Letters to the Editor 03-10-2001

- Thanks To Optimists - Winona Recycling - Priorities - Winter Guard Thanks To Optimists Editor, Times-Union: I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Noon Optimists and John White for helping with the Atwood Elementary School Carnival held on Feb.17.The Atwood PTO greatly appreciates your donation of the Moon Walk provided for the enjoyment of our children.We would also like to thank all the volunteers from the Noon Optimist Club that helped make the Atwood Carnival a success.Again, thank you for your contributions to the children of our community.

Step One Stretches Grant Dollars

Instead of just spending a $5,000 grant from AT&T on one thing, the teachers behind the Step One program at Warsaw Community High School have found several ways to stretch the dollars.

Symphony Builds Excitement For 2014-15 Season

Symphony of the Lakes organizers hope the community gets excited about the upcoming season.

Tom Greets Pence In Italy; Haddad On Board; False Rumors About WHA

City Council Approves Raises For Their Salaries

Tippe River Downs Phase 5 Offers ‘Luxury’ Apartments

The fifth and final phase of Tippe River Downs is complete, and to celebrate the apartment complex had a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce Tuesday and an open house later in the day.

Lancers Upset No. 16 Cornerstone

WINONA LAKE - The Grace College men's basketball team overcame a 12-point second half deficit and outscored Cornerstone 12-2 in overtime to defeat the No.16 team in the country 83-73 Saturday at the Warsaw Optimist KCCCF Classic Saturday afternoon. The victory avenges a five-point loss to Cornerstone earlier in the year and snaps a five-game losing streak to the Golden Eagles, dating back to a 97-65 win over Grand Rapids Baptist (before an institutional name change) during the 1991-92 season. Cornerstone capped off an eight-point run midway through the second half with a thunderous John Jonker dunk to put the Golden Eagles ahead 58-46 with 9:50 to play in the game.But Jonker got called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim and, what could have become a nail in the Lancers' coffin, became new life.

Triton Wins Big Over LaVille

BOURBON - Earlier this week, Triton football coach Rod Wildman voiced concerns about his offense's ability to finish drives. He needn't have worried.His defense started and finished nearly everything in Triton's 38-0 win over LaVille on Friday. LaVille looked every bit like the 0-6 team it was entering the game. Seven sacks. Four interceptions. Three fumbles, all lost to Triton. This was the bowl of gruel an inexperienced LaVille squad served up. Triton's defense went for the kill against a LaVille team that had five sophomores and a freshman starting on its varsity squad.To make matters worse, LaVille's top two offensive linemen - Micah Richhart and Chad Stanley - missed the trip to Triton because of injuries. Triton didn't care who played for the Lancers.All the Trojans remembered was last year, when an 8-3 LaVille team full of seniors ran over Triton 42-8. The Trojans made this year's LaVille squad pay.

Valley Survives Against West Noble

LIGONIER - It wasn't all that pretty and took some big plays from special teams, but Tippecanoe Valley is alive for another week of sectional football. The Vikings' first three scores were all set up on West Noble punts, and Tippecanoe Valley used that ammunition in downing a pesky Charger squad 33-22 on the road. Tippecanoe Valley improved its record to 5-5 on the season and will host Northridge (1-8) Friday at Death Valley.Northridge had a first round bye.West Noble finished its season at 1-9 and is 1-19 in its past 20 games. The Vikings trailed early, 6-0, after the Chargers came out firing in the first quarter, but forced fourth-down-and-six early the second quarter.West Noble dropped back to punt, but the snap was high and Valley recovered on the Charger 11-yard line. Three plays later, sophomore Viking quarterback Brandon Eaton found an open Josh Wagoner from eight yards out for a 7-6 Valley advantage with 11 minutes left in the third.

Lancer Regional Volleyball Title Run Ends At Four

WINONA LAKE - The Grace College volleyball team knew it had its work cut out for it. Despite being the four-time defending NCCAA Regional III champions, the Lancers came into the weekend tournament as the No.3 seed.In No.1 seed Cedarville and No.2 seed Indiana Wesleyan, Grace saw a challenge like it hadn't had in the past five seasons. The Lancers proved that champions are difficult to dethrone by upending Indiana Wesleyan Friday night in four sets: 15-9, 15-8, 6-15, 15-12.With Cedarville's three-set win over Spring Arbor earlier Friday, it set up a pivotal game between the two unbeatens in the first game Saturday. Cedarville and Grace battled through four sets, three of which teetered back and forth, but the Yellow Jackets pulled out the win 15-12, 13-15, 15-3, 15-11.

Triton Tops Wawasee In Four Games

BOURBON -ÊAfter dropping four close matches Saturday in the Clinton Prairie Invitational, the Triton volleyball team was ready to get back on track. The Trojans did just that Tuesday night, defeating Wawasee in four games 21-16, 18-21, 21-6, 21-12. "We just put in a new lineup last night," said Triton coach Gayle Perry."We put a new lineup in, the same girls but in new spots.I think they adapted very well and learned it quickly.We walked through it again tonight before the game.These girls are good students of the game, and they adjusted very well." In the first game, Triton held a 4-3 advantage when senior Carly Feldman stepped to the serving line.Feldman served up five straight Trojan points to give Triton a lead it never relinquished. Wawasee got as close as three points, making the score 14-11 after Cheryl Thomas served up four consecutive points.

Wawasee Gets First NLC Win In Davis Era

SYRACUSE - Wawasee coach Jerry Davis talked this week about how his team had to do a better job of closing out basketball games in the final three minutes. Last weekend, his Warriors twice fell in the closing moments.Friday night, however, Wawasee completed the game with a flurry in defeating Concord 62-59 for the first NLC win in Davis' two-year tenure as coach of the Warriors. "I'm not saying that this is going to get us over the hill, but now we know what we've got to do, and the difference between what we've been doing and what we did tonight," Davis said."You can practice it all you want, but you've got to carry it over into the game." Wawasee got help from a number of places up and down the lineup.With Brody Stipp still feeling the effects of a car accident on Sunday, the Warriors were a bit shorthanded inside.Stipp played some, but did not start and did not get as much playing time as usual.

Manchester Squires See Season End

WABASH -ÊMaconaquah brought the Manchester Squires' girls basketball season to an abrupt end when the Braves defeated the Squires 49-48 in the Northfield Sectional Thursday. Although Manchester netted the first basket of the game, the first quarter belonged to Maconaquah as the Braves outscored the Squires 17-8 in the frame. "We knew they could score points quickly, so we made sure that we didn't panic after the first quarter," said Nichols."We kept our heads up and got back in it." Manchester was down, but not out as the Squires made a comeback in the second stanza, Jennifer Jester started the quarter with a spark as she sank a three-pointer with 7:25 remaining in the half. Then Megan Eckert stepped up.In the last seven minutes of the first half, Eckert helped the Manchester squad go on a 18-2 but scoring 13 points.At the half, Manchester held a 29-21 lead over Maconaquah, and Megan Eckert had 18 of her total 28 points.

Texas Hate Law Passage To Be Expected

Texas is in the process of passing a hate crime law. I think that was pretty inevitable.There has been a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth in Texas ever since one of the most heinous and senseless crimes of all time was committed there. You may remember the case of James Byrd.He was the 49-year-old black man who was chained to the back of a pickup truck and dragged to death. Three scumbucket white guys did the dragging.Two of them were sentenced to death.The third received life in prison with no chance of parole. Nonetheless, Texas, under intense pressure to do something - anything - about hate crimes, is poised to enact the James Byrd Hate Crime Law. The law would impose harsher penalties for criminals who are motivated by a person's race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disabilities, age or national origin. Here's a quote from Lt.Gov.Bill Ratliff as reported by Scripps Howard News Service.

Tigers Win Second Straight Sectional

SYRACUSE -ÊThe Warsaw Tigers won their first back-to-back gymnastics sectional title in school history Saturday at Wawasee High School behind a strong performance from Jillian Letsch. Letsch, a sophomore, won her second all-around title in a row at Wawasee with a total score of 34.45.She placed first on the uneven bars and the balance beam and second in the floor exercise and vault competitions. Callie Edgington finished close behind Letsch, placing fourth in the all-around competition with a 32.1 total score.Edgington placed third on the balance beam, fourth on the uneven bars, fifth in the vault and 11th on the floor exercise to earn her spot in the all-around competition. The four-person Warsaw squad was rounded out by Amanda Rice and Shyloh Hoy, who placed ninth and 24th respectively in the all-around category.

Southwood Defeats Whitko Wildcats 66-57

South Whitey- Friday night was Senior Night at Whitko High school. The student body, along with parents and fans alike, saluted the boys basketball team for their years of service to their high school.The players responded by going out and hanging with 15-2 Southwood for most of the game before falling 66-57. The game started with a jumper by Whitko's Shane Henderson.The students then proceeded to throw rolls of toliet paper onto the floor.This is a tradition on Senior Night at Whitko.It took a few minutes for the toliet paper to be cleaned up off the floor.Despite the stoppage in play, Whitko remained hot as the Wildcats started the game with an 8-2 run. The Knights answered right back, however, as they rattled off seven straight points to get back into the game.

Triton Hitters Bash Valley

BOURBON - Music doesn't boom over any loudspeakers at Triton's baseball field, because there aren't any speakers. But after what these Triton fans saw Monday afternoon, they needed to make noise.So they did the next best thing.Those fans sitting in their cars watching the game against Tippecanoe Valley honked their horns. They watched Cory Monesmith and David Sauer, the third and fourth hitters in Triton's lineup, hit back-to-back home runs over the center-field fence.Each rounded the bases to the sound of blaring car horns.Their blasts pushed Triton's lead to 11-1 after only three innings. Yep, the day couldn't have been much better for Triton fans.They saw home runs, solid pitching and exceptional defense.They also saw their veteran Triton squad beat Tippecanoe Valley 13-3 in five innings.

On The Court...

ARGOS AT TIPPECANOE VALLEY TIPOFF: 8 p.m.Saturday at Mentone COACHES: Chuck Evans (Argos), Gregg Sciarra (Valley) RECORDS: Argos 5-3, Valley 5-3 LAST GAME: SB Adams 70, Argos 58; Plymouth 81, Valley 60 MATCHUP: ...The Dragons have only three seniors on their varsity team.Junior Eric Stults leads Argos with 19.6 points per game.Junior Brent Johnson adds 11.3, and junior Bill Redinger scores 9.0.Junior Phillip Ummel dishes out 4.0 assists per game for Argos.

Former Pro Bowlers Try Their Luck At Stonehenge Golf Club

Two football players who combined to play in 12 Pro Bowls golfed at Stonehenge Golf Club last weekend. Former Minnesota Vikings outside linebacker Matt Blair played for the NFC team in six Pro Bowls, and former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman L.C.Greenwood played for the AFC team in six Pro Bowls. The two players came to Warsaw to golf in the inaugural Celebrity Pro-Am Charity Classic, which helped raise money for youths with disabilities. Greenwood played for Pittsburgh from 1969 through 1981 and was a member of the vaunted defense nicknamed the "Steel Curtain."The 6-foot-6, 250-pound Greenwood recorded 73.5 sacks and 14 fumble recoveries in a career that saw him help the Steelers win four Super Bowls and seven division titles. Greenwood, who played next to "Mean" Joe Greene, had two unforgettable Super Bowls.In Super Bowl IX, he deflected three Fran Tarkenton passes, and in Super Bowl X, he sacked Roger Staubauch three times.

Wawasee VB Team Downs Manchester

NORTH MANCHESTER -ÊAlthough Wawasee's coach did not think his volleyball team played as well as it could have against Manchester Tuesday evening, the Warriors pulled out a 15-10, 15-10 win over the Squires. "I think we as a team could have played a little sharper defense," said Wawasee coach Jason Fleming."We could have played better." The road to the win was not smooth for the Warriors.Manchester jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the first game after Mandy Phillips served up five straight points. The Squires built a 7-1 lead before Candice Brown stepped to the line to serve for Wawasee.Brown led the Warriors to three points to make the score 7-4 before Staci VanLue moved in to serve.VanLue then helped the Warriors tie the score at 7-all. Then the Warriors started to build their lead.Jessie Korenstra, Kim Likens and Kathy Likens joined forces to put the Wawasee squad up 12-7.