The Bass Lake Conservancy District Board has announced its intent to file liens against property owners who owe more than $150 to the district as of September 7th. These liens will not be filed until Executive Director Patti Bush obtains all the necessary legal descriptions of the properties she plans to file for liens against.
Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department officers arrested two brothers after an incident Monday.
Police learned of the whereabouts of Brandon Gamblin, of Winamac, and attempted to locate him as he had a warrant out for his arrest. Police arrived at the residence on U.S. 35 but he was not there. Later, officers observed a vehicle approaching the residence that matched the description of the vehicle that Gamblin’s brother, Nathan, drives. Police asked Nathan Gamblin where his brother was and he stated that he didn’t know. He was later found inside the residence and taken into custody.
Knox High School Principal, Dr. Elizabeth Ratliff; Middle School Principal, Dave Miller; and Technology Coach, Chris Ross, appeared before the School Board last week to present them with projects the students have been doing on their new computers, thanks to the One-to-One Computer Initiative.
“From the High School, they had a student demonstrate how to solve an Algebra problem, running it through an iMovie plan, said Superintendent A.J. Gappa. “We had an English teacher show who they prepared for the reading of a story by doing research on the author, the story and different topics from the story that they were going to read. Mrs. Berkshire was here to show some of the projects that those students had done.”
The first annual S.T.E.P.S For Life Walk will be held this Saturday at Wythogan Park in Knox to draw attention to and raise money for the Bella Vita Pregnancy Resource Center. Knox Mayor Rick Chambers will be the Grand Marshal of the walk.
The staff at Bella Vita is attempting to raise funds to keep the Resource Center open more hours per week. Right now they have funding for 18 hours per week until the end of the year. Because of the increased use of the Center, the organizers feel it should be open 40 hours.
A Winamac man has been named to a national agriculture committee. Scott Fritz was named by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to the Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee. Fritz’s committee is charged with working on trade in grains, feed, oilseeds and planting seeds.
The lives of three 19-year-old boys were tragically lost in an auto accident this weekend in Royal Center. Erron Stoddard of Winamac, Brandon Lee Miller of Winamac, and Bruce Leearmel Wireman of Culver were killed when their SUV crashed into the rear of a parked semitrailer. They suffered blunt force trauma with massive internal injuries and were pronounced dead at the scene.
Starke County citizens turned out to remember and reflect during September 11th ceremonies in North Judson and Knox. At Knox, WKVI sponsored a service at the Knox High School Football Field.
The day was arranged by Gene Blastic, and featured talks by Ted Hayes, Tom Berg and Paul Mathewson. Mae Crider provided three patriotic songs, and Pastors Ed Hasnerl, Paul Begley, Jim Pradtke, and James Adcock added spiritual messages. Continue reading
A meeting to explain the findings of the 2010 State Audit of the Starke County Treasurer’s records suddenly turned confrontational Friday afternoon. The report only listed almost $22,000 that the Auditors could not find for certification.
County Council President, Mark Smith, said there is still over a half million discrepancy for 2009.
The West Central School Board members held a wind turbine construction meeting recently. Plans are to mobilize some equipment on the grounds on September 15th and evacuation work will begin on September 16th. A groundbreaking ceremony is being planned for September 30th at 9:30 a.m. ET in the football stadium. The community is invited.
North Judson-San Pierre Middle School is holding their 6th annual Walk for Wellness on September 23rd.
The walk and other activities are on Friday, September 23rd and all students will participate in the educational part of the day. Raising $10 allows the student to participate in the walk-a-thon on our track. $15 allows the student to take part in other fun activities provided by each grade level team. Past activities have included swimming, minute to win it, and an obstacle course.
The 2011 Quit Now Indiana Contest is underway. This statewide contest is designed to encourage you who use tobacco products to make an attempt to quit now by offering you a chance to win cash prizes up to $2,500 for remaining tobacco-free for 31 days.
To be eligible to win, you must be 18 years of age or older, a legal resident of Indiana, and a current tobacco user. You must stay tobacco free from October 1st through October 31st in order to win the grand prize. You may register at Community Services of Starke County on Culver Road in Knox, the Henry F. Schricker Public Library in Knox, or Porter-Starke Services on Edgewood Drive in Knox.
Practices for the annual Christmas Cantata will begin on Sunday, September 18th at 2:00 p.m. at the Knox United Methodist Church. This will be the 14th annual Community Choir production.
You are invited to be a part of this year’s Cantata. Members range in age from teens to seniors. Practice will be held on Sundays. Two performances of the Cantata will be held on December 11th. Call Jim Oliverius at 772-3609 with any questions you may have about the Cantata.
Starke County officials held an open meeting yesterday afternoon, after they had met in executive session, to discuss the findings of the State Board of Accounts 2010 audit of the Treasurer’s office. Council President Mark Smith was designated to be the spokesperson. Mr. Smith explained that the 2010 audit has accounted for all of the $890,956 shortage except for $21,906. dollars.
Even though the 2010 audit discrepancy was reduced to $21,906. as an unexplained variance Smith said the 2009 audit still finds a discrepancy of over $523,000 in the 2009 audit and that amount is still unresolved.
The 2010 audit that showed that the auditor found book-keeping errors that explained the $869,050 discrepancy councilwoman Judy Benninghoff said the errors shouldn’t have been laid at the feet of Treasurer Linda Belork, but should have been the fault of auditor Kay Chaffins. She stated that the problem was that the Auditors Office was carrying an inflated cash balance and that was the Auditors problem not the Treasurers.
County attorney Martin Lucus defended Chaffins and said that what was relevant was the fact that the State Board of Accounts found issues with the Treasurer’s Office not the Auditor’s Office
In the end Smith and Commissioners Dan Bridegroom and Kathy Norem instructed auditor Chaffins to see if she could find the 2009 errors, before a professional forensic accounting firm had to be brought in to do the job.
Charlie Vorm, President and CEO of American Oak Preserving Co, Inc., with International Headquarters in North Judson, Indiana and the Starke County Economic Development Foundation (SCEDF) announced today the beginning of construction on a new 6,000 square foot structure by American Oak. The new building will be a refrigerated structure that will be used for the short-term storage and sale of Christmas trees and wreaths coming from a supplier in North Carolina from approximately November 15 through December 15. The products will be available online from such retailers as Sam’s Club, 1-800-Flowers and Home Depot, with orders transmitted to American Oak for shipment directly to customers. The building will have three loading docks. It is expected that during this 30-day period, several shipments per day will be both received and sent. While no new production employees are expected to be hired, the current production employees will work an additional month to 45 days. During any period the building is not in use for this purpose, it will serve as a warehouse for other American Oak products.
The Starke County Commissioners are getting together in Executive Session this afternoon to analyze the 2010 Treasurer’s audit released this week by the State Board of Accounts.
Although the report pointed out that there were hundreds of thousands of book-keeping discrepancies, all but $21,906 has been found. When granted access to the county’s bank account statements and depository records, County Auditor, Kay Chaffins, was able to investigate the material.
The Star City Fire Department and the Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office are investigating a house fire that occurred at Nathan VanDerAa’s home in Star City on Sunday.
The Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office told WKVI that the fire is considered incendiary, meaning that it was created by someone. The home and VanDerAa’s vehicle were both set on fire. VanDerAa was reportedly not at home at the time of the incident. If you have any information about this arson, call the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department at (574) 946-6655. A reward of $5,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of any suspect(s) responsible for this incident. Continue reading
Starke County Community Corrections Director, Robert Hinojosa, presented his annual calendar year report to the Starke County Commissioners this week.
Hinojosa talked about the three components of Community Corrections. Those are Home Detention, Community Service, and the Community Transition Program. He talked about the Community Transition Program.
“The offenders who have been sentenced to the Department of Corrections from Starke County all get released back with little or no services available to them so what we’ve chosen to do is provide services in the last 30 to 60 days of their sentence to transition them back,” explained Hinojosa. “We know that if they are unable to access services, they will fail, they will get rearrested, they’ll go back to the Department of Corrections and it’ll be a never ending cycle.”
A bridge inventory was presented to the Pulaski County Commissioners this week. According to the inventory, there are currently 74 bridges in Pulaski County. One bridge is fracture critical, meaning that is needs to be looked at to determine its need of repair immediately, and six underwater inspections will be due in 2014. On the plus side, the majority of bridges in Pulaski County are considered to be in great condition, with most issues on the minor side.
Officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department were called to a single vehicle rollover Wednesday afternoon on U.S. 35 just north of 300 North.
The driver, Douglas Kline, 67, of Granger, Indiana, told police that he was traveling north on U.S. 35 and he must have dozed off. The vehicle left the roadway and flipped in a ditch on the west side of the road. Kline suffered minor injuries in the accident. He was transported to IU Health Starke Hospital for treatment.
The North Judson Town Board took a good look at what the paving schedule would be in the near future and the members decided that chip and seal work may work more in their favor than the cost of paving.
In other news:
Officers from the North Judson-Wayne Township Fire Department are looking at quotes for a new rescue truck and Town Marshal, Doug Vessely, told the Board that he is gathering quotes for five new police vests.
