North Judson Town Council To Soon Approve No-Tobacco Ordinance

The North Judson Town Council at their meeting Monday night held the first and second readings of their no-tobacco ordinance. Clerk-Treasurer Donna Henry says the council will likely hold the final reading on the ordinance at their next meeting on Sept. 4.

The ordinance prohibits not only smoking, but the use of any tobacco – including chewing tobacco, cigarettes, cigars, and other methods of tobacco use – and applies to all municipal property. This includes buildings, places of employment, and parks. Henry says this ordinance prohibits smoking and tobacco use “inside” all municipal buildings, and within 8 feet of municipal buildings. Ordinance prohibits smoking and tobacco use “inside” park shelters, and within 15 feet of the shelters.

The ordinance is more restrictive than the state’s Smoke Free Air Law, but only applies to municipal properties.

Henry says the next meeting of the town council is on Tuesday, Sept. 4, because the regularly scheduled meeting date of Sept. 3 falls on the Labor Day holiday.

Plymouth Police Investigating Gas Station Burglary

Plymouth Police Department officers are investigating a break-in at the Marathon Gas Station at 2405 N. Michigan Street.

On Monday morning at 5:48 a.m. ET, unknown suspects smashed in the front door of the business, entered the establishment and stole cigarettes. They then exited the store and left in an unknown vehicle.

Plymouth police revealed that the suspects had their faces covered so their identities were not immediately known.

If you know anything about this incident, call the Plymouth Police Department at (574) 936-2126.

Plymouth Woman Arrested After Pawning Stolen Video Games

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Starke County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Plymouth woman on Monday after she allegedly pawned electronics that were stolen from a North Judson family earlier this month.

Nicholas Shepherd from Unplugged Gaming company told officers that on Aug. 2, he and his wife had left their home with Austin Pike at the residence and when Shepherd returned home, he found his Xbox 360 missing along with a 120 GB hard drive and six Xbox games. He went to the Pawn Shop where he learned a woman pawned the items.

The case was assigned to detectives who soon found that Amy Cooke pawned the items for $35.

Cooke was arrested on Monday and booked in the Starke County Jail on preliminary charges of Theft and Receiving Stolen Property.

Hoosier BP Customers May Have Received Contaminated Gas

Some BP customers may have gotten a surprise when last they filled up their tank, as the company announced that motorists who bought fuel at a northwest Indiana BP station, or one supplied by BP, may have filled their vehicles with contaminated fuel.

BP’s general manager for press relations, Scott Dean, says they have pinpointed the contaminated fuel to a tank at their Whiting refinery fuel storage terminal, and he says it may have been diesel fuel or fuel oil that somehow got mixed in with regular unleaded gasoline. Customers most at risk are those in northwest Indiana, within the immediate area of the Whiting terminal, but GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan says there are other areas that may be affected as well.

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Pulaski County CDC To Develop New Website

Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

Pulaski County Community Development Commission Executive Director Nathan Origer told the commissioners this week that the county council has earmarked $15,000 in next year’s budget to go toward the creation of a county website. Origer says he would like to get county organizations together to come up with a website they can all use and agree with.

He also informed the commissioners that an organization is looking to connect Pulaski County to a nationwide bike trail, U.S. Bicycle Route 35. He says their plan is to come from Illinois, through Starke, Pulaski, and other counties, and ultimately link up to U.S. 35. The organization is asking for the commissioners’ approval.

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18-Year-Old Charged With Theft, Burglary Of Winamac Home

Criminal charges have been filed against an 18-year-old male accused of stealing $60 from woman in Winamac.

According to the criminal information filed in the Pulaski Circuit Court, Mitchell A. Wolff had broken into the home of Jane Dilts in the 600 block of North Hathaway Street on July 16 with the intent to steal. He is charged with Burglary as a Class B Felony and Theft as a Class D felony.

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City of Knox To Receive Substantial Rebate From Life Insurance

Knox City Council

The city of Knox will be receiving a rebate from their life insurance company to the tune of $34,672.22, according to Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston.

Houston explained that the city had received a letter from Trustmark Life Insurance Company explaining that the city would receive the rebate as required under the Affordable Care Act. The company had spent more than 20 percent of its premiums on administrative costs, salaries, sales, and advertising, and as a result, that extra amount spent must be returned to the city.

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Knox School Board To Move Forward With Palmer Wing Plans

Knox Community School Superintendent A.J. Gappa

Knox Community School Superintendent A.J. Gappa gave a report to the school board this week about a work session held on Aug. 8 concerning the Palmer Wing at the Elementary School.

“There were approximately 15 to 16 outside community members and it was pretty much unanimous (of that group) that the best future for the elementary school would be to build a new wing to replace the old Palmer Wing,” Gappa said.

Gappa says the board will now move forward with plans for the construction of the new Palmer Wing.

“The board will probably want to talk to community members and get some input from some people who are supportive to form committees to work toward that end,” Gappa said.

Return to School For Oregon-Davis Goes Smoothly

Oregon-Davis School Superintendent Dr. Steve Disney

The Oregon-Davis School Corporation had a smooth start to the school year, according to Superintendent Dr. Steve Disney.

“We’ve had a terrific start and I think that’s a compliment to all of our staff,” said Disney. “Our custodial staff and maintenance staff worked hard over the summer and the technology staff worked hard to get everything ready that goes into the planning for a new school year.”

He said the teachers worked especially hard.

“Teachers put in a lot of time over the summer. We had high school teachers go to New Tech planning and elementary teachers working on the teacher evaluation process and getting ready for the eight-step and all those things have fallen into the great start to the school year.”

Tuesday Night Men’s Bowling League Scores 2012-2013 Season

Tuesday Night Men’s League August 21

Tuesday Night Men’s Bowling League August 28

Tuesday Night Men’s League September 4

Tuesday Night Men’s League September 11

Tuesday Night Men’s League September 18

Tuesday Night Men’s League September 25

Tuesday Night Men’s League October 2

Tuesday Night Men’s League October 9

Tuesday Night Men’s League October 16

Tuesday Night Men’s League October 23

Tuesday Night Men’s League October 30

Tuesday Night Men’s League November 6

Tuesday Night Men’s League November 13

Tuesday Night Men’s League November 20

Tuesday Night Men’s League November 27

Tuesday Night Men’s League December 4

Tuesday Night Men’s League Dec. 11

Tuesday Night Men’s League Dec. 18

Tuesday Night Men’s League Jan. 8

Tuesday Night Men’s League Jan. 15

Tuesday Night Men’s League Jan. 22

Tuesday Night Men’s League Jan. 29

Tuesday Night Men’s League Feb. 5

Tuesday Night Men’s League Feb. 12

Tuesday Night Men’s League Mar. 5

Tuesday Night Men’s League March 19

Toll Road at the 58 Mile Marker in LaPorte County Now Open

Truck fire photo provided by Indiana State Police

Both the east and westbound lanes of the Indiana Toll Road were closed down shortly after 1:00 a.m. today due to a fire at the 58 mile marker in LaPorte County. A semi tractor trailer hauling a flammable liquid caught fire in the west bound lane.

At this time, all lanes of the Indiana Toll Road are open.  The lanes were closed close to 12 hours to clean up the area.

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Intoxicated Winamac Man Arrested Following Accident

A Winamac man was arrested after a late Friday night accident that injured two people.

A call had been placed into the Starke County Dispatch Center of a man speeding and driving off the side of the road. A short time later, Starke County emergency personnel were called to a two-vehicle accident at County Road 450 South and County Road 210 near Bass Lake. The driver of the vehicle that reportedly caused the accident, Gregory Moore, was extricated from his vehicle and taken to IU Health Starke Hospital. A blood draw was performed which showed that Moore was intoxicated at the time of the crash with a BAC of 0.25, which is more than three times the legal limit.

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San Pierre Woman Arrested Following Battery Incident

Pulaski County officers were called to a Medaryville residence Saturday night in reference to a fight.

Stacy Conley, 26, of Medaryville told police that she and her sister had gotten into an argument because she would not provide her sister with a clean urine sample for a drug test. Her sister, 25-year-old Kimberly Wireman of San Pierre, reportedly became upset and started screaming at her. Conley stated that her sister was going to borrow her car and when she went out to the vehicle, Wireman was already in the driver’s seat and Conley took the keys out of the ignition. Wireman then reportedly grabbed Conley’s hair and began to hit her while dragging her into the van. Police saw that Conley had been hit in the face. Conley stated that she probably struck Wireman in the face as she was being pulled into the van.

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Two Public Hearings To Be Held Next Week In Pulaski County

Two public hearings are scheduled for Monday, Aug. 27 to address an application for rezoning and zone map change and for a variance in Pulaski County.

At 6 p.m. ET, the Pulaski County Advisory Plan Commission will hear a rezoning and zone map change for the property at 4877 W. 200 S. in Winamac.

At 7 p.m. ET. the Board of Zoning Appeals will hold its first public hearing since its creation. The hearing will cover a proposed variance for a 40’x60’ pole barn to be built at 7567 W. 950 S. in Winamac to house bag ingredients and cover more than ten percent of the parcel. The meetings will be held in the Commissioners’ Room in the Pulaski County Courthouse.

Both applications are available for review in the Building/Planning Department located in the government building on Riverside Drive in Winamac.

Pulaski Commissioners Discuss Use of Gov’t Surplus Equipment

Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

The Pulaski County Commissioners at their meeting this week discussed the use of military surplus equipment for the Recycling Center, Sheriff’s Department, and other departments as well.

According to county attorney Kevin Tankerslee, the equipment must be used by law enforcement agencies only for at least one year after it has been received from the Department of Defense. After that, however, the title is transferred to the Board of Commissioners, who can then allow other departments to make use of the equipment.

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School Board Election Deadline Approaching

Starke County Clerk Evelyn Skronski

The General Election is less than three months away. Starke County Clerk Evelyn Skronski reminds you that if you would like your name on the ballot for membership consideration on the Knox Community School Board, Oregon-Davis School Board or the Culver Community School Board, you must file your registration in the Clerk’s Office by noon CT on Friday, Aug. 24. Those names will appear on the General Election Ballot on Tuesday, Nov. 6.

New Conservation Officer Comes to Starke County

Starke County will be getting a new conservation officer.

The Indiana DNR Division of Law Enforcement held graduation ceremonies Friday in which Zachary Howerton of Marengo was assigned to the Starke County area. Nine other officers were also assigned to several conservation officer positions throughout the state.

Howerton underwent five weeks of initial training followed by 12 weeks of on-the-job training in the field with a veteran conservation officer. Training continues with a 15-week course at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy after which Howerton will report to his assignment to complete a one-year probationary period.

Golden Living Center in Knox Receives Coveted 10 Karat Award

For the second year in a row, Golden Living Center in Knox received a perfect score in their annual survey. According to Golden Living Center’s Glenn Wilson, they received a zero-deficiency score in the survey, something only eight percent of centers in the state earn. He says to earn it twice in a row is an even greater honor, and the organization is excited to receive it.

Golden Living’s coveted 10 Karat award was also presented to Golden Living Center. The award is one of the company’s highest honors for superior performance in delivering quality care and services to its residents, and only a few Living Centers of the 304 nursing homes are selected to receive the award each year.

Wilson says the award takes into account a number of responsibilities for the center.

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