“There’s more to come.” That was the word from Knox Park Board member, Rodger Weigel, who was at Wythogan Park when Ted Hayes took a tour last week. New dugouts were recently constructed, and a new curly slide was installed at the park. Improvements are now being made at the skate park.
Weigel said that more improvements are coming.
A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 12th, at 9:00 a.m. CT at Bella Vita Pregnancy Resource Center in Knox. An open house will follow until about Noon. Bella Vita is at 206 S. Heaton St. in Knox.
All services at Bella Vita are free and confidential. Services include: pregnancy tests, peer counseling by trained advocates about pregnancy options, referrals to community resources, and education classes that empower women to make healthy choices as well as earn needed material items. Call (574) 772-2877 for more information.
The Culver Community School Board will discuss, and possibly vote on the future of the Monterey Elementary School tonight during their regular meeting at 7:00 p.m. ET in the Administration Building. The Board needs to reduce expenses in order to meet budget cuts from the state level in the amount of $855,928 over two years.
The Culver Community School Corporation has a number of options to explore in order to meet this new budget. Some of the options include increasing revenue through a referenda, in which the school tax rate would be raised $0.11 per $100; the use of the Rainy Day Fund, and decreasing expenses through budget reductions, such as closing Monterey Elementary.
The Board will also look at reducing certified staff, non-certified staff, and administration, and reducing the following programs: business, music, art, athletic, extra curricular, Industrial Technology, Physical Education, Foreign Language, Building Trades, and Vocational.
The North Judson Town Board heard from concerned citizens about the gas prices in North Judson. It was reported to WKVI that the gas prices in North Judson are generally $.10 higher than the surrounding communities.
The Board was expected to write a letter to the gas stations and ask why this is occurring and how it can be fixed. The residents are especially concerned about prices in this economy.
The Marshall County Community Foundation has provided Ancilla College a grant in the amount of $20,300 to help launch the Assistive Developmentally-Enhanced Program and Technology Initiative, or ADEPT.
The Pulaski County United Fund recently awarded 10 non-profit organizations financial support.
Pulaski County YMCA, Pulaski County REACT, West Central Educational Foundation, North Central IN Rural Crisis Center, Pulaski County Human Services, Salvation Army-Pulaski County Service Extension, Girl Scouts of Northern IN-Michiana-Pulaski County Scouts, and Sagamore Council Boy Scouts-Pulaski County Scouts received funds from the Pulaski County United Fund.
Campbell Soup Company will be joining with the National Association of Letter Carriers to Stamp out Hunger across America. The Stamp out Hunger event will be this Saturday, May 14th.
You are encouraged to leave non-perishable food items by your mailbox on Saturday and the mail carriers in the Kankakee Valley will be pick up your donation where it will be distributed to your local Food Bank.
The Knox citywide yard sale is scheduled for this Saturday, May 14th from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. No permit is required for that day only. You may participate if you live in the city limits and in the two mile jurisdiction.
The only signs permitted will be those provided by City Hall and those signs are $.50 each. Additional sale dates in conjunction with the citywide sale will require the normal permit and two signs are included in the permit price.
The Starke County Youth Club Radiothon brought in over $35,000 during its annual fund raising event.
With only minutes to spare, American Oak pushed the dial over the $35,000 goal to support the club’s activities for another year. Continue reading
During the Spotlight on Success portion of the Knox Community School Board meeting Monday night, the Board honored 4th grade teacher, Sherry Wakal.
Martin’s Supermarkets, along with television station CW 25 and radio station Sunny 101.5 out of South Bend run a yearly program on Teacher of the Month,” explained Superintendent A.J. Gappa. One of our 4th grade teachers, Sherry Wakal, was the February Teacher of the Month and she was presented a certificate. She is planning to attend a luncheon on May 19th at the Martin’s in Granger, where they announce the Teacher of the Year. It was quite an honor.”
The Starke County Youth Club Radiothon is underway! Call 772-6241 to call in your pledge for the youth club that helps children in Knox, North Judson-San Pierre and Oregon-Davis schools.
The Youth Club is running the Summer School program at the Knox Middle School this year. They also help kids throughout the school year with homework help, arts and crafts and enrichment activities. Students meet after school, get a snack and get the help they need to help with their studies.
North Judson Police Chief, Doug Vessely, told the North Judson Town Board this week that a recent search warrant conducted at the scrap yard in Knox by the Starke County Sheriff’s Department, Knox City Police Department and the North Judson Police Department may have uncovered stolen property from the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum in North Judson. Museum staff had reported joint bars stolen plus other items worth thousands of dollars. The incident remains under investigation.
The Indiana Department of Education has released a preliminary budget estimate for schools and according to Superintendent, A.J. Gappa, the Knox Community School Corporation looks to be in better shape than its neighboring schools. He said that the School Corporation could see an increase in the next two years.
The Starke County Youth Club will be holding its annual Radiothon today from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Youth Club volunteers will be taking pledges at the WKVI studios to help support the after school program.
“We are a youth development organization serving children and families since 2001,” said Irene Szakonyi. “We’re really excited about our fourth annual Radiothon. The phone lines will be open from 7:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. CT for you to call in your pledge to support Starke County children.”
A bill for the purchase of a new police vehicle for the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department was brought to the Commissioner’s attention this week, and to their annoyance, they discovered it was a purchase they had not approved. The Commissioners had previously passed a resolution that required they approve all purchases over $500 before they can be made, but the new vehicle, a 2011 Dodge Charger with a total price tag of $23,000, had not even been brought to the Commissioners attention before it was purchased.
The Annual National Day of Prayer Service was held yesterday morning at the Knox Community Center. Sponsored by the City of Knox, and Love Inc., over 200 people attended and heard an address by Pastor James Adcock of the Bible Baptist Church.
“The World Day of Prayer is a day of reflection of where our nation is, was and where it’s going,” said Pastor Adcock. “Everything in our nation has come as a result of prayer, from George Washington to our current President, Barack Obama. Everything happens as a result of prayer and I think this is the day we reflect on that.”
Starke County Community Corrections Director, Bob Hinojosa, has announced that he has been notified that the Starke County office has been awarded a state Community Corrections grant for $183,718. The funds will be used to staff and maintain the office from August 1st, 2011 until July 31st, 2012.
This is the fourth year the Starke County Community Corrections has received the grant.
This is Correctional Employees Week and Hinojosa wanted to bring it to the attention of the Starke County Commissioners at their recent meeting. Hinojosa pointed out that the offender population has become more aggressive in the past decade and he thinks all law enforcement personnel deserve recognition during this special week. The Commissioners agreed and complimented Hinojosa of the exemplary work done by Starke County Community Corrections.
A rainy and cool spring season has caused planting problems for farmers in Starke and Pulaski Counties.
“Those things combined have made for a very wet season which, in general, has delayed planting and we’re well behind the average planting for this time of the year. I’m specifically talking about corn planting. For example, the information that we had this past week indicated that across the state, we had planted two percent of the corn, compared to sixty-nine percent at the same time last year,” said Alan Kurtz, Ag and Natural Resources Educator at Purdue Extension.
An Anchor Writers luncheon celebration was held Thursday, May 5th at the Knox Middle School.
“About five or six years ago, we decided that as a K-12 system we needed to promote good writing,” explained Middle School Principal, Steve Cronk. “Four times year, we ask students to provide us with writing samples and then from those samples the teachers select the best ones. We then have those kids come in for the luncheon. They get a free lunch with their parents and their teachers, and they get a booklet that contains their essay as well as the other winning essays.”
I.T. Director Bob Smith appeared before the Starke County Commissioners this week. Smith notified the Commissioners that he needed to make some “tweaks” in the Video Arraignment Program and the Starke County Jail monitoring system to make them work more effectively.
“We found out there were a few glitches that was missed, so this is an additional requirement we need to meet for the law that Judge Hall informed me of,” said IT Director, Bob Smith. “We just want to make sure that we are covering everything and getting it up to par.”
