Two focus group sessions are planned this week to gather information from residents, merchants, community leaders and others to be part of the city of Knox’s comprehensive plan.
Input from these sessions will help the city determine what types of improvements need to be made and strategies to make those improvements that have been deemed a priority.
The Starke County Health Department will conduct a flu shot clinic on Wednesday afternoon in their office on the first floor of the courthouse. Vaccines will be available free of charge for children with Medicaid, no insurance or insurance that doesn’t cover shots. Adult flu shots cost $20. Call the health department at 574-772-9137 for more information.
Pulaski County Recorder Christi Hoffa presented a request for a part time person in her office to help scan documents to include in the Doxpop system for title searches.
Hoffa said that extra help could speed up the process that is currently being done in the office.
“While we have a good amount of information available online, not all of our information is available for a title searcher to be able to do a 50 year search,” explained Hoffa. “What I would like to see is to be able to hire a part time person for the office strictly to work on this project and to speed it up – to get more information online, scanned and available to these people to purchase and to be able to do their title searches and their their full 50 year searches.”
The Marshall County Commissioners will hold a public hearing on a vacation of part of a road when they meet at 9:30 a.m. ET today.
A portion of roadway on 3B between Olive and Quince is being considered for vacation. A petition has been completed and sent to the landowners for approval by the plan commission. The plan commission drew up an ordinance pertaining to this property which will be up for the public hearing this morning.
LaPorte County police will be stepping up patrols this week for a traffic safety project called “Operation Stop Arm”.
Sheriff’s deputies have partnered with Michigan City officers and Indiana State Police Troopers to make drivers more aware of school bus loading and unloading during this National School Bus Safety Week.
Driver who disregard stopped buses with stop arms extended and flashing lights can be cited on a Class A infraction of arm signal device: duty to obey. That carries a fine of up to $10,000. A driver can be arrested for a Class B misdemeanor offense of reckless driving if the driver recklessly passes a school bus while loading or unloading students. That offense carries up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Crews working on the 300 East project in the Knox Industrial Park are moving onto another phase of the project.
According to the project manager, the west side of County Road 300 East is complete and now workers will begin construction on the east side of the road. They will be working at the intersection of Pacific Avenue and County Road 300 East today. That intersection will be closed today from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. CT to ensure maximum work with a minimum closure time. Emergency vehicles will be allowed access.
The Knox City Council members received information about the budget this week from Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston.
The city, along with all other taxing entities in Starke County, is part of a pilot program with the state this year. A meeting was held on Oct. 6 where a state analysis was reviewed. Houston said the county then provided the city with a non-binding recommendation. The city could face a huge cut in 2015.
Ancilla College is rewarding students who finish at the top of their class.
Beginning in 2015, Ancilla College will be offering free tuition scholarships to top graduates from Marshall, Fulton, Porter, Pulaski, Jasper, Starke, LaPorte, St. Joseph, Elkhart and Kosciusko Counties.
President Ken Zirkle said top students can get their college journey started with the Valedictorian-Salutatorian Scholarship. The college will offer as much as $13,500 each year to local graduates who graduated at the top of their high school class and commit to attend Ancilla College. Local salutatorians will be offered up to $10,000 in free tuition.
With the arrival of fall, leaves are starting to gather in yards and it’s time for the removal of those leaves.
Knox-Center Township Fire Chief Kenny Pfost asks you to be cautious if you plan to burn leaves on your property.
“First of all, try not to burn on a windy day,” said Pfost. “It seems like that’s when we have the most fires is when it’s really windy. Choose a calm day. Also, make sure you’re compliant with local ordinances. Have a water source and try not to burn outside of what you can handle. Don’t burn after dark.”
The staff at Pulaski County Human Services, Inc. is helping the community each and every day. The nonprofit organization provides assistance to those in low-income, disabled and elderly households. Continue reading
The annual Culver Fall Fest continues today with a full schedule of events. Enjoy the golf cart rodeo at 11 a.m. EDT. Pumpkin and face painting will take place on Main Street while a beer tent provided by Evil Czech Brewery will be open until 9 p.m. for festival goers to enjoy local craft beer. Continue reading
A longtime extension homemakers member who is active in several community activities is this year’s Starke County Extension Homemaker of the Year. Vicki Jernas is a 16 year member of the Town and Country Homemakers and volunteers for committees and projects when needed. Jernas has served as the club’s citizenship officer for many years. Her special project is ad sales for the 4-H Fair Yearbook. She also assisted with the establishment of the Mint Juleps club. Continue reading
A long-time resident of the Golden Living Center in Knox was joined by many of his friends at a “going-away” party yesterday.
The throaty voice that reverberates across the gathering area of the Golden Living Center each time I walk in the front door, won’t be greeting me there after Monday.
61-year-old Tim Crum, who, every day, stakes out the southwest corner of that room for his own, is moving to Branson, Missouri. Tim has made this care facility his home for the past 37 years. He’s moving closer family members.
A middle school principal will be laid to rest today.
Rodger Seats, 56, served as the assistant principal at the Rensselaer Central Middle School. As a long-time educator, he served in the capacity of athletic director, assistant principal and a teacher at many school corporations including West Central, North Judson-San Pierre, Kankakee Valley, Delta, and Union Schools. He also coached a variety of sports including football, baseball, cross country and wrestling.
The price of a gallon of unleaded gasoline has been dropping.
Don Good from the Good Oil Company in Winamac says the prices will continue to drop.
“For the foreseeable near future, the trend is to continue down,” said Good. “We’re probably going to bottom out not too far from here. There are a lot of places that are starting to get under three dollars. That’s kind of under cost for some of them, but they’re trying to beat that three dollar mark. For the long term, we should be under three dollars and unless there’s a world event that changes that we’ll probably stay in that range for a while.”
Three women were arrested at the Michigan City Superior Courthouse for their alleged role in trafficking and conspiracy to traffic with an inmate.
A burglary and robbery incident at a Plymouth business is being investigated by the Plymouth Police Department.
On Wednesday night, a report was made regarding a burglary and robbery that took place in the 1500 block of Hoham Drive in Plymouth. Hubert Dulworth, 40, told police that an unknown subject had broken into his business and then attacked him. He added that he was hit on the head and became unconscious. A large amount of cash was also reported stolen.
Dulworth was taken to the local hospital for treatment.
Marshall County detectives received a report of stolen horse saddles from a stable at a residence north of Bremen on Oct. 13.
The theft occurred during the day in the 800 block of Elm Road on Monday. Officers had a report of suspicious persons at the stable during the time of the theft that led officers to an address in Starke County.
A suspect was located and questioned regarding the theft. Shane Querry was arrested and was booked into the Marshall County Jail on the charge.
A portion of the stolen property was able to be recovered
A sentence modification was approved in the case of Douglas Beem.
He requested the judge to move from Community Transition Program (CTP) to probation and/or to home detention. The state objected to a move to probation but accepted a move to daily reporting home detention with Starke County Community Corrections. The request was granted by Judge Kim Hall.
The annual Culver Fall Fest promises a weekend full of healthy, family fun. Festivities get under way tonight with the straw pyramid at the park, a haunted house at the beach lodge and the moonlight paddle event. Continue reading
