Superintendent Lynn Johnson explained that the board recognized custodian Linda Harrison for stepping up to the plate when her supervisor took some time off.
Senate Approves Arnold Measure to Increase Protections for Law Enforcement Officers
Dr. Wipperman Named Medical Director of IU Health Occupational Services
In January, IU Health Occupational Services acquired Wipperman Occupational Health, an independent occupational health clinic providing occupational health and employee wellness programs to a variety of employers in South Bend and other areas. Board-certified in occupational and environmental medicine, Wipperman boasts 30 years of experience in the healthcare field with more than two dozen of those years in occupational medicine.
Search Continues in Hamlet for Violent Teenagers in Black Mustang
Pulaski County Commissioners Name New Highway Superintendent
A veteran Pulaski County Highway Department employee is the new county highway superintendent. Commissioners voted unanimously during last night’s regularly-scheduled meeting to hire Mark Fox. He’s worked the past nine years under Kenny Becker, who was fired by the commissioners last month after his controversial paid suspension in January and subsequent reinstatement as county highway manager under the supervision of commissioner and interim highway superintendent Larry Brady. Fox was one of four applicants interviewed by the commissioners. Before voting to hire him, commissioners also voted to change the work week for county highway employees to Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Brady voted against Commissioner Terry Young’s motion, leaving president Tracey Shorter to cast the tiebreaking vote.
Starke Commissioners Approve $4024 Expense to Solve Communications Issues
IT Director Joe Short told the commissioners that since the storms in June and July 2012 damaged the sheriff’s department’s radio tower, causing it to be shorter and consequently shortening the range of the signal along with FCC-mandated narrowbanding efforts compounding those issues, he has reprogrammed and relocated the Koontz Lake antenna to a location in Hamlet. On top of that, Short said he replaced the transmit radio in Hamlet with a base radio, which solved the communications problem in that area.
Marshall County Commissioners Meet Opposition in WECS Public Hearing
Several dozen people packed the Marshall County Commissioners’ room to hear what would be discussed during the public hearing concerning the amendments proposed for the Wind Energy Conversion System ordinance.
Plan Director Ralph Booker went over the amendments approved by the Marshall County Plan Commission which include the placement of wind turbines throughout the county. A distance of 2,640 feet was approved from any parcels zoned L-1 and T-1, which are lakes and town residential areas and a wind turbine can be placed 2,640 feet from a house of a non-participating landowner, park, bank of a river, church building, school, wetlands or airstrips.
Melody Drive-In Theater Opens This Weekend
“Set your dates for this Friday, we are going to be open this Friday, and we’re going to be displaying our brand-new, all-new digital format – beautiful picture, so we’re all really looking forward to it,” Heise said.
Hoosiers Encouraged to Get Ready for Spring Floods
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
