Farmers’ Market will be held on Miami Street, between Market and Canal streets, on June 18.
THE PAPER
of Wabash County Inc.
www.thepaperofwabash.com
June 15, 2011
Commissioners approve Hanging Rock Road speed limit
by Danielle Smith At the June 13 meeting of the Wabash County Board of Commissioners, County Highway Superintendent John Martin presented four requests to install NIPSCO service at various locations in Wabash County; all were approved. Wabash County Sheriff Bob Land reported that Wabash County Jail is currently housing 93 inmates. E m e r g e n c y Management Agency (EMA) and Central Dispatch Director Bob Brown updated the Commissioners on the June events of his department. These include the annual LEPC E m e r g e n c y M a n a g e m e n t Exercise at the Honeywell Center on June 28, 8:30 a.m.; an exercise workshop in partnership with Indiana-American Water for chlorine training this week; EMA Directors Annual Workshop in Fort Wayne on June 23; and a public safety telecommunicator course for dispatchers on June 27. Christa Stroup attended the meeting as a representative from Wabash County Circuit Court. The Commissioners previously had approved the Court’s request for new computers. Stroup requested an additional $1,940 to purchase a Microsoft Office package for the new computers (continued on page 6)
Index Classifieds ..............35-39 Community News ............23-26 D & E ......................21-22 Sports Shorts ................19 Weekly Reports ........12-14 Vol. 34, No. 13
PO Box 603, Wabash, IN 46992 (260) 563-8326
Proudly Serving Wabash County Since 1977
Arc of Wabash County, Inc. welcomes young men to new home Despite financial deficit, Arc ends fiscal year on a positive note by Danielle Smith Arc of Wabash County, Inc. leaves its mark on our community by providing an extensive array of services for developmentally disabled citizens of our community. Some of these services include employment assistance, case coordination, transportation, pre- vocational, supported living, recreation and much more. Two weeks ago, it left an even more prominent mark on the lives of three young men. “On June 1, Arc assisted three men in their early 20’s, to move into their own home,” said Nancy Hoffman, Executive Director of Arc of Wabash County, Inc. Two of the individuals are brothers. “When the brothers were eight and nine years old, they were traveling in a car with their mom, their grandma and their younger sister, and their car was in a terrible accident and both mom and grand-
ma were killed,” Hoffman said. Following the accident, the three young children, who were all eventually diagnosed with developmental disabilities, were left in the care of their still-grieving grandfather. “Grandpa raised and cared for these three little kids,” Hoffman said. As they completed their schooling, He enrolled both young men in Arc services, which led to them entering the supported living program. The third young man is also a recent graduate of special education. “By the time he graduated he already had a part-time job at a local store and did volunteer work at his church,” Hoffman said. The three young men, whom the Arc staff affectionately refer to as “the guys”, immediately hit it off. “From the first day, the three of them were compatible, talking about what video games they liked and that sort of thing,” Hoffman said. “They got to choose the home they were going
THREE YOUNG MEN moved into their new residence on June 1 when Arc of Wabash County, Inc. opened a Supported Living home in Wabash. Pictured are: seated, (from left) Clayton, Allen and Jon, residents; standing, Carl Smith, Arc staff, and Supported Living Program Supervisor Lisa McCoy. (photo by Danielle Smith) to rent and they each chose which bedroom they wanted as their own.” Arc staff immediately jumped in to
help, donating household items to make the house a home, but the men are still in need of a few items including dressers,
full-sized beds, linens and various kitchen items. To donate, see the contact information at the end of this article.
“The weekend of the big move was a flurry of busy excitement and the guys are now settling nicely in
(continued on page 6)
EDG, local government continue work to bring grant money to Wabash County by Danielle Smith The Economic Development Group of Wabash County (EDG) and our local government agencies continue to keep several irons in the fire as they pursue grant requests to make Wabash County attractive for development opportunities. On June 6, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced that the City of Wabash, Wabash County and the Town of North Manchester would be the recipients of a $600,000 grant to assess brownfields in Wabash County. “A brownfield is a site that is assumed to have pollution or soil contamination because of some prior
use, whether it’s from a gas station or a factory or even something that happened around the site,” said EDG President and CEO Bill Konyha. He went on to explain that the terms, “contamination” and “hazardous materials”, can refer to a myriad of substances, some as harmless as cement. “When I was in Indianapolis, we acquired a former Nabisco margarine factory, which was 160,000 square feet, and they had four hazardous waste spills recorded, and it was just vegetable oil,” he recalled. This grant will allow for assessments to be performed on brownfield sites to determine the presence, nature or extent
of contamination. Once this has been determined, a plan can be developed to deal with the pollution. “It could be just doing a Phase I Environmental, which includes researching records of hazardous spills and things of that nature, or it could include drilling core holes and taking core samples of soil and groundwater and testing them for contamination,” Konyha said. “This doesn’t pay for demolition of old buildings, but if you have to test the soil underneath a building and the building is abandoned, then you can demolish the building as part of the testing, so we’re considering it as a way to actually begin some
environmental cleanup.” This grant application was originally proposed to address the former site of GDX and the prospective downtown location for the new hospital. “We thought it was a way to reduce the cost for those two projects,” Konyha stated. “But when I suggested it to the Mayor, he encouraged and, in fact, insisted that we bring the C o u n t y Commissioners and the Town of North Manchester to the table too, so the three entities went in and joined to compete for this grant.” Mike Meddock, vice president of Soils and Materials Engineers, Inc. (SME), stated, “The leadership of
M a y o r Vanlandingham is what made this possible. The Economic Development Group of Wabash County, Inc. brought us to the table to pursue these funds and Mayor Vanlandingham suggested that a combined application would be much stronger, more likely to be awarded if the three entities partnered on this as they had on several projects in the past.” Vanlandingham added, “By working together instead of competing with one another, everyone in Wabash County wins.” Vanlandingham’s calculation was correct and the grant has been awarded. The funds will be divided between North
Manchester, the City and the County with a portion left over for any of the three to access with permission of the other two. “I would expect sometime within the next 30-60 days, all parties will get together with the consulting engineer and begin to draft our formal approach to the matter,” Konyha concluded. The completion of that grant comes at the heels of the commencement of a $1.8 million grant request to help fund infrastructure for the new business park off of N. SR 13, a combined City of Wabash and Wabash County project. Last week, the City of Wabash submitted the Public Works (continued on page 6)