Knox Clerk-Treasurer Says State Audit Came Back OK

Knox City Council

Knox Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston told the city council last week that the city’s audit has been completed by the state, pending official approval by the state supervisor. Houston explained that the audit, overall, went well; though he was unsure as to how city court fared with the audit. He said the only exception that the state took was that the deposits were not corresponding with what the books indicated was being deposited.

Houston explained that this was because some deposits were not listed as to whether they were cash or checks, so they could not be checked back on in the records. So, Houston said he has implemented a new form in his office that will be used to reconcile all cash and checks collected with the amounts deposited.

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Starke County and Others Change Income Tax Rates

A number of counties in Indiana have changed their withholding income tax rates with increases across the board. Starke, Perry, Hancock, and Carroll counties each raised their rates effective yesterday.

In Starke County, the resident rate has increased from .0106 to .0171, with the non-resident rate increased from .0081 to .0146. Perry County increased their resident rate to .0156 from .0106, and the non-resident rate from .00685 to .01185. Hancock County raised their non-resident rate from .004 to .0045, and Carroll County raised their resident rate from .015039 to .017039.

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Knox Redskin Brigade Advances to Regional ISSMA Competition

The Knox Redskin Brigade will advance to the Indiana State School Music Association Regional competition on Saturday, Oct. 13, having earned a Gold rating at the District Competition held at Concord High School in Elkhart this weekend.

Craige Phipps, band director at Knox, says a Gold rating is required in order for a band to advance to the Regional level. With the Redskin Brigade’s success at District, Phipps says they will soon advance to the Lafayette Jefferson Regional competition on Saturday, Oct. 13. The competition will take place at 12:05 p.m. ET.

Knox will also be competing this Saturday at the Plymouth High School’s “Harvest Festival of Bands.”

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Alliance EMS Customer Appreciation Day a Success

Alliance EMS held their first Customer Appreciation Day yesterday afternoon, and with the huge crowd that turned out for the event, it may very well be the first of many. With events available for all ages, including face painting, Bozo pail games, three-on-three basketball, horseshoes, and plenty of other activities, the event at Broken Arrow Campground raised quite a turnout.

Blood pressure checks were offered at the campground, along with glucose checks and other screenings on top of free food and drink, Alliance EMS succeeded in their efforts to raise community awareness.

The event lasted from noon to 3 p.m., and WKVI broadcasted live on location from the event. Morning host Tom Berg even took the opportunity to commandeer an ambulance!

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Pulaski Co. Sheriff’s Dept. To Upgrade Jail Technology, Website

Pulaski County SHeriff'

The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department has improved its technology in the jail. Jail Commander Phil Cherry talks about the upgrade.

“We just implemented a new jail management system and it’s called JailTracker,” explained Cherry. “It provides us here in the jail with a lot more detailed information with regards to the movement of our inmates. That includes med passing, programming and head counts. We do a head count at lock-down and it gives us an actual physical count of the inmates in the jail. It’s enabled us to almost go paper-free.”

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Man Sentenced To 3 Years For Possession of Pills in Pulaski Co.

A San Pierre man pleaded guilty in Pulaski Circuit Court on Friday in a plea agreement to two amended charges of Possession of a Controlled Substance, a Class D Felony, and Public Intoxication as a Class B Misdemeanor.

Craig Madsen was arrested March 1 after Pulaski County police found him to be intoxicated and in possession of prescription medication while at a Winamac boys basketball sectional tournament. He was reportedly harassing students at the time police were called to the school. When police searched him, he had 78 pills in his possession. The state originally filed a charge of Dealing a Controlled Substance, but it was amended to a possession charge.

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Speed Limit Lowered on 12th, Peach Roads in Marshall Co.

The Marshall County Commissioners approved an amendment to a speed limit ordinance on 12th and Peach roads.

The speed limit has been reduced to 35 mph from 40 mph in those areas. Dave Winrotte told the commissioners that he circulated the original petition to reduce the speed limit to 35 mph for safety reasons–not to allow golf carts. He noted that although the traffic study results indicated an average speed of 37.8 mph, many drivers do exceed the speed limit and that the hills and curves on the two roads make it difficult to see oncoming traffic.

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Knox City Council Approves Redistricting Ordinance

Knox City Council

Knox City Attorney David Matsey told the council last week that the redistricting of voting precincts has been completed, but he said they made very few changes. Matsey explained that state law requires all municipalities to reestablish districts two years after the most recent census, so the city is required to complete the redistricting ordinance by the end of this year.

He said there are a number of requirements in the redistricting process, including a condition that all districts must be roughly the same size. However, Matsey said because the county will not be reconfiguring precincts, the city can retain the same districts. He presented an ordinance reaffirming the city’s current districts and suggested repealing the current ordinance and adding the new ordinance, worded exactly the same, before the end of the year.

A motion was made and passed to approve the ordinance on its first reading, and the council proceeded to vote to suspend the rules and approved the ordinance on its second and third readings as well, placing the new districting ordinance into effect immediately.

Pulaski Co. Health Dept. Offers Walk-in Flu Shot Clinic This Week

Walk-in flu shot clinics have been scheduled by the Pulaski County Health Department.

The clinic hours are Oct. 2–4 from 8 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 4 p.m., and Oct. 3 from 8 a.m. to noon and 1–7 p.m. ET at the Pulaski County Health Department.

Flu vaccines will be $20 for adults and $20 for children. Insurance companies will not be billed. Parents can inquire if your child qualifies for publicly funded vaccines through the state. Call the Pulaski County Health Department at (574) 946-6080.

Meet The Candidates Night Planned for Wednesday

A Meet the Candidates Night is set for Wednesday, Oct. 3 from 6–8 p.m. at the Knox Community Center.

Candidates will be allowed five minutes to speak during the event. In the U.S. Senate race, a representative for Democratic U.S. Senate–candidate Joe Donnelly–will appear along with Libertarian candidate Andrew “Andy” Horning. A representative for Brendan Mullen will appear on his behalf as he campaigns for the U.S. Representative District 2 seat. Libertarian U.S. Representative District 2 candidate Joseph Ruiz will attend.

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Residents Reminded To Keep Signs Out of Right-of-Way

As the political season heats up, you are reminded that campaign signs are prohibited from federal and state highway rights-of-way. INDOT personnel are required by state law to remove unauthorized signs if they are in the right-of-way.

All signs will be taken to an INDOT sub-district office. The sub-districts in our area include stations at LaPorte, Plymouth and Winamac, and anyone wishing to reclaim a sign may do so from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday though Friday.

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Pulaski Memorial Hospital Warns Of Senior Alertline Scam

Pulaski Memorial Hospital has received word about a possible scam that may affect their “emergency response system” users. Pulaski Memorial Hospital Home Health & Hospice provide this service, and they have been contacted by the company with a warning.

A scam involving a fake company is attempting to mimic Philips Lifeline and is making the rounds that affects senior citizens in our community.

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