The Times from Munster, Indiana • 13

The Times THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3. 1998 Portia Gary Reg Hpoi? 1 llfi A compilation of regional stories from Times staff and wire reports Hideo Superfund sites restoration expected to continue to 2C01 A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency status review of theS23 million clean-up efforts of two Gary Superfund sites determined-the agency believes the end result will be successful. U.S. EPA Region 5 in Chicago announced Wednesday the completion of a 5-year status review of the Midco I at 7400 W.

15th and Midco located on 7-acres on Industrial Highway across from the Gary Regional Airport Superfund sites in Gary. The Superfund law requires reviews of sites where cleanup has been completed, but where pollutants are contained and will be managed on-site. Based on current site progress, the soil treatment and final cover will be completed by 2001. The ground-water system will most likely have to operate for decades to come. EPA has overseen the project throughout and believes that, when completed, the cleanup will be able to protect human health and the environment IT a i ss'-' i pj JVp "rTT tJ.f-.: r.v Crown Point .1 4r ft 1 I Teaching parenting skills behind bars Twenty years ago, Robbin White enrolled in a class on effective parenting.

She was so impressed with the course's philosophy, she became a certified teacher. For 18 years, she's taught the Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) class to day care workers, teachers and parents at schools, churches and learning centers. However, in the past year, White, day care coordinator for the Portage Adult Education Center, has found a new audience for the parenting program, inmates at the LaPorte and Porter county jails. in. The expanded program is sponsored by the adult education center.

The center already had GED programs at both jails and center Linda Friedrich and jail GED Barbara Aungst felt it would be to expand the STEP program to inmates. A proposal was submitted and jail officials approved the project. The STEP program, White said, teaches positive ways of disciplining children by exploring child development and age-appropriate behavior. Its philosophy also stresses that behavior equals consequences and focuses on parents working on their own self esteem. Upscale housing proposed for Portage Contrary to the advice given to them from start, Kerry Wilson and Mike Hendon of Builders have proposed yet another up-? scale residential development in the city, i.

The proposal is welcomed by Greater Portage Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Harold Miles, who said that there is a shortage Cf)i such housing because of the city's reputation r- as solely a blue-collar community, The proposed 68-lot subdivision at the corner of Central Avenue and McCool Road on the city's east side will be the focus of a public hearing Monday evening before the Plan Commission. Parade kicks off holiday season The fourth annual Portage Christinas Parade will officially usher in the holiday season in the city Saturday. The parade, with its theme, "City Celebra-, tion of Christmas," will begin at 4 p.m. at Kyle Elementary School on Hamstrom Road. The pa- rade, which will have an estimated 25 floats, bands and marching units, will travel west on Central Avenue to City Hall, parade organizer Ruth Jones said.

The parade is sponsored by the in Portage Committee. Entertainment will be provided by the Portage Township Children's Choir and the Bon-. ner Senior Singers. The celebration will be completed with the lighting of the twin Christmas trees at City Hall at about 6 p.m., Jones said. urn State Spell Bowl champs win with cool-headed veteran at helm With the cool of a veteran lexicographer, sixth-grade student Christina Horvat reeled off the last of 56 words her team fielded in last week's Spell Bowl competition O-C-C-U-R-R-E-N-C-E-S.

It was good enough to help the team of 15 Eisenhower Elementary students win the state championship for schools in their class of enrollment. The school received a plaque Wednesday morning to commemorate the win. "They were really a great bunch of kids," Janice Urevig, a permanent substitute teacher and Spell Bowl coach, said. She worked with them for more than 30 minutes before every school day the past six weeks. "They were very enthusiastic and I felt they were determined and disciplined because the schedule they were on was very short and fast paced and they all had to really work," she said.

-4. I I Cedar Lake BRETT REIERSON THE TIMES Ron Jackson shows a portion of his model train layout In his Hobart home. Jackson is organizing his ninth annual model railroad swap-n-sell meet this Saturday at the Hobart Community Center at Festival Park to benefit the Hobart Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 121 vest fund. Swap meet on the right track Letters for the lake are in the mail A letter-writing campaign may help the Cedar Lake Enhancement Association pursue a state grant for water improvement. The Town Council, Chamber of Commerce, Park and Recreation Board, enhancement association and local property owners have sent letters to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management urging approval of a Nonpoint Source of Water Management Grant.

Robert Gross association president, said state officials want to gauge how important people think improvement of the lake's water quality is and how it will affect the community. The letters are expected to serve as testimony. The grant program from IDEM is fairly nev, and the first round of funding will begin in "I've got a train from when I was a little boy. That's a little boy's lifelong dream, to be an engineer at one time." Ron Jackson, of Hobart Valparaiso Jackson, who has a collection of new and antique trains, traveled to other states to train shows because he couldn't find any in this area. "Now I have people come to me," he said of the 300 to 400 people who attend the event each year.

Admission is $2 a person, with children 12 and younger admitted free. Tables for exhibitors, which have been" reserved for months, cost $10. Together, donated profits from the fees allow the department to buy high-quality vests, unlike the ones state money can be used to purchase. But no vests are safe from deterioration. "The (high-quality) vests are only good for about five years," Jackson said.

Trains are not just toys, he said, but they teach aspects of science and engineering. "It's something the whole family can enjoy. It challenges your brain," Jackson said. Chesterton a.m. to 5 p.m.

at the Hobart Community Center at Festival Park on Ridge Road. Food and refreshments will be available. "I have a lot of respect for police officers," said Jackson, a coal handler and locomotive operator for NIPSCO in Michigan City. "I could never do what they do for the money they make." Jackson said he combined his two interests railroads and police work in the swap-n-sell, which raises $600 to $900 each year. Before starting the event, Downtown: Vacancies are available The Duneland Chamber of Commerce' "is looking for a few good businesses.

They're needed to fill a number of vacanciesln downtown Chesterton. The latest came last week, when United Tractor Co. informed the tovrY'it will move out of its buildingtit Broadway and 15th Street by February. The 27-year-old Chesterton fixture will move to a larger site inTwinsburg, Ohio, near its sister company. The company, which employs 45 people, searched unsuccessfully for months fdfa suitable local site.

"Of course we're sad they're leaving, but it's a Catch-22 situation because there are three potential new businesses we're talking to about that site," said Laurie Franke-Polz, the chamber's executive director, who tried to find a suitable site for United Tractor officials. Hobart Hobart man has been sidetracked by his love for trains and respect for police. BY MARTI TRGOVICH Times Correspondent HOBART Ron Jackson has loved trains ever since he was a child. "I've got a train from when I was a little boy," the Hobart resident said. "That's a little boy's lifelong dream, to be an engineer at one time." Jackson will present his ninth annual model railroad swap-n-sell meet this Saturday to benefit the Hobart Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 121 vest fund.

Previous events have allowed the Hobart Police Department to buy up to three new bulletproof vests a year, Lt. Leo Finnerty said. The swap-n-sell meet is from 10 A spoonful of sugar Spoon Man gives Cooks Corners students positive messages of self-respect, belief in themselves. BY MARY STEFANSKI Times Correspondent VALPARAISO Armed with two ordinary household tablespoons, "The Spoon Man" had Cooks Corners Elementary School howling with laughter with impressions of rock-and-roll, heavy metal and rap spoon players. The funniest moment came when he created a "hillbilly band" out of three students and their principal, who donned silly beards and wigs.

"The Spoon Man," a.k.a. Jim Cruise, incorporated the messages "respecting yourself and others" into his lively program Wednesday. Children answered "yes" or "no" loudly as he called out examples of self-respect. The timely, positive message of "respecting yourself and others' appealed to PTA Vice President Carrie Higgins, who helped arrange the program. Students listened closely to Cruise's "three secrets to being whatever you want to be: Say no to drugs; listen to your parents and teachers; graduate from high school and college." Unable at age 9 to convince his parents to buy him a dpm j- -4, ri, Valparaiso calling for Target store Development officials believe they can lure Target to a proposed shopping mall here, but the major retail chain hasn't yet committed to shooting for a store here.

Patrick Burke of TBS Development Ser-" Vices Group said he's optimistic that Target will lease space for a site at a mall his company wants to build on about 50 acres at the intersection of LaPorte Avenue and Silhavy Road near Ind. 49. The mall would be roughly 450,000 square "feet, Burke said. It would contain one or two major stores and between 10 and 20 smaller ones. Co-founder of Rendina Funeral Home dies BY KATHERINE BIEKER Times Correspondent MERRILLvTLLE Although Michael Rendina left Northwest Indiana for a law enforcement career more than 30 years ago, his heart re- mained deeply rooted in family left behind.

Rendina, 64, the youngest of eight children born to Italian immigrant parents, helped his five brothers start Rendina Funeral Home at ",5100 Cleveland St. in Merrillville. He died Mon- day in Florida. Vince Rendina said his youngest brother under-; went surgery to remove a portion of his lung a couple mon ths ago and never completely recovered. "I called him the night before he died and he told me he thought he was at the end of the line.

I didn't believe him," Vince said. Michael tried to get back home as often as after his law enforcement career took off in late 1960s, according to Vince. "He never really retired," Vince Rendina "He kept his funeral director and em-c balmer's licenses. He always tried to come up even though he hated the winter. He was trying to get all of us to come down there in a couple months." Unfortunately, Vince, and brother, Tony, won't be able to pay their final respects to their baby brother.

More than a dozen family members from Northwest Indiana will make the trip, but someone has to stay behind and run the family business. "We're all very close. The six of us (brothers) have been in the business for 38 years. Everyone said we were crazy and it would never work. "'We're still in business with one of the largest funeral homes in the area," Vince said.

Michael Rendina graduated from Bishop Noll "Institute in 1952 and Worsham Mortuary School of Chicago in 1963. He was a U.S. Navy Korean War veteran; a detective with the Gary Police Department; a Federal Bureau of Narcotics agent, and a special investigator for the FBI. Michael Rendina is survived by his wife of 36 years, Patsy; son Michael daughter Ruthanne Rendina-Buffiano; five grandchildren; a sister and four brothers. Services for Michael Rendina are today at the St.

Coleman Catholic Church in Pompano Beach, Fla. -J 1 SAM R1CHE THE TIMES "The Spoon Man" Jim Cruise of Grand Rapids, entertains Cooks Comers Elementary School students Wednesday afternoon with crowd participants Principal Vern Turner, left, and fifth-grader Conor Lundquist. set, Cruise began spooning instead. Both grandfathers played the spoons and he thought it During the school year, his travels take him throughout the Midwest. During the sum BRETT REIERSON THE-TIMES Bennigans co-owner Larry Briskl, center, and managers Sherrie Mantz, left, and Carol Martell take charge in the newly renovated Bennigans restaurant in Hobart, next to Southlake Mail, which previously was an Italianni's restaurant.

New restaurant chain takes on the area Bennigans is brand-new to Northwest Jri'di-ana. But the pub-style res.t'du-rant, newly opened in Hobart, next to Southlake Mall, has been located in Chicago and its suburbs for a number of years. Briski and two other Schererville residents Jim Wieser and Jim Hawk, are co-owners of "trje Bennigans that opened in Hobart Nov. 16j well as the Highland-based restaurant that opened in September. The restaurants were both formerly Italianni's, eateries specializing in Italian cuisine a menu that proved too limited for most tastes." He said that he and the other co-owners were offered a chance to obtain exclusive franchise rights to the Bennigans in most of Indiana and obtained it.

4 would be a "pretty cool thing to do." With "practice and practice" he became a full-time professional spoon player, thus relating to "you can do anything you set your mind to." The art of spooning dates as far back as Egyptian times. "Spooning is "Spooning is popular in many cultures, including Ireland and Russia, where wooden spoons are used." Jim Cruise, "The Spoon Man" mer, he performs at fairs and festivals across the United States. He is noted for being the first spoon player to perform in Russia. Other accomplishments include performing for former U.S. President Gerald Ford, former Sovie.t President Mikhail Gorbachev and Mr.

Rogers. He said his greatest accom popular in many cultures, including Ireland and plishment is "leaving kids with a Russia, where wooden spoons are used, Cruise told the children. positive message.".