A hearing will be held in Jasper County today on Linda Belork’s request to have a court-imposed Temporary Restraining Order removed allowing her to return to her duties as the Starke County Treasurer. Belork has been out of the office since August 13th after being removed by the County Commissioners following the issuance of a State Audit showing thousands of dollars in discrepancies.
The money has been found, but Belork has been blocked by the order from returning to office. Objecting to her return are the Starke County Commissioners. Judge John Potter will be seeking pertinent information from Belork’s attorney, Ethan Lowe, and Martin Lucas, attorney for the commissioners, during today’s hearing.
Also looming on the horizon is the class action lawsuit brought against the county by Jack Haut. Haut’s suit pertained to conditions at the Starke County Jail while he was a prisoner there. The county’s attorney in the case asked this week to have the balance of the $100,000 put into a trust fund to be used in defense of the county.
“We’ve got the $100,000 set aside and after what he’s drawn down, there’s about $63,000 or $68,000 left, and I would be fine with putting that into a trust account and telling him to be frugal,” said Commissioner Kathy Norem.
