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Please continue to support Carroll Manor

Week after week, I have read in the Comet all about Carroll Manor, and I agree with Martha Lewis there has been a lot of negative press that has hurt the Manor. I realize the Comet has to print what is said, but it has caused distress to the residents who are still there. They wonder if they will have to find another home.

How would you like to find and move into a different home when you are 80 or 90 years of age? It has caused mental and physical problems for Martha, who is trying so hard to keep a home for our elderly. She has created a beautiful, comfortable, cozy place for our older generation to have independence so they are not a burden to their children. These are ones who are not physically or mentally ready for a nursing home, but still need care and assistance in the county they grew up in. That is why we need to be here.

The Lafayette Journal & Courier wanted the other side of this story when they interviewed Diane Brown. What she said was not negative but the truth. Nothing was ever printed about all the cutbacks we at Carroll Manor made so these residents could stay where they are. These cuts altered the food supply and maintenance. The staff works more with less pay, but they all say, "If we can keep the Manor open, it is worth it."

Diane is a selfless servant who on a good day works the floor, doing two people's jobs.; then she goes to the office to do her job. That is on a good day. All the staff works together for one purpose, the residents. They need a load of thanks for their dedication.

Also, many, many thanks to the kind and caring people who donate money, food and time to help keep Carroll Manor open.

Everyone I talk to who brings in donations say, "This is such a great place. It is a shame the county wants to close it."

Some say, "I am donating because someday I want to come here."

The truth is that someday we, or someone we love, will be the older generation and will need a place to stay. The question is, where will they go in this county?

I want to thank the county for the support they do give Carroll Manor. God bless everyone who helps the older generation. It is the American way. Mary Tyra Bringhurst A staff person at Carroll Manor

Urges action

Currently BFS which is Biological Fertilizer Supplement is being applied to cropland. The amounts stated in the permit application are 10,000,000 gallons of liquid BFS and approximately 18,000 tons of semi solid, dewatered cake produced each year at Eli Lilly & Company's Tippecanoe Laboratories.

The company is applying to renew a previous permit. The application could include site specific land application sites that have previously been used as nonsite specific sites. This means if a site is changed to site specific there is a smaller separation distance required between a residence and point of application.

In the case of residences with wells, this could mean the pharmaceutical waste that includes among other things, heavy metals, could be spread closer to homes.

If you would like to inspect this paperwork it is at your library. Ask for public notice 07- 08-L-AR. At issue here is the change to site specific application. If you have concerns or comments you must do so by Aug. 30. All comments must include the permit applicant's name, Eli Lilly and Company (Tippecanoe Laboratories) and the permit number which is IN LA 00421 or your comments will not be considered. Mail or deliver to the: Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Office of Land Quality, Permits Branch - Solid Waste Permits Section, MC 65- 45 IGCN1101, 100 N. Senate Ave., Indianapolis, Ind. 46204.

Counties the permit applies to are Benton, Carroll, Clinton, Fountain, Montgomery, Newton, Parke, Pulaski, Tippecanoe, Vermillion, Vigo, Warren and White. Clara Potts Monticello

. Another freedom lost

I attended a public meeting July 8 hosted by the Carroll County Commissioners with the Indiana Dept. of Environmental Management (IDEM) Office of Water Quality to learn about the TLRSD (Twin Lakes Regional Sewer District). This entity was formed in 1973 and was activated as a regional sewer district in 1994 by the White County Commissioners and expanded in October 2000 to include Jefferson Township in Carroll County.

The TLRSD has unlimited powers as provided by Indiana state codes. Without any justified reason, they can force a homeowner to hookup to their sewer system even though the homeowner has a clean, non-polluting, operating septic system.

No public meeting, no advanced notice - simply a packet delivered to your door stating that you will:

• Be required to hookup to their system.

• Sign an unlimited easement for them to go anywhere on your property.

• Pay a hookup fee of $1000 or more.

• Pay a monthly sewer fee (currently either $64 or $88 subject to increases every two years).

• Destroy your septic system by filling in the tank at your expense.

• Pay at your expense a plumbing contractor to lay pipe and make connection to their pipe line.

• Pay at your expense an electrical contractor to wire the grinder pump hooked to your meter.

• Pay for any future cost to repair grinder pump and lines.

• If you have multiple housing units you will pay for each.

• If you have vacant, buildable lots you will be required to pay for a hookup cost for each.

I decided to retire to Tecumseh Bend subdivision (near YMCA Camp Tecumseh) in the State of Indiana because the cost of living was reasonable for a person with a low, fixed income. Most of my neighbors are in the same situation.

The sewers are not here yet, but you can bet they will be shortly, based on the TLRSD's actions in Jefferson Township. Will they get you and your neighbor next? Will Tippecanoe Township be next? Where will they stop?

A group of citizens in Carroll County is fighting this advance of the TLRSD. Are you willing to help them? Their address is: FJTC, 11962 W. 600 N., Monticello, IN 47960.

The governor and our legislators must change the codes so that a homeowner is not forced to hookup if they have a workable sewer (septic) system. Homeowners should not have this freedom of choice taken away.

Write Governor Mitch Daniels now! Marvin Holmgren Brookston (Carroll County)

Is maintaining an airport in Flora's best interest?

It was with sorrow that I recently heard and watched the plane carry the parachutist to his death. An article in the Lafayette Journal & Courier stated "This was the first incidence at the airport."

I would like to correct that statement - it was the first death.

We live a short distance from the airport. The airport started with a small, local group of people who enjoyed flying. As business came to our town, representatives flew in. Then private planes from out-of-state started using it. Purdue University made the airport the place for their solo flight students.

Next, it was the parasailers. The ultra lights were many. Then came the parachutists. The sky was filled with air traffic.

But that is when the trouble began. A plane would miss the runway and land in a nearby field. The parasailers had their own game - tickle your toes on the corn tassels.

A few years ago our family was enjoying an outdoor picnic. We heard an ultralight stop running in the air, and then watched as it crashed in our cornfield. Our son, an EMT, jumped on the tractor and headed to the field. My husband called for help and I waited by the road to direct emergency personnel.

The young man was not hurt, but his ultralight was in the middle of our about-to-beharvested cornfield. Five men made six trips into the field to carry the plane out. You can't imagine the damage done to the crop, plus our yard. Of course, the young man had no insurance.

Then came the parachuters. They were landing every place - the fields, the woods, on corn bins, and in backyards. One man told us they almost landed on his truck on a county road.

Once again, we were enjoying a day outdoors. We heard the plane let several out over our woods. We watched as shoots opened, that is all but one. We saw something fall. Then we saw a small shoot open. A few minutes later five men drove into our driveway and asked if they could retrieve a parachute with a large piece of metal on it from our field.

"We know exactly where it is," they said.

An hour later they were still in our bean field looking for the missing equipment. We notified the police to make a report and asked the men to leave our field. When the field was later harvested, the chute was a long way from where they thought it was - it was almost in our neighbor's swimming pool.

I am wondering how much enjoyment do the people of Flora get from the cost of supporting this airport. We no longer have businesses that use it. It seems that only the people who can afford the pleasure benefit from it.

Now we have had our first casualty. I'm concerned there are many more problems to come. Madonna Burton Flora