The Indiana Supreme Court. Photo provided

By The Paper staff

The Indiana Supreme Court will travel to the Honeywell Center in Wabash County on Thursday, April 18.

The Court will hold oral argument in a criminal case addressing the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. The argument is in the case of Katelin Seo v. State of Indiana.

The Court holds approximately 60 oral arguments at the State House in Indianapolis each year. Occasionally, it schedules arguments outside the capital to allow students, press, and public in other areas of the state an opportunity to see the work of the Court.

More than 700 students from 19 local high schools also will attend the event.
 

Myrl E. Frantz is presented a hat and shirt by a member of Indiana Northeast Honor Flight. Photo by Eric Christiansen

Eric Christiansen
echristiansen@nmpaper.com

NORTH MANCHESTER -- Twelve veterans residing at Timbercrest Senior Living Community were honored for their service in the United States military and experienced an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., via virtual reality Friday, April 5.

Honor Flight Northeast Indiana brought Washington, D.C., to Timbercrest, allowing veterans to see and hear an actual trip to memorials and other monuments representing previous wars.

“This is very meaningful, I gotta tell you,” Myrl E. Frantz said. “It's hard to put into words. I don't know if I have the vocabulary to say the words that I really feel.”
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

The City of Wabash completed the cleanup of a Euclid Street home it had earlier ordered demolished.

Crews from the Wabash Street Department were at 311 Euclid St. on Friday to begin removing rubble from the home, which had been razed after it was destroyed by fire on Jan. 16. The home, owned by Don and Peggy Fraley, was ordered demolished by the Wabash Board of Public Works and Safety on Jan. 3, and the Fraleys were given 90 days to complete the work.

The Fraleys, at the April 4 Board of Works meeting, said the person who had demolished the home notified them that he wasn’t going to remove the rubble.

“We’ve mess around long enough on this,” board member Todd Titus said. “Your intentions are good, but the neighbors have put up with this for too long.”

An RV was allowed to remain at the site, as the property still belongs to the Fraleys. The vehicle is licensed and insured.
 

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

Wabash County Commissioners approved County Recorder Eric Rish’s request to approve a contract with Fiddlar at the Monday, April 8 meeting.

Rish explained that the contract was for hardware maintenance with services costing $1,200.

County Highway Superintendent John Martin presented a revised Community Crossings matching grant fund request for the 1100 North construction project for Commissioners’ approval.
 

By Eric Christiansen
and
Joseph Slacian
news@thepaperofwabash.com

The towns of LaFontaine and North Manchester were among the 189 Indiana cities, towns and counties to receive funds from the Next Level Roads: Community Crossings initiative.

North Manchester will receive $627,975, while LaFontaine will receive $50,671. In all, $115 million in state-matching funds were distributed for local road projects.

“It’s a big chuck of change,” North Manchester Town Manager Adam Penrod said. “The one we’ve been trying for for some time is Wayne Street – it’s bad, especially in the winter, and the base isn’t really good.”
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

It’s safe to say that Ava Gibson has experienced more in her four short years of life, than most years older than she has.

Born with part of her small intestine outside her body, she has undergone more than 20 surgeries in her life.

Her surgeries, done at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, have included removing a portion of her small intestine. She also has had a small intestine transplant when she was 2 years old. Sadly, her body rejected the organ.

Her most recent surgery, a five organ transplant, took place on Oct. 31, 2018. In that surgery, she received a new liver, pancreas, small intestine, stomach and part of a large intestine. While her body has, so far, not rejected the organs, she has developed a serious virus, one that has kept her in the hospital since the surgery.
 

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

Living Well in Wabash County CEO Beverly Ferry was in attendance at the Wabash County Commissioners meeting Monday, April 1, to get commissioners’ signatures for a grant for the purchase of a minivan.

Ferry said she needed the commissioners to sign off on the grant in order to receive the federal money for the grant.

The grant is for $28,800, which will cover 80 percent of the cost of the minivan.

The 20 percent remaining cost will be covered locally.
 

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

O.J. Neighhours Elementary School technology specialist Melissa Callahan saw an article and video on social media this past summer that has led to a recycling project at the school.

The story and video were about collecting old, dried-up markers to be sent off and recycled. Callahan saw it and wanted to get her school involved.

“It was perfect,” she said. “I work in an elementary school. There’s a lot of markers that get thrown away all the time. And so, it just really struck a chord.”

The school has been collecting markers since near the beginning of the school year.