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Safe Place is broad safety net doing its job in the county

Cassie Wimer (left), an intern with the Youth Services Bureau of Huntington County, and Carolyn Ray, manager of Huntington House, display the new Safe Place logo that will identify sites around Huntington County where youth in crisis can go for help.
Photo by Cindy Klepper.

Originally published March 21, 2013.

The girl who came to the door at Huntington House was obviously upset.

She was crying, says shelter manager Carolyn Ray, who eventually determined that the teen had run away after a family dispute.

"She was just running ... She didn't know where to go," Ray says. "She saw the sign and said, ‘Can you help me? Can you help me?'"

Easterday enjoying slower pace of farm after years in office

John Easterday, of Huntington, stands with a tractor on his property.
Photo by Steve Clark.

John Easterday, of Huntington, worked as both a farmer and a banker, and those two professions often conflicted.

"Especially in the farming side, when I was working at the bank, and in the spring and the fall, you'd never know whether to take a day off or not, whether it was going to rain or not," says Easterday.

But, he adds, "Now I don't have to worry about any of that."

Last year, on his 66th birthday, Easterday retired from banking, calling it a career after 43 years.

Local museum director helps victims of human trafficking

Sarah Schmidt (left) , director of the Huntington County Historical Museum and her friend, Regan Reimschisel prepare chicken and vegetable soup for a cafe in Riga, Latvia, run by the mission Freedom 61.
Photo provided.

Originally published March 11, 2013.

"I used to think, like most Americans do, ‘Slavery ended in the 1800s.'

"But that's wrong. It is still prevalent today," says Sarah Schmidt.

Schmidt, director of the Huntington County Historical Museum, is speaking of her travels overseas in Latvia, where she worked with women of all ages who are victims of human trafficking or are working in the sex industry.

Housing decline hasn’t slowed countywide development projects

Mark Mussman (left), executive director of Huntington Countywide Department of Community Development, looks through some recent permit applications with Miranda Snelling, office coordinator.
Photo by Andre B. Laird.

Originally published March 7, 2013.

Despite a slow economy and declining home purchases, Huntington County is still one of the few counties in the nation that has seen a steady stream of community development projects.

That's the view from Mark Mussman, executive director of Huntington Countywide Department of Community Development, the department that handles building permits.

Huntington home to new state deer mark

Tim Beck poses with the deer he shot last November in Huntington County. The animal has been verified as the number two non-typical hunter taken whitetail in the nation, and is apparently the top such animal in Indiana.
Photo provided.

Originally published March 4, 2013.

The deer harvest in Indiana during the 2012 hunting season hit record levels.

That didn't hold true in Huntington County, where the deer harvest continued a three-year slide.

Huntington County, however, can boast of a near-record - a buck taken Nov. 17 in Huntington County by hunter Tim Beck.

Pair of girls on Crestview wrestling sideline waiting their turn at getting on the mats

Megan Adkins (left), a seventh-grader wrestling at 110 pounds for the Crestview Middle School wrestling team, tries to break away from the grasp of Jalen Jones, of Wabash, during the Cougar Wrestling Invitational at Crestview on Saturday, Feb. 23.
Photo

Originally published Feb. 28, 2013.

During the Cougar Wrestling Invitational on Feb. 23 at Crestview Middle School, in Huntington, Crestview students Megan Adkins and Veronica Russell were seated in a row of chairs alongside a wrestling mat with Crestview's wrestling team.

They weren't spectators.

And they weren't managers.

Outfitted in the same blue "Crestview Wrestling" uniforms as the boys sitting around them, they were team members, and they were each waiting for their next match.

Local goes from watching to ribbon at dog show

Kathy Rhodes and Zhako enjoy some down time after attending the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Feb. 11. Zhako returned home with a Best of Winners ribbon.
Photo by Lauren M. Wilson.

When Kathy Rhodes was watching the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show from home last year, she had no idea she would be in attendance at the show in 2013.

Not only did Rhodes attend the show in 2013, she was present as owner of an entered dog - her Pyrenean Shepherd, Zhako (pronounced Ja-co).

Zhako won Best of Winners and came home from New York City with a purple ribbon.

His breed is fairly new to the American Kennel Club (AKC), recognized as an AKC breed only since 2009.
Currently, the AKC recognizes 175 dog breeds.

Silver lining to last year’s wind storm turns out to be student’s design for 4-H building

Austin Garde designed this blueprint, which was part of a presentation in front of the 4-H Fair Board on Tuesday evening, Feb. 19.
Graphic provided.

They say every cloud has a silver lining.

The storm cloud here passed through in June of 2012, bringing a large tree down upon the goat and sheep building at Hier's Park just weeks before the 2012 4-H Fair.

The collision was, at first, a setback.

But this week, the cloud's silver lining has grown apparent as Huntington North High School senior Austin Garde's blueprints for the proposed new FFA pole barn were presented to the 4-H Fair Board.

Warren resident Couch loves education and a good challenge

Bill Couch, of Warren, plays the organ in his office. It’s one of his hobbies in a busy life that’s seen him serve as a school superintendent, the CEO of a company and as a manager for Habitat for Humanity.
Photo by Steve Clark.

Originally published Feb. 18, 2013.

At 81, Warren resident Bill Couch is learning how to play the ocarina, a type of flute.

Six years ago, he started woodworking for the first time in his life, producing everything from bookshelves to cabinets, as well as restoring antique pieces.

It's because he's interested in knowledge, he says. And also because he likes a challenge.

Local Penguin Club’s focus has changed much since formation

Members of the Penguin Club, formed by a group of high school girls in 1939, celebrate the 90th birthday of the club’s youngest member on Saturday, Feb. 9.
Photo by Cindy Klepper.

It's been 74 years, and the girls are still getting together.

"We go out to eat, and then we go back to one of the homes," says Betty Schoeff, the "baby'" of the club.
"Now, we usually show pictures of our grandchildren."

Grandchildren - and great-grandchildren - weren't even close to being in the picture when the Penguin Club had its start.

Back then, its members were a bunch of giggly high school girls with movies (and boys) on their minds.

State grant will help Forks tie historic island to local property

Dave Hacker (left)and Jim Scheiber, president of the Historic Forks of the Wabash board, display the check for a grant that will allow the development of an island adjacent to the Historic Forks property.
Photo by Cindy Klepper.

An uninhabited island with a history reaching back a couple of centuries will come back to life this spring, thanks to a state grant and the efforts of Historic Forks of the Wabash volunteers.

A $56,000 grant, which was presented to the Historic Forks of the Wabash board of directors on Tuesday, Feb. 5, will be used to tie the island to the Forks property by means of a walking path and footbridge.

Job shadowing program works well for six HNHS sophomores

Huntington North High School sophomores (front row from left) Cameron Stuttle, Walter Hacker, Bethany Bassett and (back row from left) Austin Laux, Tyler Turner and Logan Boyer have had unique experiences during their required job shadowing.
Photo by Lauren M. Wilson.

Traveling outside Huntington, or even Indiana, to study roller coaster design, electrical engineering, natural resource management, diesel mechanics, meteorology or oncology isn't the typical day in the life of a Huntington North High School student, but for six sophomores participating in the school's new job-shadowing program, these unique experiences have become their own.

Childhood fascination turns into huge adult hobby for local man

Huntington resident Matthew Stephenson rediscovered his love for LEGOs a few years ago and has been assembling ever since. His collection includes over 100,000 pieces. Here, he is pictured with his favorite set, the discontinued “Imperial Flagship.”
Photo by Andre B. Laird.

Originally published Feb. 4, 2013.

Within A.F.O.L. (Adult Followers Of LEGOS) circles, Huntington resident Matthew Stephenson is considered a purist.

Stemming from a childhood fascination for building and seeing how things are constructed, Stephenson has spent the last few years amassing quite a collection.

"I've played with LEGOS since I was little," he states. "I got my first set when I was about 6 years old."

Stephenson adds that he played with LEGOS until the "Dark Ages," a period most adult LEGO enthusiasts undergo.

Patterson’s murder mysteries among local readers’ favorites

Carolyn Morris (right) checks out a stack of books from the Huntington City-Township Public Library on Monday, Jan. 28, with the help of library staff member Tami Moser.
Photo by Cindy Klepper.

Originally published Jan. 31, 2013.

Oh, those gloomy months of February and March.

Christmas is in the past; spring is in the future.

What we have is rain.

Snow.

Ice.

Mud.

The remedy - in Huntington at least - seems to be curling up with a good book.

"We get a lot of readership in February and March," says Kathy Holst, director of the Huntington City-Township Public Library.

And our favorite topic, it seems, is murder - at least the fictional kind served up by novelist James Patterson.

Armed with consistent approach to the game, Tackett now rolls with the pros

EJ Tackett, of Huntington, who became a professional bowler last November, tunes up his game at Oak Lanes Bowling Center in Huntington in preparation for upcoming tournaments on his schedule.
Photo by Steve Clark.

Originally published Jan. 28, 2013.

The secret to being a professional bowler isn't being good.

It's being consistently good.

That's a lesson that EJ Tackett, of Huntington, is learning right now.

Tackett, 20, became a professional bowler last November.

It was the culmination of competing in years of tournaments where he displayed the same skill and consistency that professional bowlers have to a regular basis.