Stories from Friday, August 9, 2013

To The Editor: Another July is gone, and so then is the 2013 Putnam County Fair. As superintendent of Adult Open Class, people ask me if I am glad it is over and I pause for just a second before answering with a resounding "No!" This time of community gathering, sharing, working and playing together is so special...

To the Editor: Please accept this open letter that I delivered and discussed with Jon Hoek, secretary/treasurer of Fair Oaks Farms, at the grand opening of the Fair Oaks Pig Adventure Farm on Monday, Aug. 5. Instead of glorifying an industry that is destroying the land and subjugating the animals, the high technology of Fair Oaks should be used to help clean up communities in Indiana who are currently, severely impacted by the continued construction/expansion of CAFOs. ...

To the Editor: When Indiana recently announced that individual health insurance costs in Indiana will rise 72 percent on average because of new Affordable Care Act (ACA) requirements, an immediate outcry followed from some ACA supporters, who accused the Department of Insurance (DOI) of misrepresenting these numbers in a deliberate attempt to mislead Hoosiers...

County Jail One person was booked into the Putnam County Jail recently. At 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, Gregory Lewis Garrett, 44, Indianapolis, was charged with possession of marijuana and dealing marijuana. Sheriff's Department One recent accident was reported by the Putnam County Sheriff's Department...

Nearly 200 leaders, junior leaders and youth who participated in the Greencastle Parks and Recreation Department's SPARK program (Summer Program of Awareness and Recreaction for Kids) gather at the Robe-Ann Park Bandshell. SPARK took place on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at the park between June 10 and July 19. ...

The Michael family of Putnam County was honored for its more than 150-year commitment to Indiana agriculture Wednesday at the Indiana State Fair. Indiana Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann and Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director Gina Sheets presented the Michael family and 57 other Indiana farm families with a Hoosier Homestead Award in recognition of a longstanding involvement in local agriculture...

The Greencastle girls' golf team competed in the nine-team Terre Haute South Invitational on Tuesday, finishing its first 18-hold event of the season in eighth place. Sophomore Lokysa Scheuermann led the Tiger Cubs, shooting a 98 at Rhea Park Golf Course...

In just its second year of organizing a blood drive, the South Putnam football team became champions. The Eagles rounded up 42 participants for the Colts Leadership Challenge, 10.6 percent of the school's population, and won a prize package that includes an on-field appearance during the pre-game ceremony of a Colts preseason game...

South Putnam senior Nathan Criss, an offensive lineman for the Eagles football team, was selected to the Indiana High School Athletic Association Student Advisory Committee, the IHSAA announced Thursday. Criss served on the SAC last year as well and was elected vice president for the 2013-14 school year by his peers...

Gail Smith, owner of Almost Home and the Swizzle Stick, and Glaicer of Indiana bring Clos la Chance wine to Greencastle for a wine dinner at Almost Home on Tuesday, Aug. 13. With a night of food and wine Smith will also be hosting one of the owners of la Chance, Brenda Murphy...

A new principal isn't the only addition at Greencastle Middle School this year. A new marquee message sign, located at the south end of the GMS building, now greets students, staff and visitors and informs travelers along Percy Julian Drive and Veterans Highway of upcoming events. ...

More with less: Those three words ring terribly in the ears of government officials everywhere. Doing more with less has been the reality of local governments for a number of years now, and Monday's meeting of the Putnam County Commissioners was more of the same...

A proposal to repurpose the old ResCare building at 1306 Bloomington St. in Greencastle will need some more attention to detail before it meets its Board of Zoning Appeals fate. Tabled by the city BZA Tuesday night was a request to renovate the 10,000-square-foot building that formerly housed as many as 32 juvenile boys in a residential environment...