The annual summer Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social at the Starke County Museum is set for Sunday, July 3rd from 1:00-3:00 p.m. CT. Members of the Starke County Historical Society will be hosting the event.
The event provides a good opportunity to see all three floors of the museum’s exhibits and displays as well as the special exhibits on display outside in the yard.
Here is just some of the news that made the news in the Kankakee Valley this week:
The Starke County Commissioners revisited the issue of a new Starke County Jail after inmate Jack Haut brought a class action lawsuit against the County over conditions at the jail. This week, the Starke County Council approved the transfer of $100,000 to help fund the County’s defense in the lawsuit.
The Knox City Council members told Knox Mayor Rick Chambers no when he asked the Council if they would be interested in selling Sandy Acres Park. It is assumed the land would be used for a business venture. Continue reading
Starke County Commissioner Kathy Norem brought the Starke County Council up to speed on the work of the Advanced Life Support Committee at the Council’s recent meeting. Norem said that the ALS Committee hopes to have a paramedic chase vehicle in operation by the first of the year. She reviewed the time line of codes that have to be approved by the State before they can start. One is that I.U. Health Starke Hospital will agree to be the sponsoring hospital.
It’s not unusual for people from far and wide to stop by Kersting’s Motorcycle Museum in North Judson. The Governor of the State of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, stopped in for a visit yesterday and took a tour of the most famous motorcycle museum in the Midwest and the most interesting in the United States. He was given the tour by Jim Kersting.
The P.T.A.B.O.A. Board met this week to review and approve the property values following the recent reassessment.
“The Assessor, by law, has to come up with the land values,” said John Viveiros, Project Manager for the reassessment project in Starke County. “We went through and did a neighborhood delineation based on the sales and came up with land-based rates for each and every neighborhood.”
The Knox Community School Board approved a lease agreement with Conn-Selmer Monday night. Superintendent A.J. Gappa said the School Corporation and Conn-Selmer have had this lease agreement for band equipment for the past ten years:
“Under the terms of the agreement, we are able to purchase expensive musical equipment at a huge discount which is a benefit for us,” said Gappa. “One the other side, Conn-Selmer advertises Knox as one of their schools that they supply instruments for. Our marching band in the past has had much success around the state so they use that to their benefit and it really helps our band department with the purchase of much needed big equipment.”
Members of the Indiana Wing of the Civil Air Patrol will bivouac at the Starke County Airport this weekend. In all, 150 cadets and Air Force trainers will on the ground and in the air doing search and rescue training. Over 80 aircraft will be at the Airport. Cadets will be staying in tents. There will be a Mess Hall set up to support the effort.
A few interesting pieces of information came up during Scot Imus’ presentation on gas prices in LaPorte this week. He’s the Executive Director of the Indiana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association.
Do filling station owners like high gas prices or low gas prices? Low. Stations general make 70% of their income off of gasoline sales, and 70% of their profit from convenience items (i.e. candy bars, potato chips, pop, coffee, knick knacks, etc). When gas prices are high, consumers have less money to spend on the convenience items.
The North Judson Town Board tentatively approved a bid from Gatlin Plumbing and Heating of Griffith, Indiana, to do the sewer separation work on State Road 39. The Board can not formally award the bid until the state releases the funds for the project. The company had the lowest bid of $531,153.
A discussion was held on the proposed 50/50 sidewalk program. The Board is considering entering into this program, but will not make a decision until the Board begins budget sessions for the next year. The Board has scheduled a budget meeting to plan the 2012 budget for Monday, June 27th at 4:00 p.m.
Ed is Back from his tour trip, he is planning another trip in the Fall to Branson. Here is his best of the week, except for Monday.
Community Services of Starke County is announcing a fare increase for transportation beginning July 1st.
“The reason why we had to do an increase is because of the cost of gasoline,” said Director Joan Haugh. “We put this off and we’re not seeing a break. We’re already six months into this year and we’ve almost spent as much as we did last year. With that cost increasing, we felt that we had to do something so we are increasing as of July 1st. The people that we’ve already told are regular riders and they’ve been asking us for some time when we are going to be raising our rates. How can we afford not to? I think they understand but I just wanted to let the public know too that there is a slight increase.”
Knox Police Detectives are still trying to piece together what happened Sunday afternoon that caused a 3-year-old boy to eventually die of a skull fracture. At this point, police and the Prosecutor’s Office are not releasing the names of the boy or the parents.
Prosecutor, Nicholas Bourff, fills in the details about the case.
Over 75 people attended a meeting to address gasoline pricing in LaPorte last night. The meeting was arranged by State Senator Jim Arnold (D-LaPorte) and State Representative Tom Dermody (R-LaPorte).
Presenters were Scot Imus, Executive Director of the Indiana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, and Maureen Hellman-Ferguson, Executive Director of the Indiana Petroleum Council.
For the Pulaski Memorial Hospital, some decisions could mean the difference between life and death. When CEO Rick Mynark approached the commissioners this week, he knew that his proposal could mean the very same for patients at the hospital. Mynark informed the commissioners that PMH would be signing an agreement with Keeney Ambulance and Transport Service (KATS), a private ambulance firm, to provide patient transfer service, cutting down drastically on the time required for patient transfers.
James Ritenour, Jr. recently appealed his Starke Circuit Court conviction of eight-years for Attempted Battery, a Class C Felony to the Indiana Court of Appeals. Ritenour, Jr. questioned whether sufficient evidence supports his conviction, and he also claims his eight-year sentence for the charge is inappropriate in light of his character and the nature of the offense. Ritenour, Jr. was sentenced to the maximum sentence of eight years, and he requests that his sentence be revised down to the usual term of four years. He also argues that the lack of ballistics tests and conflicting testimony would require a reweighing of the evidence, but the State disagrees.
The North Judson-San Pierre School Board members approved an amendment to the salary schedule for bus drivers, non-certified staff and administrators at their meeting Tuesday night.
Superintendent, Lynn Johnson, explained that the salaries have been frozen for the past two years and the Board adjusted the salaries to make up for those two years.
The Knox Community School Board has set a tentative meeting with the Knox Federation of Teachers on Monday, June 27th, at 4:00 p.m. CT. Superintendent A.J. Gappa said the Board hopes to approve the ratification of the teacher’s contract during this meeting.
“We came to a conclusion of agreement and we’re trying to beat the July 1st deadline where many new laws take effect and it’s going to effect how schools can operate,” said Gappa. “At this point in time, we’ve come to an agreement and we hope to ratify on June 27th.”
The Pulaski County Relay for Life will be Friday and Saturday, June 24th and 25th at the West Central High School. Opening ceremonies begin Friday at 6:00 p.m. ET and the closing ceremonies will be Saturday morning at 6:00 a.m. ET. The theme this year is “Rock around the Clock” and those attending will be dressed in 1950s and 1960s attire. Event Chair, Stephanie Parish, says there are many activities planned during the event.
John Reed thought he was going to a press conference called by Mayor Rick Chambers yesterday, but when he stepped inside the Knox Community Center he was greeted by, “SURPRISE!”
Even though it was John’s 65th birthday, the reason he was being honored was the announcement of his retirement as Editor of The Leader weekly newspaper.
North Judson-San Pierre High School’s athletic department is pleased to announce the hiring of Mr. Phil Shabi as its new basketball coach. He is a 1996 graduate of Wheeler High School and 2001 graduate of Purdue University. Last season, Shabi served as assistant boys basketball coach at Canyon Springs, Nevada High School which captured the 2011 Class 4A State Championship. From 2006-2010, he was head boys basketball coach at Clark, Nevada High School. Prior to that, Shabi was Director of Physical Education and Athletics as well as the head boys basketball coach at Unity Middle School, in Delray Beach, Florida.
Mr. Shabi will serve as a Health and P.E. teacher at the North Judson-San Pierre Middle School.
