Vol. 38, No. 42
PO Box 603, Wabash, IN 46992 (260) 563-8326
of Wabash County Inc. December 9, 2015
www.thepaperofwabash.com Proudly Serving Wabash County Since 1977
Parkview to break ground in ‘16 New hospital has targeted opening of 2018 By Joseph Slacian jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com Parkview Wabash Hospital will break ground for a new facility in 2016. “We expect to break ground in spring or early summer next year,” Parkview Wabash President Marilyn CusterMitchell told The Paper of Wabash County. “We expect to open in early 2018. It’s about an 18month building process.” The building will be located at a site south of U.S. 24 and east of
the Wellbrooke of Wabash campus. Parkview officials had approached officials at the Heartland Career Center to purchase about 30 acres near the school. However, in October the school’s board of managers rejected the idea, largely because school officials didn’t believe the offer to be what they felt the land was worth. “We thought it was a good site or we wouldn’t have approached them,” Custer-Mitchell said of the offer. “But I understand their perspective. That’s their land. They may want it for future things. That’s the way it goes; we knew
that going in. “We’re not unhappy with our land. We like it; we think it’s a good site, and so, we’re moving forward.” Before ground can be broken, Parkview officials still have several decisions to make. “We’re working right now on how we’re going to position the new facility at the site,” CusterMitchell said. “Facing north? Facing south?” The facility, expected to be 80,000 square feet with a price tag of $32 million, also will have a medical office building with it. “It will be connected to it somehow, whether it be right up
against it or through a connector,” she said. Parkview officials also will have to decide what to do with the existing hospital facility. “We will go through a process to determine what to do with this facility,” she said, during an interview in office in the current facility. “There may be some people interested in it as it stands. I’m frankly doubtful about that. It’s just a very expensive building to operate. “At worst case scenario, we’ll tear this building down and just have bare ground and decide what we do with that.” Taking care of the existing
facility has long been a concern of hospital officials. “The board made that commitment when we were Wabash County Hospital,” Custer-Mitchell said. “That was part of our negotiations with Parkview and Parkview readily agreed to that. They don’t want a deteriorating building here any more than Wabash County Hospital did, so we’ll tear it down.” Funds have already been set aside to raze the existing building. However, that is a last-option plan. “If someone has an idea with a solid business plan behind it for this facility, we’ll consider that too,” Custer-Mitchell said.
Honeywell Center revitalizes facility By Emma Rausch emma@thepaperofwabash.com The Honeywell Center began offering tours last week to showcase its facility improvement plan. The improvement plan includes beautification of the Porter Lobby and Eugenia’s, as well as adding areas to better meet family needs. “What we’re (the Honeywell
An artist’s conception of how the remodeled Honeywell Center lobby will appear. Photo provided
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‘Small Town USA’: Television series pilot shot in Wabash Nancy Snyder, Children’s Librarian at the Wabash Carnegie Public Library, tries her hand at spinning a plate during one of the programs last summer that was part of the library’s summer reading program. Snyder, who is retiring at year’s end, will be honored at an open house from 1-4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, at the library. The Paper of Wabash County file photo
Wabash’s answer to ‘Mr. Rogers’ is retiring Snyder to leave Wabash library’s Children’s Department at end of 2015 By Joseph Slacian jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com Over the last 31 years, Nancy Snyder has touched the lives of thousands of children in the City of Wabash. Along the way, however, she hopes she has instilled something very important to all of them: a love of reading.
Snyder became the Children’s Librarian at the Wabash Carnegie Public Library in June 1984. Later this month, she is retiring, looking to start the proverbial new chapter in her book of life. She will be honored from 1-4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, during an open house at the Wabash library. A teacher by trade, Snyder was teaching in Newton County when she and her husband, Tom, returned to Wabash County in 1984. “We moved back to this area (continued on page 7)
By Emma Rausch emma@thepaperofwabash.com Bearfruit Films crews were spotted in Wabash last Tuesday, Dec. 1, filming the pilot episode of a new travel television series, “Small Town USA.” The show’s producer and director Jeff Dykhuizen told The Paper of Wabash that the series is meant to highlight the nation’s hidden gems. “James Simmons (owner of Bearfruit Films) had this fantastic idea of a show about highlighting small towns across the country that would normally be overlooked,” Dykhuizen said. “The main thing about the show is trying to prove to someone from the big city why the next destination they might visit could be a small town near them.” The series, which focuses on small hometowns of nationally known celebrities, featured Wabash as its pilot episode’s location because of the guidance of Tom Spiece, owner of Spiece clothing store, according to Amy Ford, the production’s local co-coordinator. “Tom Spiece was the catalyst
that brought Bearfruit Films to Wabash,” Ford said “This all stemmed from the relationship he established while the film crew was in Culver, Ind.” In Culver, the production company filmed its feature length film “Little Savages,” which Spiece was highly involved in and met Simmons, according to Ford. “Well, James (Simmons) kind of started talking about how he would like to do a small town USA show, maybe (following) a comedian, some kind of documentary/travel show,” Ford said, “and I think it kind of got the wheels turning with Tom Spiece because he knew Michael Palascak would be in town for ‘Last Comic Standing’ and Michael is a comedian from a small town and those two wheels kind of got turning and, somehow, it clicked.” Spiece brought Simmons to Wabash on Sept. 12, the day before the Wabash County Dam to Dam Century Ride, Ford said, and did a quick run through of places to feature in town as well as how one could shoot it. Ford and co-coordinator (continued on page 24)
Bicentennial celebration to kick off Friday By The Paper staff Wabash County will kick off the Indiana Bicentennial celebration during a ceremony Friday, Dec. 11, at the Wabash County Courthouse lawn. A brief ceremony will begin at noon, where a Bicentennial flag will be raised and a proclamation will be read to celebrate the beginning of the celebration. Celebration organizers invite all interested residents and organizations in Wabash County to participate in the event.