At one time in Starke County, there were 62 one-room schools. Washington Township had nine.
They were built on a geographic plan that allowed a student to walk no more than 2 miles to a school.
The Eagle Creek School, built in 1913, now is just a pile of bricks and debris. It was heavily damaged by an arson fire some years ago.
A man assaulted an INDOT worker after being confronted about driving around a barricade on Friday morning.
The INDOT worker was sitting in his truck on a lunch break when he saw a man in a maroon pickup drive around barricades that were blocking the road in the southbound lane of State Road 331 just south of Bourbon in a construction zone.
According to a report from the Indiana State Police, the worker got out of his vehicle and attempted to stop the driver. The worker told police that the driver struck him with the driver’s side mirror and then exited the truck and yelled profanities at him. The driver then proceeded to punch him several times in the face, according to police.
A fire that started in a garage at Bass Lake that spread to a home Wednesday night was deemed accidental.
Bass Lake firefighters, with the assistance of the Washington Township Fire Department, put out the blaze at the scene on the south side of Bass Lake. Bass Lake Fire Chief Les Jensen told WKVI News that they were on the scene for about four hours. The Indiana State Fire Marshal was at the scene Friday to assess the damage and cause of the fire.
A telephone call from WKVI News to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources has brought more clarity to the question of whether seasonal campsite leases are allowed at Bass Lake Beach and Campground. Bob Bronson is the section chief for the DNR Division of Outdoor Recreation. He originally told us camping is limited to two weeks at a time at properties like Bass Lake, which get funds from the federal Land and Water Conservation Act. Bronson has since spoken to officials with the National Park Service and learned otherwise.
“There is no policy on the length of how long you can camp. The state has policies and recommendations, but the funding source and Land and Water Conservation Act does not direct how long somebody can stay at a campground,” Bronson told WKVI News late Thursday. Continue reading
The Pulaski County Commissioners and the Pulaski County Council met in joint session last night that included a presentation by members of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Historical Preservation and Archaeology. Paul Diebold, who is a member of the committee, answered many questions concerning the historic eligibility of the Pleasant View Rest Home.
Janet Onken from the Pulaski County Historical Society submitted a 31-page application to the DNR Historical Preservation and Archaeology in order to nominate the county home as a historic structure.
Work on Klockner Drive/County Road 300 East to improve access to the Starke County Industrial Park is on track to wrap up before Thanksgiving. Crews will be paving the east side of Klockner from south of Pacific Avenue north to the railroad spur today. Klockner Drive is set to reopen in both directions from Pacific Avenue north to State Road 8 on Monday, Nov. 10. Local traffic will also be able to access Klockner from Pacific Avenue south to just north of Culver Road.
Members of the Bass Lake Fire Department battled a garage fire and a house fire Wednesday night.
Bass Lake Fire Chief Les Jensen said they were called to the scene on the southside of the lake at 10:30 p.m. CT and the fire had spread to a neighboring home. Jensen said the garage was a total loss and the house suffered some damage.
The Indiana State Fire Marshal will visit the scene today (Friday) help investigate the cause of the fire.
No injuries were reported. Crews from the Washington Township Fire Department assisted.
The Starke County Commissioners hope the addition of a new well at the site of the former county landfill will adequately address problems with gas levels. They call it a “first line of defense” to remedy the issue and keep costs down. The additional probe will cost the county between $2,000 and $4,000. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is still monitoring gas levels at the site. Recently methane levels tested higher than normal. The probe will help determine how far the gas is from the site.
The Town of North Judson is looking to fill several positions by the town council early next year. A building inspector is needed for 2015 and one town representative for the North Judson-San Pierre School Board is also available for those interested. Continue reading
A woman accused of assisting a suspect in a battery incident at Wythogan Park in Knox in July was sentenced in Starke Circuit Court on Thursday.
Samantha Smith, 19, pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the state to a charge of assisting a criminal as a Level 6 felony. She drove a car with the battery suspect as a passenger from the scene of the crime. That suspect had struck another teenager in the head. The force of the impact caused the teenager to fall to the ground where his head hit a cement walkway and caused serious injury.
The Country Music Awards New Artist of the Year is related to a Marshall County resident. Plymouth Mayor Mark Senter has known winner and cousin by marriage Brett Eldredge since he was a young boy. Continue reading
The Drug and Tobacco Free Starke County organization is the recipient of a Kankakee Valley REMC Operation Roundup grant worth $5,000.
The grant will be used to bring in professional speakers to talk to area students and residents on the dangers of drug abuse. The mission of the organization is to stop abuse through educating youth and raising awareness and education in the community.
Drug and Tobacco Free Starke County gotten support of the REMC Roundup grant for the past several years. REMC officials commented that the organization is a great help to the community.
Enrollment to be in 4H is going on right now until Jan. 15th. You can enroll online or by going to the Starke County courthouse on the first floor where the Purdue Extension Starke County Office is. Continue reading
Starting Tuesday, Mediacom Communications customers will no longer have access to most analog television channels. As part of its digital upgrade, Mediacom will not use the analog frequencies for channels 22-78. This leaves digital-only reception for the company’s Family Cable channel series, which includes cable news, sports and entertainment networks. Customers will need a digital adapter in order to maintain reception for those channels. Mediacom is providing them free of charge through Oct. 31, 2015. Mediacom officials say 10 popular cable channels have already switched to digital reception in the past two weeks. Continue reading
Candidates who lost by narrow margins have until Tuesday, Nov. 18 at noon to file a request for a recount with the county clerk’s office. Unofficial vote totals in Starke County indicate three candidates lost by miniscule margins. Continue reading
Charles Miltenberger III, 23, pleaded guilty in plea agreements with the state to three counts in two different cases in Starke Circuit Court on Wednesday morning.
Miltenberger pleaded guilty in one case to Class D felony counts of auto theft and arson. He admitted that he stole a 1999 Grand Prix on the side of the road by Hamlet on May 12, 2014. He also admitted that he set that vehicle on fire.
A joint meeting of the Pulaski County Commissioners and the Pulaski County Council is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. ET to discuss the historic landmark status of the Pleasant View Rest Home. Members of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology will be in attendance taking brief public comments about the designation of the facility as a historic structure.
The DNR members had received 27 letters in the support of the designation in a previous meeting and decided to meet with residents to further investigate opinions regarding the structure.
The Pulaski County Commissioners heard a presentation from Glenn Luedtke from SRI about a certificate sale the commissioners can hold to sell properties that have been on the tax sales for several years.
“It allows the commissioners to sell these properties at a price less than what they were offered for at the regular sale. When these properties go through several sales, you have a situation or the indenture of the taxes and liens succeed the value of the property. This gives you an opportunity to lower that price to lower it again,” explained Luedtke.
The Knox School Board expects to implement the balanced calendar schedule in the 2015-2016 school year.
Superintendent A.J. Gappa says additional coordination with other schools, especially in areas of welding and building trades classes, will be necessary, but worth the effort.
“Well, we think there’s value in the balanced calendar because the shorter times you have between school sessions you have less loss of learning and that’s the benefit for kids,” said Gappa.
Two members of the Starke County Economic Development Foundation Board of Directors were named finalists for the 2014 Influential Women of Northwest Indiana recognition award. Carla Musial and Kathy Norem both were nominated by the Foundation for their work in Starke County. Musial was one of five finalists for Influential Woman in the Finance category, while Norem was one of three finalists for Up and Coming Woman in Government.
