Visitors to the Roann Covered Bridge Festival don't let a wet Saturday afternoon stop them from having fun. Photo by Joseph Slacian

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

ROANN -- Rain wreaked havoc on the Roann Covered Bridge Festival over the weekend, with several main attractions having to be canceled due to the steady fall of precipitation Friday and Saturday.

The parade, both tractor pulls, and mud volleyball were among the popular events that had to be cancelled over the weekend due to the weather.

“I think we did pretty well for what we could do,” festival coordinator Donna Harman said. “You just have to make due with what you can for the weather. We are thankful it wasn’t a washout. We didn’t have storms. The sun was shining some place. I was amazed at the people that did come even with the rain.”
 

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

ROANN – The theme for the 2018 Roann Covered Bridge Festival came together seamlessly for festival coordinator Donna Harmon.

She heard of a Beach Boys tribute group named Sounds of Summer through the local Chevy Club. The band was at the national Chevy Convention last year, and Harmon heard nothing but rave reviews about them.

Then, at the Kunkel Cruise-In she saw a little Volkswagen with surfboards and umbrellas sticking out of it.

“It was painted with palm trees and the sunset,” Harmon said. “He’s from Fort Wayne and he’s going to come be in our parade. I asked him if he’d park his car up near the stage on the night the Beach Boys group plays.”
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

The planned trade mission involving Wabash County officials to Japan and China has been in the development stage for about 18 months.

That was the word from Keith Gillenwater, executive director of Grow Wabash County, and Wabash Mayor Scott Long. The two sat down with The Paper of Wabash County to discuss the trade mission, why it was taking place and other details.

“Initially we were contacted about going to China to see about setting up a sister city,” Long said. “I thought it was a good idea.”
 

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

Tim Pitcher, president of development for Luckett and Farley Development Services, outlined plans for the former GDX Automotive site on Monday when the Wabash City Council met.

The Council also received preliminary copies of an agreement between the city and the firm to oversee work at the site.

Pitcher discussed the multi-phased operation that officials hope will eventually lead to a housing development at the site.

“We know we need to get the site cleaned up,” he said, “but there’s a systematic methodology with regard to how you do that, both from the environmental engineering standpoint – identifying what’s on the site, et cetera – and the processes.”

In October 2007, GDX officials announced they were closing the plant near the end of November 2007, leaving more than 600 people without work. One General Street LLC eventually purchased the site, razing it in August 2010. One General Street LLC is still the deeded owner of the property.

Included in the process will be working to ensure the city is protected from potential liabilities related to the site and its cleanup. It also plans to seek payment from former owners toward the cleanup.

“There is various funding at both the federal and state level that can come into play,” Pitcher told the Council. “And, of course, there’s the original owners that caused the pollution that also is a factor in there.”
 

By The Paper Staff

A program intended to compensate farmers nationwide for reduced prices which have been put on commodities in the form of foreign tariffs was unveiled on Aug. 27.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced details of actions the U.S. Department of Agriculture will take to assist farmers from what it called “unjustified retaliation by foreign nations.”

President Donald Trump directed Perdue to develop a short-term relief strategy to protect farmers while the Administration works on reciprocal trade deals to open more markets in the long run to help American farmers compete globally.

As announced last month, USDA will authorize up to $12 billion in programs, consistent with the nation’s World Trade Organization obligations.

“Early on, the President instructed me, as Secretary of Agriculture, to make sure our farmers did not bear the brunt of unfair retaliatory tariffs,” Perdue said in a press release. “After careful analysis by our team at USDA, we have formulated our strategy to mitigate the trade damages sustained by our farmers. Our farmers work hard, and are the most productive in the world, and we aim to protect them.”
 

Riders leave the starting point at the Wabash County YMCA during the 2017 Dam to Dam. The Paper file photo

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

The ninth annual Dam to Dam Century Ride will mark a first on Sunday, Sept. 9.

A rider from Brazil, Rafael Preto, will become the first rider from outside the United States to participate in the event.

Preto is executive director of Arpol Red Spot Tintas Brazil, a company that has entered into a joint venture with a firm named Red Spot Paint, which is located in Evansville. Former Wabash resident Phillip Abell is the firm’s Application Engineering Manager and has become friends with Preto over the years.

Abell “is really involved in sports (so do I) and we do triathlon, bike races, running and other stuff together when we have a chance,” Preto told Christine Floor, Executive Director of Tourism for Visit Wabash County, in an email.

Preto usually visits Indiana three or four times each year and his latest visit will coincide with this year’s Dam to Dam ride.
“For our lucky this time the tour schedule met with a business trip so I will have the chance to do it,” he said in the email.
 

By Josh Sigler
Jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

The Wabash County Commissioners felt a small sense of relief Monday, Aug. 27, as they were able to announce at their weekly meeting – and then again at the County Council meeting Monday night – that they were close to closing on a property which will house the county morgue and coroner’s office.

The property at 443 McCarty St., purchased for $73,000, looks like a pole barn from the outside. It’s about 1,800 square feet.

“It’s a little larger than necessary for the coroner’s work space, but we deemed it appropriate for the task at hand,” Commissioner Barry Eppley said. “It’s got a drive-in door on the east that will all for inside transfers, so it will be very discreet.”
 

By Josh Sigler
jsigler@thepaperofwabash.com

The Metropolitan School District of Wabash County opened bids for its Southwood wastewater treatment plant improvements project at the Tuesday, Aug. 28 meeting.

United Consulting opened the sealed bids. Only two bids in all were submitted.

The first bid came from James S. Jackson Corporation for $1,177,000. Jackson is out of Bluffton.

The other bid came from Cornerstone Stewards, Inc. out of Fort Wayne for the amount of $1,073,000.
The board took the bids under advisement.

The plan is to take Southwood Elementary School’s wastewater treatment plant and close it. They will then lift that water to Southwood High School’s plant. Southwood High’s treatment plant will also undergo some improvements.