Memorial Day Click It or Ticket Campaign Begins Tomorrow

 
 
Memorial Day is coming up, and the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department is stepping up efforts to enforce seat belt laws. Marshall County police are urging everyone to buckle up as they begin their 2013 Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement campaign on Friday.

This nationwide effort is supported by thousands of law enforcement agencies and traffic safety organizations across the country. More than 250 law enforcement agencies in Indiana alone will be conducting special patrols as they cite unrestrained motorists through June 2.

Continue reading

Senate Republicans Demand Obama Administration Cooperate with IRS Investigation

U.S. Sen. Dan Coats
U.S. Sen. Dan Coats
All Senate Republicans, including Indiana Senator Dan Coats, signed a letter to President Obama demanding full compliance from his administration with requests from Congress for information on the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups and violations of First Amendment Rights.

The letter, led by Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch of Utah and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, raised concerns about conflicting responses from the IRS and emphasized the need for the administration to work with Congress on investigating the agency.

Continue reading

Receiver Seeks Buyer for Whitley Products

 

Whitley Products
Whitley Products

Marshall County’s new economic development director is cautiously optimistic a deal can be finalized to keep a local factory in business. Jay Bahr tells “The South Bend Tribune” the receiver in charge of Whitley Products is trying to find another buyer for the financially strapped business. A deal fell apart Friday because the two sides were too far apart on price, forcing the embattled Plymouth plant to close its doors. About 40 people are without jobs as a result. Whitley Products makes fabricated tubular products for agriculture and off-road heavy equipment. The company’s fate has been uncertain for the past several months. It first closed in January, citing financial problems, but reopened a week later. Whitley Products officials then sent a WARN notice to the state advising it “would likely permanently cease all its operations” in Warsaw and Plymouth and all employees would be terminated between April 22 and May 6.

 

###

Winamac Officer to Appear in Court on Theft Charge

 
 

A Winamac police officer who allegedly admitted to taking money from an evidence storage locker at the Winamac Police Department will have an initial hearing in Pulaski Circuit Court Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET.

Daymond Hartley, a Winamac officer on the night shift, allegedly admitted to Winamac Police Chief Michael Buchanan that he took $6,352 from the storage locker while working a shift during the last week of March. The money had been collected as evidence regarding a fatal accident involving Jamie Sheets of Winamac.

Continue reading

Knox City Council Approves Another $20,000 Toward Sewer Project

Knox City Council
Knox City Council

The Knox City Council last night approved a motion to add up to $20,000 to the lift station project from the city’s Sewer Improvement Fund after Mayor Rick Chambers explained that the bids for the project came in just over the estimated cost. Territorial Engineering had estimated that the project would cost around $188,000, and the lowest bid came in at $170,405; unfortunately, with engineering and contingency costs, Chambers said the council would need to appropriate another $20,000 toward the project.

Continue reading

Pulaski Council Tables Road Paving Request

  
 
The Pulaski County Council at their meeting Monday night tabled a request from Mark Fox to pave a gravel road, County Road 950 South, because residents had been complaining of gravel dust because of frequent truck traffic. Fox said he would like to use some CEDIT money to fund the project, since the first quarter-mile of the road had been paved 3–4 years ago using the funds and now the residents on the road would like to see the rest of it paved as well, approximately three-quarters of a mile.

Auditor Shelia Garling said the funds are available in CEDIT, which currently has a balance of nearly $1.7 million, but she would have to make an additional appropriation.

Continue reading

INDOT Announces Marshall County Road Closure

 
 
The Indiana Department of Transportation plans to close a small section of State Road 10 in Argos tomorrow so crews can work on a culvert, weather permitting. The highway will be closed for 200 feet just west of Muckshaw Road. INDOT’s marked detour will take westbound traffic south on U.S. 31, west on State Road 110, north on State Road 117 and back to State Road 10. Eastbound traffic will take State Road 117 south to State Road 110 and then north on U.S. 31 back to State Road 10. Motorists can also take local roads to get around the closure; however, INDOT can only direct motorists to use highways.

State Suspends Stockbroker Licenses For Delinquent Child Support Payments

 
 
Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson has suspended the licenses of two northwest Indiana stockbrokers for delinquent child support payments in Lake and Porter Counties. Kenneth McCabe and Jeffrey Everaert are no longer licensed in Indiana to sell securities. They are the first securities professionals to have their licenses suspended for delinquent child support since the law enacting the procedure took effect in 2012. Lawson says in a statement she hopes the loss of their livelihood will give them the motivation to start making child support payments.

Flags to Be Flown at Half-Staff Today

Indiana Governor Mike Pence
Indiana Governor Mike Pence
Today is Peace Officers Memorial Day, honoring federal, state and local officers who have been killed or disabled in the line of duty. To recognize the holiday, Governor Mike Pence has directed that flags at state facilities be flown at half-staff today to honor those who sacrificed the most for out nation.

President Obama signed a proclamation ordering flags nationwide to be flown at half-staff today. The flags should remain at half-staff until sunrise tomorrow.

Pence has also asked businesses and residents to lower their flags to half-staff, in addition to state facilities, to honor the brave men and women in law enforcement across the state and the United States.

Eastern Pulaski School Board Commends Elementary School

Dr. Robert Klitzman
Dr. Robert Klitzman
It was announced Monday that the Winamac Elementary School achieved status as a 4-Star School in Indiana.

To qualify, the students had to score in the upper percentile in the ISTEP+ exam. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman told the school board Monday night that this is the second year in a row that the school has earned this distinction.

“Being a 4-Star School is the highest distinction that the Department of Education bestows on a school,” explained Klitzman. “It’s an earned one based on our data performance. We’re very pleased. We feel excellent about our approach in our reading programs and how we emphasize Instruction Day and focus things. We’re very proud of our teachers every day.”

Knox City-Wide Yard Sale This Saturday

 
 
The Knox city-wide yard sale is set for this Saturday, May 18 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

There is still time to get your sale location on a map that will be distributed at 7 a.m. Saturday morning at the Knox Moose Lodge. Call Danna at (574) 772-5712 to include your sale location on the map. If you live out of the city limits and would like to participate in the sale, you may call Danna and reserve a spot in the Knox Moose parking lot.

The Knox Moose Family Center is sponsoring the event and will be serving breakfast, lunch and drinks throughout the day.

Yard sale signs may be purchased at Knox City Hall for 50 cents.

Marshall County Historical Dinner to Feature Miss Plymouth Exhibit

 
 

The Marshall County Historical Society is taking a trip down memory lane as they revisit the era of the Miss Plymouth pageant, which ran from 1958 to 1987. The 42nd annual Marshall County Historical Society Dinner will feature several of the former Miss Plymouths who will make a personal appearance and reunite for the first time in years, including Tommye Lou (Glaze) Beavers, the 1958 and 1960 Miss Plymouth, Miss Indiana, and 4th runner-up in the Miss America Pageant.

Mindy Langdon, community relations representative for the Historical Society, said Glaze will make a presentation and reminisce about her experience as the first Miss Plymouth and her other accomplishments in pageants as well.

Continue reading

SCILL Center Car Show/Pit Stop Competition This Weekend

SCILL Center
 

The SCILL Center’s 11th annual Car Show/Pit Stop competition is coming up this weekend. On May 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., several five-member teams will compete and race two runs using combined times to determine who won as they compete for two scholarships: first place will receive $250 scholarships and a trophy, while second place will receive $100 scholarships.

The competition comes at a cost of $15 for registration, which runs from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., and includes a dash plaque. The event features music from the ’50s through the ’70s, food and soft drinks, door prizes, and a 50/50 drawing.

For more information, call Tabitha Dillner at the SCILL Center, (574) 772-8001.

DCS to Host Regional Job Fair in South Bend

  
 
The Indiana Department of Child Services is looking for qualified social work professionals in the north/central Indiana area, and to that end, they are hosting an employment open house in St. Joseph County on May 22 – their fourth such open house hosted in the state. The organization is looking to hire 120 new case managers and 75 case management supervisors to help cut down on the increasing caseloads of child abuse and neglect statewide.

DCS Chief of Staff John Ryan said in a press statement that the organization has increased their case management staff by hundreds over the past eight years, and now they need to add even more qualified professionals to their team. Though the organization currently employs roughly 1700 case management staff, they need to expand to deal with the ever-growing number of cases across the state.

Continue reading

91 Indiana Counties Send Property Tax Bills on Time

 
 

All Hoosier counties, save one, achieved on-time property tax billing this year.

The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance announced that this was the first time since 2001 that 91 counties have achieved on-time billing. On-time billing allows many of Indiana’s 2,500 local governments to no longer borrow money to keep operations afloat, waiting on unpredictable tax billing and collections.

Property tax bills were mailed April 15, 2013. Property tax statements were due to each county treasurer on May 10 to avoid late fees and penalties. Taxpayers in LaPorte County will receive their tax bills later.

A statewide general reassessment began July 1, 2010 for the 2012-pay-in-2013 property taxes which caused a delay in the distribution of property taxes since 2001.

Maryal A. Carli

A Funeral Mass for Maryal A. Carli, 71, of Knox,  will be Friday, May 17 at 11 a.m. CDT at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church.
Visitation will be Friday from 9 a.m. until leaving for church at M.C. Smith Funeral Home.

Judge Rejects Plea Agreement in Case of Connie Miller

 
 

The recommended plea agreement in the case of Connie Miller was rejected by Special Judge Jerome Frese in St. Joseph County Court Monday morning.

The recommendation was that Miller plead guilty to three counts of Theft which would be served concurrently. Those sentences would then be suspended to be served on probation with one year of home detention through Starke County Community Corrections. The restitution amount would be $52,044 as a settlement between Miller and the Attorney General’s Office.

Continue reading

Plymouth Farmer Dies in Field Accident

 
 

A Plymouth farmer died Monday when his clothing got caught in a shaft connecting an engine and a pump on an irrigation device in one of his fields west of LaPaz. Rick Pertics, 61, of Plymouth told his wife he would be tending to his irrigation equipment overnight, according to Marshall County Deputy Coroner Les Trump. Family members went to the farm Monday when they couldn’t reach Pertics by telephone and found his body next to the irrigation equipment. Trump says the time of death is uncertain but confirms that Pertis died of severe internal injuries. Final autopsy results will be ready in about six weeks.

 

Pulaski Council, Commissioners Discuss Personnel Policy

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
The Pulaski County Council and commissioners met in a joint session last night to discuss the personnel policy, particularly holiday pay and paid time off for sheriff’s department and EMS employees. Paula Reimers of Wagner, Irwin & Sheely appeared before the two boards in an effort to get the mess sorted out, and a lengthy discussion followed.

Because the county has 119 employees to worry about, the county council and commissioners would be hard-pressed to find a policy that would suit everyone’s needs, and the council sought changes to the policy to ensure fairness between departments. Reimers expressed to the boards that some important questions that needed answered regarding the policy included whether or not 12-hour shift employees would receive 12 or eight hours’ pay for holidays, whether those working on holidays would receive time and a half, and whether or not to allow employees to “bank” their holiday time.

Continue reading