Two Arrested after Police Find Meth Labs

Posted on Author WKVI
Traci Jacobs
Richard Warner

Officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department arrested two after one pot method meth labs were found in a residence in North Judson on Thursday.

Officers received information about the whereabouts of Traci Jacobs who was wanted on two warrants for Failure to Appear. A detective from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department contacted the bonds company and sent agents to 6190 S. 250 W. in North Judson. The agents said that they had Jacobs in custody as well as Richard Warner, of North Judson. They also notified the Sheriff’s Department that there were several pop bottles in the bedroom closet that appeared to be one pot meth labs.

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Starke County Commissioners to Hear from Skillman Corporation Representative about Jail Construction

Posted on Author WKVI

A representative of Skillman Corporation out of Merrillville will be in attendance at the Starke County Commissioners meeting tonight. After listening to a presentation from Scott Cherry last week, the Starke County Jail Committee voted to invite him to the Commissioners’ meeting to discuss jail construction and remodeling. Cherry oversees all operations from the Merrillville office.

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SCILL Center Students Collect over 400 Coats during Coat Drive

Posted on Author WKVI
SCILL Center

The SCILL Center students have collected quite a number of coats during their coat collection drive.

“At this point in time, we collected over 400 coats! It’s unbelievable! We put together a little contest for our kids and it looks like our winner is a young man from LaVille High School, Tyler Wickizer, and he went door-to-door in his neighborhood in Lakeland and collected 147 coats by himself,” said Director, Jerry Gurrado.

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Street and Highway Departments Gearing up for Winter Weather

Posted on Author WKVI

The thought of snow is certainly not appealing, but the thought that the County Highway Departments and the City Street Departments are ready for the snow is very appealing.

The Starke County Highway Department told us that they’re ready for winter weather. The salt shed is full with road salt and sand and the snow plows have been serviced and ready to tackle the roads.

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Janeen Berndt to Leave Ancilla College

Posted on Author WKVI
Janeen Berndt

After spending eight years as a member of the nursing faculty at Ancilla College, Janeen Berndt is ready to move on—much to the sadness of her coworkers.
Berndt was the first full-time nursing faculty member that was hired at Ancilla, and currently holds the position of Assistant Professor of Nursing. She recently found an opportunity to work at Western Governors University as a Student Mentor, and she feels that’s an opportunity she cannot pass up.

Berndt said it would give her the extra time to spend with her children, and she’s excited for the position because it will give her the opportunity to work with graduate students. Berndt said she will miss the faculty and the students more than anything, and said leaving Ancilla will be like leaving her family.

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Plans Made to Expand Safe Routes to School in Winamac

Posted on Author WKVI

The Winamac Town Board, Safe Routes to School Task Force and Friends of the Panhandle Pathway are getting together to make the Panhandle Trail accessible to the residents of Winamac.

A plan is in the works to extend the Panhandle Pathway north to Winamac, connecting to Superior Street. This will allow the Pathway to connect to the Eastern Pulaski School Corporation. It will be paved with stone and later paved with asphalt. This will be a safe route to school for children and it will also be a safe walking and bike route for everyone.

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Collections for Pulaski County United Fund Continue

Posted on Author WKVI

The Pulaski County United Fund is still collecting donations for the 2012 campaign.

The Pulaski County United Fund gives money to the Sagamore Council Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana-Pulaski County Scouts, Pulaski Memorial Home Health Care and Hospice, Pulaski County Human Services, Pulaski County Family YMCA, North Central IN Rural Crisis Center-Pulaski County Residents, PEAK Community Services-Winamac, Salvation Army-Pulaski County Service Extension, Pulaski County REACT and the West Central Educational Foundation.

The United Fund is now encouraging you to participate in its holiday season campaign, “Sharing with United Fund”. Now through Christmas, join them in their “Share” a $1.00 campaign. With nearly 13,000 people in Pulaski County, $1.00 can make a difference. For more information, visit this website.

Five Star/WKVI Food Drive a Success!

Posted on Author WKVI

Tom Berg and Nathan Welter discuss the food drive on the air.

The 2nd Annual WKVI/Five Star Food Drive was a success Saturday!  Several carts of food were donated from patrons in the community who helped make the holidays a little better for those in need this season.  Food and cash donations were accepted and totals will be announced next week.  Thank you to all who contributed and Happy Thanksgiving!   Continue reading →

Week in Review for November 14th-18th, 2011

Posted on Author WKVI

Here is just some of the news that made the news in the Kankakee Valley this week:

Jennifer A. Wallace

The Pulaski County Prosecutor’s Office has filed two counts of Theft against Jennifer A. Wallace who was recently arrested after allegedly stealing tanning product inventory and cash from Ladybug Laundry and Tan in Winamac.

Dispatchers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department and surrounding departments encourage you to remove batteries from old cell phones before giving them to children to play. This will help reduce accidental calls to 9-1-1 centers.  Continue reading →

Provisional Ballots Counted in Starke County Clerk’s Office

Posted on Author WKVI

Republican Donna Henry increased her victory margin to six in the North Judson Municipal Election for Clerk-Treasurer today. The provisional votes were inspected and of the four votes examined, two were approved and two were rejected. The two votes for Henry gave her a 223-217 victory over Connie Miller, the Democrat Incumbent.

Also picking up two votes was Tim Cummins, Republican, for the Town Council Ward 3 race. His new vote total is 278. The vote total for his opponent, Democrat Daniel Anderson, stayed the same at 162.

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Plymouth Police Department Investigates Business Burglaries

Posted on Author WKVI

Officers from the Plymouth Police Department are investigating burglaries that occurred at the Remembrance Center and New Attitudes Hair Salon on North Michigan Street in Plymouth. Police say that unknown suspect(s) had made forced entry into the two businesses in the overnight hours of November 18th and removed a large television and an undisclosed amount of money. These two businesses had also been burglarized on November 9th. Anyone with information regarding these burglaries should contact the Plymouth Police Department at (574) 936-2126.

Starke County Woman Arrested after Lying to Police about Report

Posted on Author WKVI
Heather Wilson

Heather Wilson was arrested by officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday after she allegedly filed a false police report.

On November 11th, Wilson reportedly told police that a male subject asked her for jewelry and other items. She said that he came into the house, grabbed her, hit her in the face, and held up a knife to her before taking prescription medication that belonged to her mother. Wilson gave police a description of the suspect and said that he left the scene on foot. Wilson was later taken by ambulance to IU Health Starke Hospital for having a panic attack.

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Provisional Board to Validate Ballots in Municipal Election

Posted on Author WKVI

The Provisional Board will meet this morning at 10:00 a.m. in the Starke County Clerk’s office to determine if provisional ballots in the North Judson Municipal election will be allowed. Four votes were deemed provisional in the election, which is the number of votes that separates the outcome of the Clerk-Treasurer’s race between Republican Donna Henry and Incumbent Democrat Connie Miller. Henry won the election by a vote of 221 to 217.

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Fred Boggess II Found Guilty

Posted on Author WKVI
Fred Boggess II

A Starke County jury found Fred Boggess II guilty of all five counts filed against him. The jury found him guilty of Dealing in Methamphetamine, Possession of Methamphetamine, Possession of Chemical Reagents or Precursors with the Intent to Manufacture, Driving While Suspended and False Informing.

The two-day trial had several witnesses called to the stand in Starke Circuit Court, including an Indiana State Police officer who specializes in Clandestine Lab Team investigations.

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Sewer Separation Project in Winamac Nearly Complete

Posted on Author WKVI
Winamac Town Hall

The sewer separation project is nearing an end in the Town of Winamac.

Clerk-Treasurer Judy Heater told us that three-quarters of the paving is done and all streets affected with the project should be finished today. The Town’s fall paving schedule was combined with the project’s paving schedule so more could be done and the work is being handled by E&B Paving and Central Paving. Heater said the businesses have been very cooperative during this long process.

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Starke United/WKVI Radio Auction Scheduled for December 2nd

Posted on Author WKVI
Starke United

The Starke United/WKVI Radio Auction is two weeks from today.

Julie Dessauer, the Executive Director of Starke United, tells us about the event.

“The Radio Auction will be on WKVI K99.3 FM on Friday, December 2nd, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT,” stated Dessauer. “Auction services will be donated by Osinski Auction Service and communications and space are donated by CenturyLink. It is at the CenturyLink warehouse which is on the corner of John and Pearl Streets. Our viewing times are Thursday, December 1st from 4:00-7:00 p.m. and Friday morning from 9:00-10:00 a.m. and then the auction starts at 10:00 a.m.”

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Some Indiana Teachers Frustrated with Red Tape

Posted on Author WKVI

Education in Indiana in the 21st Century is not the satisfying profession it was 25 years ago according to Dennis Norman, the Area 1 Director of the Indiana Retired Teachers Association.  Norman visits with retired and current teachers and administrators as he travels throughout his nine county area and he tells us what they’ve been telling him about what they’re feeling today.

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Porter-Starke Facilities Tobacco Free

Posted on Author WKVI

During yesterday’s national observation of the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout, Porter-Starke Services implemented its organization-wide tobacco free policy.

The policy took effect at all Porter-Starke offices in Knox, Valparaiso and Portage. Porter-Starke implemented a tobacco-free policy among its employees in 2007 and the clients of the Inpatient Care Center in 2009. While there will be no tobacco use allowed on Porter-Starke property, the organization will provide healthy alternatives to tobacco use on-site, including nicotine replacement options, tobacco cessation resources and healthy alternatives in its ongoing programming.

Starke County Chamber’s Annual Meeting Scheduled for Today

Posted on Author WKVI
Debbie Mix

Starke County Chamber members will be hearing today about another successful year. Chamber Executive Director, Debbie Mix, told us what she will be telling the membership.

“I do the highlights of the year which include the different events that we had,” said Mix. “I will mention the Schricker Award, the AM Starke Counties that we’ve had, the fundraisers which include the Mint Festival booth and our Business Expo, and then I’ll mention the upcoming Shop Local event.” Continue reading →

Swearing in Ceremony Scheduled for CASA Volunteers

Posted on Author WKVI

Ron Henningsmith, Director of the Starke County CASA organization, is announcing that a new class of CASA volunteers will be sworn in by Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall on Monday, November 21st, at 4:00 p.m.

CASA, or Court Appointed Special Advocates, is a nationwide organization that acts on behalf of children in court cases.

According to the CASA website, 71 of Indiana’s 92 counties have CASA organizations. There are almost 3,000 volunteers statewide.