Friends may call from 4 until 8 today at the Braman and Son Memorial Chapel for Tom Belcher who passed away this week after a lengthy illness.
Tom was well known for his radio work at WKVI radio, but was also known for his singing, dancing, and acting.
Miss Sandy Martinkus was Tom’s dance teacher. She remembers him today.
The Pulaski County YMCA is hosting its first ever large Tippecanoe River float event. The float will launch from Haschel Bridge at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10.
“This is a free event to anyone who would like to participate. Our goal is just to have a fun day where families can come out and do something together as a group,” said Cara Dulin of the YMCA.
Pulaski County Commissioner Kenneth Boswell told Commissioners Tracey Shorter and Michael Tiede that he has received requests to legalize the use of ATVs on county roads. There is a state law that restricts the use of ATVs on public roadways and according to state law, all ATVs must be registered through the DNR. Commissioner Michael Tiede was asked about the Board’s decision regarding this request:
“The county attorney said that that probably won’t happen because of the state law says that they’re not licensed vehicles. And also, I don’t know if we need four-wheelers and golf carts driving down the road at a slow pace, especially a golf cart on a road that’s 55 miles per hour,” said Tiede.
Ancilla College will be hosting a New Student Orientation today. The orientation will begin at 9:30 eastern time on the grounds of the Ancilla College campus and is open to all new Ancilla College students and their families.
Students and parents will be able to learn about student activities, athletics, financial aid and safety and security. They can also register for classes and receive new student identification cards and parking passes.
They will also offer lunch to all in attendance. If you would like an individual tour of the campus call 574-936-8898 ext. 330.
Pulaski County Prosecutor, Stacey Mrak, asked the Commissioners to reconsider their decision to deny the reimbursement of sales tax on some purchases previously made. She told the Commissioners that it should be paid and that county tax dollars are not being spent in this reimbursement. The payment would be less than $20.
Commission President Michael Tiede was asked about their decision regarding Mrak’s request.
“The board was for the office holder to fill out the reimbursement for sales tax and then submit it to the auditor and the auditor will take care of it from there,” said Tiede.
The Knox Community School Board learned the results of the recent Indiana State Police bus inspection. Superintendent A.J. Gappa has the report:
“Once again, all of our buses have passed inspection. Mr. Jensen and Mr. Croft at the bus barn do a good job of keeping the buses updated. All of our buses are ready to go and that’s a good thing for the corporation,” said Gappa.
Gappa said more buses are going to be added to the fleet.
“We plan on keeping all the current buses and we have one ordered that should be in later this Fall. It will be one of the larger buses. We’re also anticipating possibly buying another minibus to add to the fleet,” Gappa said.
The Starke County Council discussed the audit of the treasurer’s office at this week’s council meeting. The council, at the recommendation of President Mark Smith and 1st Source Bank gave Auditor Kay Chaffins the ability to monitor various bank accounts and checking accounts. Councilman Smith talked more about this action.
Is the City of Knox considering getting out of organizing the 4th of July fireworks celebration? The officials haven’t said they will stop producing the show, but it’s apparent that something has to be done to help with funding.
At the most recent meeting of the City Council, Mayor Rick Chambers announced that $4200.00 was lost on the 2011 presentation.
“We maybe need to form a committee and try to get Judson and Hamlet and the County on board with us so we can continue this. The city can’t afford to continue paying that kind of money, and time’s only going to get worse from the looks of it,” said Chambers.
The $4200.00 shortfall was taken from the city’s Edit Tax distribution, and the mayor said that absolutely couldn’t happen again.
After five and a half years as director of the Starke County Public Library, Ellen Dodge has announced her resignation. Effective Aug. 31, Dodge’s retirement marks the end of a dedicated 17 years of service to the library.
“When I first came I selected fiction materials and helped people make choices for their recreational reading. I’ve been a reference librarian and was head of the reference department for several years,” said Dodge.
Originally born in Chicago, Dodge spent the majority of her life growing up in Laporte County. She later earned her Bachelor’s in Biology and a Master’s in Library Science, and worked in hospital laboratories and research labs before getting a job at the library.
Robert and Susan Rowles have been selected as the Grand Marshals for the Hamlet Yellowstone Trail Fest parade this weekend.
Robert has lived in Hamlet since he was 2 years old. Growing up in Hamlet he was very busy; in his lifetime he has worked at his stepfather’s car dealership and the Thompson Smith Company. He also served in several positions with the county, and was a Hamlet Town Board member for 12 years.
In the Democrat Caucus held at North Judson last night, Dan Anderson defeated Guy Gardin 49-33 and Jane Ellen Felchuk defeated Mandy Brewer 43-39.
The Pulaski County Commissioners heard from Courthouse and Justice Center Maintenance Director, Morry Demarco, about the water problem in the basement of the Courthouse.
Demarco said that the water wasn’t coming into the basement because of the foundation. The water was not being directed away from the building and the drains were full of pine needles and other debris which caused the water to overflow and seep into the Courthouse. Demarco had gotten quotes from two companies who could fix the problem for $4,100 to $5,500. He went in and installed some piping around the Courthouse that is now directing the water from the Courthouse structure to the street. The cost to fix that problem was only $80.
At the recent meeting of the North Judson Town Board, Fire Chief Joe Leszek told the council that the several members of the department are currently working on becoming certified 1st Responders. Leszek said that when they do become certified, they will need to get a new firetruck because the current truck only seats three people.
Leszek told the council that he estimates a used truck would cost about $50,000, but said he will check with the township to see if they can possibly contribute any funds to its purchase. A decision will be made on the matter in the future.
Why can’t the nation’s unemployment rate improve? In July, the rate did dip slightly from 9.2% to 9.1% but the number of unemployed people is still 139,000.
One person who is encouraged is Second District Representative Joe Donnelly who sees the economy ready to take off again soon. He spoke with WKVI News about his take on the recent economy.
The Starke County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an incident involving alleged neglected dogs.
According to officials at the Sheriff’s Department, a resident called police on Friday to report that her neighbor is neglecting her dogs. There were dogs inside the residence and no one had been around for days. A couple of days later, police received a call from a resident stating that her dog had been stolen and she believed her neighbor took the dog and sold it in Chicago. On Sunday, police went to the residence at 2230 East and 150 South in Knox, owned by Joanne Coronado. Officers obtained a search warrant and found 12 dogs inside the residence. They were removed from the premises and were released to the custody of the Starke County Humane Society. The health department was also called to the scene and after an investigation, condemned the residence.
We received word that former WKVI morning on-air personality, Tom Belcher, passed away early Tuesday morning. His health had been failing in recent months and was just transferred to Golden Living Center in Knox this week and he passed away at IU Health Starke Hospital.
Tom graduated from Knox High School in 1987 and began as the morning DJ at WKVI in the mid-1990s. He had a great talent for music, singing, dancing and entertaining the residents in the Kankakee Valley. He was 42 years old.
Funeral services are pending with the Braman and Son Memorial Chapel in Knox.
Memorial services were held yesterday at the Indiana State Fairgrounds for those who lost their lives or were injured in the tragic event Saturday night at the Sugarland concert. Among those at the memorial was Dianne Semento of Kouts who was there to honor the memory of one of her best friends, Tammy Vandam of Wanatah. Vandam was one of five people who lost their lives. She leaves behind a 17-year-old South Central student, Courtney Vandam.
Yesterday, Tom Berg spoke with a person who attended the concert. Nicki Frazier was leaving the concert when the stage collapsed.
“We had gotten up to leave because we knew it was going to rain, but we heard the stage collapse and we just saw everybody running and screaming and yelling,” Frazier said.
Although she and her husband Bill did not see the stage came down, she heard it.
“We heard it. We were still in the stadium and heard everything fall but we didn’t actually witness it. I actually thought there was a tornado coming. It was just chaos, everybody was running and screaming and yelling and just trying to get out of the way. People were frantic on their cell phones, looking for family members or friends that they had gone to the concert with,” said Frazier.
Ted Hayes joined Tom on the air and asked Nicki how close to the stage their seats were.
“We were the sixth row in the stands,” said Frazier.
Frazier was asked if there was any warning before the storm hit.
“No, one of the radio stations employees came out and said if the weather got bad, everybody would be moved to the coliseum, and that’s actually when we were getting up from our seats. It wasn’t even windy at that point, and by the time I had gotten down the steps to the front of the stadium, the wind was just blowing and there was trash blowing and the dirt was blowing. You couldn’t keep your eyes open long enough to see anything because the dirt was so bad,” said Frazier.
Eight days after Andy Howes was laid to rest with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetary another hero went to her final resting place in Knox. Mira, a retired bomb sniffing dog was laid to rest at the Knox VFW Post with full military honors Saturday. Mira had served in both Iraq and Afghanistan for 8 years. She served her country with great honor before being returned home in 2009.
She was adopted by Don Thomas and retired to his farm near Grovertown. There she lived in peace and tranquility until her passing on June 30 at the age of 12.
Before her death, she was inducted as a full member of the Knox VFW Post #728 and the Hamlet American Legion. Thomas reported that he was told that Mira was shot twice and wounded once in a bomb blast.
We at WKVI salute Mira, and are proud to have her final resting place here in Starke County.
More than 10 years ago, Cheryl Runkle lost her class ring. Thanks to a Facebook Group called “If you grew up in Knox, IN, you remember when,” the ring has been returned, after traveling all the way from Indiana to Florida and back again.
An employee of a gas station in Hamlet found a ring during one of the festival weekends, and turned the ring in to Maxine Rowe, who was the manager of the gas station at the time. The ring was kept in a drawer until its rightful owner could be found, but several months later, all hope was lost. Rowe took the ring home and has been trying to find its true owner ever since.
“Every time I’d look at it, it was like, ‘Man I really need to find out who owns this ring, but how am I gonna do this?’ Then I saw those people on there and I thought somebody has to know somebody that lost a ring that graduated in that year. She just happened to be on there,” said Rowe.
Rowe had posted a comment on the Facebook group, asking if anyone from the Knox High School graduating class of 1985 had lost a class ring. Coincidentally enough, Runkle was the first person to reply to the post, less than ten minutes later. After describing the ring to Rowe, Runkle’s hopes were confirmed after she received a picture of the ring online.
“It was like winning something, you know. It was just like, what? Is it mine? Is it me? That’s the way I felt, is it me? I can’t really describe how it felt. It was great. Then there was the whole suspense, because she didn’t comment right away, and then she said she believed it could be. I think the most exciting thing was that everybody else was so excited too,” said Runkle.
The entire conversation between Rowe and Runkle concerning the ring caught the attention of many members of the group. Several people also replied to the post, saying they were engrossed in the unfolding of the event, sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to learn if the ring had finally come home.
“It was meant to go home, and I put a little note in there: ‘I’m finally home,’ with the ring. I put on a little stickie note and put it on there,” said Rowe.
Runkle has received the ring and confirms it is hers. After more than 10 years on the lam, the ring has returned halfway across the country to its proper owner.
The Pulaski County Commissioners discussed agricultural irrigation during their recent meeting.
Commissioner Kenneth Boswell commented that he has gotten several complaints from drivers and motorcyclists about irrigation spraying ditch water into the roadway. They are complaining that it’s stagnant ditch water and that it’s being sprayed into their vehicles if the windows are down and the slick road conditions could cause an accident. Commission President Michael Tiede was asked to comment on the discussion after the meeting:
“I personally got calls about it from people riding motorcycles to new cars, you know, getting the stinky water on their cars or people having their T-tops open. Kevin Tankerslee, the county attorney, is thinking there might be a state law. He’s going to look into it and try to find out what can be done because this seems like a big concern,” said Tiede.
