“Number one, they’re going to actually do the facilitation of it,” said Jessup. “In other words, do this all over the country with namely rural communities, and so they’re very knowledgeable and capable of talking about small, rural communities and how they can help grow and how they can help develop the community.”
The world of auto racing is an ever changing one, even at the local level.
The Plymouth Speedway has undergone an extensive change in the off-season. Ed Kennedy, the owner of the track, made the decision to change the surface from asphalt to dirt. Director of Racing Matt Schwartz believes it’s going to be a positive change for the speedway.
“The asphalt track wasn’t that successful,” Schwartz stated. “We weren’t getting a lot of cars or a lot of fans. So, last year we experimented and tore out the infield and put in a one-fifth mile dirt track for racing and it was well received. We had a lot of people show up in the stands, we had a lot of cars in the pits and it was really exciting.”
An area mayor is set to speak to state lawmakers about the effects of methamphetamine manufacture and use on his community. Plymouth Mayor Mark Senter will speak in favor of annual limits on ephedrine and pseudoephedrine sales. They are the main ingredient in many cold and allergy medications as well as in the production of methamphetamine. A bill pending in the House would set an annual limit on how much pseudoephedrine an individual can purchase. The current individual purchase limit is 7.2 grams per month, or 86.4 grams per year. The proposal before the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee would cap annual purchases at 61 grams per year for a consumer. It has already passed the Senate. Senter is scheduled to testify before the committee tomorrow in Indianapolis. He’s seen firsthand the effects of methamphetamine. Senter is a retired state trooper who spent five of his 28 years on the force as a member of the ISP Clandestine Lab Team.
The Winamac H&R Block office is sponsoring this year’s second Annual Downtown Winamac Block Party, with donations going to support the Pulaski County Food Bank. Event Coordinator Amy Hoover said the event has drawn a lot of attention from local businesses, with a variety of activities offered in exchange for donations of money or canned items to benefit the food pantry.
“Everything that we collect is going to the food pantry – either the canned goods or the money,” said Hoover. “It was just something that I knew that they were in short supply, so we wanted to do what we could to give back to the community by giving to the food pantry.”
The Eastern Pulaski School Board voted 4-3 Monday morning to advertise the superintendent’s contract.
The board met prior to their regular meeting to discuss the contract at length and held only a brief discussion on the issue in the public meeting. The board, by majority vote, agreed to continue in the current contract with Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman.
Per state statute, the contract must be published. After the contract is published, a public meeting will be held where comments will be fielded and then a vote will be taken to ratify the contract.
The local National Day of Prayer event sponsored by the city of Knox will be on May 2 at the Nancy J. Dembowski Community Center in Knox.
One of the committee members, Dixie Lockridge, said Ed Hasnerl will be the guest speaker.
“The theme this year throughout the nation is Honoring Our Heroes. Who better to do that than our Historian Ed Hasnerl? There will be other clergy members who will be involved as well as our Master of Ceremonies who will be Charlie Hasnerl,” stated Lockridge.
Nothing came of the alleged threats that were made on a boys restroom wall at the Oregon-Davis schools.
School officials were notified of graffiti in the bathroom that reportedly appeared threatening in nature over the weekend after an event was held at the school. Superintendent Dr. Steve Disney said police officers were at the school throughout the day and officials will remain on alert at the school on Tuesday. The threat level will be a yellow which indicates a moderate threat and not an emergency situation as experienced Monday.
Officers from the Starke County Traffic Safety Partnership are pleased with the outcome of a Friday sobriety checkpoint. They stopped 40 vehicles in North Judson at the intersection of Talmer and Schricker Avenues as part of an Operation Pull Over Blitz.
A local school is on lockdown today after officials discovered some disturbing graffiti in a boys restroom over the weekend after a basketball game. Oregon-Davis Superintendent Dr. Steve Disney says school officials met yesterday with officials from the Starke County Sheriff’s Office and are taking the incident very seriously. He says officers from the sheriff’s department are at the school and all students are remaining inside the building.
Disney says the campus will remain on lockdown throughout the day. He stresses that school officials cannot take any threats lightly in this day and age. Disney adds that he wants parents to be aware of what’s going on and says he understands if they want to keep their children home today. The graffiti incident remains under investigation by the Starke County Sheriff’s Office. Stay tuned to WKVI throughout the day for more on this developing story.
The North Judson-San Pierre High School Academic Super Bowl Team placed third at the Lowell Invitational Academic Super Bowl Competition on Thursday, March 7. Answering questions about “The Glory That Was Greece,” the Bluejays placed second in Mathematics and Fine Arts and third in Interdisciplinary and Science. The total score for all NJ-SP teams earned them a third place finish behind Lowell and Munster. They will travel to River Forest High School tomorrow for the Conference Super Bowl Competition. NJ-SP will host the area competition on Tuesday, April 16. It will see 16 area schools competing for a chance to go to the state competition on May 4.
Due in part to this experience serving as treasurer and vice chairman of the district,the committee elected Samuel J. Frain of Winamac as chairman by an unanimous vote. Frain had first been elected chairman two years ago. For vice chair, the committee elected Dr. Deb Fleming of South Bend, who also serves as the chairwoman of the St. Joseph County GOP. Janet Corwin of Peru will serve as secretary, while Fulton County Chair Chad Hartzler of Akron will serve as treasurer.
A landowner workshop is scheduled for March 16 from 9 a.m. to noon to discuss prescribed fires.
Linda Byer, District 2 wildlife biologist at the Kankakee Fish and Wildlife Headquarters in North Judson, said the class will teach landowners how to do a prescribed burn on their property.
“That is a burn with a plan,” explained Byer. “It is for a specific location to do a specific job. Another term is controlled burn. It is a managed fire.”
The feedback will also aid in reviewing the corporation’s emergency plans.
Music affects everyone – even more so in students of performing arts. Knox Band Director Craige Phipps says most of his students are excited to come to school because they are involved in music classes. He believes keeping music in schools is extremely important.
A local high school will soon be looking for a new agriculture teacher and FFA coordinator. Jacob Riley is leaving Oregon-Davis at the end of the school year to take a job with Plymouth Schools. Riley has taught a number of agriculture classes at O-D for the past nine years including courses in the school’s new tech model for the past two years. He holds three degrees from Purdue University. Riley will begin his teaching duties at Plymouth in June with summer agricultural experience classes.
The event was first planned four years ago when choral directors from Rochester, Caston, and Winamac sought to introduce students to guest conductors with an afternoon of singing and educational fellowship. Caston Choral Director Michelle Byrn and Winamac Choral Director Patrick Schuttrow will be back again this year, welcoming Rochester’s new choral director, Autumn Dalton, who will accompany the performance.
House Bill 1261 would allow homeowners in LaPorte County to receive deductions in delayed property taxes for a current assessment date, authorizing the Department of Local Government Finance to delay payments for the March 1, 2011 or Jan. 15, 2013 assessment dates. A number of property tax policies would also apply to delayed property taxes, including payment via credit or debit card, sales tax exemptions for one year, and a two-percent discount for payments made within 30 days.
The goal of the program is to help a Starke County family afford one year of preschool education. The scholarship program will begin in the 2013-2014 school year and will be available for qualifying four-year-old children.
