Calling the future of IU Health Starke Hospital and the decision to be made on the Starke County Jail the two most important issues over the next five years, Commissioner Kathy Norem said a night should be devoted to providing information to the public on both issues.
The hospital administration was to attend the September 19th regular meeting of the Commissioners, but Norem thought the presentations would be more important than just being discussed with other county business.
The Starke County Courthouse elevator is scheduled to be up and running by October 1st.
That was especially good news to Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall who has been moving his docket to accommodate people who could not get to the third floor for legal matters, because they were unable to climb the steps due to disabilities.
The County Commissioners discussed cleaning the murals on the walls and ceilings at the Courthouse. A figure of $100,000 was initially used to do the work, but after a check with Jim Shilling, it was decided that it might be as low as $13,000. The Commissioners also discussed seeing if the Division of Historic Preservation might be able to release some grant money to help finance the project.
It’s almost that time of year again to start worrying about the flu.
Before you start getting a sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue or a horrible hacking cough, get vaccinated!
The North Judson-San Pierre Blue Jays improved their season record to 2-1 on Friday by defeating Rensselaer 26-14. The Jays had a good night through the air behind sophomore quarterback Caston Sanchez who threw three touchdown passes (to three different receivers) and nearly 150 yards.
The 32 hour National Institute of Corrections Conference in Denver, Colorado has given Starke County Deputy Bill Dulin a new perspective on how to plan for a new, remodeled or retrofitted jail.
As we heard earlier from Sheriff Oscar Cowen and Councilman David Pearman, now is the time for data collection. It begins with a request by Sheriff Cowen to have the National Institute of Corrections to come in and inspect the jail.
The Starke United kick-off event is scheduled for September 21st at 8:00 a.m. at the Knox Community Center.
WKVI’s Ed Hasnerl will be speaking during the event along with Irene Szakonyi and Knox Community School Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Peggy Shidaker. According to Starke United Executive Director, Julie Dessauer, they will be discussing programs that benefit from Starke United. Integrity Trade is sponsoring the day’s breakfast which will be catered by the Country Kettle.
Construction work continues on two bridges on U.S. 35 in Pulaski and LaPorte Counties.
An INDOT spokesman told WKVI News that work is just about complete on Phase 1 of the Quigley Ditch Bridge replacement project in Winamac. Crews will be paving the rehabilitated section of bridge in the next few days and traffic is expected to switch onto the new pavement by this Friday, September 9th. The other side of the bridge will then be rehabbed. Traffic restrictions should be gone by the end of October or early November unless inclement weather delays construction.
LaPorte resident, Mitch Feikes, recently announced his candidacy in the race for Indiana’s Second Congressional seat on the Republican ticket. He will face Republican Jackie Walorski in the Primary Election.
Sam Frain, Second District Republican Chairman, said the Republican party is a little concerned about his candidacy as a Republican.
The Community Services of Starke County staff is gearing up for the winter season. Cooler weather is right around the corner and they will soon be taking applications for energy assistance to households that meet income guidelines.
The Knox Elementary School PTO is collecting box tops for a fundraising event again this year. PTO President, Shelly Kemble, hopes to collect enough box tops to meet their goal.
“We are hoping for approximately $6,000 in Box Tops this year and that will put us over last year’s goal and prior years to that,” said Kemble. “Box Tops are easy to find. You can also go onto this website and register for daily contests. Send the Box Tops in with the students or drop them off in the Main Office.”
The comedy musical Nunsense A-Men! will be performed Saturday and Sunday, September 10th and 11th, by students from the Winamac Community High School Drama Department.
The event will be a dinner theater both evenings. A chicken dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m., in the school cafeteria, followed by dessert at 6:30 p.m., in the Socialtorium. The show will begin at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Wednesday, September 7th, is the final day to purchase dinner/show tickets which are $10.00. The show only tickets are $6.00 may be purchased up to showtime at the door. All current Winamac students will receive a $1.00 discount on their tickets. To purchase your dinner/show tickets, call the Winamac Community High School office at (574) 946-6151.
Nunsense A-Men! is written by Dan Goggin and is presented through special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
The production stars students Tyler Abbott, Jordan Morning, Ridge Parks, Caleb Schmicker and J.T. Garnett. It will be directed by Patrick Schuttrow.
It’s Labor Day, a national holiday observed since 1882, as a celebration of Labor.
It also is traditionally observed as the symbolic end of summer.
In the past, it was considered the last day of the season that women could wear white, and in later times, the last time men could wear white shoes.
Labor Day is coming this year on the heels of some promising news from the Starke County Economic Development Foundation Office. Executive Director Charles Weaver has had exciting announcements about Sabre and J.W. Hicks, Inc. in the past few weeks. Both announcements included promises of more jobs down the road.
Of course, the community is most anxious to hear about the Sysco project. That project has been hold for several years due to the economy. This summer has brought much speculation that something might be coming to the site near Hamlet.
Weaver, though, has not issued any information on the project except to say that he’s still very hopeful that it will become a reality. If the Sysco Distribution Plant would end up being built here in the not to distant future, it would be a real shot in the arm to a county that has been hovering around 10% unemployment for many months.
The residents between Culver and Argos are quite concerned about an announced plan to put huge wind turbines on property close to Lake Maxinkuckee.
The Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Council and the Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Fund are the latest to come out against the project that has been proposed by Florida based energy company NexEra.
Starke County Commissioner Kathy Norem recently led a group of county officials to a National Institute of Corrections Conference in Denver, Colorado where they studied the procedure for identifying jail needs and how a project moves along after a decision is made.
Norem also led officials on tours of other jails. One thing we have not heard is what the price range might be of a new jail. She talked about how she viewed the make-up and price of the Miami County Jail.
“Miami County was probably more suitable for something that we would want to see locally and that was around $12 million or $14 million.”
One thing the group heard in Colorado is that there is a danger with a jail in the condition of the Starke County Jail because of the possibility of lawsuits. The Jack Haut Class Action lawsuit is still moving through the legal system. Even though Kathy Norem has never expressed guilt in the suit, she has mentioned that there might be others that are brought with merit.
“Basically, that lawsuit is alleging his constitutional rights are being violated and we deny that. That is not true. We do not believe that to be true and we intend to vigorously defend that. However, that doesn’t alleviate us from addressing ongoing issues within that jail. One thing that we need to do is take a look at how other people are doing their facilities and what some of their policies and practices are and try to adopt some of the best ones here.”
Chief Deputy Bill Dulin of the Starke County Sheriff’s Department will be in to discuss jail issues with us tomorrow.
If you’re traveling this Labor Day Weekend, you know that gasoline prices are set to break the record for this time of the year. The average price of gasoline is already 60 cents higher than it was at this time a year ago.
The highest gasoline prices on Labor Day are in Connecticut, which has an average price of $3.97 a gallon, while Alabama is the lowest at $3.48.
Here is just some of the news that made the news in the Kankakee Valley this week:
Officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department investigated an accident involving a pickup truck and a moped at the intersection of 600 East and 700 North last week. The driver of the moped, Divvad Niebuurt, of Grovertown, was airlifted from the scene. Niebuurt was hit by a pickup truck driven by Brandon Ferch. Niebuurt apparently failed to stop at the intersection, pulling into the path of Ferch. Ferch was not injured in the accident. Continue reading
Andy Thomas of Culver Community Schools has announced that the starting time for tonight’s football game has been pushed back until 7.30pm eastern time due to the heat.
The Knox Redskins played host to the Winamac Warriors in the first game of this season. The Redskins came out on top 41-0, and had over 400 yards of total offense.
