The 52 members of the Community Choir performed twice yesterday at the Knox United Methodist Church. It was the 14th season for the annual Christmas Cantata and was performed and dedicated to the memory of Jim Keen, who sang in the choir for 10 years before his untimely death earlier in the year.
Because of illness, Director Jim Oliverius was replaced by Nan Folkers and Brian Liechty.
Wreaths were laid at the Starke County Courthouse military memorial yesterday as part of the Wreaths Around America program. Wreaths, which were donated by Hensler’s Nursery, were laid in the ceremony yesterday that involved both American Legion and VFW members.
Honored were our nation’s war heroes both past and present.
The small town of Pulaski in Pulaski County continues in its tradition with displaying spectacular Christmas light displays.
It all started in 1989 with one tree and three nativity scenes. It’s now up to 200 different lighting displays. Barb Crist tells us how they get up so many lights in a short amount of time.
Potter set the date yesterday in Jasper County Court. The suit has been venued to Jasper County from Starke County after Judge Kim Hall recused himself from hearing the case.
Although bookkeeping errors in the treasurer’s office were eventually identified, the commissioners have continued to block her resumption of duties. Last week an interim treasurer, Kasey Clark, was selected by the Democrat County Precinct Committee. On Monday, the commissioners affirmed that Clark would receive full treasurer’s pay as long as she is in charge of the office.
If Belork is eventually successful in the Jasper County suit, Clark will be required to step down.
Councilman David Pearman commented on the issue that when county begins making ALS runs, that is going to open up a new revenue source, but at the same time there will be more activity for the rigs. Pearman also noted that there are many municipalities that are privatizing their ambulance service, so there as some quality used rigs available if they can just be found.
Commissioner Dan Bridegroom said that the ambulances the county currently owns need to be thoroughly checked for issues, but it’s hard to take them out of service to do so. Another issue is that with the older rigs, parts are not always available.
A motion was made to seek the transfer of the money for the purchase of the new rig or two used ones by Commissioner Jennifer Davis. The motion was approved unanimously.
Recently changed during the 2011 redistricting process, Indiana Senate District 8 now encompasses the majority of La Porte County including the City of La Porte and the western part of Michigan City. It also includes Western St. Joseph County and Davis, Oregon, Washington, Center and Jackson Townships in Starke County.
“As a former sheriff, public safety issues have been, and will continue to be, a legislative issue of particular importance to me, “Arnold said.
Senator Arnold resides in La Porte, Indiana, along with his wife Lauren. They have seven children and twelve grandchildren.
“We came out approximately $3,000 ahead of last year. Our total came out to about $10,400, which is great,” said Dessauer. “I definitely wanted to make sure that we did some special thank yous for WKVI, first off, Century Link, and Osinski’s Auction Service. Those were our three major components in pulling the auction off, and then of course there was all of the business participants that donated everything.”
And how about those Bears tickets? They brought in almost $600.00 for four tickets. Dessauer was happy with that, partly because she’s a Bears fan.
“They absolutely did, that was wonderful. I know that there was some fighting over them and everybody was really happy to get them,” said Dessauer.
The $50,000 campaign goal is almost in sight, according to Dessauer.
“A typical campaign would close out the end of December. Ours has typically ran a little longer than that,” Dessauer said. “I’m hoping to close out by the end of January, and we are still a little bit shy of the goal so we want to make sure that we do a little boost there and we still have appointments for businesses that want to do an employee campaign.”
Congratulations to Starke United, and a big thank you for the people who have supported the campaign.
The Legacy of Women organization in Starke County recently awarded scholarship money to local students. The organization’s spokeswoman, Sherri Bartolli, told WKVI more about the funding.
“We have, this Fall, offered scholarship money to women who are going back to school and trying to promote themselves, either in a different career path or going back to school and finishing something that they haven’t been able to since high school. And I do have Rae Humphrey here, she was awarded the most amount of money. We gave her $1000 to apply towards tuition and books or however the school felt that she would need it,” said Bartolli.
Humphrey enrolled in college later in life, but that didn’t put her at a disadvantage.
“I was 44 when I enrolled, and sometimes I was the oldest kid in the class,” she said.
Humphrey says she has always had a passion for the medical profession.
“As a mother, I’ve always taken care of people and nursing fascinates me. I’m always watching medical shows on TV,” laughed Humphrey. “That’s one of my passions.”
Humphrey said she was ecstatic when she won the award, and said it’s going to be put to good use.
Also receiving scholarship money were Kristy Nolcheft in the amount of $750; Dawn Bailey, $500; and Rebbeca Poindexter, $250. This is the first year that the Legacy of Women has distributed money for scholarships.
If you would like more information on how to become a member of the Legacy of Women, contact Sherri Bartolli at the 1st Source Bank office in Knox.
The fundraiser is for the North Judson High School Music and Drama Department, and will start at 3 p.m. with a silent auction in the atrium along with the Madrigals and some of the band members, who will be performing select songs.
At 3:45 p.m., the doors to the main auditorium will open, where a concert will take place at 4 p.m. MC’d by Tom Berg and featuring the Maxinkuckee Singers, the concert is sure to please all in attendance. The Singers will be performing everything from sacred numbers to holiday favorites, and is expected to last about an hour.
Underwood says that the Singers have been together for a very long time, and perform a spring show and a holiday show each year.
The cost is $7 for adults, $5 for children and students, and a $20 special price for families. For more information regarding the event, you can reach Underwood at (574) 772-0911.
The Toy Store provides toys, clothes, food, and other items to people that have signed up for assistance for the holidays. Pulaski County Human Services, Inc. have been holding the food store annually for several years, and they don’t plan on stopping.
Elderly Services Specialist Rosetta Podell told WKVI that there are several different ways people can help out with the organization.
“If you’d like to sponsor a family and buy clothes for them, you can contact us and we’ll get you the agents of the children and their clothes sizes. And we can always use monetary donations for our food baskets as well,” Podell said.
Of course, donations aren’t the only thing the organization needs for the Toy Store. Volunteerism is a necessary thing, and Podell says that anyone interested in volunteering is more than welcome to come by.
“We have several people lined up to come, but the more people that we have the more smooth it goes so anybody that would like to stop by, we’ll put them to work!” she said.
The Knox VFW and American Legion posts will participate Sunday in the Wreaths Across America program. Three wreaths, donated by Hensler Nursery, will be laid at the Courthouse Memorials at 1 p.m. CT. There will be a short ceremony conducted by the veteran’s organizations.
Wreaths Across America is a national campaign to honor our fallen heros, and Knox is one of 545 locations across America that will participate in the program.
Most of wreaths will be laid at Arlington National Cemetery.
Kankakee Valley All-Area Football Team
Offensive Line
Jordan Culp-West Central
Danny Francis-John Glenn
Matt Hurford-Culver
Dustin Knapp-North Judson San-Pierre
Brennon Morning-Winamac
Quarterback
Collin Stevens-Culver
Running Back
Josh Anderson-John Glenn
Ethan Biggs-South Central
Tight End
Charlie Dreessen-John Glenn
Wide Receiver
Micah Budzinski-Culver
Erik Beckman-North Judson San-Pierre
Defensive Line
Spencer Dobson-West Central
Dalton Moore-South Central
Tucker Schultz-Culver
Ryan Williams-John Glenn
Linebackers
John Ahlenius-Culver
Kendall Hochstedler-North Judson San-Pierre
Chantz Marlatt-West Central
Hunter McClellan-Knox
Defensive Backs
Michael Hamilton-West Central
Micahel Minix-North Judson San-Pierre
Jon Stewart-John Glenn
I.U. Health LaPorte is the lessee of the local facility, and according to David Hiatt, who explained the offer to local officials in October, five to seven million dollars in capital needs are required at the hospital.
“We have significant needs that must be addressed now before we start planning for the long-term facility, or what is going to happen long-term,” said Hiatt.
The case stems from the removal of Belork as the treasurer of Starke County in August. She was dismissed by the commissioners when a State Board of Accounts audit turned up discrepancies of several thousand dollars in the office. Since that time, all the money has been accounted for and the defendant is seeking to have the court reinstate her back into the office. Today’s appearance by the lawyers is set for 10:30 a.m. before Judge John D. Potter. This is only a status conference with no testimony being heard.
Last week the Starke County Democrat Party named Kasey Clark as the Interim Treasurer of the county following Belork’s removal from office.
That’s the message the county commissioners would like to send by agreeing to a $200,000 investment in Plymouth Tube’s expansion into Pulaski County. The commissioners agreed this week to invest up to that amount from their SEEDIT fund to support the expansion, assuming the project comes to Pulaski County.
The town of Winamac will possibly be investing $400,000 in the project as well. Currently, the Winamac substation is unable to keep up with demand and requires an expansion to function at full capacity.
In addition to creating extra jobs, the average wage for these positions is expected to rise to $16.45 per hour by 2014. According to Community Development Commission Executive Director Nathan Origer, approving the tax abatement would show businesses that Pulaski County is “open for business,” and Commissioner Kenneth Boswell agreed.
“At our recent meeting, our spotlight on success was Charles Ratliff, who’s our writing teacher at the elementary school. I think we’re one of the few area schools, or maybe in this part of the state, that offers as a special in the elementary a writing class, so every student in our elementary gets to visit Mr. Ratliff on a regular basis and get instruction specifically in writing,” said Gappa.
Gappa explained more about a special writing project the students completed.
“Last spring, as a project for the writing classes, Mr. Ratliff submitted 500 poems that our students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade had written to the national schools project which is based out of Boise, Idaho, and what they do is only publish student works from throughout the nation and we had 200 students in our elementary school that had been selected to be published in their annual edition of their poetry work,” Gappa said.
At Knox VFW Post 748, veterans and others observed the anniversary. World War II veteran Joe Smrt, who said he was attending church choir practice when he heard the news, remembered the attack.
“Twenty-one ships of all kinds were attacked, damaged, or sunk in the sneak attack. In addition, there were 2400 or more casualties of military personnel. There were eight ships in battleship role that were badly damaged with the Arizona being sunk,” Smrt said.
Smrt said after the attack, President Roosevelt asked congress to declare war on Japan. In a little-remembered account, Smrt said two of the United States high command were relieved of their duties.
“Admiral Kimmell and General Short, commanders of the naval and army forces respectively, were promptly accused of dereliction of duty, and were relieved of their command. They were falsely accused, as facts later discovered would prove. The truth is that the administration and higher brass in Washington, having had information from intercepted Japanese intelligence reports, had withheld the information for one reason or another from Kimmell and Short,” Smrt explained.
Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1941– a day that will live in infamy.
The Rotunda tree will be loaded and will reside at Hensler Nursery over the weekend. Presentation at the Indiana Statehouse will take place Monday, December 12.
Additionally, besides the Rotunda Concolor Fir, Hensler Nursery will be providing the Lt. Governor’s office with an eight-foot Fraser Fir. Both of these Starke County grown trees will grace the Statehouse during December, bringing fresh, fragrant, Northern-Indiana-grown Christmas trees to Indiana’s capitol.
A petition that has been circulating since the closure of Monterey Elementary School by the Culver Community School Corporation has finally made its way to the school board. The petition, which has gathered 641 signatures, requests deannexation from the Culver School Corporation with the hope of being annexed into the Eastern Pulaski School Corporation. According to Superintendent Brad Schuldt, Monterey Town Board President Jim Fleury presented the petition to the board at this week’s meeting.
Fleury explained that Tippecanoe Township has a total of 840 landowners, so 641 signatures is an overwhelming majority.
Continue reading
The Starke County Commissioners heard this week that the codification of all county ordinances is about to be completed. The commissioners were notified that of the 180 ordinances reviewed by Municiple Code Corporation of Tallahassee, Florida, 121 were removed.
A review of the Plan Commission ordinances is still being conducted.
In all, the review cost the county approximately $15,000 but the ordinances will soon be listed on a website that will be constructed by MCC. The website, it is promised, will be easy to navigate by both county officials and the public.
Deputy Auditor Suzanne McCarty assisted with the project.
