Town Board Member Seems Legit; Giving Without Prompting
February 21, 2020 at 11:53 p.m.
By -
This week, Sidney Town Board member and Democrat Gavin Parrett was the focus of a rumor that questioned his eligibility to serve on the board. The rumor centered around Parrett’s voting record and residency.
Parrett, 22, was appointed to the board in January by Kosciusko Democrat Party Chair Brian Smith after Democrat Kenneth Koontz resigned, following the resignations of Republican Ricky Bradley and Clerk-Treasurer Lana Wolfe. Koontz sadly passed away earlier this week. Bradley was replaced by Shana Rancourt with Etta Hurd replacing Wolfe. Hurd has since resigned, with Republican Party Chairman Mike Ragan to name Hurd’s replacement at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Got that?
Anyway, we asked Smith about the rumor via email and he said, “That’s news to me. Gavin is a registered voter of 203 N. Main St. in Sidney. He had not previously voted in a primary election so I had to fill out a form certifying that he is a Democrat. However, he is indeed a registered voter of Sidney. Due to privacy laws, I am not sure if I can share his actual voter registration with you, however, he is a registered voter in Sidney, Indiana.”
Smith also referred us to Clerk of the Circuit and Superior Courts Ann Torpy, suggesting she may be authorized to share a person’s voter registration.
She quickly got back to us with this response: “Gavin is registered at an address within the town of Sidney. He has also voted in 2016 and 2018, he has not voted in a primary election, but that only requires certification that he is in good standing with the Democrat Party. They (democrat party chair) make that determination. Gavin is 22 years old, the first election he was eligible to vote in would have been 2016. So he has voted in every election he was eligible for, not many people vote in the primary election for many reasons.”
Hopefully, that clarified everything up.
UNSOLICITATED DONATION – During Monday’s regular board meeting, the Tippecanoe Valley School Board approved to accept a $300 donation from State Rep. Ethan Manning for Tippecanoe Valley Middle School’s life skills class.
The donation was given after Manning was invited to the school by English teacher Sara Thomas to see the daily events in the middle school and what effects legislation has on education.
Thomas said she’s known Manning for a little while since they’re both from the same area and both of their families are farmers.
“He’s now my neighbor in Denver and he goes to my church, so he can’t get away from me,” she said, saying the invitation was to observe her class.
The donation came after Manning visited middle school teacher Cathy Olson’s life skills classroom during cooking class. He asked about Olson’s class and how some of it was funded. He then offered a donation.
“It was unsolicited,” Olson said.
The donation will pay for part of the fall 2020 therapeutic horseback riding sessions at the middle school’s applied/functional life skills class, which help students on the autism spectrum and those with cognitive disabilities things like emotional support therapy and skills in riding, such as following instructions and giving commands.
SAVING FOR RETIREMENT – We get lots and lots of emails every day and most of it is junk or spam. But from time to time, there’s an email that just is interesting, even if we question the legitimacy of the sender.
Such is an email we received Thursday from a Steve Sabato with a subject line that stated “Kosciusko County Among Best Places to Save for Retirement.”
Intrigued, we clicked on the link which took us to smartadvisormatch.com.
The website said that to determine the best places to save for retirement, “we considered four factors: paycheck friendliness, 401(k) plan performance, public pension plan performance and the number of financial advisors per capita. We reviewed this data for every county in the country.”
In Indiana, Hamilton County was No. 1, Porter No. 2 and Kosciusko County landed at No. 8. The Paycheck Friendliness Index for Kosciusko was 47.61%; 401(k) Index at 85.13%; Public Pension Performance Index at 63.13%; Financial Advisor Density Index at 3.75%; and Best Places to Save for Retirement Index at 33.25%.
UPCOMING EVENTS – Here’s a quick rundown of some upcoming events our readers might be interested in.
The sixth annual Barn & Business Breakfast is from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. March 5 at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center at Grace College, 610 Wooster Road, Winona Lake. The Kosciusko County Community Foundation event brings together community members and works to connect vital industries within Kosciusko County to discuss community needs, challenges and solutions. This year’s keynote speaker is Rachel Blakeman, director of the Community Research Institute at Purdue University Fort Wayne.
If you missed the Feb. 14 Legislative Review, the next one is March 13 at the Shrine Building, 1400 E. Smith St., Warsaw. Lunch, for $10, is at 11:30 a.m. with the program at noon. Contact the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce at [email protected] with any questions. Registration is required, and the event is in conjunction with Rotary Club.
Warsaw Night with the Komets is at 7:30 p.m. March 7. Tickets are $15, and can be purchased by visiting Groupmatics.events/event/WarsawCommunity4 or call/email Mitch Meinholz at 260-482-6812 or [email protected]. Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer and community members will do a ceremonial puck drop at the start of the game.
This week, Sidney Town Board member and Democrat Gavin Parrett was the focus of a rumor that questioned his eligibility to serve on the board. The rumor centered around Parrett’s voting record and residency.
Parrett, 22, was appointed to the board in January by Kosciusko Democrat Party Chair Brian Smith after Democrat Kenneth Koontz resigned, following the resignations of Republican Ricky Bradley and Clerk-Treasurer Lana Wolfe. Koontz sadly passed away earlier this week. Bradley was replaced by Shana Rancourt with Etta Hurd replacing Wolfe. Hurd has since resigned, with Republican Party Chairman Mike Ragan to name Hurd’s replacement at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Got that?
Anyway, we asked Smith about the rumor via email and he said, “That’s news to me. Gavin is a registered voter of 203 N. Main St. in Sidney. He had not previously voted in a primary election so I had to fill out a form certifying that he is a Democrat. However, he is indeed a registered voter of Sidney. Due to privacy laws, I am not sure if I can share his actual voter registration with you, however, he is a registered voter in Sidney, Indiana.”
Smith also referred us to Clerk of the Circuit and Superior Courts Ann Torpy, suggesting she may be authorized to share a person’s voter registration.
She quickly got back to us with this response: “Gavin is registered at an address within the town of Sidney. He has also voted in 2016 and 2018, he has not voted in a primary election, but that only requires certification that he is in good standing with the Democrat Party. They (democrat party chair) make that determination. Gavin is 22 years old, the first election he was eligible to vote in would have been 2016. So he has voted in every election he was eligible for, not many people vote in the primary election for many reasons.”
Hopefully, that clarified everything up.
UNSOLICITATED DONATION – During Monday’s regular board meeting, the Tippecanoe Valley School Board approved to accept a $300 donation from State Rep. Ethan Manning for Tippecanoe Valley Middle School’s life skills class.
The donation was given after Manning was invited to the school by English teacher Sara Thomas to see the daily events in the middle school and what effects legislation has on education.
Thomas said she’s known Manning for a little while since they’re both from the same area and both of their families are farmers.
“He’s now my neighbor in Denver and he goes to my church, so he can’t get away from me,” she said, saying the invitation was to observe her class.
The donation came after Manning visited middle school teacher Cathy Olson’s life skills classroom during cooking class. He asked about Olson’s class and how some of it was funded. He then offered a donation.
“It was unsolicited,” Olson said.
The donation will pay for part of the fall 2020 therapeutic horseback riding sessions at the middle school’s applied/functional life skills class, which help students on the autism spectrum and those with cognitive disabilities things like emotional support therapy and skills in riding, such as following instructions and giving commands.
SAVING FOR RETIREMENT – We get lots and lots of emails every day and most of it is junk or spam. But from time to time, there’s an email that just is interesting, even if we question the legitimacy of the sender.
Such is an email we received Thursday from a Steve Sabato with a subject line that stated “Kosciusko County Among Best Places to Save for Retirement.”
Intrigued, we clicked on the link which took us to smartadvisormatch.com.
The website said that to determine the best places to save for retirement, “we considered four factors: paycheck friendliness, 401(k) plan performance, public pension plan performance and the number of financial advisors per capita. We reviewed this data for every county in the country.”
In Indiana, Hamilton County was No. 1, Porter No. 2 and Kosciusko County landed at No. 8. The Paycheck Friendliness Index for Kosciusko was 47.61%; 401(k) Index at 85.13%; Public Pension Performance Index at 63.13%; Financial Advisor Density Index at 3.75%; and Best Places to Save for Retirement Index at 33.25%.
UPCOMING EVENTS – Here’s a quick rundown of some upcoming events our readers might be interested in.
The sixth annual Barn & Business Breakfast is from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. March 5 at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center at Grace College, 610 Wooster Road, Winona Lake. The Kosciusko County Community Foundation event brings together community members and works to connect vital industries within Kosciusko County to discuss community needs, challenges and solutions. This year’s keynote speaker is Rachel Blakeman, director of the Community Research Institute at Purdue University Fort Wayne.
If you missed the Feb. 14 Legislative Review, the next one is March 13 at the Shrine Building, 1400 E. Smith St., Warsaw. Lunch, for $10, is at 11:30 a.m. with the program at noon. Contact the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce at [email protected] with any questions. Registration is required, and the event is in conjunction with Rotary Club.
Warsaw Night with the Komets is at 7:30 p.m. March 7. Tickets are $15, and can be purchased by visiting Groupmatics.events/event/WarsawCommunity4 or call/email Mitch Meinholz at 260-482-6812 or [email protected]. Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer and community members will do a ceremonial puck drop at the start of the game.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092