On The Court

Surging Warsaw Girls Hold Off Rival Wawasee

While winter is a time for hibernation, the Warsaw girls basketball team may be waking from its early season slumber. After a 2-4 record, the worst in school history, the Tigers are starting to show that there's life after Jaclyn Leininger. Warsaw used a 38-26 rebounding edge and an effective 17-point performance from Julie Seiss to top Northern Lakes Conference and county rival Wawasee 48-36, Saturday night. Earlier in the week, Warsaw knocked off a one-loss Columbia City squad.As a potential matchup with state-ranked South Bend St.Joseph's in Warsaw's Holiday Tournament looms large, the Tigers avoided a letdown. Both Warsaw and Wawasee looked to be in a shooting haze as the teams combined to shoot 35 of 95 from the field.The Tigers' ability to get after loose balls was the deciding factor.

Warsaw Teams Dominate Northridge To Open Tourney

By Dale Hubler, Times-Union Sports Writer Though players often take them hard, sometimes the best thing for a team is a loss.Such may be the case for Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team. Since a five-point overtime loss at Columbia City in the season opener, the Tigers have won seven straight, with four of the last five wins being margins of 17 or more. The latter of those wins came Tuesday, a 61-40 decision over visiting Northridge in the opening round of the Northern Lakes Conference/Lake City Bank Holiday Tournament. While its offense continues to strengthen, Warsaw's defense has been there like heat on a summer day, and Tuesday's showing was no different. The Tigers outscored the Raiders 12-4 in the first quarter and led 25-7 when senior Brad Seiss scored on a field goal with just under five minutes to play in the second stanza.

The Difference Between Public And Private Interests

Often times, the line between public and private is blurry at best. That was never more evident than the recent request by a Winona Lake landowner seeking to have a public right-of-way vacated so he can reclaim use of property he owns. There was just one problem.Forty years ago a private service organization, renowned for its good public works, had been allowed to build a building on the "private" land - 25 years before the current property owner purchased the land. Now, the desire of Jim and Lisa LeMasters seems straightforward enough.They want to build a home on the picturesque and historic island in Winona Lake.They needed more space than their current lot has, so they began searching for the owner of the adjoining property - the property on which the Winona Lake Lions Club building is located - so they could make an offer for it.

Valley Wins Ugly Over John Glenn

AKRON -ÊIt wasn't pretty, but it was a win. The Tippecanoe Valley boys basketball team picked up a 59-44 win over John Glenn Saturday night, but that's about the only thing it could be happy about.And after seeing his team coach Bill Patrick was hardly happy about that. "We had two kids who showed up to play," said Patrick."Trey Eaton and Brandon Cody were ready to play, and they played hard.In fact we won the game because of those two.The others were just not mentally ready to play." The turning point of the game came in Valley's 30-point fourth quarter.Going into the final period of play, Glenn held a 34-29 lead. Ross Stutzman hit two free throws and a field goal to put the Vikings within one, 34-33, to open the quarter.Then Eaton hit a basket to give Valley its first lead since the second quarter. The Vikings went on to hit 16 of 21 free throws in the last quarter and outscore the Falcons 30-10, to pick up the 59-44 win.

Vikings Win Ugly Over Zebras

PLYMOUTH - Tippecanoe Valley and Rochester met last night in the game nobody wanted. The players didn't want it. Rochester threw the ball away 26 times.The Vikings never had any flow on offense.Want proof? Look at how many times they got to the free throw line.Six.They made two.They had 18 turnovers themselves. After watching the two teams play, the coaches didn't want it, although Valley coach Gregg Sciarra grudgingly accepted his team's 59-41 win in the first round of the Plymouth Holiday Tounament. "I don't think we came out with any emotion, any fire tonight," Rochester coach Scott Newcomb said."We really didn't come out ready to play.Same ol', same ol'." Newcomb has seen this before.With the loss, Rochester fell to 0-7.He's tired of it. "I'm not sure how bad our kids really want it, you know?" Newcomb said. Sciarra may have seen his team win by 18 on the scoreboard, but he was brushing up on his Bob Knight impersonation afterward.

Give Me Liberty To Cause Death

When Patrick Henry uttered his fervent admonition as to the depth of his conviction at the founding of this nation, there's no way he could have envisioned how those words would be drastically turned around. Nothing could be more illustrative of that point than the spectacle of Dr.Jack Kevorkian (Dr.Death) on "60 Minutes" recently - who seemed to be saying now, "Give us the liberty to cause death." Kevorkian is an advocate for the right of terminally ill patients to legally control their own demise with the assistance of a qualified medical doctor.He has prevailed over the efforts by the Michigan legislature and judicial system to criminalize that assistance.

Tigers Seal Off Lane And Seal Up Win

Warsaw hosted its holiday basketball tournament Tuesday, and the Tigers did what they have done in their eight previous holiday tournament games. They won. The Tigers (8-1) moved their holiday tournament record to 9-0 with a 62-48 win over Lake Central (3-4).Penn (4-3) beat Twin Lakes (4-4) 66-62 in the other first-round game. Warsaw junior guard Chris Wiggins hit 5 of 10 three-pointers and scored a season-high 23 to lead all scorers.Warsaw senior point guard Rob Kesler and junior forward Steve Siebenmorgen each added 10 points. Warsaw decided the game in the second quarter. Nursing a 19-15 lead after one quarter, the Tigers outscored Lake Central 16-3 in the second quarter. Wiggins fueled the offense, hitting two three-pointers and scoring eight in the quarter. The Indians found success early when their guards dribble penetrated into the lane for either a layup or a dump off to a teammate.

Tigers Take Lead In NLC Race

Saturday's girls basketball matchup between Warsaw and Plymouth was critical for both squads.The winner would keep its undefeated Northern Lakes Conference record and sit alone atop the early season NLC standings. When all was said and done, Warsaw managed to keep its NLC record flawless and defeated the Pilgrims 41-33. The Tigers jumped out to an early lead when Sara Parker netted the first basket of the game with 7:40 on the first quarter clock.The ball did not go through the net again until more than two minutes later, 5:01, when Plymouth tied the score at 2-2. Warsaw held its lead through one period of play and finished the stanza with a 9-6 lead. Then Warsaw's defense kicked in.The Tigers held Plymouth to just four points the entire quarter as they outscored the Pilgrims 15-4 to take a 24-10 lead at halftime. Plymouth fought back early in the third quarter as the Pilgrims went on a 6-0 run to open the period and cut the Warsaw lead to eight.

What I'd Like To See Happen In The Next Century

Everyone's making their lists of the 20th century and checking them twice. ESPN has their "50 best athletes of the 20th century."Several entertainment magazines have their "100 top (television moments, music moments, artists, etc.) of the 20th century."I think I also saw a magazine that listed the top 20 miracles of the 20th century. Even with half a year left in 1999, the century is basically over for the list makers.They also seem not to care that the beginning of the 21st century technically doesn't start until 2001.

Triton Advances To Finals

CULVER - Heading into the Culver Holiday Tourney, the Triton Trojans boys basketball team was looking to focus on winning its second consecutive Tourney championship. Step one would be a tough task: They would have to beat the 3-1 Caston Comets, a team they defeated in the championship game last year 44-38. The first quarter proved to be what people came to see, a tight back-and-forth game.In the quarter, there were several lead changes.After Triton tied the game at 5-5, Caston went on a quick 4-0 run to take a 9-5 lead.Caston ended up leading 11-9 after getting nice jump shots from Eric Walsh and Bo Hines. After a tight start, the Trojans began to heat up.Triton went on a 7-0 run to start the second quarter, and they took a 16-11 lead with 4:10 to play.After nearly shutting the Comets out for the first five minutes of play, the Comets finally scored on a Tim Bowyer lay-up that closed the lead to 16-13.

Foul Trouble Hampers Squires Against Homestead

NORTH MANCHESTER - All things equal, Manchester's boys basketball team faced an uphill battle in Saturday's game against Homestead because of the Spartans' size alone. Homestead starts four players 6-foot-3 or taller, including 6-7 center Mike Rhinehart and 6-6 forward Kyle Cleaver.Manchester has no player taller than 6-3. And all things were not equal. Manchester got into foul trouble, committing 30 fouls to Homestead's 17.Homestead hit 28 of 35 free throws; Manchester hit 9 of 12.Homestead grabbed 29 rebounds; Manchester had 15. The size, the foul trouble, the free throws and the rebounds - these four things added together made it nearly impossible for the Squires to win, and they didn't.The Spartans (4-1) won 71-60, but even with all the advantages they held, they still needed a late 11-2 run to turn a 56-54 lead with 3:47 left into a 67-56 lead with one minute left.

High School Boys Basketball Roundup

BREMEN - With a 58-51 win over host Bremen Saturday, Wawasee's varsity boys basketball team is now 3-2 overall on the season. Wawasee trailed 16-10 after one quarter of play before outscoring the Lions 15-7 in the second stanza.The Warriors kept the momentum in the third quarter, outscoring Bremen 18-11 in the frame and taking a 43-34 lead into the fourth quarter. Senior center Andrew Packer scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Warriors.Brent Doty scored 13 points off the bench for Wawasee, while starters Brian Adkins and Scott Beasley scored eight points each. Nick Bragg and Greg Neely paced the Lions (1-3) with nine points each, while Tony Alvarado and Kevin Faulstich added eight points each. Wawasee will host Northern Lakes Conference rival Warsaw Friday.

Letters to the Editor 01-28-2000

- Use Variance - Taxes - Zero Tolerance - Coaching Legend Use Variance Editor, Times-Union: What a shame that all of the citizens of Warsaw could not have been present to witness the "goings on" at the Monday night meeting of the Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals. Four of the approximately 100 Rolling Hills residents present were permitted to speak on the various aspects of their argument against allowing a "use variance" to LRC Products.The residents were clearly forewarned that there would be no time for any more reiterative comments from their group.Counsel for LRC Products, however, had no limitation placed on his presentation.

Letters to the Editor 01-31-2000

- IHSAA Is A Good Organization - Marsh Trip - Restaurant Owners IHSAA Is A Good Organization Editor, Times-Union: This letter is in response of the editor's comments about the Indiana High School Athletic Association in the recent Indianapolis Star.

Letters to the Editor 01-21-2000

- LRC Petition - Sacred Institutions - Variance Opposed - School Security LRC Petition Editor, Times-Union: If LRC Products' "use variance" petition for Rolling Hills Subdivision which is before the Warsaw Board of Zoning Appeals is approved, why have a City Planner.

What Has The Scandal Done To American Journalism?

During the Clinton scandal, the general public relies on the American journalist to report to them on the details.Some members of the public may tire of hearing about it, they may not even want to know, but the journalist's job is to provide the information for those who want the information. The Clinton scandal also allows journalists an opportunity for reflection. A journalist must step back from time to time and look at his work.He must question his ethics, his morals and his ability to be fair and unbiased. It is easier said than done. Every person in this world is born into an environment different than that of his neighbor.During his lifetime, a person experiences different events, meets new people and discovers more day by day.A journalist is no different and lives through the same process.He develops through events, information and the people he meets.With his experiences behind him, he wants to change the world through his work.

Letters to the Editor 01-17-2000

I'm amazed.

This is the most complacent community I have ever seen.What happened to community spirit? Without sports, that is.Oops, asked and answered. Let's look at what's going on here.The school board hired an architectural firm from Indianapolis - Odle, McGuire & Shook - to study Silver Lake, Jefferson, Claypool and Atwood schools.They also asked for estimates on an auditorium and performing arts center, football stadium and track (or outdoor PE facility, depending on your preference) at Warsaw Community High School, and a new elementary school building. School superintendent Dr.Lee Harman came out with his recommendations based on the OMS report.He said the board should: ¥ Close Silver Lake Elementary and renovate Claypool Elementary (at a cost of $9.03 million), then bus the Silver Lake students to Claypool, which also could take the overflow students from Jefferson and Eisenhower.

Triton Ends Caston's 6-Year Reign

CULVER - Kevin O'Rourke was caught off guard. Here was Channel 16 sports anchor Chuck Freeby holding his television camera and asking the Triton basketball coach for a short interview.O'Rourke told Freeby that this was new to him.Usually only one or two reporters talk to him, but now he was doing a television interview. But when your team: a) starts off 5-2, b) beats 5-1 Caston 75-59 and c) ends Caston's six-year run as Culver Tournament champions, people take notice. Triton did all of these things Thursday night.They improved to 5-2 with a 16-point win over a physical Caston team in the Culver Tournament.Caston had won the tournament six straight years.Triton knocked the bully off the streetcorner. "I don't know the history of the streak very well, but it is nice to beat a quality basketball team like Caston," O'Rourke said. The Trojans won this one the same two ways they have been winning their others: making few turnovers and hitting free throws.