A person of interest is being sought in an incident of home improvement fraud.
Marshall County Sheriff’s deputies say a local resident was contacted about having a driveway sealed. The person of interest would not provide any type of estimate for the work other than a price per gallon. The resident was led to believe that only a few gallons would be used, according to a news release.
The person of interest completed the work, but allegedly overcharged the resident.
Marshall County Emergency Management Agency Director Clyde Avery gave the commissioners a quarterly report Monday morning and offered information about an informative safety meeting scheduled for next week.
The school safety committee will be meeting to discuss concerns with the winter season on the way. Avery told WKVI News that he will review the protocol in place when significant winter weather is forecast. Avery will make sure that the school emergency plans are up to date with current contact information plus critical components such as communications, command and management, emergency notification, public information, and other needs.
Detectives with the Starke County Sheriff’s Department have identified the man killed in an apparent hit and run crash on U.S. 30 as Christopher Howard, 33. Continue reading
The Marshall County Commissioners have approved the first reading of an ordinance amending speed limits on two roads.
The speed limit on Lincolnway West will be reduced to 45 mph. It was suggested to the highway department that the area is congested and a lower speed limit would eliminate a potential traffic issue. The road did not have a posted speed limit so by law the limit was 55 mph.
The Marshall County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an accident that reportedly involved a school bus at the intersection of State Road 17 and State Road 8.
The call came into the 911 dispatch center at 4 p.m. ET. Officials told WKVI News that the initial report included minor injuries and emergency personnel were called to the scene.
This accident remains under investigation and we will have additional information as it becomes available.
The Marshall County Commissioners approved the action of signing a preliminary official statement for Umbaugh and Associates in an attempt to move the refinancing of the 2006 jail bonds through at a quicker pace.
County Attorney Jim Clevenger told the commissioners that the paperwork is behind schedule, but he anticipated rates will be ideal for the county to move forward. It’s the hope of the commissioners and the county council to reduce the payments on the bonds each year through 2026. The county also wants to have flexibility to keep the funds in reserve to either pay off the bonds sooner or apply those funds for additional capacity at the jail or operational costs due to sentencing changes and the potential impact.
The Marshall County Commissioners will receive an update from Umbaugh and Associates on the process of refinancing the 2006 jail bonds.
The commissioners and council members approved a decision to begin paperwork to reduce the payments on the bonds each year. The county also wants to have flexbility to keep the funds in reserve to either pay off the bonds sooner or apply those funds for additional capacity at the jail or operational costs due to sentencing changes and the potential impact.
The Marshall County Election Board invites voters to test voting machines in a test session this week.
Testing will be of the automatic tabulating equipment to be used in the General Election on Nov. 4. This will allow all voters to familiarize themselves with the voting process and to properly cast ballots.
The Marshall County Council members approved additional appropriation requests from Marshall County Coroner Bill Cleavenger in the amount of $26,500 to cover costs.
Cleavenger explained that this has been a rather active year for his department. He has had to oversee more autopsies than anticipated and more incidents in which to respond. Approximately $21,000 was needed for the autopsy line item, $4,000 for toxicology, $1,000 for radiology and $500 for morgue supplies.
The Marshall County Council will meet this morning with quite a few items on the agenda.
The council members will hear several additional appropriation requests. The coroner will request several thousand dollars for the autopsy, toxicology and radiology line items plus additional money for morgue supplies. The surveyor is requesting $25,000 for a vehicle purchase and there is a request to take money from the rainy day fund to go toward the Metronet project in the amount of $125,000.
The Tippecanoe Arts Federation is looking for visual art exhibits to hang in the Wells Community Cultural Center galleries in 2016. All artists, art groups, arts organization and schools from the Region IV counties are eligible to submit an application and electronic portfolio for panel review. Artists in Pulaski, White, Jasper, Benton, Carroll, Cass, Clinton, Fountain, Howard, , Montgomery, Newton, Tippecanoe, Tipton and Warren counties who are at least 18 are eligible to apply. Continue reading
The Marshall County Commissioners heard a presentation from Laura Mann from the county’s shelter for victims of domestic abuse.
Mann explained that the Heminger House has served the needs of Marshall County since 2008 and is in need of funding. Federal and state cuts have prompted officials of the women and children’s shelter to seek $65,000 in lost revenue to keep the doors open. She noted that it costs $3,000 per week to feed those in the shelter and to keep the utilities paid.
A Donaldson man will spend several years in prison after pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the state to a charge of possession of a handgun by a serious violent felon.
According to a press release from Prosecutor David Holmes, Charlie Carlisle, Sr. admitted in Marshall County Superior Court No. 1 on Wednesday that he was in possession of a stolen handgun and sold it to another person after he was previously convicted of burglary as a Class B felony.
Last year’s blizzards will cost highway and street departments a little bit more in road salt this year.
Marshall County Highway Administrator Laurie Baker informed the Marshall County Commissioners this week to prepare for a rather large payment for road salt.
Last year’s bid amount through the state for road salt was $48.84 a ton and it jumped to $73.32 a ton this year. Contracts limited road salt companies to how much they could charge for a ton of salt and they are hitting departments hard this year to make up for the shortfall.
After violating probation on several occasions, a Wabash man will be spending some time in prison.
Curt Bolin, 25, admitted in Marshall Superior Court No. 1 that he had violated probation several times, according to a press release from Marshall County Prosecutor David Holmes. He admitted to testing positive for methamphetamine, morphine, codeine and hydromorphone in a drug screen within six months of his release from prison. He also failed to report to his probation officer as ordered.
Officials with court services in Marshall County are moving forward to hold offenders accountable for actions while under home detention.
Ward Byers approached the county commissioners on Monday morning with a request to enter into a contract with the BI Corporation to expand alcohol monitoring.
“Currently, we can provide in-home alcohol monitoring through our 3M contract. This will allow us to have what’s called a SCRAM, or a trans-dermal ankle bracelet, which provides continuous alcohol monitoring of those more high risk alcohol offenders,” said Byers.
The contract will allow the use of a more sophisticated breath test.
“I can set up a schedule in the computer, it notifies the offender when it’s time to provide a sample. When it does that, it takes a photograph of the offender, registers the blood alcohol content and then sends up a GPS signal so we know where that offender is at that time. Should they fail to provide that sample or if they fail their breath sample, I immediately receive a text message so then I can address whatever matter is going on with that person.”
Byers noted that this contract just gives the court and court services more sentencing options.
The BI Corporation is headquartered out of Boulder, Colorado but an office is located in Anderson, Indiana.
As with the contract with the 3M corporation, there will be no costs to the county. When the equipment is activated and assigned to an offender, all user fees will be handed down to the offender. No costs will be incurred by the county. The offender will pay $12 a day.
The commissioners approved the contract pending attorney review.
The Marshall County Commissioners approved a contract for gas and diesel with one company – provided some language can be ironed out between the company and the county attorney.
Representatives from North-Central Co-op went before the commissioners Monday morning to discuss the agreement which allows for gasoline and diesel fuel at the highway department with a card reader system and tank monitoring. The company would install the hardware and software and equipment at the highway department at no up-front charge, but a four-and-a-half cent additional cost over the rack price will be assessed on fueling to pay for the cost of the equipment over a five-year period.
Indiana State Police numbers show that Marshall County has dropped in the amount of methamphetamine labs seized.
Marshall County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Nelson Chipman said there have been only eight labs seized in the county this year as of June. In years past, the county ranked in the top 10 in regards to seized meth labs.
