While our citizens here mourn the deaths of the four National Guardsmen who were killed in Afghanistan January 5th, there is a church group headquartered in Topeka, Kansas that uses military funerals as a way to espouse its hatred of homosexuals, and by extension, our fallen heroes. The congregation of the Westboro Baptist Church has included on its web site the names of Spc. Robert Tauteris Jr., and Spc Brian Leonhardt. They have urged their followers to demonstrate at the funerals of both men.
A U.S. Army carry team transfers the remains of Army Spc. Robert Tauteris, Jr. at Dover Air Force Base
The body of Robert Tauteris, Jr. of Hamlet, will be arriving in Valparaiso from Dover, Delaware Saturday morning at approximately 9:20 a.m. A procession will leave Valparaiso between 9:45-10:00 a.m. and follow the route of U.S. 30 to U.S. 421 to State Road 10 into North Judson. If you wish to safely line the streets to greet the procession, you are welcome to do so.
The Knox man who reportedly stole a Kouts police car has surrendered to police.
William Blankenship III surrendered to two Indiana State Police troopers from the Lowell Post last night. Master Trooper Kevin Murphy assigned to the U.S. Marshall Task Force and Senior Trooper Jerry Michalak assigned to the FBI Task Force met Blankenship and his family at a residence in Knox where he surrendered. Cooperation from his family members made his surrender possible.
Blankenship was taken into custody and is incarcerated in the Porter County Jail.
Starke County Economic Development Director, Charles Weaver, met with many executives of the plants that are located in the Knox Industrial Park yesterday. Weaver talks about that meeting.
“The industries and companies that are located along County Road 300 East in Knox met to hear a presentation about the planned improvement of County Road 300 East, or Klockner Drive, by the engineers that are preparing those plans,” said Weaver.
A plea agreement was rejected by Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall yesterday for Clayton Reiss, who pleaded guilty to Theft as a Class D felony. Reiss is also currently booked in the Starke County Jail on separate charges, including two preliminary charges of Dealing in a Controlled Substance and three counts of Possession of a Controlled Substance after he was arrested on December 2nd. Judge Hall requested that Reiss undergo an evaluation by the probation department. A status hearing was set for 8:00 a.m. on January 26th. Continue reading →
Jackie Walorski has made it official this week when she filed her intention to represent Indiana’s Second District in the United States Congress. She filed with the Secretary of State in Indianapolis.
“I am running to get our economy back on track so businesses can create jobs, and to get government spending under control by balancing the budget. Our country is heading in the wrong direction,” Walorski said.
Culver Community School Board Members (from left, clockwise): Jack Jones, Ryan Seiber, Marilyn Swanson, Brad Schuldt, Eugene Baker, Jim Wentzel, Ed Behnke, Ken VanDePutte
An update on the petition requesting deannexation of Tippecanoe Township from the Culver Community School Corporation was requested by Monterey Town Board President Jim Fleury this week. Fleury asked the board when they expected to have a decision regarding the petition, which he says has accumulated over 640 signatures.
The state legislature will be discussing a piece of legislation this session that would send felons who have committed a Class D Felony back to the county jails to serve their time, rather than serving it in a state facility.
Starke County Sheriff, Oscar Cowen, was asked how this would impact the jail if this legislation is approved.
The staff at the USDA Rural Development offices in LaPorte and Plymouth will be transferring to the Knox office. The offices in LaPorte and Plymouth are closing.
The move will be complete today but the staff will not have access to their computers until Tuesday, January 17th.
The Bass Lake Property Owners Association Building has been fully remodeled by a home remodeling company in Everett Washington. You are invited to an Open House so you can see the improvements.
The Open House will be Sunday, January 22nd, from Noon to 4:00 p.m. and there will be different vendors there to offer food and to assist you with event planning. A variety of room rental packages will be presented. The building can be rented for weddings, graduation parties, and banquets.
The Culver Community School Board this week gratefully accepted an $800 donation from the Kiwanis Club that Superintendent Brad Schuldt says will be used to help kids who are in need.
Schuldt says that the Kiwanis Club has on a near-annual basis made donations to the fund, which is handled by School Nurse Kathy Hermanson and Deb Stevens, social worker for the school.
Trent scored a game-high 21 points, including 19 in the first half while hitting all four of the Cavs’ 3-pointers. Trent’s lone field goal in the second half came on a fast break slam dunk which helped energize Culver to a 70-53 win over Westville.
The restraining order against former Starke County Treasurer Linda Belork was removed Wednesday in Jasper Circuit Court after attorney Martin Lucas requested it. Lucas told Judge John Potter that the purpose of the temporary restraining order in the first place was only to prevent any destruction or alteration of public records in the immediate aftermath of the executive order to remove her from the Treasurer’s office.
Belork’s attorney, Ethan Lowe, did not object and the 15 minute court appearance ended. Although a discrepancy of thousands of dollars was initially reported, all funds were eventually accounted for.
Funeral Services will be held Sunday at the Braman and Bailey Funeral Home in North Judson for Robert “Bobby” Tauteris, Jr., 44, who was killed when the vehicle he was riding in struck a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. The funeral will be held Sunday, January 15th, at 1:00 p.m. CT. Visitation will be held after 10:00 a.m. Sunday.
Tauteris was one of four soldiers killed in the explosion.
The Starke County Jail Committee will be holding three public meetings to present information on what the Jail Committee has been discussing concerning a jail project.
The first meeting will be on Tuesday, January 17th at 7:00 p.m. at the Knox Middle School Cafeteria. Other meetings will be held on Wednesday, January 18th at 6:00 p.m. at the North Judson-San Pierre High School and on Thursday, January 19th at 6:00 p.m. at the Oregon-Davis High School.
Yesterday was the first day to file for candidacy in this year’s election.
One person filed in Starke County. Dennis Estok filed for Starke County Surveyor on the Democrat ticket.
In Pulaski County, Christi Hoffa filed for Recorder, Lynette Wilder filed for Treasurer, Joni Frain filed for State Delegate and Sam Frain also filed for State Delegate. All of the Pulaski County candidates filed on the Republican ticket.
Eastern Pulaski School Corporation is one of only two systems in the state that are on a fiscal year budget. The rest are on calendar year.
Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said that the board received and approved the budget for the year this week. The budget will begin in July of 2012.
“Senator Charbonneau called and I talked with him and he is interested in looking at some legislation that would have all schools move towards a fiscal year budget,” said Dr. Klitzman. “When you stop and think about it, you call it a fiscal year budget, but really it’s a school year budget. We start a school year in August and our budget starts in July so there’s some benefits to it. On the other side of it, I do understand why some folks don’t want to change. It’s something they’re used to and they do it as a routine and as we all know change is difficult and quite frankly, I don’t think it’ll get changed. What I’m most interested in is that they leave us alone and we can do our projects the way we want to and so far they’ve done that. If they want to change I’m all for it.”
The North Judson Police Department had a total of 3,820 calls in 2011. The department had 832 traffic stops, 162 theft-conversion calls, 64 accident calls, 201 juvenile-family disturbance calls, 75 mischief-vandalism calls, and 55 assaults, battery and fighting calls. The officers also completed 12 Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated reports, 27 battery reports, 23 alcohol-drug reports and 116 adult arrests. 538 traffic warnings were also given in 2011.
Alisha scored a season high 25 points including three 3-pointers and 6-7 at the free throw line to help lead O-D to a 76-41 win over John Glenn. Alisha also added four steals in a great team defensive effort as the Lady Bobcats earned their 12th win of the year.
