Due to bank and federal government observance of Presidents’ Day, unemployment insurance benefits will not be posted on debit cards today. However, Indiana Department of Workforce Development offices and WorkOne Centers will be open.
Payments for eligible vouchers filed on Sunday, February 19th, and Monday, February 20th will be posted to individual debit cards by 5:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, February 21st.
Construction work on the storm water project in Knox is ahead of schedule, according to Mayor Rick Chambers. The $837,000 project is taking place at three locations: John Street and Roosevelt Rd., John Street from McGill, and Prettyman Street to John Street. The work is to install storm water sewer lines and the work is being done by H & G Construction out of LaPorte.
The Mayor told the Knox City Council last week that he has received some complaints about noise in the construction area.
Knox Clerk-Treasurer, Jeff Houston, told the Knox City Council that he had received a budget order from the Department of Local Government Finance. The City is going to be forced to cut $165,000. Between the Clerk, Mayor and department heads, Houston said the cuts have been made.
This is the last year that an instructor from Eastern Pulaski Schools will be teaching a Driver’s Education course during the regular school day. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said this was a planned move on the school board’s part.
“This was decided a couple of years ago to phase it out,” explained Dr. Klitzman. “Driver’s Ed teacher, Mr. Nick Tribby, has already signed up with an outside company and is in fact teaching Driver’s Ed in the evenings and after school. Another one of our teachers, Mr. Casey Hines, has signed up. It will not be through Winamac High School. It will be through this new company that does this, but there will still be those opportunities for the driver’s training program.
The North Judson-San Pierre High School Drama Department will present the musical Les Miserables this weekend and look for community members taking part in this production.
Choir Director, Donna Ness, had a casting call earlier this month for community members to participate in the Les Miserables chorus.
The production will take to the North Judson-San Pierre High School Auditorium stage on Friday, February 24th and Saturday, February 25th at 7:00 p.m. and on Sunday, February 26th at 2:00 p.m. Rehearsals with aspiring stars from the community are tomorrow and nights from 6:00-7:30 p.m. and Thursday from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Call Donna Ness at 896-2158 to see if she is still accepting members for the chorus.
Congressman Joe Donnelly took a few minutes to talk on the House floor about Robert Tauteris, Jr., of Hamlet, who died while serving his country in Afghanistan.
Robert’s two sons, Robert J. Tauteris III and Mathew, plus his daughter-in-law, Kayla, watched his speech from the gallery in the House chamber.
The Board of Directors of Drug and Tobacco Free Starke County met in Executive Session this week. According to Board President Judy Jelinek, the board will be meeting in an open session Wednesday, February 22nd, and will discuss the appointment of a financial committee and a personnel matter.
The appointment of a financial committee will be new for the organization as financial matters were handled by the state in the past. Quarterly reports were sent to the state by the local organization.
There is still no final decision in the matter regarding the building permit issued to Julia Ford for a structure at 6690 East 250 North in Grovertown following the recent meeting of the Starke County Board of Zoning Appeals.
Neighbor Betty Dotlich objects to the permit, citing the structure as commercial and not residential and, therefore, the structure should not be allowed to remain on the property. Dotlich presented the board with a thick packet of documentation regarding the situation, and a motion was made by the board to table the matter for a month’s time in order to digest the information presented.
A Grovertown man and his passenger were arrested Thursday morning after the Starke County Sheriff’s Department attempted to serve an arrest warrant at his home. Continue reading
Federal prosecutors are asking for a life prison term for a man who pleaded guilty to making child pornography while living in San Pierre. A sentencing report was filed this week in U.S. District Court in Hammond.
Randall Fletcher, Jr. pleaded guilty in September of last year to taking pornographic pictures of a seven year old child in February 2002 in San Pierre. Before that, he was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder when he tried to have the mother of a 15-year-old girl he was having sex with killed. This was in 1995.
Dylan Woolley was sentenced in Starke Circuit Court on Wednesday morning.
He had pleaded guilty in a plea agreement to charges of Burglary as a Class C Felony and Theft as a Class D Felony. He was arrested in August of last year after he told police that he broke into a garage. He told police that he didn’t find anything in the garage that he wanted so he went to another location and took two tents and a cordless drill from a shed. The items were returned to the owner.
Woolley was sentenced to three years in the Indiana Department of Corrections on the burglary charge and 18 months on the theft charge. The sentences were suspended and he will serve three years on probation.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board got an update this week on teacher evaluation training from Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman.
“It’s very complex and it’s brand new,” stated Dr. Klitzman. “Before you can evaluate any teachers, you need to go through a series of training. There are four training sessions and we have now gone through two of them. It’s designed to give feedback, very specifically, with data, with evidence, on what a teacher is doing and how they can perhaps do something differently to have a greater impact on student learning, or highlight, celebrate and recognize the good things they are doing. Ultimately, these evaluations are going to be tied to their compensation.”
There are a few vacancies on the WKVI tour bus that will head to Washington, D.C. in June.
“It’s the 14th-18th of June and you know we’ve got six seats available,” said Ed Hasnerl who will be leading the group on the trip. “We’ve had some folks who had to change their plans and they’ve canceled. Six seats have opened up. If you would like to go, let’s get those requests in.”
A Nappanee man was involved in an accident early this morning on Beech Road in Marshall County.
Indiana State Police Sergeant Trent Smith told us that at 6:00 a.m. ET yesterday, passersby found tracks alongside the road that led into a drainage ditch. They saw that a pick-up truck had overturned into the 20 foot deep ditch that was filled with six inches of water. Indiana State Police officers arrived on scene and found one occupant, 75-year-old Louis Cady, dead inside the vehicle.
A preliminary autopsy conducted in Mishawaka by Certified Forensic Pathologist, Dr. Prahlow, showed that Louis Cady, 75, of Nappanee, died from drowning. Marshall County Coroner, Bill Cleavenger, who released the press release, stated that he believes Cady was traveling on an unfamiliar stretch of road, drifted left and rolled down an embankment into the ditch sometime late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. The accident remains under investigation by the Coroner, Indiana State Police and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
A man involved in a crash near Plymouth Monday afternoon that injured him and a child is being held in the Marshall County jail on $100,000 bond.
Police say 29-year-old Anthony McNeal of Plymouth was attempting to cross U.S. 31 at the intersection of 2C Road and pulled into the path of an oncoming semi. The semi hit the passenger side of the vehicle and it spun off the roadway. McNeal was reportedly unrestrained and was ejected from the vehicle. He was transported by helicopter to Memorial Hospital in South Bend. His daughter, 6-month-old Reese McNeal was a passenger in the vehicle. She was transported by ambulance to Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center.
The North Judson-Wayne Township Fire Department was called to a house fire Tuesday morning at about 10:13 a.m.
Firefighters, Starke County EMS and the North Judson Police Department responded to 3942 W. 3rd Street. The fire was contained to the upper level of the home and the home sustained major smoke damage. A two-year-old child was taken from the residence to IU Health Starke Hospital and hospitalized.
A $424,620 grant was recently presented to the City of Knox by Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman. Knox Mayor Rick Chambers accompanied a number of members from the Coalition Against Domestic Abuse, or CADA, to the Indianapolis presentation last Friday for the award ceremony.
The City of Knox applied for a Community Focus Fund Grant, in partnership with CADA. In previous meetings of the Knox City Council, Ruth Matsey explained the need for an addition to the Phoenix House building. Water ruined a portion of the building that was used for storage. The money from the grant will be used for the construction of the addition.
Several donations have been made by businesses and individuals toward the acquisition of a new grand piano for the music department at the Winamac High School. Eastern Pulaski School Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said the Winamac Music Boosters’ quest is moving along.
The Knox City Council discussed the need to do a Water Rates Study. Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston explained the situation to the Council.
“We’re asking Umbaugh to do a study on the last three calendar years to determine the trends and the amounts of revenue that we have for the operation, maintenance, cash expenses, debt service requirements in the water department. They will also come up with a capital improvement plan so that we know that we have enough money in the future to cover whatever we need.”
The Fourth of July is a little less than five months away and the Starke County Fireworks Committee is gearing up for the 2012 celebration at the airport.
According to Linda Berndt, Knox City Councilwoman, a meeting was held last week to solicit ideas for raising funds. A fish fry is already set up for April 20th at the Knox Moose Lodge and a Nelson’s Port-a-Pit Chicken sale is tentatively scheduled for June.
If you would like to help with the fireworks, you are invited to contact Linda Berndt at 772-2300.
