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Wabash County students have prepared artwork for display and purchase at the eighth annual Best of the Best Art Show on May 17. In the Best of the Best art program, students refine their art skills, learn new techniques through workshops with local artists, and gain confidence to “become the best that they can be,” according to program co-director Jeanie Cooper. Photo by Emma Rausch

 

By Emma Rausch

 

Seventeen Wabash County art students have finalized their pieces for the eighth annual Best of the Best Art Show on Sunday, May 17.

 

Originally established in 2007 by Michael Hapner and previous Wabash City Schools Superintendent Dr. Celia Shand, the art program was developed to help expand student art abilities and entrepreneurial skills. This year, students visited the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and refined their artistic skills in workshops with local artists including Kristy Church, Jane Willmert, and Kellie Brace.

 

Southwood High School senior Shelby Babbitt, Wabash High School junior Mason Irelan, and Northfield High School senior and Heartland Career Center representative Zachary Clouse all agreed that they were glad that they joined the program.

 

While Clouse had wanted to join the program to follow in his older brother’s footsteps, Irelan and Babbit originally weren’t sure about the program.

 

“I never really thought I was going to be in Best of the Best because I never really thought that I was that great,” Babbitt said. “I think it’s made me more confident in what I do. When I did art projects in school, I’d always have to have permission and I’d have to have, ‘Is this going ok?’ Now that I’ve been in it and I’ve learned things, I feel more confident and able to do what I want and not what other people want.”

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Michael Palascak, a comedian native to Wabash, returned as the final act of the Thursday Night Comedy series. The comedian performed for a sold out Eagles Theatre after his friend and fellow comedian Emily Galati opened for him on stage. Photo by Emma Rausch

 

By Emma Rausch

 

Wabash native and nationally known comedian Michael Palascak performed for a sold out Eagles Theatre on April 23 as the final act in the Thursday Night Comedy series.

 

Palascak’s friend Emily Galati kicked off the night as his opening act and received several laughs for her opinions on the fine line between friendship and dating as well as how the most perfect man in the world is also coincidentally the most wanted man on the FBI’s top wanted list.

 

Palascak, who returns to his hometown to perform annually, has appeared on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” and, recently, “The Conan O’Brien Show.”

 

This year, the comedian made a special artist lecture appearance on April 24 at Wabash High School, where he graduated in 2000.

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By Joseph Slacian

 

Two agencies received designations by the Wabash Board of Public Works and Safety on Wednesday, May 6, as part of the America’s Best Communities grant program.

 

The City of Wabash was named a quarterfinalist in the privately funded contest, and is in the running to receive $3 million if grand funds for economic revitalization. The top three finalists – second and third place will receive $2 million and $1 million, respectively – won’t be named until April 2017.

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Pastor Alex Falder (far right) prays for churches across the United States with three other members of the community at the National Day of Prayer on May 7. More than 35 members of the community gathered on the Wabash County Courthouse lawn to pray for topics including family, government, and media. Photo by Emma Rausch

 

By Emma Rausch

 

On Thursday, May 7, more than 35 members of the Wabash County community gathered on the Wabash County Courthouse lawn to participate in the National Day of Prayer and fifth annual Hesychia House prayer walk.

 

The community gathered on the courthouse lawn as part of a national movement to exercise religious freedom rights, according to Pastor Tom Curry.

 

“I think on courthouse lawns in Huntington County, Grant County, and all the surrounding counties in different states and even in Washington, D.C., there is this national movement,” Curry said, “so we’ve chosen to be a part of a national movement of Christians exercising their freedom in this way and seeking God’s power and light and love to more and more and more to come into our homes, come into our lives, and come into our courtrooms, not in a formal legislative way, but in a presence of light and love that changes people and we want that more, not only for the world, but for every neighborhood.

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By Joseph Slacian

 

Some 250 athletes from a six-county area will converge on Wabash on Saturday, May 16, for the annual Area V Special Olympics track and field events.

 

The participants from six nearby counties will compete at Wabash High School’s Alumni Field.

 

“Wabash has done it through the Kiwanis Club many, many, many years,” local coordinator Doug Adams told The Paper of Wabash County. “It’s an annual event and we look forward to hosting it.”

 

Athletes from Wabash, Miami, Pulaski, Kosciusko, Cass and Howard counties will participate in the event, which will begin at 9 a.m. with an opening ceremony.

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By Joseph Slacian

 

Troy Eads Excavating received the contract to replace a culvert on Sherman Street, just east of Miami Street, in Wabash.

 

The firm bid $22,525 to receive the contract during the May 6 Wabash Board of Public Works and Safety meeting.

 

The city received just one other bid, that of $42,500 from Brainard Excavating.

 

Work is for the installation of a corrugated polymer coated culvert, to be supplied by the city, along Priser Ditch.

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The Eclectic Shoppe was welcomed to Wabash on May 1 with a commemorative ribbon cutting. Alex Madrigal, who started the now family operated business, stands to the left of her mother Maria Smyth who cut the ceremonial ribbon while father Mike Smyth and sisters Mari and Monica Madrigal stand behind them and celebrate the occasion with her. Photo by Joseph Slacian

 

By Emma Rausch

 

The Eclectic Shoppe is open and ready for business after celebrating its ribbon cutting on May 1.

 

Now a family-operated business, Alex Madrigal originally began the business in January 2013 by selling jewelry and accessories via Facebook. After a discussion with her family, Madrigal and her parents, Maria and Mike Smyth, decided to move the business into a storefront in August 2014 and expand the shop’s inventory to include art, furniture, rugs, and more.

 

Asked how does the store live up to its name, Mrs. Smyth said, “Well, look around.”

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By Emma Rausch

 

Since late March, more than 140 cases of HIV have been reported that relate to an “outbreak” in Scott County, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.

 

Top officials from Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) met with Gov. Mike Pence and State health officials on April 27-28 to discuss the progress, response, and continued control of the outbreak.

 

On April 20, the Indiana General Assembly passed Senate Enrolled Act 461, which approves the use of syringe or needle exchange programs in case of public health emergencies to help control possible outbreaks.

 

While the state government has worked to control the outbreak from spreading further, however, Scott County sent out a message through the Indiana Vital Records Association seeking help and one local woman answered the call.

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