Blackford County Receives RLF Funding

By Cynthia Payne
NT Editor/Publisher
newstimes@comcast.net

Published: Friday, March 12, 2010 6:09 AM CST

Montpelier will be celebrating today.

At 3 p.m., a ground breaking ceremony for the new Montpelier Civic Center will be held at the site, 339 S. Main St., Montpelier.

“This is a celebration about how far we’ve come,” said Brad Neff, president of the Montpelier Community Builders and the impetus behind the project.

It will be a simple dedication, Neff noted.

Besides the symbolic shovel, there will be a celebration ceremony and refreshments. The actual construction will start before the end of the month and is contracted for completion by the end of the year.

Speakers will include Montpelier Mayor Jim McPherson and State Rep. Joe Pearson, if he is able to get away from the legislature, which was called back to the statehouse on Wednesday after a five-day break, to hammer out partisan differences over an unemployment insurance tax bill as a March 14 deadline for adjournment loomed, according to AP. When Pearson was asked to speak, he thought the legislature would be finished. Pearson could not be reached Thursday.

Neff also will speak. “I have a lot of people to thank. There are an incredible number of people who have stepped up for this project,” Neff explained.

The community project began two years ago last June. “It’s been kind of a miracle project for us,” Neff said.

“We ran into so many roadblocks. We would get stopped and we thought it was the end of the project and then something or someone would come along and it was back and going again.

“It’s been one of those roller coaster rides,” he added.

See the rest of the story in the Friday, March 12 print edition of the News Times