Producers who suffered eligible 2012 and 2013 livestock, honeybee or farm-raised fish losses have until Aug. 1 to submit a notice of loss and application for payment under the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-raised Fish Program (ELAP).

ELAP provides emergency assistance to eligible producers of livestock, honeybees and farm-raised fish that have losses due to disease, adverse weather, or other conditions, such as blizzards and wildfires. ELAP assistance is provided for losses not covered by the Livestock Forage Program (LFP) and Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP). Producers who suffered eligible livestock, honeybee or farm-raised fish losses during 2012 and 2013 program years must submit a notice of loss and application for payment to their local FSA office by Aug. 1. For 2014 program year losses, the notice of loss and an application for payment must be submitted by Nov. 1.

  For more information, producers can review the ELAP Fact Sheet on the Farm Bill webpage.  Wabash County producers can call 260-563-3145 or stop by the office at 599 Bryan Ave. in Wabash.

by Brian Hamilton

Editor’s Note: Brian Hamilton is a 1990 graduate of Northfield High School and current editor of The Union newspaper in Grass Valley, Calif, a daily newspaper with a circulation of 13,000. Brian’s first experience in the newspaper industry was working as a correspondent for the Wabash Plain Dealer at the age of 17. After graduating from Ball State University, he found his first full-time reporting job at the Ellwood Call-Leader. He’s been with The Union for 13 years.
Brian took note of the changes being made in Wabash during a recent trip back to his hometown. Upon returning to Grass Valley, he wrote this opinion column, which was published in The Union in early July. With Brian’s permission, we are taking this opportunity to share his thoughts with the Wabash community.

At first blush, my hometown and the community we’ve now called home for more than a decade didn’t seem to have all that much in common.
Grass Valley, for example, is nestled in the natural beauty of the Sierra foothills, Wabash, Ind., on the other hand, is surrounded by miles and miles – and miles – of corn and soybean fields that spread as far as the eye can see, all across the state of Indiana.
When it snows, Grass Valley has the Sierra ski slopes on which to play, while Wabash County residents find sport in simply keeping their cars from sliding off the road and into drift-filled ditches.
Then, of course, Indiana has long been known politically as a “red” state, while California has clearly been one of a more blue hue.
 

The Wabash County Historical Museum will be hosting the History Hunters’ noon speaker series this Thursday, July 24 from 12-1 p.m. in their Orientation Theater.  This month’s speaker is Lana Long who will speak about the DeLong sisters. 

The DeLong Sisters (Augusta, Malvina, and Emily) were an acrobatic team that traveled the world with the Ringling Brothers Circus, performing across the country and around the globe from time they were early teens. They even performed in Germany to great acclaim, with a pre-World War II Hitler in attendance. When they retired from the circus, each of the sisters married and settled in the Wabash County area. They all lived within 20 miles of each other and remained close for the remainder of their lives. Malvina (known as Mena) and her husband owned Ernie’s Drive-In, a popular destination in Wabash for many years. Malvina’s daughter, Lana Long, has the loaned the museum several artifacts from her mother’s time in the circus, including an acrobatic costume and the leather bit Mena used for an aerialist act, as well as photographs and other memorabilia.

INGUARD, an insurance and risk management firm headquartered in Wabash is the presenting sponsor of the Wabash County Promise. INGUARD is proud to renew its $40,000 annual commitment to support the local initiative, led by the Wabash County YMCA, which is designed to support local youth in their college and career identity development.

The pilot program for the Wabash County Promise launched in 2013, with more than 1,060 students opening a 529-college savings account during school registration.

According to Gallup Chairman Jim Clifton’s book, The Coming Jobs War, “Having no vision or excitement for the future is the cause of dropping out of school. Students need to be rescued at or before the moment they lose hope in the future.”

With this in mind, the Wabash County Promise was designed to promote a positive academic outlook among youth in not only Wabash County, but in recently expanded counties of LaGrange, Noble and Whitley as well.

by Aaron Johnson

The Pirate’s Cove Marina sits below a steep hill on a small dock off the shore of the Salamonie Reservoir near the Lost Bridge. It is a small shop that boasts in boat rentals, dock rentals, and the Marina’s newest attraction: a boat tour of the reservoir. Randy Yarger, along with his wife and two sons, owns and runs Pirate’s Cove. Yarger decided to give pedestrians a new view of the reservoir by giving boat tours.

“We want to get the people up in the campground out on the lake,” Yarger said. “There’s not much up there to do, so I built the boat the winter before last.”

The tours are offered twice a day on Saturdays and Sundays, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Yarger’s son, Brock Yarger, is responsible for driving the boat on the tours and giving information to the passengers of the pontoon. The tour that is given leads out to the Eagle’s Nest, where two adult bald eagles and three of their children, can be found. On those tours lucky enough, the eagles can be seen swooping down to catch fish to take back to the nest.

Along the tour, the guide will give information about the 1,300-acre park to the passengers. The boat travels under the State Road 105 Bridge, showing off the graffiti written on the structure during the floods of 1993 and 2003, when the water level in the reservoir rose 32 feet. Since these floods, the reservoir has been drained every winter to send more water downstream.

The Roann Covered Bridge Festival parade will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6. The theme for the parade is Rock’n’Roll in Roann, and the Roann Lions Club is looking for participants for the parade.

Line-up will be at the old Roann School beginning at noon. You will receive information regarding the assembly area, parade route, and order of march during the week of Sept. 1.

Charley Creek Inn, an award winning boutique hotel, recently announced that it has received a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence award. The accolade, which honors hospitality excellence, is given only to establishments that consistently achieve outstanding traveler reviews on TripAdvisor, and is extended to qualifying businesses worldwide.  Establishments awarded the Certificate of Excellence are located all over the world and represent the upper echelon of businesses listed on the website.

Attention ladies! Have you ever wanted to learn to play golf? Or are you trying to take your game to the next level? The Wabash Chamber of Commerce invites you to join the Women’s Golf Clinic on July 31, at Honeywell Public Golf Course. The day consists of one-hour lessons on each of the following: short game, long game, etiquette and rules, and putting taught by women golf professionals. Our professionals to date include Tara Boone, Women’s and Men’s Golf Coach for Manchester University; Michelle Swing, Golf Pro at Pond-A-River Golf Club; and Mel Thomas, Golf Pro at Honeywell Public Golf Course. In addition to the lessons from the professionals, lunch, door prizes, and a 9-hole round of golf will be provided.