Cosmetic Improvements Planned for Pulaski County Courthouse

 
 

New Pulaski County Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Johnston is sprucing up the historic courthouse. He told commissioners he’s outsourcing repairs to the tile floor on the main level. They approved an expenditure of $1,240 for the work. In addition to fixing parts of the floor, the vendor will also polish the tile. Johnston and his staff plan to refinish the wood floors and banisters on the second story of the courthouse and replace the torn and tattered window shades in many of the offices. He assures commissioners all of the work will adhere to the necessary standards for historic buildings.

Johnston also told the commissioners he’s in the process of assessing all of the county’s buildings and prioritizing necessary repairs. Immediate needs include replacing exterior concrete at the annex building and repairing the roof at the county highway garage. Johnston says his staff will also focus their efforts on beautification of the building exteriors.

Knox BOW Approved Bid for 50/50 Sidewalk Program

Knox Board of Public Works
Knox Board of Public Works

The Knox Board of Works met in special session Friday in order to open and award a bid for the 50/50 sidewalk program.

Five businesses provided bids: Custom Concrete, Pete Kuchel Concrete, Do All Concrete, EAM Enterprise, and Covenant Concrete.

Mayor Rick Chambers read aloud the bids for the nine addresses of homeowners who submitted applications for the project. In the end, the Board of Works approved the bid of Covenant Concrete with a total bid of $13,940 as the lowest conforming bid pending a review of the bid packet by Street Superintendent Jeff Borg and City Attorney David Matsey.

State Police to Crack Down on Aggressive Drivers

 
 

Indiana State Police Troopers are part of a federal effort to curb aggressive driving. The Ticketing Aggressive Cars and Trucks Campaign aims to reduce the number of crashes involving commercial motor vehicles and passenger cars. State troopers will be part of the effort through Saturday, June 8. Troopers will be specifically looking for motorists who drive dangerously around semi trucks and other commercial motor vehicles. Some of the violations troopers will be concentrating on include unsafe lane changes, failure to yield the right of way, following too closely and aggressive driving. In many crashes involving commercial motor vehicles, the crash is caused by non-commercial drivers operating in an unsafe manner.

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Knox Community School Board Commends Envirothon Team

Back left to right: Benjamin Darda, Austin Heise, Colton Skidmore  Front: Marge Wood, Nikole Scheib, Julia Markovitz, Laurie Simmons.
Back left to right: Benjamin Darda, Austin Heise, Colton Skidmore Front: Marge Wood, Nikole Scheib, Julia Markovitz, Laurie Simmons.

The Knox Community School Board members recognized the Knox High School Envirothon team during the Spotlight on Success portion of their meeting Monday night.

The team had gone to the state competition on April 30 and placed 13th out of 17 teams. Coaches Laurie Simmons and Marge Wood told the board they were proud of the effort of the students and competed well at Washington High School.

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DNR Cautions Against “Rescuing” Wild Animals

 
 

DNR officials caution well-meaning citizens not to “rescue” seemingly helpless, abandoned baby wild animals they find while enjoying the outdoors. A wildlife information specialist with the DNR Division of Fish and Wildlife says many animals leave their young alone while searching for food and come back to them throughout the day. Michelle Cain adds that picking up animals can be harmful to both animals and people, and removing animals from their natural habitat is illegal. If you believe an animal is truly abandoned or injured, Cain says you should call a licensed wildlife rehabilitator or DNR Law Enforcement. They are reachable 24-hours a day at 812-837-9536. If a bird has fallen out of its nest, Cain says it’s OK to gently put it back. If you’re unsure if an animal is orphaned, check on it periodically. If you’re still unsure, place some strings or sticks across the nest. If they are disturbed, it’s a good sign that the mother returned.

Warrants Issued for Sanchez, Spencer

 
 

Warrants have been issued for two offenders who escaped electronic monitoring from Starke County Community Corrections.

On Sunday, Brenan Sanchez cut off his ankle bracelet and fled to the Mishawaka area. Community Corrections staff began to investigate his whereabouts and found that he was at a girlfriend’s house in Mishawaka.

As this investigation was going on, another offender, Dustin Spencer, cut off his ankle bracelet on Monday.

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LaPorte Teenager Arrested on Dealing Heroin Charge

 
 
An 18-year-old LaPorte man was arrested Thursday after an investigation by the LaPorte County Metro Operations Unit and officers from the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department.

Officers checked a vehicle that was parked in the Stone Lake Beach parking lot and an on-scene investigation resulted in the arrest of Christopher Miller of LaPorte. He was arrested on a preliminary charge of Dealing in a Schedule II Controlled Substance, heroin, as a Class A Felony. He was booked into the LaPorte County Jail and will appear in LaPorte County Circuit Court on Friday in an initial hearing.

Miller is being held on a $100,000 bond.

Two Starke County Offenders Charged with Escape

 
 
Two Starke County Community Corrections clients have been charged with Escape after reportedly cutting off their ankle bracelets.

Brenan Sanchez and Dustin Spencer allegedly tampered with their electronic monitoring devices earlier this week. They were then reportedly involved in a breaking and entering incident in the Mishawaka area and are currently being housed in the St. Joseph County Jail on a preliminary charge of Criminal Trespass.

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WKVI’s Ed Hasnerl Remembers Gov. Otis Bowen

Gov. Otis R. Bowen
Gov. Otis R. Bowen
Governor Otis Bowen will be laid to rest today in Marshall County. The physician turned governor and secretary of health and human services died Saturday in Donaldson at the age of 95. WKVI’s Ed Hasnerl and Bowen were old friends, dating back to May of 1960 when Hasnerl was first elected Starke County Republican Central Committee chairman.

“Doc Bowen had the practice of when he would see somebody doing something in the community he’d cut out the news article or the picture, put it in a nice little card, send his well-wishes. That’s the first that I really remember Doc Bowen,” Hasnerl said.

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One Marshall County Court to Be Closed Friday for a Period of Time

  
 
Marshall County Superior Court Judge Robert Bowen asked the commissioners this week for permission to close his court Friday for a short period of time.

Judge Bowen explained to the commissioners that he and his staff would like to go to the funeral of former Indiana Governor Otis Bowen in Bremen Friday morning at 11 a.m. ET and would need to close the court from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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City of Plymouth May Soon Update Comprehensive Plan

  
 
After roughly 10 years without an update, the city of Plymouth may soon be toting a new comprehensive plan – this after the Plymouth Plan Commission heard a final presentation by Jackie Turner of Ratio Architects, who has been working on the plan with local business leaders, citizens, and city officials to develop an update on the plan.

Comprehensive plans are used to guide the city for the future, pushing them in the right direction for development, targeting areas that may need redevelopment and helping the city to plan for growth socially and economically.

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State Education Officials Urges Schools To Try Referendums Again

Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz
Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz

Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz says school districts will have to continue to conduct referendums to seek tax increases until the Indiana Legislature changes the school funding formula. She made the comments during several stops in Lake and Porter Counties. Ritz told educators at the Hammond Area Career Center that “you have to spend money to get money.” She thinks that many voters in areas where school district referendums failed may not have been aware of the issue. The state school superintendent says she encourages the school districts whose referendums did not pass, to try again during the next election. Knox was one such school. Local voters rejected a property tax increase to pay for construction of a new $16 million elementary school wing. The Knox Community School Board has not indicated whether they plan to pursue the issue again during next year’s regular election cycle. In the meantime, Ritz says she will help the schools in any way she can. Ritz addressed members of the Professional Educators Partnership at Valparaiso University.

Pence Vetoes Pulaski County Tax Collection Bill

Indiana Governor Mike Pence
Indiana Governor Mike Pence
Pulaski County will not be able to retroactively collect local option income taxes. Governor Mike Pence has vetoed a bill that would have allowed the county to collect local option taxes after the legal authority to do had expired. Pence said in a statement, “If Hoosiers owe taxes, they should pay them. But when Hoosiers pay taxes that are not owed, they deserve relief, and this legislation does not meet that standard.”

He adds that retroactive approval of the taxes collected is not the proper remedy for Hoosiers. Pence says he looks forward to working with the General Assembly during the next session to resolve the matter. Meanwhile, he has directed the Office of Management and Budget to develop options for refunding or crediting the revenues in question.

Plymouth School Board Approves $500,000 for Summer Projects

 
 

The Plymouth School Board this week unanimously approved several summer maintenance projects with a total cost of $585,369.49, and Maintenance Director Dave Schoof said most of the expenses will be taken out of a refunding bond for the school. The projects include renovating Lincoln Junior High and Riverside Intermediate to allow the accommodation of the new Innovation Academy, and the refinancing of the bonds has made these renovations possible. The Media Centers at both schools will be converted into space to allow project-based learning.

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Pulaski County Commissioners Brace for Insurance Premium Spike

Pulaski County Commissioners Larry Brady, Vice President Terry Young, and President Tracey Shorter
Pulaski County Commissioners Larry Brady, Vice President Terry Young, and President Tracey Shorter
Health insurance premiums for Pulaski County employees are expected go go up about 20 percent when it’s time to renew. Insurance agent Dave Bennett stresses that’s a best guess and a lot of factors could play into the increase. He tells the commissioners he should have hard numbers for them in mid-June so they can make a decision in July. A lot of the uncertainty, and possible increase in cost, has to do with implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act. The county has offered health insurance through Cigna for several years. Commissioners asked Bennett to get rates from some other companies as well. One option the commissioners could consider if costs get too far out of hand is to no longer offer health insurance as a benefit to employees and pay $188,000 in penalties instead. Bennett stresses this isn’t really an option, as the 124 full-time employees who qualify for health insurance would expect pay raises to make up for the lost benefit.

Starke Commissioners Approve Grant Application for Community Corrections

Robert Hinojosa
Robert Hinojosa
The Starke County Commissioners this week approved the 2013-2014 grant application for Starke County Community Corrections following a presentation by Shawn Mattraw who explained that the grant application remains essentially unchanged, aside from operational improvements that Mattraw said he is hoping will improve the agency’s outcome and results.

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