Letters to the Editor 07-14-1999

- Save Our Pets - Firearms Laws - Justice - Sanity In Government - Putt Endowment - Animal Shelter Save Our Pets Editor, Times-Union: Dogs - cats, animals Why in the world do we kill these animals? Why not charge $10 to adopt a cat, and $15 - $20 to adopt a dog? I believe more of these "Friends" would be adopted if fees were lowered. Another idea! Why not get permission to have some of these "Friends" placed in retirement homes, where they would get lots of love. Save out pets.

Burkhart Looks Forward To Retirement

AKRON – Being an athletic director was never Duane Burkhart’s ambition.

Letters to the Editor 10-26-2001

- Thank You, Wal-Mart - School Board Options - Alien Youth Concert - Not Supporting Brown Thank You, Wal-Mart Editor, Times-Union: Thank you, Wal-Mart, for the grand Grand-Opening! I was not close enough to the platform to hear what was being said.However, I did see many poster-size checks presented to various organizations.Giving back to the community for the years that the community supported them! I was able to move close to the platform to hear a wonderful performance by one of the employees.He sang "The Anchor Holds" by Ray Boltz.There were teary eyes in the crowd of cheers and applause.This was followed by prayer, then the ribbon-cutting.

Warriors Win Sectional Championship

SYRACUSE - As time goes by and fact becomes folklore, one thing will remain true; Wawasee's 28-7 win over Plymouth gave the school its first sectional football title since 1985. The two-headed monster of quarterback Kory Lantz and tailback Jordan Swain were effective if not superb. Lantz scored three touchdowns, including the Warriors' first with 1:37 left in the first quarter on a run from five yards out to put his team up 7-0 after a Ben Champoux kick. The scoring run was set up by a nine-yard pass from Lantz to tight end Ryan Kauchak on a rollout.Kauchak tiptoed the sidelines and stayed in bounds NFL style to extend the eventual scoring drive. Wawasee is usually known for it's quick strike offense but was unable to get into a groove, partially due to Plymouth's deliberate ground attack.

Ground Game Lifts Wildcats To Next Level

SOUTH WHITLEY - A mainstay on Whitko's sidelines for nearly a quarter-century, Wildcat football coach Bryan Sprunger describes himself as a litte old school. On a cold November Wednesday afternoon, two days before a sectional championship game at Ryan Huff Memorial Stadium with visiting Norwell, Sprunger's team only practices for an hour-and-a-half because he believes if you can't do something by this time of the season you won't. His command to his team is simple, "do the simple things, and do them well." And so for 22 years now Sprunger's teams have done the simple things - run the ball, block and tackle - and it's produced 129 wins for the South Adams High School and Indiana State University grad. The Wildcats (7-4) host Norwell (5-6) Friday at 7 p.m.in the championship game of Class 3A Sectional 20.The winner advances to next week's regional title game to play the winner of 3A Sectional 19, which pits NorthWood (8-3) against South Bend St.Joe (8-3).

Eckert, Manchester Deliver Message

NORTH MANCHESTER - Jody Shewman and her basketball players had a little extra motivation to win their season opener against Bluffton. And it wasn't because of anything Bluffton did or didn't do. It's what the pollsters didn't do. The coach and her Manchester girls basketball team always want to win, but there was added incentive this time.The Squires wanted to win Saturday's game against Bluffton, because this would be exhibit A for them in proving the prognosticators, or in their case, naysayers, wrong. The Bluffton Tigers, 12-9 last year, cracked Hoosier Basketball magazine's 1997-1998 preseason top 10 poll and received votes in the Associated Press poll. Manchester, 14-6 last year with four returning starters, did not. The Squires seethed.Bluffton paid.Manchester won 53-51.

Upset Guarantees Goshen Vs. Wawasee II

SYRACUSE - Goshen's win over No.1 (4A) DeKalb last Friday surprised a lot of people in the Indiana high school football community, but don't count Redskin coach Brad Park or Wawasee coach Gene Mitz among them. "We thought Goshen had a very good chance to beat DeKalb," Mitz said."Goshen is a very good football team.We were not surprised by that." The two teams will face each other Friday night in the second round of Class 4A, Sectional 11 at Foreman Field in Goshen. Goshen (6-3) entered the game with the top-ranked Barons as "underdogs" according to most and even were put as 25-point underdogs by a Fort Wayne newspaper, which didn't sit well with the Redskin coaches, players and fans. "The only people who thought we were underdogs against DeKalb was the media people," Park said."We didn't feel like we were (the underdogs).We felt like we could play with anybody.That is our approach.

Wawasee Falls In Sectional Opener

LIGONIER - After picking up his 500th win this season, NorthWood head coach Steve Neff almost had to wait until next year for 501. Neff and his Panther squad were pushed to the brink against fierce conference rival Wawasee before prevailing 40-36 in the opening game of the West Noble Sectional Tuesday night. The Warriors took their first and only lead of the game with 2:30 left in regulation after Wawasee's lone senior Tiffany Fick hit one of two free throws to make the count 30-29. Wawasee then turned the ball over on its next possession with a chance to extend its lead.Instead NorthWood's junior guard Mandy Yoder nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key to give the Panthers back the lead at 32-30.

Pass The Chips And Get Me A Lawyer

Society today has become highly litigious. People sue anybody, anytime for anything. People don't feel they should be held responsible for their own actions.They blame someone else, and then sue them. If you get sick from smoking, sue the tobacco company.If you shoot yourself in the foot, sue the gun manufacturer.If you get drunk and wreck your car, sue the bartender. Well, I have decided to cash in. Following are some ideas for possible defendants in a flurry of civil suits I could file. Tortilla chip manufacturers. Some restaurants give you a bowl of free tortilla chips to munch on while you're waiting for your food. This makes you more thirsty, so you order a second margarita before dinner.Next thing you know, you're killing somebody on the highway.My guess is that countless traffic deaths could be avoided if there were no tortilla chips. Car manufacturers.

DeGeeter Leads Warsaw To Win Over Carroll

Obviously, Warsaw girls basketball coach Will Wienhorst was pleased that his team improved to 13-1 with a 61-58 win over Carroll Wednesday night in the Tiger Den. Strangely enough, he would have been okay with a loss, too. "This was a great game for us, win or lose," said Wienhorst."This is the first time we have seen a box-and-one, and that is very good for us.We wanted to see that type of defense, and we got some really good experience with it tonight." After fallig behind early, the Tigers clawed their way back from a 12-point deficit early in he third quarter to earn the three-point victory in the highly anticipated game against the Chargers.

Valley Volleyball Team Sweeps Through Manchester Invite

NORTH MANCHESTER - Although Manchester was the host of the 1999 Manchester High School Volleyball Invitational, Tippecanoe Valley stole the show. After defeating each team in the tourney (Manchester, Triton and Caston), Valley's undefeated season record remained intact. In the first contest of the day, Valley faced the Triton Trojans.In the first match, the Vikings jumped out to what looked like a commanding 11-3 lead, but the Trojans refused to give in. Rachel Speicher stepped to the serving line and led Triton to four straight points to make the score 12-9 in Valley's favor. Valley went up 14-10 but lost possession and Speicher stepped to the line again.Again, she served four straight points to knot the score at 14.After trading points once more, the score was 15-15 when Valley's Inga Vandermark served up two points to win the match 17-15.

Reclamation Project Continues For Manchester

NORTH MANCHESTER - It hasn't been easy for third-year Manchester coach Brandon Baker. After taking over for long-time head coach Al Bailey, Baker has had to rebuild the Squire program from the bottom. The biggest challenge for Baker and his staff has been getting the number of kids in red and black uniforms out on the field. This year the Squires have 36 players on the roster and most of them will see significant playing time. "We're going to have a lot of guys who rarely if ever come off the field," said Baker. Interestingly enough, two positions that will see some substituting are quarterback and running back. Senior Brandon Shepherd and sophomore Derrek Freshour will share time as Manchester's signal caller. Both will be in charge of running the Squires' single wing-T offense.The duo will be handing the ball off to another duo of running backs. Junior Blaine Miller and senior Aaron Snover will share time in Manchester's backfield.

Triton Fans Excited

BOURBON - After winning four of five sectional titles between 1999 and 2003, the Triton Trojans have the Bourbon community all abuzz again.

Whitko Rally Falls Short

SPEICHERVILLE – Pinned at their own 1-yard line, the Whitko Wildcats looked to pull a come-from-behind victory – driving the ball down to the Northfield 20. Alex Stoddard's pass was intercepted on the last play of the game, however, as the Wildcats fell 27-21 on the road Friday night in Three Rivers Conference action.

Tippecanoe Valley Advances To Sectional Semifinal

NAPPANEE — In Class 3A Sectional 21 action at NorthWood High School Wednesday, the Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball team kept its season going with an eight-point win over Fairfield.

Munoz Grapples With Adversity

Luis Munoz’s road to the IHSAA wrestling state finals has had a few curves.After reaching the regional round as a freshman, then semistate as a sophomore, his career was derailed during Christmas break of his junior year.

Warsaw Grad Working On Films Like 'Oz'

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – If you saw last weekend’s No. 1 movie, “Oz The Great and Powerful,” you saw some of the work of a Warsaw Community High School graduate.

Warsaw Girls Win Physical Game At Whitko

SOUTH WHITLEY - The physicality of Friday night's girls basketball game between Warsaw and Whitko had both fan bases crying foul.

On Last Day, Fire Chief Holderman Thanked For Year Of Service

Remembering The Argos Dragons ... 40 Years Later

St. Patrick’s Day, 1979.