Archive - News Article
March 16th, 2011
COLUMBIA CITY — The Whitley County Plan Commission ratified the county’s newest comprehensive plan at its meeting Tuesday night and will take the plan, with one alteration, to the Whitley County Board of Commissioners for approval on Monday.
“This is a normal course of action for the comprehensive plan,” said Dave Sewell, Executive Director of the county’s Building and Planning Department.
“We’ve had various input meetings, this is the fourth draft (Draft D) and we have not received any correspondence or written objections to the comprehensive plan.”
March 15th
COLUMBIA CITY — Three men with a broad range of knowledge regarding wind energy have been invited to speak at a information session March 23.
Chad Martin, a renewable energy extension specialist at Purdue University; Todd Samuelson, a CPA with H.J. Umbaugh and Associates and Travis Murphy, a business development manager for renewable energy will share their perspectives during a community discussion about wind energy.
The community discussion is planned for 6 p.m. March 23 at Indian Springs Middle School. It is free and open to the public.
March 14th
COLUMBIA CITY — It was a day like any other in the classroom. Students talking and laughing, studying and dreaming about the future.
But a darkness that had begun years earlier broke in on the scene and lives ended too soon, dreams never to be realized.
Columbine High School.
The first student killed that day, April 20, 1999, was Rachel Scott. The shooters were allegedly victims of bullying for years and had taken their revenge in a random shooting spree at their high school.
Close to home
COLUMBIA CITY — Dining by candlelight has always been associated with romance, or maybe a power outage, but eating a meal in the total darkness, as a totally blind person would, is a different experience entirely.
And for a reporter, who relies on sight for taking notes, and for observing events, not to mention getting just the right picture, reporting with a blindfold on seemed a daunting task.
The program, a benefit for the Lakota Chapter American Council of the Blind of Indiana and the Tri-Lakes Lions Club, occurred Sunday evening at the Eagle’s Nest Event Center.
COLUMBIA CITY — Whitley County’s Department of Emergency Management/Department of Homeland Security is gearing up this week for a pair of weather-related events.
According to department director Cathy Broxon-Ball, this week is not only Severe Weather Awareness Week, but also Flood Safety Awareness week.
In conjunction with the five-day event, Broxon-Ball said her department would be testing the county’s emergency sirens on Wednesday in the morning and again at 7 p.m.
COLUMBIA CITY — Some degree of ambiguity surrounds business that’s on the agenda for the Whitley County Plan Commission tonight.
The panel meets a day earlier than usual due to scheduling conflicts.
Atop the agenda will be a public hearing for the county’s new comprehensive plan, Draft D.
According to Dave Sewell, executive director of the Whitley County Building and Planning Department, the commission could vote tonight to approve the plan, barring any major obstacles.
He added, though, that official ratification would be done by the Whitley County Board of Commissioners.
COLUMBIA CITY — Contaminated soil found under railroad tracks in Columbia City has been cleared to be reintroduced.
Earlier this year, crews installing sewer lines under railroad tracks on South Line Street discovered oily dirt. The crews were in the process of boring under the tracks to insert new sewer line, a process called jack and bore.
Work was halted when the contaminated soil was discovered and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management was contacted.
COLUMBIA CITY — Whitley County officials heard ideas last week on sign updates around the county — and got an unsuspected surprise.
At the twice-monthly meeting of the Whitley County Board of Commissioners, Highway Department Superintendent Mike Barton presented Mitch Hansel of GAI consultants of Fort Wayne.
Barton and Hansel spoke to the three-man board about federal money available for updating signage which, according to them, is required by law and must be done by Jan. 1, 2012.
“It’s mandated, we don’t have a choice,” said Barton.
March 11th
“It keeps me young and it keeps me going,” says Deb Aldrich, a grandmother of nine.
What she’s referring to is dance.
Called “Dancin’ Aunt Deb” by her family, she has been kicking up her heels since she was a little girl. Her mom started her in dance classes at the age of four.
She was a regular on the Ann Colone Show on WANE-TV in Fort Wayne and in 1959 performed with Gene Barry, who portrayed Bat Masterson on television, during the Shrine Horse Patrol in Columbia City.
