The Fulton County Retired Teachers held their fall meeting at The Fire Stone Grille in Logansport on October 31, 2013 with 24 teachers and 5 guests including Representative Randy Head, Carol Grieser, Goshen, IRTA state president, Ernie and Carole Hiatt, and Karla Gregory, a first time attendee from Caston Schools.

   President Ilene Howard welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced our guests and led The Pledge to the Flag and asked the blessing on the meal.

   Representative Randy Head spoke briefly to the group during the lunch.  He said he comes from a family of educators and he is concerned with the flaws in the current system of testing our students.  He knows there is room to grow and educators want accountability to be fair and if all students’ grades are averaged  together we aren’t getting a fair picture of what our schools are doing.  Governor Pence says no more regulations and burdensome laws and is working on streamlining the system and creating jobs where needed most.  Pre-school and a fully funded kindergarten is important for children.  You can’t catch a student up if he hasn’t been read to at home prior to coming to pre-school.  Other questions had to do with cursive writing and vocational training.  Students should be career or college ready after graduation.  Not every student can go to college.

Representative Head said teachers will get a 13^th check.

 President Howard then introduced Ernie and Carole Hiatt.  Ernie spoke on “What You May or May Not Know About Fulton County” and gave most of those gathered a new perspective about the county we live in.  He gave some Indian background about Chief Aubbeenaubbee’s family and descendants.  He told of the four railroads and the townships and how they were formed.  He told of his time with the Navy Seabees and how he served.  He mentioned the many lakes and we heard that Kewanna was once the largest townin the county  and the second largest town was Tiosa. 
  Mr. Hiatt showed how the Indiana borders were formed in 1814 and moved ten miles north to include Lake Michigan.  He mentioned that the borders with Kentucky are formed by the river, but over time the river has changed course and you need a Kentucky fishing license even if you’re on Indiana land.  The only one exempt would be a land owner.  Ernie also said the time zone problem is a mess.  He mentioned that his farm is part of what used to be the land of the Erie and Wabash Canal. 

  Most agreed Mr. Hiatt gave a most informative program.

  Carol Grieser from Goshen,  the state president of the Indiana Retired Teachers Association spoke next and tried to explain some of the “Alphabet Soup” that we are all encountering these days.  She handed out a Cheat Sheet from Steve Russo the executive director of INPRS (Indiana Public Retirement System)explaining what each department is.  There are seven pension funds.  Ours is TRF—the Teacher Retirement Fund.

   If you need to talk to a legislator you may go to this link:  http://district.iga.in.gov/DistrictLookup/

 

President Howard thanked the speakers and asked for nominations for a new president for 2014.  Two nominees declined the honor and Kaleen Krom volunteered to be the president for the next term.  Ms. Krom has been active in the retired teachers for several years and has done many volunteer activities for the teachers and other groups. The next meeting will be in April, 2014.  Vice President and Necrology chairwoman will be Jeri Good; Secretary-Treasurer will be Kay Horn; Sandy Denton, Publicity; Connie Terpstra, Historian/Archives; Kathy Christman, Technology chairwoman; and Cheryl Downs will be Community Service Chairwoman..  Continue to send your hours to Katie McCarter for the rest of this year.

  Kay Horn presented Katie McCarter a gift to honor her work as the Community Service chairwoman.  Ilene Howard presented Kay Horn with a rose flower to honor her for the  many hours of service to the retired teachers setting up the website and Facebook pages

   Ilene Howard then presented her IRTA President’s pin to Kaleen Krom for her new position. 

   A Silent Auction followed.  Area #3 Jim Lund had given the officers one dollar each at a summer workshop and encouraged them to make their $1 grow and give back to their local organization for the Foundation fund.    Ilene Howard collected hydrangea blossoms from as far away as Rhode Island and dried them and got bottles and vases for them and sold them to the members and collected $30 for the Fund.  Kay Horn bought fabric and made a quilt and donated the quilt with two pillows and they brought $115 to be given to the Foundation for scholarships and other programs for teachers.

 The meeting adjourned with a parting thought from Kay Horn.