Here is a look at some of the news that made the news in the Kankakee Valley this week:
Former Marshall County Commissioner, 82-year-old Donald Ferguson, of Plymouth, was killed in a semi truck/car accident late Sunday afternoon. Ferguson was attempting to turn onto Cedar Road off of U.S. 30 in Bourbon and a semi rear-ended the vehicle. Marshall County Coroner, Bill Cleavenger, said that Ferguson died of blunt force trauma and his wife, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was taken to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Plymouth for her injuries. The accident remains under investigation. Continue reading →
It’s finally here: The Starke County Youth Club Radiothon will take place today to raise funds for the organization that helps over 600 Starke County children. With four sites throughout the county that provide after-school, summer, and recreational programs, more than 200 students use the after-school program each and every day.
Youth Club Executive Director Irene Szakonyi says they will be accepting pledges for six hours.
“We take over the station at 10 in the morning, and we are live on the air until 4 p.m. taking calls. Thank you WKVI and all of our donors out there,” said Szakonyi.
The key aspects of the SCYC program are education, enrichment, relationships, and community. Everyone is encouraged to make a pledge for this very worthwhile cause.
After pleading guilty to two counts of Intimidation as a Class C felony, Shelby Thomas received his sentence in the Starke Circuit Court Thursday. Thomas had pleaded guilty to the felonies and admitted to threatening to kill Officers James Upsall and Dave Combs while armed with a 10-inch knife.
Thomas was sentenced to seven and a half years for each charge to be served consecutively, giving him a sentence of 15 years in the Department of Corrections. The court recommended to the DOC that he be entered into the CLIFF program. None of his sentence was suspended.
Officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department and Knox and North Judson Police Departments will be participating in the “Click it or Ticket” campaign beginning May 18th through June 3rd.
This blitz, coordinated by the Indiana Governor’s Council on Impaired or Dangerous Driving, allows officers to patrol during this seat belt enforcement period. All drivers and passengers are encouraged to wear their seat belts at all times in a motor vehicle. If you don’t wear your seat belt, you will receive a traffic citation. No warnings will be given.
Knox Mayor Rick Chambers reminded the city council members that the lift station at Clabaugh Drive and U.S. 35 is going to have to be replaced in the near future. That information came out of a report by Wastewater Superintendent Kelly Clemons.
“I had her get some figures. We need to know how much growth is expected south of that point. A new lift station would cost $188,000,” Chambers said.
With Memorial Day a little more than three weeks away, Mayor Rick Chambers is trying to get flags up on U.S. 35 to show the city’s patriotism. Chambers says a large number of items are required to mount the flags.
“We need brackets, poles, flags, stainless steel bands– everything to get flags up on 35. There are 35 light poles on the highway with lights on them in the city limits,” said Chambers.
A Prayer Breakfast was held yesterday morning at the Knox Community Center in observation of the National Day of Prayer.
The Master of Ceremonies was Pastor Ed Hasnerl of the Eagle Creek Church and the guest speaker was Dr. Ron May, President of Ancilla College. May summed up the message he gave to the crowd.
The Legacy of Women will hold their spring event Sunday, May 6 at the Knox Middle School. Sherri Bartolli explained that the event will include a number of programs and speakers, as well as prizes and food.
“We have entitled the program ‘Extreme Coupon, More Bang for Your Buck.’ We do have three speakers who are going to be our entertainment this year, plus we will have silent auction baskets, vendors, food and some door prizes,” Bartoli said.
The North Judson-Wayne Township Public Library recently held a drive for the Phoenix House. They collected consumable items such as paper towels, toilet paper, and laundry detergent.
Roslynn Bejes mobilized the community, the schools, and businesses into supporting the organization. The goods that were collected filled two vans to capacity. In addition, the history, science, and English departments at the high school collected the most items.
The North Judson-San Pierre student body is experiencing the loss of one of their own today. Superintendent Lynn Johnson made the announcement today (Thursday) at Noon.
“We are very saddened by the death of one of our students,” said Mrs. Johnson. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and their loss. Right now, our focus is assisting our students, staff and families during this difficult time.”
The school is not releasing the name of the student and an investigation into the student’s death is being conducted by the Starke County Coroner and the Indiana State Police.
Funeral arrangements are pending with the O’Donnell Funeral Home in North Judson.
Absentee voting is underway in Pulaski County with three local contested races: County Commissioner District One, County Commissioner District Two, and the County Council At-Large position.
Republicans Kenneth Boswell and Terry Young compete for the position of County Commissioner for District One, while Republicans Larry Brady and Michael Tiede battle for District Two. The County Council At-Large position is contested by Republicans Brian Ledley, Steven Nellans, Roger Querry, Douglas Roth, and Jerry Sullivan, Jr.
To better serve the needs of taxi passengers with disabilities, the Braun Corporation has announced the launch of BraunTaxi, a new brand that will encompass all of its taxi products. Jim Probst says the brand has recently announced an upcoming roll-out. Continue reading →
The Annual Starke County Health Fair will be held tomorrow. Various free screenings will be available along with a number of prizes, says Ashley Norem of IU Health Starke Hospital.
“The Health Fair includes various free screenings along with free give away prizes. One of the items will be a beautiful red leather IU Health Starke Hospital tote,” said Norem.
A Knox man was arrested on Friday following a pursuit incident in Starke County.
When a police officer observed a motorcycle traveling south on 1025 East from 300 North, an attempt was made to initiate a traffic stop but the driver did not halt to police. Police say that the driver, Raymond Higdon, looked over his shoulder, saw the officer, and immediately took off.
The Indiana State Police and the Starke County Sheriff’s Department recently participated in a drug take back initiative, sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Statewide, police collected more than 1500 pounds of unused or expired medications. The DEA collected 21 pounds of prescription medication from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department, and the Bremen Post collected 150 pounds of medication.
Ted Hayes spoke with teacher Cristy Back about the organization.
With the Starke County Youth Club Radiothon creeping closer each day, WKVI visited one of the organization’s “homework rooms” yesterday at the Knox Elementary School. Teacher Cristy Back explained that the students are always kept busy.
“Right now they are working on homework from their second grade classroom. If they don’t have homework, we give them work sheets or let them read a book,” Back said.
Usually the members work on their own, but if they do need help there is tutoring available. Back explained that a lot of progress is made after school, and the extra help comes in handy.
Gas prices are still causing concern, especially with the summer months upon us and vacation plans taking shape. Don Good from the Good Oil Company says after the Memorial Day weekend, prices should be level and not as high.
“Overall the trend is going to be down,” said Good. “There’s a lot of volatility where it bounces up and down so I think you’re going to see it moving at about a ten or fifteen cent range up and down, but the general trend will be down.”
The National Agriculture Statistical Report was issued this week, publishing the crop report for the week ending April 29.
Gene Matzat is the Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator for La Porte County, and he said yesterday that we are on a record planting pace in Indiana.
“As of Sunday, 70 percent of the corn and 28 percent of the soybeans have been planted. Twenty-four percent of the corn crop is already emerged,” Matzat said.
Several years ago, the Starke County Tourism Commission, with help from the Historical Society and the County Extension Office, received a grant from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. through the Indiana Humanities Council to photograph the barns in Starke County. Only a few of the 92 counties in Indiana received this type of grant. We probably didn’t find every barn, but, as I remember, we did photograph about 450 of the barns, corn cribs, windmills, and out-houses in Starke County. These can be seen on our website — http://www.scpl.lib.in.us/historical/ — and then click on Barns Again in the center of the page.
Hundreds of people viewed the Smithsonian Barn Exhibit at the Schricker Library in Knox. The Calico Quilt Club had a display of Quilts about barns and school children made beautiful drawings of barns and displayed them in the libraries in the county.
Because of this effort by the Smithsonian, many of the old barns in the United States have been saved and restored. In many states, people have started putting quilt patterns on their barns. Indiana has several counties that are doing this. Marshall County has a tour of their barn quilts. So does Randolph County, with 22 quilts already installed on barns and 27 more ready to go.
I only know of three barns that have quilt patterns on them in Starke County. I have attached a photo of mine. Grandfather built our barn in 1902. He died a month before I was born, so I never knew him except in articles and what was passed down from my father. So, this fall, with the help of my children, we put his name on the old barn, then we also added a quilt pattern. If you know of other barns (or other buildings) in the county with quilt patterns, please let me know. Maybe Starke County could have a barn quilt tour, also.
The Knox City Police Department has moved to its new office in a building purchased from Dean Wells last year, located across from City Hall.
The move was made last week, and gives the police department much more room,
as each officer now has a desk and work area plus garage space for the police cars and more space for evidence and records. Continue reading →
