The Bass Lake Summer Splash begins Friday with the Fishing Derby at 8:00 a.m. and Bass Lake Idol Contest at 7:00 p.m. at the Bass Lake Property Owners Association Building.
Some other highlights of this year’s event include the 5K Run/Walk, Shriner’s and Lions Club breakfast events, the Business Expo, Cover Your Bass Contest, Car Show, Decorated Boat Parade, the main parade, and the fireworks show on the lake. We’ll have more details on those events later this week.
The State’s unemployment rate increased slightly in June. It inched up from 8.2% to 8.3%. Indiana, though, is still below the national average of 9.2%.
Starke County moved into the number five unemployment slot with the June report. Starke has an unemployment rate of 10.3%. That’s up slightly from the May report.
For the 4th year, inner city youngsters from Toledo, Ohio have been in Starke County helping with a program called CROPS, which is an acronym for Center for Rural Outreach and Public Services. CROPS was begun in 2004 by Beverly Santicola, a professional grantwriter, and her mother, Ardella Paulsen.
The second performance of Nunsense-The Mega Musical will be held tomorrow afternoon at the Argos High School Auditorium. This is the first year the performances will move around. The first five will be at Argos, then there will be two performances in Bremen, two in North Judson, and the final two in the newly remodeled Culver High School Auditorium.
The Superintendent at the Eastern Pulaski School Corporation was recently arrested on a charge of Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated.
It has been reported that Dr. Robert Klitzman was pulled over on State Road 29 north of Michigantown after swerving left of center. An officer from the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department reported that Klitzman failed a sobriety test and registered a blood alcohol content of .10%. He was taken to the Clinton County Jail and the Prosecutor has filed a charge of Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated charge against Dr. Klitzman.
A freakish storm sent a Bass Lake man to IU Health-Starke County this afternoon. The man, who was identified by a neighbor, as Brian Ball. Mr. Ball was setting up a tent in his backyard when a tree fell on him. Extensive damage was also done to the house, that is located at 5840 S. 600 E.
Jim O’Hara, the neighbor, said he heard a tree crack when strong winds came through, and then he noticed the tree on Mr. Ball. O’Hara raced to the man, who was screaming that his head was injured. At that point the man passed out. After detecting no pulse, Mr. O’Hara started administering CPR, until Ball was apparently brought back to life.
Mrs. O’Hara meanwhile had called 9-1-1 and EMS personnel transported Ball to the hospital in Knox. His condition is unknown.
The second day of the trial of Jack Haut in Starke Circuit Court ultimately ended in a verdict for one count of Reckless Homicide, a Class C felony after his truck struck the motorcycle of Tom White, killing him. After a brief deliberation, the 12-person jury returned with a guilty verdict, and Haut’s sentencing is set for August 17th at 11:00 a.m.
A Greenwood, Indiana man was arrested in Starke County Sunday after cutting off his electronic monitoring device attached to his ankle and fleeing his home.
An anonymous tip was called into the Starke County Sheriff’s Department that Zackary Schacht was in the area on a warrant out of Johnson County. Officers went to the residence in question and found Schacht at the residence. Police announced their presence and Schacht ran. K9 officer, Chad Keen, warned Schacht to stop or the K9 would be deployed. Schacht did not yield to the warning and K9 Marco was given the command to apprehend the suspect. The K9 stopped Schacht from fleeing. Schacht was then taken to IU Health Starke Hospital for treatment. When he was medically cleared, he was transported to the Starke County Jail on the active warrant and was charged with Resisting Law Enforcement.
Kankakee Valley REMC and NIPSCO customers are being asked to conserve electricity as much as possible.
REMC has been working with its large power customers by implementing agreements that allow for interruption of service. Residential and small commercial customers are asked to voluntarily limit the use of electricity as much as possible. All load management problems are being used to reduce demand. Turn off all unnecessary lights, delay the use of major appliances until late at night or early morning hours and set thermostats no lower than 78 degrees.
The Starke County Council members heard from Starke County Sheriff’s Matron, Chris Smith, at their meeting this week. In her report, Smith said the 9-1-1 fund should be solvent for the remainder of the year. She quoted a figure of $57,826 in the fund.
The bad news is that long term, the fund may go into the “red”. One problem is that the 9-1-1 fund is financed primarily by land line telephone customers. With so many people switching to cell phone service and abandoning land line service in their home, the same fee is not being received. As a matter of fact, no one seems to know how much the cell phone companies should be paying.
The North Judson Town Board approved a request to send the 2012 budget out for advertising. The State allowed the Board to increase the General Fund by 2.9% and that is what the Board will be advertising for this year’s budget. The Board is seeking $618,610 for the General Fund.
After the budget is advertised, the budget will be sent to the Auditor’s office and the County Council will review and approve or reject the budget in October. If all is approved, the Board will adopt the budget in October.
The Knox Community School Board approved textbook rental fees for the upcoming school year. Superintendent, A.J. Gappa said the prices have decreased at the Elementary School. The lowest textbook price is $70 at the third grade level and the highest price is $99 at the fifth grade level.
“And the difference is because of the cost of the textbooks and supplies that each grade level receives,” said Gappa. “In comparison to last year, book rental fees are slightly down. The main reason for that is that the State has dropped cursive writing as a required standard. Even though we are still going to teach cursive writing as part of the curriculum and instruction that is given by the teachers, we didn’t find it necessary to buy a consumable workbook that went with each grade level.”
The Center of Workforce Innovations is seeking qualified individuals who can serve as advisors for its Encore Career Advisor Initiative. The Encore project is a seven-county initiative that will provide high school students career information, assist them with their career decision-making and career path planning following graduation.
The Pulaski County United Fund has helped 12 Pulaski County residents with the 1010 Grant. The two-year grant was awarded to Pulaski County from the Indiana Association of United Ways/Funds.
These residents, who qualified for the Energy Assistance Program by demonstrating financial need, received support from the grant to cover utility deposit fees. Deposits for water, electric and gas service were made to the Town of Winamac, Kankakee Valley REMC, Fulton County REMC, and NIPSCO on behalf of the recipient.
WKVI is celebrating 42 years of broadcasting today! Be listening live for special guests throughout the day today! Call in your favorite memory at 772-7600. We’ll post pictures throughout the day. Continue reading
The trial for Jack Haut began yesterday in Starke Circuit Court with opening statements from both sides. Haut is charged with Reckless Homicide following an accident that occurred on July 2nd, 2010, when a white pickup truck Haut was driving collided with the motorcycle operated by Tom White, killing him instantly.
The ordinance regulating dog kennels is slowly making progress to being approved, and it’s been sent back to the tech committee for further revision. Previously, a committee consisting of many dog owners collaborated on making a revision to the proposed ordinance that would differentiate between commercial and non-commercial kennels, but none of the members of the Planning Commission had a list of the people on that committee.
Paul Warnke and Ken Jones came before the Starke County Commissioners this week to report on the progress of the Koontz Lake Sewer Project.
Jones told the Commissioners that the project is ahead of schedule and street and road restoration began this week which is making the public very happy.
The restoration could not begin until NIPSCO pressure tested the power to the grinder pumps. After that was done, the cuts in the road could be restored. Continue reading
The Knox Community School Board started a discussion with the Teacher’s Union last year to try and offer more Professional Development for the teachers during the school year. The State requires that schools be in session for 180 days which doesn’t allow much extra time for Professional Development opportunities without conflicting with contract terms. Superintendent A.J. Gappa says that some neighboring schools had a plan that the Knox Schools will implement this school year.
The North Judson Town Board is reviewing a proposal from DC Tech Solutions where the company is requesting that they be allowed to mount internet equipment on both of the town’s water towers. The Town would also need to pay the monthly NIPSCO charges. In exchange, DC Tech Solutions will offer free internet to all of the town’s offices and offer 2 hours of tech support a month for free. Since the Town already receives free internet service, the Board and the company will discuss alternative exchanges, if feasible, at a later time.
