Webster Council Kills Formation Of Fire Territory

Letters to the Editor 02-07-2000

- Fire Thanks - Valley Coach - Moody Surgery - Thanks To Dekko Fire Thanks Editor, Times-Union: On Thursday Jan.27 we had the unfortunate event of a nasty chimney fire.When my son came running into the office to tell me of it I thought this shouldn't be a big deal.When I got to the house it looked like Dalton Foundry smoke stack.When the attic began to fill up with smoke I knew it was time to call for help! As the trucks & men of the Pierceton Fire Department began to roll in along with our local EMS it was a very comforting sight.

Warsaw Girls Ground Eagles

He said it wasn't anything personal, it wasn't about him, but first-year Warsaw girls basketball coach John Snyder had plenty to smile about Tueday evening. Off to to the worst start in the program's history, a 2-4 record that Snyder insists isn't indicative of the improvement the team is making, the Tigers rebounded from Saturday's loss to Plymouth with a 52-41 win over visiting Columbia City. Snyder, a longtime Warsaw boys assistant coach, has also been the junior varsity boys coach at Columbia City and has lived there for more than a decade. Just how much it meant he wouldn't really say, but Tuesday's 11-point win meant something to him, as well as a team trying to find its identity with a new head coach and get things rolling.

Letters to the Editor 07-08-2003

- Religious Laws - Doing Nothing - Thanks To REMC Religious Laws Editor, Times-Union: Can we as religious people, whatever your religion is, who believe in God and God's laws, accept these laws that the nine Supreme Court justices have handed down in the last 50 years when they have blasphemed God's name and God's holy laws? 1.Prayer in schools was abolished or banned by the Supreme Court justices.NOTE: Article1 under the amendments to the Constitution; Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press.

Vikings Defeat Columbia City 60-53 For First Win

COLUMBIA CITY -ÊIn the first boys basketball game of the season, Tippecanoe Valley fell to Warsaw in double overtime.Warsaw then defeated Columbia City by one point with no time left on the clock last week. Friday night, the Vikings turned the tables and earned their first victory of the season over Columbia City, 60-53. The story of the night was the Eaton brothers, Trey and Brandon.Brandon, a senior starter played nearly the entire game.Trey, the freshman bench player, stepped into the game when Justin Ross got into early foul trouble. The Eatons combined for 31 of Valley's 60 points and 13 of the Vikings' 30 rebounds.Both Brandon and Trey had a steal as well. Columbia City struck first when Mike Schumaker connected on 1 of 2 free throws with 7:05 left in the first quarter to put Columbia City up 1-0.That was the only lead the Eagles held for the remainder of the game.

Warsaw Swimmers Sink Goshen

The Warsaw boys and girls swim teams' toughest tests Saturday in a Northern Lakes Conference meet with Goshen came from teammates. The Tiger boys won handily, 147-36, over the Redskins as Warsaw won every event and swept the top three spots several times. The Warsaw girls had little trouble in a 119-65 win over Goshen with wins in eight of the 12 events. Warsaw head swim coach Terry Aukeman knew the Goshen meet would be a tough one to motivate his kids. Due to a lack of experienced swimmers for the Redskins, especially on the boys end, Warsaw was a stone-cold lock to win. The key for the Tigers was to get something out of it.

No.3 Bellmont Wins Title

Coming into their own Classic, the Wawasee wrestling squad knew they would have to go through No.3 Bellmont in order to return the title. The Warriors also knew they would have to forfeit in two weight classes.They took this all in stride, and gave the Braves a run for their money in the final match of the afternoon losing out 42-30.Wawasee gave up 12 points on forfeits. "We challenged them (the Warrior wrestlers)," Wawasee coach Scott DeHart said."We told them this is our house, and people are coming into our house, and it's time we defended it.The kids stepped up, and they accepted the challenge, and we're real pleased with that.I'm tickled to death.

Tiger Girls Lose Sloppy Game

PLYMOUTH - During a recent eight-game win streak, the Chicago Bears did just enough offensively when they needed to pull out a victory. The same could be said for Plymouth High School's varsity girls basketball team, who slipped past Northern Lakes Conference rival Warsaw 30-29 Saturday. The game was the NLC opener for both teams, and both clubs turned in sub-par performances, to say the least. "We have players who have not stepped up and we have players who are not shooting the ball well," said second-year Warsaw coach John Snyder, whose team fell to 5-3 overall and 0-1 in the NLC."It's costing us games, and we've got to find a way to stop it." In a game that was downright sloppy, as the two teams combined for 32 turnovers to just nine assists as well as combining to hit just 19 of 52 shots from the field, Warsaw tied a school record for fewest field goals in a game and the Tigers turned in their lowest point total in nearly a quarter century.

Wawasee's Dynamic Duo...

By Dale Hubler, Times-Union Sports Editor SYRACUSE - Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.Joe Montana and Jerry Rice.Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Each a sports superstar in his own right, but more often than not remembered as part of a tandem, a dynamic duo. For Wawasee High School's football team, seniors Kory Lantz and Jordan Swain are that winning combination, a pair that have played a large part in taking head coach Joe Rietveld's Warrior program to the next level. With Lantz at quarterback and Swain at running back, the Warriors have taken a huge step forward in each of the three years they've started together at the varsity level. Two years ago during their sophomore season, Lantz and Swain led Wawasee to a win over state power NorthWood, a Northern Lakes Conference rival the Warriors hadn't beat since 1986. As juniors, the talented twosome played a major role in Wawasee's 7-4 record, a mark that included three more wins than the season before.

Warsaw Boys Escape With Win

First-year Whitko High School boys basketball coach Rob Irwin said the Warsaw Tigers were a better team than his Whitko Wildcats. According to Irwin, who spent a decade as the head coach at Carroll, that's why the host Tigers beat Whitko 61-56 Friday night in the Tiger Den. Irwin said his goal was for his team to keep things interesting. Did they ever. Despite scoring just four points in the first quarter, and then later trailing by 19 points with 5:51 remaining in the third quarter, the vistiting Wildcats only trailed 59-56 with 22 seconds left in the game.

Vikings Win Ugly

AKRON -ÊThe Tippecanoe Valley Vikings endured a long junior varsity game, a sweltering gym and early foul trouble to defeat North Miami 74-49 Saturday. Although the Vikings came out on top, varsity coach Bill Patrick was not pleased with his team's less-than-spectacular play. "We took a step back tonight," said Patrick."We played pretty well in our first two games, but you couldn't tell that out there tonight. "We missed layups.We didn't block out well.We were not aggressive.We won't get better playing this way." Valley struck first when Brandon Eaton connected with Justin Ross for a basket to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead with 7:39 still left in the first quarter. But with 6:00 left in the first Valley had already been called for three team fouls, and by the end of the quarter the Vikings had nine team fouls.However, the fouls did not make much difference in the quarter as Valley outscored the Warriors 19-10 to take a healthy lead into the second quarter.

Tigers Fall In Regional Baseball Game

On the surface, it seemed that everything pointed to a Warsaw win. It was a picturesque Tuesday afternoon at Tiger Field as a record crowd watched Warsaw host Fort Wayne Snider in a one-game regional, with the winner earning a berth in Saturday's Lafayette Semistate. It all seemed perfect until the Panthers stepped to the plate. Snider tore the cover off the ball en route to a 10-1 win as catcher Brett Dennon hit two home runs. Dennon, batting clean-up, finished 3 for 4 with the two long balls and four RBI as the first five batters in the Snider lineup accounted for all 10 Snider runs. Dennon's first home run torpedoed into the Tigers' dilapidated scoreboard to push the Panther lead to 3-0. Warsaw responded in the bottom of the third when rightfielder Evan Lancaster scored on a single by leadoff hitter Kyler Mylin after Lancaster reached on a walk.

Local Teams Advance To Cross Country Regional

GOSHEN - It's not that Jerid Stoffel wanted his Wawasee boys cross country team to take it easy during Tuesday's sectional at Ox Bow Park, but the fourth-year coach admitted the Warriors' focus is on Saturday. Led by senior Ryan Smythe's fifth-place individual finish, the Warriors finished third out of 12 teams and advanced to Saturday morning's regional. "Today was a stepping stone," said Stoffel."We didn't want to just jog or take it easy, but our focus is on Saturday.All year long we've been running for Saturday.We're happy to finish third.We were close to Elkhart Memorial.We wanted to score 100 and we got 68.I'm pretty happy." Northridge won the boys team championship with a five-man score of 34.Elkhart Memorial was the runner-up with 60 points, followed by Wawasee (68), Warsaw (110) and Concord (161) in the top five.

Second Half Key In Grace Opener

WINONA LAKE - He didn't really say much afterward about what he told his team at halftime, but whatever veteran Grace College men's basketball coach Jim Kessler said worked. "I basically told them to get after it," said Kessler, whose Lancers opened up the season Wednesday evening by beating the visiting Judson College Eagles 89-63. Grace trailed 39-38 at halftime but came out of the locker room a completely different team, a more inspired team. Grace started the second half with a 14-2 run and outscored Judson 51-24 in the final 20 minutes of play as Kessler picked up his 489th coaching win in the first game of his 28th season with the Lancers.

Stichter Wins Third Straight Cross Country Sectional Title

GOSHEN - The course wet and muddy, rain falling from the sky, Wawasee standout runner Rachel Stichter admitted she fell during Tuesday afternoon's sectional at Ox Bow Park. The mud on her left knee confirmed it. In reality, it was the rest of the field that got tripped up, as the Warrior junior cruised to her third straight individual sectional title, finishing in a time of 14:22. The 19-second gap back to runner-up finisher Megan Jackson from Northridge only confirmed Stichter's dominance. "The course was pretty slick," Stichter said."I'm sure my time was slower.I fell down once, but I'm OK with it.I just don't think I got the time I wanted." While Stichter ran away with the individual title, the same can be said for Northridge in the team competition. With the top five runners from each squad counting toward the team score, the Raiders claimed spots second through eighth and scored 20 points.

Wawasee More Than Lantz, Swain

SYRACUSE - The X factor, the Ohio if you will, for Friday night's game between Wawasee and Plymouth may be the Warriors' passing game. The Rockies and first-year head coach Jon Barron were successful in stopping 4A No.1 East Noble from scoring last week by shutting down a one-dimensional attack. Wawasee's mixture of running and passing provides a pick-your-poison scenario for Plymouth. "East Noble is very one dimensional.We were able to put eight guys up to try and stop Konrad (Mundon)," said Baron."Defending Wawasee and East Noble are two different monsters.I think the key is to try and make them throw." Mundon finished the evening with 125 yards and 2504 on the season, good for first among state rushing leaders.Third in the state is Wawasee's Jordan Swain, with 2124 yards on 234 carries, but he will be paid extra attention by Plymouth. For Wawasee to win its first sectional title since 1985, however, it may come down to the play of other offensive weapons.

Lots Of Things Still Bug Me

Yet another installment in the "Things That Bug Me" series. The Nanny State is drawing nearer and nearer to completion. The feds busted an Amish sawmill owner in Pennsylvania for having 14- and 15-year-olds at work in his business making chairs. These are the same 14- and 15-year-olds who are exempted from attending school after the eighth grade so that they can go to work.It's part of the Amish culture.The kids learn a trade that way. They also learn the value of labor and a strong work ethic. Anyway, apparently some of these kids were using staple guns, which, I would agree probably is not the safest thing for a youngster to do.But it's not as if the guy was running a sweatshop, either. So the Amish sawmill owner was fined $20,000, which was later reduced to $10,000. The sawmill owner said he would never let the kids use the staple guns anymore.

Tiger Baseball Team Falls To Penn In Home Opener

Cut short because of darkness, Warsaw's home opener Monday was anything but short on action. A game that featured 10 extra-base hits, a thrilling rally by the home team and an ejection of the visting team's coach, Warsaw fell 12-10 to Penn in five innings. After giving up eight runs in the first inning and trailing 9-0 in the second, the host Tigers got singles from Kyle Conrad, Hans Griepentrog and Tyler Stouder to load the bases with one out. Senior short stop Sean Alderfer then stepped up to the plate and ripped a triple that cleared the bases and started a Tiger rally that produced five hits and four runs in the inning. After giving up just one hit in the third, the Tigers started the home half of the inning with back-to-back doubles from junior first baseman Jordan Williams and freshman third baseman Derek Freds.Conrad followed with a single and Alderfer later hit a double as the Tigers cut Penn's lead to one, 9-8.

Tigers Finish In Top 6 In 8 Events

Big-Hearted Effort By Tiger Grapplers Falls Short Vs. Fremont

The result was the same this time around between Fremont and Warsaw, but the Tigers certainly made the Eagles work for it - every bit of it. After getting thumped by Fremont 51-21 in the regular season, Warsaw put a bit of a scare in Fremont fans' hearts before succumbing 40-31 in the team wrestling competition at Jimtown High School Wednesday. The Tigers (16-7) led 31-22 after Marvin Farmer came up with a pin at 171 pounds. Warsaw forced Fremont to wrestle, and the Eagles came up with pins in the final three weight classes to outclass Warsaw by nine.