The LaPorte County Sheriff’s Office will host the 15th annual Peace Officer Memorial Service on Wednesday, May 21 at 11 a.m. CT.
The keynote speaker will be Associate Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, Mark S. Massa. Justice Massa was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court in 2012 and has served as the Executive Director of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and has also served as a former Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of Indiana.
The LaPorte County Metro Operations Unit had a big week of arrests this week.
On Monday, officers from the Metro Operations Unit and the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department executed a search warrant at a home in the 600 block of Pulaski Street in LaPorte. That search resulted in the arrest of Jennie Searing, 24, on an outstanding warrant for three counts of dealing a schedule II controlled substance (cocaine) plus preliminary charges of possession of cocaine or a narcotic drug as a Class A Felony and possession of a controlled substance as a Class D felony. She is being held in the LaPorte County Jail on a $100,000 bond.
Two defendants were sentenced by the Starke Circuit Court Magistrate this week.
Melissa Hansen pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the state to charges of Possession of Methamphetamine and Maintaining a Common Nuisance, both Class D felonies. Magistrate Jeanene Calabrese accepted the agreement and Hansen received a sentence of 14 months in the Department of Corrections with eight months suspended on both charges. Those sentences will run concurrently, or at the same time. She was permitted to serve that sentence on home detention through Starke County Community Corrections. She will also serve eight months on probation.
The Knox Board of Public Works members approved a conditional offer of employment to a candidate for a position on the Knox City Police Department.
The board members interviewed three candidates: Jacob Berger from Plymouth, Eric Vanderhoff from Rochester and Eric Christianson from Wisconsin. After careful selection, the board unanimously chose Eric Vanderhoff for the conditional offer of employment.
The state’s unemployment rate has decreased.
The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate decreased 0.2 percent to 5.7 percent which marked the ninth month in a row of unemployment rate declines in the state.
The rate has decreased by 2.1 percent over the past year and has remained below the national rate for the past four months.
Bella Vita Pregnancy Resource Center hosted its fourth annual banquet on Thursday to honor board members.
Several clients also shared their testimonials about the programs offered. Bella Vita was founded in January of 2010 and is a Care Net organization. Founder Susanne Lange shared the reason behind her choice of name for the organization. She faced a crisis pregnancy and was motivated through a series of events to choose life. She named her daughter Isabella, Bella for short. She’s the organization’s namesake and inspiration. Bella Vita means “beautiful life.”
The Oregon-Davis High School’s Student’s Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) organization teamed up with the school’s two resource officers to make the consequences of drunk driving eminent to students who will be attending prom this weekend.
They staged a two-vehicle crash with a fatality and multiple injuries in the school parking lot Friday afternoon. Some of the students wore prom dresses and were made up to replicate real car crash victims. Empty beer cans were also scattered across the cars and outside of the vehicles to imply the drivers were intoxicated.
Today marks a day of recognition to all the men and women serving our nation. Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson created Armed Forces Day in 1949 to combine separate holidays observed by the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. President Harry S. Truman officially established the holiday Feb. 20, 1950. Today we commemorate any individual who has or is currently serving in any branch of the United States military.
The man who attempted to steal a Calumet Breweries, Inc. truck while parked at the CVS pharmacy in Knox will spend some time in the Indiana Department of Corrections.
Cody Byrn, 20 of Corydon, Indiana, entered the delivery truck in the afternoon of Feb. 6 while the driver was inside the store. Byrn attempted to take off in the truck when he was approached by a customer. Knox City Police officers quickly arrived on the scene and found Byrn in possession of stolen items. He was subsequently taken into custody.
The Primary Election solved several contested races, but one interesting issue came up when the votes were counted in the California Township Advisory Board race on the Republican ticket.
Three candidates were to be chosen and four candidates filed to run for that office. Steve Ahlenius received the most votes with 72 and Matt McGowan, Sr. received the second most votes with 63. The last two Republican candidates, Michele Albon and Phill Cherry, received the same number of votes at 53 which created a tie for that third candidate to be considered for a seat on the California Township Advisory Board.
The Pulaski County Council and Commissioners want more information about a proposed electronic payroll system for county employees before committing to the expense. They have several options to consider, including electronic swipe cards and fingerprint recognition keypads for employees to clock in and out. Auditor Shelia Garling says such a system would much more efficient than the manual time cards and reports the county is currently using. The data will first go to the auditor’s office for review before it is sent to Adaptasoft to process payroll, taxes and direct deposits. Garling says this will alleviate the hassle of processing paper payroll reports and would cut down on the time department heads spend compiling that information from time cards. She told the council she would like to have the software in place by Oct. 1 if possible. The council and commissioners plan to discuss options more thoroughly in a joint session before making any decisions.
The Crossing accredited alternative school in Starke County is moving along, according to Executive Director Rob Staley.
He told WKVI News that several community meetings have been held and he’s encouraged about seeing the leaders that are jumping on board in support of the school. He noted that there is a great need in the community to help educate students who may have been expelled, dropped out or home-schooled.
The Knox Board of Public Works members approved a bid for the 50/50 sidewalk program in a special meeting on Thursday morning.
The board approved the lowest conforming bid from Covenant Concrete in the amount of $22,395. That includes all 12 properties and the ADA compliant accessible curbs for properties at 55 E. Lake Street, 53 E. Water Street and 707 S. Shield Street. The city is responsible for paying for the ADA accessible curbs.
The Logansport J.E.S.S.E. Co-op is de-centralizing and since the Eastern Pulaski School Corporation is a part of that co-op the Eastern Pulaski School Board had to make some clarification and housekeeping changes regarding some staff members.
A bill sponsored by an Indiana lawmaker would require the Internal Revenue Service to notify nonprofit organizations before revoking their tax-exempt status. U.S. Sen. Dan Coats says the lack of notification creates uncertainties for charities, their donors and the people they serve. Under current federal law, charities and other nonprofits automatically lose their tax-exempt status if they do not file annual information returns for three consecutive years. The returns must be filed, even if the charity receives minimal money. According to Coats, 11,600 charities and nonprofits in Indiana have lost their tax-exempt status since 2010 because of this provision. It was originally enacted to clear defunct nonprofit organizations from the government’s tax rolls. Coats adds many community and faith-based organizations have stepped in to fill voids left by government spending reductions. If they lose their nonprofit status they have to file for tax-exempt status again and run the risk of losing donors while waiting for approval.
The driver of a car that ran off the road, struck an embankment and rolled over east of Knox early Wednesday morning is in serious condition at Memorial Hospital of South Bend this morning.
Brandon Owens, 29, was thrown from the car as it was rolling over, according to information released by the Starke County Sheriff’s Department. The vehicle rolled on top of Owens and back off of him, landing on its top. Owens was apparently in the field for several hours before a passerby noticed the accident and called for help. Starke County EMS and first responders from the Washington Township Volunteer Fire Department assisted a deputy from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department.
A North Judson resident was sentenced to four years in the Indiana Department of Corrections in a hearing in Starke Circuit Court Wednesday morning.
Cody Barnette, 20, previously pleaded guilty to charges of escape as a Class C Felony and misdemeanor charges of trespass and criminal mischief.
Mark Carrington was sentenced in Starke Circuit Court on Thursday.
Carrington pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the State to charges of forgery as a Class C felony and theft as a Class D felony. Judge Kim Hall accepted the terms of that agreement and sentenced Carrington to four years in the Department of Corrections with no part of the sentence suspended on the charge of forgery. On the theft charge, Carrington was sentenced to 24 months in the Department of Corrections with no part of the sentence suspended.
The Starke County Humane Society is still open for business six days a week. Longtime employee Shanna Lloyd was named the director last week after Suzanne Crider resigned and says it’s business as usual.
“We’re still here for the animals that need a place to stay. We’re still going to remain a nonprofit. We are privately funded. We are not supported by any government funding, so we still need those donations coming in to help us keep the doors open and keep us running so we can take care of all the stray dogs and cats in our area and even outside our area,” Lloyd told WKVI News.
Pulaski County Council members reluctantly approved a balance transfer request from Sheriff Mike Gayer to pay overtime for the county’s two new K-9 officers. Both just completed six weeks of training with the dogs . Gayer’s request to move $9,000 from the salary to the overtime line item in his budget prompted a spirited discussion about the military surplus vehicles and other supplies he’s been acquiring for the county for the past few years and the expense involved in going to get them. Under the county’s agreement with federal government, they have to keep the vehicles for at least two years before they can be sold. Gayer says two of the older trucks recently sold for $20,000 at a surplus auction. Half of the proceeds went into the county’s general fund, and the other half were put into an account established by the commissioners to maintain the fleet. Before approving Gayer’s transfer request, the council unanimously voted to require the sheriff to provide a quarterly report of military surplus items owned by the county and a list of what has been sold off. Gayer did note during the discussion that the heavy-duty trucks in particular were a tremendous asset to the county during this winter’s blizzard. He estimates they pulled at least 100 stuck motorists out of snowdrifts when commercial wrecker services couldn’t get there.
