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By Shaun Tilghman

 

Last week’s edition of The Paper of Wabash County contained the first story in a two-part series describing the upcoming closure of the North Manchester Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program office.

 

WIC serves to safeguard the health of low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age 5, who are at nutritional risk, by providing nutritious supplemental foods and health care referrals, as well as information on healthy eating, including breastfeeding promotion and support, at no charge to participants.

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By Joseph Slacian

 

The Wabash City Schools budget will be down considerably in 2016, Business Manager Matt Stone informed the Wabash City Council last week.

 

Under a new funding formula developed by the Indiana Legislature, Wabash’s General Fund is down $600,000, he said, going from $10.9 million last year to between $10.2 and 10.3 million.

 

“We certainly thank the state Legislature for adding $466 million to education,” he told the council. We are one of the unfortunate ones in that deal.”

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By Shaun Tilghman

 

Over the years, the horse statues outside Schutz Brothers, located on the northwest corner at the intersection of SR 13 and East Street, have become like landmarks for anyone coming into or heading out of town on the highway. But one of those statues went missing over a week ago, and while there is now an obvious physical void, for some there is an emotional void as well.

 

The North Manchester Police Department contacted Mitch Schutz, president of Schutz Brothers, around 1 a.m. on Sunday, June 14th, and informed him that someone had reported witnessing individuals loading the statue into the back of a pickup truck. According to Schutz, the life-size statue that was taken is newer and lighter than the statue out front.

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By Adam B. Smith

 

While the Wabash County YMCA tested the waters with a new initiative to promote saving for post-secondary education in the fall of 2013, Philip Maurizi was working firsthand on the retention of low income, first generation and high-risk students at the University of Saint Francis.

 

The problems these students face, Maurizi said, most often stem from beliefs developed through childhood that education just isn’t for people from their station in life, not from any intentional drive for failure. When he began talking to Wabash County YMCA CEO Clint Kugler about research being looked at in relation to the Promise, Maurizi said he got excited about the prospect of reaching children at a young age instead of waiting until they’re about to graduate high school or already facing challenges in college.

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By Joseph Slacian

 

Manchester University graduate Nick Barbknecht is on the opening days of a month-long trek that will take him to all 48 of the continental United States.

 

Barbknecht left Indianapolis on Saturday morning, June 27, bound for a night’s stay in St. Louis. Along the way, though, were stops in French Lick, as well as at Abraham Lincoln’s home in Springfield, Ill., and at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

 

Sunday saw him traveling through Kansas and Iowa, while Monday he was in Wisconsin and Minnesota, again visiting various attractions along the way.

 

The idea for the trip, Barbknecht told The Paper of Wabash County in a telephone interview, came from a piece he saw on a Washington Post blog. 

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By Joseph Slacian

 

Celebrations for the Fourth of July are planned around Wabash County on Saturday.

 

Manchester University will have its annual celebration with music and a fireworks display on the campus’ east end.

 

The evening kicks off at 7 p.m. with music by JP Freeman’s 4th and Walnut cover band, presenting The Eel River Rambler Show with a variety of musicians, genres and instruments.

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By Joseph Slacian

 

The 2015 Wabash County 4-H Queen pageant will have a new look this year, including live judging.

 

The pageant will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 1, at the Honeywell Center’s Ford Theater.

 

“This is the first time the queen’s pageant will not be held on a Sunday night,” Angela Christopher, Extension Educator – 4-H Youth Development, told The Paper of Wabash County. “It’s great to have a fabulous facility like the Honeywell Center, but that means everyone wants to use it.”

 

The Wabash County Fair Board took longer than expected to choose the dates for this year’s fair, she said, noting it was trying to avoid conflicts with the Fourth of July weekend.

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By Emma Rausch

 

After 135 years of operation, Wilkinson Lumber closed its doors “forever” on May 30, according to owner Chris Lee.

 

Originally opening in the 1880s as the Treaty Creek Lime and Stone Company, the lumberyard underwent three name changes, multiple renovations and ownership transfers, all the while making friendships and long-term partnerships along the way, Lee said.

 

Lee said that there’s a combination of reasons that the historical business closed.

 

“After 2008, the economy crashed,” he told The Paper of Wabash County. “It was hard to build back up. We don’t consider the box stores a competition. We had our own niche, but building back up to regain that niche was difficult. That coupled with everyone but me wanted to retire.”

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