Archive - News Article
February 21st, 2011
COLUMBIA CITY — The Columbia City Board of Works and Safety hired Columbus, Ohio-based Burgess & Niple, Inc. to monitor ground water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site located in the city.
The federal government intervened decades ago when it learned that millions of gallons of oil-related waste were dumped on the 35-acre site of Wayne Waste Oil, a division of Wayne Reclamation and Recycling, Inc.
“We’re responsible for the monitoring of the cleanup,” said Columbia City Mayor Jim Fleck.
COLUMBIA CITY — Two members of Columbia City High School’s debate team won first place at the Northeast Indiana District Debate Tournament at Concord High School in Elkhart recently.
Austin Andreas and Dakota Wappes, both seniors, will attend the national debate tournament in Dallas, Texas, June 13-18.
The alternate team from CCHS for the national tournament consists of seniors May Cheng and Linda Hershman.
A week after qualifying for the national tournament, Andreas won the Bob Brittain Mental Attitude Award for Debate at the Indiana State Debate Tournament.
COLUMBIA CITY — The College Success Coalition met for the first time Friday at the Peabody Public Library.
Representatives of many types of businesses and schools were present, including the YMCA, University of St. Francis, Whitley County Foundation, Lake City Bank, Indian Springs Middle School, Star Financial Bank, Smith-Green Schools, Indiana-Purdue University, Fort Wayne; Ivy Tech, and the Peabody Public Library.
COLUMBIA CITY — With the arrival of warmer weather, work has accelerated on a pair of lift stations in Columbia City which are replacing structures more than a half-century old.
“These old lift stations were installed in 1959,” said Mike Cook, Superintendent of Columbia City’s Water Pollution Control Facility.
According to Cook, the old lift stations were located more than 30 feet underground, but new technology will enable the new structures to be barely 11 feet under the surface.
COLUMBIA CITY — The narrow corridor of Columbia City’s CC Deli was standing room only Saturday morning as anxious teachers and educators inundated local state lawmakers with hard questions about the direction education funding is heading in Indianapolis.
“It hurts my heart when our governor says we’re in it for the money,” said an impassioned Cheryl Stalter, Northern Heights kindergarten teacher.
“I know that God gave me the talent to teach and I want you guys to know that we do it because we love these children or we wouldn’t walk into that school every day.”
February 18th
COLUMBIA CITY — The Whitley County Consolidated School Corporation’s Board of School Trustees is inching closer to making tough decisions in order to tighten its belt.
At its regular meeting Feb. 7, Superintendent Dr. Patricia O’Connor supplied the board with a large number of potential “budget-saving” measures in order to combat a steady decline in the school system’s general fund.
“We’re just trying to keep as many programs as we can and live within our means,” O’Connor said Thursday.
COLUMBIA CITY — The Whitley County Commissioners heard earlier this month that deciding to put the health of county jail inmates in the hands of an outside company instead of providing inmate health care in-house has been money well spent.
County Attorney Dan Sigler and Sheriff Mark Hodges gave a report to the three-man board Feb. 7 about the current health plan for prisoners of the county jail.
According to Whitley County Auditor Jennifer McGuire, the county hired healthcare firm Health Professionals LTD of Greenwood Village, Colo. in 2009.
COLUMBIA CITY — Voters in Columbia City will choose between three mayoral candidates in the Republican primary this May.
Banker and current city council member Don Sexton, police officer and restaurant owner Gary Parrett and Ryan Daniel, who previously worked as the Northeast Community Liaison for the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA), are all seeking the Republican nomination from voters this spring.
COLUMBIA CITY — While the sale is still not final, preliminary plans are under way for use of the Lehmberg Building in Columbia City by Passages, Inc.
The non-profit was named as buyer of the former hospital property at last week’s meeting of the Whitley County Board of Commissioners.
Attorney Peter Mallers of Beers, Mallers, Backs and Salin of Fort Wayne appeared before the three-man board Feb. 7 and announced that the building, located at 333 North Oak Street and owned by Whitley Memorial Hospital, Inc., will be sold to Passages, Inc.
CHURUBUSCO — A two-car collision in Whitley County Thursday afternoon claimed the life of a Mississippi woman and critically injured a Churubusco woman, according to police.
The crash occurred just before 5 p.m. on U.S. 33 west of Churubusco near County Road 700 North, police said.
According to the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department, a vehicle driven by Ryan Harter, 33, of Fort Wayne, crossed the center stripe and struck a Jeep driven by Teresa Trainer, 49, of Waterford, Miss.
Trainer was pronounced dead at the scene.
