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Bluffton, Ind.
May 25, 2005

By Sarah Pulliam
Dennis Deininger, 56, is wearing a shirt two sizes smaller after losing 67
pounds in four months.
“I couldn’t believe it. I was just ecstatic,” Deininger said.  “The other shirts
look like maternity dresses now.”
Bluffton resident Deininger is the city’s maintenance supervisor and told his
success story to Tuesday’s Board of Works meeting.
When Deininger took part of the city’s January health screening test, the nurse
told him he would become   diabetic since his blood sugar level was dangerously
high at 180.
“A diabetic to me means you have to give yourself shots every day and that kind
of scared me,” he said. “The nurse told me I had a choice: lose weight, change
my diet or die early.”
Deininger links his achievement to the health screening test because it made him
determined to lower his blood sugar by losing weight.
“Our New Year’s resolution was to lose weight. Well you can make every excuse,
but when they found this out, there were no excuses,” Deininger said. “It gave
me the incentive I needed.”
Deininger said cutting soft drinks out of his diet, eating smaller portions and
exercizing daily on the stationary bike contributed to his weight loss. He
credits his weight loss to his wife who cooks their food.
“I eat proper foods now,” he said. “We’re really surprised at how good we feel.
We’re not hungry anymore.”
Deininger calls himself a jack of all trades because he does various maintenance
around the city that includes plumbing and electrical work.
“Before, I’d bend over and it was difficult to get up since I was so heavy,” he
said. “Now I can bend over and do everything.”
Deininger is father to his 25-year-old daughter and 22-year-old son and said his
family has joined him in losing weight.
“It’s surprisingly easier than any of us thought,” Deininger said. “By dad doing
it, it gave everyone a good incentive and a wakeup call that we all needed to do
it.”
Deininger’s blood sugar level went from 180 in January to its current, healthy
level at about 100.
Although Deininger is excited about his recent weight loss, he hopes to lose
another 33 pounds to his original goal of 200 pounds by January 2006.
“I feel great and I’m proud of it. I feel 200 percent better,” he said. “It gave
me the incentive to keep trying even harder.”
Clerk-Treasurer Nancy Hewitt who coordinates the health screenings was not
available for comment.
Deputy Clerk-Treasurer Tami Runyon said the city began offering annual
screenings in  2002 to the city’s employees and their spouses.
Runyon said that close to 100 people are tested for cholestoral, sugar level,
high blood pressure and body mass. She said the tests proved to be positive.
“They benefitted the health insurances and the health of the employees,” Runyon
said. “They caught things in early stages.”
According to the Indiana State Department of Health website, 17 million
Americans have diabetes and 358,000 Hoosiers have been diagnosed with the disease.

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Bluffton, Ind.
May 24, 2005

Advanced Japanese Courses at BHS Rescued As Worman to Return
By Sarah Pulliam

Kandice Spera, a freshman at Bluffton High School, happily hugged  Linda Worman after she heard her former high school teacher will teach Japanese III and IV next year.
“I was relieved that I didn’t have to take two more years of a different language and that I could just take another year of Japanese,” Spera said. “She just inspired me to take Japanese because she has made it very fun.”
Spera is like her Bluffton High School classmates who are required to take three years of one language or two years of two languages to receive an academic honors diploma.
Principal Steve Baker said in Monday night’s school board meeting that 22 students were signed up for the fall Japanese III class and 17 students for the spring Japanese IV class.
Worman, who taught  the school’s popular comprehensive Japanese program, retired in December 2004 saying she wanted to spend more time with her grandchildren and mother.
The school had planned to hire another full-time Japanese teacher, Worman said, but the school had to make budget cuts that did not include another teacher.
The school’s decision left many students without the option of continuing their Japanese studies.
However, Worman said she decided last week to teach the two classes.
“I guess it was just meant to be,” Worman said. “This is my hope to keep things alive.”
She said it was not her intent to teach next year so her mind has to refocus.
“I think it’ll be something that by the time fall comes by, I’ll look forward to it,” Worman said.
Baker said it’s only because of Worman’s decision that they were able to offer the classees.
“No student will be left behind,” Baker said to the the 21 audience members who chuckled in response. He said the school will not offer Japanese I and II.
“The only people we are not able to satify are those who have never been in Japanese and who want to start the program,” Baker said. “We have to let [Worman] retire sometime,”
The school currently offers four years of both Spanish and German. Baker said the school is unsure whether the Japanese program will continue after next year.