By Emma Rausch

At the Prom Style Show on Jan. 25, local high school students and their families clapped and cheered as local residents modeled the latest prom and after-prom trends.

Hosted by Ellen’s in partnership with Marelli’s and Bash Boutique, local high school students and alumni modeled a wide range of prom gowns, after-prom apparel, and corsages down a runway at the REMC Touchstone Energy Center. Heartland Career Center cosmetologists styled the models’ hair and makeup for the event, while Leah’s Cakery & Confections provided a variety of sweet refreshments for the show.

CHELSEA HIGHTOWER, famous for time on “So You Think You Can Dance” and her work as a choreographer on the ABC show “Dancing with the Stars,” was in town on Friday, Jan. 16 as part of Friday’s “Dancing Pros Live” show at the Honeywell Center. Before taking the stage, Hightower spent her afternoon teaching a class of local dance students at Playhouse Studio of Dance. Owner Debbie Thomason said the studio just happened to be lucky enough to get the call.

“They wanted to know if we’d be interested in having Chelsea come and do a master class before the show, and I said, “Yes! Absolutely!”

Hightower taught 20 young dancers a routine she choreographed to the tune “Ain’t Nothing Wrong With That,” by Robert Randolph and the Family Band. (photo by Eric Stearley)

by Joseph Slacian

Changes to the John Drook Skate Park in the City of Wabash have cleared two hurdles and is likely to soon clear the third.

The changes are nothing that anyone will see, and will have no adverse effect on the park itself.

Rather, the change is in the sidewalk right-of-way, Building Commissioner John Stephens told the Wabash Board of Public Works and Safety on Jan. 21.

By Shaun Tilghman
North Manchester News Journal News Editor

NORTH MANCHESTER -- Although last year’s recipients, Bob and Robin Shepherd, of Shepherd’s Chevrolet, were vacationing in Florida, Bob was still able to honor the 2014 Citizen of the Year, Jim Smith, via a video he recorded prior to the 71st Annual North Manchester Chamber of Commerce Dinner, which took place Jan. 22 in the Jo Young Switzer Center on the campus of Manchester University.

“The person we honor here tonight, as the 2014 Citizen of the Year, has touched many lives and impacted our community greatly,” said Shepherd. “He has worked tirelessly and sacrificially to make our hometown a better place to live and raise a family.”

By Shaun Tilghman
North Manchester News Journal News Editor

NORTH MANCHESTER -- On Jan. 22, Jan Fahs-Brown and Andy Brown, owners of Fahs-Brown Plumbing and winners of the 2013 Commerce Award, were pleased to present Beacon Credit Union as Business of the Year for 2014 during the 71st Annual North Manchester Chamber of Commerce Dinner, held in Manchester University’s Jo Young Switzer Center.

In 1931, at the height of the Great Depression, a group of 75 farmers established Wabash County Farm Bureau Credit Union, which is now Beacon Credit Union, because they believed they could provide financial products and services for themselves better than relying on others to do it for them.

by Joseph Slacian

Stricter regulations are needed for e-cigarettes, a state official said Jan. 22 during a Town Hall Forum on the subject.

That is just one of the steps that need to be taken to make e-cigarettes safer for users and non-users alike, according to Miranda Spitznagle, the Director to Tobacco Prevention Cessation Commission of the Indiana Department of Health.

Spitznagle was one of four panelists at the forum sponsored by Parkview Wabash Hospital, AACTION, and Wabash County Tobacco Free Coalition and moderated by Roderick Schram. The program, which took place at the Wabash County YMCA, was designed to educate the public about the e-cigarette.

By Joseph Slacian

The Wabash County Commissioners approved changes in the contract with two entities for bridge inspections in Wabash County on Jan. 20.

One of the supplemental contracts was with the engineering firm of Butler Fairman & Seufert, which does the actual inspections. The other contract was with the Indiana Department of Transportation, which helps pay for the inspections.

The new agreement is “due to federal highway changes in regulations of bridge inspections,” County Highway Superintendent John Martin said. “Federal highways are now requiring bridges with a rating of four or under on the deck, substructure or superstructure must be inspected every 12 months instead of every 24.”

by Joseph Slacian

The City of Wabash gave Building Commissioner John Stephens the OK to proceed with the demolition of a home at 7 Elmwood Drive.

On Jan. 21, the Wabash Board of Public Works and Safety ordered Stephens to send the estate of the late owner, Jo Jinks Dietzer, notification that work on demolishing the home would begin in at least 10 days, which is required by statute.