Judge Duane Huffer Approves Changes to Oakwood Covenants

The latest court hearing regarding the sale of Oakwood took place mainly in Judge Duane Huffer's chambers Monday afternoon in Warsaw.

Ian Rolland, receiver for Oakwood; his attorney Tom Yoder; Rob Daniels, attorney for the Oakwood Property Owners Association; Mike Reed, attorney for the Town of Syracuse; and a representative from the Indiana Attorney General's office were in conference for about an hour.

The hearing on Rolland's 12th report to the court took approximately five minutes. Huffer stated he reviewed the reports and approved the amended declaration, finalizing the covenants or global agreement between the Parent family who is working to purchase the property and the OPOA.

The next step is to move forward with the purchase assessment agreement and move forward on the closing.

Huffer granted the motions made by Yoder stating, "Let's proceed with a sale."

After the hearing Rolland said there are still many details to be worked out. Closing cannot take place until the Parents are awarded the Community Development Block Grant they recently applied for with the Town of Syracuse. Yoder and Rolland said it is hoped closing will be approved within 30 days after the grant is approved.

Rolland said he is looking at the property closing taking place around Thanksgiving.

Elite Frogs, Navy SEAL Foundation, Jump Is Today

On Saturday, August 25 at 4:00 PM, a benefit fundraiser for the Navy SEAL Foundation is being held at Lake Wawasee in Syracuse, Indiana. The fundraiser's feature event is a jump by the Elite Frogs Parachute Team. Members of the team are made up of active duty and retired Navy SEALS. The team will jump over Johnson's Bay with boaters encouraged to view the event from their crafts parked in and around the bay. The Elite Frogs will also be offering tandem parachute jumps on Friday and Saturday to raise additional funds. These tandem jumps are sure to be an opportunity you wont want to miss.

FlexPAC is a proud corporate sponsor of the event, along with Stickle Steam Specialties.

The Wawasee Navy SEAL Foundation aims to make a difference in the lives of families who are left behind when a member of the Navy SEALs is killed in the line of duty. Funding to support these families comes solely from donations at events like the Wawasee Jump. To learn more about the foundation and the jump visit This is a link to wawaseenavysealfoundation.com or donate by visiting their PayPal donation link.

Wawasee Storm Damage

On Friday afternoon, an intense, long-lived windstorm called a derecho formed in northwest Indiana and began carving a path of destruction over 600 miles long.  Winds approaching 100 miles per hour were reported during the most intense part of the event (between Fort Wayne, IN and Columbus, OH.)  At the peak of the event, the Fort Wayne International Airport observing equipment observed a peak wind gust of 91 mph, and the observer reported seeing a downburst descend from the cloud directly ahead of him.  Winds were as strong as an EF-1 tornado over a widespread area which resulted in immense damage along the storm's entire path.

What is a Derecho?

According to the Storm Prediction Center, "A derecho (pronounced similar to "deh-REY-cho" in English) is a widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. Although a derecho can produce destruction similar to that of tornadoes, the damage typically is directed in one direction along a relatively straight swath. As a result, the term "straight-line wind damage" sometimes is used to describe derecho damage. By definition, if the wind damage swath extends more than 240 miles (about 400 kilometers) and includes wind gusts of at least 58 mph (93 km/h) or greater along most of its length, then the event may be classified as a derecho.

Video of lift destruction.
From Jan Long - Pier 38