Winamac Sectional Champions

Posted on Author Anita Goodan
Katy Anspach
Courtney Dix
Stef McGovern
Sarah Redweik
Whitney Hook
Jessica Schramm
Megan Ruff
Stephanie Shorter
Macy Bischoff
Savanna Button
Hannah DeGroot

The

Beth Brogdon

Winamac Lady Warriors have won their 13th girls basketball sectional championship! The Lady Warriors began their quest for the championship by defeating North Judson for the second time this season in the first round of the North Judson sectional 59-46. Jessica Schramm lead the team in scoring with 13 points. Winamac then turned around in the second game and overpowered North Newton 61-35 behind Stephanie Shorter’s 14 points. Then in a hard fought championship game against Rochester, the Lady Warriors were able to avenge a 4-point loss suffered in Novemeber, by defeating the Lady Zebras 62-59. Sarah Redweik went out with a bang in her final sectional game by leading the team in scoring (19) as well as steals and rebounds.

Winamac (18-5) will be taking on Bowman Academy (18-6) in the first round of the Rochester Regional. Congratulations to the Winamac Lady Warriors on their 13th sectional championship!

Stacie Brown Sentenced

Posted on Author WKVI
Stacie Brown

Stacie Brown, 35, of Knox, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for causing the death of her stepson, three-year-old Ethan Brown on June 9th, 2011.

Knox Police Department Detective David Combs was on the witness stand almost two hours describing the case in detail. Brown had been charged with one felony count of battery resulting in death. Another count of Neglect of a Dependent was dropped in a plea bargain arrangement.

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Two Winamac Men Arrested after Traffic Stop

Posted on Author WKVI
David Luttrell
Wyatt Hagerman

David Luttrell and Wyatt Hagerman, of Winamac, were arrested Friday after a traffic stop.

Officers from the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department stopped David Luttrell’s car and found that he was operating a vehicle with a suspended Driver’s License. When the officer approached the vehicle, he reportedly saw a passenger in the vehicle attempting hide something in the back seat. Police asked the passenger, Wyatt Hagerman, to step out of the vehicle. The officer allegedly saw a spoon and a bright orange cap from a syringe protruding from the pocket of his jeans. Officers also reportedly found a plastic bag containing seven syringes.

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Winamac Town Board to Conduct Water Pipe Inspection

Posted on Author WKVI
Winamac Town Hall

The Winamac Town Board will be hiring a company to search for any issues with the town’s water pipes. The Board wants to be sure that all of the pipes are secure and are using this as a precaution to possibly avoid a bigger problem.

The Board also learned that the housing rehabilitation program through K-IRPC is almost complete. The Town of Winamac was the recipient of a grant to rehabilitate eight houses with siding, heating/cooling, windows, roofing, or electrical issues to make them more efficient for qualified homeowners. All of the homes are done and the paperwork is being completed at this time.

Knox Kindergarten Student Makes Valentine Cards for Walgreens

Posted on Author WKVI
Sarah Gillard and Emma Gillard. Emma proudly displays one of her Valentine's Day cards

Five-year-old Emma Gillard, of Knox, went with her father Monday night to pick out a Valentine’s card for her mother and noticed that the selection was getting low. Her mother Sarah picks up the story.

“When we tucked her in, we thought she was asleep and when we checked on her an hour later, she was working at her desk,” explained Sarah Gillard.  She had made 11 ‘Mommy’ Valentine’s Day cards.  She wanted me to send them to Walgreens. I emailed Corporate Walgreens and today we got a phone call from Knox Walgreens that they want to buy Emma’s cards and they want to display them in their store as well as the higher-up corporate stores. They also want to send a few of them overseas to the mommies that are serving in our military.”

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Valparaiso University to Build Welcome Center

Posted on Author WKVI
This is a sketch of the proposed Welcome Center

Valparaiso University is planning to construct a 15,000 square foot Welcome Center at the U.S. 30 entrance to the campus.

The Welcome Center will support the needs of prospective students, alumni and all guests visiting the campus. Key historical and modern exhibits will be displayed as well as a continuation of the University’s story told in Heritage Hall which was dedicated in April 2010. The Welcome Center is being built in anticipation of a growing University enrollment and to help make visitors to the University feel at home.

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Three Culver Residents Arrested on Drug Charges

Posted on Author WKVI

Three men from Culver were arrested in Plymouth Monday night on drug charges.

An officer from the Plymouth Police Department pulled over a vehicle at the intersection of Michigan and Diamond Streets and the officer took K9 Rex around the vehicle. The K9 indicated the presence of narcotics and in a search of the occupants and the vehicle, the officer found heroin, marijuana and several items of paraphernalia.

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Oregon-Davis Sectional Champions

Posted on Author Anita Goodan
Katie Schwenk
Lincy Jones
Jesse Averone
Ashley Campbell
Ashley Clark
Haley Collings
Alisha McIntosh
Kendra Sauer
Ali Stout

The Oregon-Davis Lady Bobcats are sectional champions once again! The Lady ‘Cats defeated Culver for the third time this year in the first round of the sectional 55-36 thanks to a great scoring effort by Ashley Campbell who scored a season-high 30 points. In the second round, O-D jumped out to a 20-0 lead at the end of the first quarter en route to a 69-27 win over Westville. The Bobcats had four players score in double digits (Alisha McIntosh-17; Ashley Campbell-13; Katie Schwenk-11; Jesse Averone-10) to put them in the sectional championship game for the sixth straight year. The championship game was a rematch of last year’s championship with Oregon-Davis taking on Triton. The ‘Cats overcame a 13-point deficit and outscored Triton 34-21 in the second half to capture the school’s 8th girls basketball sectional championship!

Oregon-Davis (20-4) will be taking on Morgan Township (13-10) in the first round of the Caston Regional. Congratulations to the Oregon-Davis Lady Bobcats on their championship effort!!!

Two Knox Residents Arrested after Theft Incident at Plymouth Walmart

Posted on Author WKVI

Two Knox residents were arrested after they were allegedly caught stealing from Walmart in Plymouth Monday night.

Plymouth police were called to Walmart after Loss Prevention Officers found Sasha Glover and Colleen Henry trying to remove merchandise without paying. Glover was detained without incident, but Henry, who told police her name was Kelley Halt, fled from the scene. She ran toward the Bob Evans restaurant before police took her into custody. When she decided to flee, she left her four-year-old son unattended. Walmart employees tended to his safety.

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Two Injured in Accident in Marshall County

Posted on Author WKVI
police badge

Plymouth man and his daughter were injured in a two vehicle accident Monday afternoon on U.S. 31 just south of U.S. 6 in Marshall County.

Marshall County Police say 29-year-old Anthony McNeal of Plymouth was attempting to cross U.S. 31 at the intersection of 2C Road and pulled into the path of an oncoming semi. The semi hit the passenger side of the vehicle and it spun off the roadway. McNeal was reportedly unrestrained and was ejected from the vehicle. He was transported by helicopter to Memorial Hospital in South Bend. His daughter, 6-month-old Reese McNeal was a passenger in the vehicle. She was transported by ambulance to Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center.

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Starke County to Re-Band Radios

Posted on Author WKVI
Ted Bombagetti

Starke County EMA Director, Ted Bombagetti has made the county officials aware that all two-way radios will need to be re-banded. Bombagetti was asked what the deadline is for having them re-banded.

“2013 is our deadline,” replied Bombagetti. “What’s happening is that two-way radios have become so popular in use in industries other than emergency services that there’s not enough open frequencies for the FCC to sell out. What they’re doing is they’re moving the signals closer, or narrow-banding. They’re narrowing the banding so more licenses can become available.”

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Pulaski Memorial Hospital CEO to Retire

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski Memorial Hospital

After a 40-plus year career in health care administration work, Rick Mynark, the CEO of Pulaski Memorial Hospital, is planning to retire in 2013.

“Rick has been a pillar of the Pulaski County community for so many years it will be unusual to not see him behind his desk at the hospital,” said WKVI’s Ted Hayes. “The hospital board has begun a search for his replacement through a firm that includes Ken Stella who is the former President of the Indiana Hospital Association. This will be a nationwide search and the board hopes to have someone selected when Rick leaves his post.”

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Knox Community Schools to Work Harder to Collect Textbook Fees

Posted on Author WKVI

The Knox Community School Corporation will be getting more diligent in collecting textbook rental fees.

“One of the things that was noted by the State Board of Accounts is we have to be more aggressive in their eyes and we need a better policy for collection of fees,” explained Superintendent A.J. Gappa. “We were ordered that we had to either go through Small Claims Court or use a collection agency. In our case, the best direction to go would be the use of a collection agency.”

A committee was formed by High School Principal Dr. Elizabeth Ratliff and a policy was drafted.

“We’re not really changing the things that we do. There will be letters that will go out for fees and we will work with every person that needs help. We will bend over backwards as far as we can, but we do have as a policy now that says if we reach a stalemate point at some time down the road, which could be a very long time, we would have to turn it over to a collection agency.”

The policy was for presentation at the recent Knox Community School Board meeting and the members will vote on the policy on February 20th.

Drivers Urged to be Cautious When Pulled over by Unmarked Police Vehicle

Posted on Author WKVI

The Indiana State Police is urging you to ask for police identification if you are pulled over and approached by a person saying they are a police officer and they exit an unmarked police vehicle.

On Saturday, a female driver was followed by an unmarked black police-type vehicle and the driver used emergency lights to pull her over. The vehicle had red and blue lights mounted in the front window and the vehicle was occupied by two men. The driver said the pair flashed their so-called badges and said they were State Police. They said her vehicle came up suspicious and they wanted to search her vehicle. She exited her vehicle and the pair proceeded to steal money and other items from her. She attempted to call police and they took her cell phone from her.

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Senate Commerce Committee Approves Bill to Stimulate Employment Opportunities

Posted on Author WKVI
Indiana Statehouse

Legislation that would stimulate employment opportunities and entice new businesses to rural areas of the state has been approved by the Senate Commerce Committee.

House Bill 1241 would allow certain rural counties to be designated as Rural Entrepreneurship Area Development Incentive (READI) areas. Funds from adjusted gross income taxes paid annually by new businesses and employees in a READI area could be contained locally and used for the development of new business opportunities in the rural county. The measure would require the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) to certify the tax credit.

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Joe Smrt Turns 96

Posted on Author WKVI
Ursula and Joe Smrt

Today is Joe Smrt’s 96th birthday. He is known by many in Starke County for his patriotism.

On this date in 1916, Joe Smrt was born. He was born two weeks before the singer Dinah Shore and one week before the World War I Battle of Verdun began that claimed the lives of 698,000 French and German soldiers.

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From the WKVI Archives

Posted on Author WKVI

Looking back in time, it was on this date in 1979 that Knox Fire Chief Pete Corey came before the Knox City Council to quote figures on a new $180,000 fire truck.
The 35 foot long, 10 foot high truck would be equipped with a telescopic unit, bucket and ladder. Corey said because of multiple story buildings being built locally the need for this type of fire protection is needed. City Attorney Henry Hart was asked to report back with a financing plan for such a truck.

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Two Lives Saved due to Swift Action Taken by Police Officer, Firefighter

Posted on Author WKVI

A Knox City Police officer and a Knox fireman are being hailed as heroes after they freed occupants of a overturned car in a deep ditch filled with water.

On Saturday afternoon, the Starke County Sheriff’s Department received a call of a traffic accident on State Road 8 near 200 East. The caller stated he was following his wife, Tessa J. Haney, when her vehicle hit a patch of ice and she lost control of the vehicle. It landed on its top in a deep ditch on the south side of the roadway with water filling the car.

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