MANCHESTER TOPPLES NORSE 24-14 Manchester scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns en route to toppling the Norse 24-14 and picking up the 105.9 Wabash County Championship trophy at Northfield.
of wabash county inc. October 17, 2012
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Suite Beginnings to host open house Dukes Memorial Hospital will unveil its newly renovated obstetrics unit Oct. 25 with a public open house and trick-or-treating event from 5 to 7 p.m. Dukes has worked the past six months to update the suites.
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Living Essentials breaks ground on latest expansion Gov. Mitch Daniels in town as company creates at least 60 new jobs by Brent Swan After starting in 2007 as a relative unknown, Living Essentials, makers of the now popular 5-hour energy drink, again broke ground on an
expansion. The latest, a manufacturing and distribution center, is slated to encompass nearly 1 million square feet on 46 acres of land, which is set to be completed in two separate phases. “We can stand here and say that we’ve taken an operation that started out with 150,000 sq.
ft. of space to just under 800,000 sq. ft. with the expansions we have at our WEDCOR facilities and we’ve grown our employment base to over 370 people,” Karl Smith, General Manager of Living Essentials said during the ground breaking ceremony. “Our goal is to continue to expand our manufacturing
LIVING ESSENTIALS GROUNDBREAKING: (from left) Wabash City Council members Jim Wenrich and Margaret “Boo”Salb; Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels; Living Essentials General Karl Smith; and Wabash County Commissioner Brian Haupert break ground on the new manufacturing and distribution center located within the Northeast Business Complex. (photo by Brent Swan)
YMCA declines United Fund money for 2013
By Ashley Flynn The Wabash County YMCA has declined funding from the Wabash County United Fund for 2013. Uncollected pledges and unanticipated construction costs left the Y with a $2.35 mil-
Wrong billing address published for new sewage billing In last week’s edition of The Paper the incorrect billing address for City of Wabash sewage payments was published. All sewage payments should be sent to P.O. Box 245, Wabash, IN 46992. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
lion debt. The Y has received an anonymous challenge grant for up to $500,000 that would help eliminate this debt, but the fundraising needs to start immediately. According to a press release, the gift will match every dollar the Y receives toward debt elimination, but the funds must be received by April 30, 2013. The immediate funding interferes with the United Fund’s eightweek blackout period, which prohibits recipients of United Fund dollars from fundraising without prior approval from the United Fund Board of Directors. “Our volunteers have evaluated what is right at this moment in time for the Y and have decided that with compliance with
the regulation of being a United Fund agency that it was in our best interest at this time to decline the funding for 2013,” Clint Kugler of the YMCA said in a press conference. “We have a good rapport and we want to make sure that we are building community, and we have come to an agreement that this is what needs to happen,” Kugler said of the Y and UF. During the press conference, Kugler and Deborah VanMeter of the UF stressed the two organizations remain on good terms. “There was a great deal of discussion and concern on our board because we didn’t want the message to be interpreted wrong. There is no animosity or (continued on page 15)
INDIANA GOV. MITCH DANIELS (second from right) was on hand as Living Essentials broke ground Oct. 10 on its newest expansion, which will bring at least 60 jobs to Wabash, with the possibility of up to 200 additional jobs in total. (photo by Brent Swan) operations and explore new product lines. The expansion will include at least a minimum of 60 jobs. That will begin now while we hire new employees to prepare for the expansion and we will finish that up the latter part of next year.” Although the company is promising 60 jobs to the community, many officials suspect the number will grow as time progresses. “I think Karl is lowballing those hiring numbers because I can tell you we have set aside a whole lot more money for training than that,” Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said. “We’re expecting again that you will raise your estimates.” Daniels was quick to point out that Living Essentials has continually exceeded any and all expectations and is quickly becoming one of the state’s fastest growing businesses. “No matter what the number is they give us today about their production, even if they say the are making nine million bottles, by this time next week, it will be at 9.5 million or 10 million. It’s growing that quickly,” Gov. Daniels said of the constant growth. “This company is growing so rapidly here, it is beginning to expand internationally. I asked Karl where he was going to make all those millions and he said, ‘right here in Wabash.’ As Living Essentials has grown, so too has its presence in the Wabash area business landscape. “This company could have stayed in Michigan but you decided to come here, you didn’t have to grow here in Wabash; you had a world of choices,” Gov. Daniels said. “I want to say to Karl Smith and all the people involved at Living Essentials, thank you for your business.” In his speech, Gov. Daniels noted the level of cooperation between the City of Wabash, Wabash County government, and how it helped to fuel this expansion.
“We don’t have a better partner at the state level than the City of Wabash,” Gov. Daniels said. “Mayor Bob, he and I have had the chance to do something like this several times and this is a great example of how quickly they’ll move to keep up with a company that’s growing this rapidly. I wish I could tell you every place in Indiana is as organized as that, but that’s not the case.” City of Wabash Mayor Bob Vanlandingham echoed that sentiment in his speech by stating, “We don’t want to forget that we are getting to where we are because we get along, we communicate and we work together. When I look around and see what’s going on not only in Wabash, but also North Manchester, all of these things are going on because of the cooperation of our local government agencies.” That cooperation has helped Living Essentials continue to raise its employment level to where it is today, 370. The company has expanded in Wabash twice in 2010, adding eight production lines and the company’s research and development operations, totaling a capital investment of over $55 million. Living Essentials produces more than 9 million bottles of the 5-Hour Energy Drink at its Wabash plant. The 57 mL dietary supplements are sold in retail and convenience stores across the United States, and in Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Ireland. The newest expansion will bring the companies overall footprint in Wabash County to over 1.8 million sq. ft. “This is spectacular for the state of Indiana,” Gov. Daniels said. “This is probably the fastest growing business anywhere in the state. I predict with full confidence this will not be the last time they expand either.”