Stories from Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Bob and Joanne Haymaker were honored by Ouabache Land Conservancy Vice President Hansford Mann at the recent Ouabache Land Conservancy (a local non-profit land trust) annual meeting.

The 16th annual North Putnam 3-on-3 basketball tournament will take place March 10. Registration for the tournament will be at 10 a.m., with games tipping off at 10:30 a.m. It will take place at North Putnam High School. The cost of the event is $25 per player for ages 12 and under and $40 per players for ages 13 and over. A team can have three to five players...

The Cloverdale baseball team will be hosting a golf scramble fundraiser on March 10 at the Clover Meadows Golf Course. Registration deadline is March 3, with all proceeds going to benefit the Cloverdale baseball program. Food and refreshments will be available after the scramble. There will be prizes awarded as well...

The fourth-ranked DePauw women's basketball team (23-1, 16-0) has earned the No. 1 seed for this week's North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament and hosts a quarterfinal game tonight. The Tigers entertain Oberlin College with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff in the Neal Fieldhouse which is located inside the Lilly Center...

As a stand against domestic violence, DePauw University's Alpha Chi Omega chapter, along with the Putnam County Family Support Services, will be hosting STRUTathon: Strut Your Stuff in HER Shoes, on Saturday, March 10. The event, which begins at 10:30 a.m., will take place at DePauw's indoor track and tennis facility and is open to the community...

AVON -- Saturday's sectional final was a stepping stone for Greencastle's Nash Firebaugh and South Putnam's Sam Gould. For the rest of the county swimmers and divers, Saturday was the end of a long season, but no one was hanging his head in defeat. In the team scores, Greencastle placed fifth with 182 points, the best finish among schools with enrollments less than 1,800...

In a contest that required tie-breaker questions to determine the winner, Roachdale Elementary's M.A.T.H. Bowl team has edged out the squad from Tzouanakis Intermediate School in Greencastle to win this year's Putnam County Invitational. The competition, which has been hosted by Tzouanakis for several years, gives county teams a chance to experience the formal competition format before competing in the state competition at Central Elementary on March 1...

AVON -- Big fish in a small pond? Maybe, but small fish can swim pretty fast too. If the Putnam County boys' swim teams were supposed to be intimidated going against bigger competition from Hendricks County and Terre Haute, no one told Greencastle's Nash Firebaugh or South Putnam's Sam Gould. Firebaugh swam a 51.59 to win the butterfly and advance to the state finals. Gould placed third in diving with 319.60 points, good enough to advance to regional competition. Firebaugh, a sophomore, came into the sectional finals seeded second, but everyone in the natatorium seemed to know he'd post a low time. It was just a matter of doing it.

The Purdue Extension Putnam County office moved a couple of months ago and is now located at 12 Central Square in the same building as Pershing Accounting and PNC Bank just northeast of the Courthouse square. The staff invites everyone to come see us at our new location during an upcoming open house on Monday, Feb. 27. Whether you have difficulty making it to the office to pick up 4-H materials or just want to see our new office location, the office will be open 5-7 p.m. for the event...

PUTNAMVILLE -- Offenders at the Putnamville Correctional Facility were recognized for their achievements during an Inside Out Dads graduation ceremony conducted Friday, Feb. 17. In the presence of family members and staff, Program Coordinators James Bennett and Dwaine Short presented 29 offenders with certificates for successful completion of the Inside Out Dads Program...

Chief Aaron Littrell of the Clinton Township Rescue and Volunteer Fire Department has announced that a membership drive is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 25. Featuring a question-and-answer session, the membership drive will take place at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Clinton Township Fire Department building, located at 4218 W. CR 450 North, Greencastle...

CLOVERDALE -- Master Indiana Conservation Officer Tom Lahay has been selected by his peers as the District Five Officer of the Year and nominee for the Law Enforcement Division's 2011 coveted James D. Pitzer Award. A native of Warrick County, Officer Lahay graduated from Castle High School. Upon graduating with honors and two degrees from Vincennes University in 1982, Officer Lahay began participating in the selection process to become an Indiana Conservation officer...

Hard work really does pay off, at least in the case of DePauw University professor and poetry writer Joe Heithaus, who was recently awarded the honor of his first published book "Poison Sonnets." Heithaus, a South Bend native, earned his master's in fine arts from Indiana University in poetry. He went on to earn his PhD in American literature from Indiana University as well...

Looking back on 38 years in the Indiana General Assembly, State Sen. Richard Bray (R-Martinsville) knows the political landscape has changed and there is still much work to be done at the statehouse. Saturday morning, in all likelihood, marked his final appearance at a Putnam County Farm Bureau Legislative Update session, and the 77-year-old Bray took time to look forward while looking back on his career...

"Looking out at this audience and standing in this historic building, I am reminded that it is a wonderful, marvelous experience to return to one's alma mater -- that shining place John F. Kennedy once called the second home of our youth," Vernon Jordan said Sunday night at his alma mater, DePauw University...

CLOVERDALE -- What opened as a treat among tricks on Halloween 1979 came back to earth in a cloud of Presidents Day dust Monday morning in Cloverdale. In less than 90 minutes, the Cloverdale McDonald's, a landmark atop the knoll at the U.S. 231 and Interstate 70 interchange, was reduced to piles of rubble, recyclables, and roll-off dumpsters...

Dr. William Pat Buckner Jr., a former Greencastle resident, died Sunday, Feb. 19 in Cypress, Texas. His parents, Rev. William Pat Buckner Sr. and Mary Buckner, sister Mary (BiIlie) Wilson and brother Obama (George Henri) preceded him in death. Pat attended Greencastle High School and graduated from DePauw University in 1950...

ROACHDALE -- A North Putnam High School junior was airlifted to St. Vincent Hospital, Indianapolis, following a Monday evening automobile accident. Morgan Robinson of Roachdale, was injured in a collision with a tree shortly after 7 p.m. Monday. A representative of St. Vincent 86th Street could not confirm Robinson's condition, but said the 17-year-old was a patient of the hospital...