CFS reaches Markle

A company with local connections is helping to bring fiber optic services to Markle.
Community Fiber Solutions, Portland, has joined forces with United REMC, Novae Corp., ALH Building Systems, Wayne Metal and Huntington County officials to offer fiber optic services to businesses and residents of Markle.
CFS built about five miles of fiber optic cabling to offer internet speeds in excess of 1 gigabit. The cabling will give businesses and residents access to high-speed internet services.
“Offering these companies reliable telecommunications services with the speed of light is and has been a passion of ours for several years,” said Mark Clemens, operations manager of CFS.
The company will hold a press conference and reception Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the offices of United REMC to outline the project in detail.

New associate
Portland Insurance Agency, 115 E. Main St., recently announced it had hired Kyle Champ of Redkey as a new associate.
Champ is a graduate of Jay County High School and Purdue University. He is an accredited advisor in insurance and he has worked the past six years with an insurance agency in New Castle.

Scholarships
Jim Eicher, vice president of Moser Motors, recently announced Moser Motor Sales Inc. would join Ford Motor Company in its commitment to the National FFA by offering scholarships to local students.
Ford is now in its sixteenth year of the Built Ford Tough – FFA collegiate scholarship program, which offers $1,000 scholarships to FFA members though the joint efforts of Ford and its local dealers.
Moser Motors is sponsoring the program for students at South Adams and Jay County high schools. For the 2012-2013 school year, they are hoping to award scholarships to two local students.
FFA members should submit an online application at www.ffa.org and take the required signature page to Moser Motors for the dealer endorsement and the official dealer code.

BCEDC hires
The Blackford County Economic Development Corporation recently announced that Rachelle Enochs has been hired as the organization’s Project Manager.
Enochs is a Blackford High School graduate and is expected to graduate from Ball State University in May with a degree in Urban Planning & Development. She was a featured speaker at the College of Architecture and Planning’s Student and Faculty Symposium and served as Treasurer for the Student Planning Association.
Enochs and Jacob Everett, BCEDC’s executive director, are hosting an open house to allow community members to meet the new BCEDC team. The even will be Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Blackford County Courthouse Annex, 121 N. High St., Hartford City. The event is open to the public.

Permits
Residents and businesses applied for seven building permits valued at more than $130,000 in December.
Leading the way are permits for 4TC Corporation, 2698 U.S. 27, Portland, to build a $50,000 pole building and Harris Properties LLC, 2301 W. 125 South, Portland, for a $40,000 roof change.
Also receiving permits are Terry and Sherri Finnerty, 10347 Ind. 26, Dunkirk, barn lean-to, $12,500; Wholesale Carpet Outlet, 112 W. Rogers St., Portland, business sign, $400; Sonoco Protective Solutions, 1619 N. Meridian St., Portland, business sign, $5,000; Sharon Claycomb, 1205 Boundary Pike, Portland, garage, $5,000; and Jerry Clark, 9170 W. River Road, Pennville, garage, $22,000.

Chamber meetings
Portland mayor Randy Geesaman will be presenting the “State of the City of Portland” at the Jay County Chamber of Commerce networking luncheon Jan. 29.
The program will be held in the Jay County Hospital’s conference room Tuesday, Jan. 29, at noon.
Cost for the luncheon is $8 and reservations should be emailed to [email protected] by Jan. 25.
The Jay County Chamber of Commerce will also be holding its annual meeting January 26. For more information, contact Pamela Rodgers at (260) 726-4481 or by visiting the chamber offices at 118 S. Meridian St., Portland.

Imler retires
Barbara Imler, chief financial officer of Jay-Randolph Development Services Inc., retired in December after 18 years at JRDS.
Kay Louth, Portland, has been hired to take over Imler’s position. Louth has been employed with JRDS for 28 years, serving in several administrative roles.

Corn shortage
Rural Union City’s Cardinal Ethanol plant is facing a corn shortage.
“We had difficulty obtaining the corn we needed towards the end of our fiscal year and subsequent to our fiscal year end,” the company stated in its annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company said it expects to continue “to experience such difficulties throughout 2013…” Last summer’s drought led to a smaller harvest of corn and higher corn prices.
Two ethanol plants in Indiana have already shut down.
Cardinal Ethanol has about 50 full-time employees and creates about 100 million gallons of ethanol each year.
It needs more than 35 million bushels of corn annually — about 100,000 bushels daily — to produce that amount of ethanol.

New position
Susan Knouff of rural Fort Loramie, Ohio, has assumed new responsibilities in State of the Heart Hospice’s Bereavement Department.
A registered nurse with the hospice, Knouff will take on new responsibilities as Bereavement Support Development Specialist. In that role, she will seek and initiate new ways that grief support can help patients, families, and staff.
Knouff started volunteering at the hospice in 2007.
She has worked as a primary nurse for State of the Heart for about a year prior to assuming her new duties.
Marlene Black and Darlene Pearson will join Knouff as members of the bereavement team.

New CEO
Omnicity Inc., a Broadband Networks Company since Dec. 5, 2012, recently announced it has appointed Jeff King as its new CEO.
King is a principal at Broadband Networks and has served as a corporate executive vice president for Time Warner Cable and president of Road Runner High Speed Online service.
Rushville-based Omnicity was bought by Broadband Networks in December after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September.
Omnicity failed to repay more than $300,000 in economic development income tax loans given to the company by Jay County in 2004.

Old National acquires
Old National Bancorp recently announced that its subsidiary, Old National Bank, has entered into a purchase and assumption agreement to acquire 24 retail branches of Bank of America.
Two branches are located in South Bend and another is located in Elkhart. The remaining 23 branches are located in cities in southwest Michigan.
Old National said in a press release that it does not expect any job losses as a result of the acquisition.

Franklin launches
Franklin Electric of Bluffton marked the commercial launch of its artificial lift pumping solutions with orders from Exxaro, a South Africa-based mining group, and other American customers.
Franklin has been testing its artificial lift products in areas of the United States, Africa and Australiea.
According to a press release, Franklin’s artificial lift systems utilize submersible water-pumping technology to de-liquefy gas wells, allowing gas to be released and rise to the surface.[[In-content Ad]]