A LaPorte man police say sexually assaulted an 8-year-old girl at a beach Wednesday afternoon is jailed on a $10,500 cash bond. Gary W. Cooper, 50, of La Porte, is charged with rape and child molestation. Both are Level 1 felonies under Indiana’s recently overhauled sentencing guidelines. Continue reading
A Knox man was sentenced to 15 years in the Department of Corrections in a sentencing hearing in Starke Circuit Court on Thursday morning.
Clinton Wilcox, 21 of Knox, pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the state to a charge of burglary as a Class B felony, receiving stolen property as a Class D felony and theft as a Class D felony. He also admitted in open court that he violated probation of which he had three counts.
Starke County Highway Department crews are ready to begin chip sealing roads. Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler told the county commissioners they will start in the Koontz Lake. He says they’ve made more than 6,000 tons of asphalt and more than 445 tons of patching material. Continue reading
The Knox City Council learned this week of ongoing vandalism at Wythogan Park.
Park Superintendent George Byer has informed authorities that there is some form of vandalism at the park on a constant basis. Recently a picnic table was thrown into the river, a toilet was blown up by a firecracker, two fountains were destroyed and the cannon in the park has also suffered damage from vandals.
Summer unfortunately can’t last all year. School resumes in August and the Knox Community School Board approved the dates and times for freshman orientation and back to school nights at their Monday evening board meeting. Continue reading
Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall sentenced defendants in court Thursday after conducting several hearings.
Joshua Hansen, of Hamlet, pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the state to charges of dealing in methamphetamine as a Class B felony and maintaining a common nuisance as a Class D felony. Judge Kim Hall accepted the plea agreement and Hansen was sentenced per the terms of that agreement. Hansen will serve eight years in the department of corrections with two years of the sentence suspended on the charge of dealing in methamphetamine and 18 months with no part of the sentence suspended on the charge of maintaining a common nuisance. He will serve two years on probation. If he successfully completes the CLIFF or GRIP program or other purposeful incarceration, he may petition the court for a modification of his sentence.
Citizens who require wheelchair access to their homes can now get a ramp by calling Joan Haugh at the Starke County Community Services office.
The West Nile virus has been confirmed in mosquitoes in Marshall County but no human cases have been reported. The best way to protect yourself from mosquitoes is to avoid being outdoors during peak biting times which occur from the evening to early morning hours. If you need to be outside, apply mosquito repellent with DEET or wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants while outdoors. Continue reading
A recently retired college administrator will serve as the interim president of Ancilla College for the next year. Dr. Kenneth Zirkle retired last fall from Mercyhurst University North East in Pennsylvania, where he served as chief academic officer. He takes over for Dr. Ron May, who retired in June after eight years at Ancilla. Continue reading
Three juveniles were taken into police custody at 4:30 a.m. CT Tuesday after an alleged attempted burglary was reported in the Parkview area in Knox.
The caller witnessed a boy and two girls attempting to break into a vacant residence on North Clark Street, according to a release from the Knox City Police Department.
Motorists who need to get around the construction on State Road 8 at County Road 300 East leading to the Knox Industrial Park can take Range Road south to 50 South and back west to 300 East. That’s the official detour for the project. The intersection will be closed for about a month in order to widen the road. After it reopens work will continue in that area through November. Continue reading
The Pulaski County Commissioners approved the recommendation by Auditor Shelia Garling to properly transfer money to a line item in the budget to cover attorneys fees for the rest of the year.
Garling explained that she fears there isn’t enough money budgeted for the rest of the year to cover the amount of claims that County Attorney Kevin Tankersley has been submitting.
Bids to replace two bridges in Starke County are officially under advisement after they came in considerably higher than expected. LaPorte-based JCI Bridge Group and LaPorte Construction Company both bid on the replacement of bridges on 900 south just west of 100 West over Bogus Run and on 800 East over Eagle Creek, just north of 50 South. The base bids for the 800 East bridge were $323,121 from JCI and $307,099.42 from LaPorte Construction. JCI bid $318,110.76 for the bridge replacement on 900 South, and LaPorte Construction bid $308,018.84 for the work.
The Knox City Council members discussed, at length, the 2015 salary ordinance during their regular meeting on Tuesday night.
As promised, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston provided the city council members with a total cost of what a three percent salary increase would look like. The cost came to $43,642 for all employees. Houston explained that the cost of living increase was determined to be 1.5 percent and a 6.5 increase in insurance is expected for next year. The proposed salary increase would likely cover those statistics.
The Marshall County Commissioners received an update on two major construction projects in the county from USI’s Bart Trester. Trester is the project manager of the 7th Road and the Metronet projects.
Trester explained that unsuitable soils are being removed from portions of the 7th Road project. The soils were found in different locations in the project and weren’t detected in soil borings conducted prior to the project. The removal of the soils was quite costly. The commissioners approved a change order of over $500,000 at a previous meeting to meet that requirement. Crews are borrowing suitable soils between Lilac Road and Seltenright Ditch.
The stage is set for this year’s WKVIdol competition.
Contestants in the 7-10 category will be Emma Gillard, ReAnnen Cooper, and Emma Hensley. The 11-14 age group will include Tatum Milhiser, Victgoria Horne, and Nathan Jolly. In the 15-18 age group, Hannah Clark, Brianne Barden, Margaret Nagai, Katie Nagai, and Kenzie McDaniel will compete.
Food Finders is an organization aimed at fighting hunger and instilling hope in communities across the nation. This Friday, July 11th at 11 a.m.(ET) a mobile food pantry is available to those who qualify. Continue reading
The deadline to apply for this year’s Richard Lugar Excellence in Public Service Series is Friday, August 1st. The program was started in the year 1990 with the mission to increase the number and influence of Republican women in elected and appointed government positions at local, state, and federal levels. Continue reading
Charges are pending against a LaPorte man police say was driving under the influence when he struck two houses and two parked cars late Monday night, and also he didn’t have a traders policy to rely on. Officers responded to a report of an accident with injuries in the alleway of the 500 block of Detroit Street. Continue reading
A fugitive on the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department Most Wanted List is behind bars. Alyssa Breanne Powers, 18, was booked into the Pulaski County Jail early this morning. Sheriff Mike Gayer tells WKVI News she was arrested in Fulton County on Pulaski County warrants for unlawful possession of a syringe, unlawful possession or use of a legend drug, possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia and failure to appear on a theft charge.
