Community

Due to the sharp increase in unemployment in Huntington County, The Salvation Army has established Hoosier Help for Hardship, a community partnership and a grant opportunity which could mean as much as $27,000 in assistance for the newly unemployed and their families.

The Huntington County 4-H Benefit Auction returns this year, featuring a pork chop dinner and auction items ranging from a birdhouse to an aluminum livestock truck bed box.

The benefit auction will be held Saturday, March 21, at Heritage Hall in Hier's Park. The evening begins with a 5 p.m. meal starring the same smoked pork chops that are served each summer at the 4-H Fair, says Luke Vickrey, co-chairman of the benefit auction.

The auction begins at 6:30 p.m., following the meal.

Looking for something to do this spring but don't have the money to travel?

Look no further than downtown Huntington, where the Jaycees' Haunted Hotel 13th Floor will be open for a spring break edition of "Ghouls Gone Wild."

The Jaycees have operated a haunted building in several locations in Huntington over the past 40 years. The group moved into the current location at 511 N. Jefferson St., where the Haunted Hotel was set up, nearly a decade ago, says Brett Molitor, manager of the Haunted Hotel.

It's time to change time.

Much of the United States - Indiana included - will switch to daylight-saving time in the wee hours of Sunday, March 8.

Officially, Hoosiers are instructed to wait until 2 a.m. Sunday and, when the clock hits the 2 o'clock hour, move it forward to 3 a.m. - skipping an entire hour. The change makes sunrise arrive later in the morning and sunset arrive later in the evening.

Five former classmates from 44 years ago are looking for other Jefferson Township School/ South Upper Elementary alumni who attended the school between 1964 and 1968.

The classmates are planning a reunion for Saturday, May 30 at the Fabulous 105 and want to make sure all alumni have been invited. They also encourage alumni to visit a Web site set up exclusively for them where they can update their addresses and other personal information.

Mike Rohler, executive director of the Huntington County Chapter of the American Red Cross, speaks during the annual banquet on Saturday, Feb. 28.

Annette Carroll, president of the Huntington County Chapter of the American Red Cross, speaks Saturday night, Feb. 28, at the annual Red Cross banquet.

The Huntington County/Purdue Extension Office held its annual meeting Thursday, Feb. 19.

A business meeting was held at 6:30 p.m., prior to a poverty simulation conducted by the office.

Janell Brubaker presented, on behalf of the Extension Board, the first annual Friend of Extension award to Joenita Keller.

Keller is a 45-year 4-H leader. She has been an Extension club member since 1963 and has served on the Extension board and numerous committees.

Originally published Feb. 12, 2009.

A firefighter training facility, paid for with a state grant, could begin drawing firefighters from throughout northeast Indiana and beyond to Huntington as soon as this summer.

The training facility will be located on five acres behind the Huntington County Highway Department, says Brandon Taylor, director of the Huntington County Emergency Management Agency. Although the highway garage is on Riverside Drive, he says, the entrance to the training facility will be off Indiana Street.

Originally published Feb. 12, 2009.

That police scanner in the kitchen will soon become obsolete.

Local officials are continuing to make progress in upgrading equipment that will provide all emergency departments in the county the greatest ability to communicate in the event of a crisis.

That new equipment operates on a frequency that is not compatible with the old-style police scanners.

The Huntington County Community School Corporation's Board of Trustees approved several requests during the board's regular meeting on Feb. 23, 2009.

They include:
• A field trip request for the Huntington North High School (HNHS) baseball team to participate in the Northern Indiana Baseball tournament in Elkhart April 10-11.

• The resignation of Alex Kock, a physical education teacher at HNHS.

The Markle Town Council decided Wednesday, Feb. 18, to move forward with a proposed water tower project.

Fleis and Vandenbrink Engineering Inc. representatives John Canton and David Harvey were at the meeting to present funding possibilities and to explain the general process of the project.

The project to create a 200,000-gallon elevated water tower and connect a water main is expected to take until the end of 2010 to complete.

Participants in the 4-H Soil and Water Conservation project for 2008 were honored during the annual banquet of the Huntington County Soil and Water Conservation District on Wednesday, Feb. 18, at Crestview Middle School. Pictured are (front row from left) Bailey Irick, Jacob White and Alexandra Forsythe; (second row from left) Julie Winters, Matthew Knight and Nick Durre; and (back row from left) SWCD Supervisor Hal Hoffman, Colt Irick, SWCD Chairman Kyle Lund and Robert Sliger.

Story and more photos in The TAB print edition on Monday, Feb. 23.

The Huntington County Community School Corporation Board of Trustees approved the hiring of several people during its regular meeting on Feb. 9.

Two Huntington students were among the 48 future Huntington University students who were awarded Presidential Scholarships of $7,000 each during the eighth annual Presidential Scholar Celebration Day on Feb. 6.

Jamon Hammel and Ethan Kattau, both students at Huntington North High School, were awarded Presidential Scholarships.

Hammel also received an additional Colloquium Scholarship of $1,500.

The Presidential and Colloquium Scholarships at Huntington University are the highest honors bestowed on an incoming student.