Stories from Friday, July 11, 2008

The Greencastle Parks and Recreation Department will hold its "Celebrate Kids Fishing Day" Program this Saturday at Jaycee Park. Registration for this kids fishing program will be from 7:30 to 8 a.m. with the family fishing action from 8 to11 a.m. This is a free event; however, because the contest was moved from its original date held in conjunction with the national "Free Fishing Weekend," all adults will need an Indiana Fishing License if they would like to fish alongside their children. ...

DAVID BROOKS of Greencastle was named to the spring 2008 dean's list at Taylor University. Brooks just completed his sophomore year at Taylor, where he is majoring in history. He is a Greencastle High School graduate. HEATHER ANN CREGO, the daughter of Holbert and Diana Nickerson of Cloverdale, graduated from Franklin College on May 17 with a biology major and a chemistry minor...

A celebration of life for Jessica Ryann Johnson will be held Saturday at the home of her mother, Marlena Stevens, 8210 E. C.R. 590S, Coatesville, at 6 p.m. Ms. Johnson was born May 8, 1986, in Greencastle. She died Wednesday, June 4, 2008 after a lengthy illness...

Bessie T. Richardson, 75, of Greencastle, passed away Tuesday, July 8 at Hickory Creek at Sunset in Greencastle. Born June 17, 1933, in Hancock, Tenn., she was the daughter of Charles and Elsie Johnson Kinsler. She was a homemaker and the wife of 51 years of Gene Richardson...

Volkswagen owners are invited to join the Putnam County 4-H Fair parade on July 18 to participate in the Fourth annual VW Brigade. Participants will meet at the Greencastle Middle School on that Friday between 5:30 and 6 p.m. Decorating your car and throwing candy during the parade are optional according to Dick Funk, organizer of the Brigade...

ROACHDALE -- Under a traditional barber's pole on main street Roachdale, one of Pete Noland's customers offers him a sample of his homegrown beets. Noland and his customer barter over how many beets are worth one haircut. Noland has been cutting hair in his small hometown for nearly 62 years, keeping his barbershop as traditional as possible. Though the price of a haircut has risen from 65 cents to $9, not much else has changed about the shop that has been in business since at least 1904...

CLOVERDALE -- From the moment she was born, little Abby Hilbert's life hasn't been easy. Abby was born on July 30, 2006. Although they went undetected for some time, she had been having seizures well before being diagnosed with Dravet's syndrome. "She didn't really start having problems until last February," said Abby's mother, Brittonie Buis of Cloverdale. "Then last September we got the nasty phone call from her neurologist."...

The Greencastle School Board is looking to hire a full-time police officer to oversee security at all of the corporation's buildings beginning this school year. Supt. Bob Green told members of the board Wednesday night that this individual would be a full-fledged officer, meaning he or she would be required to go through the police academy and would likely be armed with a weapon just like a regular police officer would...

The Greencastle School Board is considering an amendment to its policy regarding participation in sports activities. The board is considering adding language that would prohibit a student from participating in athletics if he or she is serving court-issued probation. They cannot return to sports until that probation has been served...

A Greencastle woman convicted of embezzling thousands of dollars from a former employer over a three-year span received a five-year sentence in Putnam County Circuit Court on Thursday. Lesa Hartman, 46, pleaded guilty a Class C felony forgery charge and a Class D felony theft charge on May 22. Under the terms of a plea agreement, five charges each of Class C felony forgery and Class D felony theft against Hartman were dismissed...

To the Editor: Hey Mister It's Time to Conserve … What planet are you from? Thieves can't work in the dark? Go ahead and have your electricity turned off and quit driving. Just keep drinking the Kool-Aid and tell yourself you are saving the planet. Put a sign in your yard you are unarmed for those thieves, while you are at it...

To the Editor: Late Sunday afternoon as I drove down our long driveway to C.R. 225S, I noticed a car pulled to the side of the road and a gentleman standing by the road. It was then I noticed my neighbors' and my mailboxes were gone. The man said his car suddenly pulled to the right, causing him to wipe out three mailboxes. He said he had already called law enforcement. He was quite apologetic and said that he would replace the mailboxes as soon as possible...

To the Editor: How do we measure the vitality of a community? There are many perspectives. What I still see vividly in my memory are thousands of people coming to Robe-Ann Park on July 4 to celebrate our nation's independence. Through a rainy 5K walk/run, a dampened dog fashion show, face painting, jousting, basketball, great food, tests of strength, children's games, corn toss competition, pie baking, and pinewood derbies to fireworks and families we had it all … and people came. ...

The Banner Graphic recently asked readers whether they agreed with the Supreme Court's lifting the weapons ban. A total of 346 people responded. Of those, 266, or 76.9 percent said yes, they agree with the courts. The remaining 80 peopler, or 23.1 percent said no, they disagree...