For the first time in a long time, the Knox Elementary staff will hold parent/teacher conferences. Since the state mandated that all schools have 180 full days of instruction, that dropped the ability to have parent/teacher conferences during the day so they were eliminated. Superintendent A.J. Gappa said that they’re bringing them back next week.
The Kankakee Valley Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #129 in Starke County received a donation from a Knox Elementary student, Kindergartener Jack Guzman.
The student collected money he found around the house and collected small donations from family members. He donated his money in support of the F.O.P.’s program “Shop with a Cop”, which is a program that allows officers and auxiliary members of the F.O.P. to take children from throughout Starke County shopping for school clothes and supplies.
Knox-Center Township Fire Chief, Kenny Pfost, has been giving us fire prevention tips this week in observance of National Fire Prevention Week. Today, he talks a little about the Fire Department:
“It’s a 25 member department,” explained Pfost. “Shawn Kidder has been doing a great job with fire prevention. Actually, he did a headstart program and and elementary school on Monday.” Continue reading
The Knox Redskin Brigade will be performing in the Regional Marching Band competition tomorrow at Chesterton High School at 1:49 p.m. CT. Knox will be in competition with the John Glenn Falcon Pride band in Class C. John Glenn will play at 1:10 p.m. CT.
Plymouth will be performing tomorrow at Lafayette Jefferson High School at 6:35 p.m. ET. If the bands advance from the Regional competition, students will perform in the semi-state competition and then on to State competition at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Just because it’s October doesn’t mean the Knox City Park crew is idle. Park Superintendent, George Byer, and his assistant, Clarence Marshall, have been working on playground equipment. Maybe your children would enjoy the refurbished spring loaded animal ride on the east side of the park. It’s been refurbished to make it ADA acceptable. One piece of equipment, the handle bars, had to be custom made.
The heart of the community has been torn asunder following the tragic loss of a Knox High School student. Andrew “Drew” Shearin was a 17-year-old junior whose life touched an unbelievable number of hearts before he was prematurely torn away from his family and friends, spurring an unbelievable amount of sorrow in the community.
“Drew was an extremely popular and engaging student and will be greatly missed by his peers, our staff, and the Knox community,” said Knox High School Principal Elizabeth Ratliff. “We also offer our heartfelt sympathies to the family for their loss.”
A reward of $1,000 is being offered by the owner of Five Star in Knox for information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of persons who broke into the store early Monday morning. The burglary took place sometime after 1:00 a.m.
The burglars used an acetylene torch to try to cut into an ATM machine, but no money was stolen. The police told WKVI news that the suspects broke into the store by prying open the back door.
A change of venue has been granted by Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall in the lawsuit filed by former Starke County Treasurer Linda Belork. The suit was brought about after Belork’s August 11th dismissal of her duties as treasurer of the county. Belork was relieved of her duties by the County Commissioners after a state audit reported financial discrepancies. According to a later commissioner’s report, some of the discrepancies have been cleared up by the Auditor’s office.
Ethan Lowe, Belork’s attorney, asked for a change of venue from Starke County. Representing the County in the matter is attorney, Martin Lucas.
A Knox man is recovering after being attacked by a dog at a residence at 2320 East 200 South on Thursday, October 6th.
Marshall Garlach saw his neighbor’s child in his front yard and didn’t know if his neighbor knew he was at his house, according to the police report. Garlach walked the boy home. He opened the gate to enter the property and walked the boy up to the door. It was when Garlach started back toward the gate and the attack began. He said the male dog knocked him to the ground and then the female started to attack him too. Garlach told police that he didn’t know how he did it, but he got away to call 9-1-1.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board learned this week that only 4% of the 2011 Winamac High School graduating class are not in some type of post secondary training, or working at a job.
The budget for the year of 2012 was approved by the Culver Community School Board this week, with one disappointing detail: a loss of $558,000 in funding compared to last year. According to Superintendent Brad Schuldt, this decrease in funding is due to a number of reasons.
The restoration grant from the state has been reduced to $0, as well as the small schools grant. In addition, the change in the formula used to calculate funding for schools was changed at the state level, and declining enrollment due to a variety of reasons also played a part in the decline of funding.
The EMS building in Culver will soon be under repairs on the eastern side of the building. EMS Director Chuck Dilts told WKVI that the drain pipe running underneath the east side of the building was found to be leaking and as a result, the drain pipe as well as a concrete wall and sidewalk above it need to be replaced.
Knox-Center Township Fire Chief, Kenny Pfost, has another fire prevention tip in honor of National Fire Prevention Week.
“Never leave your home with candles burning,” said Pfost. “We’ve had a lot of fires where people leave home and they forget to put a candle out. Keep them away from curtains.”
Heating bills for NIPSCO customers are expected to decrease by 7.7 percent this winter. Market projections indicate that this winter, natural gas prices will remain among the lowest in more than 10 years.
The Knox community continues to mourn the loss of Knox High School Junior, Drew Shearin. Drew died in a car accident on State Road 8 east of Knox late Monday night.
Drew was a Drum Major for the Knox Redskin Brigade, who is set to take the field Saturday for the ISSMA Regional Marching Band competition to compete for a chance for the State title in Indianapolis on October 29th. Director Craige Phipps says that the band will march in Chesterton this Saturday.
The Knox City Council meeting began last night with a heated exchange initiated by Republican City Council candidate, Thom Morin. Morin charged impropriety in his opponent being able to campaign at the Knox Center-Township Volunteer Fire Department annual pancake breakfast Sunday morning.
Donald Kring, the Democrat candidate, said following the meeting that he only did what has traditionally been done at community events in the past when he placed campaign material on the tables. He said he asked for permission before the breakfast began and was informed that all candidates could avail themselves of the opportunity if they so desired.
With the recent petition in Tippecanoe Township to deannex from Culver Community Schools Corporation and reannex into the Eastern Pulaski School Corporation gaining support, Culver schools find themselves in a tough spot. Because funds follow the students, a loss of students because of the deannexation could hurt Culver’s already tight budget.
The petition is still being circulated and has not yet been presented to the Culver School Board. The board will have to approve it in order for the process to continue; however, approving it could mean the loss of many students and a large chunk of federal dollars.
Superintendent Brad Schuldt says that though the board has not yet officially seen or heard anything, they will handle it when the time comes.
Winamac Wastewater Superintendent, Brad Zellers, came before the Winamac Town Board this week to report on the $5.2 million dollar sewer separation project. Zellers said the project is actually ahead of schedule and that all of the pipes are in the ground. The installation of some manholes and catch basins have yet to be completed. Also to be determined is if the compaction is adequate to pave the streets. IDEM rules are that the pipes must be in the ground 30 days before the paving can begin, which would put it in the middle of November.
With his trial only a day away, Mark Griffin told the Starke Circuit Court that he would like to plead guilty. No plea agreement was submitted, but Griffin told Judge Kim Hall that a recommendation had been agreed on by Prosecutor Nick Bourff and Defense Attorney Richard Ballard. Griffin said that he no longer wants to take his case to trial because he has been unable to get in contact with the witnesses he had planned to bring forward.
The Quigley Ditch Bridge replacement project on U.S. 35 in Winamac is nearing completion. This project began in July.
The bridge deck should be poured in the next week or so and if weather cooperates, the area should open up with the removal of the temporary traffic signal the week of October 24th. The Indiana Department of Transportation informed WKVI that there may still be some work beyond the last week of October, but any restrictions will be handled by flaggers.
