By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

Wabash County Transit will receive two new vehicles, thanks to two capital contracts approved Tuesday, Oct. 9, by the Wabash County Commissioners.

One vehicle is a mini-van, while the other is a standard sized bus, Bev Ferry, Living Well in Wabash County executive director told commissioners. Living Well oversees the transportation service.

The agency will receive $71,920 for the two vehicles, and must come up with $17,980 local funds to make the purchase. The contract called for an 80-20 match, Ferry noted.
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

The Wabash County Clerk’s office must accept all requests for absentee ballots, even if they aren’t the proper ones.

That was the ruling by the Indiana Election Division in light of a decision last week by the Wabash County Election Board not to accept any requests that came via the Indiana Democratic Party.
 

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

Salamonie State forest will soon have fewer trees among its landscape.

There’s still some marking to do, but the DNR will soon let bids for a logging project at the state forest.

“We (still) have to pull together all the information, advertise it and do the actual closed bid sale,” Salamonie property manager Amanda Smith said. “Then, (the contractor) will have a two-year contract.
“We’ve been marking the sale for three years now.”
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

Nicole Howard Photography officially opened its doors in downtown Wabash on Friday, Oct. 5.

The business, located at 70 W. Market St., had a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by family, friends and representatives of the City of Wabash, Grow Wabash County and other organizations.

“This is an exciting day to do a ribbon cutting for a new business,” Keith Gillenwater, president and CEO of Grow Wabash County said. “I know this has been a dream of yours to get to this point and open up a storefront. There’s no better place to do it than in downtown Wabash.

“An arts-based business is a great fit. It fits with everything else we’ve got going on.”
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

Legendary guitar player Billy F Gibbonss will return to the Honeywell Center’s Ford Theater on Saturday, Oct. 20.

This time, however, it won’t be with his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bandmates Dusty Hill and Frank Beard from ZZ Top.

It will be with a few musicians he put together to tour and promote his new solo album, “The Big Bad Blues.”
 

By Josh Sigler
Jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

Of all the stories and anecdotes told at the Monday, Oct. 1 Voices of Recovery event at the Honeywell Center, none were as captivating as the story of Shane Beal.

Beal, a former lawyer, lost it all to drugs and alcohol, hitting rock bottom with a four-year prison sentence. 

Beal and emcee Doug Hartle shared a story not for the faint of heart. Hartle, a former police officer, once sold a gun to Beal while Beal was drunk sitting in Hartle’s squad car in a gas station parking lot.
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

The Wabash Board of Public Works and Safety dealt with three different home issues when it met Thursday, Oct. 4.

In the end, one home was ordered demolished, declared a second home unsafe and ordered the owner be issued a list of work to be done at the site and given a deadline to have work completed, and ordered a second stop-work order will be issued to the third.
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

A former billing clerk at the City of Wabash’s Wastewater Treatment Plant has changed her plea in Wabash County Circuit Court.

The former clerk, Angelina Monroe, 39, withdrew her not guilty plea and entered a guilty plea to one count of theft on Monday afternoon, Oct. 1. In exchange for the guilty plea, charges of official misconduct, corrupt business influence and a second theft charge would be dropped.

Under the agreement, which was taken under advisement by Circuit Court Judge Robert McCallen III, Monroe would face between two and four years in the Indiana Department of Corrections.

Monroe was charged with taking more than $150,000 in payments from the Wastewater Treatment Plant over nearly a four-year period.

Under terms of the agreement, Monroe has agreed to make restitutions to the city and the state. In addition, the agreement also doesn’t absolve her of any civil action which the city, state or State Board of Accounts may pursue against her.