Pastor Miller and his family on Installation Day at Our Redeemer in 1986
Recently we announced that Pastor Tim Miller of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Knox will be relocating in April to the Clear Lake Lutheran Church in Fremont, Indiana. Pastor Miller has served Our Redeemer, and its congregation, for 25 years which is longer than any other recent mainline pastor.
In an interview with Ted Hayes this week, it was noted that Pastor Miller will be missed when the festival season gears up this summer. That’s because under his guidance, Our Redeemer received its share of award winning float entries over the years.
The North Judson-San Pierre High School Academic Super Bowl team is the 2011 Northwest Hoosier Academic Conference champion. The Bluejays competed at River Forest on Tuesday, March 15, against six other teams: Kankakee Valley, Lake Station Edison, Lowell, North Newton, Rensselaer, and River Forest.
Accumulating 82 points, the Bluejays handily earned first place against rival Lowell which placed second with 73 points and Rensselaer, the third place finisher with 72 points.
This week is National Severe Weather Preparedness Week. As part of the observation of this week, tornado drills are expected to be held today. The Starke County Sheriff’s Department will hold drills today at 9:30 a.m. and at 7:00 p.m. CT. Knox schools will also hold drills at 9:30 a.m. today. Tornado sirens will be going off in Knox, Hamlet and in North Judson at those times. The sirens you will hear during these drills will be the sirens to listen for in case of severe weather in the area. If a tornado warning has been declared and you hear the sirens blare, you are urged to go to your home’s basement or other safe place to take cover.
Is Richard “Dick” Lugar in trouble with his own party? If you talk with the 67 County Chairmen who have endorsed his opponent in the spring primary he is.
Richard Mourdock is the Indiana State Treasurer and a favorite of the conservative wing of the party that considers Lugar too much of a moderate. He is rated one of President Barack Obama’s favorite Republican Senators.
Lugar was first elected to the Senate in 1976 when he defeated then-U.S. Senator Vance Hartke. He has been so popular that in the 2006 election, the Democrats didn’t even run a candidate against him.
Pulaski County Sheriff Michael Gayer told WKVI that the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department has had many calls concerning missing people; specifically those with Alzheimers, Dementia and Autism. The Sheriff would like to start a registry and have individual profiles on file at the Sheriff’s Department so if your loved one is missing, he/she can be located easily.
Indiana University Health LaPorte Hospital again earned Quality Respiratory Care Recognition with a national program aimed at helping patients and families make informed decisions about the quality of respiratory care services available in hospitals.
About 700 hospitals, or approximately 15% of hospitals nationwide, received the award. IU Health LaPorte Hospital has received the award consecutively since 2007.
A former Knox resident who has taught in Japan for a number of years is reported to be “safe and sound.” Peggy Ikeda, daughter of Kiyoko and the late Giichi Ikeda, emailed her sister, Dr. Katherine Kamrath, that there was none of the devastation where she lives.
Peggy is a 1969 graduate of Knox High School. She lives and teaches in Kanazawa, Japan, which is on the western side of the island.
As a side bar to this story, Dr. Kamrath reports that her mother, Kiyoko, is in an assisted living complex near her home in Lafayette, California.
Kiyoko (or Kee-oh as she was known to everyone in Knox) was a former Starke County elected official before retiring to the west coast to be near her daughter and family.
New Starke County Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Alexander, came before the County Commissioners at their most recent meeting to ask for two changes. She asked for a change in fee structure and a change in implementing a fine.
On the fee structure, she asked for a reduction in the septic permit fee from $200 to $60 because the future Sanitarian will not be able to conduct a soil sample. That will need to be done by a Soil Specialist, arranged for by the contractor or applicant.
North Judson-San Pierre Superintendent Lynn Johnson
North Judson-San Pierre and Oregon-Davis Schools will be in grave financial trouble next school year. North Judson-San Pierre stands to lose $1.2 million and Oregon-Davis stands to lose $500,000 in funding next school year because of a change in the state funding formula.
They say larger class size, fewer programs offered and teacher layoffs may be the only way to make the necessary budget cuts. According to North Judson-San Pierre Superintendent, Lynn Johnson, and Oregon-Davis Superintendent, Dr. Steve Disney, education reform is making it difficult for public school administrators to provide the best opportunities possible. Mrs. Johnson, for one, is leery of what vouchers will do to her corporation.
The West Central High School was recently named a Four Star School by the Indiana Department of Education.
“We’re very happy this accomplishment was made,” said Superintendent Charles Mellon. “It actually reflects back to the 2009-2010 school year. I just sent an email out to the staff congratulating them, as well as the students, for this accomplishment.”
The second segment of the Lisa Owens story on the “Breaking Down the Bars” program will be broadcast tonight at 8:00 p.m. on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). Owens was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison for the shooting death of her husband, Jeff.
In the first segment, Owens met with her sister and they discussed the future after her release from the Rockville Correctional Facility.
The LaPorte County Task Force located and arrested another wanted fugitive in the City of LaPorte.
On Friday, March 11th, investigators began to actively seek 19-year-old Lydell Hill, who resides in East Chicago, Indiana. Hill was wanted for three counts of Dealing Cocaine. One of the counts was a Class A Felony while the remaining two were Class B Felonies. Hill was also wanted in Cook County, Illinois for violation of his probation relating to an Armed Robbery charge.
The North Judson Police Department responded to a break-in at Ray’s Super Foods on Lane Street on Friday around 4:50 a.m.
According to North Judson Police Chief, Doug Vessely, a back entry door appeared to have been pried open and a front window was broken out. Unknown subject(s) entered the business taking both cash and merchandise with several tobacco products being taken as well. It is believed the burglar(s) made entry between 3:00 and 4:20 a.m. Police have few leads and are asking for the public’s help by encouraging people who might have any information regarding this incident to call the North Judson Police at (574) 772-5914 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-342- STOP or 1-574-288- STOP.
Chief Vessely reminds residents that if you call Crime Stoppers you don’t have to leave your name and they do not have caller ID.
North Judson-San Pierre Superintendent Lynn Johnson
“It’s just devastating.” That’s the way North Judson-San Pierre School Superintendent Lynn Johnson and Oregon-Davis School Superintendent Dr. Steve Disney described the cuts these two systems will have to make in the 2011-2012 school year.
Lynn Johnson talked about the cuts to her system.
“We are possibly losing $1.2 million,” said Mrs. Johnson. “For a small school, that is a devastating amount.”
Thom Morin presents his handicapped parking plan to the Knox City Council
Thomas Morin recently appeared before the Knox City Council and the Starke County Commissioners with a detailed 22 page document that lays out a handicapped parking plan for city and residential parking.
In his presentation, Morin explained to the Knox City Council what he wanted for the downtown Knox business district.
(L to R) Nick Gutwein, President of BraunAbility; Chris Medina; Bill Koeblitz, President/CEO of MobilityWorks; Todd Navarrete, General Manage of MobilityWorks; and Eric Mansfield, Vice President of Sales at MobilityWorks
MobilityWorks, a leading dealer of BraunAbility accessible wheelchair vans and lift systems gifted a 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan with a BraunAbility conversion van to Juliana Ramos last Wednesday. Ms. Ramos is a bride-to-be who now relies on a wheelchair for mobility after suffering traumatic brain injuries as a result of a car accident in October of 2009.
The Starke County Election Board will meet today at 10:00 a.m. in the second floor meeting room of the Courthouse. The three member board will be conducting a poll worker review for the 2011 Municipal Election, proofing the 2011 primary ballots for the City Election, and conducting other business that might come before the Board.
The 2011 City Election is important since it will be the first since the consolidation of Knox’s four precincts.
“We’re consolidating Center one, two, three and four from their current locations to the Knox Community Center,” said Evelyn Skronski, Election Board Secretary and Election Administrator. “Hopefully this is going to make it more cost effective and voter comfortable.”
Skronski said depending on how well the City Election goes, there might be some other consolidation before the 2012 election.
“We’re considering consolidation precincts in Wayne, Washington, Oregon, and California and relocating a couple of others. This could happen in 2012 for the next Presidential Election.”
Skronski said the consolidation seems to be a good move.
“Voting Centers have been in the news a lot lately and this is just one trial run step towards seeing if consolidation will work.”
We asked her about the set up at the Knox Community Center for the Spring
Primary.
“There will be two inspectors and the judges, clerks and sheriffs. The voters will come in the front door and split off; one and two to the left and three and four to the right and they will continue on just like they would if they were at their regular precincts.”
St. Patrick’s Day is Thursday and if you’re Irish, this is your day to celebrate. St. Patrick of course was the patron saint of Ireland, and St. Patrick’s day began as a Catholic holiday. In the past three to four centuries though, it has become more of a secular celebration of Irish culture.
It might surprise you to know that the color blue was originally associated with St.
Patrick, but over the years that has changed to green. It’s said that St. Patrick used the three-leaf shamrock to explain the trinity to the Irish.
On Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 11:36 AM, La Porte Police Department officers responded to the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks just east of Pulaski Street in La Porte reference to person being struck by an eastbound train. Upon arrival, officers found that a female victim, age 37, of La Porte had indeed been struck by the train and was deceased.
A witness, from a distance of approximately 200 yards, saw the woman, who was alone at the time, walking next to the railroad, walk out on the tracks and then sit down facing west toward the eastbound train. The witness could hear a train in the immediate area and then saw the woman get struck by the train. The witness stated that the train was blowing it horn as it approached the area. Continue reading →
