Tower Bank Coming To Warsaw In January

Tower Bank, headquartered in Fort Wayne, will break ground for a new bank at the corner of Main and Buffalo streets northeast of the courthouse square in January. "We chose this location because it is at the heart of the business district in Warsaw and the bank brings a unique opportunity to build excitement in downtown Warsaw," said Tower Bank Warsaw Community Bank President John Warren. Warren received the bank's design sketches Nov.6 from architect Doug Routh of SchenkelShultz Architecture, Fort Wayne.Warren said the bank is targeted to open for business in August 2007. The opening of Warsaw's branch will make the eighth Tower Bank in Northeast Indiana. There are six Tower Banks in Allen County and one in Angola. Trois Hart, vice president of marketing for Tower Bank, said the company has been looking to build other banks in communities where they will thrive.

Ball-Control Theory Backfires On Tippecanoe Valley Vikings

AKRON -ÊAlthough Tippecanoe Valley's girls basketball team lost to Wawasee 62-35, the Vikings accomplished something no other team has managed to do: hold Shanna Zolman, the leading scorer in the state, to just 23 points. The Warriors started strong as Dusty Krull netted a three-pointer for the first basket of the game. "Believe it or not, I believe that first three-pointer by Dusty was the turning point of the game," said Wawasee coach Kem Zolman."Valley wanted to hold the ball, but after that three, they had to play catch-up." The Warriors went on to hold the Vikings to just one basket in the first quarter and outscore them 13-2.

Local Residents Can Help In Tsunami Relief Effort

As the death toll rises in southeast Asia from the tsunamis, organizations such as the American Red Cross are working to help those people affected. Today, the death toll was nearing 100,000."That number is going to grow significantly as they get more into the areas," said Larry Peppel, executive director of the local Red Cross chapter. But the Red Cross can't do it alone.Local residents can help with the effort through donating money.

Local Officials Share Hopes For New Year

A new year brings opportunity for fresh ideas, change, growth and new beginnings. This week, randomly chosen local officials were asked what they hoped the new year would bring to their departments, the county or their towns. "I know what it's bringing - a lot of changes," said Sharon Christner, clerk of the Circuit Court.Those changes will include a statewide voter registration system, new voting machines and a "new court package."She said much work will be required but in the long run, it will be worth it. The county has been really tight financially, said Avis Gunter, southern district county commissioner.For 2005, she said, she hopes the county's revenue goes up so the county doesn't have to scrimp and save and watch every penny.The county has been very conservative with its finances over the past few years to avoid the money problems other counties in the state have had.

Library Looks At Year-End Budget

Financial matters were wrapped up Wednesday by the Warsaw Community Public Library Board. Claims approved for the period ending Dec.29 totaled $31,448.02. Budget encumbrances from 1999 to 2000 totaled $48,243.Transfers of budget appropriations totaled $7,732. Library director Ann Zydek said they have received the budget figures for 2000 from the state. The operations tax rate is $0.2602.It was advertised as $0.2930.The building tax rate for 2000 is $0.1338, and was advertised as $0.1487. "When you put them together, they're very close to what they were last year," Zydek said. Board members include president Irv Lindemuth, Ruth Jones, Mark Morrison, Joel Curry, John Yingling, Caroline Nye and Larry Chamberlain.

Winona Approves Planned Unit Status For Village

Winona Lake - The Village at Winona will become a planned unit development to allow completed structural improvements to be recorded. The Winona Town Council approved the planned unit development for the Village with a plat change to allow for curb extensions along Terrace Drive at the Winona Town Council's meeting Wednesday. The planned unit development will include rededicating Terrace Drive and a section of Park Avenue from 9th Street to Kings Highway. The plan also will include recording downtown Winona Lake structural building improvements including structure improvements to the Boathouse Restaurant, hotel and parking areas in the town. Brent Wilcoxson, managing director for the Village, presented design plans for the planned unit development at the council's Dec.12 meeting.

Dean Damaging To Demo Dollars

Unfortunately, politics in America is completely and utterly dependent on cold, hard cash. It's true. Sad to say, but it's to the point where you pretty much need to buy your way into office. The ability to raise money is a highly prized and necessary skill in politics. Which is precisely why I think the Democratic National Committee chose Howard Dean as its chairman.

BOW Approves Change Order, '07 Contracts

The city of Warsaw has agreed to pay $4,400 for a change order to cover labor costs for concrete flat work being completed on the city's streetscape project on Market Street. The Board of Works approved the change order payment at its meeting Friday. Reggie Smith, project manager for Phend & Brown Inc., Milford, attended the meeting and requested an additional $8,800 payment from the city, but Mayor Ernie Wiggins recommended the city pay half. Wiggins said the $8,800 requested payment was an increase in additional cost already agreed to for layout of the curb, winter concrete material and insulated blanket. The change order will cover the additional labor costs for detail forming work to block out decorative bricks and planters on the streetscape project.The company did not include the amount of forming and the detailed type of forming required for the brick blockouts in the original concrete price for flat work.

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WHA Seeks Funds For Transitional Housing

Warsaw Housing Authority Executive Director Laura Kaufman requested funds to be used for a transitional housing project at the Warsaw City Council meeting Monday. Kaufman proposed $21,000 from previous Owner Occupied Rehabilitation grants be used as a local match on an $84,000 Indiana Housing Finance Authority grant to purchase property for transitional housing. The property to be used is at 606/608 E.Center St.It contains two three-bedroom apartments.A family would be able to stay in the apartments for up to two years as they search for permanent housing and learn to become self-sufficient. According to Kaufman, there is no transitional housing in Kosciusko County and there is a great need for it.She said the lack of transitional housing was identified as the greatest need in the county by a housing needs assessment done in October 1999.

A Dose Of The Truth Would Be Nice

Last week I wrote about how it seems the media only want to write about guns in a negative context. It didn't take long for them to prove my point. Last Monday, a couple members of the American Public Health Association - a group that pushes gun control - were slightly injured in an accidental shooting in Indianapolis. Seems some dolt had a loaded .32 caliber derringer in his shirt pocket while at the Planet Hollywood restaurant.He bent over to pick up some beads from another patron's broken necklace. The gun fell out of his pocket, hit the floor and discharged.The round struck one woman in the hand and another in the arm.Both were treated at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and released. According to the Associated Press wire story, "...the organization barely hesitated before deciding to make the incident a lobbying tool on the gun issue.

Civilizations Do Rise And Fall

Sometimes it's fun to mentally perch yourself high above an historical timeline of the U.S. Look to the left. As you cast your gaze from left to right you see the English colonial era.The prelude to the American Revolution.The war for independence.The birth of our nation and the vision of the founding fathers. Then you see the prohibition of slavery, Missouri Compromise, pioneers, the Gold Rush, the Emancipation Proclamation, Little Bighorn, Wounded Knee, prohibition, women's suffrage, the depression, the New Deal and Social Security, the civil rights movement, JFK's assassination, the hippie movement, Star Wars, welfare reform, 9/11. Glaringly absent in that time line are wars.There were a bunch: 1812, Mexican, Civil, Spanish-American, WW I, WW II, Korean, Vietnam, Gulf, Afghan, Iraq.We had "conflicts" in Panama and Grenada, too. Now - and this is the fun part - imagine yourself in the middle of the timeline and look to the right.

For Willy, Life's A Drag

The log sheet, dated April 18, 1993, is dusty now, creased with time.But 47-year-old Bill Long always knows where it is, tucked away here in the back of the shop, in case a visitor asks to look at it. April 18, 1993.Bill's son, Willy, won the first drag race he competed in at Bunker Hill Drag Strip near Kokomo."W-I-N" is scrawled in tall, pink letters across the front of the log sheet. Billy was 8 - the minimum age to compete - when he won his first non-exhibition drag race on April 18, 1993, the first year Bunker Hill began hosting junior drag races.It was also the first year the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) created a racing class for kids ages 8-17. Never mind that Willy was facing guys twice his age in his division. He won anyway.

Tiger Girls End Carroll's Home Winning Streak

FORT WAYNE - An atmosphere as electric as Carroll High School's gymnasium Wednesday evening, it was only fitting there be a lightning bolt painted at mid-court. A battle of Class 4A heavyweights No.3 Warsaw and No.9 Carroll was quite possibly everything a fan could have hoped for, a nip-and-tuck, back-and-forth battle that went down to the wire. And like so many times before, Warsaw Miss Basketball candidate Jaclyn Leininger came through when her team needed her, scoring eight of her team's 12 fourth-quarter points and leading the Tigers to a 62-53 win over the previously unbeaten Chargers.

Things Are Going Quite Well For W

W must really be feeling pretty good about life these days. First there was the historic election, where he actually gained seats for his party midway though his first term. Then the mighty United Nations Security Council voted unanimously his way on the Iraq resolution. Next, the lame duck 107th Congress was poised to hand him yet another victory with a Homeland Security bill he can sign. The House passed the bill on a 229-121 vote Wednesday. A couple procedural votes in the Senate, including one to kill a Democratic version that gave additional protection to workers, tilted toward W as well. Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle said the Senate was expected to act within the next few days and that "I'm inclined to support final passage." He added that Democrats wanted to see the bill move forward despite lingering concerns over labor provisions.

Budget Needs Serious Attention

It's not at all surprising to me that W's approval rating is scraping the bottom of the polling spectrum. A few weeks back I noted that if people like becoming disillusioned with him, he's in some serious political trouble. Each passing week seems to cement that a little more. In most cases with W, it's not so much the policy, but the implementation that's left lacking. Take Iraq. Who could argue that a free and democratic Iraq is a bad thing for the world? No, it would be a good thing. It could be a stabilizing influence in the Middle East.So I don't disagree with the policy. But the implementation? Seems like we weren't all that well prepared. We didn't see that insurgency thing coming at all.W was on a ship with a banner touting "Mission Accomplished." I think in hindsight he'd like to have foregone that photo op. But that's just it.We should have seen it coming.We should have known.

TRAC Data Points To Lack Of Enforcement

The past couple weeks I have been decrying the lack of enforcement of federal gun laws under the current administration. Just this week, a new batch of statistics were compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. To satisfy the skeptics, TRAC is a nonpartisan data-gathering, research and data distribution organization associated with Syracuse University. I probably wouldn't consider Syracuse University a hotbed of right-wing thought. I think what the statistics they have compiled show is significant in light of the current administration's propensity to propose more and more federal gun laws. According to TRAC, referrals for federal prosecutions by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms have sharply declined during the Clinton Administration.

Incumbents Beware?

At first glance, one might think some incumbents might be in for a rough time this November. Frankly, I thought it was a bit shocking that Joe Lieberman, the Democrat Senator from Connecticut, lost his bid for re-election in the primary this past week. In 2000, as Al Gore's running mate, he was just a few Florida votes shy of being the Vice President of the United States. In 2004, he was a formidable candidate for his party's nomination for a presidential run against George Bush. A three-term incumbent, he was highly respected by his peers on both sides of the aisle in the Senate. He is the ranking Demo on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which he chaired in 2001 and 2002. He also serves on the Armed Services, Environment and Public Works and Small Business and Entrepreneurship committees. He was very popular in his home state and he's no moderate.

How Things Have Changed In School

Summer break for students is usually a pretty good time. Some students have to work, but lots of others just sleep in, get up and hang out at the beach. Lots of teachers pick up summer jobs to supplement their income.Others play lots of golf. Also in the summer, some states offer training programs for educators to hone their teaching skills. But this summer, the tragedies in Mississippi, Kentucky, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and Oregon have raised the bar on these summer sessions. Now states are offering training programs like "school safety" and "crisis management." The following tidbits were gleaned from a story that moved on Scripps Howard News Service. • Florida is helping large and small, rural and metro school districts develop localized school safety programs. • In Missouri, school and law enforcement officials got together to develop a plan to address school violence and juvenile crime.

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