Ted Hayes Remember 5-20-11 (download or listen here)
Today at 12:20 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. CT, Ted Hayes will feature former WKVI morning man, John Whitenack on the “Ted Hayes Remembers” program. Mr. Whitenack occupied the “air chair” for 16 years. He especially liked to play the radio games, such as “Hi-Low”.
At the Kakakee Valley Sectional on Tuesday evening our area had nineteen individuals and relay teams advance to the Chesterton Regional. Winamac finished 2nd as a team, scoring 89 points, North Judson was 6th with 44, Oregon-Davis came in 9th with 24.5, West Central was 10th with 21, and Knox finished in 12th with 6.5 points.
The Pulaski County Airport expansion project is still a very hot topic, as Chris Smith approached the Commissioners this week to ask about the process to close a road. The proposed expansion for the airport would require the closure of road 100 West, in addition to a large amount of land acquisition from citizens. Many residents feel that this is not only unnecessary, but that it would violate many of their rights.
Three Starke County residents were arrested Tuesday on methamphetamine related charges. Officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department conducted a search warrant at Myrtle Beem’s residence at 9792 E. 150 N. in Grovertown where they allegedly found methamphetamine, precursors to manufacture methamphetamine, controlled substances, legend drugs and drug paraphernalia.
The gas prices are dropping and Don Good from the Good Oil Company in Winamac gives us his analysis of the current trend.
“Part of it is that this time of year, we go into what they call the turn around on the terminals which is an environmental requirement,” explained Good. “All the refineries pull their inventory down to put the summer-grade gas in and that always creates some glitches, but it also creates some opportunities for the speculators. I think there has been some economic news that has come out that kind of spooked them a little bit. There’s actually been a drop in demand so that spooks the speculators a little bit and when they leave the market, prices are going to come down now. This is the most volatile time I’ve ever seen. In this industry, we’ve seen where one night it goes up twenty cents and the next night it comes down fifteen cents. Usually, it takes some type of disaster to create that kind of volatility, but right now it’s just mainly the speculators jumping in.”
The Knox Community School Board members approved a lease agreement with Apple, Inc. to provide a one-to-one computer program for students in grades six through twelve.
“The computers are not going to take the place of teachers as some people fear,” explained Superintendent A.J. Gappa. “They’re just a modern tool that teacher have to use so students can improve their learning throughout Middle School and High School. Under this program, the student will get a computer that will be his computer for the next four years. The plan is that the student can take it home because that just extends their learning day. After four years, we will reevaluate the lease.”
The Knox City Council members are currently in the process of gathering information on a Pawn Shop Ordinance and at their last meeting, they reviewed an ordinance prepared by City Attorney David Matsey. Because it was just an information item, there was not a vote to move it to first reading. Mr. Matsey said his ordinance was modeled after similar ordinances in Bloomington and Indianapolis.
At their meeting Tuesday night, the Hamlet Town Board members learned that the storm water improvement project is almost complete. Paving will be done this week on Starke Street, Pearl Street, and Davis Street and the project should be done. Work has been ongoing to extend storm drains along those roads to alleviate a standing water issue in the old downtown area in Hamlet. The project came in under budget and the Board was able to use the extra funds, plus $15,000, to pave the roads after the drainage equipment was installed.
The North Judson-San Pierre School District has announced that Julie Soplanda will be the new Transportation Manager for the school system. She will be taking over for David Vessely who has resigned. Mr. Vessely is also the Athletic Director and there is no announcement on a replacement there.
Governor Mitch Daniels has issued a disaster emergency for 34 counties due to severe weather that caused widespread damage to homes, businesses and public property beginning April 18th.
Affected counties experienced flooding, damaged roads, downed power lines and other severe damage. The Executive Order includes Starke County, which is the only county in the northern part of the state to be included. Starke County EMA Director, Ted Bombagetti, told WKVI that the levee break on the Robbins Ditch was included in the claim along with a levee break by the Kankakee Fish and Wildlife area outside of North Judson.
The Bella Vita Pregnancy Resource Center’s First Annual Fundraising reception will be held tonight at 6:30 p.m. CT at the Knox Community Center. A ribbon cutting for the center was held last week, and Executive Director Suzanne Lange said tonight’s affair will be to raise funding for the operating expenses.
The 10th annual SCILL Center Auto Show is this Saturday, May 21st from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. CT at the facility in the Knox Industrial Park. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. and everyone is invited to participate. Bring in that classic or modern car and show it proudly during this event. There is a $15.00 registration fee and that includes a dash plaque.
We’re coming to the close of the school year and many graduation activities are scheduled at our local schools. The Knox Community High School Senior Awards Day will be Friday, May 20th at 8:00 a.m. CT in the High School Gymnasium. All parents and students are welcome to attend. Graduation will be Friday, June 3rd at 7:00 p.m. in Weinberg Gym.
The Knox Community School Board members appointed a new Middle School Principal Monday night.
“The Board appointed Dave Miller, the current Middle School Assistant Principal, as Principal,” said Superintendent, A.J. Gappa. “His term will begin on July 1st of this current year. Dave has been with the Corporation for a little over 20 years, I believe, and he’s been in the current post of Assistant Principal at the Middle School for the last 17 years. The Board thought he’s been loyal to the District and they wanted to give him his chance at the Principal-ship. In the past, Mr. Miller has served under two or three different principals and at one point, he didn’t feel that he wanted to accept the Principal-ship because he was happy where he was. But, at this point I think he feels it was time for him and the Board agreed.”
A lot of times secretaries and government office workers wish they could get away from phone calls so they can get some work done. The phone calls have quieted down at Knox City Hall under an unusual circumstance.
“Our phone numbers were left out of the new phone book,” Mayor Rick Chambers told the Knox City Council. “That was because of the switch over to the computer system. I’ve gotten with the newspaper this week and they’re going to put an article in the paper listing all of the phone numbers. I’m going to have cards printed up with phone numbers and we will leave those at the Clerk’s office. We’ll pass them out to anybody who needs them.”
A new fee schedule for the Pulaski County Health Department was approved by the County Commissioners on Monday.
“We came to the Commissioners to ask for them to approve a new fee schedule; we are going to now start charging for childhood vaccines an administrative fee of $8 per shot. For people who are on Medicaid, they will not need to pay that at time of services, we will be filing that with Medicaid because we are soon becoming a Medicaid provider,” said Terri Hansen of the Pulaski County Health Department.
Part of the necessity of this fee comes from the Departments’ desire to change one of their part-time nurses to a full-time nurse. Due to new guidelines and programs implemented by the state, a larger portion of the nurse’s time is dedicated to these programs, which means less time to perform other duties.
Hansen hopes that the change in the fee schedule will bring more money into the fund and make it easier to convince the Council and the Commissioners to approve the full-time position. The cost for the full-time nurse would be $37,000. The county already pays $22,000, and a grant would cover the remaining amount. The only money the county would need to come up with would be the money to cover the employee’s benefits, but with the new fee schedule, Hansen feels that shouldn’t be a problem.
Starke County Health Nurse, Frank Lynch, presented a new fee schedule for the Commissioners’ final approval.
The fees to obtain copies of birth and death records have been slightly increased to a flat-fee of $10 each. Previously, the fee to obtain birth certificates was $8 for the first copy and $7 for each additional copy, while the fee for death records was $10 for the first and $9 for any additional copy.
A fine of $250 for food establishments operating without a permit has also been approved. This is a very important step in cracking down on food-related infractions, as David Kesvormas, the Starke County Contract Food Inspector, is conducting inspections and will now be able to issue these fines.
On the other end of the spectrum, fees for septic permits have been decreased significantly from $200 for a new install and $40 for repair to a flat rate of $60. This change is due to the retirement of the previous Environmentalist, David Singleton, who was certified and able to perform borings and soil samplings. Because he will no longer be doing so, contractors and home owners will need to hire a soil scientist to perform these procedures, which can get pricey.
The Indiana State Police, including the Lowell District troopers that cover Starke, Pulaski, Lake, Porter, Newton and Jasper Counties, will be joining 250 other law enforcement agencies in the state in an effort to reduce injuries and fatalities by participating in the Operation Pull Over, Blitz 67, “Click it or Ticket” campaign. Troopers are able to perform extra patrols during the Memorial Day holiday travel period thanks to federal funds.
Three defendants were recently sentenced in Starke Circuit Court.
Judge Kim Hall sentenced Michael DeWitt on charges of Bribery, a Class C Felony, Public Intoxication and Criminal Mischief. He was sentenced to serve four years in the Indiana Department of Corrections with two years suspended on the Bribery charge. DeWitt will serve six months in the Starke County Jail with three months suspended on the remaining charges. The sentences will run concurrently. In a second case, DeWitt was given six months in the DOC with none suspended for a probation violation which will be served consecutively to the first case. The first 20 months shall be served in prison and the last 10 months will be served on electronically-monitored home detention. He also serve 24 months on probation.
Knox Community High School Junior, Connor Carlson, applied for and was chosen by Kankakee Valley REMC to participate in Indiana’s Electric Cooperative Youth Tour to Washington, D.C.
The purpose of the trip is to provide young adults with the opportunity to travel to our nation’s capital. Connor will be able to experience first-hand how our government functions, learn about the complexities of today’s electric utility industry, discover the unique characteristics of cooperative business enterprise, and to meet and work with hundreds of his peers from throughout the United States.
Connor, along with other students in Indiana, will travel from Indianapolis on Friday, June 10th to Washington, D.C. with a stop in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to see the battlefield. The students will visit several places in Washington, D.C., and participate in a Town Hall Meeting where they will share their thoughts and opinions on a variety of timely issues. They will then visit with representatives of Indiana’s Congressional delegation. The group will return on Thursday, June 16th.
All of Connor’s travel expenses from Indianapolis, meals, lodging and scheduled event fees will be paid for by Kankakee Valley REMC.
