The Wabash County Historical Museum will be hosting the History Hunters’ noon speaker series this Thursday, July 24 from 12-1 p.m. in their Orientation Theater.  This month’s speaker is Lana Long who will speak about the DeLong sisters. 

The DeLong Sisters (Augusta, Malvina, and Emily) were an acrobatic team that traveled the world with the Ringling Brothers Circus, performing across the country and around the globe from time they were early teens. They even performed in Germany to great acclaim, with a pre-World War II Hitler in attendance. When they retired from the circus, each of the sisters married and settled in the Wabash County area. They all lived within 20 miles of each other and remained close for the remainder of their lives. Malvina (known as Mena) and her husband owned Ernie’s Drive-In, a popular destination in Wabash for many years. Malvina’s daughter, Lana Long, has the loaned the museum several artifacts from her mother’s time in the circus, including an acrobatic costume and the leather bit Mena used for an aerialist act, as well as photographs and other memorabilia.

INGUARD, an insurance and risk management firm headquartered in Wabash is the presenting sponsor of the Wabash County Promise. INGUARD is proud to renew its $40,000 annual commitment to support the local initiative, led by the Wabash County YMCA, which is designed to support local youth in their college and career identity development.

The pilot program for the Wabash County Promise launched in 2013, with more than 1,060 students opening a 529-college savings account during school registration.

According to Gallup Chairman Jim Clifton’s book, The Coming Jobs War, “Having no vision or excitement for the future is the cause of dropping out of school. Students need to be rescued at or before the moment they lose hope in the future.”

With this in mind, the Wabash County Promise was designed to promote a positive academic outlook among youth in not only Wabash County, but in recently expanded counties of LaGrange, Noble and Whitley as well.

by Aaron Johnson

The Pirate’s Cove Marina sits below a steep hill on a small dock off the shore of the Salamonie Reservoir near the Lost Bridge. It is a small shop that boasts in boat rentals, dock rentals, and the Marina’s newest attraction: a boat tour of the reservoir. Randy Yarger, along with his wife and two sons, owns and runs Pirate’s Cove. Yarger decided to give pedestrians a new view of the reservoir by giving boat tours.

“We want to get the people up in the campground out on the lake,” Yarger said. “There’s not much up there to do, so I built the boat the winter before last.”

The tours are offered twice a day on Saturdays and Sundays, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Yarger’s son, Brock Yarger, is responsible for driving the boat on the tours and giving information to the passengers of the pontoon. The tour that is given leads out to the Eagle’s Nest, where two adult bald eagles and three of their children, can be found. On those tours lucky enough, the eagles can be seen swooping down to catch fish to take back to the nest.

Along the tour, the guide will give information about the 1,300-acre park to the passengers. The boat travels under the State Road 105 Bridge, showing off the graffiti written on the structure during the floods of 1993 and 2003, when the water level in the reservoir rose 32 feet. Since these floods, the reservoir has been drained every winter to send more water downstream.

The Roann Covered Bridge Festival parade will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6. The theme for the parade is Rock’n’Roll in Roann, and the Roann Lions Club is looking for participants for the parade.

Line-up will be at the old Roann School beginning at noon. You will receive information regarding the assembly area, parade route, and order of march during the week of Sept. 1.

Charley Creek Inn, an award winning boutique hotel, recently announced that it has received a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence award. The accolade, which honors hospitality excellence, is given only to establishments that consistently achieve outstanding traveler reviews on TripAdvisor, and is extended to qualifying businesses worldwide.  Establishments awarded the Certificate of Excellence are located all over the world and represent the upper echelon of businesses listed on the website.

Attention ladies! Have you ever wanted to learn to play golf? Or are you trying to take your game to the next level? The Wabash Chamber of Commerce invites you to join the Women’s Golf Clinic on July 31, at Honeywell Public Golf Course. The day consists of one-hour lessons on each of the following: short game, long game, etiquette and rules, and putting taught by women golf professionals. Our professionals to date include Tara Boone, Women’s and Men’s Golf Coach for Manchester University; Michelle Swing, Golf Pro at Pond-A-River Golf Club; and Mel Thomas, Golf Pro at Honeywell Public Golf Course. In addition to the lessons from the professionals, lunch, door prizes, and a 9-hole round of golf will be provided. 

by Shaun Tilghman

Three weeks ago, the state of Indiana experienced a whirlwind of legal action that included the brief legalization of same-sex marriages. Although a federal appeals court issued a stay just days later, the ultimate verdict on the constitutionality of banning gay marriage is still a long way off, which leaves many couples across the state questioning their official status.

U.S. District Judge Richard Young initially struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage on Wednesday, June 25, citing that it “violates the due process clause and equal protection clause and is, therefore, unconstitutional.” On Friday, June 27, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals approved an emergency stay request filed by Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller’s office.

While many expected the stay, it still raises a number of questions regarding the status of those marriages that took place during the two ban-free days, as well as the merit of the licenses issued to couples that were not officially wed prior to the halt.

Steve Weir, of the financial services firm Edward Jones in Wabash, recently won the firm’s Jim McKenzie Award for his exceptional achievement in building client relationships.

Edward Jones, a FORTUNE 500 company, provides financial services for individual investors in the United States and, through its affiliate, in Canada. Every aspect of the firm’s business, from the types of investment options offered to the location of branch offices, is designed to cater to individual investors in the communities in which they live and work. The firm’s 12,000–plus financial advisors work directly with nearly 7 million clients to understand their personal goals – from college savings to retirement – and create long-term investment solutions that emphasize a well-balanced portfolio and a buy-and-hold strategy. Edward Jones embraces the importance of building long-term, face-to-face relationships with clients, helping them to understand and make sense of the investment options available today.

Headquartered in St. Louis, Edward Jones ranked No. 4 overall in FORTUNE magazine’s 2014 “100 Best Companies to Work For” ranking.