'We Dodged a Bullet'
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West Nile found in Virus antibody drugs Mahnensmith three counties tested for treatment commits to BSU Area State Page 2 Page 3 Sports Page 1a The News-Bannerwww.News-Banner.com THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2020 BLUFFTON, INDIANA • Wells County’s Hometown Connection $1.00 ‘We dodged a bullet’ Monday storm did more damage outside of northeast Indiana From AP, staff reports and three-quarter hours,” Operations Man- While areas across the country are still ager Jon Oman said Wednesday afternoon. dealing with power outages after Monday It is obvious that Iowa and Indiana bore afternoon’s derecho, the numbers in north- the brunt of the storm. As of Wednesday east Indiana reveal how much less of a afternoon, hundreds of thousands of house- problem the storm was here than it was else- holds in those two states remained without where. electricity. As of Wednesday afternoon, all of the The storm devastated parts of the power 1,600 Heartland REMC customers who lost grid and flattened corn fields throughout power Monday evening were back online. the Midwest. Bill Horan, Purdue Extension Heartland, which has 5,288 customers in educator for agriculture and natural resourc- Wells County and 17,781 in its three-county es in Wells County, said Wednesday that he service area, restored the last of its custom- had not heard of any significant damage to ers at approximately 6 a.m. Wednesday. crops in Wells County. Indiana Michigan Power still had 343 At Purdue’s request, Horan sent out an outages in its Fort Wayne service area as email to some farmers Wednesday afternoon Wells County experienced a derecho Monday evening and the straight-line wind damage pic- of 1:25 p.m. Wednesday. The utility’s web- asking for damage reports. One reply came tured above could be seen at Silo Farms mobile home park north of Ossian. (Photo by Glen site did not break down how many of the back quickly: “We dodged a bullet. We had Werling) remaining power outages may be in Wells minor wind damage and some nice rain.” dle away from drought conditions. sho”) — defined as a widespread, long- County. Horan said the county’s status for rainfall The National Weather Service office lived wind storm — produced more than As for Bluffton Utilities, the calculations is currently listed as “unusually dry.” The for northern Indiana in North Webster said 50 reports of wind speeds over 58 miles per were simple: “Four customers, out for one rain that fell Monday helped move that nee- Monday’s derecho (pronounced “de-ray- (Continued on Page 2) Local COVID-19 6% of Southern Wells goes online By DEVAN FILCHAK our parents so they knew, if program before, but Edmen- Southern Wells Community they chose the online option, tum has since created a suit- Schools has the smallest percentage what they were signing up able program for elementary cases rise to 176 of students who are using the online for. Throughout this process, students as well. By JESSICA BRICKER learning option this fall, which wasn’t we’ve just been very open in Sloan said Edmentum is Wells County has 176 cases of COVID-19 as of offered to all students until the state- saying, ‘This is what it is, “self-directed with paren- Wednesday. wide mask mandate was announced. and this is what it isn’t,’” tal input.” Online students County Health Department Deputy Administrator Schools have been making changes Sloan said. won’t have a teacher at the Marlene Hoag said Wednesday afternoon the updated to their opening plans gradually after One thing Sloan wanted school. Instead, each school count includes some of the same continuing observa- the restrictions and warnings surround- to be the clearest to those has a staff member who will tions: Multiple cases in the same household and posi- ing the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to parents is that the online be the point of contact for tive cases of varying ages. The last count released was Gov. Eric Holcomb announcing the learning option will be dif- Brian Sloan students having technologi- 155 county residents on Aug. 6. statewide face mask mandate on July ferent from the eLearning cal and curriculum issues. As of Wednesday more than 2,870 county resi- 22, Southern Wells students could only students did in the spring. Teachers Another point Sloan wanted to drive dents have been tested, which means that about 6.1 choose the online option with a note were able to focus solely on eLearning home at the meeting is that students percent of those who have been tested have tested from a doctor or a physician. in the spring when schools closed, and will need to commit to doing online positive. The age group most impacted remains 50 to Superintendent Brian Sloan said that isn’t the case now. learning for the entire first semester, if 59 at 20.8 percent of the cases with the second-high- a small committee was tasked with “What I wanted the parents to know that is the option they choose. est affected group being ages 60 to 69 at 16.9 percent. quickly researching various methods and understand is with us going back Sloan said the curriculums will More than 56 percent of those testing positive in of online learning so that a decision to live in-person for most of our fami- “align to a degree.” the county are females. could be made. Southern Wells then lies, I can’t have a teacher do in-person “We will have frequent check ins As in-person classwork and sports resume, Hoag held a mandatory meeting for parents learning all day and then switch and do with those doing online learning and also said local health officials continue to work with of students who were interested in the an online curriculum as well,” he said. then if they choose to join us (in-per- school officials as they navigate the state regulations online learning method on Aug. 3. Southern Wells online students are son) in the second semester, we will that are in place. Sloan said about 60 people attended. doing their schooling on a program of course do anything we can to assess [email protected] “We were very intentional and called Edmentum. Some middle and any gaps,” he said. wanted to be very transparent with high school students have used the (Continued on Page 2) Apparent poll worker shortage not a Wells County issue By DAVE SCHULTZ polls were fully staffed for the pri- that’s the demographic considered “I haven’t heard from anyone time. An apparent shortage of poll mary election, which was delayed most at risk when it comes to con- that they won’t be back,” Davis Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. workers across the nation prior to four weeks, from May 5 until June tracting COVID-19. Davis estimat- said this week. “I would expect, 3. The county’s five vote centers the Nov. 3 general election thus far 2, because of the COVID-19 pan- ed in the past that 50 to 60 percent unless they are traveling, they will are usually open the Thursday and hasn’t been a problem for Wells demic. Davis expects that to be the of the Wells County poll workers be back.” Friday before the official Elec- County election officials. case in the run-up to the November have been 60 years of age or older. Finding poll workers is some- tion Day, which would be Oct. 29 Then again, as Beth Davis says, election. As of now, however, Davis thing that the two parties’ chairmen and 30 this year. There will also be it’s early. The pandemic has produced the anticipates that most of the primary do, and Zach Rodgers and Jake early voting in the Wells County Davis is the Wells County clerk shortage of poll workers nationally. workers will be back. She hasn’t Reineck of the county’s Republican Courthouse prior to Election Day and part of her responsibilities Statistically, poll workers tend to be heard of anyone who is concerned and Democratic parties, respective- as well. include overseeing elections. The older, often retired, citizens — and about returning. ly, are checking with people at this [email protected] Gov. Holcomb backs delay to For those waiting on virus possible school funding cuts By TOM DAVIES in the state money going to this year is all about.” aid, no new relief in sight Associated Press school districts. Indiana health officials By LISA MASCARO ture,” saying the Trump administration INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Holcomb said that would on Wednesday reported 17 AP Congressional Correspondent is still refusing to meet them halfway. — Indiana’s public schools give assurances to school more coronavirus-related WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans Congressional Republicans are largely would be assured of full state officials that decisions to deaths, increasing to 3,086 counting on emergency coronavirus aid sitting out the talks. funding for the rest of this hold only online classes to the number of people in from Washington may have to wait until “The White House is not budging,” year under a plan announced stem the spread of coronavi- Indiana who have died with fall. Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint state- by the governor Wednesday rus infections would not deal confirmed or presumed Negotiations over a new virus relief ment. to sidestep a warning from a blow to their finances. coronavirus infections since package have all but ended, with the With the House and Senate essen- a top fellow Republican that “Ideally, we want them mid-March.