46992 (260) 563-8326
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of Wabash County Inc.
February 3, 2016
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Accountability grades for local schools unchanged By Emma Rausch emma@thepaperofwabash.com
Gary Dale follows through after releasing his bowning ball on Saturday afternoon during the Wabash Cannonball’s Chili for Charity Chili Bowl. Photo by Emma Rausch
Local bowlers raise $4,000-plus at Chili Bowl By Emma Rausch emma@thepaperofwabash.com The annual Chili Bowl raised $4,337 at the Wabash Cannon Ball Lanes bowling alley on Saturday, Jan. 30, doubling the funds raised at last year’s event, according to officials. Seventeen teams joined this year’s event to raise funds for the Wabash Chili for Charity Chili CookOff in October, according to Wade Weaver, bowl-athon event founder. “It’s called the Chili Bowl and that was Wade’s idea as a way to stimulate donations for the main event in October,” Chili Cook-Off committee member Marc Shelley said. “And to remind people during the year about the event,” Cook-Off committee member Robert McCallen III added, “because we sometimes spend money during the year between events to help people in Wabash County and this kind of brings it back up in early spring and reminds everybody it’s coming up and they love it.” The event originally began as a fundraiser to
assist a local family with medical costs before becoming an extension of the Chili Cook-Off several years later. “I thought, ‘You know what, instead of bowling one team against another team, why don’t we just fill the lanes and just get seed money for the Chili Cook-Off ’ because we usually try to spend all of it,” Weaver told The Paper of Wabash County. “We have insurance costs and we have T-shirt costs before the big event and most of our money comes the day of the Chili Cook-Off. “So we just thought the weekend before the Super Bowl, when there’s not a whole lot going on, that Saturday every year we’ve had a bowl off.” Since it’s creation in 2005, the event has hosted on average 16 to 17 teams and raised more than $2,000 each year, he continued. “Each team is asked to pay the fees to bowl,” Weaver said. “Cannon Ball Lanes gives us a great break on everybody bowling free games and they rent shoes free and all that stuff and they usually (continued on page 10)
The Indiana Department of Education released the 2015 school accountability grades on Tuesday, Jan. 26. However, the records show no local school corporation has improved since 2014, but scores haven’t dropped either. The grades are based off of the Indiana’s standardized assessment, the ISTEP exam. In 2015, late changes made to the exam as well as problems with distributing the exam led to big drops in student scores and caused discord among state and local educators. On Thursday, Jan. 21, Gov. Mike Pence signed Senate Bill 200 into effect. The bill “provides that a school’s or school corporation’s category or designation of performance for the 2014-2015 school year may not be lower than the grade assigned … by the state board of education for the 2013-2014 school year” and that it may only improve, according to the bill. The county schools reported the following accountabili(continued on page 16)
Pyle resigns from County Health Board By Emma Rausch emma@thepaperofwabash.com
Dr. Jeffrey Pyle resigned from the Wabash County Health Board on Tuesday, Jan. 26. After serving on the Board for 17 years, Pyle wrote that “I can no longer associate myself with the Wabash County government” in his resignation letter to the Wabash County Commissioners. Commissioner chairman Barry Eppley told The Paper of Wabash County that Pyle’s resignation was not a surprise. “I thank Dr. Pyle for his years of service to the Health Board and wish him well in future endeavors,” Eppley (continued on page 22)
Bill would impact local family farm By Shaun Tilghman news@nmpaper.com
A measure prohibiting farms from selling food directly to restaurants was expected to be considered on Monday in the Indiana House of Representatives. The measure would impact the work of the J.J. Hawkins Family Farm in North Manchester, according to Jeff and Zach Hawkins. The two were in Indianapolis the last several weeks, testifying before the House Committee on agriculture and Rural Development. The committee passed House Bill 1267 last week and it
was scheduled for a second reading before the full House on Monday. In addition, they spoke before the Wabash County Council on Jan. 25, prior to the Council taking a stand on behalf of the local business. Wabash County Commissioners passed a similar measure earlier in the day. The resolution noted that the two pieces of legislation “will have a significant negative impact on certain persons within Wabash County, and will do nothing to safeguard further the public health, t promote further the public welfare, or to improve oversight for food safety.”
“It’s been something of a surprise to us that we’ve been challenged in this way because we followed all the rules and so forth.”
-- Jeff Hawkins, Hawkins Family Farm It goes on to note the council opposes “any proposed legislation which seeks to prohibit the sale of poultry to food establishments by persons whose operations are currently exempt from antemortem and postmortem inspections of poultry.” The Hawkins family is in midst of an ongoing battle in opposition of proposed legislation (Senate Bill 71 and House Bill
1267) that would prohibit farms operating under a USDA “grant of exemption” from selling their poultry directly to restaurants. During the Wabash County Council meeting on Jan. 25, the Hawkinses provided the council with details regarding their current situation, as well as details (continued on page 21)