By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

The Wabash County Commissioners met to conduct regular business on Monday morning, Jan. 28.

Wabash County Recorder Eric Rish gave the Commissioners a heads up that he had received notice from the Recorder’s software provider, Fiddlar, that the yearly maintenance on the department’s server was coming up.

Rish told commissioners it’s a $1,200 budgeted item.

Angela Christopher of the Wabash County Extension presented a contract for a fully-paid internship from Manchester University.

The intern is to be paid through County payroll, and the County has to provide proof of workman’s comp as part of the stipulations of the contract.
 

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

Wabash City Schools board voted to adopt a non-permanent education fund at its Monday, Jan. 21 meeting at City Hall.

Superintendent Jason Callahan explained that the non-permanent education fund is a fund that the Community Foundation of Wabash County will facilitate and manage for any donation.

As a 501 (c) (3), It will provide donors a tax benefit that the corporation could not previously provide donors.

It will also take some weight off the shoulders of the corporation’s treasury to manage those funds.
 

By Eric Christiansen
echristiansen@nmpaper.com

LAKETON — Sixth-grade students at Manchester Intermediate School learned more about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or STEM, recently, thanks to the combined efforts of Wabash County 4-H and the Community Foundation of Wabash County.

Angela Christopher of Wabash County 4-H joined MIS sixth-graders and their teacher to experience a different way of learning.

“Thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation, we are able to get a STEM makers kit,” Christopher said. “We can use these kits to educate not just students in 4-H, but all students, like we are doing today. It's just a great opportunity.
 

Wabash firefighter Trevor Baker crawls on his back through an opening between two wall studs in the basement of the former Parkview Wabash Hospital while trainer Kyle Foster looks on. Photo by Joseph Slacian

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

Wabash firefighters, in conjunction with Parkview Wabash Hospital, spent three days last week training in the basement of the old hospital.

The firefighters trained on how to breach a door, how to breach a wall to escape a building, finding the spot of a fire using a thermal imaging camera and more.

“We will pin a door shut with a wooden dowel rod,” Lt. Scott Kirtlan, the Wabash Fire Department’s training officer, said, standing near a thick wooden door in one of the basement’s office areas. “We’ll have a guy on the other side that has our basic hand tools that has to breach through that door to simulate a locked house or a locked business or something like that that we have to get in quickly through.”
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

Tourism brought in $53.6 million in 2017, according to a new study, up $2.6 million from the previous year.

The study was released Friday, Jan. 18, by Christine Flohr, executive director of tourism with Visit Wabash County, shows the growing impact tourism has on Wabash County’s economy. 

“Based on the increase in independent lodging options in the county and the increase in VWC marketing efforts, I was confident we would see an increase in tourism spending,” Flohr told The Paper of Wabash County.
 

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

Bachelor Creek Church of Christ will host a Night to Shine, a prom focused on celebrated people with special needs, at the Honeywell Center’s Legacy Hall on Friday, Feb. 8.

“We’re really trying to change Valentine’s Day weekend from a celebration of love to just a celebration of God’s love, even for people with special needs,” said David Diener, Bachelor Creek’s student minister. “This is going to be an unforgettable prom night, just to show everybody has value and everybody has worth, because they’re created in God’s image, even people with special needs. We’re just really excited to celebrate that.”
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

A request from a Wabash County resident to create a multi-family housing complex just south of Mill Street received approval on first reading by the Wabash City Council.

Dave Snavely received approval by a 4-2 vote in spite of concerns aired by representatives of the Wabash Wildlife & Sportsman’s Association, a shooting range about 100 yards west of the proposed development. The council will consider the matter again when it meets on Jan. 28.

In December, Snavely received approval from the Wabash Plan Commission.

Snavely proposes to develop a six-acre piece of land into residential units, either duplex, triplex or quadplexes, he told the Plan commission on Dec. 5.
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

City officials will meet with representatives of the Indiana Department of Transportation to see if INDOT will help to resolve an erosion problem at a local home, caused in part by an INDOT construction project.

Mayor Scott Long, during the Wabash Board of Public Works and Safety meeting on Thursday, Jan. 17, asked Street Superintendent Scott Richardson and Wastewater Treatment Plant Superintendent Bob Gray to contact INDOT about the situation.

It was brought to light by Ken Goble and Steve Gray, who approached the board to see what help the city could give in resolving the situation at the home of Betty Benson, 1320 N. Cass St.

Goble told the board that the problem started a few years back when INDOT replaced drains near State Road 15 and U.S. 24.