By Shari Benyousky
Guest Columnist

Column Note: In the 65th column in the Diners and Dives series, a small group of Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club members explore the clouds and north Warsaw.

WARSAW — “Oh no!” I overheard the waitresses whispering around the corner. “It’s that Inkfreenews group that writes about restaurants. They’re going to want to take pictures of us!” They weren’t wrong.

Shoutout to Stephanie for being a fantastic waitress at Don Pablo’s (just north of Walmart in the little plaza. Yes, it used to be Lake Buffet) at 2600 Sheldon St.

Stephanie told me her favorite breakfast food was the spicy Chorizo Poblano Skillet. I loved it with a bowl of fresh fruit and a split, buttered biscuit.

TIP — You can order breakfast for lunch including 14 kinds of skillets.

The Ground Crew Gets Jammed

We had landed for lunch at the newly re-opened Don Pablo’s with the regulars and two fascinating guests: Nick King, Warsaw Municipal Airport Manager, and Cindy Dobbins, Common Council at Large Member and Owner of Downtown’s Buffalo Street Emporium.

“Which comes first: runway expansion or a new terminal?” Realtor Jeff Owens asked immediately after Stephanie finished our orders. This has been a sticky subject locally as some people worry about taxes.

Nick grimaced and illustrated the length of the airport runway with a menu and a line of those little jam portion squares they give you for toast. “We have 6,000 feet of runway, but only 5,100 feet to land. On a good day.” He held up a strawberry jam. “But on bad weather or foggy days, we only have until here.” He paused to look for something to make another line across the menu.

Realtor Jeff Owens handed down a stack of grape jams. “Have more Smucker’s.”

Nick lined up the grape jams. “This Smucker here,” he laughed. “Well, this Smucker is the 4,100-foot line for clearance when it’s bad weather. That’s not a lot. If you’re a pilot, that’s scary close.”

As you probably know, the current runway ends at the barrier of N CR 100E. If you drive down that road a lot like I do, you’ll often see planes taking off and landing directly over your car. That’s the problem though. The airport runway needs to expand, but the road is in the way.

Stuck On The Tarmac

Nick waved his Reuben sandwich. “I am not an advocate to close that road. Never have been. Never will be. There are alternatives.” Nick has a tough job growing the airport while convincing people who don’t use the airport that this is a good thing for them too. “I mean, like 95% of people around here don’t fly in or out of the airport, but they are impacted greatly by its growth or failure,” he said. “Take farmers, for example. We now have three crop-duster companies that fly in or out of the airport. Even the drone dusters must be approved through us.”

“That’s a lot of math,” Attorney Antony Garza frowned even as he enjoyed his Smothered Chicken, green beans with bacon, and mashed potatoes. “People don’t like math.”

“It’s true,” agreed Realtor Owens who held a half-pound burger (you can get 11 kinds of burgers including Olive and Hawaiian). “People prefer stories.”

The Headwinds

Cindy Dobbins listened intently as she worked on her bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup. “I’m an advocate for whatever we can do to upgrade the airport. There are a lot of opportunities in the future in aviation.” Cindy’s grandson Quinn Dobbins is a 23-year-old pilot working in Texas at Bell Helicopter, so she knows. “I’m passionate about getting our young people involved in aviation opportunities. Let’s pool our resources and make the airport stronger and better for all.”

Both Dobbins and King support the growing by-leaps-and-bounds aviation program at the Warsaw Community High School and would like to see it expand to other high schools.

But the Warsaw Municipal Airport is currently stuck. For the airport to take the next step, both Warsaw city and county officials must approve a city-county partnership called a City-County Airport Authority. This shows the FAA that all sides support the airport. The county council tabled a resolution to move forward on that issue in 2023. They haven’t yet returned to vote on the issue in 2024, and time is running out.

On Hold At The Gate

“I know a lot of acronyms like FAA,” Nick laughed.

“How many acronyms do you know?” I asked as I borrowed one of his French fries.

“Now we’re back to numbers again!” 1st Source Banker Paul Finley’s groan turned into a grin as Stephanie brought him his spectacular lunch, the puffy high walls of a German Pancake filled with fruit and dusted with powdered sugar. Next time I will order one of these.

“Let’s put it this way,” Nick tried to explain. “When new Mayor Grose asked me to explain acronyms in my field, I sent him 78 pages of airport-related acronyms kind of as a joke. We have a lot.”

Grounded Before Take-Off

Speaking of numbers again, Nick had some numbers that surprised us. “If all of this goes through, the dreaded tax raise wouldn’t impact everyone. Some people would even see a decrease in their taxes. Others might see something like $60 a year if they owned a $200k house. In the future, after we get through the basics of an expanded runway and a larger terminal, the airport would bring in enough cash to support itself.”

Cindy smiled. “Think about it. I know from my grandson that pilots love to fly in and out of interesting places for day trips, sometimes just for breakfast or lunch. They bring their money to the city by buying gas and food.”

“For sure,” Nick explained. “People don’t know that our competitors include airports not just locally, but everywhere. Even big ones like Fort Wayne and South Bend.” He took ate a handful of French fries. “The most recent economic impact data is from 2013, but even back then Indiana estimated from an outside firm that the Warsaw Airport brought $860 million, million, dollars into the community. Imagine how much more it is NOW! That helps all of us even if we don’t fly into the airport itself.”

Cindy agreed. “We could do a better job of selling ourselves as a community worth coming to.”

The Warsaw airport averages 13,500 operations (defined as landing and taking off in a plane) per year not including practice or training runs. People use it to fly in for Grace College basketball games, the Annual Hidden Lake water ski competitions, and Notre Dame football games. There’s a company currently looking at the former RR Donnelly complex that might bring in 250 local jobs. Plug and Play and other current local companies depend on it for national and even international flights. Yes, WE are that important.

“Those people often stay at our local hotels,” Cindy Dobbins pointed out. “And spend their money in local businesses.”

TIP – Want to see the airport firsthand? The SOAR! Event will be held on Thursday, Aug. 1 at the Airport from 1-3 pm. See planes, trucks, helicopters, ambulances, and other vehicles up close and personal. Touch them. Get a plane ride. And the event is free. Food will be available.

Be Sure To Get This Boarding Pass

We ended with a Don Pablo’s luscious strawberry, pineapple, whipped cream and chocolate crepe produced to celebrate Realtor Jeff Owen’s birthday. He passed it around with lots of spoons to share.
“I didn’t prepare any birthday jokes for Jeff.” Orthopedic Consultant Kris Williams winked. “Because I respect my elders.”

Full Throttle Ahead

Nick ended with this advice: “I tell people that a mile of highway will take you a mile, but a mile of runway will take you anywhere!”

“That seems like really solid life advice,” agreed Kris.

“Yep, it’s on my bucket list before I die to become a pilot,” Funeral Planner Brittany Lyon sighed.

In the meantime, get some food at Don Pablo’s and listen to the planes fly overhead.

Do you know of an interesting place, restaurant, nonprofit, or person that you’d like to see featured in Diners and Dives? Send Shari Benyousky an email at [email protected].