Year End Review 2008

Kadie McVay took junior showmanship honors in the llama/alpaca show at the Carroll County 4-H Fair.

Editor's note: This week's year end review highlights the last six months of 2008 from stories printed in the Comet. The first half of 2008 appeared in last week's issue.

July 2 - Bill and Sue Penn will serve as Delphi's Independence Day Parade marshals… Flora Fire Department is celebrating its 100-year anniversary with an open house…Delphi Forestry Commission has published the City of Delphi Manual for the Care of Trees. The manuals are available free to Delphi residents and businesses…Delphi Municipal Airport will be closed to air traffic for five weeks starting July 7…Friends of Carroll County Parks hold a workday at Deer Creek Park to do repair work, trim trees and plant flowers…Five members of the TMD Hillclimbing Team place at Goshen's Iron Horseman motorcycle competition…..Delphi Youth Baseball Senior Division All-Stars win county tournament championship game….Canal Days pack a weekend of fun into two days with crafts, food, open houses, and special treats for children and adults.

Habitat for Humanity volunteers are building a home northwest of Camden.

July 9 - Carroll County Commissioners and opponents of the Twin Lakes Regional Sewer District meet with IDEM to discuss why commissioners are not allowed to govern portion of own county…Carroll County Economic Development Director Daryl Smith asks Commissioners for permission to have private party survey land surrounding Carroll Manor… Sam Zook is reelected as Carroll School Board president.

July 16 - The county council is critical of the 2008 EDIT spending plan…Kayleigh Morgan of Delphi is crowned Miss Carroll County 2008…Ella Foreman receives the Librarian's Award for Camden Library's "Catch the Reading Bug" summer reading program…. Camden Town Council wants the extension of SR75 to be a priority….Fiveyear olds Jilian Herron and Caleb Wolfe are crowned Carroll County's Little Miss and Mister…Work is completed on log jam north of Burlington and will receive 75 percent reimbursement from FEMA.

Friends of Deer Creek Parks have been making improvements at the park.

July 23 - Larry Leach of Rock Creek Township is named the new Veterans Service Administrator…Volunteers stuff envelopes to help county treasurer Jane Brewington put tax bills in the mail…Lt. Governor Becky Skillman and the ISDA announce the statewide launch of the Certified Livestock Producer Program…The National Extended Family Program offers resources and support to Carroll County residents who have loved ones in jail…Mark Smith conducts an historical walk in Ball Hill Cemetery in southeastern Carroll County…Susan Freeman retires after 38 years of teaching in the Delphi Community School Corporation…. Twenty-four members of Delphi United Methodist Church recently spent a week in the Appalachian Mountain Region of White Oak, Tenn., on a mission trip….DSCS will host its first annual Community Prayer Breakfast at the DCHS Little Theatre on Aug. 13.

Delphi Preservation Society member Andy Cougill serves up root beer and old-fashioned hard candy at Carroll County Old Settlers.

July 30 - Sam Deiwert announces his resignation as the Carroll County Republican Party chair effective Aug. 1…Gerrit and Janet Arendsen of Cutler break ground for a new 4,400-head dairy farm….Mayor Randy Strasser and the Delphi City Council face the challenge of reducing the 2009 budget by 12 to 15 percent….Four women from the Flora First Christian Church are making quilts for an orphanage in Fujian, China….Carroll Jr.-Sr. High School principal Charles Huckstep and guidance director Kris Seward attended a Model Schools Conference in Florida on how to improve education….Area 4-H members represented Indiana at the National 4-H Forestry Invitational…The Eel River Tribe of Indiana will hold a canoe-a-thon to benefit Riley Hospital for Children…Delphi Community High School junior Braden Atwood earned All- American wrestling honors…. Delphi resident Kevin Hathaway and son Brenton Hathaway are promoted to eighth degree black belt in Jujitsu and Kenpo Karate…Members of the 687th Land Clearing Company serving during the Vietnam War put a new roof and siding on a home and garage for an Army buddy's widow in Deer Creek.

Cob fire at The Andersons

Aug. 6 - County leaders are urged to proceed with the sale of county-owned land to the north and west of Carroll Manor to Indiana Packers Corp….First reading of the 2009 budget is delayed by the Delphi City Council president, who is not comfortable with the creation of one of the administrative assistant positions…. The Department of Local Government Finance has extended its deadline for the 2009 budget adoption from Sept. 30 to Dec. 1….An Elkhart police officer falls to his death at the Flora Municipal Airport while making his 18th skydiving jump….Neil Snoeberger, Tanner Cripe and Austin Hawn, members of Delphi's Sectional-winning baseball team, play for a team in the 2008 Colt World series in Lafayette…Flora Heat girls softball team won the Tri County Jr. Miss B League Championship….Megan Rossetter, daughter of Melinda and Troy Rossetter of Delphi, took first place in the 5A obedience class with her dog at the 2008 State Fair 4-H Dog Show…..Carroll County Old Settlers celebrates its 153rd year.

Many dignitaries and elected officials attended the gala groundbreaking ceremony for the final phase of the Hoosier Heartland Industrial Corridor on Oct. 22 in Lafayette.

Aug. 13 - Carroll County Council begins the task of paring down 2009 budget requests… Delphi Board of School Trustees halt a deal to purchase 15 acres of land south of the school campus due to the appraisal of land is lower than the asking price….Flora Town Council decides to phase in a 27.61 percent water rate increase over the next four years… Carroll County Wabash & Erie Canal, Inc., won recognition for its restoration of a 1905 wrought iron bridge it saved from demolition….

Aug 20 - Carroll Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Smith is not willing to negotiate line item increases for the 2009 budget…… Brooks Center opened for business Aug. 6 and houses a new Family Health Clinic…Carroll County Chamber of Commerce Director Sana Booker explains the new Business Partner Program to the county council…Melissa McVay and her children work on their new Habitat for Humanity home in Delphi… Sheriff Tony Burns receives Department of Correction reimbursements from 2002 and 2006 in the amount of $184,330…Burlington holds clean-up days for property owners.

Aug. 27 - Due to budget cuts, the Carroll County Extension Office will loose two employees and will assume the annual $14,500 rent obligation….. Property owner Ted Ratcliff believes Burnett's Creek Arch restoration is a needless expense…Lt. Richard "Hawk" Hawkins resumes duties of the Delphi Tri-Township Fire Dept. Fire Safety Program…..Rossville holds its Summers' End Festival with a car show, food, crafts, competitions, parade, and lots more.

Sept. 3 - Carroll County Emergency Management Director Dave McDowell applies for grants to purchase three towers and sirens for an early flood warning system along the Tippecanoe River…An early morning fire destroys the Wabash & Erie Canal playground boat. Arson is suspected….Retiring CEO of Carroll County REMC Ron Kennedy is being replaced by Randy Price, CEO of White County REMC…Carroll County Historical Society will sponsor its second Appraisal Fair on Sept. 14 in the courthouse rotunda… Carroll Elementary School took precautionary measures and locked down the school for half a day due to a potential situation involving a member of the school population….Delphi Middle School students participated in a Triathlon Aug 27 at Superintendent Ralph Walker's Lake Shafer home…Delphi Rotary Club sponsored a school supply drive to benefit Delphi Community Elementary School MOP Squad to help families in the community…Friends of the Carroll County Parks have made improvements to Deer Creek Park prior to its "Party in the Park" event set for Sept. 13.

Sept. 10 - Delphi school board president Bob Resler casts the deciding vote to proceed with the purchase of land for $15,500 per ace from Delphi United Methodist Church….Sherri Cripe's kindergarten class at the Camden Early Childhood Center sold bags of popcorn to fellow students to raise money to help rebuild the burned playground canal boat…. Larry E. Farner of Delphi was arrested Sept. 3 on suspicion of arson for setting fire to the playground canal boat…Dick Hawkins represented eight neighbors on Armory Road at Delphi City Council meeting to voice concerns over chipping and sealing of the road instead of paving it…Flora Town Council held a work session to discuss the 2009 trash contract and get public input…Former Carroll graduate Sterling Carter joined the Peace Corps and is working as an agriculture volunteer in Niger, West Africa….Carroll and Cass county law enforcement officers charge two suspects involved in convenience store burglaries in August.…Carroll varsity soccer team won the Hoosier Heartland Conference championship with a victory over Central Catholic….Flora Touch-AFleet Day was sponsored by the Flora Community Club KICK Team. The event's highlights were the Lifeline helicopter and a parachute drop.

Sept. 17 - Carroll County Commissioners voted to hire Troyer Group Inc. to determine relinquishment of state road miles when the Hoosier Heartland Highway is completed…. Stephan's IGA of Flora celebrated 50 years of business with a customer appreciation day on Saturday... The Town of Camden delays taking bids for wastewater improvements until Sept. 25 to enable more contractors to place a bid…. Flora Rotary Club donates $2,100 to a Rotary district project called the Mexico Initiative to purchase old but good fire trucks for Mexico… Six members of the First Brethren Church of Burlington travel to Europe to visit sites connected with the church's roots.

Sept. 24 - Delphi Community Board of School Trustees held a 1028 public hearing to allow comments on a proposed $13 million renovation project….Ron Francis will resign as county highway superintendent…. Jim and Jan Neptune are grand marshals of the Burlington Fall Festival parade….Delphi residents John and Rachel Chorrushi win $2 million in the Hoosier Lottery Scratch-off game Poker Showdown….Carroll School Board sets goals for the corporation, discuss school enrollment, budget and personnel at a Sept. 16 meeting….Mt. Zion Masonic Lodge No. 211 in Camden held a rededication ceremony…. Carroll County special deputy Marion Riggle suffers the loss of K-9 dog, Annie….Madison Winningham and Will Eldridge are crowned Little Princess and Prince of the Burlington Fall Festival….Carroll's varsity soccer team won the Caston Tournament for the third time in four years…Camden Volunteer Fire Dept. demonstrated rescue equipment and techniques at the Deer Creek Park party….Larry Hayes and Missy Harris open Painted Pony Antiques in an 1880 building in Burlington.

Oct. 1 - Carroll County Commissioners signed an acceptance letter for $475,000 in federal grant money to install a four-channel "Intellirepeater" in Flora….Delphi resident Judy Conner received an award for "Clown of the Year of 2008"….Helping Hand Fund in Flora has been making a difference in the lives of families since 1977….Delphi Lions Club sponsored a Peace Poster Contest in the schools for students ages 11 to 13…Approximately 600 people turned out for a pork chop benefit dinner for Carroll Manor…Kindergartner Cynthia Rossi was presented with a look-alike American Girl doll purchased by Stephen Siwinski of Flora after she donated her savings to help rebuild the canal playground boat…Fourteen state and local environmental organizations came together Sept. 17 to discuss ways to conserve, manage, enhance and protect the Tippecanoe River Watershed…. Hannah Brewster was crowned Burlington Fall Festival Queen….Randy Price is named Carroll County REMC CEO and will begin his new duties Nov. 1.

Oct. 8 - Rossville Volunteer Fire Department held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new fire station…DCSC held a public meeting Oct. 13 to allow residents and taxpayers an opportunity to question school board members about the renovation project… Presidential candidate Barack Obama has ties to Flora through the late Parker Dunham, a relative who taught at Flora Elementary School in the 1960. Both men are descendents of an early Tipton County settler….Carroll's soccer team finishes its best regular season ever with a win at Western Boone….Lafayette Habitat for Humanity and area veteran groups will build a house together in the fall of 2009 to honor veterans for their service to the country….Mt. Zion Independent Baptist Church of Delphi closed its doors after almost 20 years of ministry.

Oct. 22 - Carroll County Commissioners adopt an ordinance to add a mid-step payment rate between state reimbursement and private pay for Carroll Manor residents, made retroactive May 1….Historic Wilson Bridge on County Road 300N. over Deer Creek is restored, painted and has a new approach added….Carroll County Sheriff's deputies received two automatic external defibrillators to carry in vehicles whenever on duty… Delphi Main Street recognizes downtown property and business owners for completed façade improvements…. Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program in Delphi partners with IRS to offer free tax preparations to low and middle income population… Delphi Public Library partnered with The Military Family Research Institute to present the "Our Heroes' Tree" to be decorated in honor of past and present veterans….Carroll County REMC Operation Round-up grants were awarded to six organizations for the third quarter grant cycle….Carroll's varsity girls cross country team moves on to semi-state competition….. Carroll FFA's 2007-208 dairy team is a national award-winning team and was invited to take part in the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, Scotland… Randy Beard spends time entertaining children at the Camden Early Childhood Education Center with his guitar and songs to promote reading, writing and interactive music…Delphi City Council passes ordinances to make two streets oneway.

Oct. 29 - Gov. Mitch Daniels and elected officials break ground for the final phase of the Hoosier Heartland Corridor….Delphi native Michael Johnson publishes a humorous book, "101 Uses for an Empty Bra," to help women recover from breast cancer… The City of Delphi will host a home improvement grant workshop Nov. 6 to interested citizens…Carroll Elementary School will present The Missoula Children's Theatre production of "The Little Mermaid"….Delphi 7th grade girls volleyball team won the White County Middle School Volleyball Tournament… Cub Scout Pack #3165 had an overnight camp out at Camp Buffalo.

Nov. 5 - Carroll County gains new faces with county election…Carroll County Council pars down 2009 budget from a little over $6 million to $5 million….Carroll teacher Glen Dillman receives the Distinguished Social Studies Teacher Award for 2008…YMCA Camp Tecumseh entered into a partnership with Indiana State Department of Agriculture and other agencies to address storm water runoff that threatens the camp lake….Flora Town Council opened bids for the town's trash contract….Delphi City Council passes an ordinance to ban smoking from city-owned buildings and vehicles….Carroll County Council agrees to honor 2008 financial obligations and repay all interfund loans….Delphi Preservation Society is honored by Indiana Main Street for "Best Historic Rehabilitation Project" of the Assion Ruffing City Hall building….Delphi 7th grade football team secures the West Central Junior Confere nce Championship….DCHS principal Barry Stone and Superintendent Ralph Walker conduct a tour for the public to discuss conditions of the facility for he renovation project…Delphi United Methodist Church hosts Fall Carnival at the Canal for over 500 children… Carroll County Extension Educator Paul Marcellino accepts the same position in Howard County…Indiana Homeland Security brings a live-fire training trailer to Delphi to train three counties of volunteer firefighters.

Nov. 12 - Sen. Brandt Hershman warns that township money is really taxpayer money and trustee's should view Kernan-Shepard report as an opportunity and not a threat….Former Carroll County Veteran's Services Admininstrator Bob Morrow is honored at the county's Veteran's Day program for his many years of service… Five Carroll County businesses are honored with Community Enhancement Awards for their efforts to increase the visual appeal and business atmosphere of the county…..Delphi Chamber of Commerce sponsors "Discover Delphi Christmas Holiday Gift Away"….Eight weeks after arson destroyed the front part of the canal playground boat the reconstruction is completed….CDC Resources presents awards to three Carroll County businesses…. Carroll County Blurr U10 travel soccer team won the Fusion Fall Festival…Megan Garrison is selected by the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports as a 2008 Academic All-State Honorable Mention…Claire Lacy of Delphi helps to coorganize an art exhibit at Purdue University….U.S. Aggregates donates giant lime kiln to the Wabash & Erie Canal Association in Delphi.

Nov. 19 - Health insurance costs could rise 47 percent in 2009 for county employees….Carroll County Commissioners consider selling 30 acres of land around Carroll Manor to IPC….Carroll County Historical Society and Museum ask for public help in acquiring a rare jewelers trade sign…..Retired Flora school teacher Georganna Julius is chosen grand marshal of the Flora Christmas Parade…Carroll County Council consults with London Witte Group LLC on how to enact LOIT tax hike for 2009….DCHS girls swim team won the inaugural Raiders Relays…Nathan Trapp of rural Flora received the American FFA Degree…..Callout is under way for the first Annual Delphi alumni basketball extravaganza….Veterans are honored at Camden Veterans Day program….Rossville Volunteer Ambulance Service receives a $3,335 grant from Carroll County.

Nov. 26 - Gil and Janet Smith and children are recognized as the 2008 Distinguished Family of the Year by Family Services in Lafayette….Carroll County Comprehensive Land Use Plan Steering Committee announces the final version of plan has been posted…Delphi Body Works owners Dick and Karen Bradshaw are chosen as Delphi's Christmas Parade grand marshals….Daisy Girl Scout Troop 1156 won "Best Float" at Flora's Christmas Parade….City of Delphi is awarded $325,000 in grant funds from INDOT for the canal boat dock project… Doug and Karen Mears are recognized for completing the Certified Livestock Producer Program…Camden Town Council adopt revised water and wastewater rates….Carroll senior Megan Garrison signs letter of intent to play golf for Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne….Wes Everett and Braden Atwood become wrestling champions at the Chesterton Super Duals….Carroll teacher and yearbook advisor Pat Spence receives a $489 Mc- Donald's MAC grant to bring digitized media to the yearbook staff…DCES student's signatures become part of history when they are launched aboard Endeavor space shuttle….Ed McKenzie shoots a six-point albino deer, a one out of a 100,000 chance….Thirty-five thousand campers participate in programs at Camp Tecumseh in 2008….Carroll Elementary holds health fair for elementary students….Burlington holds annual Christmas Walk with Christmas carols, Santa Claus, food, and more.

Dec. 3 - Carroll County Commissioners try to decide where to house ambulance service for 2009…Indiana Waste Systems of Monticello is awarded the contract for trash removal in Delphi… Carroll County recently received $700,000 in IAUW grant money to assist with individual recovery efforts from flood and storm damage…Helen Ennis is awarded the Pete Award for her outstanding community service….Delphi resident Dan McCain receives the Eli Lilly Lifetime Achievement Award and Phyllis Moore receives the Willard C. Heiss Family History/Genealogy Award….Carroll School Board hires Barton- Coe-Vilamaa as the architect engineer for its 2009 air conditioning project…Commissioner Bill Brown resigns from the drainage board after hearing of pay reduction.

Dec. 10 - Carroll County Council members adopted a total of .3 percent income tax to replace lost property tax revenue for the county general fund… Superintendent Ralph Walker announced full-day kindergarten would receive $131,384 next year, an increase in funding from the current year…Logansport Memorial Hospital and its employees partnered with SYSCO Foods, Inc. to deliver fresh fruit and cash donations to local food pantries in Cass and Carroll counties…Comet staff writer Debbie Lowe and columnist Alan Shultz were recognized by the Hoosier State Press Association as winners in the annual HSPA Foundation Better Newspaper Contest. Lowe won second place in editorial writing and Shultz won third prize for best general columnist…Carroll senior Carson Spesard is one of 24 high school student-athletes who will be honored Sunday morning by the Indianapolis Colts as an Indiana High School Academic All- Star…Eleven-year-old Kolt Kinsler of Delphi is the youngest race car driver this season in the 600 sprint. He won the points championship in junior sprint and came in third place in the 600 restrictor modified midget…Allyson Sproul and Andrew Miller of CJSHS and Samantha Mayhew and Cody Ingle of DCHS have been selected to attend U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar's annual "Symposium for Tomorrow's Leaders."

Dec. 17 - Carroll County Commissioners, after a contentious discussion, decided to house the remaining two county ambulances in Delphi and Flora at their Monday night meeting…Angie May of Camden was elected recently to the Land O'Lakes, Inc. Ag Executive Council during the National Cooperative's annual Ag Region Fall Meeting in Minneapolis, Minn….Carroll Jr.-Sr. High School and Rossville Senior High School have been named 2008 "Best Buy" high schools by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce….It took a Carroll Circuit Court jury a little more than an hour last Wednesday afternoon to find Larry Farner, 62, of Delphi, guilty as charged of one count of arson of the playground replica canal boat….Flora Community Club recognized Pizza King's 20 years in Flora by presenting flowers and a balloon to owner Tom Stigers last Thursday…. The book, "Still Here, A Pictorial of Indiana's Native American People, Places, Powwows and More," by Carroll County authors Mike Floyd and Kevin Howell, has just been published.

Dec. 24 - Justin and Melissa Darling are adopting a daughter, Abeba Faith, from Ethiopia. The couple will travel there in January to meet their new daughter and bring her home to the U.S…..Delphi City Council adopted an ordinance in three readings after rules were suspended to establish a $10 user fee for trash pickup. The fee will be attached to residents' water bills…..Carroll County Jail inmates received treats of goodies and toiletry items Dec. 11 from the organization Christmas Behind Bars, a Christ-centered ministry…. Carroll County REMC had restored power to 3,200 customers early Sunday evening after an ice storm hit the area a few days earlier…2005 Carroll Jr.-Sr. High School graduate and Manchester College junior Jared Yoder was recently named the Spartan's Outstanding Wide Receiver.

Dec. 31 - Carroll County Commissioners signed a contract with the Troyer Group for the first phase of work signaling the formal beginning of the county road extension of SR75 project through Camden…A fire in a cob pile at the The Andersons on SR25 was discovered early Saturday morning. Roughly 25 percent of the 17,000 tons of cob on the pile, which reached a height of approximately 10 stories, were charred or damaged as of Saturday….The Minich- May Family is Indiana's Farm Family of the Year….The way Delphi residents access the local police deptartment will change beginning Jan. 1. Calls will be received by the county dispatch located at the county jail…1970 Carroll graduate Jerry Fife, associate vice chancellor for business services and research finance at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., will serve as the university's acting vice chancellor for administration, effective Feb. 1….Dana Snyder completed his Eagle Board of Review and has earned the rank of Eagle Scout….Family, friends and library patrons gathered Dec. 14 at the Delphi Public Library to dedicate the newly renovated reading area as the John E. Walker Reading Room.