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Student council fund-raiser turns HNHS parking lot into art canvas

Katie Paolillo, an incoming senior at Huntington North High School, puts the finishing touches on her own personalized parking spot in the HNHS student parking lot Friday, July 28. This is the first year that senior students can reserve a spot and paint it. So far, the student council has sold 69 spaces, raising $1,380.
Photo by Rebecca Sandlin

Originally published Aug. 3, 2017.

It seems everybody likes the idea that incoming seniors who reserve a parking space at Huntington North High School can paint their space in a creative way. It’s the first year the school has allowed the painting of the reserved spaces, serving as a fund-raiser for student council.

A photo of a painted spot posted on the high school’s Facebook page has already received more than 330 “likes” – from the likes of fellow students, teachers and even Huntington Mayor Brooks Fetters.

Old-fashioned milk shakes still a big hit at county’s 4-H fair

Taking advantage of the calm before the storm on Thursday, July 20, Kathy Blinn readies a milk shake machine to churn out hundreds of cold and creamy treats for visitors to the Huntington County 4-H Fair.
Photo by Cindy Klepper.

Originally published July 24, 2017.

Mix 1,500 gallons of ice cream with a few hundred gallons of milk, toss in some chocolate syrup, and what do you get?

New pens for the goat barn.

That’s after you serve hundreds and hundreds of milk shakes.

Shakes that have developed such a following that the line to order one sometimes snakes clear across the Huntington County Fairgrounds.

Peer supporters help local responders deal with tough calls

Huntington firefighter Jason Meier (right) works with firefighters (from left) Andrew Wust and George Markou to fold a hose onto a fire truck. Meier is executive director of the newly organized Indiana Public Safety Peer Support, which offers a listening ear to anyone involved in public service.
Photo by Cindy Klepper.

Originally published July 17, 2017.

You may think the firefighter freeing your loved one from a mangled vehicle is a god.

He’s not.

Neither are the dispatcher who sent him out, or the police officer or the emergency medical technician also working the scene.

Sure, sometimes they go back to work unscathed and wait for the next call.

But sometimes that horrible thing that just happened eats at them.

“We’ve had some pretty tough hits on the fire department,” says Huntington Firefighter Jason Meier.

Pair of Mustangs at Rolling into Roanoke come with happy ending

Steve Federspiel (left), of Roanoke, stands beside his 2016 Shelby Mustang GT350 while Blake Caley, of Markle, stands beside his 1967 Shelby Mustang GT350. Tony Cotterman, of Fort Wayne, won the cars in a national contest in March, but was unable to drive them due to a physical disability. Federspiel and Caley stepped up and purchased the cars from Cotterman for more money than the contest’s cash prize alternative. Both vehicles and all three men will be at this year’s Rolling into Roanoke car show on Saturday, July 22. Photo by Steve Clark.
Photo by Steve Clark.

Tony Cotterman was surprised when he won a pair of Ford Mustangs in a contest earlier this year.

What’s even more surprising is that he almost turned them down.

Cotterman, of Fort Wayne, was awarded a 1967 Shelby Mustang GT350 and a 2016 Shelby Mustang GT350 in the Mustang Dream Giveaway. The contest, which is open to residents of the United States and beyond, is conducted annually by Dream Giveaway Promotions, an organization that raises funds for charities through prize drawings. Cotterman made a donation and entered the contest last fall.

Old house helps turn Andrews woman into ‘treasure’ finder

Sonya Harshman, of rural Andrews, shows off the collection of objects she found while using a metal detector. She has traveled to several states to enjoy her hobby, which has netted some important finds including a gold coin.
Photo by Rebecca Sandlin

Originally published July 13, 2017.

Sonya Harshman moved to Andrews about three years ago so her husband could be closer to work. But an old house located on their new property provided the inspiration to hunt for historic treasures. And, catching the “bug,” Harshman hasn’t stopped hunting.

“That’s an 1857 log cabin,” she explains. “Whenever we moved here I thought, you know, I’m going to get a detector and just see what’s out in the yard. And that was it.”

Local 12-year-old gets to hang out, share with another guy through BBBS program

Jason Meier (left) and Connor Huff hang out on the patio of the Huntington Branch of the Huntington City-Township Public Library. They discovered a mutual love of the outdoors after being matched through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program about two years ago.
Photo by Cindy Klepper.

Originally published July 10, 2017.

Connor Huff has two sisters at home, but they’re, well, girls.

He has “a whole bunch of brothers,” but they don’t live with him.

There are some other kids in his neighborhood, but they’re all younger.

Luckily for 12-year-old Connor, he has Jason.

“I actually get to hang out with another boy,” Connor says. “I actually get to talk to him.”

Like himself on bicycle, local BMX racer’s career moving along at fast rate of speed

Paul Bickel, of Huntington, stands surrounded by trophies he’s won since becoming a BMX racer a year ago. While the 22-year-old travels around the country to races, he also works to raise the sport’s profile in Huntington, having helped build the new BMX track in Yeoman Park.
Photo by Steve Clark.

Originally published July 6, 2017.

Paul Bickel moves fast on a bicycle.

As a result, his career in bicycle motocross has moved fast, too.

Bickel, a Huntington native, has competed in over 50 events. He’s raced in places as far-flung as Australia. He’s upped his proficiency from intermediate to expert.

And he’s done it all in just 12 months.

Not expected to make first birthday, Huntington woman beats odds again to make it to 50th year

Melissa “Myndi” Greer, who wasn’t expected to live through her first year, recently celebrated her 50th birthday.
Photo by Cindy Klepper.

Originally published July 3, 2017.

Melissa “Myndi” Greer threw a party on June 25 to celebrate her 50th birthday.

She was also celebrating beating the odds — again.

Doctors told her parents that their newborn wouldn’t see her first birthday; then they told her she wouldn’t live through her teenage years; then they said she’d be lucky to see 30.

“Now, the doctor says, ‘You’re going to live as long as you want,’” she says.

Greer has the most severe form of osteogenesis imperfecta — brittle bones that break easily, and frequently.

Four area girls form friendship of gold bonded by scouting

Four Girl Scouts in Troop 20083 have been in scouting together since Daisies, continuing through to the uppermost Ambassadors level. They are (from left) Grace Moser, Shania Brown, Lily Sabinske and Olivia Bowman. Their career as scouts will end in September, but they say they will continue as friends.
Photo by Rebecca Sandlin

Originally published June 29, 2017.

The Girl Scouts have a song that goes, “Make new friends, but keep the old; one is silver and the other is gold.”

In 2004, four little girls in Markle decided to join Daisies, the youngest level of Girl Scouts, when they were in kindergarten.

Thirteen years later, the girls — now high school graduates and headed to college — have forged a friendship of gold together bonded by scouting.

Local resident earns induction into worldwide chefs’ group

Chef Jeff Albertson, a Huntington resident and chair of the hospitality administration program at the Fort Wayne campus of Ivy Tech Community College, is one of two Ivy Tech chefs to be inducted into Disciples Escoffier International USA.
Photo provided.

Originally published June 26, 2017.

The name Georges Auguste Escoffier isn’t one that makes it into everyday conversation.

But everyone who eats owes a debt to Escoffier, says Jeff Albertson, one of the French chef’s newest disciples.

Albertson, a hometown chef who chairs the hospitality administration program at the Fort Wayne campus of Ivy Tech Community College, was one of two Ivy Tech chefs to be inducted into Disciples Escoffier International USA during a recent food tour in France and Germany.

New group in county helping women to feel more confident behind the trigger of a gun

Under the watchful eye of The Well Armed Woman leader/instructor Alysha Wilson (left), Jo Ann Reed, of Andrews, practices taking aim at a target at the outdoor range at Hillside Shooting Sports, in Roanoke. The club had its first Roanoke chapter meeting on June 15.
Photo by Rebecca Sandlin

Originally published June 22, 2017.

As a nurse, Huntington resident Alysha Wilson found herself working in some very unsavory neighborhoods in Fort Wayne.

Jenny Eversman, a Fort Wayne resident, was fearful for her young family when her husband was away at work.

Both women found a way to deal with their trepidations and now have formed a new club in Huntington County to help other women become confident behind the trigger.

Salvation Army going back to its past to serve original ‘doughnut girl’ treats at HD balloon fest

Huntington native and Salvation Army officer Helen Purviance became known as the original “doughnut girl” after frying the treats for World War I soldiers serving on the front lines in France in 1917.
Photo provided.

Originally published June 12, 2017.

Helen Purviance was 28 when she gained fame as the “doughnut girl” of World War I.

The Huntington native, then an ensign with The Salvation Army, was ministering to soldiers on the front lines in France in 1917 when she and a friend surprised the men with freshly-fried treats.

A century later, the doughnuts are coming back to Huntington, served up freshly made by Salvation Army Capt. Dennis Marak and his crew using Purviance’s original recipe.

Naturalist blends history, acting, with passion for native plants

Salamonie Lake Interpretive Naturalist Laura Whiteleather, as Millie the pioneer granny doctor, forages for some plants to add to her basket of wild herbs used to treat illnesses and maladies such as poison ivy. Whiteleather has been giving her presentation for the past nine years.
Photo by Rebecca Sandlin

Originally published June 8, 2017.

The story goes, she rode along with her family from Pennsylvania, traveling in a canvas-covered wagon to the frontier known as Indiana – the “Land of the Indians.”

It was the early 1840s, and Millie was a pioneer woman in a rough, new, unforgiving country.

Although time has made her appear a bit older, in her long pioneer dress and frilly bonnet, Millie is only about 9 years old – a fictional character made up by Laura Whiteleather.

UTEC worker shifts to Plan B ... with a technology twist

Steve Mitchell shows how his 3-D printer lays a thin layer of plastic at a time to make the fidget spinners he is creating with the machine.
Photo by Rebecca Sandlin

Originally published June 5, 2017.

When Steve Mitchell learned he was going to lose his job as a surface mount technician at United Technologies Electronic Controls in Huntington, his world was in for a major shift. After working there 23 years and close to retirement age, he needed to kick in Plan B.

“They decided to move to Mexico; I don’t really have a choice,” Mitchell says. “My family is here; that’s where I belong.”