A Starke County jury of six found Jerome Uskert guilty on a charge of Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated in a trial conducted on Thursday.
During a break after the verdict was read, Uskert pleaded guilty to another charge of Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated-Prior and those two charges were merged. He was arrested in February 2012 on the OVWI-prior charge and then arrested after failing to appear in October.
Ancilla College is offering a free financial aid workshop tomorrow afternoon.
This workshop will enable students, parents and adults file prepare to file for state and federal financial aid for college. The Free Application for Free Student Aid, or FAFSA, form will be dissected in detail in order to be sent before the March 10 deadline.
Marshall County Highway Superintendent Neal Haeck presented the commissioners with a request to purchase two trucks.
Instead of requesting sealed bids, Haeck told commissioners that a representative from the State Board of Accounts said he could request quotes and gather prices rather than go through the bidding process, with the stipulation that the three quotes needed include specs of what the highway department is requesting. He will then bring that information to the commissioners who will then approve a purchase.
An Oregon-Davis High School graduate who is widely known for her musical talent is hospitalized in Fort Wayne following a single-vehicle crash last night in Miami County. Lorrin Awald, 20, is in critical condition at Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne after the truck she was driving reportedly hit a patch of black ice on State Road 16 near Denver and rolled over. The crash occurred about 10 minutes after 10 last night, according to the Indiana State Police. Three other passengers were taken to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Plymouth. There’s no word on their conditions. Awald is a 2011 graduate of Oregon-Davis High School. She wrote a song in memory of her cousin, Knox High School drum major Drew Shearin, who was killed in a single-vehicle accident in October of 2011 east of Knox on State Road 8 when his car struck a telephone pole.
A Marshall County native police say wooed and stole from women from Oregon to Indiana claims he’s just unemployed. Raymond Holycross told a judge in South Bend he last worked three months ago. He faces theft charges in St. Joseph County after a woman he met online last summer reportedly discovered he had stolen and pawned her camera and called the police. That prompted her to do some checking into Holycross’s background. That’s when authorities say she learned he also uses the names Ray Paris and Ray Cross to meet women, earn their trust and charm them out of their money. Holycross is also wanted on a Howard County warrant for theft of a firearm.
A Marshall County woman has died of injuries sustained in a two-vehicle accident on Friday morning.
State police troopers and emergency personnel from Marshall County responded to U.S. 31 and 4A Road where they found one vehicle in the ditch west of U.S. 31 and another in the center median.
A LaPorte man was arrested Friday in an alleged stabbing incident.
Michael Bullington, 31 of LaPorte, is suspected of stabbing a man after an altercation. The victim told police that when he arrived home Thursday evening, Bullington was coming out of the home with a bag. Bullington ran from the scene and the victim chased after him. Bullington slipped on the sidewalk and a physical altercation took place in which Bullington allegedly stabbed the man. Stab wounds were inflicted to the man’s face and chest. He was later transported to IU Health LaPorte Hospital where he was treated and released.
A 21-year-old Kokomo man was sentenced in Pulaski Superior Court Friday afternoon.
Tyler Reed had pleaded guilty to two counts of Theft as a Class D Felony. Judge Patrick Blankenship sentenced Reed to 15 months on each count to be served consecutively. 12 months of that sentence was suspended and he will serve 90 days in the Pulaski County Jail. 12 months of his sentence will be served on probation.
Active shooter training will be taking place throughout the day at the Monterey Elementary School.
This training is to help coordinate emergency personnel in the case of a shooting at a school or business. Those responders participating in today’s event will be using a special radio for communications, but if you have a scanner and you hear of a mass casualty event, personnel are training for such an event and it’s not the real thing. You will see several emergency vehicles on the roads as well.
Knox Community School Corporation Technology Director Jim Landrum was recognized by the school board during their recent meeting.
Landrum attended the Indiana Association of School Business Officials (IASBO) where he presented the school’s one-to-one computer initiative.
Governor Mike Pence will be meeting with other fellow governors in Washington, D.C. as part of the National Governors Association (NGA) Winter Meeting this weekend.
Governor Pence will be attending business sessions, a meeting with the NGA Economic Development and Commerce Committee, and a governors-only meeting with President Obama. Pence will also spend an evening with the President and Mrs. Obama at the White House.
Knox High School is experiencing electrical issues. Students with permission from parents are being dismissed at 11:30 a.m. Students who do not have permission to leave will be at the middle school until school is dismissed for the day. Elementary and Middle School students will be dismissed at the end of the regular school day.
NIPSCO will be shutting off the electricity at the high school this afternoon in order to make necessary repairs.
Saturday night’s dance in the Knox High School Cafeteria has been cancelled and will be rescheduled.
If you’re trying to raise money to pay your bond, you may not want to break the law to do it. A Michigan City man learned that the hard way early just after midnight Thursday when LaPorte Police spotted his truck leaving New York Blower and pulled him over nearby. Officials say the truck bed was half full of metal scrap. The driver, 33-year-old Jonathan Granacki of Michigan City, reportedly told the police he was sorry and said he was trying to raise bond money. He offered to return the scrap and never come back to LaPorte again. Granacki was free on bond from a Feb. 16 arrest for theft. He faces a felony charge in connection with this incident.
An Idaville man apparently picked a bad place to take a nap this morning. Emergency responders in Pulaski County were dispatched to a report of an injury crash on State Road 114 west of U.S. 421 just before 6 a.m. and found 35-year-old Joshua Wayne Slavens sleeping in his car. They woke him up, and he drove off. Pulaski County Sheriff’s Deputy Mat Anderson was turning onto turning onto114 from 421 en route to the crash scene, met Slavens’ vehicle leaving, pulled him over and arrested him for operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a prior conviction.
An economical and quicker solution may come to fruition regarding the radio communication issues in Starke County’s Oregon Township.
The radio tower atop of the Starke County Sheriff’s Department suffered extreme damage in severe storms in June and July and has static communication with Oregon Township and in the San Pierre area. Oregon Township Trustee Mark Allen had approached the Starke County Council this week with an idea for a solution, but the members tabled the issue for further discussion. Council President Dave Pearman explains that decision.
“That original motion basically died – not because we didn’t want to move forward and support the community. The reason why is we wanted to expand this and see if we wanted to look in other areas,” said Pearman.
An active shooter training exercise is planned for tomorrow (Saturday) at Monterey Elementary School.
Beginning at approximately 8:30 a.m. ET, personnel from the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department, EMS, Pulaski County fire departments, Pulaski County Health Department, Indiana State Excise Police, State Police, Department of Natural Resources, and Department of Homeland Security will be participating in a scenario to coordinate efforts in the case of an active shooter situation at a school or business.
The Pulaski County Assessor’s office is staying put in the courthouse basement for now.
Their quarters are so cramped employees are forced to transact business in the hallway. Assessor Holly VanDerAa approached the commissioners and council last month about purchasing the building across from the courthouse most recently occupied by attorney Crystal Sanders. The commissioners told her to proceed, but the council wanted more information about whether the building is handicap accessible and otherwise up to code.
The Oregon-Davis School Board held a public work session Monday night before their regular meeting to discuss capital projects and the final budget order.
Downtown Medaryville may get some overdue infrastructure improvements once spring arrives.
The Knox Community School Board received an update on how the third through eighth grade students performed on the NWEA testing in January.
