The West Central School Board discussed the wind turbine project at its recent meeting. The Board is looking to place a single turbine on the school property in order to save money on energy bills. Superintendent Charles Mellon said there are three issues that have stopped progress on project.
A North Judson-San Pierre High School student has been named the recipient of a full four year scholarship as the Starke County Community Foundation 2011 Lilly Endowment Community Scholar. Jessica Jachim will receive full tuition to the Indiana college of her choice and an $800 yearly stipend for required books and equipment. Jessica is the daughter of Michael and Sherri Jachim and she plans to study English Literature or Journalism.
She is a member of the National Honor Society and is President of SADD. A representative of Hoosier Girls State, Jessica has shown her leadership skills in community and church fund raising activities and on the field as a four year member of the Blue Jay Girls Softball team.
Knox High School Freshman, Taylor Kemble, is sponsoring another service project.
“I’m having my fourth annual rummage sale,” Taylor announced. “It will be at the Knox United Methodist Church and it will be this Saturday, April 2nd fro 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. All proceeds will be used to buy backpacks for school children in Knox, and Oregon-Davis and North Judson elementary schools. All items will be $.50 unless otherwise marked and I will also be taking donations this year and they will be accepted March 31st and April 1st at the Knox United Methodist Church from 3:30-5:30 p.m.”
Taylor is asking that items be taken to the Knox United Methodist Church from 3:30-5:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday.
“I will take any item,” she said. “I have a loft bed that I’m hopefully going to be able to sell. I will accept any items. I actually had an exercise bike donated one year.”
Taylor has sponsored projects that have had national recognition. She was honored by then-First Lady Laura Bush. For more information on Taylor’s annual service project, call 772-7746.
The Bass Lake Fire Department responded to a house fire on County Road 210 on Saturday night at about 10:10 p.m.
According to Bass Lake Fire Chief Les Jensen, a summer home, located south of Maple Drive, that was owned by Patrick Botica from Illinois was completely destroyed. A neighboring home owned by James Tolone also of Illinois was moderately damaged due to the fire. While no foul play is suspected, the incident remains under investigation.
The Knox Center Township Fire Department was called to assist at the scene. Continue reading
Tomorrow is National Doctor’s Day, but the staff at IU Health Starke Hospital is getting a jump on the festivities by celebrating today.
“We take one day, in this case March 29th, to celebrate what the physicians do for us and our relationship and partnership is very important with the medical staff,” said CEO Linda Satkoski. “We may take one day to celebrate but obviously it’s all year long. We work together to build the future of health care here at Starke Hospital and the community.”
Sources in the South Bend media are reporting that Dr. Steve Disney will be the new Superintendent of the Mishawaka Community School System.
Dr. Disney has been the Superintendent at Oregon-Davis since 2007, replacing Bill Rentschler who resigned to move to Ft. Wayne.
Dr. Disney had been mentioned in the past for other Superintendent positions. He will reportedly be announced at tonight’s Mishawaka School Board meeting.
The West Central School Board members discussed the budget at their recent meeting.
“It’s just kind of frustrating when all we’re getting is estimates and we can’t really do a solid projection and yet we should be working on our 2012 budget at this time,” said Superintendent Charles Mellon. “When they talk about flatlining the budget, I think that flatline means that the State may be spending the same amount of money for the next three years in the K-12 education area, but that doesn’t mean that the schools are going to get the same. When I project ours, what we are getting cut this year, $322,000, it almost adds up to $1.3 million over a three year period.”
Starke County is number 8 out of the 92 Indiana counties in high unemployment. The most recent figures cover the February figures. Starke County was up .1% to 12.2 %. The state rate is 8.8%.
Pulaski County came in as the lowest surrounding county with an 8.3% for 74th place. Marshall is 10.5% for 31st place, LaPorte County is 11.2% for 22nd place, Fulton County is 10.3% for number 36, St. Joseph County is at 10.1% for number 42, and Porter County is at 8.5% for 71st place.
Pulaski County United Fund, Inc. is pleased to announce the appointment of two community leaders to the Board of Directors. Becky Ballard of Francesville and Bonnie Reinhold of Winamac were appointed and they will serve as Directors on the 2011-2012 United Fund Board along with Marita Grisel, Karen Fritz, Daniel Murphy, Michael O’Connor, Kathie Scott, Brenda Walters, and Fr. Herbert Woolson.
The Pulaski County United Fund supports 10 local non-profit agencies serving the human service needs of Pulaski County. The 2011-2012 campaign, “Sharing with United Fund”, will be going strong in communities across Pulaski County. For more information about the Pulaski County United Fund, call (574) 946-7320.
“Breaking Down the Bars” continues tonight on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Now in work release, Amanda gets busted for spending time with her new boyfriend, Tiffany buckles under the pressures of motherhood after coming home and Lisa Owens has a dramatic face-to-face meeting with her slain husband’s step mother. All of those elements will be featured during tonight’s program which will air at 8:00 p.m. CT/9:00 p.m. ET on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Two Knox residents were arrested Friday after police found that two children were left in their apartment with no adult supervision.
According to the Knox City Police report, a small five year old child was found by Roosevelt Road in Knox by a neighbor. She called police where she said she found the boy crying looking for his mother. The child led police to the apartment where he lives on Ruthie Drive. Police found the home to be a mess and another small child was in the residence with no adult supervision. Police called CPS and left the premises after they arrived. Police found Daniel Pastorcik, the children’s father, driving in his vehicle that began traveling at a high rate of speed. Police conducted a traffic stop and called in the K9 unit to assist. The K9 indicated on the presence of narcotics in the passenger seat.
James Hicks, accompanied by his son Brian, Josh Deal and Starke County Economic Development Foundation Director, Charles Weaver, attended the Knox City Council meeting Tuesday night. Hicks, the owner of JW Hicks, Inc., which includes a plant in Knox, came before the Council to announce plans for a 110,000 square foot addition to the Knox facility. Continue reading
The North Judson Town Board approved the first reading of an ordinance that establishes bidder requirements when the Board seeks bids on a project. The ordinance sets guidelines and wording on companies bidding on projects. Normally the Board accepts the lowest bid for a project. This ordinance lets the Board accept the second lowest bid if the lowest bid does not meet bid specifications of the project and if the bidder is not a responsible bidder.
The Starke County Election Board is gearing up for its first election with the consolidation of four precincts into one this spring. Center one, two, three and four precincts will all vote in the Knox Community Center.
Tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. CT, the public will be able to test the voting machines. The testing will be done on the first floor of the Courthouse.
Following the testing, the Election Board will meet. The Board will discuss the amendment of a resolution regarding the relocation of the precincts and the number of poll workers.
This week is Doctor’s Appreciation week at IU Health Starke Hospital. Today, Dr. Almuhannad Alfran, a Hospitalist at the Starke hospital is in to talk about his area of responsibility.
We asked Dr. Alfran what constitutes the responsibility of a Hospitalist.
“A Hospitalist is a physician who has special training in managing patients who are admitted to the hospital,” said Dr. Alfran. “You can call them specialists in hospital medicine or treating patients in the hospital. A lot of times they are internal medicine and family practice physicians but with more particular experience and training in managing the more critically ill patients. Patients who are admitted to the hospital are usually sicker and need a lot more attention than patients who you see in the office. Sometimes with these patients, you need to go back in ten minutes to take care of them rather than telling them to come back in a week. They need a physician to be available should that moment come.”
The City of Knox will be participating in the residential and business sidewalk replacement program again this year and residents and business owners are encouraged to get in their applications as soon as possible.
The City will pay 50% of the cost of material and labor for sidewalk replacement on a first come, first served basis and as monies are available to support the program. The Street Superintendent will measure and inspect the request and approve or disapprove the work order. After a bid is awarded to a contractor, the property owner will be notified of the cost and must pay 50% to the City before construction can begin. If not, the project will be placed on the bottom of the work schedule.
Applications may be picked up at City Hall and they must be dated and received by Thursday, April 21st.
After being understaffed for years, the Starke County Treasurer’s office may finally get a full-time clerk. Two treasurers have pleaded for help, but the request was never granted.
Treasurer Linda Belork came before the Starke County Council this week asking for the full-time help. Again, she was denied on a 4-2 vote. Council President, Mark Smith, explains that part of the action.
The North Judson Town Board approved Nies Engineering to work on the sewer separation project on State Road 39. Three applicants were interviewed and the committee chosen to do the interviews recommended Nies Engineering for the project. The contract is not to exceed $83,781.
Two representatives from the Indiana Historical Association asked the Board if they could do a World War II reenactment on June 4th and 5th on the old railroad property on Luken Street. They have the owner’s permission to hold the event on that property but they need to fill out a special event permit for the Board’s approval. The permit will be reviewed at the Board’s next meeting.
The Starke County Sheriff’s Department is seeking information on a theft from the San Pierre Auto dealership.
On Tuesday, March 22nd, officers were called to San Pierre Auto in reference to a broken window in the building. The suspect or suspects broke out the front window of the building and it looked like they crawled through the window to enter the business. While inside, the suspect(s) went through the desk drawers and cabinets throughout the building. They took five vehicle titles from a desk drawer, key fobs for four vehicles from a cabinet, one new NAPA battery, a battery jump pack and one expired dealer plate from 2008. It also appeared the suspect(s) went into the garage and went through all the tools. A knife reportedly used to pry open a safe was taken into evidence by police.
Knox Mayor Rick Chambers told the Knox City Council this week that the first appraisal on the Dean Wells property across from City Hall has been received.
“It was appraised at $110,000 and where do you want to go from here?” Mayor Chambers asked the Council. “We need two appraisals, that’s required by the State. We can offer the average of the two. I have another appraiser lined up, so if we want to continue with this, we need a motion to obtain a second appraisal.”
