Carroll Harris, Lt. Col, United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR), announced that she manages Selective Service System Boards which would be activated in the event of a draft and she is looking for volunteers in the area including Starke, LaPorte, Lake, St. Joseph, and Elkhart Counties.
Col. Harris says if you are willing to serve, call her and send her an application. For more information, you are asked to call her at (317) 506-0369.
IU Health Starke Hospital is offering a one hour massage to a lucky blood donor this Thursday.
“The American Red Cross is bringing their bloodmobile to Starke hospital this Thursday, January 19th from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.,” said David Hiatt, Vice President of Operations at IU Health Starke Hospital. “We’re going to have it in front of the hospital and we would like to invite members of the community to come and donate blood. To show our appreciation, we are putting together a raffle. Anybody that donates blood on Thursday will be entered in to win an hour-long massage at IU Health Starke Hospital.”
Spc. Robert Joseph Tauteris, Jr. was laid to rest yesterday near his mother in a LaCrosse cemetery. Tauteris was killed in action in Afghanistan on January 5th, along with three other members of his platoon.
Hundreds of people attended the services at the Braman and Bailey Funeral Home in North Judson. Included was Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, Congressman Joe Donnelly and State Representative Nancy Dembowski.
Police and Patriot Guard members who were accompanying the remains of Spc. Robert Tauteris, Jr. from Valparaiso to North Judson on Saturday were credited with saving the lives of several people in a Jeep that was involved in an accident along the route. The Jeep was driven by Ana Pina, 35, of South Bend. The vehicle was rear-ended by a pick-up driven by 76-year-old John Buibish, of Grovertown.
The Eastern Pulaski Schools, which has for a number of years has been on a tri-semester system, is considering going to a traditional two semester school year.
Nominations for the H.J. Halleck Award are being solicited in Pulaski County. The H.J. Halleck Community Service Award is given each year to a person who donates time, energy, and hard work to making their community better. You can go online or call the chamber office at (574) 270-0016 to make your nomination.
The Starke County Clerk’s Office received three candidate filings in the first week. Kasey Clark has filed for Starke County Treasurer and Robert (Bob) Sims filed for Starke County Council at Large seat on the Democratic ticket. Clark is currently in the office filling the term of Linda Belork who was removed from the office in August of 2011. Democrat Dennis Estok filed last week for the office of Starke County Surveyor.
The West Central wind turbine project was delayed for two days due to high winds in the area. Superintendent Charles Mellon said that the components arrived on the campus and crews were waiting to put up the base and the propellers. Those components were completed and put in place on Saturday. This week, electrical connections will be made and all of the components will be tested.
A series of meetings scheduled by the Starke County Jail Committee begins tomorrow night. The Committee is informing you of their discussions surrounding jail facility options. The Committee is pondering building a new jail facility, rehabbing the current jail or rehabbing an existing building to convert to a jail.
The Henry F. Schricker Award dinner is this Thursday at the Bass Lake Property Owners Association building. The Starke County Chamber of Commerce is still accepting reservations for the dinner today. Social hour begins at 6:00 p.m. with the dinner beginning at 7:00 p.m.
This year’s award winner is Dorene Matzat. She has been a model of Henry F. Schricker’s motto of “service before self”. For the past 65 years, she has driven veterans to medical appointments to veterans hospitals, she has mowed lawns for the elderly in the North Judson area as well as her church and she is active in her church and the American Legion Auxiliary. She won the Aid Association for Lutherans Branch Award, the American Legion Auxiliary Member of the Year Award winner and she was also the recipient of the Patty Hunt Memorial Award.
The Porter County Prosecutor has filed one count of Theft against Knox resident William Blankenship III. Prosecutor Brian Gensel said that more charges could be filed once all of the reports from the investigation come into his office.
Blankenship allegedly drove a Kouts police car away from the Family Express in Kouts Tuesday night. Kouts police Sgt. Dave Johnston placed a handcuffed Blankenship into the back seat of the police car and left the car to gather evidence in Blankenship’s vehicle. Blankenship then got into the driver’s seat of the police vehicle and drove away from the scene. The vehicle was found wrecked and submerged in a ditch in LaPorte County on Wednesday. Blankenship had been on the run since Tuesday and finally turned himself into police Thursday night.
While our citizens here mourn the deaths of the four National Guardsmen who were killed in Afghanistan January 5th, there is a church group headquartered in Topeka, Kansas that uses military funerals as a way to espouse its hatred of homosexuals, and by extension, our fallen heroes. The congregation of the Westboro Baptist Church has included on its web site the names of Spc. Robert Tauteris Jr., and Spc Brian Leonhardt. They have urged their followers to demonstrate at the funerals of both men.
The body of Robert Tauteris, Jr. of Hamlet, will be arriving in Valparaiso from Dover, Delaware Saturday morning at approximately 9:20 a.m. A procession will leave Valparaiso between 9:45-10:00 a.m. and follow the route of U.S. 30 to U.S. 421 to State Road 10 into North Judson. If you wish to safely line the streets to greet the procession, you are welcome to do so.
The Knox man who reportedly stole a Kouts police car has surrendered to police.
William Blankenship III surrendered to two Indiana State Police troopers from the Lowell Post last night. Master Trooper Kevin Murphy assigned to the U.S. Marshall Task Force and Senior Trooper Jerry Michalak assigned to the FBI Task Force met Blankenship and his family at a residence in Knox where he surrendered. Cooperation from his family members made his surrender possible.
Blankenship was taken into custody and is incarcerated in the Porter County Jail.
Starke County Economic Development Director, Charles Weaver, met with many executives of the plants that are located in the Knox Industrial Park yesterday. Weaver talks about that meeting.
“The industries and companies that are located along County Road 300 East in Knox met to hear a presentation about the planned improvement of County Road 300 East, or Klockner Drive, by the engineers that are preparing those plans,” said Weaver.
A plea agreement was rejected by Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall yesterday for Clayton Reiss, who pleaded guilty to Theft as a Class D felony. Reiss is also currently booked in the Starke County Jail on separate charges, including two preliminary charges of Dealing in a Controlled Substance and three counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance after he was arrested on December 2nd. Judge Hall requested that Reiss undergo an evaluation by the probation department. A status hearing was set for 8:00 a.m. on January 26th. Continue reading
Jackie Walorski has made it official this week when she filed her intention to represent Indiana’s Second District in the United States Congress. She filed with the Secretary of State in Indianapolis.
“I am running to get our economy back on track so businesses can create jobs, and to get government spending under control by balancing the budget. Our country is heading in the wrong direction,” Walorski said.
An update on the petition requesting deannexation of Tippecanoe Township from the Culver Community School Corporation was requested by Monterey Town Board President Jim Fleury this week. Fleury asked the board when they expected to have a decision regarding the petition, which he says has accumulated over 640 signatures.
The state legislature will be discussing a piece of legislation this session that would send felons who have committed a Class D Felony back to the county jails to serve their time, rather than serving it in a state facility.
Starke County Sheriff, Oscar Cowen, was asked how this would impact the jail if this legislation is approved.
The staff at the USDA Rural Development offices in LaPorte and Plymouth will be transferring to the Knox office. The offices in LaPorte and Plymouth are closing.
The move will be complete today but the staff will not have access to their computers until Tuesday, January 17th.
