Identities of Men Injured in Three-Vehicle Accident in Marshall Co. Released

The identities of the men involved in a three-vehicle accident yesterday morning in Marshall County have been released.

According to a news release from the Plymouth Police Department, the accident occurred around 7:22 a.m. on U.S. 30 at the intersection of Pioneer Drive, when an eastbound pickup truck driven by Ethan Barlass rear-ended a box truck. The box truck, driven by Thomas Curtis, had just begun to move in traffic and the impact caused the box truck to strike a semi trailer in front of it. The box truck then flipped on its side.

Barlass was airlifted to Memorial Hospital in South Bend while Curtis was transported by ambulance to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Plymouth. The semi driver was uninjured.

Alleged Threats and Gunfire Lead to Walkerton Man’s Arrest

A Walkerton man was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly threatened a neighbor.

The victim told police that Kenneth Emmons argued with him about putting up deer stands in his woods behind the house. Emmons reportedly told him not to put up the stands and threatened him. Emmons allegedly called him a coward and told him to come to his house “to get his.” Emmons then reportedly picked up a .22 caliber rifle and shot two rounds toward the woods and threatened him again.

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Knox Board of Public Works Discusses Towing Regulations

The Knox Board of Public works this week discussed the city’s towing regulations, which Mayor Rick Chambers noted have not been updated since 2008.

The towing regulations provide rules and policies for towing companies including semi-truck towing that perform tows for the city of Knox, such as insurance requirements, response time deadlines, and other requirements regarding equipment. Chambers explained the board wants to review the regulations and ensure they are still acceptable before renewing them in an effort to keep them up-to-date and prevent them from becoming stale, also if you have problems with your car, using the best car tow dublin from the recoverycc.ie is the best option.

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SCILL Center to Begin Leaf Raking

SCILL Center

The SCILL Center students are set to rake leaves for residents who are elderly or physically handicapped. This community project will be on Saturday, November 3.

If you would like to be on the list, call Knox Mayor Rick Chambers at 772-4553 to submit your name. The students will rake up to 15 yards. Your residence will be taken care of on a first come, first served basis that day.

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Community Project Aims to Keep Senior Toes Warm This Winter

An annual community service project aiming to keep seniors warm kicks off on Saturday, Oct. 27. The Socks for Seniors Campaign looks to organize collecting new socks to be distributed to the elderly in local area nursing homes around the holidays.

The program begins with Make A Difference Day on Saturday, the official kickoff of the campaign which runs through Christmas. The event is looking for local area coordinators near Knox to help with collecting socks this year.

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Starke County Treasurer’s Office Reopens; Court Hearing Scheduled

Starke County Treasurer Linda Belork assists a customer over the phone

By order of the Jasper Circuit Court Judge John Potter, a telephonic case management conference was held Wednesday, October 24 concerning Judge Potter’s ruling regarding the reinstatement of Starke County Treasurer Linda Belork.

Starke County Attorney Martin Lucas and Belork’s counsel, Ethan Lowe, were part of the hearing where the Court found that disobedience of process or order, and interference with execution of process or order was conducted when the Starke County Commissioners met and voted to close the Office of the Starke County Treasurer, thus nullifying the Judge’s order to reinstate Belork to the office.

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Accident in Marshall County Injures Two

One person was air-lifted to the hospital and another taken by ambulance after a crash in Marshall County this morning.

According to our reporting partners at WNDU, a pick-up truck carrying a large, heavy semi-engine in its truck bed rear-ended a white box truck at the intersection of U.S. 30 and Pioneer Road. Both were headed eastbound on U.S. 30 at the time. The crash caused the engine to come forward and slam into the pick-up truck’s cab.

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Stonebraker Trial To Continue Today, Witnesses Expected to Be Called

Christopher Stonebraker

After a lengthy jury selection process, the trial for a Winamac man accused of raping his ex-wife began in the Starke Circuit Court yesterday. Christopher Stonebraker faces charges of Rape as a Class B felony and Domestic Battery as a Class D felony following his arrest in November.

The jury selection process ran from 9 a.m. to around 3 p.m., when the jury was finally seated. The assembled jury then heard their instructions for the case and opening statements were heard from both the defense and the state before the day came to a close.

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LaPorte County Jail Still Limping Due to Funding Issues

LaPorte County Sheriff's Department
La Porte County Sheriff's Office

The fifth floor of the LaPorte County Jail remains closed as the LaPorte County Council has not approved enough money to fund the jail overtime budget.

The council discussed the situation Monday night and Sheriff Michael Mollenhauer said the council did approve the transfer of $30,000 from the sheriff’s DOC misdemeanor fund to help fund a portion of the cost for the rest of the year. An appropriation of at least $70,000 was requested to adequately fund that budget for the rest of the year. That money will be used to properly staff jailers and a nurse.

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Dangerous Intersection Discussed by Knox City Council

Knox City Council

A dangerous intersection in Knox received some attention by the city council this week as City Police Chief Clint Norem explained the intersection issue to the council.

Mayor Rick Chambers passed out a statement from the Knox Police Department that indicated the intersection at Portland and Lafayette streets is not as safe as it should be. Norem said drivers on Lafayette Street heading west that come to the intersection with Portland Street are forced to pull almost all the way into the intersection to see any southbound traffic. He explained that this is due in part to the design of the road and how it’s laid out, and residents at the corner have a fence and bushes that partially block the view as well.

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Three Arrests Reported Tuesday by Plymouth Police

Officers from the Plymouth Police Department arrested three people Tuesday in two different incidents.

Police were called to investigate a hit and run accident at Work One in Plymouth around 11 a.m. ET. A surveillance video showed that Constance Bradley, 24 of Plymouth, backed into a parked car that caused extensive damage. She then left the area. Officers later located her and arrested her on a preliminary charge of Leaving the Scene of a Property Damage Accident.

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Knox Science Teachers Praised for Rafting Trip

Superintendent A.J. Gappa

The Knox Community School Board was given information about a recent outing by the advanced science classes to the Tippecanoe River State Park. Superintendent A.J. Gappa said science teachers Laurie Simmons and Marge Wood take the students on this rafting trip every year.

“It’s kind of a fun trip but it’s also educational,” explained Gappa. “They studied the environment, the ecology of the river and they did testing of water samples as they moved down the river to different stations. Different rangers were there to give demonstrations and lectures on different parts of the river.”

Three students gave a presentation to the board and gave praise to the teachers and for the opportunity to participate in this trip.

Demotte State Bank’s Relay for Life Team To Sponsor Haunted Cornmaze

Demotte State Bank Team Captain Candice Miller

With the Starke County Relay for Life January kickoff quickly approaching, teams are prepping fundraisers to raise community awareness and money for the American Cancer Society. This year’s Relay theme is “Colors of Cancer,” and Demotte State Bank has chosen the color yellow to represent Sarcoma, and their first fundraiser, according to Team Captain Candice Miller, is sure to be frightfully fun: the team is sponsoring two days of the three-day Haunted Cornmaze attraction in Knox with the help of Sonya and Melvin Fisher.

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Songs from Starke County

I received the following note from Marty Lucas the other day about a composer of music with connections to Starke County. He said, “Just learned a tidbit of Starke Co. history I’d never heard before. And it’s pretty cool, in my opinion…it requires some explanation, so bear with me..”.

You’re no doubt familiar with the American Songbook classic “Georgia On My Mind”. Everybody knows Ray Charles’ 1960 rendition, and probably lots of people assume he wrote the song. But no, the music was composed by Hoagy Carmichael (who also wrote Stardust, Buttermilk Sky, Heart and Soul, the list goes on), well suffice it to say he was one of America’s greatest songwriters of the first half of the 20th century.

Carmichael was a native of Bloomington, received his undergraduate degree from IU in 1925 and his law degree there too, in 1926. At a party in Bloomington in 1930, Carmichael came up with a melody, and then stayed up all night with his friend Stuart Gorrell, working on it.

Stuart ended up writing the lyrics for the song, which became ‘Georgia on My Mind’. Here’s the local connection. According to Wikipedia, Stuart Gorrell was born in Knox, Indiana, in 1901. [Ed Hasnerl says that Stuart’s father, Samuel M. Gorrell was the publisher of North Judson and Knox newspapers. The Knox paper was later sold to Henry F. Schricker.] He (Stuart Gorrell) went on to become a banker and never wrote another song lyric.

Stuart said the lyric was about Hoagy’s sister, Georgia Carmichael. Nevertheless, it’s the Georgia state song.

Actually, the song was a mostly forgotten oldie when Ray Charles recorded it. I’ve heard his producer didn’t want to do some tired old song from 30 years earlier, but Ray Charles generally did what he wanted to do. And he did it well.”
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Some of you may not have heard of the song writer, Leo Friedman. He was born in Elgin, Illinois in 1869 and died in Chicago in 1927. I would say that his and your age difference would be a reason for not knowing him. However, you might have heard of some of his songs. He is best remembered for composing and publishing the sentimental waltz, “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”, with lyrics by Beth Slater Whitson in 1910. Another one of his popular compositions was “Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland.”

The local connection of “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”, is where is was composed. It was composed on the east side of Bass Lake at the Center View Hotel, (see the attachment) which is now the home of Bill and Nancy Sonnemaker, and they are proud to tell the story about Leo Friedman.
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Another song writer that I am sure you haven’t heard about is Alice Prettyman Shilling. Prettyman Street in Knox is named after her father. She wrote the words to “Yellow River” with music by Leo Friedman. Yes, it is our Yellow River in Starke County. And yes, it is the same Leo Friedman. And yes, she was my great aunt. You can access this song by clicking on our website — http://www.scpl.lib.in.us/historical/yellow_river/yellow_river.pdf

If you know of other Starke County composers, let me know.

Jim Shilling
Starke County Historical Society

Trial For Man Accused of Rape To Begin Today

Christopher Stonebraker

Since being continued in late July, the jury trial in the case of Christopher Stonebraker has been set for this morning at 9 a.m. Stonebraker is charged with Rape as a Class B felony and Domestic Battery as a Class D felony following his arrest late last year.

Stonebraker was arrested on Nov. 28, 2011, and it is alleged that he raped his ex-wife and pushed her head into a wall, causing her tooth to chip. The probable cause affidavit stated that he also scratched her back in the presence of two children. Stonebraker was arrested by an officer from the Indiana State Police and taken to the Starke County Jail.

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Two-Vehicle Accident in Knox Sends Two to Hospital

Crews investigate the accident on U.S. 35 in Knox

Two Knox residents were injured in a two vehicle accident in Knox Monday afternoon.

Clinton Collins, 19, of Grovertown, told Knox City Police officers that he was on U.S. 35 approaching McDonald’s when he saw another vehicle in front of him. He attempted to use his mirrors to execute a lane change and by the time his eyes returned to the front of the vehicle, the vehicle had stopped at the entrance to Five Star and Collins was unable to avoid a collision.

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