Wabash Rotary Club continues its tradition of kicking off the Wabash County United Fund campaign with a benefit Golf Outing on Sept. 18. The Golf Outing will begin with lunch at noon hosted by Miller’s Merry Manor with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. at the Honeywell Golf Course. 

“The Rotary Golf Outing has been one of the premier golf events of the season,” stated Executive Director of the United Fund, Steve Johnson.  “It is a lot of fun for golfers and it signals the official beginning of the United Fund’s fall campaign”.

Many individuals, groups and organizations in Wabash County work to improve the quality of life for all.  The Rotary Golf Outing illustrates how “LIVING UNITED” can benefit the community.  All proceeds from the event are donated to the United Fund, which in turn are invested back into the community through financial support to local non-profit agency programs.  “These agency programs improve the health and wellness, educational achievement, financial stability and community spaces in Wabash County”, added Johnson.

Rusty metal, broken glass, bicycles, air conditioners, chairs and mud-logged tires fill the Eel River as it winds through North Manchester.

It’s a distressing rite of fall: the gathering of the faithful to clear the waterway for fish and other wildlife, and for anglers, boaters and birdwatchers. Many parts of the Eel north and south of North Manchester are clear and inviting. Yet large volumes of trash continue to collect in the town stretch of the river.

Over the past three years, more than 150 volunteers have pulled out 10,000 pounds of metal for recycling, 125 tires and two dump trucks of trash. That was just from a one-mile stretch.

So once again, the call is out: Adult volunteers are needed for the annual clean-up of a downtown stretch of the Eel on Saturday, Sept. 14. Because of the unusually large amounts of broken glass and rusted metal “stuff” in the river, the volunteers must be adults, says Terri Michaelis, coordinator for the Middle Eel River Watershed Initiative.

The nearly 200 military veterans-turned-college-students at Ivy Tech Community College in Kokomo are among those invited to join in the official opening of the campus’ Veteran Resource Center Wednesday, Sept. 4.

A ribbon cutting by the Veterans Administration work-study students, and other student-veterans is set for 10 a.m. in the resource center, located in Ivy Tech’s recently renovated activity center in the Student Life Building.

“The Veteran Resource Center offers a secure place to study and socialize for our students who have served in the United States military,” said Melissa Dwight, veterans’ coordinator for Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo Region. “A room dedicated just for veterans, it’s space they can call their own as they make the sometimes challenging transition from military service back to civilian life.”

CheckIN Game, Indiana’s online harvest reporting system for hunters, has been made more user friendly going into the fall deer and turkey hunting seasons.

Several upgrades now allow hunters who previously used CheckIN Game to view past harvest data.

“One real benefit is that you can now look up your confirmation number if you lose it,” said Mitch Marcus, DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife’s wildlife chief. “Last year this was not an option. This makes the process easier for hunters and DNR staff.”

by Kalie Ammons

sports@thepaperofwabash.com

“How does this little town do it?” Donna Harman hears this question on the regular when she talks about the Roann Covered Bridge Festival. The festival is a huge event that draws a crowd every year.

“I’ve been helping with this festival for, I don’t know, 30-something years. We’ve been living in the Roann area for 38 years. …I really enjoy it and it’s so much fun,” Harman, the festival organizer, told The Paper.

So what will be drawing the crowd this year? The festival is packed with activities as always, ranging from tractor shows to Euchre. The festival starts Thursday, Sept. 5 at 8 a.m. with arts and crafts registration until noon. Then from 5-10 p.m. the vendors open and the rides begin.

“Thursday’s new event this year is a tractor rodeo. Farmers of the area are doing a farm truck and semi-farm truck pull at the pull field this year. And they’ve done a lot of improvements this year for the track down there. The put up a barricade for safety purposes,” explains Harman.

Another new attraction this year, organized by Cameron Huffman, is “Olde Town,” a set up by the cabins in Roann that will bring festival goers to a simpler time. There will be rug looping and candle making as participants look inside the cabin and listen to the music of Liza and Mark Woolever, who will be on the streets Saturday “with their old-time tunes and instruments.”

by Bill Barrows

Sunday’s Ice Cream in the Park event was the perfect setting for an Old Timer’s Softball Game that actually became a tribute to men spanning about five generations of Wabash area softball players. Mayor Bob Vanlandingham was asked a few months ago to see if this game could become a reality by Mary Delauter, one of the organizers of the event in the park.

As one of the former players who played on teams coached by the mayor, long before he entered politics, I felt honored when he asked me along with Steve Dyer, another longtime softball player to help him organize the game. Weeks were spent contacting players, setting up practices and researching old rosters and teams.

We set up three different practices to at least give the players a chance to workout, take some ground balls, fly balls and batting practice. A good number of players attended each scheduled practice session. Things were coming together. After the first one, I couldn’t decide if I was more euphoric for still being able to hit, field and throw (albeit with less power, range and accuracy) or relieved for just getting through it without getting hurt. I’m guessing a lot of guys felt that way.

The Urbana Yoke Parish would like to welcome Pastor Joe Helt and his wife, Sarah, to the church. Pastor Joe began his pastoral duties on Sunday, Aug. 11. Joe and Sarah currently reside in Warsaw, but after the first of the year, will be moving to the parsonage in Urbana. They just celebrated their first wedding anniversary and are expecting their first child in December.

Pastor Joe is currently working towards his master’s degree in pastoral studies and plans to graduate in 2015 from Midwest Center for Theological Studies.

Everyone is invited from the community to join in welcoming Pastor Joe and Sarah to the church.

Kids are back in school and already on many classroom schedules are the Junior Achievement programs they look forward to. After school, many young boys will eagerly participate in Boy Scout programs, too.

To raise the funding necessary to ensure that JA and Boy Scouts programs remain available to young people in this community, the Parkview Muddy Trail Run will be held on Saturday, Sept. 7. Designed as a muddy obstacle-filled 5K run, this will not be a speed or hard-core challenge event.

Participants can direct their support to Boy Scouts or Junior Achievement. When directing their support, JA supporters can also select their county, and funding will remain in the local community. Companies are encouraged to sponsor an employee team as a fun team-building activity. To raise funds for their entry fee, runners are encouraged to solicit donations from friends, family, and co-workers, too.