Daylight Saving Time ends Sunday, Nov. 4 at 2 a.m. prevailing time. Hoosiers will need to set their clocks back one hour before going to bed Saturday night, or at 2 a.m. prevailing time Sunday morning.
We all change our clocks.
Daylight Saving Time officially begins on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
The court hearing scheduled for today in Jasper Circuit Court has been continued.
The Starke County Commissioners, the county’s legal counsel, plus Linda Belork and her legal counsel were ordered to appear today in Jasper Circuit Court at 3:00 p.m., but the hearing was continued. A rescheduled date has not been determined.
Judge John Potter has ordered the court hearing to hear the reasoning why the Starke County Commissioners closed the Starke County Treasurer’s Office thus nullifying his order reinstating Treasurer Linda Belork back into the office.
The trial for Christopher Stonebraker, a Winamac man accused of raping and battering his ex-wife, came to a close Friday in the Starke Circuit Court when the jury returned with a verdict of not guilty on both counts. Deliberation lasted roughly three hours and the verdict was returned at 7 p.m. The defense started their case Friday and called two witnesses to the stand before final arguments were heard.
This year’s General Election has created an influx of absentee voters in both Starke County and Pulaski County.
670 walk-in absentee ballots and 268 mail-in absentee ballots have been recorded in the Starke County Clerk’s Office which is high at this time in the early voting process.
The SCILL Center is staying busy, and this week they’re kicking off their Commercial Driver’s License classes. SCILL Center Director Jerry Gurrado said the six-week program will assist those who are interested in earning their CDL, with two weeks of in-classroom learning followed by two weeks of truck operation. The final two weeks, Gurrado explained, would consist of learning on the road.
Since the smoking ban took effect July 1, Starke County Health Nurse Frank Lynch has received no complaints of any businesses not complying with the law.
Lynch suggested that the information received by all businesses before the law took effect and the public meetings held to inform the businesses and public about the impending law change helped everyone come together to work to be compliant with the law. He has given out packs to all businesses that contained signage and information regarding the change and all seems to be working so far.
Lynch said that if you need to complain about a business that is not complying with the no smoking law, call his office at 772-9137.
The trial for Christopher Stonebraker, a Winamac man accused of raping and battering his ex-wife, came to a close Friday in the Starke Circuit Court when the jury returned with a verdict of not guilty on both counts. Deliberation lasted roughly three hours and the verdict was returned at 7 p.m. The defense started their case Friday and called two witnesses to the stand before final arguments were heard.
On Thursday, the state called nine witnesses to the stand, including two detectives, two forensic investigators from the Indiana State Police, the nurse who performed the rape exam on the victim, Pulaski County Sheriff Michael Gayer, North Judson Town Marshal Doug Vessely, and Starke County dispatcher Dawn Bau, as well as the victim and a close friend.
The trial began on Wednesday in the Starke Circuit Court after a six-hour jury selection process. Stonebraker faces charges of Rape as a Class B felony and D-felony charges of Domestic Battery following his arrest in November, when police allege he raped his ex-wife and pushed her head into a wall, causing her tooth to chip. The probable cause affidavit stated that he also scratched her back in the presence of two children.
Stonebraker was found not guilty of both charges.
An Argos woman was critically injured after being involved in a motorcycle accident in Marshall County Friday morning.
A witness to the accident, Deborah Harley of Walkerton, told Marshall County Police officers that she was traveling north on U.S. 31 while behind Lynne E. Brown of Argos, who was driving a motorcycle in the passing lane approaching 14 C Road. Harley said she saw a deer running from the west and started slowing down to avoid the deer. According to Harley, Brown did not slow and ran into the deer as it was crossing the highway.
Several changes have been made in this year’s deer hunting season. Conservation Officer Keith Wildeman said one of the changes is a bundling licensing package to give hunters more options.
“This deer license bundle allows a hunter to take one antlered deer and two antlerless, or does, at a discounted price in this one license. This is available to residents for $65 and non-residents for $295,” explained Wildeman.
Knox Mayor Rick Chambers explained a number of points to the city council this week, including an update from Park Superintendent George Byer on the status of winterization and fence repairs in Wythogan Park.
Byer explained that the winterization process will soon begin for the park, in which the park equipment will be prepared for the upcoming winter season to prevent any damage caused by the weather. Byer said they’ll also begin working on the repairs for the fence this weekend if weather permits, but if not, the repairs will have to wait until Monday morning. Byer said both fences will soon be repaired.
With the average price of gas in Indiana down 20 cents over the last week, GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan said this is due to a number of factors, including the switch to winter blend gasoline.
“A lot of it has to do with seasonal factors as well, drops in demand that allow the supply to build. That’s really the gist of it, you have falling demand, rising supply, and the switchover to cheaper winter gasoline. That’s essentially it in a nutshell,” said DeHaan.
Here is a look at some of the news that made the news in the Kankakee Valley this week.
After an emergency meeting Monday, the Starke County Commissioners closed the Starke County Treasurer’s Office as it was found that newly reinstated Starke County Treasurer Linda Belork does not hold bond for that office. The Commissioners halted all transactions through that office until further notice. As a result, the Starke County Commissioners and County Attorney Marty Lucas will come before Jasper Circuit Court Judge John Potter on Monday, October 29 at 3:00 p.m. to explain why they should not be held in indirect contempt of court after they approved a motion to close the Treasurer’s Office. Judge Potter had issued an order that Belork return to office immediately and in his order this week, he found that the Commissioners circumvented the order to restore Belork to her office. Meanwhile, Commission Vice-President Dan Bridegroom declared that the Treasurer’s Office is now open and tax payments can now be accepted in the office. Continue reading
The Starke County Commissioners are in a bit of hot water following their order to close the treasurer’s office in light of Judge John Potter’s order to reinstate Linda Belork as the county treasurer. The commissioners voted to close the office because Belork did not have a surety bond in place as required by state law, but a telephonic case management conference held earlier this week at the order of Judge Potter found that the commissioners had disobeyed his order.
The Indiana Supreme Court this week denied a petition to transfer jurisdiction in the case of Ernest Wireman, a man found guilty in March of murdering his wife and attempting to kill his stepson.
Wireman was found guilty but mentally ill after the June 2009 murder, but he had filed an appeal claiming that the state’s psychiatrist, Dr. Gregory Hale, should not have been allowed to render his opinion of Wireman’s mental state, alleging Hale lacked knowledge of Indiana’s standard for determining sanity. Further, he claimed the jury’s verdict of guilty but mentally ill was not supported by sufficient evidence.
Despite that, the Appeals Court ruled that Wireman’s mental illness did play a part in his decision to murder his wife and stepson, but the evidence substantiated that Wireman knew fully well that what he was doing was legally wrong. Consequently, the court upheld his 110-year sentence. He was convicted of Murder, Attempted Murder, and Arson.
The identities of the men involved in a three-vehicle accident yesterday morning in Marshall County have been released.
According to a news release from the Plymouth Police Department, the accident occurred around 7:22 a.m. on U.S. 30 at the intersection of Pioneer Drive, when an eastbound pickup truck driven by Ethan Barlass rear-ended a box truck. The box truck, driven by Thomas Curtis, had just begun to move in traffic and the impact caused the box truck to strike a semi trailer in front of it. The box truck then flipped on its side.
Barlass was airlifted to Memorial Hospital in South Bend while Curtis was transported by ambulance to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Plymouth. The semi driver was uninjured.
A Walkerton man was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly threatened a neighbor.
The victim told police that Kenneth Emmons argued with him about putting up deer stands in his woods behind the house. Emmons reportedly told him not to put up the stands and threatened him. Emmons allegedly called him a coward and told him to come to his house “to get his.” Emmons then reportedly picked up a .22 caliber rifle and shot two rounds toward the woods and threatened him again.
The Knox Board of Public works this week discussed the city’s towing regulations, which Mayor Rick Chambers noted have not been updated since 2008.
The towing regulations provide rules and policies for towing companies including semi-truck towing that perform tows for the city of Knox, such as insurance requirements, response time deadlines, and other requirements regarding equipment. Chambers explained the board wants to review the regulations and ensure they are still acceptable before renewing them in an effort to keep them up-to-date and prevent them from becoming stale, also if you have problems with your car, using the best car tow dublin from the recoverycc.ie is the best option.
With the end of the year approaching, Knox Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston told the city council this week that he will soon begin working on the year-end reports to ensure all fund balances are in the black, and a number of fund transfers will need to be performed to guarantee that is the case.
License branches will extend hours of operation on Monday, Nov. 5 and Tuesday, Nov. 6 to issue ID cards and driver’s licenses that may be used for identification on Election Day.
A state-issued photo ID is required in order to cast a ballot at the polls or to vote absentee. A birth certificate or passport can also be used to verify identification.
The SCILL Center students are set to rake leaves for residents who are elderly or physically handicapped. This community project will be on Saturday, November 3.
If you would like to be on the list, call Knox Mayor Rick Chambers at 772-4553 to submit your name. The students will rake up to 15 yards. Your residence will be taken care of on a first come, first served basis that day.
