Marilyn Rose Ferrari, of Valparaiso, longtime Chesterton area resident, died
Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2005 at her home. She was 71.
She was born March 6, 1934 in Marion Heights, Pa., the daughter of Paul and
Mary Molesevich, both preceded.
On Sept. 18, 1954 in Marion Heights, Pa. she married Peter J. Ferrari Jr.
who survives in Valparaiso.
She is also survived by children, Dr. Peter (Linda) Ferrari III, Debbie (RN)
(Jeffrey) Bachman, Dr. Michael (Tammy) Ferrari, all of Valparaiso; seven
grandchildren, Peter Ferrari, IV, (Laura) Ferrari, Curt Bachman, Nick
Bachman, Jeffrey Bachman, Makayla Ferrari, Nichole Barnett; two
great-grandchildren; a sister, Julia (Edward) Yablonski of Va., brother,
Joseph (Pat) Molesevich of Md.
She was also preceded in death by a son, Paul Ferrari II in 1986.
Marilyn was a member of St. Pat’s since 1960 and was co-owner and operator
of Station House Pottery, Chesterton, over 10 years.
A Mass of Christian Burial, Fr. James Meade officiating, will be at 11 a.m.
Saturday, Nov. 5 at St. Patrick’s Church, 638 N. Calumet Rd., Chesterton.
Interment will be at Chesterton Cemetery.
The Family will receive friends from 2-8 p.m. Friday, with Rosary at 7 p.m.
at White-Love Funeral Home, 525 S. Second St., Chesterton. Memorials in
memory of Marilyn may be given to St. Pat’s school which played a major role
in shaping her family.
Visclosky bill endorsed by military groups
Three national military organizations have endorsed a bill authored by U.S.
Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-1st, which would expand the educational opportunities
for members of the Armed Forces.
According to a statement released on Wednesday by Visclosky’s office, the
Air Force Association, the Non-Commissioned Officers Association, and the
Air Force Sergeants Association have all pledged their support for
Visclosky’s Montgomery GI Bill Second Chance Act, which would make it easier
for soldiers to receive educational benefits under the Montgomery GI Bill.
“The men and women in our Armed Forces make great sacrifices to serve our
country,” Visclosky said. “We need to offer our troops flexibility when it
comes to making decisions about their future, and I am truly grateful that
these military organizations are joining the effort to expand educational
opportunities for the brave individuals serving in our Armed Forces.”
Under the current law, military personnel who initially decline to
participate in the Montgomery GI Bill’s educational benefits do not have
another opportunity to opt in to the program. Visclosky’s bill would allow
military personnel who do opt out initially to sign up during an “open
season” held every year in October. Military personnel who enrolled through
the Second Chance Act would pay the same $100 monthly fee for 12 months,
without assessing any penalties, just as those who already take advantage of
the program. The Montgomery GI Bill provides up to $28,800 toward continuing
education for military veterans.
Bayh blasts Pentagon waste
U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., joined Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., to blast the
Pentagon in the wake of reports of wasteful spending.
In a letter to the Director of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Bayh and
Clyburn demand a response to a recent Knight Ridder investigation which
found “outrageous overspending at the Pentagon, including spending $20 for
an 89 cent ice cube tray,” according to a statement released by Bayh’s
office on Wednesday.
“This kind of reckless spending is a perfect example of government waste,”
Bayh said. “It is especially inexcusable in light of our current budget
situation and our continued efforts to provide our troops with much-needed
equipment in Iraq. Wasteful spending is bad enough, but during a time of
war, it literally becomes a matter of life and death, and it must be
stopped.”
In October, the statement said, the Seattle Times and several other
newspapers across the paper ran articles based on a Knight Ridder
investigation detailing millions of dollars in overspending by the Pentagon
department charged with purchasing food-related items. “The article pointed
to a new prime-vendor purchasing system as the main cause for the
overspending and noted that the new program has cost taxpayers 20 percent
more than the old system for items such as coffee makers and ice cube trays.
Under the new system, the Pentagon purchases from middle-men who set the
prices for goods, instead of buying directly from manufacturers or seeking
competitive bids, results in overcharges such as the $81 bill for a $20
coffee maker.”
“With every $20 ice tray, the Pentagon throws away money that could be used
to purchase body armor or other equipment for our troops,” Bayh said. “We
owe it to them and the American taxpayers to correct this problem as soon as
possible.”
Annual St Patrick event is holiday tradition
Get a jump-start on your holiday shopping at the St. Patrick School Winter
Market featuring a wide array of local and regional merchants, artisans and
craftsmen --more than 25 vendors in total.
Generously underwritten by local Realtor Elizabeth F. Quilter, the Winter
Market will be held Saturday, Nov. 12, in the St. Patrick School gymnasium,
640 N. Calumet Rd., from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Winter Market is a juried market and vendors applied for a limited
number of spots, assuring quality products and unique items.
Red Cup Cafe will be offering box lunches. A choice of ham, turkey or roast
beef with a side of Terra chips and a homemade cookie will be offered.
Children may choose peanut butter and jelly or cheese sandwich with chips
and a cookie.
Scones and muffins will also be available in the morning along with regular
and flavored coffees.
Blue Eyed Girl, of Chesterton, and Butterfly Kisses, of Valparaiso, will
present a fashion show featuring seasonal adult and children’s clothing at
10 a.m. and 2 p.m., modeled by St. Patrick School students.
Santa Claus will attend the event and will be available for photos with
children and shoppers between 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. There will also be a
50/50 raffle.
Merchants will include Bit of Swiss Bakery, Poooj, Polish Pottery, Turtles
and Whales, Mad Dog Cookie Co. (all from Chesterton’s European Market).
Also, AVON, Pampered Chef, Close to My Heart, DivAccessories, Creative
Memories, Hidden Treasures, Ava’s Boutique (girls hair bows, keepsakes and
communion veils), Tastefully Simple, Home Interiors, Sweet Gestures
(personalized favors) and more.
Air Line Railroad brought electric train service to Chesterton nearly 100
years ago
Trestle approaching Coffee Creek
Air Line passenger station at Woodville Junction in Liberty Township
“Profits beyond calculation” and “Chicago to New York in ten hours” were the
promises to prospective investors in a page ad in the Chicago Tribune on
July 8, 1906. The Chicago- New York Electric Air Line Railroad was the brain
child of Alexander C. Miller who envisioned tracks straight as an arrow,
grades no more than 1/2 of one percent, practically no curves and no grade
crossings.
Stock was offered at $25 a share and by the winter of 1906-1907 there were
15,000 investors and $2,000,000 in the bank.
Hugh Hopkins has done exhaustive research on the Air Line and, assisted by
Joan Costello, told the story to the Duneland Historical Society at the
Library Service Center on Thursday, October 20 following the society’s fall
dinner catered by Popolano’s.
Bound volumes of Air Line News belonging to Rita and Wade Newman along with
information from the LaPorte Historical Society collection and articles in
the Vidette Messenger, Chesterton Tribune and old train magazines were
sources used in the study.
The Air Line News was published monthly from October 1906 until April 1913.
It was edited by Charles P. Burton and included progress reports with many
pictures.
Stock Traded for Land
Jonathon D. Price put together the Co-Operative Construction Com-pany to
build the railroad and Col. Upshaw P. Hord was put to work approaching
landowners to secure rights-of-way. He would obtain 100 ft. right-of-way to
lay track across property in exchange for shares of stock.
On September 1, 1906, Miller used a silver shovel to turn the first dirt to
symbolize the beginning of construction. This was in Scipio Township in
LaPorte County. Serious excavating began in LaPorte in early 1907 with Blake
A. Mapledoren as superintendent of construction.
Also in 1907 two beautiful coaches were built by the Niles Car Works of
Niles, Ohio.
The first 5-mile segment opened June 15, 1907 between LaPorte and South
LaPorte. By June 1908 cars were run as far as Westville road (today route
421). This would be just north of where Route 2 intersects 421 today. Bus
service was used to and from Westville.
An amusement resort was established near the track in back of Door Village
about 5 miles from LaPorte called Air Line Park. On summer Sundays 1,200
passengers were carried for 10 cents for the round trip.
Valparaiso Connected
A franchise was granted by the city of Valparaiso in August 1908 for a
feeder line into the city and the Valparaiso and Northern Railway was
incorporated. Three miles of the line were completed between Valparaiso and
Flint Lake by July 4, 1910. The celebration lasted all day with three cars
carrying 6,000 passengers before it was over.
Trains on Chesterton Streets
In February 1909 Porter County Commissioners and the town of Chesterton gave
permission for the railroad to use roads for its tracks. The track was
completed to Chesterton on January 19, 1911. Pictures show the tracks on
Valparaiso Street and Main Street (now Calumet and Broadway).
The Air Line main line and the Valparaiso and Northern line intersected at a
point about where the Indiana Toll Road meets Indiana 49 today. First called
Air Line Junction, it was renamed Goodrum Junction after the biggest single
stockholder in the Air Line.
One of the biggest obstacles in the construction was the Coffee Creek fill
in the area of today’s roads 250E and 200E. It required a huge trestle, 50
feet high at its highest, and filled with earth brought from deep cuts
farther east. The finished fill was 30 feet wide at its top, 180 feet wide
at its base and about a mile long.
State Senator A. J. Bowser gave an impromptu speech about the importance of
the Air Line to Chesterton on February 18, 1911 when a car heading west from
LaPorte met a car heading east from Chesterton at countyline road to
celebrate the opening of the line between the two communities.
Gary Connection
Later that year the Gary Connecting Railway was incorporated and leased to
the Goshen, South Bend and Chicago. The Gary Connecting Railway would be the
connecting link from Gary through East Gary to Woodville. Also, in 1911 the
Valparaiso and Northern Railway completed the segment from Flint Lake to
Woodville.
In early 1913 a merger of GSB&C, Valparaiso and Northern and the Gary
Connecting Railway resulted in the Gary and Interurban Railway with
financing by the sale of bonds instead of stock.
End of the Dream
Charles Burton abruptly discontinued the Air Line News in 1913 and the idea
of a Chicago to New York direct system was given up.
For a while the Gary and Interurban did well with a handsome depot built at
Woodville junction, a more convenient station than Goodrum. (The depot
exists today, remodeled into a family home.) A world war was looming and the
Gary and Interurban defaulted in January 1915 and went into receivership.
The only true portion of the Air Line (Woodville to LaPorte) shut down in
November 1917.
The car to Chesterton continued to be a losing proposition and was
discontinued on April 30, 1922 and replaced by a bus. The interurban line
from Valparaiso and Garyton continued to run but was finally abandoned in
1938. It was a great favorite with rail fans but a failure financially. The
only profit from the enterprise was to bondholders of the Gary and
Interurban Railway. Air Line stockholders were never paid dividends.
The Duneland Historical Society will meet November 17 at the Library Service
Center at 7:30 p.m.
Park planned for new Burns Harbor subdivision
By PAULENE POPARAD
Burns Harbor Park Board members invited the developer of Harbor Trails
subdivision to attend the Dec. 7 board meeting to discuss next year building
a 1.14-acre park in that 37-acre subdivision.
The Park Board anticipates having enough money in its 2005 budget to order
some playground equipment next month but needs to know what, if anything,
the developer plans to contribute.
The 67-lot subdivision with 16 multi-family units, located east of Salt
Creek Road between U.S. 20 and Interstate 94, has nearly all lots sold. In
2003 developer Don Coker and contractor Dick Davis met with the Park Board
to hammer out details for the park as required under the town’s subdivision
control ordinance.
Chesterton Tribune records show in October, 2003 the pair agreed to increase
the park from 0.83 acres to 1.14 acres and said they would be willing to
donate approximately $5,000 in play equipment or in-kind services to help
develop the site. They also agreed to have it graded for proper drainage and
possibly to build a small parking area for a few cars when the adjacent
street is blacktopped.
At the same meeting the Harbor Trails engineer offered to help design a
possible layout for the park, but none was ever submitted to the board.
Unfortunately, “All that was informal. Nothing was ever on paper,” said Park
Director Kim Burton.
Burns Harbor Town Council member Louis Bain, present Wednesday, said the
Park Board needs to get the matter settled before developers ask to turn the
subdivision over to the town.
As of Wednesday the Park Board had $13,203 in its operating budget;
approximately $9,286 in the non-reverting fund; and $4,103 in donations.
There’s also $17,147 left in revenue from the Porter County income tax
earmarked for the Park Department, some of which had been designated for
Harbor Trails park equipment.
For some time the board also has planned to install a shelter at Shadyside
Park using some of the income-tax money, but the exact location of the park
boundaries there are being researched as well as who has title to the
parcel.
Board vice-president Dawn Ruge, chairing the meeting in the absence of
President Leann Perrine, said deciding how to spend money is a new luxury.
“How different we’re talking about spending money because just a few years
ago we had no money to spend.”
From late 2001 until 2004 the park budget was drastically cut after the
former Bethlehem Steel declared bankruptcy, stopped paying property taxes
and the town’s income fell by at least 75 percent. Finances since have
improved. This year the park’s operating budget was $43,306.
Burton was asked to present some options and costs in December for a Harbor
Trails youth play structure. The large one on the west side of Lakeland Park
cost about $17,000 but board members agreed that’s too large for a
subdivision park. Eventually, a small basketball court and shelter also
might be built at Harbor Trails.
In other business, Burton also was asked to get prices for new chairs for
the arts & crafts building at Lakeland Park. The park bought its current 20
padded chairs, which are tattered, for $4 each when Rax restaurant went out
of business in Chesterton many years ago. The arts & crafts building is
rented out for showers, parties and reunions and the Rax chairs need to be
replaced, board members agreed.
In a related matter, board member Wally Macchiarella is developing a maximum
capacity for seating and standing in the arts & crafts building based on
square footage and number of exits.
Macchiarella’s motion to have Ellis Electric install a commercial-grade,
vandal-proof light fixture with photo-cell above the main arts & crafts
building door resulted in no action when he and Ruge voted yes but member
Ron Day voted no. Three votes are needed for final action.
Day said a fixture from a home-improvement store would be sufficient,
although who would install it wasn’t determined. Burton was asked to find
out the separate costs of the fixture and the labor on the Ellis proposal.
Burton said she was advised that if the park wants to recover about $70 in
damage to her office from vandalism by a juvenile, the matter would have to
be taken to civil court. The board agreed to contact the youth’s parents
seeking restitution.
Persons renting the park shelters after Labor Day were reminded that the
portable restrooms in Lakeland Park are removed following that date so
renters may want to arrange for one-day rental of a restroom on their own.
Macchiarella offered to plow the walking path in Lakeland of snow in the
winter. Burton said people definitely would use it more if it is plowed.
It was reported Scuba Tank diving school donated $235 to the Park
Department, one of many donations through the years. The school trains in
Lakeland’s Harbor Lake and helps maintain it.
Duneland Schools get heartfelt thank you from Mississippi school
The Pearl River County school system in Mississippi has written the Duneland
Schools a letter of gratitude for the contributions made by the community in
the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The letter, written by Pearl River Superintendent of Education Dennis
Penton, begins by noting that the hurricane has been a sensational story in
the media. “The bigger story for us has been the lessons we have learned. It
was not lessons in hurricane preparedness or emergency management but the
lessons about the human spirit, true brotherhood and charity.”
Penton’s letter said that while the media has focused on negative aspects of
abuse of charity, he has seen the other side: How people who have never met
have come together to help one another. “The prospect of families helping
families is wonderful. The fact that a community at the other end of the
country would come together to help us is truly ‘American,’” he wrote.
The letter notes that Duneland Assistant Superintendent Monte Moffett,
Westchester Intermediate School Principal Tim McGinty, Chesterton High
School Principal Jim Goetz, and Duneland Athletic Director Garry Nallenweg
showed up in Mississippi “with a truck and a generous donation.”
“There have been many offers of help and many kind gestures but as the old
saying goes, ‘the proof is in the pudding.’ Duneland, Indiana is a place
that I applaud. I feel as though there is truly a community effort and a
sense of purpose that came along with the kinds of gifts that we have
received.
“This community could not have been more blessed than to have had the help
and support of your school district. The representatives that came to us on
your behalf were so very genuine and helpful that we were saddened when they
had to go. There is no greater gift than the gift you all have shown to our
school and the lives of our children,” Penton’s letter says.
The Duneland Schools “adopted” Pearl River after the hurricane. With every
school participating, students collected about 1,000 backpacks stuffed with
school supplies. Also donated were desks, books and cash donations of around
$10,000.
The Pearl River community used to have a population of about 6,000, but the
number swelled to about 35,000 after the hurricane, with households not as
impacted by the hurricane taking in many more people who sought refuge with
others.
Katsahnias home on leave from Iraq
Second Lt. Thomas Katsahnias, U.S. Army, will be home Thursday for a 16 day
leave from Iraq, where he has been stationed for eight months.
He is the son of Ted and Paula Katsahnias of Chesterton.
Friends and family are welcome to visit with Thomas at an open house from
3-6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5.
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