Aug. 3, 1973 -- A world's record was established today in Warsaw by two 17-year-old high school seniors. Dan Robinson and Dan Yoder completed their marathon 25-day ride on a hand-made teeter-totter, located in front of the Penguin Point Drive-In on East Center Street. The record now stands at 600 hours.

Aug. 14, 1973 -- Fran Hicks, of 734 E. Main St., Warsaw, locks the door of the Kosciusko County Selective Service for the last time today at 518 S. Buffalo St., Warsaw. The office is being moved to 310 N. Michigan St., Plymouth, and will serve Kosciusko, Marshall, Fulton, Starke and Pulaski counties. Hicks, who will continue working at the Plymouth office, has served Local Board 41 for the past 25 years, most of those years as executive secretary. During this time, 10,763 young men of Kosciusko County were registered at the local office plus many hundreds of out-of-state residents who registered and whose records were sent to the board having jurisdiction.

Aug. 23, 1973 -- Kosciusko Community Hospital Inc. has filed a $12,125,000 counterclaim for damages against Murphy Medical Center Inc. in Marshall Circuit Court, claiming MMC has violated Indiana anti-trust statutes.

Filed at noon Wednesday at the courthouse in Plymouth, the KCH counterclaim to an original $13.5 million suit filed by Murphy lists MMC, Mrs. Hazel Murphy and Mrs. June Baumgarten, her daughter, as defendants by virtue of the fact that since the incorporation of MMC as a for-profit corporation, they have controlled MMC.

MMC administrator Robert Berryman also is named as a counter-claim defendant due to his employment as hospital administrator.

Sept. 18, 1973 -- Appointment of Norm Hagg as managing editor of The Times-Union was announced today by Editor Curtis Garber.

Hagg, who will be 36 years of age next month, has been with this newspaper for the past 10 years.

Oct. 8, 1973 -- More than 100 persons were on hand Saturday afternoon to observe ground-breaking ceremonies, indicating the beginning of a new $4 million expansion wing at Murphy Medical Center in Warsaw. Following the ground-breaking, barbecued chicken was served to those present.

Oct. 10, 1973 -- A controversial literature textbook, "Moments," will stay in the Warsaw seventh-grade classrooms this year, but parents who elect may have their children study from an earlier edition without profanity, the Warsaw board of school trustees ruled last night.

Approximately 25 persons attended the meeting, which was held in the junior high school cafeteria, while discussion was heard from the public and school officials on the textbook, which has been the subject of much debate across the state.

Nov. 1, 1973 -- "Unless we have a severely cold winter, the Warsaw schools will remain open," Dr. Max Hobbs, Warsaw Community Schools superintendent, commented today on a possible fuel shortage at the schools.

Dr. Hobbs' reasurring statement came on the heels of a UPI story originating from Indianapolis Wednesday afternoon implying that Warsaw was among 91 school systems in the state "in danger of closing" because of the fuel shortage.

"However, if we have a long period when the temperature drops to 15 degrees," Hobbs said, "we could be in trouble in February or March."

Nov. 5, 1973 -- More than 100 persons attended groundbreaking ceremonies Sunday afternoon for the new Kosciusko Community Hospital, to be built northeast of Warsaw at CR 75N and Harrison Street. Turning over the first shovels of dirt are Robert Maish, president of KCH Inc.; Jerry Helvey, president of KCH authority; and Milton Holmgrain, administrator for the new hospital facilities. It is hoped the new hospital, estimated to cost $7 million, will be in operation by late 1975 or early 1976.

Nov. 8, 1973 -- Charles H. Ker, 1202 E. Main St., and Shirley L. Steele, 1902 Rosemont, both reacted with nearly speechless surprise Wednesday night when they were honored as Warsaw Man and Woman of the Year for 1973 at the Greater Warsaw Chamber of Commerce annual banquet.

Nov. 14, 1973 -- Trustees, county councilmen and commissioners aired burning questions and apprehensions to a panel of Food Stamp Program professionals at a meeting last night in the REMC building here.

Last Oct. 16, director of Kosciusko Welfare Department, Howard (Rosie) Johnson, presented a letter to county council members from Indiana State Welfare Department stating all counties, including Kosciusko, must begin Food Stamp issuance by July 1, 1974, in accordance with a mandate recently passed by Congress. At that October meeting, council members requested that a representative from the state explain the stamp plan in detail to all interested citizens and elected officials at a county meeting Nov. 13.

Nov. 20, 1973 -- Kosciusko's courthouse may not be open on Saturday much longer if county commissioners follow county council members' recommendations unanimously approved at yesterday's meeting in the courthouse.

County Auditor Lawrence A. Butts, a longtime proponent of snuffing Saturday hours, urged councilmen to close the county seat building and take a stand on the energy crisis.

Butts' statement prompted discussion of future courthouse hours; conserving air-conditioning energy in summer; and saving fuel in winter by closing courthouse dome rooms.

Nov. 28, 1973 -- Dancing with little or no clothes at the Hickory Lounge is "not to the liking of most people," especially the citizens of the tiny community of Milford.

The above words were used by Archibald Baumgartner, president of the Milford Area Development Council, as he opened the discussion to the large crowd that jammed the fire station for MAD's Tuesday night meeting to discuss the dancing.

Dec. 4, 1973 -- A raging fire raced through the quarter-block Johnson Allied Building Center warehouse, 307 W. Market St., Warsaw, early today, completely destroying the complex with damage estimated placed in excess of $150,000.

The blaze was completely out of control when fire trucks arrived from the station only three blocks away minutes after the alarm was sounded.

Warsaw and Winona Lake fire units battled the flames from 2 a.m. until daylight today before the fire was brought under control.

While the cause of the fire has not been officially determined, Warsaw Fire Chief Norman Banghart said the possibility of arson "definitely would be investigated."

Dec. 4, 1973 -- County commissioners decided to keep regular daily and Saturday courthouse hours as county personnel crowded Monday's meeting and protested working on Fridays until 8 p.m.

Dec. 4, 1973 -- In an about-face from six months ago, the Kosciusko County Alcoholic Beverage Board this morning approved a Sunday liquor sales permit for the Kale Island Beacon Restaurant on Lake Wawasee.

It is the first such permit given to an establishment in this county.

Beverage board president John Shively said the application for Sunday sales was approved for the Beacon "... because it's legal, and he (John Kimble, Beacon owner) qualifies. If people want to protest, let them go to the state."

Dec. 7, 1973 -- Two rural Pierceton residents were killed late Thursday in a Goshen collision as they drove toward Elkhart to notify relatives that the son of one of the victims had died from an earlier crash in northern Kosciusko County.

The family tragedies within a few hours and a few miles of each other killed Donald M. Hatfield, 58, his wife Rebecca Fae, 50, both of Rt. 1, Pierceton, and Mrs. Hatfield's son, by a previous marriage, Harold J. Rosser, 19, Rt. 1, Milford.

The Hatfields died in a two-car crash on U.S. 33 at the east edge of Goshen at 10:12 p.m.

Rosser was killed in a one-vehicle wreck on CR 1350N, five miles northwest of Milford at 5:42 p.m.

Dec. 19, 1973 -- Venereal disease has reached epidemic proportions in Kosciusko, according to the state public health investigator who tracks cases in this county. The investigator defines epidemic as a substantial number of cases more than usual appearing in an area.

Indiana State Board of Health estimates more than 195 cases of VD have upsurged in Kosciusko within the past 10 months between January and October of this year, already 80 more cases than occurred here in the entire 12 months of 1972.

Kosciusko County Health Officer Dr. David Haines says the number of VD cases within the last five years are rising approximately 10 to 15 percent annually. He further states that 90 percent of the cases occur among Kosciusko people who are between the ages of 16 and 25 and that 25 percent of these VD cases are repeats of past infections.

Dec. 20, 1973 -- "Unless it's an emergency, stay home," says Ron Himes, Kosciusko County highway department employee. Highway workers today are digging the main county roads out from under 13 inches of snow that began sifting down early Wednesday morning.

The power has accumulated to 18 inches in open areas with some drifting that has forced school closings in all area corporations, bogged traffic, halted some industrial and business schedules and fouled social events.

Dec. 24, 1973 -- The retired owner and operator of the Humpty Dumpty Grill and the old Candy Kitchen, John E. Klondaris, 80, of Warsaw, died unexpectedly at 3:45 p.m. Saturday in his home.

Dec. 26, 1973 -- Warsaw firemen rummaged through more than 20,000 square feet of rubble at Laminated Rafters Products on Ind. 15N, Warsaw, today to learn the origin of a fire that leveled the LRC manufacturing building and all machinery early Christmas morning.

Lowell Barkey, who with a brother, Wayne, and a son, Philip, has operated the rafter laminating business on North Detroit Street since 1955, was unable today to place a dollar estimate on the loss since much expensive custom-made equipment also was destroyed. Some observers, however, believed damage could exceed $200,000.

Dec. 29, 1973 -- Greeting some 769 residents in 247 households along 6.3 miles of streets in the Country Club Drive, Shady Lane and Country Club Estates areas, the city of Warsaw is at last welcoming a patch of land first annexed in 1970.

Thursday the Indiana Supreme Court denied a petition from remonstrators of the July 20, 1970, Warsaw Common Council annexation ordinance to transfer the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jan. 5, 1974 -- Firemen battled near zero temperatures and a stubborn blaze that completely gutted the quarter-block Boice Building at the intersection of Center and Indiana streets in downtown Warsaw early today. It was the third major fire in the greater Warsaw area in the past month.

The fire, which was first detected at 7:10 a.m., was still raging at late morning as firemen were hampered by false ceilings in the second story of the building.

Although no early estimates of damage were available, authorities speculated that the loss would exceed $200,000.

Housed in the structure were the Center Cinema movie theater, Dye Music Center and Town and Country women's apparel shop on the street level.

The second floor contained offices for the Vore Cinema Corp., Wayne Township Justice of the Peace Milo Clase, Credit Bureau of Kosciusko County, the Kosciusko County Republican Central Committee and office for the owner of the building.

Chuck Hogan, of Warsaw, was one of the first persons to spot smoke pouring from the second story of the building. He drove to the Warsaw police station to report the fire at 7:10 a.m.

Jan. 11, 1974 -- Jean Northenor, first deputy auditor in Kosciusko County since March 1, 1972, today announced her candidacy for county auditor in the May 7 primary election.

Mrs. Northenor, 41, Rt. 5, Warsaw, will file as a Republican candidate for the $11,400-a-year job between Feb. 21 and March 18 in the office of Kosciusko County Clerk Bessie I. Himes.

Jan. 12, 1974 -- Two more first deputies today announced intentions to seek the top spot at county offices where they are now employed at the courthouse in the upcoming May 7 primary elections.

With 15 years experience as the county's first deputy recorder, Mrs. Robert M. (Ruth) Hoppus, 53, of 1303 W. Oriole Drive, Warsaw, said she would file for county recorder on the Republican ballot.

Mrs. Everett (Avis Beth) Gunter, 46, of Claypool, intends to file for the office of county assessor, also on the GOP ticket. Gunter has been first deputy assessor for the past five years and has been employed in that office a total of nine years.

Jan. 15, 1974 -- Officials today estimated the loss at $400,000 -- including $300,000 to the inventory -- in a fire Monday that completely destroyed Pletcher's Furniture and Carpet Warehouse on U.S. 6 in Nappanee. The blaze apparently started in a furnace area. The warehouse was about a mile west of Pletcher's Furniture Village.

Feb. 6, 1974 -- Two Warsaw industries have shut down, idling approximately 445 workers due to a national truck driver strike. As a result the Warsaw Chamber of Commerce Industrial Division is urging assembly of the Indiana National Guard to assure peaceful truck transportation.

Tuesday afternoon the industrial division sent a telegram to U.S. Senators Birch Bayh (D.-Ind.) and Vance Hartke (D.-Ind.) and to Gov. Otis R. Bowen seeking an immediate call-out of the National Guard.

Industries closed by the strike so far are Korth Furniture, which employs about 270 persons in two Warsaw plants, and Sun Metal Products, with approximately 175 employees.

Gatke Corp. of Warsaw also is slowing production due to the strike.

Feb. 6, 1974 -- Faced with 19 percent absenteeism among students due to colds, viral illnesses and sore throats, the Warsaw Community Schools closed after lunch today for the remainder of the week.

All Warsaw schools will be closed Thursday and Friday due to having so many children absent with illnesses.

Feb. 16, 1974 -- County Police Sgt. Cassius Alan "Al" Rovenstine, 35, of Atwood, today announced that he will seek the Republican nomination for the post of sheriff in the May 7 primary election. Rovenstine is the first Republican to announce for the office.

Feb. 20, 1974 -- "My opposition to the county's half percent local option tax has brought me out as a candidate for county councilman at large," Thomas L. Anglin, 42, Rt. 4, Warsaw, said today in announcing his Republican primary hopes.

"I am against the option (income withholding) tax, and I have been against it from the start. If elected, I will do everything in my power to have it repealed," Anglin declared, "including taking the issue to court."

Feb. 27, 1974 -- Warsaw's capacities and responsibilities blossomed in freezing sunshine yesterday when city attorneys learned that the Indiana Supreme Court had supported the cityÕs five-year annexation attempt.

Nearly five years ago to the day, Warsaw's Common Council ordained that areas encompassing Herscher Addition, Rozella Ford Golf Course, residential and industrial development north of Hitzler Street to the Tippecanoe River and land contiguous to Spring Hill Acres, Hodges and Gable Additions be annexed.

Feb. 22, the state Supreme Court ruled against remonstrators to the annexation, upholding the city.

March 28, 1974 -- For Silver Lake residents who are 30 years old or younger, Paul Sittler is the only town postmaster they've ever known.

For 29 years, townspeople have bought stamps, mailed packages and letters and daily emptied their post office boxes, filled by the jolly, graying Sittler in the little red brick post office, on the corner of Ind. 15 and Ind. 14.

But today, Postmaster Sittler is retiring, in accordance with a mandate from the United States Postal Service that states all employees age 70 must retire. Sittler says he doesn't want to quit, but "that's the rules."

April 2, 1974 -- Kosciusko County Assessor Carl T. Zimmer, 68, of 1222 E. Main St., Warsaw, today submitted his resignation from office effective April 30.

County commissioners Frederick Gilliam, Maurice Dorsey and Gerald Smalley accepted the resignation and on Zimmer's suggestion, appointed First Deputy Assessor Avis B. Gunter to replace him in the $9,685-a-year post.

April 3, 1974 -- Likens' landfill, on the Ralph Roberts Farm, North Webster, may be closed by the state board of health, County Auditor Lawrence Butts revealed in a county commissioners meeting Tuesday in the courthouse.

Butts said county commissioners are slated to receive a letter ordering them to close the dump.

Last week an inspector from the State Board of Health told Butts the landfill should be closed because persons were burning trash in the dump, which is against the law, Butts said.

April 4, 1974 -- One person is dead and at least 44 others injured as a result of the tornado that swept across Kosciusko County Wednesday evening, according to State Police Lt. Edward Anweiler.

More than 200 National Guardsmen are assisting 52 state police units today with security, traffic and prohibiting looters, Anweiler said. The National Guard was called by the state police to help patrol the seven northeastern counties of Indiana, which the mad mass of wind ripped Wednesday.

According to state police, the tornado entered the southwest corner of the seven-county northeast district which includes Kosciusko, Steuben, Noble, Whitley, Elkhart, Lagrange and DeKalb counties.

The one person killed in this county was still unidentified late this morning, but it was known that he was a Mexican employed by Kralis Brothers. His skull was crushed when a mobile home in the southeast part of Atwood was reduced to shreds.

April 5, 1974 -- Shoveling debris from a Wednesday evening tornado that devastated Atwood, Talma and parts of Leesburg, Dewart Lake and Syracuse, residents' hopes glowed today with the partial restoration of electrical power.

But Northern Indiana Public Service Co. and the Kosciusko County REMC warned that power usage would have to be minimal to keep the current flowing. There was fear the power could disappear at any moment.

April 6, 1974 -- Sabrina Handgen, Leesburg sixth-grader, today won the annual Kosciusko County spelling championship and the right to compete later this spring in the state regional contest. Sabrina, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Handgen, of Valley Springs Addition, Rt. 7, Warsaw, won the title in the 106th round when Laura Keen, 13, North Webster seventh-grader, misspelled "blazon" ending it incorrectly in "en."

April 8, 1974 -- A check for $1,000 from the Times-Union and Radio Stations WRSW AM-FM today boosted cash donations and pledges to the American Red Cross office in Warsaw for victims of last Wednesday's tornado in Kosciusko County to nearly $5,000.

Times-Union managing editor Norm Hagg and WRSW manager Duane Pagel presented the gift to Mrs. Inez Devenney, this county's Red Cross executive director, in an effort to spur the drive for the desperately needed funds.

According to Devenney, a total of $70,000 is needed by the county chapter of the Red Cross to meet the needs of the many families made homeless by the devastating tornado, mainly in the area of Atwood.

April 9, 1974 -- A confession by Maurice Dorsey highlighted the county commissioners' meeting Monday in the courthouse when a State Board of Health inspector threatened to close Likens landfill.

Commissioner Dorsey said that in spring 1971, he told Cyril (Bus) Likens it was all right to burn brush in the county landfill, on Ralph Robert's farm, North Webster. Dorsey admitted since 1971 he has had knowledge of the burning but has not told Likens to cease the fires.

"It seemed the sensible thing to do at the time," Dorsey stated. "But I guess we don't do things sensibly anymore, nowadays."

April 15, 1974 -- Rural damage estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture have been set at $7,256,000 for Kosciusko County in the wake of a twisting April 3 tornado, according to Extension agent Donald Frantz.

April 25, 1974 -- Victor Virgil will be Kosciusko County's newest Extension agent beginning June 1. Virgil succeeds Don Frantz, a 15-year veteran of the position who is retiring Wednesday.

Virgil, who has worked in the Extension office for 12 years, was assistant county Extension agent here from 1964 to 1966. In 1966, Virgil moved to Vevay, where he was in charge of Extension youth activities for three counties. In 1968, he accepted the Miami County Extension agent position, where he is currently serving.

April 29, 1974 -- Kosciusko Community Hospital Inc. and Murphy Medical Center Inc. today buried the health service hatchet.

Both organizations, in a joint announcement today, said "all litigations existing between them and members of their organizations will be terminated immediately."

Terms of the secretive settlement have not been revealed, since severe penalties have been provided within the agreement for any party to the settlement to expose its content.

May 1, 1974 -- Caught in a severe financial squeeze and headed for deficit spending before the end of the year, Warsaw Community Schools officials have instituted massive budget and program cuts to keep the school system out of the red.

Superintendent Dr. Max E. Hobbs painted a dreary financial picture for school board members in a special session at the administrative offices last night.

Included in the cuts are the reduction (from two weeks to a month) in administrative personnel contracts (principals and other department heads); non-replacement of 10 teachers who are resigning; reduction of two teaching positions; curtailment of all elementary athletic and intramural programs (coaches' salaries); summer athletic programs; and certain other junior high and freshman high coaching salaries.

To add to the school's financial misery was word Friday from Texaco that the price of fuel oil was being raised retroactive to last September, costing the system an additional $22,000.

May 1, 1974 -- Bids are being reviewed by the Warsaw Community Schools board of trustees on the proposed construction of a new middle school in southwest Warsaw costing approximately $2.5 million.

The new school is to house 750 students in grades seven, eight and nine and may be expanded to accommodate as many as 1,000 students. It is to be constructed on school-owned property near Washington Elementary School.

May 8, 1974 -- Kosciusko County voters in the primary election Tuesday denounced the local option income withholding tax recommended by Gov. Otis R. Bowen and imposed on more than 17,000 employed persons here last May by the county council.

With 38 percent of the county's 27,304 registered voters casting ballots in the primary, local option income tax supporters Merlin H. Wertenberger, Wayne N. Tombaugh and Ralph P. Oyler were ousted by the Republican electorate.

Council candidates winning include Keith A. Horn, councilman at large; Ronald C. Sharp, councilman at large; Thomas L. Anglin, councilman at large; Larry E. Teghtmeyer, councilman, first district; Carl Latta, councilman, second district; and Eldred M. Metzger, councilman, fourth district.

County Assessor Avis B. Gunter, Rt. 2, Claypool, found more than 60 percent of the Republican voters on her side Tuesday when she defeated challenger Richard Harvey McCleary, Rt. 3, Warsaw, for the party's nomination.

In November, she will face Democrat Joe Thomas Shepherd, Rt. 3, Warsaw.

Nominees for sheriff come November will be Republican Roger D. Fellows and Democrat John Hammersley.

May 17, 1974 -- Blaine Metzger and Sheila Kincade were crowned king and queen of the Warsaw High School Junior-Senior Prom for 1974 at the school auditorium last night. Blaine is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Metzger, Rt. 2, Claypool, and Sheila is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Kincade, Rt. 4, Warsaw.

May 21, 1974 -- Lakeland Disposal Service Inc. received the county contract for the creation and maintenance of a county landfill at a hearing in the courthouse Monday at a meeting of the county commissioners.

The proposed landfill will be on CR 450W between Palestine Lake and Claypool.

June 12, 1974 -- Rejecting the low base bid on a new Warsaw Middle School, six board members unanimously voted last night to accept the middle school design of Marshall Erdman & Associates for a total price of $2,685,568.

On July 18, Warsaw school board members will sign contracts with the Erdman firm, of Madison, Wis., for the school, to be constructed on land the corporation owns on South Union Street, near Washington Elementary School.

June 17, 1974 -- The International Palace of Sports, North Webster, a non-profit public foundation dedicated to inspire youth to higher achievement and better citizenship through sports, has enshrined sports figures in a wax museum that is now open to the public from 2 to 10 p.m. each Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The foundation is housed within an impressive castle-like structure carrying out the tiny community's multimillion dollar rebuilding program on the legendary theme of Camelot.

Sixteen sports figures of the 20th century will be permanently recognized as all are inducted into the foundation's museum as a part of the grand opening and dedication ceremonies set for June 29.

Attending will be Johnny Weissmuller, swimming; Pancho Gonzalez, tennis; Jesse Owens, track and field; and Dick Weber, bowling.

June 20, 1974 -- O.J. Simpson, record-shattering running back for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League, confirmed Wednesday he will attend ceremonies next weekend at the International Palace of Sports here.

Simpson will be inducted June 29 as the 1974 King of Sports during the dedication ceremonies at the Palace of Sports, according to director Homer Shoop.

Simpson will be the second "King of Sports" to be enshrined in the ornate Palace. Mark Spitz, elected King of 1972 for his outstanding performance in the Olympics, was present at ceremonies one year ago.

June 24, 1974 -- Following an absence of two years, a handful of citizens have completed plans for the 12th Wawasee Flotilla Festival beginning with fireworks July 4 and ending with a decorated boat parade July 7.

The idea of the flotilla originated with the late Tom Socks following drownings that plagued Lake Wawasee for three years in a row. June had become the unlucky month around the lake with the last two drownings occurring on Father's Day. Socks decided something was needed to offset the June tragedies, so the Father's Day Flotilla began in 1961.

June 28, 1974 -- Kosciusko County Prosecutor R. Steven Hearn said today he will seek a grand jury investigation of the office of Wayne Township Justice of the Peace Milo E. Clase of Warsaw.

Thursday, the Indiana State Board of Accounts certified a report to Hearn showing a shortage of nearly $7,000 in Clase's books. The report covered a period from May 1, 1972, to April 30, 1974.

July 1, 1974 -- O.J. Simpson was crowned 1973 King of Sports Saturday night in North Webster. But it didn't come easy.

A 3-1/2-hour parade, a 20-minute press conference, a dinner interrupted by autograph seekers and speeches from what seemed like a deluge of dignitaries all proceeded the coronation and the dedication of the International Palace of Sports.

July 2, 1974 -- "Hippies and cyclists" became the only debatable business at Monday's meeting of the county commissioners as Judge Arthur Osborn asked the commissioners if they could keep those "types" out of the Epworth Forest area.

Osborn told the commissioners that the residents of Epworth Forest didn't want to "ban" those types, but just put a "restriction on them."

County attorney Rex Reed explained to Osborn that the county shouldn't and wouldn't become involved in prohibiting people from public throughways just on the basis of how they look or how they wear their hair.

Osborn replied that while traveling in the western part of the United States, he saw law enforcement men pull over people with long hair and search "every inch" of their car but left him alone because "they (the police) must have seen that we were square and all right."

Continuing his plea for a need to keep those "types" of people out of Epworth Forest, Osborn explained his concept of having a deputy sheriff stationed at a "checkpoint" to "restrict" the admittance of "hippies and cyclists."

July 13, 1974 -- Former Silver Lake Postmaster Paul Donald Sittler, 70, Rt. 2, died at 11 a.m. Friday in St. Joseph Hospital, Fort Wayne, following an illness of two years.

Sittler served as postmaster for 29 years prior to his retirement March 30 of this year.

July 25, 1974 -- Kosciusko County grand jurors at noon Wednesday returned one indictment charging Wayne Township Justice of the Peace Milo E. Clase, 56, of 325 N. Buffalo St., Warsaw, with embezzlement and misapplication of $5,611.72 and asked for his impeachment.

Aug. 6, 1974 -- The 1974 4-H Queen and King, presented to a capacity crowd in the Warsaw Community High School auditorium last night, are Ann Kaiser and Ralph Reiff. They were selected from among five candidates for queen and king as a feature of the 58th annual Kosciusko County Fair. Ann is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Kaiser, Rt. 2, Milford, and Ralph is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Reiff, Rt. 1, Warsaw. The queen and king are selected on the basis of their overall record in 4-H activities during the previous year.

Sept. 19, 1974 -- Trash and garbage from the city of Warsaw are still being dumped in the municipal landfill on West Center Street and an official with the Indiana Stream Pollution Control Board has ordered the site closed immediately.

The city landfill's location at the edge of Walnut Creek, which drains into the Tippecanoe River, has been a matter of dispute between the city and the pollution control board for two years.

Sept. 19, 1974 -- A Fort Wayne sculptor's portrait of Gen. George Rogers Clark is the focal point of an official limited edition Indiana Bicentennial Governor's Plate now on display at 150 banks throughout the state.

Gov. Otis R. Bowen recently received the first of the limited edition of 1,776 plates handmade in Warsaw by the Dirlyte Co., a division of Hand Industries Inc.

Oct. 3, 1974 -- Action by field representatives of the State Board of Tax Commissioners Wednesday has tossed the city of Warsaw into a continued financial bind.

To meet its frozen property tax levy (total dollars collected), the city must reduce its 1975 general fund budget by $440,001 from $1,263,343 to $823,342. In addition, the general fund would be zapped with no operating balance at the end of 1975.

The city already has prepared and filed its appeal from the frozen levy with the Local Tax Control Board in Indianapolis, but the outcome is uncertain now. Warsaw based the appeal on recent annexation finalizations that the city says require extended and enlarged services.

Oct. 9, 1974 -- The grand opening of Kline's World and the newly remodeled Kline's main floor in downtown Warsaw will begin Oct. 10 at 9 a.m. and will continue through Oct. 26.

A ribbon will be tied between the two stores -- Kline's World at the corner of Market and Buffalo streets and Kline's main store location at 113-115 E. Market St. -- and it will be snipped at 9 a.m. while traffic is halted on Market Street for a brief period.

Oct. 24, 1974 -- The Glory Barn is presenting a major health problem, County Health Nurse Barbara Clouse asserted at the Board of Health meeting Wednesday night.

In her report to the board, a concerned Clouse stated that although the Glory Barn is not in Kosciusko County, the health problems the county is experiencing with it are getting worse.

Mrs. Clouse reported that diabetics are not taking their insulin and pregnant women are receiving no prenatal or post-natal care. "There is no silver nitrate to put in the babies' eyes," she said.

"They are laying dead babies and live babies next to each other on the altars and praying over them to get the live babies to bring life back to the dead ones," she continued. "There was one woman in our county praying over a baby for four days before the funeral home got hold of it."

Nov. 4, 1974 -- "Give it to 'em and get it over with," grumbled County Councilman Wayne Tombaugh, as council members commenced to vote, for the second time within one-half hour, whether or not to appropriate mental health clinic funds, during a meeting this morning in the courthouse.

After calling three special meetings to rehash the clinic fund issue within one week, councilmen today approved $57,944 worth of funds toward the construction of a new $1.6 million five-county mental health center, to be located in Warsaw.

The councilmen's decision finally was reached after they dragged their feet Oct. 21-22 by failing to vote "yes" to the fund appropriation at that time, thus putting the county in jeopardy of keeping the five-county inpatient-outpatient clinic in the Warsaw area.

Cost of the new building will be split between state and federal and county funds, with the state-federal government's share set at $1.2 million.

The five counties of Wabash, Whitley, Huntington, Marshall and Kosciusko will pay a total $400,000 toward building the clinic and this county's share of the total cost is approximately $115,000.

Nov. 5, 1974 -- Ethelyn L. Ker, 92 years "young," of 802 E. Center St., Warsaw, exercised her American privilege today by casting her vote at the Warsaw Community High School at 10 a.m. This was the 71st time Ker has voted and said, "I have voted in every election since women were given the opportunity."

Nov. 6, 1974 -- In the closest sheriff's race in Kosciusko County history, Democratic candidate John Hammersley defeated Republican Roger Fellows by 327 votes. But Republicans retained control of all other major county offices in the Tuesday election balloting, including: Ruth Hoppus, recorder; Jean Northenor, auditor; Avis Gunter, assessor; R. Steven Hearn, prosecutor; and county councilmen Larry E. Teghtmeyer, Carl Latta, J. Norman DeGood, Eldred M. Metzger, Keith A. Horn, Ronald C. Sharp and Thomas L. Anglin.

Nov. 14, 1974 -- Robert W. Lichtenwalter, Rt. 1, Warsaw, and Mrs. Robert (Mary Elizabeth) Loop, 23 Fairlane Drive, were presented Warsaw's 1974 "Man and Woman of the Year" awards at the annual Greater Warsaw Chamber of Commerce banquet Wednesday night.

For the first time, a third honor was given. A special "President's Award" was presented to Avis Ferns by Chamber President Don Hogan "not to establish a precedent, but rather because I thought it was due" for outstanding service over a number of years.

Nov. 15, 1974 -- No official action was taken following a head-on confrontation Thursday night between approximately 170 parents and teachers at a Whitko School Board meeting over the use of the controversial textbook series "Man" in the Whitko schools. Use of the book series also is being contested in Charleston, W. Va., where violence has erupted.

In a statement read by Claude Stahl, spokesman for the parents, it was asserted that "the series is not what we would like to have used in this system."

Nov. 15, 1974 -- Wayne Township Justice of the Peace Milo E. Clase, 56, of 325 N. Buffalo St., Warsaw, was found guilty of embezzlement and misapplication of government property Thursday afternoon by a Kosciusko Superior Court jury.

Nov. 18, 1974 -- The newly elected Kosciusko County Council received its oath of office Saturday morning and met for an hour and a half in the courthouse basement to organize and establish meeting dates.

For the first time in the history of the county, the council voted to move its meetings to a night schedule in hopes of establishing a time that will be more conducive to public attendance.

The motion was made by Councilman Ronald Sharp to move the hours to the third Thursday of the month, at 7 p.m., beginning in January.

Nov. 19, 1974 -- The hotly protested 16-book series, titled "Man," has been immediately discontinued in the Whitko School system this semester, superintendent James O. Smith announced today.

All books of the "Man" series are being withdrawn from all school classes because, Smith said, "We are trying to calm the troubled waters."

Nov. 19, 1974 -- The Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission unanimously approved last night the final drafts of the zoning ordinance, zone maps, mobile home park ordinance and the subdivision ordinance and will present the package to the county commissioners Dec. 3.

The motion, made by Gale Creighton and seconded by county surveyor and commission member Charles Brower, finalizes years of work and planning by the commission and its director James Baker.

Nov. 22, 1974 -- The Local Government Tax Control Board granted a property tax collection increase of about $256,000 to the city of Warsaw Thursday and helped the city avert a layoff of 14 new employees.

Calling the Warsaw delegation "the largest and best prepared we have ever heard," the tax control board defrosted the city's previously frozen property tax levy of $823,342 and iced it again at $1,079,302.

This is the first time in the city's history that its property tax levy has been more than a million dollars.

Dec. 3, 1974 -- If Warsaw Mayor Paul (Mike) Hodges is re-elected in 1975, he will break one of his own records and set another one for longevity at the city's helm.

Hodges today announced his candidacy for mayor of the city for a record-breaking fifth term. If he is successful, it will be his third consecutive term in office. No other Warsaw mayor has served more than two consecutive terms.

Dec. 5, 1974 -- One of Warsaw's most prominent citizens, Joe Ettinger, 79, of 818 E. Main St., died at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Murphy Medical Center, where he was admitted Nov. 19. Death was due to complications following a hip fracture sustained Oct. 19.

Ettinger was honored in 1962 by being named Warsaw's "Man of the Year" at the annual Chamber of Commerce banquet for his contribution to the good of this community.

When Justin Zimmer founded the Zimmer Manufacturing Co., now Zimmer USA, Ettinger was his factory superintendent, later a salesman and subsequently was concerned with every phase of the business of manufacturing orthopedic equipment, designing and producing many of the products.

Dec. 13, 1974 -- Cassius L. (Tim) Rovenstine, 66, prominent Atwood businessman and 13-year member of the Kosciusko County Council, died of cancer at 10:45 a.m. Thursday in Parkview Hospital, Plymouth, where he had been a patient since Dec. 5.

Jan. 18, 1975 -- Ava Gunter, 22, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Everett Gunter, Rt. 2, Claypool, has been sworn in as the first female deputy marshal in Manhattan, N.Y., Federal Court.

A 1970 Warsaw Community High School graduate, Miss Gunter took the oath Thursday from Marshal Thomas Ferrandina. She was one of 15 women in the entire nation who recently qualified for a job previously held by only four females.

Jan. 20, 1975 -- Firemen from five departments labored in near zero temperatures early today battling a stubborn blaze that gutted a downtown Warsaw business building and caused damage unofficially estimated at $200,000.

The flames were detected at 1:05 a.m. in a building at 107-111 E. Market St., owned by Nancy Hall of Warsaw. The fire was contained to the top floor of the two-story structure, but heavy water and smoke damage was reported to the ground-level business -- Helfrich's "Too" and the Koors Insurance Agency. Adjoining businesses -- Hull House and Hall Hardware -- also received smoke and water damage.

Jan. 21, 1975 -- City Court Judge Robert Burner submitted his resignation to Common Council members, who last night accepted it and recommended that Gov. Otis Bowen appoint Michael Valentine to replace Burner.

Burner's resignation becomes effective Jan. 31, and he stated that he is resigning to devote more time to legal practice in the firm of Snodgrass, Burner and Lambert.

Feb. 18, 1975 -- Warsaw Common Council members are contemplating rate increases from 10 to 79 percent for sanitary sewer users.

Councilmen say the city's sanitary sewer plant is operating in the "red" with major deficits in three sewer use categories Ð residential, industrial and Winona Lake sewage treatment.

Feb. 18, 1975 -- Warsaw Common Council members last night rejected adoption of the zoning, subdivision control and mobile home park ordinances of the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission, but say they would look again at the plan commission, its ordinances and operations within one or two years.

Council members conferred with Robert Eherenman, president of the Warsaw Area Plan Commission, and learned from him that on Feb. 10 the city planners had resolved that the welfare of the city could best be served by allowing the present city plan commission to remain intact, therefore urging the city not to adopt the county planning ordinances.

Feb. 26, 1975 -- Dr. Homer A. Kent Jr. and Dr. John J. Davis were named as administrative team today in preparation for the 1977 retirement of Dr. Herman A. Hoyt, president of Grace Schools at Winona Lake.

Kent will serve as president-elect and Davis as executive vice president of Grace beginning Sept. 1, 1975. Hoyt is planning to retire from administrative responsibilities Aug. 31, 1977, upon reaching mandatory retirement age of 68. He is only the second president in the history of Grace Schools, succeeding Dr. Alva J. McClain to that post in 1962.

March 10, 1975 -- George A. Steele, 67, of 216 S. High St., Warsaw, retired president and chairman of the board of the United Telephone Co., died at 11 a.m. Sunday at Murphy Medical Center. Death was due to complications following an illness of several years.

March 11, 1975 -- Three Kosciusko County high school students were among approximately 100 Indiana teenagers attending the 1975 Indiana Youth Power Conference in Indianapolis last week.

Ralph Reiff, a junior at Wawasee High School, represented the 4-H Club junior leaders at the conference.

Lara Mary Piper, a junior at Whitko High School, represented the Indiana Sunshine Society at the conference.

Doug Metzger, a 1973 graduate of Whitko High School, represented the Future Farmers of America at the conference.

The statewide Youth Power Conference, now in its 15th year, is sponsored annually by the food producing and processing industries.

March 26, 1975 -- Sabrina Handgen, 13, became the Kosciusko County spelling champion last night during the finals of the annual "spelling bee" at the Warsaw First United Methodist Church and broadcast over Radio Station WRSW-AM. Handgen defeated Joni Kurtz, 12, champion of the fifth- and sixth-grade contest held previously. Handgen is in the seventh grade at Warsaw Junior High and Kurtz is a sixth-grader at South Whitley.

April 2, 1975 -- A wild shooting spree that began in Leesburg at approximately 6:30 this morning ended with the capture of the gunman, who had barricaded himself in the home of his parents, located southeast of Leesburg.

Paul D. Robinson, 24, 55-feet, 9 inches tall and weighing 220 pounds, was lodged in the jail following his capture.

Tay Hess, Leesburg town marshal, said he was in the house preparing to leave to escort schoolchildren across Ind. 15 when he heard a loud noise and supposed that a car had backfired.

Hess said when he went to his car, which was parked in the driveway of his home, he saw that the windshield had been shattered with pellets from a shotgun.

Hess notified county police of the shooting and they then notified state police at Ligonier.

State Trooper Michael Barnett heard the report on his car radio and sped south toward Leesburg, looking for the suspect's blue Volkswagen car. Barnett said when he arrived at the Dytronics plant, just south of Leesburg, he saw a group of people, and suddenly a man jumped from the crowd and from about 50 feet away fired a shot into the windshield of the state police car. The man then jumped into another car and began speeding away.

Trooper Barnett gave chase and followed the man to the home of his parents. At the house, Robinson jumped out of the car and whirled around and shot at the state police car again from about 50 yards. At this point, Barnett returned the fire with his shotgun as Robinson ran for the house. Barnett called for assistance. Officers eventually went in and got him.

April 21, 1975 -- Members of the Indiana Ku Klux Klan, an affiliate of the United Klans of America, under the leadership of Indiana Grand Dragon William Chaney, marched around the Kosciusko County Courthouse in Warsaw Saturday. Spreading propaganda and preaching the philosophy of "white supremacy," the group was met by hail, rain, city and county police and a handful of curious observers. Ironically, the Klan marched in Warsaw while the East Coast kicked off the country's bicentennial celebration, honoring the 200th anniversary of this nation's revolution -- so all men could be equal and free.

April 25, 1975 -- Ronald L. Robinson, 28, was appointed head of the Syracuse Police Department effective April 30 by the town board Thursday night in special session.

Robinson rejoined the Syracuse department in October 1974, filling the vacancy created when former Town Marshal Orville VanderReyden was fired. Robinson served 5-1/2 years on the Kosciusko County Police Department, holding the rank of sergeant when he resigned under Sheriff David Andrews.

Robinson is replacing Town Marshal Dale Sparklin, who retired effective April 30.

May 7, 1975 -- Warsaw Mayor Paul E. (Mike) Hodges squeaked past County Auditor Lawrence Butts with a skimpy majority of six votes Tuesday in the closest election in the 121-year history of Warsaw.

But before the Republican incumbent takes a shot at an unprecedented fifth term with Democrat H. Dale Tucker as his challenger, he may face a second duel with Butts in a recount of the GOP primary ballots.

"Six votes is nothing to be proud of. This one was really a squeaker," Hodges said last night.

May 8, 1975 -- Ex-mayor Joseph J. Johnson today painted Mayor Paul E. (Mike) Hodges as a liar, a poor loser and strongly urged Hodges' primary election challenger, Lawrence Butts, to demand an immediate recount.

Butts announced today that he will file a petition this week in Kosciusko Circuit Court demanding that the 2,274 ballots cast in the Tuesday primary election be recounted by hand. Computerized election returns gave 966 votes to Hodges and 960 to Butts in the Republican mayor's race.

Johnson contacted the Times-Union last night and minced no words stating his resentment and refuting a post-primary election statement by Hodges that implied that a special recount commission had conspired to rig a second tabulation of mayoral race votes in Johnson's favor 12 years ago.

"Hodges is a damn liar and a poor loser. Mr. Butts should demand an immediate recount, and I want this published," Johnson told a Times-Union reporter.

"I had to beat Hodges three times -- in the 1963 primary, in the general election and again in the recount. I beat him fairly and squarely, and he knows it," Johnson concluded.

May 10, 1975 -- Rob Staley and Therese Peters were crowned Warsaw Community High School's Prom King and Queen for 1975 in the auditorium last night. Rob is the son of Mrs. Mae Sprong, Shady Lane, Warsaw, and Therese is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Peters, 722 N. Harrison St., Warsaw.

June 5, 1975 -- Three votes cast in the Republican primary election have sewn up the nomination for Mayor Paul E. (Mike) Hodges, whose Democrat challenger in November will be H. Dale Tucker.

At the end of a 4-1/2-hour recount Wednesday of GOP votes for mayoral candidates Hodges and County Auditor Lawrence Butts, the final tally was 963 votes for Hodges and 960 for Butts.

Recount commissioners George E. Bumbaugh, Robert Fuller and John Jarecki disqualified three ballots that had been counted by the election computer in the original tally to halve Hodges' lead from six to three votes.

June 5, 1975 -- The Tippecanoe Valley Classroom Teachers Association will file an unfair labor practice suit against the Tippecanoe Valley School Board if the board persists in recognizing another group as bargaining agent for teachers.

TVCTA President Phyllis Gearhart has sent a letter to Dr. John McKee, school board president, requesting that negotiations between the school board and TVCTA begin immediately. She also suggested possible dates for the meetings.

TVCTA is protesting the school board's recognition of Professional Teachers of Tippecanoe Valley, a group of classroom teachers headed by Mrs. Marna Riedel.

The school board has refused to recognize TVCTA as the collective bargaining agent for teachers in the school district, but has twice taken action to recognize Professional Teachers, whose organization is not affiliated with any state or national teacher groups.

June 27, 1975 -- Maj. Herbert Petrie, 74, of 744 Magellan Drive, Sarasota, Fla., founder of Warsaw's Wagon Wheel Playhouse-Restaurant, died of a heart attack Thursday morning in a Tampa, Fla., hospital.

June 30, 1975 -- Terry Kaiser, 19, competing as Miss Etna Green, reigns today as the 1975 Queen of the Lakes following her coronation at the conclusion of the 30th annual Mermaid Festival Saturday night in North Webster. Terry, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gene Kaiser, Etna Green, also has been selected as the Times-Union Calendar Girl for July. Sponsored by the Only Night Out group of Etna Green, Terry won multiple honors at the pageant judging, taking the title in the swimsuit competition Friday night. A sophomore at DePauw University, Greencastle, she plans to pursue a career in law. The brunette beauty is 5-5 and weighs 115 pounds.

July 3, 1975 -- Wishing Times-Union readers a freedom-filled Fourth of July are members of the current Indiana Veterans of Foreign Wars Championship Color Guard from VFW Post 1126, Warsaw. The men dedicated their first state champ trophy as a memorial to the late Sgt. Jack Bullers for his leadership of the American Legion Post No. 49 color guard, which was a combined effort of the VFW and American Legion from 1971 through 1973. Now the VFW Color Guard and a new American Legion group organized by Fred (Porky) Neer are under separate sponsorship. VFW Color Guardsmen are Chester Zorn, Robert Espinoza Jr., William Shepherd, Milo Lindzy, Robert Garee, Gerald Kesler, Bernie Flannery, Claude (Bud) Schneider, Sgt. Frank Copeland and Lew Goodwin.

July 15, 1975 -- T.L. (Tay) Hess, 66, Leesburg town marshal and former Kosciusko County deputy sheriff for eight years, died at 4:45 a.m. today at Murphy Medical Center, where he had been admitted Friday. He had been in failing health the past two months.

A resident of Leesburg for 26 years, he had served as town marshal since May 1, 1969.

July 16, 1975 -- More than 200 Kosciusko County taxpayers officially organized a nameless concerned taxpayer association and elected temporary officers Tuesday night.

James Lauwerens, who was selected president pro tempore of an original group of 11 taxpayers whose goal was to found the taxpayer group, conducted the meeting in the Shrine Building.

The purpose of the taxpayer group is to develop an active, alert, informed and intelligent participation by all citizens in the processes of government and in matters of public concern, and thereby promote efficient and economical administration of tax dollars.

July 16, 1975 -- Fred T. Stephens, of Warsaw, a well-known, veteran banker, was elected president of the Counting House Bank of North Webster at a regular meeting of the board of directors Tuesday evening.

Election of the new president was announced today by the bank's retiring president, J. Homer Shoop. Shoop has been president and majority owner of the bank since 1947.

July 18, 1975 -- For the third time in as many years, Warsaw School Board members are charting a new course for housing seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade students.

The board dumped plans to remodel Warsaw Junior High School last night and said it would study alternative plans in a secret meeting July 31.

For the 1975-76 school year, ninth-graders will be housed in the Junior High, and Freshman High School will be closed.

Baker Boys' Club and Warsaw Girls' Club will be relocated in the Junior High so that Freshman High pipes can be drained and the heat turned off.

The board's decision to move freshmen to the Junior High was apparently made in a secret meeting July 10. Board members learned in a public meeting July 8 that the Junior High renovation cost could approach construction costs for Warsaw Middle School.

Aug. 5, 1975 -- Kosciusko County 4-H Fair Queen is Sue Lozier, Warsaw; Fair King is Bruce Bryant, Pierceton.

Aug. 11, 1975 -- Concerned county taxpayers will move to change the Warsaw School Board from an appointed to an elected body in a meeting Tuesday night.

The group will seek the assistance of state legislators Sen. John F. Augsburger, Milford, and Rep. Thames L. Mauzy, Warsaw, to draft a bill that would change the status of the local school board.

The two lawmakers have consented to attend the taxpayer meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Shrine Building, fairgrounds, Warsaw. Both are reported to favor an elected school board over an appointed board.

Aug. 11, 1975 -- Miss Leesburg, Sally Polk, was crowned 1975 Kosciusko County Fair Queen in ceremonies that closed the 59th annual fair Saturday night.

Polk, 17, is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Larry Polk, Rt. 2, Leesburg, and was sponsored in the fair queen contest by the Leesburg Lions Club.

Aug. 12, 1975 -- "Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

That's the oath taken by those fortunate enough to be selected to participate in the International Special Olympics -- held this year on the campus of Central Michigan University at Mt. Pleasant, Mich., last week.

Among those who were fortunate enough was Becky Mann, who attends the Cardinal Learning Center in Warsaw. For 21-year-old Mann, winner of four gold medals and a silver in the state Special Olympics last June, the International Games was indeed something special. Not only did she win a first-place gold in the standing long jump, a second-place silver in the 220-yard dash and a fifth-place ribbon in the 440-yard relay, she made a lot of friends in the process.

"I had a real good time," Mann said after arriving home Monday afternoon to a massive celebration at the Center, complete with a "Welcome Home Champ" banner. Mann and her coach, Maxine Burcham, had been gone since Thursday to participate in the games.

Aug. 13, 1975 -- Concerned taxpayers voted unanimously Tuesday night to ask the Warsaw Community School Board to adopt a petition to change its status from an appointed to an elected body.

CTA members decided to ask that school board members change the status of the board so taxpayers may directly elect members of the organization that spends more county money than any other body.

Aug. 13, 1975 -- The Syracuse-Wawasee Chamber of Commerce opted to support any use of Wawasee Prep that will broaden the economic base in the Syracuse-Wawasee area at a luncheon meeting held last week at Maxwelton Golf Course.

Early this summer, the doors of Wawasee Preparatory High School were officially closed to students after eight years of operation.

Aug. 29, 1975 -- Warsaw industrialist Chester C. Cooley, 73, of Tippecanoe Lake, Rt. 2, Leesburg, died of complications following an illness of three days at 2:28 p.m. Thursday at Lutheran Hospital, Fort Wayne.

A pioneer in the manufacture of movie screens, Cooley was chairman of the board of Da-Lite Screen Co. and had been intimately connected with the company for more than half a century.

Aug. 29, 1975 -- A Warsaw man and two employees were arrested Thursday by Fort Wayne police in the first test of Fort Wayne's 1975 anti-obscenity statute.

Charged with exhibiting obscene material were Roger Vore, 33, of 43 Little Eagle Drive, Warsaw, identified by police as owner of the Theatre A, 3441 Broadway, Fort Wayne, and two employees Robert Durkin, 23, and Edward Kelwaski, 22, both of 1419 E. Washington Blvd., Fort Wayne.

Vore is owner of Vore Cinema Corp., based in Warsaw, and operates three theaters in Kosciusko County and several others around the state.

The charges stemmed from the Aug. 18 showing of the film "Fly Me" at Theatre A and were aimed at determing whether the movie is obscene.

Aug. 29, 1975 -- Warsaw School Board members had no comment for concerned taxpayers who have asked them to change from an appointed to an elected group.

Last night representatives of the newly formed Concerned Taxpayers Association asked the school trustees to consider their 200-member unanimous vote of Aug. 12 to initiate school elections and presented a tentative resolution to affect that change.

Eight taxpayers discussed the pros and cons of electing school board members as opposed to appointing them, but school board members refused to state their feelings on the hot issue.

Sept. 8, 1975 -- An effort to confiscate a tape recording from city editor Jo Rector, followed by a threatening phone call to managing editor Norman Hagg, led to notification today to the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board that the Times-Union would not tolerate any further harassment, intimidation or imposition of arbitrary authority by IEERB employees.

The rhubarb started last Friday night during what was billed as a public fact-finding hearing between negotiators William Goshert and Dr. Max Shaw, representing the Warsaw Community School Board, and Jack Musgrave of the Warsaw Classroom Education Association and his ally, Karen Wallace, Uniserv director for the Indiana State Teachers Association, representing the local teacher's union.

The offending "fact-finding" official was Dr. Monte Juillerat, employed by the IEERB, to preside over the meeting.

The supposedly public meeting was of intense interest to local taxpayers, for it was their first opportunity to learn of the issues of contention between the Warsaw Community School Board and the teachers' union. Musgrave had insisted upon a fact-finding meeting closed to the public and was supported by Dr. Juillerat. This move was opposed by school board negotiator Goshert. A compromise was reached to hold the meeting in the office of the superintendent, which was too small to accomodate interested members of the public.

Secret negotiations without public knowledge of the issues have been going on since last February.

Opening the supposedly public meeting in the packed, small room, Dr. Juillerat announced that no tape recordings would be permitted and that no transcripts of what was said should be made.

Times-Union City Editor Jo Rector covering the meeting, had a small portable tape recorder then running for the sake of accuracy in her story. During a short recess, Dr. Juillerat approached her and asked if she had recorded any of the meeting.

When told that she had, Dr. Juillerat informed her she would have to erase the recording. She said she could not do that and Dr. Juillerat told her he would have to take the tape to Indianapolis and destroy it and would send her a replacement.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Rector left the room with the tape. The following morning, Dr. Juillerat telephoned managing editor Norman Hagg and again demanded the tape. Hagg refused.

Sept. 9, 1975 -- It will take a legal referendum before members of Warsaw School Board reorganize from an appointed to an elected board.

Six board members voted unanimously last night to reject a proposal by Concerned Taxpayers Association to initiate a plan of reorganization that would have changed the selection process for board members.

Sept. 9, 1975 -- Gov. Otis R. Bowen, through his administrative assistant William Watt, has restated as an administrative policy that tape recorders as well as other tools of the news media may be used in covering public meetings held by state departments and agencies.

Watt reported mid-afternoon Monday that the position taken by Dr. Monte Juillerat, the Warsaw fact-finder, did not represent the position of either Bowen or Indiana Education Employment Relations Board chairman Dr. Franklin K. DeWald.

The question arose when a fact-finder for the IEERB sought to destroy a tape made by a Warsaw Times-Union reporter of a public fact-finding hearing. The hearing was on a dispute between the Warsaw Community School Board and the Warsaw Classroom Teachers Association.

Sept. 11, 1975 -- New teachers in Warsaw Community Schools for the 1975-76 school year number 30 and include Mary Stamper, Frank Suchecki, Jean McCormack, Robert E. Turner, Stan Seiss, Daniel Beam and Daniel Groff.

Sept. 12, 1975 -- In a personal letter to the publisher of the Times-Union today, Gov. Otis R. Bowen apologized to the newspaper and admonished Dr. Monte Juillerat's hostile attitude toward members of the newspaper's news staff in their efforts to report a public hearing here last week.

Sept. 15, 1975 -- Walter Raymond (Fuzz) Neff, 76, of 924 E. Clark St., Warsaw, Wayne Township Justice of the Peace and former Warsaw police chief, died at 1:07 a.m. Sunday at Murphy Medical Center. He had been in failing health the past six months.

Sept. 25, 1975 -- Local attorney Robert Burner will assume the bench as judge of the newly created Kosciusko County Court, which becomes effective Jan. 1, 1976.

Sept. 27, 1975 -- Seventeen-year-old Melinda Tom, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Everett Tom Jr., Rt. 2, Leesburg, was crowned Wawasee High School's Homecoming Queen for 1975 Friday night.

Sept. 29, 1975 -- Warsaw Community School Corp. board members have been told that they should hike their salary offer to master's degree teachers by $70,000 in the continuing negotiations between the board and the local teachers' union.

That was the main point contained in a fact-finder's report made public in Indianapolis today by the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board.

Oct. 6, 1975 -- Describing the seven-month-long negotiations deadlock with school board trustees as "an educational crisis," members of the Warsaw Community Education Association plead their case before the public tonight.

Construed as an unprecedented move to ward off a possible future strike, tonight's teacher-sponsored meeting marks the first time in more than a half-year battle with members of the Warsaw Community Schools Board that the professional abecedarians have permitted a public peek into their dilemma.

Since February last, WCEA spokesmen have insisted that all participants in bargaining meetings over new contract disputes with school trustees and negotiators be sequestered behind tightly secured closed doors.

Oct. 10, 1975 -- Celebrating its first six months of operation during National Sex Education Week, Kosciusko County's Planned Parenthood chapter has moved to new headquarters in the Professional Arts Building, 827 S. Union St., Warsaw.

The chapter's birth occurred following long labor by members of Altrusa Club of Warsaw and Planned Parenthood of North Central Indiana Inc., South Bend.

For the first six months, the local chapter offices were in the basement of Miller's Merry Manor, County Farm Road, Warsaw. The nursing home's board of directors donated the use of the facilities without charge.

Oct. 15, 1975 -- Petitions will begin circulating this week in the Warsaw Community Schools district to change the method of school board member selection from appointive to elective.

Concerned Taxpayer Association members unanimously adopted a petition and plan for the change in a Tuesday night meeting in Warsaw.

Oct. 30, 1975 -- Charles A. Ker, Rt. 7, Springhill Acres, Warsaw, and Mrs. Howard (Marion) Scott, 104 Fifth St., Winona Lake, were named Warsaw's "Man and Woman of the Year" for 1975 at the annual Chamber of Commerce Banquet Wednesday night.

Oct. 31, 1975 -- Unless a contract agreement is reached over the weekend, Warsaw Community Education Association teachers will go on strike Monday.

WCEA members voted in a meeting late Thursday afternoon to strike effective Nov. 3 as a result of a bargaining impasse in contract negotiations with Warsaw School Board.

Nov. 3, 1975 -- Negotiators for Warsaw School Board and Warsaw Community Education Association have tentatively averted the first teachers' strike in the history of Warsaw Community Schools.

Nov. 4, 1975 -- Warsaw teachers went to school today with a new two-year contract ratified by an overwhelming majority of Warsaw Community Education Association members and unanimously approved Monday night by the Warsaw School Board.

The cost to taxpayers will be $424,120 for the two years in raises, extra duty pay and a $10 increase in medical insurance premium payments for all teachers.

The contract is retroactive to Aug. 27 and will remain in effect until Aug. 26, 1977.

Nov. 5, 1975 -- Warsaw voters toppled a venerable institution in Mayor Paul E. (Mike) Hodges Tuesday by casting a smashing 455 votes more for Democrat H. Dale Tucker.

Tucker becomes the city's fourth Democrat mayor in a century of voting, and he brings two Democrats to the Warsaw Common Council -- Donald O. Bixel, who defeated incumbent Republican Kenneth Truman, and Fred J. Boggs, who bettered Republican L.R. (Lec) Wangler.

Republicans elected to the Common Council are incumbent Graham H. Kreicker, Beecher Wiggins, who won by only five votes in the city's closest contest, and John P. (Jack) Burns, who was unopposed.

Nov. 18, 1975 -- A Warsaw youth has found that hard work in 4-H can pay off in a really big way.

Ralph Reiff, 17, of Warsaw, is one of five Indiana youths who were named state award winners in their 1975 club projects by the Cooperative Extension Service.

Four of those selected, including Reiff, will receive expense-paid trips to the 54th National 4-H Congress in Chicago Nov. 30-Dec. 4.

Dec. 15, 1975 -- Two Warsaw Community High School students are among six persons appointed this morning by Mayor-elect H. Dale Tucker to city government positions effective Jan. 1.

David Knott and Rod Mayer, both 17, were appointed by Tucker to offer advice to the Warsaw Common Council during its monthly meetings. Tucker said the students will be nonvoting council members and are expected to offer their opinions on issues facing the council after receiving the monthly agenda and other documents on which council decisions will be based.

The student appointments are an innovation in local government, and Tucker said he appointed Knott and Mayer to fulfill a campaign pledge to involve youth in city government.

Dec. 16, 1975 -- City councilman Jay B. Gardner and Mayor Paul E. (Mike) Hodges Monday night charged that Mayor-elect H. Dale Tucker has made four "illegal" appointments to city positions.

Gardner, whose term as a Republican councilman expires Dec. 31, said, "The mayor-elect has made three illegal appointments. he has no right to appoint those two young men (David Knott and Rod Mayer) nonvoting members of the council. The composition of the council is set by statute and its members must be elected.

"He has no authority to appoint advisers to the common council. The selection of advisers to the council should be made by the council members, not by the mayor.

"The appointment of Bob Bayne to the position of cemetery sexton also cannot be made by the mayor."

Mayor Hodges added that the mayor "has no authority to appoint a park superintendent."

Dec. 18, 1975 --Defending his appointment of two high school students to an advisory role in city government, Mayor-elect H. Dale Tucker said the current city administration "crawled under the rocks" in sniping at the student appointments.

Tucker said Wednesday he will seek legal counsel about the appointments of Bayne and Hamman but he remains firm on his stand to have David Knott and Rod Mayer as city government advisers.

Dec. 30, 1975 -- Thomas R. Lemon, 34, of 1548 Country Club Drive, Warsaw, has been named city attorney by Mayor-elect H. Dale Tucker.

Lemon, a Democrat, succeeds current city attorney David Whitesell, who plans to open his own private law practice.

Jan. 5, 1976 -- The first baby born in Kosciusko County this new Bicentennial year of 1976 is Nathan Alan Brazo, of 208 Broadway St., Mentone. Nathan was born at 7:37 a.m. Jan. 2 at Murphy Medical Center to Mrs. James (Carol) Brazo.

Jan. 14, 1976 -- The Old Hotel, an 86-year-old downtown Milford landmark, was gutted by a five-hour fire today that halted Lakeland school district buses for two hours.

Volunteer firemen from Milford, Syracuse, Nappanee and Leesburg were called to the scene to extinguish flames that started in the basement and burned up through the second floor of the hotel via side walls.

Jan. 19, 1976 -- Devastation from a midtown Warsaw fire is estimated at between $750,000 and $1 million -- the single most disastrous city blaze in recent history.

Three businesses in the 100 block of South Buffalo Street were destroyed and five others on East Center Street were threatened with annihilation early this morning for three hours before 80 firemen from four departments brought the blaze under control.

Nothing was salvaged from Helfrich's Women's Apparel Store, where the fire broke out, or from D&D Meats and the Unique Bake Shop, on either side of Helfrich's.

Feb. 3, 1976 -- There's something a little special about participating in history in the making and for the Warsaw Community High School girls' basketball team there's the solid hopes the participation won't be short-lived.

The unbeaten Tigers of coach Janice Soyez join 358 other schools in playing in the first girls state tourney in history.

Warsaw will play in the Tippecanoe Valley sectional, joining the hosts, Triton, Argos and Plymouth.

Feb. 13, 1976 -- Retired Warsaw police officer and former chief Judd H. Pittenger, 89, of 421 S. Columbia St., Warsaw, died at 10:05 p.m. Thursday at Murphy Medical Center.

March 19, 1976 -- Eighth-grader Linda Perry, of Milford, won the Kosciusko County Spelling Bee Thursday night at the Warsaw First United Methodist Church. The 13-year-old winner will represent Kosciusko County in the district contest to be held at Fort Wayne's Snider High School May 1.

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Perry, Linda correctly spelled the words "ballast" and "admonitory" to defeat runner-up Paula Calhan, a sixth-grade pupil at Washington School, Warsaw.

April 26, 1976 -- Twelve students from the music department of Warsaw Community High School have been chosen through auditions as members of the 1976 "Sounds of Hope" European tour.

Directed and founded by Varner Chance, North Webster, this group is dedicated to bringing friendship, and through music, creating sounds of hope throughout the world.

The group includes Lee Ann Collier, Michelle Hoffman, Jill Caye Fuson, Wendy Moser, Sharon Coplen, Murray Bartel, Jenny Bryan, Carol Burley, Kathy Sells, Susan Stokes, Randy Clinker and Gail Tusing.

April 28, 1976 -- Former Warsaw mayor and Indiana legislator Frank O. Rarick, 82, of 112 N. Washington St., Warsaw, died at 5:55 p.m. Tuesday at the Alfran Nursing Home.

May 1, 1976 -- Warsaw Community High School seniors Sally Howard and Gordy Clemens were crowned queen and king, respectively, of the annual junior-senior prom at the high school last night.

May 6, 1976 -- The K-Mart store at Lakes Village Shopping Center, east edge of Warsaw, officially was opened to the public this morning following a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The manager of the new store, Paul Marhover, with his family, joined Warsaw Mayor H. Dale Tucker in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The store opens with 80 employees, including three assistant managers. K-Mart is in the building formerly occupied by the Grant store.

May 14, 1976 -- Kosciusko County's one-half percent local option income withholding tax will be repealed effective Jan. 1, 1978, following a majority four-man vote of the county council last night.

Council president Eldred Metzger and councilmen Ronald Sharp, Thomas Anglin and Carl Latta voted to rescind the local option tax after a two-hour hearing that attracted about 30 citizens.

Councilmen Keith Horn, Norman DeGood and Larry Teghtmeyer abstained from voting on Sharp's motion for the recision because they said the council had agreed in February to hold the option tax hearing in May and not vote on the issue until June.

May 24, 1976 -- Thousands of Kosciusko County residents crowded in front of the main entrance of Kosciusko Community Hospital Sunday afternoon to witness the formal dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony of the 113-bed $11 million hospital.

Gov. Otis R. Bowen, M.D., snipped the wide red ribbon with a pair of surgical scissors after being named honorary chief of the medical staff by KCH Administrator L. Milton Holmgrain.

June 8, 1976 -- Kosciusko Community Hospital's maternity ward was christened at 3 a.m. today when Mrs. Kenneth (Joyce) Dixon, attended by Arthur L. Moser, M.D., delivered the first infant.

The $11 million hospital opened its doors to the first patients Monday, and Mrs. Dixon, who resides at Shamrock Mobile Home Park, Rt. 7, Warsaw, was the 20th person admitted. Both she and her infant daughter, Stacy, are doing well today in the obstetrics section of the hospitalÕs second floor.

June 18, 1976 -- Michael Miner, of Pierceton, a recent graduate of the Indiana University School of Law, has joined the law firm of Milo Lightfoot as an associate.

The new attorney is the son of Mrs. R. Lloyd Miner, Pierceton, and the late Lloyd Miner.

June 22, 1976 -- Former teacher, coach and administrator, Glen H. Longenecker, 71, of Riverlawn Addition, Rt. 7, Warsaw, died unexpectedly at 10:56 p.m. Monday at Kosciusko Community Hospital.

He was a former teacher at Atwood, Beaver Dam, Leesburg, Syracuse and Warsaw, served as coach at Atwood and Leesburg and principal at Beaver Dam, Leesburg, Syracuse and Warsaw Freshman High School. He retired in 1969.

July 6, 1976 -- Kosciusko County's Bicentennial activities ran the gamut from water to street parades, from egg carrying contests to worship services, from salutes to the American flag to star-spangled salutes from firecrackers lighting up the night sky over three lakes at once.

There were dances, beard and costume contests, exhibits of every kind of antique from butter paddles to old-time farm equipment, proclamation readings, dedications, flag presentations, ice cream socials, concerts, picnics and even a canoe trip down the Tippecanoe River.

July 10, 1976 -- Based on local hospital statistics, the mortality rate for women members of the Glory Barn who delivered babies at home in the past year is more than 60 times higher than death rate for women who had physicians attending them in hospitals.

Two women and four infants are dead, and there are reports that another mother and a 7-month-old infant also died without proper medical care as a result of their religious beliefs acquired at the Glory Barn or Faith Assembly near North Webster but in Noble County.

One of the mothers, Alice R. (Leach) Rodgers, 23, and two infants, her baby and the infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred (Judy Koontz) Clark Jr., all of North Webster, died in Kosciusko County.

Two other infants, Jeremy Davis Miller, son of Mr. and Mrs. Larry (Jan) Miller, and Melissa Ann Kuiper, delivered by her father at the Kuipers' Goshen home, died in Elkhart County.

Another mother, Sally B. Burkitt, 27, of rural Pierceton, bled to death in her Noble County home April 4 after giving birth 48 hours earlier.

Other deaths reported were those of an unidentified Columbia City woman who succumbed to a pulmonary embolism early in May shortly after delivering a child, and a 7-month-old child who died of a liver ailment after the mother was converted to the Glory Barn and refused medical treatment for the child.

According to estimates by Melvin Greider, founder of the Glory Barn and its co-leader with Dr. Hobart Freeman, approximately 1,000 persons are members of the assembly that believes in a form of charismatic religion.

July 21, 1976 -- Appointment of Mrs. John (Peggy) Shively as director of the Kosciusko County Welfare Department has been approved by the Indiana Department of Welfare.

Aug. 9, 1976 -- The third Pierceton girl to capture the title of Kosciusko County Fair Queen in the 22-year history of the contest was crowned at midnight Saturday as her friends and supporters cheered and wept with joy in the fairgrounds grandstand.

Jody Conley, 16-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Don Conley, Pierceton, hugged her escort, Tim Dimmick, 17, of South Whitley, with elation at the announcement by U.S. Sen. Vance Hartke that she had earned the 1976 Kosciusko County Fair Queen title.

Conley, a Whitko High School student, opened her year-long reign with two words, "Thanks, everybody."

Aug. 13, 1976 -- The husband of an 18-year-old Warsaw woman who was fatally injured last Saturday night in an accident on Pierceton Road was among three men who died in a one-car wreck at 3:45 a.m. today less than two miles from the scene of her death.

Michael O. Hale, 21, of 1021 E. Winona Ave., Warsaw; David D. Gill, 21, of North Lake Street, Warsaw; and Charles M. Allen, 20, of Rt. 2, Pierceton, died at the scene of the crash on the Packerton Road just south of Pierceton Road.

John Horne, 23, of 2106 E. Jefferson St., Warsaw, who was driving the car, was critically injured and is in the intensive care unit of Parkview Memorial Hospital, Fort Wayne, with fractured ribs, other chest injuries, a fractured leg and a skull fracture.

Hale's death orphans his 2-year-old son, Michael Hale Jr., and 2-month-old daughter, Jodi Lynn. Their mother, Anna G. Hale, 18, died of massive internal injuries en route to Kosciusko Community Hospital last Saturday night after she was struck by a car driven by Bradley J. Kissinger, 18, of Rt. 2, Pierceton.

Aug. 31, 1976 -- Warsaw's 1973 Man of the Year, Charles H. Ker, 73, of 1202 E. Main St., died of heart failure at 10:05 p.m. Monday at Kosciusko Community Hospital, where he had been a patient for three weeks. He had been in failing health for several months.

A former Warsaw City councilman, Ker was influential in attracting such organizations as R.R. Donnelley & Sons and Da-Lite Screen to locate in Warsaw.

Sept. 9, 1976 -- Twenty-five faculty members have been added to the rolls of the Warsaw Community Schools, including Alan D. Rhodes, Bonnie Grimble, Joe Bryan and Paul E. Sibray.

Sept. 15, 1976 -- Overspending a budget by 1 percent may not sound like much, but when the budget is $5.5 million, it could leave a sizable hole at the end of the year.

According to Assistant Superintendent William Goshert, that's how much Warsaw School Board had overspent its 1976 budget by the end of August.

He estimated in a board meeting this week that the board had gone about $54,000 beyond the level its appropriations should have been depleted by Aug. 31.

Three problem areas, where the school board already is in the "red" this year, are travel allowances for administrators (including the school board itself), travel for teachers and the summer school account.

Sept. 23, 1976 -- It has gone through many changes, including the transition from a Roman Catholic to an Episcopal Church, and the color has changed from red brick to white, but the building on 420 W. Market St., Warsaw, which houses St. Anne's Episcopal Church, still remains the same basic structure it was 100 years ago when the cornerstone was laid July 4, 1876.

Oct. 28, 1976 -- Neal M. Carlson and Sophia (Boots) Mautner expressed their pride in the Warsaw community last night after they were honored by receiving the 1976 "Man and Woman of the Year" awards at the annual Greater Warsaw Chamber of Commerce banquet.

Nov. 2, 1976 -- Sam Slaymaker, 18, registers prior to casting his vote for the first time this morning. Sam, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Slaymaker, of Valley Springs (Rt. 7, Warsaw), is a senior at Warsaw Community High School and just recently turned 18. He voted at the National Guard Armory northeast of Warsaw at 7:30 a.m. so that he could make it to his 8 a.m. class.

Dec. 8, 1976 -- Hobart Creighton, 80, of Crystal Lake Road, Warsaw, a civic, business and political leader of colossal stature, was dead on arrival at Kosciusko Community Hospital at 8:30 a.m. today. He had been in failing health for some time.

Chosen Warsaw's Man of the Year in 1964, it was agreed that Creighton has contributed far and above the call of duty in exercising his responsibilities to his community, his church and his country.

Dec. 30, 1976 -- Each home in Kosciusko County may be receiving a five-digit address number in the future, which would help emergency vehicles pinpoint the home's exact location.

According to Kosciusko County Area Plan Director Robert Orcutt, a numbering system he designed would enable mail carriers and emergency vehicles such as ambulances, fire trucks and police to locate houses solely by using the five-digit number.

Dec. 30, 1976 -- Harvey Miller will assume full-time duties as manager of Radio Stations WRSW AM and FM Jan. 1.

He succeeds Duane Pagel, who tendered his resignation approximately two months ago.

Miller, a native of St. Paul, Minn., joined the WRSW staff more than 19 years ago. Now 38 years old, he came to the stations from a brief stint with WMIN in St. Paul, following his graduation from the Brown Institution of Broadcasting and Electronics there.

Jan. 7, 1977 -- Two students and one teacher narrowly escaped injury this morning at Warsaw Community High School when a bomb exploded in the upper E section boys' restroom.

The explosion detroyed one stool in the area where it was planted and threw shrapnel from the stool throughout the entire restroom. Since the stool was enclosed partially in a stall, the bulk of the damage was confined to that area.

City police said federal authorities would be called in to assist in the investigation of the explosion.

Jan. 10, 1977 -- Indiana's worst storm of the season left the state, including Warsaw and surrounding area, covered with up to 1 foot of new snow today. Many roads were closed and schools around the state canceled classes. All schools in Warsaw and Kosciusko County were closed.

Jan. 11, 1977 -- Bitter cold arctic air brought temperatures as low as 14 below zero to the Warsaw area today, adding to the misery of drifting snow which clogged streets and roads, closing all schools in the city and county for the second consecutive day and bringing near paralysis to some localities.

Jan. 11, 1977 -- A 17-year-old Warsaw Community High School student, Matthew Miner, of 715 Pam St., Warsaw, told city police that he set off an M-80 firecracker behind a toilet in a high school restroom last Friday morning.

According to police, the matter is now "in the hands of the probation officers and the prosecutor."

Jan. 12, 1977 -- Approval of a $3 million construction loan to Murphy Medical Center Inc., Warsaw, subject to final agreement of terms, was announced today by Robert Berryman, administrator of the hospital.

Berryman said the $3 million loan will allow Murphy Medical to proceed with construction of an addition of 40,000 square feet and satisfy outstanding construction debts with Archonics Corp., architect and project manager for the expansion, and Irmscher and Sons Inc., general contractor, both of Fort Wayne.

Jan. 17, 1977 -- One of the coldest sieges ever to hit Indiana sent temperatures plunging to 19 below zero in Warsaw and even lower at some other communities early today.

Schools closed by the score and a number of motorists had problems starting their cars. Windy conditions caused some drifting of snow.

Jan. 25, 1977 -- Private funeral services will be conducted Thursday at 2 p.m. at Gothic Chapel at Crown Hill for Eli Lilly, pharmaceutical manufacturer and philanthropist, who died Monday at Indiana University Hospital. He was 91.

Lilly spent the summers at his residence at Lake Wawasee since he was 2 years old, missing only last summer because of ill health. He made many contributions to the Syracuse-Wawasee area and was instrumental in numerous community projects there.

Jan. 27, 1977 -- Kosciusko County residents were "digging out" today following one of the worst midwinter storms in recent years, blocking highways and forcing the closing of all city, county and area schools and many industries.

Activities came to a near standstill Wednesday afternoon as winds of blizzard proportions gusting up to 50 miles per hour swept foot-deep accumulations of snow off fields and lawns onto the highways.

Between 1:18 p.m. Wednesday, when the Kosciusko County Commissioners declared a civil emergency because of the blizzard, and by about midnight, Kosciusko County Police had logged reports of 15 traffic accidents, many of them "chain reactions" involving more than two cars, that were attributed to the nasty driving conditions.

Jan. 28, 1977 -- Local officials will ask Gov. Otis R. Bowen today to open the National Guard Armory north of Warsaw as a shelter and allow National Guard equipment and men to be used in emergency and rescue missions in Kosciusko County.

County Civil Defense Director William Chapel said at 10 a.m. today that he and city and county officials would seek emergency assistance from the Indiana National Guard to help victims of the worst blizzard in the history of the county.

Jan. 29, 1977 -- Heating oil and propane gas company crews were on the move early today to replenish tanks in homes that were out or running low on heating fuel, and natural gas customers in the county were setting their thermostats back to conserve fuel as the county's worst winter storm in history wore into its third chilly day.

Winds continue this morning at velocities between 10 and 25 miles per hour out of the northwest, and temperatures in downtown Warsaw had dipped to 14 below zero by noon Friday.

Jan. 31, 1977 -- The recent appointment of William I. (Bill) Chapel to the Warsaw Community Schools Board of Trustees is under fire by some of his board colleagues, the Times-Union has learned.

Challenging the legality of Chapel's appointment, some of the board members purportedly are seeking legal redress to force his resignation or ouster.

Chapel was appointed to the board Nov. 29 by unanimous vote of the Warsaw Common Council after the screening of several other applicants. He was named to the post to serve out the unexpired term of Richard Barnes, who resigned for personal reasons. Chapel's 13-month term would terminate Dec. 31 of this year.

Feb. 1, 1977 -- A nearly two-month-old plot engaged in by certain elements within the Warsaw Community Schools to remove William I. (Bill) Chapel from his recently appointed post of school board trustee collapsed last night when the board members learned he was not the legal liability painted by Byron C. Kennedy, school attorney.

Citing two areas -- a constitutional provision against holding two lucrative government jobs at once and a Civil Defense statute prohibiting county directors from holding other government posts -- Kennedy last week warned school board president W. James McCleary that Chapel's appointment could have jeopardized the validity of school board decisions.

Lowering the boom on the attempt to oust Chapel from a term that expires in 11 months were slips of paper that carried enough weight with school board members to call off their school attorney's research and bury the controversay under the deepest pile of snow they could find.

Feb. 7, 1977 -- Battling near-zero temperatures again today, Kosciusko County residents continued a week-long struggle to dig themselves out from under blizzard conditions of 10 days ago that left in their wake untold hardships and monetary losses estimated into the millions of dollars.

Meanwhile, all schools in the county, with the exception of Tippecanoe Valley, were open today for the first time in a week and a half, and the critical shortage of natural gas appeared to be easing.

Feb. 9, 1977 -- A fire of unknown origin destroyed the Quick Clean Laundry and Warsaw Home Appliance and TV, 500 E. Winona Ave., Warsaw, early today. Losses from the blaze, which broke out shortly before 4:25 a.m. today, were estimated near $250,000.

The fire apparently started in the laundromat, then spread westward into the adjoining appliance store, then on into a corner of the ceiling in the office in the westernmost portion of the building. "That's where we got it stopped," said Warsaw Fire Chief Norman Banghart.

Feb. 19, 1977 -- A roaring Friday night fire destroyed the old Playtime Products building, a landmark city industrial facility.

Richard Katte, owner of the long, narrow North Detroit Street structure that had most recently been used for storage, was in the process of having the building demolished for salvage materials.

Arson is not suspected by police or fire officials.

Feb. 23, 1977 -- One man is dead and his wife is in critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit at Fort Wayne's Parkview Hospital following a shooting in the family home in North Manchester last night.

Killed by three shots from a .22 caliber pistol was Donald Creager, 46, of Rt. 2, Hickory Hills, North Manchester. His 45-year-old wife, Wilma, is in critical condition at the Fort Wayne hospital. Their son, Richard, 14, is being held in connection with the shooting.

Creager suffered wounds to his neck, back and wrist while his wife is being treated for three bullet wounds to the chest. The incident occurred at 6:30 p.m. after the family quarreled over problems Rick was having at school, police said.

According to investigators, the youth had been difficult for both his parents and teachers to handle and suffers from emotional problems.

March 14, 1977 -- Kosciusko County will be the host county of 60,000 persons fleeing the effects of nuclear radiation from densely populated northern Indiana cities if the Soviet Union ever drops nuclear bombs on industrial areas of the United States, according to Phil Cleary, nuclear civil defense planner for Indiana.

But the question remains -- where will Kosciusko County residents go to escape nuclear radiation and what will they eat? Yes, that's right. All the food in county fallout shelters was destroyed nearly two years ago. That fact was revealed by William Chapel, acting director of Kosciusko County Civil Defense, during the second in a series of five regional conferences held at the local Shrine Building Saturday before a full house of public officials involved with Civil Defense work and natural disaster rescue teams.

March 25, 1977 -- Joni Kurtz, an eighth-grader from South Whitley, captured the Kosciusko County spelling championship in competition against her 11-year-old sister, Julie, who was winner of the elementary contest Monday night.

The girls are the daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kurtz, South Whitley.

March 26, 1977 -- United Fund of Kosciusko County Inc. has reached a turning point in its 19 years of service to local agencies -- agencies dedicated to serving the citizens of Kosciusko County. United Fund officers today announced two important changes to be made effective April 1.

First, the name of the United Fund of Kosciusko County Inc. will be changed to the United Way of Kosciusko County. It is hoped that this change will bring the county organization in closer contact with other United Ways across the nation and on television.

Second, officers announce the appointment of James J. Benzenburg to the position of executive director of the United Way of Kosciusko County Inc.

March 28, 1977 -- George A. Nye, 88, of 415 W. Porter St., Warsaw, local historian, former high school teacher and Kosciusko County surveyor, died at 4:45 p.m. Saturday at Murphy Medical Center.

April 7, 1977 -- Warsaw Mayor H. Dale Tucker and city councilman Graham Kreicker Wednesday night blasted the Kosciusko County Commissioners for "being slow in appointing an EMS coordinator and failing to lend a helping hand in the program's quick initiation."

The verbal spanking came during a public meeting conducted by the Warsaw City Council relative to organizing Emergency Medical Services for several townships now lacking ambulance coverage.

Toward the end of the two-hour meeting, Kreicker asked county councilman Norman DeGood wht plans the council has made for an EMS program. "We have no plans," he replied. "We're anxious to know what plans there are." Kreicker asked DeGood why the county commissioners had not been planning for the mandated EMS deadline of Jan. 1, 1978. "That's not a function of the council," answered DeGood.

Commissioner Fredrick Gilliam said he hopes the new EMS coordinator, R. Mark Royce, will develop a plan in May or June. "I hope by June 1 he comes up with a concrete plan," noted Gilliam.

April 14, 1977 -- Renovation of Warsaw's park pavilion at Center Lake is expected to be completed in time to open the facility Memorial Day, according to parks superintendent Richard Hamman.

New steel doors, a heating system, wood-framed windows, a suspended ceiling, new restrooms, an area for a proposed kitchen and bats of insulation are being put into the pavilion to turn it into a year-round facility for use by community groups.

City park employees, assisted by other city department employees and CETA workers, are completing the renovation project on their own after the city rejected bids by private firms because they exceeded the $45,000 community development block grant the city received for the project from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

April 16, 1977 -- Jeff Miller and Susan Stokes wear smiles and crowns as the king and queen of the 1976-77 Junior-Senior Prom at Warsaw Community High School following the coronation in the school auditorium Friday night. Jeff is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Miller, 607 N. Lindberg St., Warsaw, and Susan is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stan Stokes, 1408 W. Cardinal Drive, Warsaw. Members of the court include Steve Reed, Christie Eherenman, Roseann Oest and Rod Mayer.

April 22, 1977 -- It's too early to hear the sirens in the background, but officials of four townships Ð Wayne, Prairie, Etna and Plain Ð propose formation of a coalition to provide emergency medical service for their residents.

Wayne Township Trustee Ed Pratt announced Thursday night that the townships intend to establish a non-profit corporation to operate EMS.

Pratt said that although a multi-township proposal has been in the works for about two months, final details have not been arranged yet.

May 21, 1977 -- The Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission met in executive (secret) session Wednesday night and hired Daniel W. Richard as director to replace Robert Orcutt, who resigned from the position effective March 31.

May 27, 1977 -- Clay and Lake township officials and town board members in Claypool and Silver Lake have voted to join the new four-township emergency medical service coalition.

The officials met this week with R. Mark Royce, coordinator of the EMS in Kosciusko County, and by their vote aproved financial support of EMS in their mutual area.

The original four-township EMS coalition consists of Wayne, Etna, Prairie and Plain townships. Winona Lake and Etna Green town boards also have joined the new group, pledging their financial support as well.

Royce said the Leesburg Town Board will meet soon to determine whether it will join in the four-township effort.

May 27, 1977 -- Lakeland Christian Academy and other private secondary and elementary institutions like it provide their communities with educational alternatives for their children.

LCA has been on the Warsaw community scene for three years and now has more than 90 students enrolled, representing 23 churches from Warsaw and the surrounding area.

Next year will be the first that the school will have a full junior and senior high program. In 1974, students were enrolled in grades seven through nine. The second year, grade 10 was added with the 11th grade under way this year.

June 1, 1977 -- Former Warsaw mayor Joe J. Johnson, 67, of 14 Fairlane Drive, Warsaw, died unexpectedly at 1:20 p.m. Tuesday at Kosciusko Community Hospital. The former owner and operator of the Flagpole in Warsaw, Johnson served as a city councilman from 1960 through 1963 and as mayor of the city of Warsaw from 1964 through 1967. He was a member of the advisory board of the Counting House Bank.

June 10, 1977 -- Warsaw School Board has opened school files of group scores on achievement and aptitude tests in a unanimous reversal of a previous four-to-three vote to keep the information secret from patrons and taxpayers.

The group scores, which identify the average scores on intelligence and achievement tests by school and in the Warsaw district, do not reveal any child's name in keeping with a federal privacy law.

June 14, 1977 -- Otho L. (Shorty) Piper, 70, of 106 Sixth St., Winona Lake, a retired excavation contractor and developer of Melody Acres addition and other local areas, died unexpectedly of an apparent heart attack at 8 p.m. Monday at his home.

Piper was a director of the board of Rozella Ford Golf Club and was active in the founding of the club.

June 17, 1977 -- For the second time in 13 months, the Kosciusko County Council has revoked the local option withholding tax. But it will be another six months -- or possibly a year -- before the repeal takes place and it may take yet another vote to boot.

A certified resolution is in the mail today to the office of Attorney General Theodore Sendak noting the council has rescinded the controversial tax, which takes one-half percent earnings from the paycheck of wage earners in the county.

By the identical 4-3 vote taken in May 1976, the council ended an hour-long debate Thursday night and agreed to call a halt to the measure that has been in effect since July 1, 1973.

A revision in the Indiana law -- passed unanimously in both houses of the state legislature and signed by Gov. Bowen in April -- could make the Thursday vote meaningless.

June 18, 1977 -- Kosciusko County's oldest banker in years of continuous service died Friday night in the Alfran Nursing Home, Columbia City, following a lengthy illness. Death came to 86-year-old Walter Earl Shoop, chairman of the board of the Pierceton State Bank.

He had been a resident of the nursing home since 1972.

Shoop started his banking career at Buchanan, Mich., in 1913. He had been a member of the Indiana Banker's Association 50-Year Club for 15 years and was a past president of the Kosciusko County Banker's Association.

Shoop moved to Pierceton in 1918 and was instrumental in converting the former private Frohley Bank to a state bank. He had served as cashier, president and chairman of the board of the Pierceton State Bank. Since 1947, he also had been associated with the Counting House Bank of North Webster and Warsaw as an officer and director.

June 24, 1977 -- Kosciusko County's Hospital Authority will sell $10,445,000 worth of bonds in July to refinance its Kosciusko Community Hospital project.

The money will be used to pay off the authority's existing $8.87 million bond issue, provide $150,000 in immediate cash for hospital purchases such as equipment and fund the cost of issuing a new series of bonds.

June 25, 1977 -- H. Dean Tucker, with accumulated time of nearly 10 years with The Times-Union, has been appointed the newspaper's advertising manager.

Announcement of Tucker's promotion was made today by publisher Reub Williams.

July 2, 1977 -- Murphy Medical Center, the only privately owned hospital in northern Indiana, was an empty institution today, having suspended admission of new patients at 3 p.m. Friday.

The switchboard, credit office and laboratory for outpatients will remain open. The dietician will remain on duty to continue Mobile Meals for the elderly. A security force has been employed. Employees were informed of the suspension shortly before noon Friday.

Hazel Murphy, president of the hospital corporation, said today: "With the continuing erosion of doctors, staff and patients, it has become impossible for us to maintain the quality of care which has been our standard established by the late Samuel C. Murphy in 1935. I have reluctantly ordered new admissions suspended pending negotiations with seven national hospital chains, the success of which could result in continuing efforts to assist in holding local hospital costs down."

July 6, 1977 -- Indiana's revenue commissioner says the Kosciusko County Council's four-to-three vote to rescind the local option income withholding tax is "not effective."

Donald H. Clark, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Revenue, which collects the one-half percent withholding tax and pays part of it back to local governments in the county, said in a letter to county auditor Jean Northenor that the council's action was meaningless.

July 12, 1977 -- Washington Elementary School has a new principal.

Lee A. Harman, 32, formerly a part-time principal at Washington and Madison elementaries during the 1969-70 school year and most recently principal of Churubusco Elementary School for the past two years, was hired by Warsaw School Board Monday night to guide Washington's return to a conventional curriculum.

An experimental individually guided education program, adopted in 1971, was abandoned as a failure last month by the board in favor of a standardized curriculum for all nine of its elementary schools.

To be certain the