Chamber hands out awards

Wilkinson, Drinkwine named man, woman of year

By John Dempsey

The Logansport/Cass County Chamber of Commerce celebrated the achievements of five of its members Friday night.

Ed Wilkinson was named as Business Man of the Year while Deb Drinkwine was honored as Business Woman of the Year. Small Business of the Year went to McCord’s Do-It-Best Lumber. Logansport Municipal Utilities won Large Business of the Year. The Quality of Life Award was presented to the Logansport/Cass County Public Library.

The winners were nominated by other members of the chamber and were recognized during the annual dinner at Dessert First.

Wilkinson, who with his brother, Brad, owns Wilkinson Heating and Plumbing, was noted for his outstanding public service by the independent awards committee.

The committee noted his help in raising funds for the Shawn Hensel Memorial Scholarship Fund, the rebuilding of the World War II Memorial and the refurbishing of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. He also volunteers his time with Tipton Masonic Lodge, Shrine Club and Elks. He is also involved with Logansport Baseball Association and the Med Flory Jazz Festival.

“As a matter of fact, I thought maybe they dialed the wrong guy,” Wilkinson said. “I called Brian [Shafer, the chamber CEO] back and he said, ‘No.’

“I think a lot of it had something to do with the Cass County Roosters and the initiation of the Gala. The Roosters, we are all former Jaycees who got too old. We hung out together anyway and decided we weren’t done doing good things yet.”

He and his brother are the third generation of the family to own Wilkinson Heating and Plumbing, which opened in 1947.

The owner of Pacesetter Real Estate, Drinkwine thought it was a birthday joke when Shafer informed her.

“I was totally shocked. It was on my birthday and I just thought it was a joke,” said Drinkwine, who has served as a chamber ambassador for a number of years. “I never dreamt of getting anything like this. It wasn’t even in my thoughts, not for me.

“I truly think if you are honest and hard working, things come around.”

Drinkwine has been in real estate for nine years and joined Larry Isaacs as owner of ReMax in 2004 and became the owner of Pacesetter in 2008.

She admitted not having a speech ready beforehand. “You can’t imagine how nervous I am.”

The committee cited McCord’s “for successfully navigating the economy and providing personalized service beyond the bigger, box-type stores.”

It also noted that owner Mike McCord is a “great community partner” and is a strong supporter of local organizations and causes.

In addition to its role as the community utility service, LMU was saluted for working to keep the community looking good, cleaning the river banks of debris and erecting the Christmas lights.

An institution 116 years old, the library was celebrated as the quality of life winner for the way it has kept current with technology and providing to access beyond the printed word.

Library director Dave Ivy noted the building’s renovation will expand access to the Internet with an additional computer lab and doubling the number of computers available to the public.

“We’ve increased bandwith three to four times over the last few years and we’re adding a fiber link to increase speed for the 18 new computers,” he said. “And, we have four children-related computers with special programs for kids and literacy.”

Since 2005, the library’s circulation has increased 300 percent and its inventory has been increased by 15,000 DVDs and 50,000 books over the last three years.

“We’ve added a lot of items. Our materials budget increased from $200,000 in 2005 to $400,000 in 2008,” Ivy explained. We won’t be able to sustain that level, but we will still have a much higher level than we did in 2005.

“Another big reason for this, I think, is that we have a very productive staff who should be congratulated. We’re doing 300 percent more business than in 2005 with the same amount of staff.”

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