One-third of the food handling businesses in Starke County are operating on expired permits. That fact was presented to the Starke County Health Board Monday night by Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Alexander.
That fact was discovered when going over the list of businesses to be inspected by new contract Inspector, David Kesvormas. Kesvormas told the Board that when he inspects a business that is operating on expired permits, he is notifying them and urging them to purchase the proper permit without a fine.
The Pulaski County Development Commission Board is looking for a new Director. Director Dan Dolezal submitted his resignation recently, listing April 1st as his final day on the job. In an interview with WKVI last week, Dolezal said he told the board, “April 1st and that’s no joke.”
Dolezal accepted the position as the Development Director six years ago after a long career in the health field. He told Ted Hayes last week that , “After a few weeks of retirement I found myself sitting on the front porch having an intense conversation with my three cats, and realized it might be time to go back to work.”
On a serious note, Dolezal said “job retention” in Pulaski County was his most satisfying accomplishment. Other things he has taken pride in assisting with are the Star City sewer installation and the Panhandle Pathway project. He hopes that CDC Board can get his successor in place soon so he can help in the training process.
After all he said, “Those three cats are waiting for me at home to point me in the direction of the next phase of my life.”
Eastern Pulaski School Corporation will be in session today and this week’s calendar has changed.
“We’re going to be in school on Monday, February 21st as that was a built-in snow make up day so we are using it for that,” said Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman. “The 25th of February was supposed to be our professional development and reports and records day. We are moving that to Monday, February 28th. Our students will be in school all week, the 21st through the 25th, and then not in school on February 28th.”
North Judson Fire Chief, Joe Leszek submitted the Fire Department’s statistics for January to the North Judson Town Board during the Board’s recent meeting.
The Department had two smoke investigations, one search and rescue call, two medical assist calls, and one burn complaint. Four of the calls were in North Judson, one call was in Wayne Township and two calls were in Jackson Township.
It’s called the Super Bowl of dog sled racing. The Iditarod Race will be held the first Saturday in March. The race covers 1,000 miles from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska has been called “The Last Great Race on Earth”.
Monday night, Karen Land brought her dog Borage to the Henry F. Schricker Public Library in Knox. The presentation described Karen’s Iditarod racing, with Borage wandering through the crowd making friends of young and old alike.
The deadline for candidates to file in the City of Knox 2011 Starke County Municipal Primary Election was at Noon on Friday, February 18th. Here are the candidates for the spring primary:
Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall sentenced two in court Friday morning.
Amber Bottorff
Judge Hall accepted a plea agreement submitted for Amber Bottorff where she plead guilty to a charge of Maintaining a Common Nuisance, a Class D Felony. As part of the agreement, a charge of Dealing in Methamphetamine, a Class B Felony was dropped. As part of her sentence, she will serve 18 months on home detention.
On December 31st, 2010, North Judson Police were requested to assist the Starke County Community Corrections team while they were conducting a home inspection. After checking on a detainee in the 5900 block of U-road, officers made a discovery of an active Methamphetamine Lab. North Judson Officer, Mat Anderson, arrested Amber Rae Bottorff, 21, of North Judson for Manufacturing of Methamphetamine and Maintaining a Common Nuisance.
The Knox City Police Department is investigating the theft of steel from the Norfolk and Southern Rail property on US 35 in Knox.
On Tuesday, February 15th, the police department received a complaint of individuals stealing metal from the property. Shortly after the call, a deputy from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department located the suspect vehicle southbound on US 35 and conducted a traffic stop. The stolen property was recovered in the suspect vehicle. Two North Judson men were arrested in the incident and taken to the Starke County Jail. They have preliminary charges of Theft and Trespass on Railroad Property.
The filing deadline for candidates seeking office in the 2011 Municipal Primary Election for the City of Knox is at Noon today. Candidates seeking office in Hamlet and North Judson have until August 1st to file.
Two people filed in the Starke County Clerk’s Office yesterday. Jane Ellen Felchuck, a Democrat, filed for the North Judson Town Board District 1 seat, a position she now holds on the Board. Kristina Pitts filed on the Democrat ticket for Hamlet Town Clerk-Treasurer.
Pulaski County Public Health Nurse, Andrea Keller, told WKVI that influenza activity is widespread in Indiana and has been identified in Pulaski County. Influenza A and B are the strains that have been reported to her office, but no cases of the H1N1 flu have been reported. We are currently in the middle of the peak flu season.
The Pastor at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Knox will be moving after being in the pulpit for 24 years. He is going to be the Pastor at the Clear Lake Lutheran Church in Freemont, Indiana and will be moving to the area in the next two months.
Pastor Miller followed Pastor Joseph Townsend and is only the fourth Pastor to minister at the church.
We’ll be interviewing Pastor Miller next week, giving him an opportunity to talk about the highlights of his pastorate in Knox.
This is Friday, and at 12:20 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. CT, Ted Hayes will travel down memory lane to a time when Sears of Knox was located downtown. Bud Straight was the Manager and Dick Pettinato the Assistant Manager. It was a time when Sears had a huge staff of almost 40 people and sold everything imaginable.
Dick Pettinato will help Ted remember those days. There were so many people at the store that the customers confused the brand names for employees.
Starke County Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall accepted a plea agreement Wednesday for Dwayne Clemons. Clemons plead guilty to two felony charges for an incident that occurred June 27th, 2009. Two other charges were dismissed.
In that incident, Clemons was charged with firing shots into a van carrying Jessie Sparks and a 9 year old girl. The shooting occurred after a physical altercation between Clemons and Sparks.
The North Judson-San Pierre marching band performs in a contest in October
The North Judson-San Pierre School Board did not make a decision concerning the future of the marching band program at its meeting this week.
Superintendent Lynn Johnson told WKVI that she gathered information on cost and number of students in other marching bands and presented that information to the Board. Several community members, parents and students attended the meeting and voiced their opinions and concerns about the marching band. The Board hopes to work with the students and the band department to keep the program alive in the future. Future meetings will entail planning and restructuring the marching band program to make it a sustainable program.
Knox City Police arrested Dawn Mann, of Knox, on preliminary charges of False Informing and Possession of Methamphetamine after a Monday traffic stop.
Knox police officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Jason Johnson of Knox. Police found that Jason had a warrant and arrested him. Since the passenger was drinking, she was allowed to contact someone to drive her home. The officer released the woman who said her name was Dawn Johnson. It was later discovered Dawn Johnson was actually Dawn Mann and she had several warrants through Starke and Marshall Counties.
Ron Patrick (L) and IDHS Executive Director Joe Wainscott
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security has announced that 10 commanders are now in place to continue development of the regional emergency response task forces evolving into a statewide network of emergency support.
Ron Patrick, Chief Deputy of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department, has been named as the Task Force Commander for District 2. The commanders are responsible for overseeing daily administrative operations, and recruiting resources to establish and expand the capabilities of the task force they oversee.
North Judson Town Board: Dan Anderson, Wendy Hoppe, Jane Ellen Felchuk, Attorney Cassie Hine and Clerk-Treasurer Connie Miller
The North Judson Town Board is considering a parking ordinance in case of a snow emergency. The recent snow event proved problematic for the Street Department to push snow off the town streets around parked cars. The Board commended the Street Department on their efforts and thanked Doug O’Donnell and Jim Menis for offering their personal vehicles to assist in snow removal for the town.
On Tuesday, the Hamlet Town Board members signed a contract with H & G Underground Utility for the storm water improvement project during their recent meeting. The Board members also signed a notice to proceed with the project so work could begin at any time.
Friday is the final day to file for candidacy in the City of Knox spring Primary Election. Candidates seeking office in North Judson and Hamlet have until August 1st to file. In Starke County, the most recent filing occurred Tuesday when Brian Earnest, a Democrat, filed for the Hamlet #1 Town Council seat .
Starke County Economic Development Foundation Director, Charles Weaver, testified last week on a legislative bill that would lessen the requirement for mint farmers of having to acquire burdensome permits and regulations that could force them to not continue in that farming field. According to Weaver’s testimony, none of the mint farmers in Starke County know if they will be able to extract the oil from the crop because of the permit issue.
