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The
MEGAPHONE
Elwood, Indiana Elwood High School(s)
Volume 8, No. 1 Monday, January 1, 2007
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Contents
-- Page numbers are active links --
Page 1 . . . In and Around Your Hometown -- Nancy Sumner
Page 2 . . . Panther Den Birthday & Anniversary Calendar -- Nancy Sumner (Our Calendar Girl)
Numb3rs -- Fuzzy Logik
Page 3 . . . Ugly Trees -- Diane (Usfo) Peters
I Still Believe in Santa, Do You? --
Deborah (Bozell) Donahue
Page 4 . . . Elwood's Finest Hour -- Dick Cleaver
Page 5 . . . Snow Angels -- Karen (Stine) Hollies
Old Swimmin' Holes -- R. Beeman
Page 6 . . . What You Find When You Are Not Looking! -- Nancy Sumner
Page 7 . . . The Tub -- Julie (Stout) Crim
Page 8 . . . Ten Seasons -- Jane Ann (Seright) Lemen
Guess What?!! -- Louise (Mountcastle) Romine
In and Around Your Hometown
by Nancy Sumner
Time and Newsweek do it! People Magazine and "O, The Oprah Magazine" do it! Newspapers and television stations do it too! So… why not me?
"In and Around Your Hometown … 2006: A Year In Review!"
The first column of Hometown news appeared in the March Megaphone. That issue reported on the many new stores in our area.
• Dollar General opened their doors in January. It continues to have a booming business!
• CJ’s Pet Supply is located at So. A and Anderson streets. It is still going strong.
• Young’s Country Cottage – Beautiful handcrafted items for any need.
• Key West Tanning – People go in pale skinned and come out blushed!
• Zenny’s Oriental Store – next to old Leeson’s bldg. – Zenny closed up in Nov. ; (
• Fish-Net Restaurant – near McDonalds – Closed in Nov-Dec. ; (
• Rumor mill of Hanch’s Sandwich Shop – formerly William's – Closed
April brings more positive outlook to our little hometown! New businesses and community activity are making this a busy month!
• Elwood Plaza is getting a complete face-lift! From the parking lot to the storefronts, all going through rehab! Looking great!
• A new video store is about ready to open their doors! Movie Gallery located on the east edge of town will be our latest addition to the business community.
• The Robert Palmer Institute located in the old city building is going through some major renovations to prepare for teaching seminars in the fall.
• The Elwood Main Street committee is busy making plans for the 5th Annual Memorial Day Parade and also working on bringing a farmers market to the city.
May brought other new businesses – New Day Meadery, Cattails Golf Course and a newly renamed restaurant called Roby’s Grill! The New Day Meadery makes wine from honey! Cattails is now a public golf course, formerly the Elwood Country Club. And, Roby’s Grill, that’s the name on the sign of Elwood’s famous onionburgers!
June brought class reunions and many classmates to our fair city. One of the best reunions was our annual Denstock!
In July, the Elwood Farmers Market was in full swing. With any new adventure, it will take some time to build, but the first year venture was deemed a great success! Randall Hall, owner of the Opera House, was able to find contractors to clean the exterior brick of the building! Not long after that was complete, new awnings covered the windows and doorways of the beautiful building! The Elwood Pipe Creek Historical Society was presented with a prestigious Indiana Historic Landmarks award for its work in the marketing and selling of the old domed city building to Robert Palmer Institute.
August brought more revitalization to our business community. The Carnegie Library became Updegraff’s Furniture Store Annex! I was amazed at the transformation from what was once an old stuffy library to something new and refreshed! It worked and they continued to expand into used appliances. But with most good things, this too fell through. Problems with the building’s heating system forced a location change in December. The new location is the former Skel-Gas building just east of Blair Florist’s on the far east side.
September brought a new addition to Callaway Park. With donations from Delta Theta Tau Sorority a new covered bridge spans Duck Creek on 20th street. It is beautiful! New technology brought Smell-a-Veggie to your computer screens. Just in time for the pack season at Red Gold!
October and November were pretty quiet months at home. Nothing much going on except for the little Panthers practicing their football maneuvers. November was a month for reflections on the veterans. Many letters to the Den telling of personal experiences.
In December, the lead story was on the Elwood Festival of Lights as shown in Callaway Park. Also it was announced that two more historical buildings will meet the wrecking ball in the very near future! The two are so damaged and deteriorated that repair is not being considered. The buildings are at 111 & 113 South Anderson streets. Demolition should start in the very near future.
111 & 113 So. Anderson Street
111 -- at one time Allen's Shoe Store & 113 -- at one time the Fashion Shoppe
Well this has been quite a year for our little town! But the best part of the year has been YOU! Time magazine even called YOU person of the year! How proud you must feel!
Changes have also occurred here in the Den. In June, we finally pulled the plug on SmartGroups... aka... DumbGroups and set up a new location with Yahoo!Groups. Because I don’t want to jinx it… I’ll not say anything else on the subject!! The first posting came through on June 4, 2006, at 7:26 in the evening. Since then there have been over 1525 messages sent for your reading enjoyment! Our membership numbers have reached 213!
And Dewey Smith reigns as "King" of the messages with over 300! If you are interested in how many messages you might have sent, go to our groups Yahoo! site and under messages, type in your name to search. I only have 164.
King Dewey
Well, that about does it for this issue. It has been quite a busy year! Keep those messages coming and sign-up a friend too!
Sincerely,
Your Hometown Reporter,
Nancy Sumner
Elwood, IN