Starke County continues to be in the top ten, according to the latest unemployment report. Even though we dropped slightly, we moved up to a tie for fifth in the rankings.
Fayette County is number one at 11.7%. Elkhart, Lawrence, and Starke Counties are tied for fifth at 10.1%. The state unemployment figure is 8.1%.
The Harry L. Keller American Legion Post 92 is honored to have been asked to provide an Honor Guard for the Westville Community at the Frank Ono Park Saturday.
Ono posthumously received the Medal of Honor 10 years ago. Then-Lt. Governor Joseph Kernan presided over the services at Norwayne Field in North Judson.
Ono, a North Judson High School graduate, received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic action on Hill 140 in Italy on July 4th, 1944.
The Harry L. Keller American Legion Post 92 will fire a 21 gun salute and blow taps.
Other services conducted by the Harry L. Keller Post will be:
Sunday: 11:30 a.m. CT at Round Lake Cemetery
Monday: 8:45 a.m. CT Parade; 9:00 a.m. at Pioneer Cemetery; 10:00 a.m. at San Pierre Cemetery; 11:00 a.m. Wreath deposit on the Kankakee River on Highway 421. A ceremony at the Vel Mar Park in LaCrosse will follow.
The employees of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department will be remembering their fallen comrades in a Sheriff’s Memorial service on Tuesday, May 31st, at Noon ET at the Sheriff’s Department. Continue reading
Every year, 33 Indianapolis 500 Princesses and one Queen are announced before the race weekend. Riley Hoffman of Greenwood, an Indiana University sophomore, is the 500 Queen. In all, there were 278 applicants from 24 cities and 11 Indiana colleges and Universities. Continue reading
James Childress III, of Rolling Prairie, was arrested by Knox City Police Wednesday after an accident and a brief foot pursuit from police.
According to the police report, Childress was reportedly driving his vehicle in the Giles Court area and went off the road a hit a tree. Childress fled on foot. The vehicle caught fire in the engine area after the incident and the fire was extinguished by the Knox-Center Township Fire Department. The vehicle displayed false and fictitious plates.
The Knox VFW Post #748 will be hosting Memorial Day services beginning this Sunday, May 29th. Opening ceremonies begin at Noon on Sunday with the posting of the guard for a 24-hour vigil. Congressman Joe Donnelly will be speaking, along with State Representative Nancy Dembowski and Knox Mayor Rick Chambers. The Candlelight ceremony will be Sunday at 8:30 p.m. and all of the POW MIA soldiers’ names from the Iraq and Afghanistan War will be read. At Noon on Monday, May 30th, the closing ceremonies and the retiring of the guard will be held at the Post Home. Several veterans, firefighters, police officers, and National Guard members will be standing vigil at the Post and a Civil War camp will be set up in the back of the facility.
The Hamlet American Legion is holding a chili supper benefit for Retired Military Animals on Saturday, May 28th from 3:00-8:00 p.m. at the facility. Maya, a retired military dog who was rescued by Don Thomas of the Grovertown area, will receive three purple hearts during the benefit Saturday.
Maya, a 12-year-old veteran, served in the Army as well as the Marines. During her six years of service, she saved countless lives in Afghanistan and Iraq using her bomb detecting abilities. She was rescued by Don Thomas a few years ago and was able to do so by an amendment signed by then-President Bill Clinton that allows retired military canines to have owners found for them instead of being euthanized. Saturday’s benefit will help interested individuals to take things one step further and help with the expense of housing these animals, medical expenses and the cost of food.
Several buildings sustained damage after tornadoes touched down in Francesville Wednesday morning. Francesville Fire Chief, Tim Wuethrich, talked about the event.
“It appears that we had a tornado touch down in two spots in Francesville, maybe three,” said Wuethrich. “It took three poles out on the highway, leveled a building that we call Station Two, our other fire station. We had a fire truck in there that’s underneath the rubble. It took part of a roof off a house on the other end of town. I’ve been at Incident Command the whole time so I haven’t assessed the damage yet.” Homeowners with damaged roofs may need to hire local roofers to fix and restore their roofing systems. They may also need to find a supplier of timber roof trusses for their roof replacement project.
Murriah Dailey made an appearance in Starke Circuit Court Wednesday, but her case has been continued until Friday at 9:00 a.m. due to some issues with the police report. The officer has not yet signed the report, so the prosecuting attorney has been unable to file charges at this time. An affidavit for probable cause has been filed for two counts of Attempted Murder, as well as counts of Motor Vehicle Theft, Battery on a Police Officer, and Resisting Law Enforcement with a Vehicle. More charges are expected to be filed by state police after their investigation is completed.
On Thursday, June 2nd, there will be a party of sorts at the Monterey Elementary School. Patrons are invited to the school from 5:00-7:00 p.m. ET to watch a slide show, tour of the building and exchange of stories from a by-gone era.
The Knox City Council heard a report from Mayor Rick Chambers this week on a proposal to refinance the Knox Community Center bonds.
“John Julien from Umbaugh and Associates called the other day and he had mentioned this to Jeff (Houston) and I about a year ago,” explained Mayor Chambers. “The interest rates are down. The interest rates on our current loan is 5.5% and he thinks interest rates for 2.9% could be had if we put this out for bid. This loan will be paid off in 2019. Over the length of that loan, if we can bond for 2.9%, we would save $55,000. That’s a little misleading because we have $32,000 currently in an escrow account with First Monterey Bank. So, with the expense of redoing that bond and being able to use that $32,000 now, subtract the $32,000 from the $55,000 – over the course of this loan we’d be saving $22,000.”
Do you feel like you’re a yo-yo when it comes to gasoline prices? If you filled up Tuesday night or early yesterday morning you were lucky because by mid-morning the gas prices had spiked higher. Prices that had fluctuated between $3.60 and $3.80 for a gallon of regular suddenly were up to $3.95 locally.
The Memorial Day Weekend is the “kick-off” for summer fun in the area. Rich Wieczorek, spokesperson for the Tourism Board in Starke County, is in to tell us about the guides that are available at the tourism office in the Chamber Depot.
“Right now we’ve got the Visitor’s Guide and it’s information for people coming into the county because when the come in the county, where do they go? Well, they pick up the Visitor’s Guide and there it is. The festivals are in there, recreation, antique shops, places to eat, and if they don’t have a place to stay, lodging is listed. At the same time, the campgrounds are all opening up now. The Bass Lake Beach and Campground will have free Wednesdays again and Hickory Hills is going full blast too.”
WKVI News had an opportunity recently to talk with Eighth District State Senator Jim Arnold (D) of LaPorte. Arnold, if elected in 2012, will represent a few townships in Starke County.
“It’s a pleasure and an honor to have the opportunity to represent the people of Starke County,” said Senator Arnold. “I don’t have all of Starke County, but I do have five townships in the northern part of the County. I picked up additional portions of St. Joe County as well. I’m honored and privileged to be down here and I look forward to working with the people on concerns of mutual interest.”
Public areas in Culver may soon be alcohol-free, as the town council approved the ordinance on its first reading this Tuesday. This ordinance has been discussed for over a year, but this is the first draft of such an ordinance.
The ordinance prohibits open containers of alcohol from public property, but restaurants, bars, and other similar places of business remain unaffected.
Monday we told you about the Triathlon on the campus of Ancilla College. While on the campus, Ted Hayes had a chance to talk with Dr. Ron May, the President of Ancilla, and asked him about graduation and summer school.
“We had more than one hundred graduates that participated and had a great ceremony and a great speaker,” said Dr. May. “One of our graduates, Mary Szymusiak, Class of 1995, did a great job. We’re into summer school already. It’s up and running and we’ll do our first session here and end it toward the end of June and then start up with a second summer term and keep right on moving.”
The Pulaski Memorial Hospital Auxiliary has openings for volunteers for both men and women. Areas of service include the gift shop, reception desk, hostess program and the patient service program.
If you are a leader of a group, encourage members to consider volunteering at the hospital. It is a great way to make new friends and feel good about yourself. Call (574) 946-2100 for more information.
Mrs. Ridley’s third grade class from North Judson-San Pierre Elementary School took a tour of the Starke County Museum in Knox Tuesday morning. The tours were given by Marianne Gappa, June Golding, Peg Brettin and Dan Roscka. Dan Roscka told the students about the time capsule that was opened during the County’s Sesquicentennial.
Keith Evans, known professionally as “Mr. Bubbles”, will be the entertainment today at the 2011 Pulaski County Senior Citizen Picnic and Annual Meeting at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Winamac.
This week on “Ted Hayes Remembers”, Ted will talk with Jim Shilling.
Jim and Melba Shilling have been in the forefront of collecting and maintaining a history of Starke County for decades. Jim has shown the Starke County Courthouse to hundreds of people, and taken hundreds more on tours of the Starke County Museum.
Ted asked Jim to talk about historical events over the past 50 or so years that have impressed him.
