You know that old saying, "If you don't like the weather in Indiana, stay a day."

Well, all I can say is, weather in Indiana couldn't get much worse than it was Wednesday.

There is literally tens of millions of dollars in property damage throughout the county. Lots of people are calling it the worst storm ever to hit northern Indiana.

I can remember some bad storms, but this one was different.

Most times one area or another sustains heavy damage and the rest of us just have the more routine branch-and-limb damage.

This storm dispatched severe damage all over the place. Damage was more widespread than any storm in my memory - from southwest of Mentone to southwest lower Michigan.

Local cops, firemen, EMS personnel, hospital staff, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and lots of good neighbors all pitched in to aid the injured and get the cleanup under way.

They all deserve a pat on the back.

Despite the damage, we can all be thankful there were no deaths. Considering the damage to homes and factories, we can be thankful there weren't any more severe injuries.

Only a couple people required hospitalization and only one suffered severe injuries.

I guess the truck driver I talked to at Da-Lite Screen just a few minutes after the tornado touched down summed it up best:

"By the grace of God no one died here today."

Ivy Tech

Another less turbulent storm brewing in the community has nothing to do with the weather.

Our Teresa Smith did a story this week about how Ivy Tech may be leaving our community.

In my view, this makes no sense and no matter how many questions we ask, we can't seem to beat any sense into it.

Ivy Tech officials have conducted several meetings with a task force comprising local businessmen, the chamber of commerce and other entities.

The Ivy Tech people say that if the community can't come up with $3 million, they will have to close their doors.

I just don't get it.

Why is it incumbent upon Warsaw to fund Ivy Tech's existence? They are already supported by tax dollars, aren't they?

This thing is weird for a few reasons.

The Ivy Tech people say they have to be out of their existing location - Lakeview Middle School - by June 30.

But Warsaw School Superintendent Dr. Lee Harman says that isn't so. It is true that Alternative Learning Center students will be moved into Lakeview. But apparently they can co-exist and there is no urgent need for Ivy Tech to vacate the building.

But even if Ivy Tech was being forced to move, shouldn't they have to show some sort of dire need before seeking all that money from the community?

And what if the community did come up with the big cash? Would the state commit to the school in the future or would they be back asking for more in a couple years?

While local Ivy Tech officials characterize themselves as broke and in need of help, a quick look at the Ivy Tech Web site tells a markedly different story.

It shows Ivy Tech closed out the 2001 fiscal year collecting $50 million in student fees. That's up $6.5 million over 2000 - around a 10 percent increase.

Revenue for the year, reported in April, was up more than $11 million. That's a 9 percent boost from the previous year.

Also interesting to note is the fact that 2000-01 state appropriations totaled more than $100 million for the first time in the school's history.

In addition, Ivy Tech spent $2.6 million for land in Valparaiso and is planning to construct a $20 million campus there.

Ivy Tech also has a few other fairly pricey projects going on. This certainly doesn't give the impression that they are cash strapped.

So Warsaw's campus must be a real money loser for Ivy Tech, right?

Au contraire.

Warsaw's campus has approximately 600 students and brings in fully 20 percent of all the revenue generated in Ivy Tech's region 2, which includes Elkhart and South Bend.

After the task force meetings, it became pretty obvious that businesses in the community couldn't pony up $3 million. No surprise there, really.

So the task force offered to come up with a $350,000 package to move the school into the Sprint building on U.S. 30 - even though they knew Ivy Tech wasn't being forced to move.

Sprint offered to give them a good deal on the space. Other businesses offered to help out with cash and other basic necessities to get Ivy Tech up and running in a bare bones fashion.

Problem solved, right?

Nope.

Not good enough, says Ivy Tech. They need the $3 million. They provided a wish list to the task force including a $1.6 million phone system and computer network.

This just doesn't sound right, does it? Why is Ivy Tech saying they have to move out of Lakeview when they really don't? Why wouldn't the local Ivy Tech people take the $350,000 and the Sprint building and make a go of it? Why wouldn't the state Ivy Tech folks pitch in?

Why am I asking you?

Well, I might as well ask you, because when we tried to ask Ivy Tech president Gerald I. Lamkin in Indianapolis, he didn't return our calls.

None of this makes any sense.

If I had to guess, I would say that the Warsaw campus of Ivy Tech is being closed for a reason that Ivy Tech doesn't want to talk about.

The Ivy Tech board is made up of political appointees, so one must wonder whether there is some political motivation behind the whole thing, but that's pure speculation.

Regardless, Warsaw gets the ultimatum - $3 million or else. It's a sort of educational hostage crisis. If Warsaw businesses don't come up with the cash, Ivy Tech will likely say that Warsaw simply didn't care enough to keep their campus open. And that simply isn't the case.

It would have saved a lot of time, effort and wailing and gnashing of teeth if they would have just announced that they were going to close in the first place.

I feel bad for the 600 students who are trying to make better lives for themselves. Some of them will likely continue their education elsewhere by commuting. But for many that simply won't be an option and they will have to stop taking classes, at least for now.

What a let-down for those students. But make no mistake, it wasn't Warsaw that let them down - it was Ivy Tech. [[In-content Ad]]