May 8, 1981: Planting for Mom

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on May 8, 1981.

Planting for Mom

Primary teachers and 85 students from Brummitt School in Chesterton stopped at the Samuelson Nursery Thursday on their way to lunch at the Dunes National Lakeshore. With the help of nursery owners Max and Fran Samuelson, each child planted a plant (we can’t tell what it is) for their mothers for Mother’s Day. To keep the plant a secret until Sunday, only fathers were allowed to chaperone the trip

Teacher Alma Hall uses the colorful and fragrant setting to talk to the students about the wildflowers they will hunt for at the park after lunch.

(V-M photos: Nancy Pekarek)

Nick Dailey (above) packs soil around his special plant.

(V-M photos: Nancy Pekarek)

During the tour (above) the children walked through greenhouses, saw flowers being watered, looked at various seedlings and learned how the soil is cleaned by being baked in a hopper.

(V-M photos: Nancy Pekarek)

April 30, 1981: Students take over

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on April 30, 1981.

Students take over

Taking over for Mayor Elden Kuehl (above) and taking the oath of office for sheriff (below) are two VHS students elected to one-day terms of office. Mayor-for-a-day Trent Albert reviews the city’s budget with Kuehl. Sheriff-for-a-day Todd Van Keppel is sworn in by Porter County Sheriff Tim McCarthy. Several VHS seniors will be serving in city and county offices today as part of Student Government Day sponsored by VHS government teachers and the Valparaiso Jaycees.

April 28, 1981: Marchers Olson: Sculpt it with cement

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on April 28, 1981.

Marchers Olson: Sculpt it with cement

by Mary Henrichs

Special features writer

Backyard studio

Lynn Olson believes backyards make the best sculpture studios. Here Olson pushes a mixture of cement, water and steel wool among steel wires surrounding the figure of a woman. The cement sculpture is hollow and was formed by a casting process Olson devised. In the background is a piece of Olson’s work combining cement and stained glass. Sitting on the stump is a cement model for a free-to-turn shell sculpture.

(V-M: Jay Jarrett)

Lynn Olson of Valparaiso has written a book entitled, Sculpting with Cement, “because it needed to be written.”

No literature had ever been published on the subject and Olson, who is a sculptor, predicts that “in the next decades, cement will be the common sculpture medium ー economics demand it.”

Recalling his own days as a student at the School of the Art Institute, Chicago, when he could afford only cement as his medium and when the sole instructions on its use consisted of technical engineering manuals, Olson produced the publication he would have liked to be able to read then.

Cement is the one substance most sculptors can still afford, Olson said. Materials for a 17-by-14-inch four legged animal made with cement and wire underpinning cost about $15 whereas a bronze casting would have been almost $1,000.

Working in his backyard studio, Lynn Olson burnishes a cement sculpture. The piece is built on a chicken wire base, reinforced with steel rods, fashioned from a sand-cement mixture shoved among wires and finished with a coating of fiber cement.

(V-M: Jay Jarrett)

Marble is very costly; plastics are expensive and the exhaust fans and other equipment needed to use them safely are even higher; clay and plaster are cheap but not permanent; steel scraps are inexpensive but the rates for gas used in welding them have skyrocketed.

In contrast, a studio and the materials for cement sculpture can be acquired for less than $100, Olson said.

Equipment consists of simple hand tools ー a paring knife, rubber gloves, rasps and files.

A shady backyard is the best place in which to work because diffused light coming through trees allows the sculptor to see the form of his work from various angles of illumination, Olson said.

The finished cement product will last and it can be built in sections so it will not be heavy to move.

Olson’s seven-foot stained glass and fiber cement sculpture, “St. Louie Blues,” has stood outside for 15 years and is weathering well. The artist transported it himself from Michigan to Missouri on a trailer.

Combining his training as an artist with the benefits of his engineering studies at the University of Illinois, Olson has spent about 12 years devising many kinds of cement sculpture techniques.

Above is a sculpture mounted on a pipe above base that is free to turn so protected bird bath can face north in summer and south in winter. A jet of water from a tiny orifice causes water in the basin to rise in an arc to attract birds. Copper tubing runs through a plastic tube inside the sculpture, out the bottom and connects to a hose.

(Photo by Lynn Olson)

Seeking to create a modeling material, he began combining cement, water and very fine grades of steel wool to get fiber cement.

Mixing the materials with hands protected by rubber gloves, he makes “something that feels like clay and can be pushed into shapes and forms ー stuck here and put there.”

The sculpture is reinforced with steel rods and wires.

Olson also learned that instead of water, he could add latex to cement, thus increasing the bonding faculties and making the sculptures more flexible and weather resistant.

For some pieces, a cement, sand and water mixture is used as the finished product or as the substance over which fiber cement is laid.

Olson has made sculptures ranging in size from fishing lures to six-foot human figures.

He has also done cement casting of portrait busts and has set stained glass into cement, making the ribs extend beyond the glass, thus producing two designs ー the linear form and the glass color.

For a fishing lure, wore is shaped with a loop at one end for the split ring and another loop at the other end for the leader. The plug is shaped with rasps and files to give it curvatures that will make it wiggle attractively when being pulled through water, and is painted with bright colors in acrylic or oil.

(Photo by Lynn Olson)

Steel reinforced fiber cement sets up in about 30 minutes and reaches a final set in about 10 hours, Olson said.

In 24 hours the material is firm enough to be whittled with a paring knife; in 48 hours it can be cut with a rasp, a file and abrasive paper; in three days it’s too hard to cut. Continued aging making cement even firmer.

After two weeks the artist can burnish his fiber cement work with the flat of a knife and apply paste wax to polish it. Olson said many people have tried to work with cement sculpture but, because of the engineering as well as artistic knowledge needed, they haven’t known how to use the materials.

The only person who had successfully done direct cement sculpture was the late Simon Rodia, an Italian immigrant with little education who built seven open wed towers ー one of the 99½ feet tall ー in Watts, Cal., between 1921 and 1954.

“With no training in engineering, he intuitively constructed strong and durable designs that survived the 1932 earthquakes and that reveal the essential connection between structural efficiency and esthetic beauty,” Olson wrote in Sculpting with Cement.

A resident of Porter County for about 15 years, Olson works at his home at 4607 Claussen Lane near Flint Lake.

Small designs, such as the decorative pendant above, can be sculpted by combining fiber-cement with small gauge wire to shape small forms on which details can be carved before burnishing or painting to finish.

(Photos of Lynn Olson)

Sculpting with Cement, which went on the market in March, was published under the name of his own company ー Steelstone Press.

Olson did all of the sculpture with which the book is illustrated, took the photographs and wrote the text.

April 27, 1981: Marchers protest, support Bailly

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on April 27, 1981.

Marchers protest, support Bailly

By Steve Dinnen

Hundreds of colorful helium-filled balloons make their way out over Lake and Porter counties Saturday following their release as part of an anti-nuclear demonstration outside the gates leading into Northern Indiana Public Service Co.’s Bailly Nuclear 1 plant site. The path of the balloons is meant to represent the path of nuclear material in the event of an accident at Bailly. Persons finding the balloons, which have return addresses inside them, will be asked to mail cards to various groups that supported the rally.

(V-M: Martin Gehring)

BURNS HARBOR ー Placards and pennants said it all for 500 anti-nuclear demonstrators as they gathered outside the gates of the Bailly Nuclear 1 site Saturday to protest any resumption of construction at the unfinished north county power station.

“Radiate truth, not people,” “Say NO to NIPSCO” and “No more Three Mile Islands” signs bobbed over protestors’ heads as they reaffirmed their opposition to Northern Indiana Public Service Co.’s plans to finish the plant, which is only one percent complete.

Jointly sponsored by the Bailly Alliance, Porter County Citizens Concerned About Bailly and Citizens Against Nuclear Power, the rally was pulled off with few hitches as demonstrators began to assemble Saturday morning a mile away from the Bailly entrance. By noon sufficient forces were marshalled to begin a march alongside roads and then onto U.S. 12, where they halted at the east gate of Bethlehem Steel Corp., which also serves as the entrance to Bailly.

Under the watchful eye of county and local police, the band chanted “No nukes” as various union and political leaders stepped up to the microphone and pledged their opposition to Bailly. Speaking to whom he called “residents of the fallout zone,” Mike Olszanski, a committeeman with United Steelworkers of America local 1010, said ratepayers must say no to NIPSCO’s rate increases and the hauling of radioactive wastes from Bailly when and if it is completed.

“If the politicians won’t listen, we’ll get new ones,” Olszanski said of his pleas.

Bailly 1 protesters

U.S. 12 turned into a pedestrian concourse Saturday afternoon as 500 anti-nuclear demonstrators used it to march to the gates of the proposed Bailly 1 nuclear demonstrators used it to march to the gates of the proposed Bailly 1 nuclear generating station. Heavy union support of the rally can be seen from the placards carried at the protest, which included groups from the Bailly Alliance, Porter County Citizens Concerned About Bailly and Citizens Against Nuclear Power.

(V-M: Martin Gehring)

Porter Town Board member Tom Esgate next said that the protestors had gathered to “jar some sense into NIPSCO’s corporate head.” Esgate, whose community is practically within earshot of the Bailly site, said he felt NIPSCO had failed to adequately discuss evacuation or emergency plans with neighboring towns, an act he said was appalling and possibly criminal.

“NIPSCO seems to have forgotten that it was at one time a public service company,” Esgate said. He added that the company, and not the protestors, was the radical in the dispute and that the firm had become a “vigilante industry.”

Chicagoan Bill Steyert pretty well sums up his sentiments on nuclear power as he waves his flag high to show protest against NIPSCO’s Bailly 1 nuclear plant. Behind him sits a substation on the Bailly site that presently provides power to adjacent Bethlehem Steel Corp.

Next to the rostrum was James Balanoff who, as director of District 31 of the USWA, oversees about 100,000 northwest Indiana and Midwest steelworkers. Balanoff claimed Hoosiers are being ripped off by NIPSCO, and that ratepayers don’t want to pay for a nuclear plant that would, in his opinion, be expensive, obsolete and a possib;e health hazard.

The Bailly plant owner also came under fire from its own employees, who were represented by U.S.W.A. Local 12775 president Fred Hershberger. He said the NIPSCO’s sole concern is with profits, and he claimed the utility’s management is incompetent and “has no business running a nuclear plant.”

Following the speeches demonstrators released several hundred colorful helium-filled balloons. As they rose and scattered toward the southwest in the 50 degree air, the festive atmosphere of the rally was heightened as a choir sang in the background.

Most of the protestors appeared to be in their mid to late 30’s, but every age group ー from toddlers to senior citizens ー was represented. The demonstrators were well behaved, and instructions to them beforehand included information on how to string out their procession to make it appear larger to television cameras.

Walter Rast, professor of theology at Valparaiso University, delivered the convocation for about 500 anti-nuclear demonstrators as they gathered outside the gates leading into the bailly site for an early afternoon rally.

Police on the scene served as little more than traffic cops, as initial fears of a confrontation fizzled when a pro-nuclear group left the gates shortly before the larger band arrived.

The Lake-Porter County Leadership Council mustered about 70 people who marched to the Bailly gate around noon to voice their support for nuclear energy and construction at the plant. Joseph Morris, chairman of the citizens’ action group, said afterward that he was pleased with the results of the march.

“We had made a serious attempt to evaluate the situation, and concluded that nuclear energy is safe, efficient and needed,” Morris said.

Martin Henrichs, president of the council, said his group adopted its stand after determining that coal fired power stations are obsolete and sources of pollution. He said the platform also was adopted because charges for electricity generated from fossil fuels is escalating beyond the means of many American.

A spokesman for NIPSCO said today that his company would have no comment on the Saturday demonstrations. He also said no decision has yet been made on whether to proceed with Bailly, which reportedly has cost NIPSCO $180 million to date.

Nuclear power supporters

Persons in favor of nuclear energy had their day in the streets to, as a stalwart band of 70 marched to the bailly site and staged a rally to show their support for the nuclear industry in general and Bailly specifically. The pro nuclear demonstration was organized by the Lake-Porter leadership Council.

April 16, 1981: Indiana wins bout with Germany

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on April 16, 1981.

Indiana wins bout with Germany

by Jim Ecker

International wrestling in Valpo

Jim Popp (bottom) of Chesterton gets two points for exposing Richard Krausert’s back to the mat during the Viking International Wrestling Meet Wednesday night. Making the call is Wilfred Petrak of West Germany, the mat official. Later, Petrak disqualified Popp in a controversial decision with the score tied 11-11.

(V-M: Kathy Steinbach)

It’s a good thing the United States and West Germany are friendly allies in the world of foreign affairs. Otherwise, sparks from Wednesday night’s Viking International Wrestling Meet might have ignited World War III smack dab in the Valparaiso High School gym.

More than 1,000 wrestling fans saw the Northwest Indiana team win nine of 13 matches from the West Germans, and also witnessed some international intrigue as the referees ー two from the United States and one from Germany ー didn’t always agree on the interpretation of freestyle and Greco-Roman rules.

Minor disagreements came to a head in the meet’s sixth bout, a 136-pound match between Jim Popp of Chesterton, a 1981 Indiana state champion, and Richard Krausert of Goldbach, West Germany, a 1980-81 Hessian champ.

That Greco-Roman match was tied 11-11 with 49 seconds left when the mat official ー Wilfried Petrak of West Germany ー suddenly stopped the action and awarded the bout to Krausert. The side officials ー Jerry Bratcher of Merrillville and Paul Green of Indianapolis ー looked bewildered, but were powerless to overrule Petrak, who alternated with Bratcher and Green as the head official.

Petrak apparently ruled that Popp had violated Greco-Roman guidelines, which prohibit leg action and stress upper-body maneuvers. Petrak had also warned Popp to be more aggressive during the match. But nobody knew exactly what transpired, and a language barrier shrouded the decision in mystery.

“I don’t think we still understand why the guy called Popp out,” said VHS wrestling coach John Cook, the program director. “He (Petrak) was very definitely standing up for his boy. It happens in the Olympics. It happens at the international meet in Joliet (where the West Germans are headed later this month).”

Popp, confused by the proceedings, nonetheless took the outcome in stride. “I guess I’ll survive,” he said. And what happened? “I don’t speak German.”

Later in the evening, an exhibition match between Robin Haddox of Chesterton and Werner Posselmann, a trainer for the West Germans and older than the other contestants, produced some tense moments when Posselmann gave Haddox a head slap. Some of the fans ー especially Haddox’s father ー took exception to the maneuver, but cooler heads prevailed.

There was action from start to finish last night, as the international freestyle and Greco-Roman rules encouraged aggressive, wideopen bouts. The Northwest Indiana grapplers earned a 3-3 split in matches wrestled under Greco-Roman rules, which are commonplace in Germany. And the Americans grabbed a 6-1 edge in freestyle contests, which are more common here.

“We held our own in Greco-Roman,” noted Valpo’s Cook. “In freestyle we had the advantage. We attacked the legs ー that’s our style.”

State champions Dave Lilovich of Michigan City, Rogers and Ken Taroli of Hammond both solved the Greco-Roman riddle, Lilovich winning by pin and Taroli taking an 8-6 verdict. Vince Stigler of LaPorte also captured a Greco-Roman bout with a stitch in 1:22, the fastest pin of the night.

Three Valparaiso High School grapplers ー Mark Remijan, John Hay and Greg Emig ー chalked up victories in freestyle competition. Little Remijan won 8-0 at 88 pounds, Hay got a pin in 4:36 and Emig prevailed 9-4. “Our kids did very well,: said Cook, who called the entire program a success.

Tim Walsworth of Chesterton, Rodney Robison of Lowell and Ben Puntillo of Highland were the other freestyle winners for Indiana. Walsworth won 13-1 in 5:46, with the match stopped when the point spread reached 12. Robison worked for a quick pin in 1:37, while Puntillo recovered from an early 6-0 deficit to stick his man in 1:53.

The meet was held under the auspices of the Indiana State Wrestling Association in conjunction with the Amateur Athletic Union. The Viking Wrestling Club organized the meet in Valparaiso. The Valparaiso High School foreign exchange club and student-faculty senate assisted with the visit, as did the local Kiwanis club.

Special recognition should go to Lew Rhinehart, the VHS sophomore basketball coach and German teacher who served as an announcer, interpreter and international peacekeeper.

March 25, 1981: Four students win best of show in county art contest

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 25, 1981.

Four students win best of show in county art contest

Porter County area students’ art work was judged Friday for the Seventh Annual Arts-A-Budding show sponsored by the Porter County Arts Commission. Judges were (from left) Doris Myers, art instructor at Kankakee Valley High School; Jo Fran Bennett, art instructor at Michigan City Area Schools; and Fred Frey, Valparaiso University Department of Art. Winners were announced during a reception held Sunday at the Chapel of the Resurrection where the art work is being displayed through noon April 4.

(V-M: Jan Aikens)

“Arts-A-Building” winners were announced during a reception Sunday at the Chapel of the Resurrection, Valparaiso university.

Best of show winners who received a $25 cash prize were Eric Brant, Jeff Wolf both of Valparaiso High School; Jim Burge of Chesterton High School; and Kent Amber of Portage Central Elementary School.

Certificate winners who received a $25 award were Karen Hollenbeck, Andy Diaz both of Ben Franklin; Brad Whitmore, Karen Raye both of Kouts; Sherri Hubbs of Boone Grove, Eric Brant, Tim Vandergriff both of Valparaiso; Patty Andrews of Hebron; Kim Janowski of Westchester; and Kent Amber of Central Elementary.

Certificate winners who received $10 awards were Chris Bennett, Ben Utley, Linda Wiencken all of Ben Franklin, and Cheryl Nelson and Keith Ludwig both of Valparaiso.

First place winners who received ribbons were Tom Hallenberg, Jay Lavanaway, Brad Whitmore, Jon Herma, Kathy Ambers and Karen Raye all of Kouts; Chris Archer, Steve Schwartz, George Mangos all of Union Center; Tim Harding, Matthew Potchict, and Kathy Schroeder all of Porter-Lakes; Jeremy Strickland and Aaron Stevens both of Liberty Elementary; Joe Kasl of Jackson Elementary; Chad Dzierba of Bailly Elementary; and James McKean and Sherri Hubbs both of Boone Grove.

Other first place winners were Wendy Child of St. Patrick’s; Doug Gray, Jody Wilson, Patty Anderson of Hebron; Ben Utley, Andy Diaz, Chris Bennett, Laura Sperry and Danielle Urschel all of Ben Franklin; Mike Niloff of Westchester; Eric Brant, Cheryl Nelson, Trent Albert, Suzie Philips and Jeff Wolff all of Valparaiso; Kent Ambers of Central Elementary; Craig Will, Jim Burge and Peyton Grizzard all of Chesterton; and Scott Scarbrough and Tim Vandergriff both of Portage.

Second place ribbons were awarded to Kris Marich, Roslyn Racowisz, Kathy Loomis all of Porter-Lakes; Brian Thomas and Chrissy Wingrath of Union Center; Kevin Gaff of St. Patrick’s Leslie Morrow and Scott White both of Hebron Elementary; Eric Barbus and Sandy Norberg both and Bailly Elementary; Michael Miller of Jackson Elementary; and Charles Popovich and Deb Esteb both of Morgan.

Other second place winners were Kent Ambler of Central Elementary; Chad Casbon of Boone Grove; Kim Janowski, Jon Marshall, Kristy Ochoa and Cindy Mattson all of Westchester; Shawn Nuest, Wendy Werner and Amy Landsdown all of Kouts; Jon Woodyard and Bobby Hickle both of Chesterton; Cary Bolinger of Hebron High; Trent Albert and Ben Fuller both of Valparaiso; Linda Wienken of Ben Franklin; and Scott Scarsbrough of Portage Adult Education.

The “Arts-A-Budding” show is sponsored annually by the Porter County Arts Commission and is open to all students in the county. The show will be on display at the Chapel of the Resurrection through April 4.

March 19, 1981: Hebron K-9 team heeds Atlanta’s call

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 19, 1981.

Hebron K-9 team heeds Atlanta’s call

by Randy Shirey

HEBRON ー Atlanta’s call for help has been heard in Hebron.

Hebron police Lt. Charles Scott and his German shepherd Christie left today for the terror-stricken city which has experienced 20 known murders of black children in recent months.

Scott will be part of a volunteer Indiana team equipped with specially-trained evidence dogs. The dogs are taught to pick up foreign scents in natural settings.

The idea to send a state team originated with Pat Little, an Indianapolis dog trainer who heard Atlanta’s pitch for assistance three weeks ago on a television newscast. Christie and the 15 other dogs making the trip were originally trained by Little.

Little was unavailable for comment this morning, but her husband, Don, who helps her run the Edelheim Canine Academy, said the dogs’ unique abilities make them a valuable asset in investigations of murder.

“We’ll be involved with tracking and possibly search for evidence,” Scott said this morning. “Other details will have to be worked out when we get there.”

Scott will spend more than a week in Atlanta, all on his vacation time. Like the other 15 men making the trop. Scott will be paying his own way.

“It’s strictly a volunteer effort,” said Little. “At least one of the officers took out a loan.”

The group met this morning for the ride to Georgia.

Other northwest Indiana officers going to Atlanta are Ken O’Dean, Merrillville; Rick Lamere and Keith Hesner, Crown Point; and James Hall, Cedar Lake.

Hebron police Lt. Charles Scott and his dog Christie left today for Atlanta in an attempt to help solve the 20 known murders of black children there.

March 18, 1981: Chesterton house owned by Youngs for many years

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 18, 1981.

Chesterton house owned by Youngs for many years

Photos by Kathy Steinbach

Text by Mary Henrichs

Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Osberg have been told their red brick house at 324 S. Second St., Chesterton, was built in 1871. Although they have no proof of the construction date, the Osbergs do know that the home was erected by Martin Young and that it remained in his family until Eleanor Young willed it to Sadie Atkinson shortly before the Osbergs purchased it in 1959. The original two-story residence contained six rooms. The Osbergs believe the two rooms behind the curved porch (at right in photo) were probably added in the early 1900s.

This plaster mold in the entrance hall ceiling supports a glass chandelier. None of the light fixtures is original. The home has 11-foot, 9-inch ceilings which make it costly to hear in winter but which keep it cool in summer, Osberg said.

This handsome archway sets off the bay window in the Osbergs’ living room. The interior woodwork, all of which is painted, is of clear white pine without knots. When the Osbergs bought the house, the plaster was in excellent condition and they have never had to renew it.

Traditional Victorian carvings line the eaves of the original part of the house. Exterior walls are composed of 4½ inches of brick, 4½ inches of air space, and 4½ inches of brick lined inside by ⅜-inch of plaster, Osberg said.

The stair rail in the entrance hall makes this curve as it reaches the second floor. The residence has six chimneys and was originally heated by stoves. It contained no fireplaces because “It was a very up-to-date house for its time,” Mrs. Osberg said.

This close-up one of the two plaster molds flanking the arch at the bay window.