Hensler Nursery’s Annual Classic Car Cruise-In will be held this Sunday, October 2nd, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. CT. Last year’s Cruise-In featured over 60 cars. The show is open to all vehicles and there will be no gate or admission charges. The Award Presentation is at 2:00, dash plaques will be given to the first 100 entries and other door prizes will be awarded.
Hensler’s “Fall! All over the Place” continues concurrently with horse rides to the pumpkin patch. Both the Christmas Barn and the Fall Decorating Barn will be open. Pumpkins, gourds, straw, and mums are available in the yard. Food service includes pulled pork sandwiches, beef sandwiches, assorted cakes, apple dumplings, and….a possibility of Hensler’s home made vanilla and pumpkin ice cream!
The 39th Annual Indiana State School Music Association (ISSMA) marching band season begins with District contests at seven sites Saturday, October 1st.
More than 16,000 students in 168 high schools will participate.
The Regionals are October 15th at four sites, and 10 bands representing four classes will then be selected for the State Finals on October 29th at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
In his book, “Who pulled the plug on English Lake”, Bob Statchura has copied many old newspaper articles about different subjects in the Kankakee area. One subject is railroading. Here are a couple of those articles.
1930
Iceless Refrigeration Car—from the Feb. 8 issue of Prairie Farmer
The automatic iceless refrigerator car is operated from the axle of the car as it is in transit. The material
used for the reduction of temperature is ammonia and brine as is used in refrigerators in the home. The car is equipped for temperature control and can be set and left to maintain an even temperature as long as the car is moving. When the car stops the motor stops but the car will maintain its previous temperature for 72 hours. If it is desirable to keep the motor running, it has an electric motor that can be operated by plugging into an electric switch.
Some of the advantages are: the new car is lighter in weight; there is no stopping for ice, which will save
switching charges and labor bills of the train crews. Salt and brine used in the old cars has always done much damage to railroad property but this is eliminated in the new car.
The cars are being manufactured at North Judson, Indiana.
1931
Radio Pictures ―Danger Lights, first great railroad melodrama of the talkies comes to the Gayble Theatre [North Judson] as a stirring tribute to the stout hearts who keep the wheels moving.
Railroad men will appreciate the countless authentic touches of ―Danger Lights the roundhouse
operations; the emergency clearings of landslides and washouts; plunging long freights over mountain passes;
the headlong stride of the limited Greyhounds with their deluxe coaches; all the stirring glory of railroading
novel sound and talk.
Danger Lights was filmed over the right of way of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific road, and
the cast covering more than 30,000 miles before the film was completed.
A short movie of Danger Lights can be seen on youtube —–
Knox City and Starke County officials put their heads together this week to see if they could come up with making the Knox City Court solvent. The court, which handles judicial matters from throughout the city and county, is running close to $100,000 in the red. Officials and others gathered for a work session Tuesday night before the regular Knox City Council meeting.
Have you been pleased that gasoline prices have dipped recently? Do you think it’s because consumption is down around the country? Don Good, at Good Oil in Winamac, says gasoline prices have been disconnected from supply and demand for a long time.
“Everything is driven off the markets,” said Good. “I think when China started coming out and saying that they were intentionally slowing down their economy, and then rumblings started about the Greek debt crisis and the European debt crisis. The stock market started to fall and gas prices went right with it.”
The Starke County Sheriff’s Department was called to a one vehicle accident on State Road 39 on Tuesday.
A witness told police that he saw Vivianna Hernandez, 33, of Knox, southbound on State Road 39 near 200 South and she left the roadway, hit a mailbox and then hit a tree. Officers determined at the scene that she had been drinking at the time of the accident. She was taken to IU Health Starke Hospital for injuries sustained in the accident and for a blood draw to determine blood alcohol level. The results of that blood draw are pending.
The November General Election is nearing and so is the deadline to register to vote. The last day to register is Tuesday, October 11th.
If you have a valid Indiana driver’s license or Indiana state-issued identification card can use the online service. You can visit this website to register or update your voter registration card. If you have moved since the last time you voted, you should update your information. You may also register by mail or in-person at a county voter registration office, the Indiana Election Division or a branch office of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
The Knox City Council, on a unanimous vote Tuesday night, gave Mayor Rick Chambers the go-ahead to do the sidewalk work on the Courthouse square to make it ADA accessible.
“We’ve discussed doing something with that sidewalk to make it handicapped accessible on the west side of the Courthouse and I’ve talked with several contractors,” said Mayor Chambers. “We’ve went over ADA regulations and I’ve talked with the Commissioners and I don’t feel comfortable just diving into that project without having it engineered.”
On Friday, October 7th, the Knox Middle School will host a Fitness FUN-draiser to promote the importance of living a healthy life style. Students who raise $10 are eligible to participate in the walk-a-thon, students who raise $15 are eligible to participate in the boot camp activity, students who raise $25 are eligible to participate in the dance, and students who raise $100 or more are eligible for a field trip on October 13th to Life Plex. All Middle School students are looking for sponsors.
The members of the Legacy of Women Organization in Starke County are working on a project to help fund the education of a woman, or women, in the county. The scholarships would be awarded to an individual, or more than one, who have expressed interest the reason for continuing their education to better their life through an essay.
Legacy of Women spokeswoman, Sherri Bartoli, said this week that the applications have been received and scored. The applications are now in the hands of the Northern Indiana Community Foundation who will tabulate the scores before announcing the recipient, or recipients.
During the downturn in the economy, a lot of people are in need of the bare essentials. Over 250 families a month have depended on the Starke County Food Pantry to help feed their families.
Now Knox High School student, Taylor Kemble has stepped out, and on her own, put together a rummage sale to help buy food for the pantry.
“This year it will be at the Knox United Methodist Church and it will be this Friday, September 30th, from 3:30-5:00 p.m. and Saturday, October 1st, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.,” said Kemble. “All proceeds will go toward the Starke County Food Pantry and all items will be $.50 unless otherwise marked.”
Donations will be accepted today from 4:00-6:00 p.m. at the Knox United Methodist Church.
The Starke County Planning Commission discussed the proposed dog kennel ordinance at their meeting last week.
Dan Bridegroom suggested that a commercial kennel definition in the form of an I.C. code be added to the ordinance. Bruce Williams, Administrator/Building Commissioner, suggested adding the phrase “more than four and less than 20 unaltered female dogs that are at least twelve months of age” to the ordinance under commercial kennel definition. Commission Counsel, Steve Dodge, added that if more than four male or female dogs are at one residence, the homeowner will need a kennel license. The changes were approved by a vote of 5-3 and now the revised ordinance will be sent back to the Commissioners for their approval.
Oregon-Davis School Superintendent, Dr. Steve Disney
Dr. Steve Disney, the Superintendent at Oregon-Davis Schools, has been chosen the District One Superintendent of the Year for 2012.
He is one of seven superintendents in the State of Indiana to be selected on a vote of their peers. As a winner, he will represent District One in the American Association of School Administrators National Superintendent of the Year Program.
This image is from the Indiana State Fair stage collapse. Photo from abc.com
An interesting legal question might have to be answered in conjunction with the right to recover damages in the Indiana State Fair stage collapse on August 13th.
Attorney Ken Allen, a wrongful death attorney, filed a wrongful death suit on behalf of Beth Urschel whose partner, Tammy Van Dam, died as a result of the tragedy. The suit was filed August 19th. Urschel and Van Dam were wed in Hawaii. But Van Dam also has a daughter. It will be interesting to see if the courts allow Tammy’s daughter or Urschel to receive any money awarded.
A Knox man was arrested after he reportedly admitted to stealing an air conditioning unit from Mark’s Body Shop on Saturday, September 24th.
An employee at Mark’s Body Shop reported that the air conditioning unit had been stolen from the business at 253 E. John Street. A witness stated that he saw two male subjects in an older model white Ford Ranger with blue markings on the side pulling out from the west side of the building, according to the police report. He told police that he believes the subjects stole an air conditioner that was located on the west side of the building. The witness said that he observed the large unit in the back of the truck.
73 rural and volunteer fire departments from 46 counties across Indiana have been awarded more than $310,000 in Volunteer Fire Assistance grants from the Department of Natural Resources.
The DNR Forestry staff reviews grant applications and selects recipients based on population density, acres of public wildlands protected, and wildlife fire reporting to DNR Fire Control Headquarters. Grants can be used for training, installation of dry hydrants, or purchasing necessary firefighting equipment and personal protective gear. Local fire departments that receive grants must match the grant with cash or in-kind contributions.
Starke United’s Board has approved the reallocation of funds to enable Community Services to provide the matching funds for 125 meals to the homebound elderly, matching funds for 133 hours of homemaker service to the elderly and disabled and for the preparation and printing of the Starke County Resource Directory. The Starke United Board also approved $1,500 for the food pantry in July after allocating $2,500 for the pantry in April.
It was 71 years ago today that one of the defining moments in Starke County history occurred. On September 28th, 1940, LaPorte had been chosen as one of 73 sites in the country for the construction of an ordnance plant. That led to the building of the Kingsbury Ordnance Plant better known as KOP.
For residents of Starke County and those who followed them here, that meant loading shells, assembling fuses, boosters, detonators and primers, and packing complete rounds of ammunition.
After the government had cleared all the families off the 13,454 acres of land it had purchased, it began construction of KOP. By May of 1942, the number of people employed reached a high of 20,785. Nearly half of the people employed were women. For many it was their first job outside the home.
They went to Urbana, Illinois and now they are paying the price. In the most recent legislative session, Democrat Minority Leader, B. Patrick Bauer, of South Bend, led his fellow Democrats out of the state to, as he said, work on legislative bills that mattered to working people. The Republicans viewed it as a stall tactic to defeat bills offered by Governor Daniels and the Republican majority.
House Speaker, Brian Bosma, finally resorted to imposing a fine for every day the Democrats failed to appear in their house seats. 17th District State Representative Nancy Dembowski (D-Knox) was one of the members that followed the Democrat delegation to Urbana.
