Maintaining Wayne County’s legal drains comes with more and more costs. Projects are necessary to keep water flowing smoothly, but excavation costs have skyrocketed when work is needed. With that in mind, Gordon Moore, the county surveyor, proposed raising drainage assessments for nine watersheds. Wayne County’s commissioners approved the 25% increases during their Feb. 12 […]
Author Archives: Mike Emery
Mike Emery is a reporter and layout editor for the Western Wayne News.
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Health department finalizes agreements with partners
The Wayne County Health Department has finalized agreements with two community partners to provide key Health First Indiana services. The Wayne County Board of Health approved agreements with Centerstone of Indiana and with Reid Health during its Feb. 11 meeting, and Wayne County’s commissioners provided their approval Feb. 12. Both agreements use the health department’s […]
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Fireworks business fizzles with BZA ruling
Esteb Road residents enjoy their quiet neighborhood and its pastoral landscapes. Those speaking Feb. 13 before the Wayne County Board of Zoning Appeals said that does not include shipping containers storing fireworks and tractor-trailer delivery trucks rumbling up their road. And the BZA protected their lifestyle. BZA members voted 4-0 to deny a variance of […]
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Step to save Starr neighborhood history
Fifty years ago, Richmond’s Starr neighborhood was considered one of the best-preserved areas of Victorian-era neighborhoods in the Midwest. Since then, it’s deteriorated to the point it’s been a repeat entry on Indiana Landmarks’ 10 Most Endangered list. Bill Bunch, the executive director of the Wayne County Historical Museum, visited the Jan. 10 Historic Preservation […]
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Judge considers dismissal arguments
A former Richmond Sanitary District worker accused of stealing more than $800,000 from sanitary district deposits and her attorney argue that she was not a public servant performing an official function in her role depositing cash collected through sanitary district transactions. Jennifer Wilson, 48, and her attorney Lisa Rosenberger argued Feb. 12 before Superior Court […]
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Common Council girds itself for blight fight
As Richmond Fire Department chief, Jerry Purcell knew the danger boarded windows on vacant houses posed for firefighters. He began working on a shuttering ordinance to remedy the situation. Now, as a Richmond Common Council member, Purcell has presented an ordinance that amends the city’s unsafe building code for council consideration. On Feb. 10, council […]
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Auditor pleads not guilty to 2 charges
Wayne County Auditor Mark Hoelscher pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor counts of intimidation during a Feb. 11 initial hearing in Superior Court 3. Special Judge Matthew Cox of Union County informed Hoelscher, 77, of his rights and special prosecutor Jason Ray, also of Union County, read the charges against Hoelscher during the five-minute hearing. […]
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Amended food and beverage tax bill raises county concern
Richmond’s pursuit of a food and beverage tax has switched from Indiana’s House to the Senate, and it now directly impacts Wayne County and other county towns. Food and beverage tax requests from Richmond, Marion and Shipshewana have been combined into Senate Bill 304. State Rep. Brad Barrett, a Richmond Republican representing District 56, authored […]
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Sheriff proposes way to fill jail staff
Sheriff Randy Retter needs six more jail deputies, and he presented Wayne County Council with a creative approach to filling those positions. During council’s Feb. 6 meeting, Retter explained that hiring trained jail deputies is difficult. Deputies are usually promoted from civilian corrections officers trained by jail staff. With that in mind, Retter proposed hiring […]
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Despite hurricane, RP&L reliability exceeds 99.9%
Squirrels posed a problem for Richmond Power & Light during 2024. So did trees. Those are normal issues causing outages each year, but Hurricane Helene was an anomaly that impacted RP&L’s service the most last year. General Manager Tony Foster reported to the RP&L board, which is comprised of Richmond Common Council members, the utility’s […]