The Eastern Pulaski School Corporation is currently investigating a fraudulent bomb threat made at the school on Wednesday, Oct. 10. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman explained that they had been alerted by a student that a threat had been written in one of the stalls in the high school girls’ restroom indicating that a bomb was in the school and would go off at a specific time.
Four people were arrested late last night after the Starke County Dispatch Center received a phone call of individuals manufacturing methamphetamine at a residence.
Knox City Police officers arrived at 406 E. John Street and took two people into custody on outstanding warrants. The pair were transported to the Starke County Jail and when police returned to the residence, an active methamphetamine lab was located inside the residence. Two more people were arrested after further investigation into the incident.
A Winamac man was arrested Thursday after allegedly threatening the lives of two people with a gun.
Pulaski County police were called to Kit Matthes’ residence after a 911 hang-up/open line phone call was made to the dispatch center. Police arrived at 2979 North County Road 800 West and found Matthes, who said two people were in the house with him. Officers noted that Matthes was acting like he was intoxicated on a controlled substance.
Samuel Bradley received his sentence in the Starke Circuit Court earlier this month on a charge of Attempted Criminal Deviate Conduct as a Class B felony.
Bradley was charged with Attempted Criminal Deviate Conduct after he blocked a cell to prevent the victim, Todd Dalton, from leaving the cell while Adam Makowski and Buddy Blankenship assaulted him. According to the Starke County Sheriff’s Department’s case report, video tapes revealed that Makowski, Blankenship, and Bradley were involved in an assault against Dalton. The tapes showed that the trio had forced Dalton into the F-Block, where they tried to pull down his pants and assaulted him. Dalton said the three were trying to rape him because he refused to fight back during a prior altercation.
Bradley was found guilty in September, and was sentenced this month to 14 years in the Department of Corrections with none of that sentence suspended. Bradley may petition the court to allow him to serve the last two years of the sentence on home detention if he is accepted, but the state can object to that request.
Several firefighters from the North Judson Volunteer Fire Department recently underwent a training session at the department on extrication, and Captain Brad Brewer explained that the training will assist them in safely removing people trapped in vehicles.
Brewer said the training session took approximately three and a half hours on Sunday, and firefighter Doug O’Donnell conducted the training. O’Donnell had taken the course several years ago in Chesterton, and Brewer said he is very knowledgeable about the subject and did a great job in instructing his fellow firefighters.
A Knox man was recently arrested after he allegedly stole items from vehicles parked at Community Services of Starke County.
Knox City Police officers were called to Community Services of Starke County after the suspect, Matthew Lemarr, was reportedly seen going through vehicles in the parking lot and items were coming up missing.
The SCILL Center is definitely staying busy with events planned throughout the end of the year. This week, the center is hosting a Food For Friends Car Care Clinic, which Director Jerry Gurrado said serves a double purpose: it raises money for the Starke County Food Pantry and gives drivers the chance to have their vehicle checked out for free!
“It’s actually a pretty unique and very neat situation, where you can come in here to the SCILL Center any time between 8 o’clock and 4 p.m., central time, we put a diagnostic on your vehicle, run a complete check-up, we’ll top off the fluids, we’ll give you a checklist of whatever the necessity might be. And then you get the option of taking it to wherever your own dealership or garage is,” explained Gurrado.
The Pulaski County Commissioners this week accepted a bid for office supplies for county offices. They were presented with a breakdown of each company’s prices for the products most needed by the county, and the commissioners added up the totals to determine which company would offer the county the best prices on their most-purchased items.
A motion was made to award the bid to DeGroot Technology Services in Winamac, whose products came in at a total of $351.73 – the lowest of the bids presented.
The Knox Redskin Brigade concluded their marching season this past Saturday, Oct. 13. They received a silver rating at their Regional competition held at Lafayette Jefferson High School. Although this was, according to Band Director Craige Phipps, their best performance of the year, they still were unable to go on to compete at the semi-state level.
Despite that, the students said they have no regrets. They feel that they gave it their all and there isn’t much more that could have been expected of them. No other area bands were at this competition.
Meanwhile, the Pride of Plymouth Marching Band did advance to the Semi-State level. The band will now perform at Pike High School on Saturday, Oct. 27, where the final 20 bands (10 from the north and 10 from the south) will meet up in one last event leading into the state finals.
Operation Stand Down, a free dental screening opportunity for qualifying area veterans, will be held at the IU Health La Porte Dental Center on Nov. 10 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. CT. This is a chance for local veterans with no dental insurance or no dentist to get a free dental screening.
The screening will include an oral exam and x-ray. No further procedures will be performed on site. However, if a follow-up procedure is necessary, veterans will be referred to a La Porte County dentist. There will still be no charge for the follow-up.
At the request of the Coalition Against Domestic Abuse, the Starke County Commissioners have declared the month of October to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month and signed a proclamation at their meeting this week making it so. Citizens all across America are coming together this month to raise awareness of domestic violence and to help prevent it.
Starke County Sheriff Oscar Cowen is reviewing video tape of an incident that occurred at the Starke County Jail Sunday night.
According to Cowen, a piece of concrete fell through the ceiling in the lobby at the jail which reportedly injured a visitor. The incident happened during visiting hours at the jail.
A Plymouth woman was sentenced in federal court last week after she pleaded guilty to the felony offense of Conspiracy to Manufacture Methamphetamine.
Alicia Hite, 27, was sentenced to nine years in federal prison with four years of supervised release.
The Pulaski County Commissioners this week upheld an order to demolish a Winamac home at the request of Building Inspector Dave Dare.
Dare told the commissioners that a building at 419 W. Jefferson St. in Winamac had become dilapidated after a tree had fallen into the home and destroyed the west wall. He said he had spoken to the homeowner, Ryan Galbreath, and informed him that he needed to repair the home or it would be demolished. Dare said Galbreath chose not to repair the home.
An 18-year-old Plymouth man was arrested after he reportedly got into an accident while driving a stolen vehicle.
Early Saturday morning, the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department received a phone call of a rollover accident on State Road 10 near Beech Road. The caller also reported that the driver was walking from the scene. Deputies found Steven L. Cogswell walking in the roadway and he was found to be intoxicated. Cogswell denied driving the vehicle.
A Walkerton man was arrested after he allegedly assaulted a Knox woman.
Police were called to a residence on 650 North in Starke County and when they arrived at the home, the caller said that the suspect, Darell Keiper, was in a bedroom pretending to sleep. Keiper had an active arrest warrant through Knox City Court and he was taken into custody.
Two juveniles were questioned after one student became impaired on controlled substances she received while at the West Central High School on Friday.
One student allegedly exchanged prescription pills with another student and one became ill later in the day after ingesting the pills.
The two students were interviewed by police and gave information as to the exchange of medication. The case has been forwarded to the Pulaski County Prosecutor’s Office and the Probation Department for further review.
The Starke County Commissioners last night heard an emotional testimony from Jay Dollahan, a Knox resident whose dog had been killed by a Starke County Sheriff’s officer in September. Dollahan explained his dog had run out of his home and toward the officer to “check him out,” and he said his dog never would have bit the officer who approached his home to serve civil court papers.
Marshall County Police arrested two for battery in two separate incidents early Sunday morning.
Deputies were called to the Inwood Mobile Home Park where they discovered James R. Mulcare, 33, of Inwood had battered a woman at the residence. Mulcare was taken into custody and booked into the Marshall County Jail on a preliminary charge of Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury.
Later that morning, Plymouth police and Marshall County Sheriff’s deputies were called to Club Omega on a call of battery. After an investigation, police learned that Joseph T. Rodriguez of Plymouth allegedly hit another man at the club. He had left the area and was later found at the Mayflower Tavern. He was arrested on a preliminary charge of Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury.
A Bremen man was injured in a moped accident in Marshall County.
43-year-old Brian Pittman was travelling on E. Shore Drive and at the intersection at 4th Road his moped traveled off the east side of the road and crashed into a ditch.
