Scouts: Grant County Scout MARION GRADUATION becomes OUR an TOWNS, Eagle. A5 Graduates look forward to big futures. A3 208 MONDAY, JUNE 9, 2008 Chronicle -Tribune WWW.CHRONICLE-TRIBUNE.COM Serving Grant County since 1867. TODAY'S WEATHER Rain Upper 80s Mid-60s A look ahead: Rain continues Tuesday. Partly cloudy on Wednesday.
Scrapbook: Sunday's high: 90. Low: 74. Inside: More weather, Page A8. KELOOP (Take a peek inside the C-T reporters'. notebooks to keep up on the latest news and find out about the stories behind the stories.) Grant exceeds teachers expectations: Barb Needler, a teacher from Sweetser Elementary School received a $1,900 grant to buy materials to study the human body.
She said some of the materials arrived on Thursday including the neck muscles, pancreas and a four. foot torso which far exceeded her expectations. "It gave our school positive recognition, which all schools need these days," she said regarding to the story written about the grant in the Our Towns section. Needler said she is planning on sending photos to the newspaper this fall when the kids begin using the new learning tools. Andrea Hirsch Thong robbery suspects in custody ARVADA, Colo.
(AP) Police in a Colorado town say they've caught two "thong bandits" who used women's underwear to disguise themselves during a convenience store robbery. Ninteen-year-old Joaquin Rico turned himself in Friday, two days after 24- year -old alleged accomplice Joseph R. Espinoza turned himself in. A surveillance video released last week by police in Arvada, shows two unarmed men inside the convenience store. They stole an undisclosed amount of cash and cigarettes in the May 16 robbery.
One man wore a green thong and the other wore blue. Each thong barely covered the man's nose, -mouth and chin and left the rest of his face exposed. One also wore a pink backpack in which he stuffed the stolen items. Inside Classified, B7-8 Record, A4 Comics, B6 Sports, B1-3 Crossword, B5 Viewpoint, A6 Horoscope, B5 Weather, A8 Local, A3 Obituaries, A4 A7 Our Towns, A5 0 40901 05402 Copyright 2008 Chronicle- Tribune Paxton Media Group DIGGING DEEPER CHANGES IN THE CLASSROOM Marion teacher says tearful good-bye 4 11 ELAINE MOORE emoore chronicle-tribune com PACKING UP Jennie Roesly moves wooden picture frames as she sorts through her belongings Wednesday afternoon and gets ready for a garage sale before she moves her family to North Carolina for her new teaching job. Fourth-grade teacher Jennie Roesly accepts a position in North Carolina said.
excited and as happy as I am, I am just as sad and depressed. The bad news Roesly taught fourth grade at Lincoln Elementary School the past four years. She was cut as part of a reduction in force before, but the school system hired her back. This time, though, she knew it would be different. "Teachers knew ahead 'of time what day the superintendent would be in the building, calling teachers down to hand them the notice.
"That day was tough because I knew that I would be one of the last ones to get the paper," Roesly said. But she wasn't sure she would receive the paper. Teachers throughout the BY AJ COLLEY taking my kids 600 miles away from their Roesly In a tearful appeal to the school board that cut her position in January, teacher Jennie Roesly said her heart ached for the children of Community Schools. Now, as she prepares to move her family to Charlotte, N.C., to start a new teaching job, Roesly worries for her own children. She received notice in November that she was among a group of teachers in Marion losing jobs.
After months of worrying and waiting, wondering if she would be recalled to teach in Marion, she bit the bullet and attended a job fair in North Carolina. She was hired on the spot. "I was very excited that weekend, but then the reality came in that I was going to be building were confident about who some of the cuts would be, Roesly said. But she didn't know if she'd be one of them, and Principal Kelly McPike couldn't tell her, either. "When she came to my door, my.
stomach was up in my throat, and I was just like, 'Oh my gosh, I can't believe this," Reesly said, McPike was supportive, especially throughout the next few weeks, Roesly said. The principal kept chocolate out for the teachers and invited them into her office to cry on her shoulder any time they needed. Roesly said her family has struggled with the Her ex-husband lives in Marion. "We're. divorced, we're still a she said.
"His side of the family also feels that way." Her ex-husband's father her children's grandfather said he's never been so upset about something in his life he couldn't control. Despite tight budget, Gas City pool Lower property taxes means less revenue for city b. BY MARIBETH HOLTZ GAS CITY Gas City's pool is under a watchful eye and the city's police department is on a tight budget as leaders brace for what could be a tight fiscal era over the next few years. "We're going to survive," Mayor Larry Leach said, but not without preparing for potentially less money because of property tax caps. The Indiana General Assembly this spring passed a property tax relief plan that could save taxpayers hundreds of dollars in their property tax bills.
But that could also mean cutbacks to revenue for. cities, counties, libraries and schools. According to estimates from the Legislative Services Agency, Gas City, could see about $46,700 less revenue in 2009, and $116,500 or about 10 percent of the budget less in 2010. state legislature has lit- See Us NEXT LEVEL For All COMMUNICATIONS CENTENNIAL' Your Cell. Phone In Gas City Authorized Dealer Needs 1024 One Fairview Store Drive (behind Two McDonald's) Choices 677-0668 All In -Coming Calls Text Messaging Free Authorized Agent Power outages continue Several hundred were still without electricity Sunday BY BRETT WALLACE The severe storms that rolled through Grant County and surrounding areas Friday night at one point left more than 25,000 Indiana Michigan Power customers in the dark.
About 832 customers in the Marion district, which is roughly comprised of Grant County, were still without power at about 9 a.m. Sunday. By 9 p.m., that number had fallen to about 300 customers. Jill Korte, the manager of community relations for Indiana Michigan, said the company was continuing to work toward its goal of restoring service to all of its customers by Sunday night. One obstacle facing that goal was the scattered geography of those customers.
About 99 outages were causing those 500 customers to still be without service at 2 p.m., meaning outages had to be dealt with almost one-by-one. "It's our hope the majority of these customers will be back in service soon," Korte said Sunday afternoon. She said the company would continue working until midnight Sunday to restore customer service and that any remaining outages would be restored Monday morning. See OUTAGES Page A2 "It's a tragedy in my Steve Roesly said. "It's just a tragedy." The grandfather was So upset he demanded no one in the family talk about the move for three months.
He said he enjoys spending time with his grandchildren, recalling a recent trip to a golf course with 7-year-old Stephen. Jennie Roesly's absence also will be a loss for Elementary, McPike said. "I think that Lincoln will miss her energy and her excitement for learning," the principal said. It didn't surprise McPike to hear that Roesly's new job was outside of Grant County. "It's always a competitive market," McPike said, adding Indiana Wesleyan University, Taylor University and other regional colleges churn out qualified teachers every spring who want to teach in See RIF Page A2 opens ELAINE MOORE emoore afternoon at the Gas City pool.
Gas City Council president Admission to the pool increased 50 cents this year, so it's now $3 for adults and. $2.50 for children. The increase was to help offset the increase in minimum wage for pool employees. City leaders will determine how the increase the pool and the city's See POOL Page Floods leave one missing, one dead 23 counties declared disaster areas by Gov. Mitch Daniels BY TOM MURPHY The Associated Press 5: INDIANAPOLIS Flash floods that hit south-central Indiana left residents wondering how they were going clean up the mess, even as those farther south braced for new flooding brought by floodwaters rushing toward the Ohio River.
Rescuers in boats were still plucking people from rising waters Sunday in flooding that caused at least one death. As much as 11 inches of rain swamped the state Saturday, flooding homes, threatening dams and closing several roads and highways. Saturday's flooding killed at least one person, a man who drowned in his vehicle in Bartholomew County about 50 miles south of Indianapolis, said John Erickson, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. Another person was reported. missing after falling off a boat on Mill Creek near the town of Little Point about 30 miles southwest of Indianapolis.
Meanwhile, Gov. Mitch Daniels declared another 13 counties as disaster. areas Sunday, boosting the total so far, to 23 of Indiana's 92 counties with disaster declarations. Shelters have been set up in almost every flooded county, housing at least 1,200 people overnight, said Homeland Security, which had no estimate on how many people were forced to leave their homes. See FLOODS Page A2 re HOT SUMMER Residents try erally taken the food out of our mouths at the local, level," Leach said.
While it's still unknown exactly how the bill will shake out on local money, Leach and other leaders of Gas City are preparing now for the future. Pool to be monitored The Gas City pool is open this year, but leaders will be moni- to cool off during the hot Friday toring its finances to find potential changes in the future. Leach. said he informally asked the city council about whether they thought closing it would be an idea. pool in reality has never made Leach said.
All members of the council, he said, wanted to keep it open. "I think that's a quality of life issue," said Larry Terwillegar,.
