The Knox Community School Board members discussed cafeteria prices this week, and Superintendent A.J. Gappa said a proposal was made to increase prices for the next school year.
“We are proposing a nickel increase in lunches which will keep us in the lowest price range for lunch service in the county and lower than most of the schools around,” said Gappa.
He says the increase in price is mostly caused by regulation changes at the federal level.
The annual Starke County Relay for Life event begins today with opening ceremonies at 6 p.m. at the Starke County Fairgrounds in Hamlet. Event Chairperson Megan Hamand says there are a number of activities planned for the event.
“We’ve got games for kids, food, a car show, bands will be performing, including Narrow Gate and Konundrum, an American Red Cross blood drive, a food drive for Community Services of Starke County, and then we’ve got our regular relay events that you’ve learned to expect from us every year,” said Hamand.
Hamand says that two activities in particular are popular at the event.
“The Survivor Lap where we really honor and celebrate our survivors, and our solemn Luminaria ceremony which takes time to remember and honor those who that have fought cancer and those who have unfortunately lost their lives to it,” said Hamand.
Information concerning Indiana’s Smoke Free Law will be provided next Thursday, June 21 at the Bass Lake Community Center. The meeting begins at 6 p.m., and information will be available on what the law covers, who enforces the law, who to contact with complaints, and who to contact with questions.
One question that is anticipated is whether or not bars and taverns can allow smoking. According to the new law that will begin July 1, bars and taverns may allow smoking provided they meet certain requirements.
Other portions of the law that may be discussed include how far from a public place people can smoke, and according to the law, smokers must be at least eight feet from the entrance. Whether or not smoking is permitted in private vehicles is also a popular topic, and the law states smoking is permitted in private vehicles that are not owned by government.
The information session next Thursday is sponsored by the Tobacco Free Coalition.
The Sandra Lee Studio of Dance is excited to present their 34th annual dance production, and Sandy Martinkus of the studio says they’ve got quite the show planned.
“We have a really exciting program. It’s about how music affects our physical movements and emotions and takes us back to special times in our life and different generations. We’ve got an exciting big band number, a humorous musical theater production loosely based on Alice in Wonderland, we’ve got tiny tots that are into country-western dancing and nursery rhyme blues, and petite ballerinas, and beautiful lyrical dancers, enthusiastic dancers of today, and an all-boys dance group on the Beach Boys’ 409 Impala,” said Martinkus.
Kathy Newell is a regular at the Henry F. Schricker Library in Knox, and has created numerous programs for the library system. The best part about Newell’s volunteer work at the library is that she has a variety of educational skills and experiences to draw from, including excellent cooking abilities, and amazing drawing talent. She was also a registered nurse for 30 years and specializes in geriatrics.
Recently she took pictures of 30 men in our community, made a pencil drawing of them, and now created a Guess the Original Boyz from the Hood Picture Contest.
Three prizes will be given for the people who can guess the most subjects. Newell says she picked everyday people as the subjects for the contest.
Staff Sergeant Jerry Nenycz of Plymouth, who earlier this year was named the Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year in Indiana, will be the Grand Marshall of the 2012 Knox Harvest Days Festival Parade. Nenycz is a 1999 graduate of Knox High School.
The Knox Harvest Days Festival is scheduled for August 24 – 26.
Festival Chairperson Michelle Bachtel told WKVI this week that more corporate sponsors are needed to help finance the three-day event.
Everyone is invited to go to the festival website at www.knoxharvestfestival.org for a registration form.
Finally, a Miss, Little Miss, and Tiny Miss Pageant is being planned with more information to follow on how contestants can register.
With Knox Barber Myron Brown approaching 50 years of cutting hair in the Kankakee Valley, he looked back on his time here and recalled his decision to come to Knox.
“Years back we had a barber union, and when I checked with them they told me about a shop in Knox. I came here, and stayed for all of these years. I’ve actually been in four different locations in the town,” Brown remembered.
Myron said he originally wanted to be a veterinarian, but money was tight, so he decided to become a barber in order to save up money for school.
On June 9, 1891, one of America’s most well-known songwriters was born. The man who wrote “I’ve Got you Under My Skin,” “Night and Day,” and “I Get a Kick Out of You,” was born in Peru, Indiana. That songwriter is Cole Porter.
Many stories have been written about the man who composed 300 songs, but little is known of those summer days he spent in Culver in a cottage rented by his family.
This weekend, the life and music of Cole Porter will come to life at Culver Academies Legion Memorial Building on June 9 at 7:30 p.m. The sold-out concert and dramatic rendering of Porter’s life will be followed by a wine and cheese reception.
The attorney for the Starke County Commissioners, as well as the attorney for Linda Belork and Ohio Casualty, appeared before Judge John Potter in Jasper Circuit Court yesterday. Attorney Martin Lucas, representing the commissioners, and Ethan Lowe, representing Linda Belork and Ohio Casualty, presented evidence supporting their case to the Judge. Both attorneys were given 30 minutes and were occasionally interrupted by the judge with questions.
Lucas painted the picture of a board of commissioners faced with a report from the State Board of Accounts stating that $900,000 was misappropriated in the treasurer’s office, and the commissioners acted according to statute by removing her from office and filing suit against her bond. He also stated that Belork was consistently late with her monthly 47-TR forms.
“When she finally delivered them to the commissioners, they were not useful because the numbers didn’t add up,” Lucas said.
A Plymouth man was arrested Tuesday night after officers from the Plymouth Police Department found him to be in possession of over three grams of methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a public park. Seth Enders, 39, was taken to the Marshall County Jail on preliminary charges of Possession of Methamphetamine and Possession of Paraphernalia.
This is not his first run-in with the Plymouth Police Department.
The Indiana Department of Transportation is currently developing plans to replace the bridge on US 35, just a half-mile south of US 30 in Starke County. The project carries an estimated cost of $5 million, but INDOT has said they plan to use state and federal funds for construction.
INDOT says the current structure is deteriorating, and the project would improve the operation while increasing the required vertical clearance over the CSX railroad beneath the bridge. They say the construction would require approximately 1.35 acres of new permanent right-of-way, but no displacement of residents or businesses would be involved in the project.
Pulaski County Maintenance Director Morry Demarco approached the commissioners this week with two bids on necessary repairs for the courthouse clock tower. Demarco says he has used Alpha Omega Company before for work on the justice center and other buildings, and both companies that submitted bids have experience in this type of repair.
He says it’s very important that the work be done right. Because of the age of the structure, the mortar must be replaced with a similar mix to prevent any damage to the delicate bricks. According to Demarco, the tower is in need of being re-tuckpointed to reapply mortar between the bricks with an estimated repair time of up to four weeks.
The commissioners requested that Demarco contact other companies capable of doing the work to see if he can get more than two bids for the repair, and he can make his recommendation, hopefully, at the next meeting.
The North Judson Town Board held a second public hearing this week – this time regarding their new salary ordinance. The third reading of the ordinance was conducted at the recent meeting of the board and no public comment was made, allowing the board to pass the ordinance as written. The ordinance allows a $.50 raise per hour for employees of the town that receive a license for the application of pesticide, and Clerk-Treasurer Donna Henry said that only one employee currently qualifies for the raise.
The board also discussed the town’s anti-tobacco policy which prohibits the use of tobacco in public buildings. Henry says the town’s policy is more stringent than the statewide policy which will take effect July 1 and only covers smoking, while she says the town’s policy covers tobacco use as a whole. The board plans to draft an ordinance regulating fines for violations of the policy.
The upcoming Mint Fest has been taking precedence over many town projects, including the replacement of street signs with newer, more reflective signs. Town Superintendent Marshall Horstman says they have gotten the new signs but the replacement has been delayed until after the festival.
The Knox Community School Board got an update on the progress of the Facility Study Committee on Monday night. Superintendent A.J. Gappa said the committee is gathering figures for the possible project on the Palmer Wing of the elementary school.
“Architect Dana Wanamaker had sent some figures over to the school and to representatives from Umbaugh finance, and we still haven’t talked to the representative from Umbaugh so we are still in that planning stage of how to move forward,” said Gappa. “We will be meeting with our board committee in the near future and getting information back out to the public.”
The La Porte City Police Department wrote 144 citations and 109 warnings during the recent Operation Pull Over Blitz #71, which focused on seat belt patrols.
Officers dedicated 35 hours during the day and 34.5 hours at night conducting seat belt patrols. One hundred and fifteen citations were given for seat belt violations, 12 citations were given for child restraint violations, four citations were given for drivers operating a vehicle with a suspended license and two arrests were made for drivers operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
The La Porte Police Department has scheduled 30 hours of seat belt patrols and 25 hours of aggressive driving patrols funded under its Big City/Big County grant for this month. The department will also have impaired driving patrols out on most weekends this month that are funded under La Porte County’s DUI Taskforce Indiana grant.
The sound of gunfire and the hustle and bustle of military life during World War II will soon fill Wythogan Park in Knox.
The US 1st Infantry Division, known as the “Big Red One,” is hosting a WWII reenactment as part of the World War II Historical Reenactment Society. The sounds of battle will be heard coming from Wythogan Park, where the reenactors will try to offer visitors a feel of what this exciting period of history must have been like. Chaplain Jay “Sky Pilot” Shuttz says the reenactors are collectors and serious students of history, representing several different nationalities who will try to dress, equip, and conduct themselves in proper 1944 manner.
This week we have followed Jim Hardesty of Hamlet from his time at Purdue University to the invasion of Germany during World War II. It is part of a story written for “Generations the Magazine,” a publication dedicated to telling the stories of those people who shaped our nation one generation at a time.
This final episode features Hardesty’s experience with the allied army as it fought the Germans in the Hurtgen Forest along the German-Belgian border.
The Starke County Commissioners this week held a lengthy discussion on the jail population. Pulaski County has been housing some Starke County prisoners to keep the population at 62.
Pulaski County has a 130-bed jail, and has been housing the overflow in the Starke County Jail under an informal agreement. The commissioners would like to enter into a long-term agreement with Pulaski County until a new or rehabilitated jail is available to house Starke County’s burgeoning prisoner population.
The Pulaski County Commissioners this week received another update on the Bridge 291 project, in which Jeff Larrison of United Consulting informed them that the next step in the process is to approve the construction inspection agreement. He says the agreement will go to the Indiana Department of Transportation, which will then review the rates for inspection and approve them if acceptable.
As with the rest of the project, 80 percent of this expense would be covered by INDOT, while the county would cover the other 20 percent. The cost of $194,800 for the inspection makes up 12.5 percent of the total construction cost as allotted by INDOT.
The North Judson Town Board this week held a public hearing regarding the modification of a grant for the State Road 39 sewer project. Shawn Cain from the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission was present and explained the issue.
According to Cain, the original grant application included two additional extensions on the sewer project. The grant was approved, but the council, town superintendent, and the engineering company expected the bids to come in higher than they could afford, so they removed the two extensions from the bid. Surprisingly, the bids came in far lower than they had been expecting. The town council then contacted KIRPC and received approval to add them back into the bid. The work was later completed, including the two extensions.
