An 18-year-old San Pierre man was arrested Wednesday night on preliminary charges of Armed Robbery and Felony Intimidation.
North Judson Police Chief, Doug Vessely, said that just after 8:30 p.m. CT, Johnathan Chambers, wearing a rubber mask and a camouflage jacket, entered the Carpenter’s Marathon Oil Station in North Judson with a knife and demanded cash from the gas station clerk. After he was unsuccessful in getting cash, Chambers was scared off and fled the area on foot.
The President of the Knox Federation of Teachers, Dick Wagner, has been with us this week, looking at school reform through the eyes of the teachers.
Today, Mr. Wagner looks at collective bargaining. Mr. Wagner do you think that the changes proposed in the state legislature that pertain to collective bargaining are a threat to teachers, and if so, why?
The Legacy of Women, a committee under the Starke County Community Foundation, is announcing some upcoming grants.
“After being in existence for three years, Starke County’s Legacy of Women Committee is able this year to give out money for grants and/or scholarships,” explained Sheri Bartoli, Chairperson of the organization. “We’re so excited to finally have the opportunity to help individuals and organizations fund an idea, project or education, to help women become leaders in our county.”
Beulah Schoppel passed away this week at the age of 86. Ted Hayes has this to say about Beulah:
“No one who knew Beulah will ever forget her. he was one of those gals who you could meet and like immediately. I attended church with Beulah for years. What Beulah will probably be remember for the most was her involvement with the Starke County Crime Stoppers organization.”
“I’m sure when family and friends attend the visitation there will be many memorable stories surrounding the life of Beulah Schoppel.”
The Knox Community School Board discussed the softball building project at its meeting this week.
Dana Wannemacher from the Fort Wayne architecture firm, Barton-Coe-Vilamaa, told the Board that eight bids were received and the lowest bidder was Hamstra Builders in Wheatfield for $272,000. He presented the Board with sketches of a softball concession building with adequate lighting, storage area, a player’s dressing room and a restroom for the players and the public. Water and sewer lines will be run to accommodate this project and lines will be extended for a possible baseball building project. If the Board approves the bid, the project would begin as soon as possible and it would take approximately 140 days to complete. The construction would not interfere with regular season games played at the field.
The Board is expected to discuss this project further at its meeting Monday, March 7th.
It’s Friday, and Ted Hayes will be in with another Ted Hayes Remembers (click to hear) program. For six decades, Hanna Mlekodaj has bowled on a women’s bowling team and some mixed teams too. She has bowled in 50 state tournaments and three national tournaments and has been honored for her secretary work by the State Bowling Association.
Four individuals allegedly involved with the cock fighting ring in Starke County underwent their initial hearing Wednesday at the Starke Circuit Court. Benjamin Villicana, 32; Francisco Reyes, 37; Juan Gonzales, 33; and Francisco Fernando Reyes, 41 all entered preliminary not guilty pleas for their charges of one count Animal Fighting Contest, a class D felony after having their rights read and explained to them in Spanish by a DVD played in the courtroom because of their lack of fluency with English. The rest of the court session was translated by an interpreter over the phone.
While the Democrats are in Urbana, Illinois, Ted Hayes took the opportunity to talk with Representative Robert Behning at the Statehouse Wednesday afternoon. Behning has been a Republican member of the House since the mid 1990’s representing an Indianapolis District.
Ted led off with a question about what the representatives left behind have been doing.
“Obviously we’ve been coming in everyday, just like we hoped our Democrat colleagues would and we’ve been trying to get a quorum established and we haven’t been successful in doing that. We have been doing a number of things behind the scenes, trying to educate ourselves better on some of the bills that are in front of us and some of the bills that are coming over from the Senate.”
This week we’re looking at Education Reform from the Teacher’s Union standpoint. Next week, we’ll be hearing from Knox Community School Board President, Harold Welter, who will discuss the same issues.
Today, Knox Federation of Teachers President, Dick Wagner, looks at tenure. Mr. Wagner does tenure guarantee a teacher a lifetime job?
Fifth District State Senator Ed Charbonneau (R-Valparaiso) make mote of the completion of the first half of the legislative session Wednesday.
We asked Charbonneau what issues they hope to face in the second half.
“Senate lawmakers are tackling tough issues this session,” he explained. “We’ll continue working hard in the weeks and months ahead as we focus on passing a fiscally sound budget for the State and a fair redistricting plan, as well as other important issues that Hoosiers are passionate about. One of those issues might include debating a state-wide smoking ban.”
Heart diseases are at an epidemic stage in the United States and I.U. Health-LaPorte and Starke Hospitals are providing early screenings for a number of related ailments.
Cardiologist, Dr. Rishi Sukhija, talked with Ted Hayes recently about Heart disease at I.U. Health-Starke Hospital and in the course of the conversation, discussed the importance of arranging for a Heart Cart exam. The Heart Cart will be at I.U. Health-Starke on Saturday, March 19th from 8:00-11:00 a.m. CT.
“We’ll do several tests for cardiovascular risk assessment and diagnosis where we can detect heart and vascular disease early and by doing so, we can slow down the progression of same at an earlier stage.”
Dr. Sukhija said that we need to watch our diets.
“To prevent cardiovascular disease, we have to cut down saturated fats in our diet and increase consumption of fruits and vegetables.”
A Heart Cart exam is by appointment only. Call (219) 326-2626 to schedule an exam. The cost is only $100 for the testing. It would cost over $1000 if you had the tests done individually.
Sandy Hansen of Knox is missing her purse…and her car.
According to police documents, on Tuesday, March 1st, Sandy left her purse under the front desk in the Starke County Abstract office in downtown Knox and she went on break between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. When she returned, her purse was gone. She searched the office and could not find her purse. She called police to report the theft.
We call her the “Starke County Bowling Queen.” This week on “Ted Hayes Remembers”, Hanna Mlekodaj’s bowling career that spanned six decades will be featured.
Beginning at the Zingarelli Lanes and ending at Bowlaway Lanes, Hanna was a promoter of women’s bowling during the glory years of the sport in Starke County.
“Marcella Hauser, Carol Johnson who was Sandy Hansen’s mother, June Cruce and Martha Desmond are some of the first bowlers,” said Hanna of her team in 1950.
Hanna was always passionate about getting teams to go to the State Bowling Tournament. She got 37 teams to go one year.
“The State Tournament was in Indianapolis and I had always made all of the arrangements for applications and sent in the money, made the date and everything,” she said. “They decided that we would stay at a certain hotel. 37 teams were going down together so I went into the hotel at the Heartland Inn and told the desk clerk that I needed to make a reservation for 37 rooms. She looked at me kind of surprised and she said, ‘Let me get the manager’. She got the manager and she made arrangements for the 37 teams and gave our team a suite!”
But the next day they went to the 40 lane bowling alley to bowl and they thought the entire city was in attendance.
“The team lines up on the lane and they call off the name of the team and where they’re from,” she explained. “Naturally, we started out with lane one and all the way up to lane 37 and it was Knox, Knox, Knox. Somebody hollered out, ‘Is there anybody left in Knox?’ ‘Yes’ we said. ‘Our husbands!'”
Hanna Mlekodaj, Starke County’s Bowling Queen. She will be Ted’s guest on the ‘Ted Hayes Remembers’ program Friday at 12:20 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
The boil water order for the Town of Hamlet has been lifted.
Work has begun on the storm water drain project in Hamlet. Workers from H & G Underground Utility have begun milling the road and placing pipe as they go.
Roads will be closed at different intervals during the project. Starke Street is closed today at Railroad Street around the Hamlet Library and north over the tracks to the stop sign on Plymouth Street. The contractors expect this section to be closed for about a week.
Much of the controversy occurring at the Statehouse since the recent legislative session began involves the Governor’s education reform initiatives. For the next three days, we’re going to look at the reform issues through the eyes of Dick Wagner, President of the Knox Federation of Teachers, which represents a majority of the teachers in the Knox School System.
Vouchers, tenure, and collective bargaining will be discussed with Mr. Wagner.
A driving force behind the creation of the Starke County Economic Development Foundation has died at his retirement home in Colorado. Bob Hamilton came to Knox as the President of the Farmer’s Bank and Trust Company which is now Key Bank.
Upon his arrival in the early 1980’s, Hamilton realized Starke County needed a way to attract industry. He once said, “How can the bank make loans if people don’t have jobs to pay the loan off?”
Beginning Friday, March 4th, troopers from the Indiana State Police will join more than 250 other Indiana law enforcement agencies across the Hoosier State in the Over the Limit, Under Arrest March crackdown on impaired and dangerous driving.
The Knox Community School Board approved the purchase of one new school bus at its meeting Monday night.
Transportation Director, Mark Jensen, asked the Board to approve the purchase of two new buses and trade in a bus. Superintendent, A.J. Gappa, encouraged the Board to purchase one new bus and no trade-in. The bus that would have been traded could be used a spare. The Board approved the Superintendent’s recommendation. A 2011 International CE will be purchased with a camera system, storage compartments and additional warranty for $85,498. The Board could purchase another bus later in the year if they so choose.
Knox City Police Chief, Clint Norem, reports that in the month of February, the Department had 316 calls, responded to 11 accidents and completed 21 incident reports.
13 people were arrested on 20 traffic charges, 23 people were arrested on 31 criminal charges and 2 juveniles were arrested. Of those arrests, 2 included Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated charges, 1 Public Intoxication charge, 3 were Battery charges, 5 were active arrest warrants and 7 involved drug charges. No ordinance violations were reported in the month of February.
