While some in Congress are beating the drums to get involved in Syria, Congressman Joe Donnelly is urging caution.
“It’s a very unstable situation and I don’t see how us getting into the middle of it would help,” Donnelly said.
It’s estimated over 8,000 people have been killed as the Syrian government attempts to put down the popular revolt. Sen. John McCain is one who has advocated doing something, if only using air power.
The Ancilla Board of Trustees recently approved a decision to freeze tuition for the coming fall semester. Ancilla President, Dr. Ron May, was asked if part of the decision had to do with gasoline prices. He said that it was.
“Its a major challenge for our students,” stated Dr. May. “One of the things we have is an emergency fund and occasionally we have our students who need help with gas. Through a mechanism that we have put in place, we sometimes give them gas cards.”
Sixth graders in Culver have been busy preparing for the annual Soup for the Soul event that will be held tomorrow from 5:00-8:00 p.m. ET at the school cafeteria.
“The kids start making bowls in August,” said sixth grade teacher, Missy Trent. “Culver restaurants donate soup and we sell the bowls. You then get all of the soup you can eat, plus bread and drink for $5.00.”
Indiana Conservation Officers are offering a free Hunter Education Class on Saturday and Sunday, April 14th and 15th. The course will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. CT at Kankakee FWA Headquarters at 4320 W. Toto Rd. in North Judson.
Upon successful completion of the course, you will receive a Indiana Hunter Education Certification which is required for any hunters born after December 31st, 1986.
With the public information meeting coming up on March 20, Terry Minix, President of the Oregon-Davis Education Political Action Committee, wants the public to have an idea of what to expect at the meeting.
Thirty-three-year-old Gary Spencer of North Judson faces D-felony charges of Battery after he allegedly struck a two-year-old in the face, causing severe bruising.
According to Misty Maciejack, she awoke to find bruises on her daughter’s face and, when she asked where the bruises came from, Spencer gave her two different versions of the story. He first claimed that Mann had run into a wall, but then he claimed that she fell off a bed. Because Gary was the only person in the house during the time the incident could have taken place, Maciejack grew suspicious and reported the incident to the Starke County Sheriff’s Department.
A man was arrested after police received a call regarding an alleged battery incident in the 8900 block of South Birch Street in Monterey on March 8. According to the police report, Karen Barnett told police that she had been battered and her life threatened by 50-year-old John Schacht. She told police that on March 7, Schacht punched her in the back of the head and told her he was going to kill her.
Barnett went on to say that she could not contact anyone for help on the day of the incident because Schacht injected her in the left arm with an unknown substance, but admitted to using methamphetamine with Schacht. She then told police that Schacht had drugs in the home.
The long-awaited sewer system in Koontz Lake was put into operation with a connection of three homes on Monday, March 5th.
“At our February meeting, we made a determination that the system was at a stage of substantial completion,” said Koontz Lake Regional Sewer District President, Paul Warnke. “This allowed us to begin connection to households and businesses. On Monday, March 5th, we had the first three homes officially connected to the system with full functionality and we then had ceremonial toilet flushes.”
Marshall County Prosecutor David Holmes has announced that no criminal charges will be filed against any of the officers involved in the shooting death of Mark Albright, 62, on the night of February 23rd.
Holmes made his decision after receiving a report of the investigation conducted by the Indiana State Police.
Johnny P. Whitt, Jr. was arrested March 6th and faces methamphetamine-related charges after police received a report of a suspicious man at Zingo Express who purchased tin foil and salt, and asked if the store sold Zip-Lock bags.
When police arrived, they found Whitt leaving the store and walking to the Super Value Inn, just north of the Zingo Express. After entering the hotel, police monitored the building and followed him after he left, before pulling him over at the intersection of Delaware Street and U.S. 35 in Knox. The man was identified as Whitt, and marijuana was found on his person along with multiple packs of cold medication.
The talk about gasoline prices and what’s driving the market has overshadowed the fact that huge oil finds have been discovered in the United States. According to Don Good, of Good Oil in Winamac, we are able to get to the product with new technology.
Don talked to us recently about the Bakken Shale Oil Field which stretches from Canada into Montana and North Dakota. This field could hold over four billion barrels of oil reserves, and the Arctic Natural Wildlife Refuge in Alaska could potentially hold up to 10 billion barrels of oil. They are looking at oilfield wireline services for the number of things these can do.
The Starke County Commissioners recently passed a motion rejecting a proposal from Alan Hildebrand to annex four roads in the Chesapeake Run Subdivision to the ownership of the county. Hildebrand approached the commissioners with a letter proposing the dedication of the streets to the county in order to have the county maintain the roads.
However, a number of issues arose from the request. The commissioners were uneasy taking responsibility for street lamps located on the easement lines on the properties, and a number of fences were positioned directly on the line as well. The big question on their minds: who would maintain and pay for the lights?
Knox Mayor Rick Chambers told the City Council members recently that a meeting was held to organize for this summer’s Harvest Days celebration. The Mayor said the event will be held the last weekend in August as in past years.
The name of the organization that is assisting the Mayor is the Knox-Winamac Health Care System.
The General Assembly, which began with a month-long battle over right to work, ended with a flurry as legislators passed a smoking ban, abolished the inheritance tax and set aside more money for full day kindergarten and state fair stage collapse victims.
Republican Senate President Pro Tem David Long, of Ft. Wayne, boasts legislators again held the line on spending with taxpayers scheduled to receive a $40-$50 rebate as a result.
Governor Mitch Daniels issued a statement thanking legislators for an extraordinarily productive session.
Agriculture Educator Alan Kurtz will be leaving his position tomorrow. Kurtz has worked in both Starke and Pulaski Counties over the past year and a half.
Kurtz talked about his time here.
“Well, it’s been kind of a whirlwind tour for me. I’ve been involved in a lot of different things. I came in as an Agriculture Educator, I did a lot of 4-H work, and ended up being an Agriculture County Extension Director,” he said.
Daylight Savings Time begins tomorrow, Sunday, March 11 at 2 a.m. prevailing time. You will need to set your clock ahead one hour before you go to bed tonight, or at 2 a.m. prevailing time Sunday morning.
Everyone in the Kankakee Valley changes their clocks in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which marks the change in the observance of Daylight Savings Time. It officially begins on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
Some students in the Jacksonville, Florida religious school where a shooting occurred this week said they were not surprised with Shane Schumerth’s action. Schumerth, the 28-year-old Spanish teacher who was originally from Culver, opened fire on the headmistress of the school after being relieved of his duties Tuesday.
After being fired, Schumerth returned with an AK-47 assault rifle in a guitar case, according to accounts in the Jacksonville Union Times. After shooting and killing Dale Regan, he turned the gun on himself, committing suicide.
In the newspaper account one student called Schumerth “an awkward man,” saying he did not seem to fit in with the other teachers. Another report by a Jacksonville T.V. station said that Schumerth had been fired earlier by a public school, and was given a “do not hire” status.
Schumerth was a Culver Academy graduate in 2002, whose family still lives in Culver. They have expressed shock and sorrow over the incident. Memorial services were held for Dale Regan yesterday in Jacksonville.
Online auction shopping website eBay came to the rescue of the City of Knox recently. Unable to sell used equipment and vehicles, the city has turned to eBay and it has turned out to be a gold mine. The most recent thing sold was an
old fire truck, as Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston explains.
“We sold the old firetruck on eBay for $4850, and that seems to be a pretty good process for us. We used to set vehicles around and put “For Sale,” and we did set this up here so people could see it, but it had the email address and stuff to be able to bid on it for a certain length of time on eBay rather than to come in and make bids with us. I like it a lot better, and I’m real happy with the rate that we are getting compared with what we were getting before,” said Houston.
As they say, “one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” The old fire truck was taken away by a buyer in Michigan.
An interesting story about eBay. The founder, Pierre Omidyar, sold a broken laser pointer in 1995. It was the first item sold over eBay, and Omidyar was so astonished that he called the buyer back and asked, “Do you realize this laser pointer is broken?” To which the man replied, “I’m in the market for broken laser pointers, not new ones.”
Omidyar then realized eBay might really be successful.
Mayor Rick Chambers is announcing the 50-50 sidewalk replacement program is back. The City of Knox will pay 50 percent of the cost of material and labor for the sidewalk replacement, and all available funds are used on a first come, first served basis and until monies to support the program run out.
The work will be approved or disapproved after the Street Superintendent measures and inspects the requested sidewalk.
Property owners must pay their share within 14 days of notification for the project to continue. If not, the project will be placed on the bottom of the work schedule. All applications must be dated and received by 4 p.m. on April 23.
The Young Artists Conference is scheduled for today from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. central time at Liberty Elementary School in North Judson.
Besides the morning activities, nationally-known ventriloquist Beth Sutton-Cummins will entertain in the afternoon.
The conference is for all Starke County students in first through fifth grades. It costs $5.00 and lunch is provided. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., and the book fair begins at 8 a.m.
We asked Marilyn Lucac if any past attendees have been inspired to go on to pursue writing or the arts.
“We’ve had some go into dancing, we’ve had some that are writing, a lot of them have gone on to college to pursue different things,” said Lucac.
Marilyn said the purpose is to expose the children various art forms.
“They get exposed to some of the finer arts: writing, we have artists here, we have ventriloquism, we have dance, so every year we try to get a little bit of variety, but we focus on the finer arts,” Lucac said.
