A Knox man was arrested Tuesday after allegedly driving drunk.
Jack Stoddard, Jr. was reportedly driving his vehicle around 1:30 a.m. when he lost control of his vehicle at the intersection of County Road 25 North and County Road 600 East. Officers arrived on scene and found Stoddard and a female passenger out of the vehicle. Stoddard told police that he lost control of the vehicle during an argument with his girlfriend.
A Knox man appeared in the Starke Circuit Court this week for his sentencing hearing, but the state withdrew the plea agreement after he racked up a number of new charges.
Fifty-one-year-old Lolus Johnson was arrested in March for allegedly stealing a pair of sandals from Dollar General. When police found him and patted him down, they allegedly found a marijuana cigarette and other controlled substances. He was arrested and faces charges of Theft, Possession of a Controlled Substance, and Possession of Marijuana.
Lt. Governor Becky Skillman recently honored recipients of the 2012 Excellence in Affordable Housing awards, which honor Hoosiers for their impact on communities throughout the state. The recipients were announced at the Annual Statewide Conference on Housing and Community Economic Development, sponsored by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority and the Indiana Association for Community Economic Development.
Skillman said she is reminded every year of the caliber of partners throughout Indiana who are working on innovative projects that strive to improve communities. She said the recipients deserve praise for their community and economic development efforts.
Hoosier employers have continued to grow their workforces for the tenth month in a row, once again adding jobs in Indiana to the tune of 7200 private sector jobs. The rate of job growth in Indiana triped the national average of 0.1 percent, and since July 2009, the low point of employment, Indiana has added more than 150,000 private sector jobs.
The areas with the most significant gains for the month of August were Private Educational and Health Services with 5200 jobs added and Construction with 2200 jobs added.
Here is a look at some of the news that made the news in the Kankakee Valley this week:
Wythogan Park in Knox opened this week. There are some areas still blocked off due to the amount of debris yet to be cleared. The walking trail is accessible. Contractors will continue working in the park, but the majority of the larger logs and branches have been removed. The park has been closed since July 24 when a fierce storm reeled through the Knox area, causing thousands of dollars in damage within the park. Continue reading
A wing is now closed in the LaPorte County Jail after the LaPorte County Council did not approve a request for an additional appropriation of $70,000 to fund the jail overtime budget for the rest of the year. That money was to be used to properly staff jail operations. As a result, Sheriff Michael Mollenhauer said all overtime has been stopped.
Harold’s Picks: 20-9 (overall) 18-7 (with blind picks)
Knox-28 Culver-21
CMA-35 John Glenn-14
Kankakee Valley-28 NJSP-7
South Central-41 Lake Station-13
West Central-48 Winamac-37
Nathan’s Picks: 20-9 (overall) 18-7 (with blind picks)
Knox-28 Culver-21
CMA-22 John Glenn-7
Kankakee Valley-35 NJSP-20
South Central-31 Lake Station-12
Winamac-42 West Central-35
Sean’s Picks: 6-1
Knox-24 Culver-14
John Glenn-31 CMA-17
Kankakee Valley-35 NJSP-31
South Central-27 Lake Station-17
West Central-34 Winamac-28
Tom’s Blind Picks: 8-17
Culver Over Knox
CMA over John Glenn
North Judson over Kankakee Valley
South Central over Lake Station
West Central over Winamac
A man accused of killing an elderly woman formerly from Knox could face the death penalty if he is convicted. Roy Bell of Rochester will appear in Fulton Superior Court on Tuesday, where he faces charges including Murder as he is the suspected gunman in the death of 81-year-old Wilma Upsall during a bungled home invasion in November 2011.
Two other men, William Scroggs of Delong and Jason Miller of Plymouth, face similar charges but prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty in either of those cases. The state filed a request for the death sentence for Bell in March and the initial hearing for that request was held on April 3.
A Crothersville man has been indicted on federal charges in connection with a bank robbery in DeMotte.
Billy Joe Dugard, 36, has been charged with Bank Robbery as the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
A new position has opened up for the town of North Judson. Clerk-Treasurer Donna Henry explained that they held the third reading of an amendment to the town’s salary ordinance, authorizing the addition of a part-time clerical employee for the clerk’s and billing offices. The board adopted the amendment, and Henry said they will soon be taking applications.
Henry explained that the part-time employee would split his or her time between the two offices, but will spend the majority of his or her time in the clerk-treasurer’s office. The employee will be trained in both departments, and will be cross-trained on the billing side to allow the employee to substitute for the billing clerk during vacations. Henry says this employee will be similar to a floating employee between the two departments, but will concentrate on the clerk-treasurer’s side.
Two people were arrested following a traffic stop in North Judson Monday night.
Officers observed a car near Schricker and Talmer Street that was known to be driven by Randall Stone who has a suspended driver’s license. Police conducted a traffic stop and confirmed that Stone was driving the vehicle with a suspended license. During the traffic stop, a search of the vehicle was conducted and drugs were allegedly found inside the vehicle.
Randall Stone, 43, of Wheatfield, was arrested on preliminary charges of Possession of Methamphetamine Within 1,000 feet of a Public Park and Driving While Suspended With a Prior Conviction. His passenger, Patricia Ann Vega, 48, of North Judson, was arrested on preliminary charges of Possession of a Controlled Substance and Possession of a Controlled Substance within 1,000 feet of a Public Park. Stone’s vehicle was impounded for having false and fictitious plates.
The Average Daily Membership, or ADM counts, were conducted throughout the state for all school corporations last Friday. Schools rely on this count as corporations receive funding for every student counted on that day.
Eastern Pulaski School Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said that his corporation is down approximately 30 students. That amounts to a loss of $150,000 in funding for the school. Dr. Klitzman said this year’s count was 1,190.
The Pulaski County Commissioners this week discussed a number of maintenance items for the county with Maintenance Director Morry Demarco. According to Demarco, the old county highway garage is in need of being cleaned out and boarded up, but a number of gas heaters remain in the building. He asked the commissioners if they would like the heaters to be moved to other county buildings where they could be used.
Commissioner Michael Tiede told Demarco to ask the new county garage if they have any need for the heaters, and if not, he told Demarco to try to sell the heaters.
Enrollment is down at the Culver Community School Corporation, and Superintendent Brad Schuldt said the corporation is down 49 students, according to the Average Daily Membership count.
Schuldt explained that the largest impact on the enrollment was caused by groups of students moving with their families completely out of the district. He said 80 students moved out of the district and 60 moved in – totaling a loss of 20 students.
IU Health Starke Hospital is partnering with Community Health Services of Starke County and Northwest Indiana Community Action to help raise awareness of the importance of the prevention of falls with independent seniors.
On Saturday, Oct. 6, IU Health will attempt to reduce the number of falls among seniors by teaming up for the Safe at Home event to make home modifications to over 150 seniors’ home across Indiana. If you would like to help in making these modifications to seniors’ homes in the area, go to the old Home Health building on 11 S. Main St. in Knox where a light breakfast will be offered and assignments will be given at 8:15 a.m. Lunch will be served at noon. Call Ted Hayes at 772-1198.
The proposed golf cart ordinance for the town of North Judson is slowly gaining substance, as councilman Tim Cummins presented the ordinance to the town board this week. The board reviewed the ordinance and made a few grammatical revisions, and Clerk-Treasurer Donna Henry says they plan to have it advertised next week and have it presented for first and second readings at their second meeting in October.
A Starke County inmate who escaped from home detention was sentenced in Starke Circuit Court Wednesday morning.
Robert Spencer pleaded guilty to Escape, a Class B Felony, and Criminal Mischief, a Class D Felony, in a plea agreement with the State. He also committed a probation violation. He admitted that he was on home detention and cut off his ankle monitor and fled. Starke County Community Corrections staff convinced him to turn himself in and he did.
Pulaski County Maintenance Director Morry Demarco told the commissioners this week that he is in the process of clearing out the basement of the justice center. He says he’s moving the dryers from upstairs to the basement, and had to cut a 10-inch hole in the floor for the ductwork.
Demarco says he’s moving the dryers because a fire had developed from the equipment not too long ago, and to prevent that from happening again, he has installed dryer boxes and filters. He says this is a lot more efficient with less headaches, and the way it was set up previously was “doomed to fail.”
A sentence was handed down to 40-year-old Bryan Timm in Starke Circuit Court Wednesday morning after he pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the State on a charge of Battery Causing Serious Bodily Injury, a Class C Felony.
Timm explained to Judge Kim Hall that he and the victim in this case, his wife, have been going to marital counseling and are working on their issues in order to exist as a family for their children. He was arrested on Feb. 9 after an argument with his wife. The argument escalated to the point where he grabbed a hold of her hand and twisted it and broke a bone in her hand. The State said in open court that the victim is still undergoing physical therapy.
Starke County Emergency Management Agency Director Ted Bombagetti gave the commissioners some good news this week. The EMA has for the third year in a row exceeded their assessment goal, earning a wage reimbursement for the county. On top of that, Bombagetti says he and Mary Lynn Ritchie brought back $4050 to the county by performing so well on the assessment.
The wage reimbursement totaled $30,000, which covers half of the department’s wages for the year. Bombagetti says that money goes to the county, but the bonus he and Ritchie earned will be returned to the department to be spent on necessary equipment.
