Cause for house Hikes offered by Tigers, Knights explosion found Limberlost naturalist pick up big wins Area State Entertainment Guide Page 3 Sports Page 6 Good Morning! The News-Bannerwww.News-Banner.com SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2020 BLUFFTON, INDIANA • Wells County’s Hometown Connection $1.00 City may rethink banners By DAVE SCHULTZ his office. “I’m concerned about safety for Mayor John Whicker would really like the workers.” to get Bluffton out of the Main Street ban- Whicker has brought up the matter to ner business — particularly at the busiest the Board of Public Works and Safety, intersection in town. where he has one of the three votes. He Crews from Bluffton Utilities’ Electric wanted to give his two fellow Board of Department have hung banners promot- Works members, Scott Mentzer and Roger ing various community activities — most Thornton, some time to think about it. recently, the Kehoe Summer Concert Mentzer was not present last Tuesday Series — across Main Street/Ind. 1. The and Thornton will not be present this com- banners are put up just north of Wabash ing Tuesday, so any kind of a decision will Street, which is one of the busiest intersec- be delayed until at least Sept. 22. tions in town — if not the busiest. There have been proposals to placing The way it’s done is that the lift truck the banner elsewhere, perhaps a little fur- is parked in the middle of Main Street. A ther south on Main Street to get away from worker goes up in a basket and attaches the downtown traffic. The problem, he said, is banner as cars go around the truck. that there are trees along South Main Street Whicker, who has been mayor since which will make hanging the banner dif- A Bluffton Utilities employee removes the banner that promoted the Kehoe Summer Concert January, is bothered by the safety factor. ficult and make viewing it even more dif- Series on Aug. 31, two days after the final concert of the season. Mayor John Whicker wants to “Drivers are just so distracted these ficult. eliminate the banners because of safety concerns for employees. The truck is in the middle of days,” he said in an interview this week in (Continued on Page 2) Main Street just north of Wabash Street, a busy place for traffic. (Photo by Dave Schultz) Experts: New OxyContin hasn’t curbed overdoses By MATTHEW PERRONE AP Health Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — A panel of government health advisers said Friday there’s no clear evidence that a harder- to-crush version of the painkiller OxyContin designed to discourage abuse actually resulted in fewer overdoses or deaths. The conclusion from the Food and Drug Administra- tion advisory panel comes more than a decade after Purdue Pharma revamped its blockbuster opioid, which has long been blamed for sparking a surge in painkiller abuse begin- ning in the 1990s. In a series of non-binding votes, the FDA experts said that the updated OxyContin appeared to cut down abuse via snorting and injecting, compared to the original drug. But panelists overwhelmingly ruled that data from Purdue and other researchers did not show that the reformulation curbed abuse overall or led to fewer overdoses. Above, Steve Abbett, an eighth-grade Language Arts teacher, focuses on virtual students for a moment during his lecture on Sept. 2. Below, Amy Rusu, sixth-grade writing teacher, asks virtual students to give her a thumbs up if they Panelists said the shortcomings were due, in part, to the understand the assignment. Bluffton-Harrison Middle School teachers now each have a period for just virtual students challenges of studying overdoses, which often involve mul- separately from traditional classes. Additional photo, Page 2. (Photos by Devan Filchak) tiple drugs. “I think it’s very difficult to tease out cause of death and overdose,” said Dr. Lewis Nelson of Rutgers University. “Overall, I think the quality of evidence was fairly poor.” A new way The long-acting OxyContin tablets can still be misused by simply swallowing them, which remains the most fre- quent route among those with opioid addiction. The FDA will consider the group’s opinions as it weighs of learning (Continued on Page 2) and teaching Poll: Pandemic takes BHMSD addresses education challenges of 2020-21 school toll on mental health year with virtual option of younger adults • Part 1 of 3 assignment. Then another distraction appeared. By DEVAN FILCHAK “Your puppy is very cute, but we have to work on By CHEYANNE Tracking Study conducted As Amy Rusu addressed her sixth-grade writing stu- our assignment now,” Rusu said to a virtual student. MUMPHREY and by NORC at the University dents, her eye contact shifted back and forth between This was a common reality at BHMS until this past JENNIFER SINCO of Chicago. Twenty-five the students sitting in front of her and a laptop she had week. All Bluffton-Harrison Metropolitan School Dis- KELLEHER percent of young adults rate set up on a stool in the front of the classroom. trict schools are doing real-time virtual teaching along- Associated Press their mental health as fair or Her classroom at Bluffton-Harrison Middle School side their traditional in-person instruction due to the PHOENIX (AP) — The poor, compared with 13 per- looks a little different than in past years. All of the stu- ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, the elemen- coronavirus pandemic has cent of older adults, while dents sit in straight lines down the front-facing rows tary and high school classrooms typically have only a taken a harsh toll on the 56 percent of older adults of desks, and there is about three feet of space down few virtual students in their classes, if that. mental health of young say their mental health is each aisle. Many of the students had face masks around The middle school has averaged between 15 and 20 Americans, according to a excellent or very good, com- their necks or on their desks, and they were asked to virtual students in each grade so far this school year, new poll that finds adults pared with just 39 percent of wear those masks when they get up from their desks to according to Principal Rick Mettler. For that reason under 35 especially likely to young adults. In the midst of sharpen pencils or to go to the restrooms. and due to the potential for more students going virtual report negative feelings or the pandemic, young adults While there were around 20 students sitting in front through quarantines, Mettler reworked the students’ experience physical or emo- are navigating life transi- of her, Rusu was actually teaching around 40 students scheduled so that each teacher now has one class peri- tional symptoms associated tions such as starting college at one time. On Sept. 2, there were 21 virtual students od specifically set to work with just their online stu- with stress and anxiety. and finding jobs, all without listening in and following along with the lesson from dents. A majority of Americans being able to experience their computers at home. “That’s ideally the way I would have done it from ages 18 through 34 — 56 normal social activities that might be especially essential Rusu went over the assignment relating to a Knights the beginning if I had known we were going to be percent — say they have at Code of Chivalry, and then she checked in with the vir- least sometimes felt isolated for people who are less like- between 15 and 20 kids in every grade level,” Met- ly to have already married tual students, some of whom were having a hard time tler said of the new schedule. “We’re trying to make in the past month, compared opening multiple tabs in their web browsers for the (Continued on Page 2) with about 4 in 10 older and started their own fami- Americans, according to lies. Some young people are the latest COVID Response (Continued on Page 2) Inside Outside Online How to contact us: Call us: 824-0224 Local/Area or 1-800-579-7476 Follow us on Facebook! Obituaries . 3 Fax us: 824-0700 Police Notebook . .3 Go to www.facebook.com/ newsbanner [email protected] ————— On the Web: Opinion The mix of sun, clouds Place Your Classified $$ 9898 www.news-banner.com Saturday Sub . 4 and rain continues Ads 24/7 $ 98/LB./LB. Follow us at: /LB. Today Sunday Monday 1 twitter.com/newsbanner Vol. 91 No. 266 1 Also... High 82 High 78 High 75 1 Honeycrisp Apples Sports . 6-7 Low 63 Low 54 Low 48 Honeycrisp Apples Apples Classifieds . 8 SATURDAY September 12, 2020 410 N. METTS ST • OSSIAN, IN • Price valid until 9/16 Diversions . 9 More Weather on Page 2 410410 N. METTSN. METTS ST • STOSSIAN, • OSSIAN, IN • Price IN valid • Priceuntil 9/16 valid until 9/16 Page 2 • The News-Banner • SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2020 LOCAL/NATION Weather Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020 (24-hour observations at 8:15 p.m. Friday) High: 72; Low: 58; Precipitation: None Wabash River Level (at the Main Street bridge): 2 . 01 feet at 7:45 p .m . Friday . Wells County forecast Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 82. East wind around 5 mph becoming south in the afternoon. Saturday Night: A slight chance of showers before 9 p.m., then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 63. Southwest wind around 5 mph.