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By Emma Rausch

 

The Wabash County Health Department may be declined $33,000 in grant money next year as a result of a decision made by the County Council in February.

 

At a council meeting on Feb. 23, in a 6-1 vote, the council passed a resolution authorizing the transfer of $104,821.43 from the local Health Maintenance Fund (LHMF) to the County Health Fund (CHF). Council member Randy Curless cast the lone vote against.

 

The transfer’s purpose was to assist the local Health Department pay for payroll and other operating expenses, according to Council chair Mike Ridenour.

 

“Toward the end of January of this year, I was made aware that County Health Fund cash balances were insufficient to meet upcoming payroll and it was a continuing problem,” Ridenour told The Paper of Wabash County. “The proposal from the Health Department was a temporary loan from our Rainy Day Fund, but there were [two] big issues with that. First, Rainy Day Fund wasn’t adequately funded to do this at the time with other allocations needed for issues that had previously come to light and, more importantly, it did not solve the cash balance issue that had been ongoing. It would just prolong it.”

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By Shaun Tilghman

 

Soon, approximately 190 individuals that currently benefit from the ability to participate in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program via the North Manchester office, will have to travel out of town to receive support, as the Indiana Department of Health has decided to close the local clinic.

 

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.

 

The WIC Program, which is administered at the federal level by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), receives a specific amount of funding each year, as authorized by Congress, for program operations. FNS then dispenses those funds, via federal grants, to WIC state agencies; in Indiana, WIC falls under the auspices of the State Department of Health.

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By Joseph Slacian

 

Since last fall, Frosty and Friends Exotic Bird Rescue has been in its new facility, a former church building in Ijamsville.

 

“We got this building and that building,” founder Deb Henderson said, pointing to a Morton building to the north of the church building, located at Wabash County Roads 950 N and 200 W. “That building, that’s where the sanctuary is going to be. Winter came on too fast and we didn’t get everything finished down there.”

 

She and her husband, Mark, have applied for grants to help place flooring and complete construction on the facility. 

 

For now though, the sanctuary is located in the former church, which served as home to both Methodist and Baptist congregations over the years, Henderson said.

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By Joseph Slacian

 

Wabash County was among the 61 Indiana counties to share more than $370,000 in grants to aid local public safety agencies.

 

The county will receive $3,940 for automated emergency defibrillators.

 

“We see the need for the court complex to have automated emergency defibrillators,” Keith Walters, director of the Wabash County Emergency Management Agency, told The Paper of Wabash County. “We have to go through the bidding process and see whose got the best product for the money.”

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By Emma Rausch

 

An estimated 500 people attended the Wellbrooke of Wabash 2nd annual Car Show and Pork Smokin’ competition on Sunday, June 14.

In collaboration with Smokin’ for a Cause, the event raised proceeds to be donated to the Fraternal Order of Police’s (FOP) community charitable contributions and to the Wabash City Fire Department’s purchase of a “Get Out Alive” safety trailer.

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Jim Wenrich

 

By Joseph Slacian

 

An excellent teacher. A person who was always prepared. A person who had a quick, and unique, sense of humor.

 

Those remarks and more sum up the life of former Northfield High School teacher and current Wabash City Council member Jim Wenrich. 

Wenrich, 61, died Thursday, June 11, “losing a battle against his own immune system,” according to his obituary.

 

“What I enjoyed most about Jim was his sense of humor,” Mayor Robert Vanlandingham said. “We would work on one another pretty good. Jim was a good father, husband, teacher and public servant and a very good friend to all. He certainly will be missed. 

 

“We would talk about all kinds of stuff; anything that would come to mind. Jim had a different slant on things at times, but that’s good. It’s healthy.”

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By Emma Rausch

 

The Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) Theatre program students are in the final phases of their productions before taking to the Ford Theatre stage this week.

 

With rehearsals, sets, and costumes nearly completed within three weeks, there is no room for nerves, said Marilyn Mason, co-director of the seventh through 12th grade performance “Fiddler on the Roof.”

 

“It’s really just work mode right now,” said Mason’s co-director Emily France in an interview with The Paper of Wabash County. “I think the biggest thing right now is we know what’s coming up and what to expect and passing that to (the students) so that it does become their show next week and being able to do that as educators really.”

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