Kyle Busch Wins in Wild G-W-C Finish

Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, and Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Wurth Ford, lead the field to turn one during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 23, 2014 in Fontana, California. Photo by Kevork Djansezian/NASCAR via Getty Images
Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Dollar General Toyota, and Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Wurth Ford, lead the field to turn one during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway on March 23, 2014 in Fontana, California. Photo by Kevork Djansezian/NASCAR via Getty Images

Kyle Busch was good on restarts and proved that in a Green-White-Checkered finish in the Auto Club 400 race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California on Sunday afternoon.

Busch displayed speed on restarts throughout the race but couldn’t make the charge to the front. That would change in the last three laps of the race. In the G-W-C situation, Busch started in the sixth position and had a chance to sneak by Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch who were challenging each other for the lead. Busch’s No. 18 brought Rookie Kyle Larson with him and they battled each other for the lead by the time the checkered flag flew. Larson nearly made it a weekend sweep at Auto Club Speedway.

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Hard Fought Victory for Kyle Larson

Kyle Larson
Kyle Larson

It took a multiple-lap battle between Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch to crown a winner in the TREATMYCLOT.com 300 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California Saturday afternoon.

Kyle Larson fought to keep the top spot as the laps kept ticking down and veteran racers Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch didn’t let him breeze to the finish. Larson skillfully focused on his lead and took the checkered flag after 15 hold-your-breath laps.

Larson had been running in the top ten all afternoon and had to fight through traffic through the entire race to get to Kyle Busch and Joey Logano who had fast cars on the day. Both Logano and Busch led the most laps in the race.

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Starke Council Approves New Position for Highway Department

Starke County Highway Superintendent Stephen "Rik" Ritzler
Starke County Highway Superintendent Stephen “Rik” Ritzler

The Starke County Highway Department this week cleared another hurdle as they seek to establish a new position in the county to hire a construction inspection supervisor. Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler had previously approached the commissioners seeking their approval to create the position and his request was approved unanimously.

Monday night, the council reviewed the amendment to the salary ordinance regarding the new position and approved a motion to amend the ordinance to allow for the hire of the inspection supervisor. Ritzler said this will allow the county to forgo hiring inspectors for projects, saving money in the long run.

The supervisor would have to be INDOT certified, but Ritzler said there are already a number of residents within the county who would qualify for the position. He said he estimates the savings would be around $140,000 over two years, and the supervisor could train other highway department employees as well.

On top of that, Ritzler said there is a possibility that INDOT may reimburse some of the expense in hiring a supervisor.

Common Household Products Can Be Deadly to Curious Kids

  
 

Most people know to keep items such as bleach and antifreeze out of the reach of little ones, but experts say there are other dangers lurking in the home that Hoosiers may not consider. Dierdre Davis with the Indiana Poison Center says over-the-counter medication is very dangerous for children, but their curiosity can put them at risk of a dangerous situation. She says putting medication up high may not keep a little one away.

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Starke County Highway Department Working Hard to Repair Roads

 
 

The Starke County Highway Department has been focusing a large part of its efforts this week on patching and other road repairs, with two patch boxes out working on the North Judson, English Lake, Knox and Hamlet areas. According to the highway department’s Facebook page, many areas throughout the county are in need of patching work and the department is progressively making its way to all of them.

Anyone with pothole concerns is encouraged to call the highway department at 574-772-3011.

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N.J.-S.P. School Board Honors Retiring Administrator

N.J.-S.P. Superintendent Lynn Johnson, Pam Croll and school board president Pat Goin
N.J.-S.P. Superintendent Lynn Johnson, Pam Croll and school board president Pat Goin

A longtime North Judson-San Pierre School Corporation employee is retiring from the corporation in a couple of days. Pam Croll is the assistant principal at the elementary school. Superintendent Lynn Johnson says she’s served in a number of positions during her 18 years with the corporation.

“She’s certainly made a difference. Classroom teacher, Response to Intervention, RTI coordinator, Title 1 and now assistant principal at the elementary school….Pam is leaving us at the end of next week. They want her to start April 1st, and we’re happy to accommodate that so she can begin her new position at Kankakee Valley,” said Superintendent Johnson.

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Fire Destroys C&C Salvage

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An investigator from the state fire marshal’s office will be called in to determine the origin and cause of a fire that destroyed a Starke County business. The Bass Lake Fire Department was initially called to C &C Salvage on U.S. 35 south of Toto Road at 5:17 p.m. Thursday night, according to dispatchers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Office. A black mushroom cloud of smoke could be seen for miles. Firefighters from the Knox, North Judson, Hamlet, Washington Township, Koontz Lake, San Pierre and Monterey were all called in to assist. Bass Lake Fire Chief Les Jensen says one firefighter suffered minor injuries. Continue reading

Frost Law in Effect Throughout Starke County

Signs like this one were posted throughout Starke County.
Signs like this one were posted throughout Starke County.

Travelers in Starke County may have noticed a few new signs posted on county roads advertising the “frost law” now in effect throughout the county. Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler said the frost law ordinance prevents big trucks from being on the roads and potentially causing more damage before the county has a chance to repair them.

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Kankakee River Flood Warning Extended Again

 
 

The National Weather Service has once again extended the flood warning for the Kankakee River at Davis Route 30. It is now set to expire Monday evening. Last night at 8 o’clock the river was holding steady at 10.8 feet. Flood stage there is 10 feet, and minor flooding is occurring. The river is expected to fall below the flood stage around 7 p.m. Sunday. At 11 feet, flooding of secondary roads near the river begins.

Former Plymouth Resident Receives Ten Year Prison Sentence

Tara Chizum
Tara Chizum
A ten year prison sentence was given to a former Plymouth woman after she pleaded guilty in a plea agreement with the state to a charge of Conspiracy to Manufacture Methamphetamine.

Tara Chizum, 36, admitted providing pseudoephedrine and cold packs to David Garman on Sept. 1, 2013 so he could manufacture methamphetamine in a motel room at the Super 8 Motel in Plymouth. Garmin was recently sentenced to 15 years in the Department of Corrections.

The sentence was left up to Marshall County Superior Court Judge Robert O. Bowen with the maximum sentence to be ten years, according to the plea agreement. After hearing testimony for an hour, Judge Bowen concluded that Chizum was in great need of drug treatment. He sentenced Chizum to ten years in the Indiana Department of Corrections. She can petition the court for purposeful incarceration after serving two full years.

Starke Council Receives Update on Hospital’s Capital Expenditures

Craig Felty
Craig Felty
The recently named president of IU Health Starke Hospital presented the county council this week with the hospital’s fourth quarter report for capital dollars spent at the hospital. Craig Felty told the council that the hospital suffered from the loss of the hospital’s oldest generator, and as a result, they had no choice but to put in a new one. He said other expenses included finishing the work on the hospital’s electric system, fireproofing for firewalls throughout the facility and the installation of fire stops.

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North Judson, Winamac Residents Urged to Keep Running Water

 
 
Though today is the last day residents in the city of Knox and town of Hamlet are asked to run their faucets to prevent frozen pipes, residents of North Judson are still encouraged to run their taps until April 1, according to Clerk-Treasurer Donna Henry. She told WKVI this week that Town Superintendent Marshall Horstmann has asked residents to continue running water until the first of April to prevent any further freezing problems.

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NJ-SP Board Studies Alternative School

Superintendent Lynn Johnson
Superintendent Lynn Johnson
North Judson-San Pierre school officials like the idea of the proposed Crossing alternative school but aren’t quite ready to commit to it. Superintendent Lynn Johnson says Knox and Oregon-Davis are also looking at the hybrid program for students who have fallen through the cracks.

“It’s really to focus on kids who have dropped out of school. The cost is really their enrollment, their ADM, Annual Daily Membership, we get for them re-enrolling at our school. They would be our students on paper, but they would go to The Crossing,” said Johnson.

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