Vol. 39, No. 17
PO Box 603, Wabash, IN 46992 (260) 563-8326
of Wabash County Inc. July 6, 2016
www.thepaperofwabash.com Proudly Serving Wabash County Since 1977
CEDIT funding sought for bike trail
4-H Fair events begin on July 6 By Emma Rausch emma@thepaperofwabash.com The Wabash County 4-H Fair kicks off tonight, July 6, and will continue for the 10 dayd as youth show off their skills in agriculture, education development, crafting and more. Angela Christopher, local 4-H extension educator of youth development, told The Paper of Wabash County that the fair is about community. “The fair is a great place for us to come together as a community and to have to good time, to recognize youth in our community for the hard work and efforts they put into 4-H projects on a large base effort,” she said. “It’s not one of those events where it’s this team against this team or this school against this school. “It’s all of the 4-H members together working and everybody trying their hardest in just doing a good job to learn life skills and to show their successes to everybody that comes.” Several changes were made this year to the fair’s line to create “a nicer atmosphere for the kids for these events.” Tonight at 7 p.m., this year’s fair queen will be crowned at the 2016 4-H Fair Queen Pageant at the Honeywell Center. Following the pageant, 35 10year members will be recognized for their efforts and contributions to their local 4-H Club. For the past month, The Paper of Wabash County has featured (continued on page 5)
By Emma Rausch emma@thepaperofwabash.com
Aerojet Rocketdyne in 2015. Long said Aerojet Rocketdyne was paying for the testing and work at the site. “They’re good people to work with; they’re conscientious,” he said, noting they are working with multiple problem sites around the United States. “They’ll take care of the problem they created.” IDEM officials notified the city in November 2010 that traces of trichloroethylene were found in testing spots near the former building,
The Wabash River Trail (WRT) is seeking county government’s assistance with its multi-million dollar project, specifically $1.2 million of County Economic Development Income Tax (CEDIT) funds. Amy Ford, Wabash River Trail Inc. chair, met with the County Council on Monday, June 27, to request the council’s support in pursuing the funding with the Wabash County Commissioners. “Multi-use trails are high on the list for attracting individuals to work, live, raise a family and contribute to a community,” she said. “Wabash County has so much to offer and this trail would be another caveat to our community. … All of this can do nothing but help with economic development.” Ford first announced the trail’s proposal on March 30, 2015, at a Wabash “The proposed C o u n t y Commissioners first phase, meeting. In May, she Wabash to Lagro, released details is estimated to on the project’s cost around $6 Phase I, which would connect million to Wabash to construct and to Lagro, a six-mile stretch along the set up an Wabash River. operational The entire project will be maintenance separated into three phases. budget.” Development plans for Phase II and III have -- Amy Ford not yet been offiWabash River cially deterTrail chair mined. The multi-use recreational path is planned to stretch approximately 33 miles from Huntington through Wabash and into Peru, where it would connect with the Nickel Plate Trail in Miami County. The $1.2 million would only assist with funding Phase I. “The proposed first phase, Wabash to Lagro, is estimated to cost around $6 million to construct and to set up an operational maintenance budget,” she continued. “This first phase going through Lagro is approximately $2.3 million of the $6 million. Private donations are targeted at approximately $3.6-4 million, which also has a $2 million match on the first $2 million raised.” The trail’s board of directors also hopes to align the project with the Northeast Regional Cities Initiative, Ford said.
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Among those participating in the ceremonial groundbreaking at the site of the new Parkview Wabash Hospital were (from left) County Commissioner Brian Haupert, David Haist, Parkview Health board of directors chair, and Michael Packnett, Parkview Health President and CEO. Photo by Joseph Slacian
Parkview Wabash breaks ground for new facility By Joseph Slacian jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com With the turn of several spades of dirt on Thursday, June 30, ground for the new Parkview Wabash Hospital was broken. The 30-minute ceremony took place just to the east of the site of the new twostory, 80,000-square-foot facility between Wabash Street and the Wellbrooke of Wabash facility. Hundreds of local and Parkview officials, Parkview staff members and others associated with the project listened to a series of speeches before the actual groundbreaking. Parkview Health President and CEO Michael Packnett praised Wabash for all the amenities it has to offer not only to
its citizens, but also to those throughout Northeast Indiana. He also praised Marilyn Custer-Mitchell, Parkview Wabash president, for her efforts in the transition to the Parkview system. After years of contemplation and deliberation, Wabash County Hospital officials agreed to affiliate with Parkview Health. The affiliation became official on Jan. 1, 2015. “It’s not easy to transition to a different health system,” Packnett said. “All these different procedures and everything.” He then discussed the $35 million, state-of-the art facility. “I can tell you this is going to be just a great facility,” Packnett said. “So many (continued on page 4)
Work at GenCorp site coming soon By Joseph Slacian jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com
Work on cleaning up a portion of contaminated land near the former GenCorp site at Stitt and Bond streets could begin in the near future. Mayor Scott Long, in response to a question from Council member Bryan Dillon, said runoff contamination has been found next to the railroad tracks in Wabash City Park. “There’s about six inches of soil on top of rocks,” Long told Council at the June 27 meeting. “But in saying that,
they have to get a plant biologist to come in and identify all the plants that are there before they can do any excavation so that the (same type of) plants can be replanted. “It’s a bigger production than just coming in to remove the contaminated soil six inches deep then replacing it with six inches of soil. “Everything has to be returned the way it was before they started. You should see them begin work on the GDX site within the next year.” GenCorp, which was founded as General Tire in 1915, was renamed