Volunteers work on quilts at the Dallas L. Winchester Senior Center. Photo by Joseph Slacian. 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

A group of quilting enthusiasts gather every-other-month at the Dallas L. Winchester Senior Center to make quilts for needy residents around Wabash County.¬¬

The Blanket Binders program started in 2013 thanks in part to Claire Coyne, former director of the Lighthouse Mission. Coyne first approached Carolyn Kellam, a member of the Sew Pieceful Guild, about that organization overseeing the program.

“I didn’t think our quilt guild would want to do it because we have too many charity things going on,” she told The Paper of Wabash County. “I went home … thinking about, praying to God, and it came upon in my heart, let’s just get the non-profits together – we have a lot of great groups – and make quilts.”
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

Jack Benny once quipped, “How do I get to Carnegie Hall? Practice. Practice. Practice.”

A group of local young women are doing just that, preparing for a March 17 choir performance in New York City’s Carnegie Hall.

The choir, the Wabash Community Women’s Choir, is under the direction of former Wabash High School choir director Emily France. It is made up of 20 young women between 14 and 23 years of age.

France told The Paper of Wabash County that she was approached in the fall of 2017 by her former choir teacher at St. Mary’s College, Nancy Menk, about bringing a woman’s choir to be part of the choir composed of about 250 women from around the country.
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

Rahee Hospitality, the group that plans to build a Hampton Inn in Wabash, received two 10-year tax abatements from the Wabash City Council on Monday, Jan. 28.

The council unanimously approved the two abatements, one for real estate and the other for personal property.

Work on the Hampton Inn, which will be located just north of the intersection of Wedcor Avenue and State Road 15, is expected to begin in April and will have a target of May 2020 for completion, according to Raj Chandat, one of the partners in Rahee Hospitality.
 

By The Paper staff

Dean Gogolewski is the new Chief Executive Officer of the Wabash County YMCA.

Gogolewski, of Ohio, was announced in the position Friday, Feb. 1, after an extensive, nationwide search. He replaces Clint Kugler, whose last day was Thursday, Jan. 31.

Gogolewski will begin his new position on Feb. 25.

Gogolewski has over 15 years of operations and community leadership experience with YMCAs in Ohio. Over the past 12 years, he has been with the YMCA of Central Stark County.
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

A Heartland Career Center student is a finalist in a contest sponsored by the National Road Safety Foundation.
Dakotah Culver, 16, LaFontaine, is a student in the media arts program that is a collaboration between Heartland and the Honeywell Foundation.

A Southwood High School junior, Dakotah wrote the script for a public service announcement about the dangers of drowsy driving for the Drive Safe Chicago contest as part of a class project. He is one of three finalists; the winning piece will be decided by an online vote in February.

“I was very surprised,” he said of his reaction when learning he was a finalist. “We have a lot of good script writers in our class. This was the first script I ever wrote.
“I was just baffled.”
 

By Eric Christiansen
echristiansen@nmpaper.com

NORTH MANCHESTER -- A Manchester High School graduate is the newest member of the Manchester Community Schools Board of Trustees.

Mike Hensley assumed the Pleasant Township seat vacancy on the board left by Nate Trump during a short meeting Wednesday, Jan. 30.

Hensley was one of four people interviewed by the board for to seat in a public meeting Wednesday, Jan. 23. Other candidates were Val Slack, Brian Rainer and Shawn Bellinger.
 

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

The Wabash County Commissioners opened bids for the County Road 1100 North reconstruction project during their Monday, Feb. 4 meeting.

The first bid came from E&B Paving out of Huntington for $1,452,202.36.  The second and final bid came from Phend and Brown out of Leesburg for $1,287,982.28.

The Commissioners took the bids under advisement.
 

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

MSD of Wabash County Superintendent Mike Keaffaber went before the County Council on Monday, Jan. 28, to go through the logistics of what it would look like to add the services of two school resource officers.

Keaffaber brought with him figures of what the costs might be associated with the creation of two SRO positions, one for the south schools and one for the north schools in the district, which would be under the jurisdiction of the Wabash County Sheriff’s Department.

“I believe this is a win-win for our county,” Keaffaber said. “If we would do this and have an officer on the north and an officer on the south, that would give two more officers in the county, especially for any types of emergencies outside of the schools. Plus, we have a little over 2,000 students in our six schools, and that is a percentage of our population.”