The National Weather Service, Indiana State Police, Indiana Department of Transportation, and Indiana Department of Homeland Security are encouraging Hoosiers to get ready for potential flooding during Flood Safety Awareness Week, March 18-22.
Eastern Pulaski School Board Accepts Klitzman’s Retirement Request
A sharply divided Eastern Pulaski School Board accepted veteran superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman’s retirement request during a crowded special-called meeting last evening. Last week Klitzman announced his intention to retire after 26 years with the corporation, citing the “shaky” 4-3 vote to extend his contract an extra year. School board newcomer Deke DeMarco cast the tiebreaking vote in favor of the contract extension after a lengthy and apparently contentious executive session last week. He also cast the swing vote in favor of accepting Klitzman’s retirement request. Fellow newcomers Rhonda Heims and Terri Johnston and longtime Klitzman critic Joe Cunningham also voted to accept. Veteran board members and Klitzman supporters Larry Beach, John Kwiatkowski and Mike Tetzloff cast their votes in opposition of accepting Klitzman’s retirement and criticized the new board members for their knee-jerk reactions. Several teachers and community members spoke in support of Klitzman. They noted that the school system is among the best in the area both academically and financially and questioned what the board members hoped to gain by going in a new direction. Klitzman will remain on the job until his contract runs out at the end of June.
Police Searching for Suspects in Battery of 12-year-old
Hamlet Police are searching for three teenage boys they say jumped a 12-year-old boy who was riding his bicycle in the 500 Block of Pearl Street around 7 p.m. last night. The youngster was not seriously injured, according to chief deputy Kyle Hinds with the Hamlet Police Department. His attackers were boys between the ages of 15 and 18, two white and one Hispanic with long, black hair. They were driving an older model black Ford Mustang with a 4th grade Oregon-Davis baseball sticker in the back window. The vehicle fled the scene before police officers arrived. Anyone with information about the attack is asked to call the Hamlet Police Department at 574-867-2623. If anyone sees the black Mustang they are asked to call 911.
NWCAA Continues to Offer Heating Assistance for Low-Income Households
Bill Passes Senate to Help LaPorte Homeowners
House Bill 1261 would allow eligible LaPorte County homeowners to receive deductions in delayed property taxes for all assessment dates rather than a current assessment date.
All Counties Report Higher Unemployment Rate
Wedding Reception Guests Face Possible Child Neglect Charges
A couple police say left three children under the age of five alone in a LaPorte hotel room Saturday night to attend a wedding reception faces child neglect charges. Police there responded to the Best Western early Sunday morning and found that three children, ages 2, 3 and five, had been left in a third floor room alone. A hotel guest told officers she heard a child crying for more than half an hour and screaming for its mother. She alerted hotel staff when it seemed nobody was in the room to comfort the child. The hotel manager was watching the crying child when police arrived, according to the incident report. Police officers found the parents at a wedding event downstairs. They told the officers the children were all asleep when they left and said they had only planned to be gone a short time to visit with friends. The investigation has been turned over to child protective services.
Starke Commissioners to Receive Antenna Update This Evening
EMA Director Ted Bombagetti explained to them the process to declare a local communication emergency, which would give the county the authority to do what needs to be done to restore full radio communications while getting the FCC licensing caught up at a later time. County Attorney Martin Lucas reviewed the information and gave it his approval.
Winamac Students Working on Space Project
Gordon said the program is funded out of Washington D.C. and that the middle school students have partnered with students from Crown Point in this program. All of the students are working together, with the two schools competing against each other, to come up with experiments that could be chosen to go up on the International Space Station.
“This is open to fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade students and a few other students that we have in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program,” explained Gordon. “So, we’ve come up with everything from biological to physical experiments.”
Cupcake Contest Scheduled at Knox Library
A representative from the Henry F. Schricker Public Library in Knox called Anita Goodan and asked her to be a judge for a cupcake contest at the library on Thursday, April 18. She, of course, accepted without hesitation and will join other judges from several Starke County restaurants and members of the library board.
New Cold Medicine Deters the Manufacture of Meth
The mayor of Warsaw told our reporting partners at WNDU that the development of the new cold medicine is an alternative to Sudafed. According to Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer, Nexafed, which is available at local drug stores, has “Impede” technology which is a combination of inactive ingredients that impedes the process of manufacturing methamphetamine. When methamphetamine cooks use this drug during the process of making methamphetamine, it forms a thick gel which blocks the extraction of pseudoephedrine so it can’t be converted to meth.
While this drug doesn’t provide an immediate solution to the meth problem, it does offer hope. It could, in theory, reduce domestic production of methamphetamine.
Winamac Council Approves Monument Placement at Pocket Park
Search Continues for MCEDC Director
Board member Roger Umbaugh gave an update on the search to the Marshall County Council members. The board has waded through the many applications and have decided upon eight candidates who will be interviewed over the phone. Many of the candidates live outside Marshall County, even out of the state. Umbaugh pointed out that all candidates have local roots. He hopes a new director will be active by the end of March.
Jennifer Laurent was the last director and she left the Economic Development Corporation in December.
Umbaugh also reported that 320 new jobs were new to the county in 2012, including many factories and industry opportunities.
Local Equestrienne Receives Full-Ride Scholarship to Miles Community College
Eurrat said the college wants to have Saylor compete on their rodeo team, and now that the scholarship has been finalized, the family is very excited.
Easter Train Rides at HVRM on March 30
To kick off the year-long celebration, Easter train rides are being offered on Saturday, March 30. You will be able to ride in vintage cabooses, a passenger coach, or open-air sightseeing cars. The train ride is a round-trip five-mile excursion that will take you over the Kankakee River at English Lake and through some countryside before returning to North Judson. A stop will be made along the way where passengers can participate in an Easter Egg hunt and a visit with the Easter Bunny.
Indiana State Police Now Accepting Recruit Academy Applications
Applications must be received by email before April 1, 2013 – any applications received after March 31 will not be accepted.
House Republicans to Text Bill Updates
This decision is an extension of several transparency initiatives Bosma launched in previous years; in 2005, he began live streaming House floor proceedings, and in 2011, he made every House committee meeting available online. In January, he hosted the first ever “tweet seats,” making Indiana the only state to host such an event.
Freezing Rain Advisory In Effect Through Mid-Morning
A Freezing Rain Advisory is in effect through mid-morning for parts of the WKVI listening area. The National Weather Service warns that an area of freezing rain will move slowly northeast across northern Indiana and northeast Ohio this morning. The advisory remains in effect until 11 a.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Central for Starke, Marshall and Pulaski Counties as well as areas to the south and east. Temperatures are expected to rise above freezing by late morning and allow ice to melt. Light ice accumulations of less than a tenth of an inch are expected before the temperatures rise. This will be enough to make roads and sidewalks slick and potentially hazardous, so leave yourself some extra travel time and be extra careful on bridges and overpasses. They will be the first pavement surfaces to freeze.
MBHC Responds to Protest Group Allegations of Inadequate Staffing, Treatment
The Michiana Behavioral Health Center issued a press statement in response to the allegations from a group of protesters yesterday claiming that the center is putting children in danger through a variety of policy violations, dangerously low staffing, and inadequate supervision, along with a hostile work environment that the protest group alleges has caused more than 50 employees to quit their jobs or be fired.
Winamac Man Arrested After Traffic Stop
During the course of the traffic stop, a K9 unit was requested at the scene. K9 Arras indicated the presence of narcotics inside the vehicle. When the officer searched the vehicle a substance believed to be methamphetamine was found along with drug paraphernalia.
Dennis Bell of Winamac was arrested and booked into the Marshall County Jail on a preliminary charge of Possession of Methamphetamine. His bond was set at $3,000.
