Members of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security District 2 All Hazards Incident Management Team have returned from an eight-day deployment to Clark County to aid in tornado disaster relief. The team, comprised of 15 area volunteers representing seven counties, provided incident command for recovery efforts.
The EF4 tornado that ripped through the area destroyed 500 structures and 13 people died. The District 2 team assumed command of the incident and worked closely with volunteers from across the region to restore the affected communities.
The West Central School Board discussed a possible reduction in force at their meeting Thursday night. Superintendent Charles Mellon says that due to the projected decrease in enrollment and revenue, the Board may need to cut staff.
George Wedow, 32, of Michigan City, Indiana, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in South Bend to felony charges of selling, delivering, possessing, training, receiving and transporting animals for the purpose of having the animals participate in an animal fighting venture. Sentencing has been set for June 14th, 2012. These charges were filed as the result of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Wedow was arrested January 13th at his residence at 5589 N. 600 W. in LaPorte County where a large dogfighting operation was found that involved 12 dogs and dogfighting equipment. Police also reportedly found 70 pounds of processed marijuana at the residence. Police also searched a Grovertown residence and found 19 more dogs.
Nathan VanDerAa, of Star City, is expected to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in South Bend on Friday, March 23rd.
He was arrested on two separate occasions in 2011 on various drug charges and police found that he illegally possessed firearms. The Pulaski County Prosecutor filed charges but the ATF took over the investigation. On July 14th, 2011, a Federal Grand Jury in South Bend indicted VanDerAa with two counts of Unlawful User of Controlled Substances in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition and one count of Manufacture of a Controlled Substance.
We’ve had a lot of severe weather already in this early spring season and our Accuweather.com Meteorologist Heather Zehr offers this advice.
“The big thing to remember is that it happens every year, we just have to go through and make our general precautions and make sure that we stay alert,” urges Heather. “We need to pay attention when those watches, and especially those warnings are coming out in any given storm situation.”
Governor Mitch Daniels signed a bill last week that revises the provisions governing the use of golf carts on certain highways.
If you use golf carts in any county, you must have a valid driver’s license. The bill suggests that a fine be assessed for a violation of the ordinance to be deposited in the general fund of the county. It also allows an operator of a golf cart to cross a highway in the state highway system, at right angles, in order to travel from one highway to another highway under the jurisdiction of the county when the operation can be done safely. A violation of an ordinance governing the use of a golf cart on a state highway in a county is considered an ordinance violation.
Family and friends took time out of a Sunday afternoon to attend a retirement ceremony for Edith Gurrado and Meda Howard. The pair are retiring after 103 years of service to first Starke Memorial Hospital and more recently IU Health Starke Hospital.
Meda Howard was asked about her 43 years with the hospital.
Basketball was a lot different in the 1930’s. Scores were lower, the two-handed set shot, and underhand free throw toss was in, and players 6′ 4″ or over were considered giants.
70 years ago today, the 1932 Winamac High School team went to the one class state basketball tournament before bowing out in the final game to New Castle 24-17.
The Indiana State Police received complaints today regarding a fraud alert from Demotte State Bank. According to a press release, the bank’s name is being used in a “phishing scam” to gain information from unsuspecting victims.
Northwest Indiana residents, especially those with Verizon telephone numbers, are receiving an automated message using a woman’s voice that their debit or credit card has been compromised. She then asks you to verify your account number and other information by having you go through a series of automated prompting questions. The numbers that will show up on your phone or caller ID are from out of state.
This is a phishing exploit to trick people into revealing personal and confidential information. Do not respond to any requests or give them any information. The scammers will likely use this information to withdraw money from your account or obtain credit in your name.
Demotte State Bank DOES NOT contact their customers in this matter. If you have given account or other personal information please contact Demotte State Bank and your local law enforcement immediately.
There’s a new face in the Republican Primary: Greg Andrews, M.D., will be going toe-to-toe with Jackie Walorski. Andrews says many of the issues he plans to tackle if elected revolved around the healthcare field because of his history as a physician.
“I am well informed about issues that nobody’s addressing, and they’ve gotta be addressed. There’s a doctor shortage, nursing shortage, nurse educator shortage, and Alzheimer’s will bankrupt the United States by 2050 if we do not work headstrong against that disease,” said Andrews.
Andrews says he wants to focus on preventing the rationing of medicine, and says he plans to utilize his expertise in healthcare law and policy, and his Juris Doctor degree earned from Notre Dame law school. Andrews says that while this is the first time he’s stepping into the field of politics, he sees a number of changes that need to be made.
Andrews says that with a lot of money going toward healthcare, the system needs to be more efficient with it, starting at the family clinic level. If we can invest a little more in having coordinated care of patients, Andrews says we can save these families trips to the Emergency Room or other urgent care, controlling costs.
After growing up in Erie, Pennsylvania, Andrews says he lived in this area for most of his adult life. He attended Notre Dame law school after receiving a scholarship as a Harvard undergrad, and worked in La Porte and South Bend, even finishing his residency in South Bend. Andrews says his ties to the community are strong, and he’s looking to improve the community if elected to congress.
Two Knox residents were arrested after police found an active methamphetamine lab at their residence.
On Thursday, the Starke County Sheriff’s Department, along with the Indiana State Police conducted a search warrant at 4335 E. 200 S. in Knox and arrested Mary Fort on two valid Starke Circuit Court warrant for revocation of probation.
Indiana State Police officers received consent to search the property by all parties involved and they found an active one pot method methamphetamine lab, precursors, methamphetamine, and paraphernalia.
Randall Appleton was arrested after the search. Appleton and Mary Fort both face Manufacturing Methamphetamine, Possession of Methamphetamine, and Maintaining a Common Nuisance.
The Starke County Election Board met this week. Clerk Evelyn Skronski, a board member, talked about the agenda items discussed.
“We’ve got our absentee hours set, and we’ve got all of our full training hours set, and the county chairs are working on getting their poll workers,” said Skronski.
Some polling places needed upgrades in handicapped parking and accessibility.
“We talked about what we need to get done for handicap-accessible precincts, so we’re going to do that,” said Skronski.
To help upgrade handicapped accessibility Mrs. Skronski said they received a grant.
“I recieved a $10,000 grant from the Help America Vote Act, to be used for making sure the polling places are all handicap-accessible– signage, painting of parking places, repairing or repaving some of the parking lots,” Skronski said.
Absentee voting begins Monday April 9th. And the travel board will go out April 28 through May 7th. The May 7th. board will only go out until noon.
Even though the Starke County Fireworks display is three and a half months away, Councilwoman Linda Berndt brought her fellow councilmen up to date on the planning.
“I’ve got a couple more ideas, but I want to present them at the fireworks meeting, which we need to make a decision when to have it. June 23, the Nelson’s Port-a-Pit is booked for the fire station on the south end,” said Berndt.
The Porta-pit chicken sale will be in June, but before that is a fish fry at the Knox Moose Lodge on April 20th. Mayor Rick Chambers is also working on the event.
Everyone is encouraged to attend any fundraisers to help defer the cost of fireworks to the county.
It was exactly a week ago that a spectacular fire occurred in Plymouth. Some even called it the biggest fire ever in that city. Over 100 firefighters fought the blaze that took almost 24 hours to completely extinguish. It was reported that one million gallons of water was used during the fire.
Ted Hayes talks with Mayor Mark Senter this morning about the fire. Ted asked how the city was recovering from the blaze.
“Fortunately, it was an abandoned building. They did have some property, and the owners of the actual business, so no one is out of a home, no one else is out of a property other than that company. So at least we didn’t have people that lost homes and all of their worldly possessions, so that was probably the most fortunate thing of the whole mess,” said Senter.
Senter said he expects clean up to begin soon.
“I just drove by there about an hour ago, and they had some insurance adjustors out there taking a look at it. I would imagine that they would be cleaning it up soon,” said Senter.
Yesterday the fire was termed an arson. Senter, who is an ex-state policeman, said he stays out of the investigation of such events, leaving that to the state fire marshal’s office.
“I try to stay out of that and let the police officers and the fire investigators do their job and I’d love to get in it again, but I just can’t do that anymore. But that’s what I did for a long time, I just let them handle it and they will inform me if and when something breaks,” said Senter.
Ted asked Senter if using a million gallons of water has affected the city’s supply.
“Other than maybe a little bit of rust in the lines that is coming out now, there are some homes that I’m sure are getting some red water but we were able to keep that at a minimum, I think,” said Senter.
Don’t forget the Abate Fund Raiser tonight at the Bass Lake Golf Course. It all gets started at 6 p.m. and you’ll be helping the community efforts of a great group. The cost is only $10.00 for food and dancing.
The band Half Track will be performing and Ted Hayes talked yesterday to bass guitarist Terry Young of the band. Terry is also a member of Abate, and talks about what the money from the event will be used for.
“This is a fundraiser for Abate in general, they use this money for their motorcycle education-type things and stuff down state,” said Young.
Ted took the opportunity to ask Terry about the band.
“The band has been doing well, we’re working on getting a new CD out. Hopefully we’ll have it completed by the end of June and looking forward to it, really,” said Young.
This is one of the hardest working bands around. Terry tells how many weekends the band is out.
“We do about 32-35 weekends a year, we kind of cut it back because years in the prior we were doing over 40, so it’s kind of nice,” said Young.
The event is called Fistful of Dollars, and it’s being held tonight at the Bass Lake Golf Course.
From L-R Back Sarah Gast, Kyle Cooke, Danae Wilson, Emily Dinsmore, Matt Neur, and Austin Heise. L-R Front: Cassie Glover, Krystal Clingler, and Aaron Shackelford.
The Knox Envirothon team has once again earned the honor of competing at the State Envirothon competition. Two Knox teams competed Wednesday, March 14th at Camp Buffalo in Monticello, Indiana.
They were tested over soils, water quality, forestry, and non-point source pollution topics. One of those teams was chosen to move on to the next level and compete at Purdue University on Wednesday, April 25th.
A public informational meeting concerning the proposed property tax levy for Oregon-Davis Schools is scheduled for Tuesday, March 20th. Terry Minix, President of the Oregon-Davis Education Political Action Committee, said that discussion will be held concerning what will happen if the tax levy is approved or not approved.
Three homes have now been hooked up to the newly operational Koontz Lake Regional Sewer facilities. 938 connections have yet to be made which will take up to six months to complete. Continue reading →
Arson is suspected in a fire that began Saturday at the Liberty Street Depot in Plymouth. A reward is now being offered by the International Association of Arson Investigators for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the fire.
A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered by the I.A.A.I. People can call in information to 1-800-382-4628. Firefighters say they believe the fire started on the west side of the building in the electrical room, but the electric has been shut off to the building for a year.
The Court of Appeals has rejected Ernest Wireman’s cumulative error claim following a nine-day trial in June of 2010 in Starke Circuit Court. Wireman was accused of brutally murdering his wife, Mary, before burning down the trailer with her inside and shooting her son, Jeremy, who survived the attack. Wireman pleaded insanity to the charges against him, but was found guilty but mentally ill of Murder, Attempted Murder as a Class A felony, and Arson as a Class B felony and ordered to serve 110 years in the Department of Corrections.
