Archive - Dec 2011 - News Article
December 27th
The annual Super Kids Dare to be Healthy program will run from January 9 through March 5 and again from April 2 through May 30 to emphasize nutrition (especially better food choices), daily physical activity, and building self-esteem and self-acceptance.
An announcement said students age 8 to 14 will participate from 3:30-5 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays during those eight-week periods at the Adams County Service Complex on Jefferson St. between Third and Fourth Sts.
December 26th
BY BOB SHRALUIA
Mayor John Schultz made his final appointments for 2012 at Decatur City Council's final meeting meeting of 2011, held this week, and rescinded three he had made at the previous meeting.
The only new appointment was the selection of outgoing council member Barb Engle to the city plan commission, replacing Max Anderson. The latter, who just completed his first four-year term, asked not to be renewed due to time constraints, the mayor said.
"Vote for Wren!"
That's the battle cry in a Ohio small community near Decatur as its residents unite to try to win up to $50,000 in a national contest sponsored by Reader's Digest magazine.
The contest, called "We Hear You, America," started last year and provided financial aid and promotional support to 110 towns across the United States.
(The top 10 stories of 2011 have been selected by employees of the Daily Democrat. This is No. 7.)
By J SWYGART
The deaths of a Decatur couple in a fire in their home was voted as the No. 7 news story of 2011.
Claude E. West, 74, and his wife Donna K. West, 71, died in a house fire at 720 Elm Street, Decatur, in the early morning hours of Aug. 11.
Both died of smoke inhalation, according to Assistant Fire Chief Jim Hitchcock.
December 23rd
The latest phenomenon sweeping the country has come to Decatur as an anonymous donor presented the Decatur Walmart store with five $100 gift cards Wednesday afternoon.
According to Jessica Phillips, layaway manager at the Decatur Walmart, a man came into the store and said he wished to donate the gift cards to help pay for a child's Christmas. He said the cards could be used to either pay off an existing layaway account or to purchase new toys, as long as the money was spent on children.
A native of Decatur who recently resigned as a patrolman with the Warsaw police force has been charged with one count each of child molesting and child solicitation, allegedly involving a girl under age 14.
Timothy S. Whitright, of rural Warsaw, who grew up here and graduated from Bellmont High School, posted a $10,000 bond to leave the Kosciusko County Jail at Warsaw.
Whitright, who will turn 29 on December 30, has been scheduled for a hearing on January 5 in Kosciusko Superior Court One at Warsaw.
The sudden death of a cornerstone of the wrestling program at Bellmont High School was voted as the No. 9 news story of 2011.
John W. Friedt, 56, of Decatur, died unexpectedly on February 17 at Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne.
Friedt worked as a district technician for the Adams County Soil and Water Conservation District for 36 years and was a member of the Decatur Wrestling Club. He coached wrestling at Bellmont High School and Bellmont Middle School for 36 years.
December 22nd
(Editor’s note: As has been the tradition in recent years, employees of the Decatur Daily Democrat are polled in mid-December and asked to cast their votes for what they believe to be the top news stories of the year. Today’s entry was voted the No. 10 story of 2011.)
Although the bottom line of the financial page for the Adams Health Network (AHN) isn't as high as what the 2011 budget adopted last year projected, it's still six figures in the black and over $100,000 higher than last month, according to information reported to the hospital trustees Wednesday night at their monthly meeting.
The new fulltime reporter on the staff of the Daily Democrat is Jannaya Andrews of rural Rockford, Ohio.
Andrews will take over on January 1 from Eric Mann, who is retiring on December 31 from fulltime work after 41 years on the job.
She says she is "happy to be here and looking forward" to the work.
Andrews knows Decatur and Adams County well, having been born in Decatur and having graduated in 1991 from Bellmont High School.
