NORTH MANCHESTER -- Introducing ... from Wabash, Indiana … No. 44 … Carson McKee!

Five-year old Carson McKee is the newest member of the Manchester University mens soccer team after signing a two-year deal with the NCAA Div. III Manchester Spartans.

McKee, the son of Jarrod and Heather McKee, was formally introduced to Spartan fans Sunday, Aug. 25, at a press conference where family and friends joined him in celebration of his two-year contract.

Manchester University President Dave McFadden welcomed the crowd and media to the signing event.

Rain on Saturday couldn’t keep the crowd away from downtown Wabash this past weekend.

Sidewalk sales and the Dave Kunkel Memorial Cruise-in drew people to town on Friday. Those two events, along with the annual Garden Fest kept them coming downtown on Saturday, Aug. 17.

Booths, food trucks, and activity tables filled Paradise Spring and people of all ages found something to enjoy.

Cindy White sat at the Adult Education booth wrapping balloons with Mod-Podge covered string to create decorative yarn ball ornaments. Jason and Alison McClure sat at their booth with daughter, Freya, selling products from their orchard/winery located in Peru.

Peggy and Philip Siders put on demonstrations of how they turn their home-grown flax into linen.

A group of Chinese exchange students visiting Wabash Middle School toured the City of Wabash on Tuesday, Aug. 13.

The students, along with members of their host families and school officials, visited the Wabash County YMCA, met Mayor Scott Long at his office at Wabash City Hall, toured the backstage area of the Ford Theater, and ended the tour with a visit to the Wabash County Historical Museum.

A highlight of the tour was the tour of the YMCA. The tour started off in the gym, made stops at the tennis court, pool, and equipment room, and ended back in the gym with some free time for the exchange students and their host students from WMS to play basketball and other activities.

Throughout the tour, the exchange students were listening intently and fascinated by all aspects, wanting to try out the workout equipment and try and jump to touch the rims of the basketball hoops in the gym.

Area Five Agency of Aging and Community Services of Wabash County offers a Healthy Families Program designed to support and encourage parents.

This program is free to any parent who qualifies for the program, and is completely voluntary, allowing parents to end services at any time. To qualify for Healthy families, there are financial requirements and a screening process upon inquiry.

“We don’t want someone on their own to determine whether or not they are going to qualify for the program,” said LeAnne Breeden, Program Director of Healthy Families.

Breeden encourages parents who have any interest to reach out and get information even if they think they may not qualify.

When David Crosby performs at the Honeywell Center’s Ford Theater on Aug. 22, he will be just a little more than a week past his 78th birthday.

He’s at the age when most people are settling down into a life of leisure.

But then again, David Crosby isn’t like most people.

He’s on tour, is in the midst of recording his fifth album in as many years, and had a documentary on his life, “David Crosby: Remember My Name,” premiered less than a month ago.

On Monday, Aug. 12, Wabash Middle school students and exchange students from Zhejiang Huangyan Experimental Middle School, Taizhon, China, joined in the middle school auditorium to witness the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) by Wabash City Schools superintendent Jason Callahan and Zhejiang Huangyan Experimental Middle School President Xunbin Chen.

The MOU was created to establish a long-lasting relationship between the two schools and their communities.

The presentation started with Wabash Middle School Principal Mike Mattern. Explaining how this exchange came to be. 

Wabash, like most communities in the country, has a drug problem. In the mind of the general public, little is being done to combat the problem.

It’s talk like that that draws the ire of members of the Wabash County Drug Steering Committee. The group -- with upwards of 20 members from law enforcement, schools, healthcare, churches and even some recovering addicts – has been working for a few years trying to come up with solutions to the problem.

Four committee members – Parkview Wabash Hospital President Marilyn Custer-Mitchell, Mayor Scott Long, MSD of Wabash County Superintendent Mike Keaffaber and Chief Probation Officer Sarah Lochner – discussed their efforts with The Paper of Wabash County.

The Community Foundation and Grow Wabash County will host two presentations on the population decline in Wabash County.

Research has shown a 5 percent population decrease in the county during the last nine years.

The public presentations will be Tuesday, Aug. 20, at 5:30 p.m. at the Honeywell Center, 275 W. Market St. Wabash, or Thursday, Aug. 22, at 5:30 p.m. at the Manchester Community Schools Administrative Building, 404 W. 9th St. North Manchester.