Vol. 37, No. 45
Friday, Jan. 16th Boys Basketball Wabash & Manchester 7:30pm
January 14, 2015
Hospital changes going smoothly
PO Box 603, Wabash, IN 46992 (260) 563-8326
of Wabash County Inc.
www.thepaperofwabash.com
Proudly Serving Wabash County Since 1977
Slacian to take over as editor; Rausch hired as reporter
Wabash County Hospital now known as Parkview Wabash Hospital
by Emma Rausch emma@thepaperofwabash.com
By Joseph Slacian jslacian@thepaperofwabash.co m Wabash County Hospital is now Parkview Wabash Hospital. The change took place at midnight, Jan. 1, and hospital officials here say the transition went as smoothly as possible. “We’re really excited about it,” Hospital President Marilyn Custer-Mitchell said. “We have some operational bumps we’re working through, but that’s bound to happen. But we’ve had no major issues come up, so we’re doing well.” The transition, coming over the holidays had little impact on the changes. “People are gone, so trying to get communications out about something to all our employees …,” she said. “We use a lot of emails, and if they’re not here and don’t access their email from home, then it just delayed some communication. That’s probably the biggest problem we’ve had.” Throughout the transition, Parkview officials made periodic visits to Wabash to meet with employees. “We had several different people from Parkview talk to our leadership team at times,” Custer-Mitchell said. “We’ve had several people in in the last two weeks coming in to meet with different departments about different issues.” Kerri Mattern, Community Relations/Marketing Specialist, added that the hospital had human resource personnel from Parkview meet with employees to discuss various benefits that are available through Parkview. Outside of a few visiting physicians who chose not to continue with Parkview following the change, there were no changes in staff. “We had a few physicians who chose not to stay with PPG, so the staff with them left with them,” Custer-Mitchell said. “But we had nine physicians who chose to stay. All of our nurse practioners chose to stay.” Signs outside the hospital have been changed to read (continued on page 5)
Details of fatal car-train accident still unclear
EMMA RAUSCH AND JOSEPH SLACIAN stand in front of The Paper’s printing press, which will now print their work on a weekly basis. Slacian was recently hired to take over as editor, with Rausch assuming the role of reporter. (photo by Eric Stearley) by Eric Stearley eric@thepaperofwabash.com The Paper of Wabash County is excited to welcome the New Year with two big changes in the newsroom. Joseph Slacian, Jr., former managing editor of the Wabash Plain Dealer, has been hired to take over as editor. Recent Indiana University School of Journalism graduate Emma Rausch will join the team as a writer/reporter. The changes come in the weeks leading up to Editor Eric Stearley’s resignation, effective Jan. 26. He and his wife, Mary, are moving to Costa Rica follow-
ing her acceptance of an offer to teach third and fourth grade students at a private school in Monteverde. Slacian has worked in newspapers for 40 years, starting at age 16. He landed his first fulltime job in the industry less than a week after college graduation, working as managing editor for the Hoopeston Chronicle in Illinois. Three years later, he took a position as news editor for the Wabash Plain Dealer, which was owned by the same parent company. In 1993, Slacian was promoted to managing editor of the newspaper.
“I think what bit me, as far as newspapers go, is that my mom and dad took four or five different newspapers, a couple local ones from Lake County and several from Chicago. They would come to the house everyday, and I would leaf through them and think, ‘Boy, this is kind of cool!’ My first goal was to be a sports writer, because I love sports, and I thought, ‘I can get into all these games for free and cover this,’ but then I realized there’s more to the newspaper than just sports, and I developed a love for that as well.” (continued on page 5)
State Board of Accounts releases comments on Lagro Township records by Eric Stearley eric@thepaperofwabash.com On Oct. 29, The Paper published an article about Lagro Township’s annual budget meeting, in which they voted to cut the budget by 28 percent from the previous year. The cuts came after what the board deemed “frivolous” spending by Trustee Andrew Delong and unanswered questions about how funds were being used. The story quickly caught the eye of a state official. “The State Board of Accounts was in our courthouse when The Paper came out that week,” said Wabash County Commissioner Scott Givens. “They read the article and they commented, because they were
here to see us for something else, and the commissioners were still there in the courthouse. The lady [from the State Board of Accounts] commented on the article.” Shortly thereafter, Wabash County Prosecutor William C. Hartley, Jr. asked the State Board of Accounts to look into the matter. On Jan. 5, State Examiner Paul D. Joyce released the agency’s comments. The State Board of Accounts identified five instances of noncompliance, including: - The records presented for review indicated that disbursements exceeded budgeted appropriations for the
Cumulative Fire fund by $18,784 in 2013. - The Township did not adopt a resolution establishing salaries of Township officers and employees for 2013. - Payments made for IT support and service were not supported by a written contract for 2013. - The Trustee was not properly bonded for 2013. The Trustee did not obtain an individual Surety Bond. - On February 6, 2014, the Trustee purchased a snow plow blade for $4,600. He sold the same plow blade for the same price to the private contractor who plows snow for the Township on February 20, 2014. (continued on page 9)
On Monday, Jan. 5, Dustin L. Shepler, 18, Wabash, was struck and killed about 12:20 p.m. by an eastbound Norfolk Southern train at Bond Street. A press release issued by the Wabash Police Department stated that Shelper failed to yield to the train, although why he had failed to yield is still undetermined. Sgt. Matt Benson said that the police department might never know exactly what happened. According to the police accident report, the lights and bell were working at the crossing. The report noted that Shepler’s vehicle radio was “blaring loudly” when the first officer arrived and the road surface condition was reported as icy, though it is undetermined if these were factors in the collision. One thing was certain: There were no gates at the Bond Street crossing. According to the Indiana State Rail Plan, it is duty of the Indiana Department of Transportation’s Office of Traffic Safety to select and administer funds for grade crossing improvements and closings. The railroad, however, is in charge of installing the crossing arms once the site has been selected and the funds administered. The Norfolk Southern railroad was in the process of improving the Bond Street crossing when the accident occurred. The arms to be installed were on the ground near the crossing when the accident occurred. “It’s probably been a month that they’ve been working on getting that installed,” Benson said. “This accident was extremely tragic,” said Mayor Robert Vanlandingham. “Any time something like this happens, it’s hard to believe. It affects the whole community.” Benson said the police department urges all citizens to use caution when approaching railroad crossings, arms or no arms. “Turn the radio down, stop talking on your cell phone for a moment, and listen and look for a train. Be vigilant when you come to a railroad crossing.”