During the Metropolitan School District of Wabash County board meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 25, the board accepted donations amounting to $750.

Other donations accepted included the Church of Christ at Treaty offering all MSD staff a drink at 50 East as a thank you for all that the team has done and continues to do, Bachelor Creek offered all of our staff a drink at Modoc’s as a thank you for all that the team is doing.

Also, on Tuesday, Dr. Chris Kuhn, Assistant Superintendent shared that MSD received a certificate of appreciation from the Indiana Department of Education for the contributions made to continue meal service and feed students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Janette Moore, principal at Metro North Elementary (MNE) shared several staff recognitions, including:

Parent, Jennifer Nesler, made 100 custom masks for students at MNE. Because of her generosity, students needing masks were able to receive an extra special one - mermaid print, Little Miss/Little Mister print, Paw Patrol, Harry Potter, farm animals, Disney princess, and Incredibles.

MNE bus drivers were recognized as being amazing. The North schools have implemented new drop-off and pick-up procedures at and they have been incredibly flexible and patient as kinks get worked out.

After serving the Wabash Community for over 20 years, which opened in 1999, Family Video, located in Downtown Wabash is closing its doors.

The Paper of Wabash County spoke with district manager, Suzi Peterson about the closing.

“The store had been struggling before COVID and unfortunately never recovered after the shutdown,” said Peterson.

The Wabash County Council approved a resolution opposing further continuation of Stage 4.5 of Gov. Eric Holcomb’s Back on Track Indiana program.

The measure, passed Tuesday, Aug. 25, notes that “the Wabash County economy is highly dependent upon retail, restaurant, tourism and industry, and such economic restrictions have had a significant negative impact on the citizens and businesses within Wabash County.”

It noted that on Aug. 13, Wabash County “only had 190 positive cases of COVID-19 and five deaths related to COVID-19 since March 27, 2020, and our hospitals and clinics are not overburdened by the number of COVID-19 cases.”

As of Aug. 31, there were 209 positive cases and five deaths in Wabash County, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.

No one spoke for or against the City of Wabash’s proposed 2021 budget during a public hearing on Monday, Aug. 24.

Following the hearing, the council unanimously passed the $18 million budget on first reading. A second reading will take place at the council’s next meeting, Sept. 14.

Before the budget was approved, council member Doug Adams how it would be decided what to do in case the proposed $7.359 million from the state would fall short. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the amount of funds available through various taxes is uncertain.

“That’s what we’re asking for, but we won’t get all of that,” Clerk-Treasurer Wendy Frazier said, noting that the amount requested is generally higher than actually needed. “We advertise high so we get actually what we should get.”
If it comes up short, Adams asked, “how do we eliminate the money to cover that?”

The Wabash City School Board shared project updates from Hagerman Construction during the meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 18.

Drone footage was shown of all three projects, which are the addition of classrooms at L.H. Carpenter, updates to Alumni Field and track, addition to Coleman Gym and the addition of a connecting walkway building between Wabash High School and Middle School.

“Everything is on target as far as the schedule goes, and everything is on budget,” said WCS Superintendent Jason Callahan.

“Something that is unforeseen is soil issues, where you start digging into the soil and the soil is bad and you have to spend a lot of money,” he said. “In our case, we had a few issues in Alumni Field but really none at the connector area, as far as bad soil goes. So, we are on budget and on schedule for that.”

Virtual tour videos of updates made to both Northfield and Southwood High Schools were shown for the first time at the Metropolitan School District of Wabash County board meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 11.

The original plan was to bring people into the buildings to do live tours, but the COVID-19 pandemic stopped that from happening.

“We really wanted to have open houses and tours after the big project was done at both the Northfield and Southwood, but COVID-19 kind of changed that,” MSDWC Superintendent Mike Keaffaber said. “This is going to be nice because everyone can take the tour and they don’t have to have it scheduled to come because we are not going to do it in the schools, but we will do a virtual tour.”

On Wednesday, Aug. 12, officials from White’s Residential and Family Services, and others involved in the project joined together for a groundbreaking ceremony at the construction site of the new campus for the White’s program, Compass Rose Academy. The planning and construction of this project is being led by Design-Builder, Michael Kinder & Sons (MKS).

White’s added to their services in 2012 with a parent choice therapeutic residential program for families in crisis. Compass Rose Academy was created out of a need for those services.

Compass Rose Academy is now a division of White’s for teen girls specifically. With the rising demand of the services offered by Compass Rose, White’s has chosen to “expand their footprint” for Compass Rose Academy by adding an autonomous campus for its residents.

After months of being sidelined because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Happy, guitarist for the band Hairball, is, well, happy.

“We’re just excited to be playing again, you know, in this crazy world,” he told The Paper of Wabash County during a telephone interview from the band’s tour bus. “As a group, it certainly cut down how much we were playing. Of course, most of us were home for four or five months.

“I think the last time we really played was in March, we were in Daytona, Florida.”

The band, which bills itself as a rock and roll experience, will be performing Thursday, Aug. 27, at the 13-24 Drive-In in Wabash. Gates open at 6 p.m. with the show beginning at 8 p.m.

Vehicles of up to six people will be permitted through the gates. Prices are $75, $129 and $199, depending on where the vehicle will be parked.

Hairball members, like many others, will be taking precautions during the performance.