Local school wins Thursday “I Love to Read” Challenge

WSBT-TV's Krisin Bien reads to Knox Elementary School students.
WSBT-TV’s Krisin Bien reads to Knox Elementary School students.

A reporter and photographer from a South Bend television station paid a visit to Knox Elementary School this morning.WSBT-TV’s Kristin Bien shared a story with the more than 900 students, teachers, faculty members and staff gathered in the Knox Elementary School gym. The school won the station’s Thursday “I Love to Read” challenge with 13,000 votes. Bien said this is quite impressive, as Wednesday’s winner got 7,000 votes. She read the book “Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing” to the students and stressed the importance of reading. Bien also granted an interview to two reporters from “The Redskin Riot”before returning to South Bend.

 

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Pulaski County men arrested on drug charges

A pair of Pulaski County men are jailed on drug charges following an early morning traffic stop in Medaryville. Pulaski County Sheriff’s Deputies Mat Anderson and Tyler Campbell initially spotted the men staring them down as they walked into a local gas station just after 4 a.m. Anderson followed their car when they left and stopped them after they reportedly rolled through a nearby stop sign. The driver, 21-year-old Lance E. Nester said he had stopped at the station to get gas, but Anderson noted his gauge registered empty. Additionally, according to Anderson, the car smelled of marijuana. Nester consented to a search of the car, which turned up bags of marijuana, rolling papers and a smoking pipe. Nester and a passenger, 19-year-old Brandon Lee Smith of Medaryville, were arrested. Formal charges are pending.

From the EastWing, Sophia & The Pear Trees, Pit Bull History, Pit Bull Fame, Pit Bull Bentley, Word Nazis

Greeting to all and welcome new friends to the EastWing.

Remember just before Christmas, I told ya about the high hopes of producing pear trees in the EastWing. Well, I’ve encountered some issues which have thrown a major “Monkey Wrench” into the process of pear tree production. After months of providing a cold of winter season for the pear seeds, drying ‘em out an planting on the day after Christmas. I came home this past week to find a large amount of the soil from the newly planted pear seed pot on the EastWing floor. I could just tell from the looks of things that this was not the result of the pear seeds starting to sprout.

So I lined ‘em all up in the EastWing, that cold January afternoon. The time had come to find the culprit of such a dastardly deed. The Gray Lady James, Spike The Man Cat, Mr. Bentley and Sophia all stood in the lineup. Upon questioning, all had an airtight alibi, except Sophia.

Under intense integration, with the imminent threat of water boarding, being the tool that broke the case wide open. Sophia finally said “WHAT??? I had to go pee!  My potty was all the way to the other end of the house then down to the basement. I had to go pee, and right there was all that dirt”.

Sophia said “And besides, what  would ya rather have, a happy girl cat or a dumb ole pear tree?” Then she smiled. Sophia when she smiles. It melts your heart. It dawned on me, this was the first time Sophia was smiling since November 6th . I didn’t bring that up, didn’t want to lose the smile.

I just thanked God for giving me a happy Calico Girl, swept up the dirt from the oak floor, put it back into Sophia’s new EastWing potty and decided, yes, I’d rather have a happy girl cat than a dumb ole pear tree. But ya just gotta love Sophia when she smiles. Ya heard the old saying “ a smile  goes a long ways” it does with Sophia. Damn Republican Cat.

I’m still getting inquiries into the availability of the services of Pit Bull Inc. Still the same status. Pit Bull Inc. is not for hire. I’ve even suggested to several people to establish their own Pit Bull Corp. Even told ‘em how to go about it. I hope some do. It’s worth the effort to do so.

American Staffordshire Terrier,  that’s Mr. Bentleys official breed. Want to learn something new? Do a little research on “Pit Bull”. You’ll be surprised. For all the fear many have of the term Pit Bull, do the research, you’ll be surprised.

It’s an old, old blood line which has been selectively bread  for  illegal dog fighting. Bad people, not bad dogs. Again for those who tremble at the word Pit Bull, keep in mind one of the stars of the Little Rascals was a Pit Bull. Didn’t know that? Yep, I’m telling ya, Petey  was a Pit Bull. ” Now Petey, from the Little Rascals, may be the most famous, but there are many lesser know Pit Bulls that have gained historical attention.

Helen Keller‘s dog, Sir Thomas,  Buster Brown‘s dog, Tige, Horatio Jackson’s dog, Bud, President Theodore Roosevelt‘s Pit Bull terrier, Pit Bulls all.

To this day Pit Bulls continue to be heroes,  Popsicle, a five-month-old puppy originally found nearly dead stuffed in a freezer, grew to become one of the nation’s most important police dogs. Norton, who was placed in the Purina Animal Hall of Fame after he rescued his owner from a severe reaction to a spider bite. Titan, who rescued his owner’s wife, who would have died from an aneurysm, and D-Boy, who took three bullets to save his family from an intruder with a gun.

Another thing I bet ya didn’t know about Pit Bulls, that English Bull Dog ya think is so ugly, it’s cute, it’s a Pit Bull too. So with that Mr. Bentley said  to Sophia, “From now on please don’t call me a Pit Bull, you can call me  an American Staffordshire Terrier”.   Sophia looked the big dog straight in the eye and said “Ok,  Mr. Pit Bull  Bentley”. The Man Cat damn near fell off the table laughing  as Sophia gave Mr. Bentley that one and only,  “Sophia when she smiles”.

Reading the EastWing email is almost as much fun as telling the stories. It never ceases to amaze me that, for some people, what I’ve said and what they’ve read many times seem to have  come from different parts of the universe. While taking into consideration the fact that not every word or phrase can be translated into different languages and always have an identical meaning. That being put aside. Many times it’s still a different world, between the said and the read, the said and the read, that is.

Sometimes I think  it’s folks that want to jerk me around. Like a while back I said something about a pear seed being able to think, and expected someone to challenge that a pear seed could think. It was within that context I said yes pear trees can think, “maybe not like you, which is a good thing.” Well, it was that “which is a good thing” that heated up the glow plug for a lady accusing me of being condescending in my argument.

What was so strange with that email was the lady didn’t seem to realize that I was both sides of the argument. I don’t think ya can be condescending to yourself, but maybe I can.  WHOH! a new skill. I’m sure I’ll exploit that in the future. Condescending  on both sides of the rope. SWEET !!!

From time to time somebody in the email will feel duty-bound to admonish  me for my  lack of writing skills, to which I agree.  Then they took it to another level and said  it  should be illegal for me to even touch a keyboard and have access to the internet,  to which I disagreed. While adding salt to my wounds and rubbing in, they accused me, me of all people, of using poor grammar.

DUH! Poor grammar, Shewwwww. Such charges as  improper use of pronouns, and I’m not even gona tell ya what was said about them verbs and adverbs and all that other stuff like that. I’ll just let it be said that none of it was complementary to my writing skills. Why that feller even accused me of making up words as I went along. Words nobody knew, or cared to know what they meant. I guess sometimes ya just gotta say what ya wanta say, and hope for the best.

Knowing full well I was dealing with  “Word Nazis of the Fifth Order” who had gone off the deep end in their search for correctness in life, and all the while willing to sacrifice understandability for a textbook concept of words on paper. Or in my case, words on screens.  I felt sorry for the poor souls who would choose a pattern of the written word not fully understood by all, in order to maintain correctness in the written word. The fact is, I was trained under a concept that if they don’t understand what you write, by your choice of words to speak your thoughts, you’ve wasted their  time trying to tell ‘em your stories.

And so it was, after much thoughtful  consideration for their personal feelings, I emailed the following:  It appears to me life has gotten you folks  down. You both worry far too much about things you cannot change. You both probably fight windmills in your mind.  Yet maybe what you two really need in life is a kind pat on your backs. Consider this to be an EastWing  pat on your backs.  “There, Their, They’re.”

In the immortal words of Sheriff Buford T Justice,  from Smokey & The Bandits, “Sum Bitch”.

Stay safe in Afghanistan.

From the EastWing, Sophia & The Pear Trees, Pit Bull History, Pit Bull Fame, Pit Bull Bentley, Word Nazis,

I Wish You Well,

BobbyRay

NJSP Continues to Strive for AdvancED Accreditation

North Judson-San Pierre Superintendent Lynn Johnson

The North Judson-San Pierre School Corporation continues to work toward AdvancED accreditation, and Superintendent Lynn Johnson explained the school board recently heard an update on the progress.

Johnson explained that at every board meeting, she presents one of the five standards for AdvancED accreditation; this time, she presented the Teaching and Assessing standard. According to the AdvancED website, the Standards for Quality mark an evolution in continuous improvement and accreditation, and they also emphasize teaching and learning and address students’ ability to successfully develop learning, thinking, and life skills as critical elements of student achievement.

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Marshall County Sheriff’s Department Investigating Thefts

The Marshall County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a rash of thefts.

Officers were called out to several homes on Saturday after victims reported the theft of cash, jackets, GPS devices and other electronics from their vehicles. The incidents were reported in the 17,000 and 18,000 blocks of Lincoln Highway.

The suspects reportedly stole the items from unlocked vehicles. Police remind you to always keep your car doors locked when your vehicle is unattended.

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Plymouth Police Department Arrests Two on Drug Charges

The Plymouth Police Department made two drug arrests Tuesday afternoon.

Officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by 36-year-old Nigel Rowe of Plymouth at the intersection of 5th and Adam streets. Police found that he was driving on a suspended license with a prior conviction. He was arrested on preliminary charges of Driving While Suspended-Prior and Possession of Synthetic Marijuana.

Police then conducted an investigation at 810 N. 5th St. and found the homeowner, 36-year-old Cheryl R. Knapp, to be in possession of drugs. Knapp was taken to the Marshall County Jail and booked on a preliminary charge of Possession of Marijuana. She was jailed on a $1,500 bond.

Culver Continues Work On Comprehensive Plan

The town of Culver is slowly but surely making headway on their comprehensive plan project. Town Manager David Schoeff explained the board is taking their time because of the plan’s importance to the community, and they’ve been trying to spread the word to get Culver residents involved in the process.

Schoeff explained that the comprehensive plan is neither a town document nor a plan document; rather, he said, it’s a community document – a guidebook on where the community would like the town to ultimately end up, or what it will become.

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Pulaski County Police Arrest Two Following 100 MPH Chase

Two Medaryville residents were arrested after a pursuit incident with Pulaski County police on Monday.

Two police officers were out on patrol together in the same area and one deputy saw a vehicle traveling on 1400 West in Medaryville, ran the license plates and found the plate to be expired and didn’t match the make and model of the vehicle on the registration. Deputy Mat Anderson pulled over the vehicle and as he got out to driver’s side of the vehicle, he saw the tires turn sharply to the left and heard the engine rev. The vehicle then drove away from the traffic stop. By that time, Deputy Ryan Austin had pulled up and the suspect ran into his squad car.

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Pulaski Commissioners Approve New Vehicle For Sheriff’s Department

Pulaski County Sheriff Michael Gayer

The Pulaski County Commissioners this week approved a new purchase for the Sheriff’s Department: a new Dodge Charger squad car from Braun Chrysler. Sheriff Michael Gayer told the council that he will obtain several more quotes from local dealerships for both quarter- and half-ton trucks to add to his fleet.

Gayer said that so far, Goble has been the only local county dealership to provide a price on the new vehicle, and Steve Dobson at Jim Dobson Ford has yet to give him a response. On top of that, Gayer’s contact at Braun Chevrolet has been on vacation and Gayer has not been able to reach him.

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Pulaski County Officials Sworn In Yesterday

Larry Brady signed his Oath of Office yesterday in the Pulaski County Courthouse.

A number of elected Pulaski County officials were sworn into office yesterday in the commissioners meeting room in the Pulaski County Courthouse. Among those sworn in were two county commissioners: Terry Young was sworn in and will serve once again as county commissioner, and Larry Brady, who underwent his first swearing-in for his new position as county commissioner for District 2.

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No Word Yet on Cause of Bass Lake Sandbar Fire

The investigation continues into the fire at the Sandbar at Bass Lake.

Bass Lake Fire Chief Les Jensen said he has not yet heard back from the Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office about the investigation and word about the cause of the fire may not come for a while.

Five fire departments were called to the popular bar in Starke County early Sunday, Dec. 2 after a report came in about smoke and flames coming from the establishment at about 4:26 a.m. It took three hours to extinguish the fire.

Several Areas to Offer Free Income Tax Preparations

Free income tax preparations will be offered in several new areas this year.

The Northwest Indiana A$$et Building Campaign will begin sponsoring free income tax preparations at the Pulaski County Human Services building in Winamac this year. This location was added to help more families file their income taxes, avoid user fees and collect their maximum benefit.

They will continue this same effort at the Community Services of Starke County.

Volunteer Income Tax Assistants helped over 1,300 tax returns and approximately $1.2 million was returned to the communities they serve. If you would like to learn how to can volunteer to help low-wage earning individuals and families with free tax preparation, call Leona Liuzzo at (219) 794-1829 ext. 2432.

National Weather Service Issues a Hazardous Weather Outlook

The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for Northern Indiana, including Marshall County and surrounding counties. Beginning yesterday afternoon and continuing through today, a potent winter storm is expected to develop and move through the area.

A band of moderate to heavy snow is expected along with snowfall accumulations of two to five inches. Officials say the winds associated with this system will be a major concern as they anticipate sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. Winds will whip snow around, causing visibility concerns and difficult travel conditions.

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Schools Around The Area Refresh Students On Lockdown Procedures

Culver Community School Superintendent, Brad Schuldt

As the nation recovers from the unbelievable tragedy that rocked the town of Newtown, Conn., schools around our area have been taking extra precautions and conducting drills to ensure they know how to respond if the unthinkable were to occur.

At Culver Community Schools, students at the elementary school coincidentally conducted a lockdown drill the day before the Newtown tragedy occurred. After the tragedy, Superintendent Brad Schuldt said the middle school and high school conducted their lockdown drills, which is something the schools do annually.

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