December 27

Holiday Surprises

There were many surprises in Willow Mills this week as folks opened their gifts and answered their doors. At Solstice ceremonies on Tuesday, Donna Jones announced that Leslie Springer would be living at the Herb Farm for a while as police sort out the circumstances surrounding her months foraging in the forest and her mother’s apparent suicide.

Christmas Eve found Janice and Whisper Townsend on their families’ doorsteps. They flew home from Paris to celebrate the turning of the new millennium in Willow Mills. The festivities committee has already enlisted their help for the events planned on Friday and Saturday this week. Janice and Whisper have also announced their plans to return this summer to begin restoration of Albert Bailey’s old round barn with the intent of opening a theatre in it by 2001.

Ogden Filmore turned 101 years old on Christmas Day. As he munched the turkey and dressing dinner at Peabody Home where he now lives, he quipped that if he survives another seven days he will have lived in three different centuries and two millennia. When asked if he expects to make it, he answered, “What are the plans for 2008? I’d like to have a pig-roast for my, 110th!”

In the annual outing of the Polar Bear Golf Team on Christmas afternoon, Chuck Allred popped a hole-in-one on the seventh snow-covered fairway. Chuck was using a fluorescent orange MaxFlite and his number three wood to accomplish the feat. “I knew it hit the green,” said Chuck, “but when we got up there we could not find a trace of the ball or where it landed. We must have looked around for ten minutes before someone thought to look in the cup.”

Annie White and Don Bechtold announced their engagement to family and friends on Christmas Day. Both are teachers in Wabash. The couple plans a June wedding at the Holy Waters Baptist Church.

Case of the Mystery Camper Takes Bizarre Twist

Circumstances surrounding Leslie Springer’s half year of living in the out-of-doors around Willow Mills began to unfold in a revelation of abuse and suicide as the tormented teen gave her story to police. The story told of a mother who deprived her daughter of basic necessities, punished her for minor infractions, and made her live in a kennel. While undergoing this treatment, she was psychologically tormented by her mother telling her if the girl ever disappointed her, she would kill herself.

Last spring Leslie began laying her plans to escape, secreting supplies in a dozen locations on farms throughout the community. After Baccalaureate Services on Sunday May 30, Leslie told friends she was off to see the world. She never returned home, but went to live in the woods.

When police approached the Springer home, a mobile secluded in the woods in String Town, they found the body of Matilda Springer. Police say that evidence points to a suicide. The time (or date) of death has not been fixed.

“The place was a squalid mess,” said detective Rob Brockman. “It’s hard to believe anyone ever lived there.”

The investigation continues, but Brockman added that there was no evidence pointing to foul play or to implicate Leslie Springer in any way.

There’s a New Look to Fountain Square

If you’ve driven down Main Street today, you’ll notice that there is a huge white box covering the fountain. Crews were on-site Sunday afternoon readying the square for Friday and Saturday’s New Millennium Festivities. Bill Rasmussen, Chairman for the New Year’s Eve Event, indicates that the white cube is actually a projection screen so that broadcasts from each of the time zones as they enter the new millennium can be shown to the public. Video projectors have been mounted in housings on the roofs of the four buildings surrounding the fountain.

“Granted, the daytime viewing will be somewhat limited,” remarked Rasmussen, “but the audio should still be working. And the pictures before dawn and after dark should capture most of the people who are participating. Our own theatrical stars, Janice and Whisper Townsend, will be narrating the broadcasts around the clock from a special booth we’ve built on the roof of Oppenheimer’s Drug Store.”

When it comes time for Indiana to enter the new millennium, the occasion will be marked with fireworks, music, and, of course, the mandatory kisses that will be given and received in the festive spirit of the occasion. The celebration begins at 7:00 a.m. on Friday with the broadcast from Kiribati, located in the Pacific Ocean right on the International Date Line. It will conclude on Saturday morning with the broadcast from French Polynesia, Kiribati’s South Pacific neighbor. A full listing of the locations and times is posted on the doors of the bank, post office, drug store, and hotel.