True Value Expansion Grand Re-Opening Nov. 18-20
THE PAPER
November 9, 2011
MS Wabash, LLC project completes financing
The MS Wabash, LLC project completed financing and broke escrow on Nov. 3. The $15.5 million dollar project is now ready to complete the planning process and to begin construction. Bill Konyha, president and CEO of the E c o n o m i c Development Group of Wabash County, Inc. (EDG) said, “The completed financing included $1,000,000 in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for the Wabash Business Complex. As the project broke escrow, the entire $1,000,000 was wired into the account established by Meredith Brown, clerk-treasurer of the City of Wabash. It will pay some of the costs of completing infrastructure in the park. The $142,000 annual enhancement fee was also wired into the account and it may be used to pay normal operating costs of the city. It represents an immediate savings to the taxpayers of the city.” EDG asked Mainstreet Capital and Platinum Health Care to securitize the lease to grant additional levels of commitment and safety to the project. “They complied and funded five years of interest payments in reserve accounts,” said Konyha. “This is going to be a great project for Wabash”, said Mayor Bob Vanlandingham, “It is a large invest-
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Local man creates football trivia game American Football Hero will hit Spiece’s shelves just in time for holiday shopping. by Danielle Smith DSmith @thepaperofwabash.com
On 11-11-11, a new board game, created by Wabash resident Jamie Jessee, will hit the shelves. American Football Hero, a game that combines the rules and regulations of football with football history, began as an idea at the dining room table of the Jessee home. “While playing a popular trivia game, I became bored and bragged that I could create a better game,” Jessee said. “My family challenged me to do that and American Football Hero was the result.” The football theme for the game emerged as the result of the Jessee family’s shared interest in football and good timing. “It happened to be around NFL pre-season and the game I chose to do was on football since I was dying for football to start,” he recalls. The game consists of a 48” x 24” corrugated plastic board that mimics an actual football field, a 12-
sided die, a 4-sided die, several small playing pieces and five decks of cards. Four of the decks of cards represent “downs” (first down, second down, etc.), and the fifth deck represents a fumble. As the player on offense goes through their turn, they are read trivia questions from the cards by the opposing team. If they answer the question correctly, they have a chance to roll the 12-sided die to determine how many yards are gained or whether they fumble or the play is intercepted. The questions on the cards become more difficult as a player goes through the downs. All fourth down questions are Super Bowl trivia questions. If a player draws a fumble card on one of their downs or if the 12-sided die lands on fumble, they draw a card from the fumble deck to determine if they are able to recover the ball. All fumble questions are officiating questions. Jessee has a list of suppliers that manufacture various parts of the game for him. “I wanted to keep a lot of them in town to keep money in town,” he said. Unfortunately, he
JAMIE JESSEE, Wabash, and his family began working on American Football Hero, a football trivia board game, in 2008. The game is now available for purchase at his website, and will launch at our local Spiece store on 11-11-11. (photo by Danielle Smith) was unable to do that in some areas. Various pieces of the game are made in Los Angeles, Calif., the board is made in Birmingham, Ala., and the boxes are made in Marion. American Football Hero is the creation of not only Jessee, but various other members of his family. “I had lots of input from my wife, Nancy, and my daughters, Heather and Maranda, some of it useful and some just plain frustrating!”
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had lost his job as the result of an injury and began attending Ivy Tech Community College. He earned his associate’s degree and continued on at Indiana University Kokomo, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts with a psychology concentration. “I did a couple of Powerpoint presentations on the game and the whole classroom wanted to buy them then, but I didn’t have it ready yet. That was last spring,” he said.
“Even my professor said he knew I had something.” American Football Hero is designed for ages 12 and up. Jessee will have, available for purchase, the standard size game or a 4’ x 8’ “Party Size” board. The game is currently available at www.AmericanFootb allHero.com. It will launch, locally, at Spiece on 11-11-11, just in time for holiday shopping, and would make a great gift for any football fan.
Beacon Credit Union President Bruce Ingraham to retire Aug. 1, 2012
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Vol. 34, No. 34
Jessee stated on his website. His sister-in-law assisted with website design, and her daughter-in-law did the cover art for the box. Jessee originally wanted to use an aerial photo of Alumni Field at Wabash High School, where he went to school, as the cover art. That idea did not come to fruition, but he has not completely ruled it out yet. Prior to working on American Football Hero, Jessee
AFTER MORE THAN 30 YEARS OF SERVICE, Bruce Ingraham will retire from his position as president of Beacon Credit Union on Aug. 1, 2012. When Ingraham’s tenure began, Beacon had $38 million in total assets. Today, that number has grown to $900 million. (photo by Brent Swan)
Beacon Credit Union President Bruce Ingraham has announced that he will retire effective Aug. 1, 2012. In the past 32 years under Ingraham’s leadership, Beacon Credit Union has overseen sweeping changes and unprecedented growth. When Ingraham began his tenure as president in 1981, Beacon was known as Wabash County Farm Bureau Credit Union; it had $38 million in total assets and served only Wabash County. Today, Beacon Credit Union serves over 45,000 member-owners and has over $750 million on deposit, over $625 million in
member loans and $900 million in total assets. Staying true to the credit union’s mission of “providing fair and competitive financial products and services responsive to the needs of its members” has been Ingraham’s philosophy throughout his career, and this philosophy has been instrumental in Beacon’s growth throughout the years. As the leading Agricultural Lending Credit Union in the nation, the original mission of serving farming families remains its foundation by currently supplying over $400 million in agricultural related loans.
Ingraham’s success and hard work have been acknowledged and awarded both locally and statewide. In 1988, then Indiana Governor Orr awarded him the Sagamore of Wabash. Ingraham was cited with a P r o f e s s i o n a l Achievement Award form the Credit Union League in 2007 and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2008. Most recently, he received the Distinguished Citizen Award 2009 from the Wabash County Chamber of Commerce. The opportunity to represent Beacon in these organizations (continued on page 6)