Because of the coronavirus, the May 5 Primary Election was pushed back to June 2 by Gov. Eric Holcomb.

Registered voters who feel comfortable being in public may vote in person, Wabash County Clerk Lori Draper said in a news release Wednesday, May 6. However, any registered voter may vote absentee in the primary by requesting an absentee ballot.

Those wishing an absentee-by-mail application should contact Draper’s office, 260-563-0661, Ext. 1238, or visit the Indiana Secretary of State’s website, https://indianavoters.in.gov.

Ballot applications for voting by mail must be received by Thursday, May 21.

Two of the county’s three public school districts have now set dates for their 2020 commencement ceremonies.

Wabash City Schools Superintendent Jason Callahan on May 4 announced Wabash High School’s commencement will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, July 31, at the Honeywell Center’s Ford Theater.

On May 6, MSD of Wabash County Superintendent Mike Keaffaber announced that Northfield and Southwood high schools will have commencement ceremonies on Sunday, July 19. Northfield’s ceremony will be at 2 p.m., while Southwood’s will be at 5 p.m. Both ceremonies are scheduled for the respective school’s gymnasiums.

Manchester Community Schools will have its graduation ceremony the evening of Friday, July 17.
Callahan, in a letter to parents on the district’s Facebook page, wrote, “We want to place an emphasis that this scheduled time and venue is dependent on current and future guidelines placed by the State of Indiana and other local health factors.

“Our purpose in setting the date, time and venue at this time is to provide our families and friends the opportunity to be able to plan their summer schedules accordingly,” he continued. “In the coming weeks, we may need to make adjustments due to social-distancing guidelines, such as the number of allowed guests or the type of venue, but we will make every effort to hold the date.

Grow Wabash County has received $5,000 in grant funding from Duke Energy’s Economic Development Relief Grant program

The $5,000 grant will be administered by Grow Wabash County to two Wabash County businesses that have gone above and beyond during this pandemic to serve their community despite financial challenges.

The grant funds will allow for both of these businesses to pay for expenses incurred due to COVID-19 and its resulting restrictions such as operating costs (payroll, debt relief, etc.), assistance in navigating state and federal programs and/or technology needs to remain connected with their clients, customers and community at large.

In Wabash, the grant will be awarded to Cannonball Lanes in recognition of owner Cindy Solloway’s efforts to make and donate face masks.

The Wabash County Museum is among 20 schools, libraries and other organizations from Gary to Evansville recently received grants from Indiana Humanities for projects ranging from a four-hour reading of Shakespeare’s sonnets to a program at an Indiana cemetery teaching fifth graders about African Americans in the Civil War.

The museum received one of 20 organizations to receive Action Grants, and was one of 12 other organizations to receive Historic Preservation Education Grants. Three INcommon Grants were presented to various organizations.

Museum President and CEO Mitch Figert told The Paper of Wabash County that the Action Grant will be used to continue our Explore Home program series which will include an onsite speaker series, expanding our Then and Now exhibit, and joint programming with the Wabash Carnegie Public Library.

Wabash County suffered its second COVID-19 related death over the weekend.

The death was announced Sunday afternoon by Keith Walters, Executive Director of the Wabash County Homeland Security Agency and chair of the Wabash County Health Board.

According to the data provided by the Indiana State Department of Health on Monday afternoon, the county has 63 positive cases. There have been 236 total tests done.

Walters noted that no further details on patients or positive COVID-19 cases will be released due to privacy concerns.

One reason for the jump is that 46 employees at the Peabody Retirement Community tested positive for COVID-19 and are self-isolating at home. Some of those workers may life in Wabash County, causing the number to increase. (Cases are reported in the person’s home county, not county of employment.)

By Mandy Underwood

In the fall of 2018, Wabash City Schools building principals, head of facilities, and district leadership walked through all of the corporation facilities and identified the most pressing needs when it came to updating those facilities.

“We identified eight projects and after prioritizing those projects, we sought financing to be able to accomplish those projects without impacting the tax rate,” said WCS superintendent Jason Callahan.

“We were approved to complete $18 million worth of facility work across the district over the next 18 months. In 2019, we were able to renovate our tennis courts and complete facility projects such as paving the drives at Wabash Middle School and the parking lot at OJ Neighbours.  Late this winter we were able to connect a new chiller at Wabash Middle School.”  

The Wabash County YMCA was one of 25 organizations to receive grant awards from the Duke Energy Foundation.

The Duke Energy Foundation provides philanthropic support to meet the needs of communities where Duke Energy customers live and work. The Foundation contributes more than $30 million annually in charitable gifts and is funded by Duke Energy shareholder dollars.

In Indiana, the Foundation provides approximately $2 million in charitable gifts to a wide variety of nonprofit groups. Of that, $382,000 in grants was awarded to support Indiana K-12 programs focused on summer reading programs, STEM and experiential learning.

On Wednesday, April 22, the residents of Autumn Ridge Rehabilitation Center were greeted by their friends and family during a greeting parade in front of the building.

Director of Marketing and Admissions at Autumn Ridge, Joyce Johnson told The Paper of Wabash County that she originally got the idea from seeing similar things being done in videos online.

“I thought this could work for our residents to see families and vice versa.  I ran it past Nathan Jackson, our Executive Director.  Monday a plan was put in place and I started calling families,” she said.