Stories from Monday, February 4, 2013

Coldwell Banker PREC recently announced that Mary Looper has joined its team in Greencastle. Looper is a broker associate with more than 16 years of real estate experience. She is a member of Putnam County Board of Realtors, Indiana Association of Realtors and National Association of Realtors...

Tammy Harshbarger will celebrate her 20-year anniversary with Hoosier Heartland State Bank this month. "Tammy performs an essential role here," said Trent Smaltz of HHSB. "It would be impossible to provide great customer service for our commercial and ag customers without her and her quick and efficient work. We are fortunate to have her at HHSB."...

People are marking their calendars for the upcoming Putnam County Master Gardeners' Advanced Training Seminar. This year's seminar is called, "Beyond the Garden Gate." It's going to be a day filled with several interesting speakers, good food to enjoy, chances to win prizes, vendor booths to visit and fellow gardeners to meet...

RUSSELLVILLE -- The Russellville Community Center will be hosting a Soup and Sandwich Meal at noon Sunday, Feb. 10. The soups to be served are beef stew, potato, oyster stew, chili, broccoli, broccoli and cheese, chicken and noodles, vegetable and taco...

On Saturday, Feb. 9, the Greencastle High School Band will be holding a huge garage sale from 8-11 a.m. in the multi-purpose room in the high school. The purpose of this event is to raise funds for the band's trip this spring to New York City. The band will be performing at the Sony Building in downtown Manhattan, as well as sightseeing, seeing a Broadway musical and taking a dinner-dance cruise...

The second annual South Putnam Alumni Banquet is being planned by the South Putnam Community Education Foundation and the Alumni Banquet Committee. The Alumni Banquet is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday, April 20 at the Dixie Chopper Final Approach facility at the Putnam County Airport...

The Eminence Junior League will hold registration for youth baseball several times in the upcoming weeks. Sign-up dates are each Saturday in February (Feb. 9, 16 and 23) from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Eminence Lions Club building. The cost is $75 for the first child, $65 for the second at $55 for the third...

NASHVILLE -- Balanced scoring and a quick start in the third quarter led to a 48-36 victory for the Greencastle boys' junior varsity basketball team at Brown County Saturday night. Eight of 10 players found the scoring column for the Tiger Cubs, who have now won eight out of their last 11 contests...

GAMBIER, Ohio -- Groundhog Day has its own meaning for the DePauw men's basketball team and today it was the repeating storyline as the Tigers lost another close one, 66-65, at Kenyon. The Tigers slipped to 13-8 overall and 6-6 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, while the Lords improved to 12-9 and matched DePauw's 6-6 NCAC mark...

HIRAM, Ohio -- The top-ranked DePauw women's basketball team clinched its second straight outright North Coast Athletic Conference title and its fourth consecutive conference title overall following a 91-46 win at Hiram. The Tigers improved to 22-0 overall and 13-0 in NCAC play, while Hiram dropped to 8-14 overall and 3-10 in conference play. ...

NASHVILLE -- Coming off a loss to Monrovia Friday night, Greencastle's boys' basketball squad made the long trip to Brown County Saturday looking to find a way into the win column. In a game in which the largest lead was seven, the Tiger Cubs held the lead for most of the second half until a shooting surge from the Eagles, free throws and a missed buzzer-beater saw the hosts claim a 48-46 victory...

AVON -- South Putnam sophomore Courtney Sullivan and freshman Maddison Plunkett gave their squad important team points at the grueling 11-dive sectional meet on Saturday. Sullivan (11th place, 207.35) and Sullivan (ninth place, 221.10) were competing in their first 11-dive meet of the year...

AVON -- The Greencastle girls' swimming team has been building momentum all season and it culminated with a fifth-place finish at Saturday's sectional meet at Avon. The Tiger Cubs' are young with only one senior (Kaelynn Cox) competing in the event, but the squad performed beyond their experience...

At Avon High School 2013 IHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving Sectional Combined Team Scores - Final 1, Avon, 514. 2, TH South, 325. 3, Plainfield, 303. 4, TH North, 290. 5, Greencastle, 205. 6, CAS, 150.5. 7, TW, 141. 8, DAN, 123.5. 9, SPHS, 75. 10, NPHS, 42. 11, West Vigo, 29...

ROACHDALE -- The North Putnam boys' basketball team has been making steady improvements throughout the year, putting together periods of dominant offense, swarming defense and streaky shooting. The Cougars put it all together Saturday, beating South Vermillion on senior night 73-63...

For those with a passion for close games in which no team goes on a prolonged run, the South Putnam gymnasium was the place to be Saturday night. The South Putnam Eagles boys' basketball team welcomed the Indianapolis Shortridge Blue Devils to their home court. The Eagles won in overtime, 63-62...

MOORESVILLE -- South Putnam junior Rudy Harris won a regional championship at Mooresville on Saturday. Aside from him, there was a mix of highs and lows from the group of Putnam County wrestlers that competed at the IHSAA regional Saturday. South Putnam will see three wrestlers make the trip to the Evansville semi-state while Greencastle and North Putnam both have alternates ready to go...

A recent trip to the Banner Graphic let members of Cub Scout Pack 99 know what goes into the printing of the newspaper each day. Led by Banner head pressman Dave Wilde, the scouts and a few chaperones got a look at the process from advertising sales through writing and layout all the way to the press.

After a successful lineup of classes last fall, Horizons of Putnam County is offering a rich and varied group of new courses for the current spring session. Founded in 1996 to offer "an adventure in lifelong education," Horizons offers a range of courses twice a year to Putnam County citizens and strives to provide opportunities for participants to expand their own horizons, develop new interests or encounter new ones...

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale Community Dollars for Scholars organization has been given another opportunity to raise money for the scholarship fund. Their goal is to build the fund with a Phone-A-Thon to be conducted on Saturday, Feb. 9 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and on Sunday, Feb. 10 from 1-4 p.m...

The Putnam County Community Foundation and the Humane Society of Putnam County announce that Charlie and Karen Cooper of Greencastle have agreed to match donations -- dollar for dollar -- to a new endowment to further ongoing and new efforts to increase adoptions of homeless pets in Putnam County...

James A. Martindale, age 91, of Muncie, formerly of Cambridge City, died Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, at West Minster Village. Born Sept. 28, 1921 in Richmond to Voyle and Margaretta Horner Martindale, he was a resident of Cambridge City from 1921 to 1945 and also Greencastle from 1962 to 2008...

Paul Hoopengarner, age 75, passed away on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013, at his home near Putnamville, following a brief illness. Born July 25, 1937 in Vigo County, Ind., he was the son of Emory and Hazel (Chapman) Hoopengarner. He is survived by his wife, Patricia (Rector) Hoopengarner, and daughters, Carol (Ronald) Smith of Fillmore and Jane (Robert) Best of Waveland...

Thomas A. Nally, 24, of McCutchenville, Ohio, died Friday morning, Feb. 1, 2013 in Tiffin, Ohio. He was born Jan. 24, 1989 in Greencastle, to Michael and Angela (Bixler) Nally. He is survived by his mother and stepfather, Angela and Joel Lands of Tiffin, and his father and stepmother Michael and Lisa Nally of Cloverdale; three children, Phoenix Nally, Laila Nally and Owen Nally; his companion, Sabrina Brose, of McCutchenville; two brothers, Michael P. ...

Russell E. Williams, 67, Reelsville, passed away on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013 at St. Vincent Hospital, Indianapolis. He was born on Dec. 2, 1945 in Greencastle, and was the son of the late Dennis Franklin "Frank" and Edith M. (Russell) Williams. He is survived by his children, Beth Lavender and husband Eugene, Reelsville, Cindy Jaenicke and husband Dan, Kokomo, Russell D. ...

Jennifer Kaye Watson, age 39, of Greencastle, passed away on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013 at home surrounded by her family. Born Feb. 14, 1973 in Greencastle, she was the daughter of Opal (Malone) Arnold and was a 1991 graduate of Cloverdale High School. Jennifer and her husband, Kenneth Watson, shared more than 24 years together and were married on Aug. 8, 1997...

INDIANAPOLIS --- The Pacers and Bulls entered Monday's game as two of the top defense teams in the league, each missing a former All-Star -- forward Danny Granger for Indiana and guard Derrick Rose for Chicago -- so the expectation was a gritty, defensive battle. Instead, the teams had stretches were getting a stop seemed impossible as the Pacers won 111-101...