Shopping Guide News of Fulton County - March 3, 2021

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March on in for the BEST DEALS IN TOWN!

TAX SERVICE

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TIRE ROTATION Chuck

DƵƐƚ ƉƌĞƐĞŶƚ ĐŽƵƉŽŶ Žƌ ŵĞŶƟŽŶ ĂĚ͘ 'ŽŽĚ dŚƌƵ DĂƌĐŚ ϯϭ͕ ϮϬϮϭ

202 Apache Drive, Rochester, IN • Behind Burger King • 574-223-9984

of Rochester 418 East 9th Street, Rochester, IN 46975

574-505-0813 By Appointment Only

The most inexpensive hearing aids in town! ~ HEAR BETTER . . . LIVE BETTER ~

9581 E. 100 N., Akron, IN 46910 E-mail: tom@tombauterscpa.com

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Vol. 64, Issue No. 9

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Kates Tax Service • Accurate • Accountable • Affordable Offering Virtual Services By Phone Or Internet!! Professional Service Since 1980

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Paulette Kates 7208 W. SR 14 Akron, IN 46910 (6 Miles East of Akron on SR 14)

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Bob’s Plumbing, Electric & Drain Cleaning Bob & Candy

RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMER

The Papers Inc. P.O. Box 188 Milford, Indiana 46542

ECRWSS

PAID

Milford, IN Permit No. 2

PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE

Licensed Female Electrician

Everyday community heroes: 6$)(7< ,16,'( $1' 287 ³ Kevin Reinhold, head bus driver for Rochester School Corporation, conducts his daily pre-trip inspection,

checking his bus from front to back, top to bottom, inside and out. Photos by Keith Knepp.

A tribute to school bus drivers %\ 5$< %$/2*+ 6WDII :ULWHU

[Editor’s note: School bus drivers provide a vital service to the children and their families in the community. Unfortunately, word count limits do not permit a full tribute to each of the bus drivers throughout Fulton County. The Shopping Guide News offers a heartfelt hat tip to all the bus drivers, transportation directors and support staffs of the Caston, Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley community school systems.] As Fulton County schools resume in-person classroom instruction, once again “the wheels on the bus go ’round and ’round.” And steering those wheels is a small army of heroes who don’t wear capes, dedicated community servants known as bus drivers. Their day begins hours before the first school bell rings, warming up frigid machines, scraping windows and performing multipoint mechanical and safety inspections. Then, twice daily, they perform the tandem tasks of muscling their 14-ton eggshell along city streets, county roads and state highways,

AT YOUR SERVICE

24/7

and shepherding incalculably valuable cargo, little lives who give their full faith and trust to the driver when they step on the bus. All the while they maintain constant 360-degree vigilance for irresponsibly distracted or inexcusably self-important drivers who blow through flashing stop arms. The drivers invariably do this without harm or incident, day after day, school year after school year, and like a comfortable shoe that is taken for granted, they go unnoticed and unsung. Imagine their gratification in receiving even a small token of appreciation delivered by one of the precious little souls they transport every day. Kevin Reinhold is the head bus driver, equivalent of transportation director, for Rochester School Corporation. He “took the position last year” and is in his fourth year as a bus driver. He described the most enjoyable part of his two 80-mile-a-day routes as “being able to pick up the young kids and making their day before they get to school.” During the pandemic shutdown, “they didn’t like the e-learning. They like to be in person with their friends

and they love their teachers.” He said the most challenging aspect of bus driving right now is “keeping the kids’ masks on at all times while on the bus.” Reinhold has enjoyed his work from the start. “The old transportation director, Don King, was looking for drivers and told me, ‘You would be a good fit.’ The job really clicked with me.” The school system has 26 yellow buses and two “little white activity buses” and employs 17 drivers. “They are the best,” said Reinhold. “They are careful and observant and take care of the kids. They make sure the safety of the kids always comes first.” He said drivers running through stop arms still happens once or twice a month. “Cameras have been helping. We keep an eye out for them because we don’t want a recurrence of what happened two years ago” when a driver ran the flashing stop arm, killing three children and severely injuring a fourth. Another bus driver, Priscilla Crill, drove for Tippecanoe Valley School Corporation for 33 years before working for the Rochester

school system the past eight years. She has shuttled the Tippy Valley ski club to Swiss Valley in Jones, Mich., and has “been to Indianapolis several times.” During the pandemic shutdown she helped deliver student meals to rural homes and dropped off meals at central locations for mobile home parks. Her 41-year experience has allowed her a bird’s-eye view of the changes in the industry. “When I started all the buses were manual shift. Now they have automatic transmissions, which makes it considerably better. Also, it is safer now with stop arm cameras and other cameras on the bus.” Crill also listed another technology to enhance safety. “A beeper sounds when the bus is shut off. The button is in the rear of the bus, so you have to check the seats on the way to the back to turn off the beeper,” she said. “I think for all drivers safety is our most important aspect of the job. You have to like kids and learn how to deal with some parents. For the most part, though, parents are appreciative of the job we do,” said Crill, who doesn’t know “how many years I have left.”

KITE & ULERICK &

574-223-6307 Family Owned & Operated

Residential & Commercial ~ Licensed & Insured ~

Est. 1985

NO

INFLATED WEEKEND S FEES FOR ERVICE CALL S!


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