Social Security offices in Northern Indiana will begin closing their offices at 3:30 p.m. local time after August 15th.
The Michigan City, Elkhart and South Bend Social Security offices will be open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Other offices throughout the State of Indiana and the United States will also reduce their hours.
“We’re moving ahead getting ready for the 201-2012 school year.” That was what was said yesterday by Culver Community School Corporation Superintendent, Brad Schuldt.
Since the announcement of the closure of the Monterey Elementary School, there have been preliminary efforts by some in Tippecanoe Township in Pulaski County to lead an effort to break the township away from Culver Community Schools, and attach it to another district, possibly Eastern Pulaski Schools.
Schuldt would not speculate on whether Culver would fight such a move, saying only, “That would be a board decision.”
As far as a number of students leaving and going to Eastern Pulaski next school year, Schuldt would only say “we won’t know that figure until the first day of school.” Even though students could go without paying tuition, Tippecanoe’s taxes would still support the Culver Community School Corporation.
Two Knox residents were arrested Friday on charges of Burglary and Theft.
Knox Police Department officers were called to the Woods Apartments for a report of burglary. Christopher Acevedo and Amanda Hamilton told police that when they returned home, a computer, an XBox system and games were missing from their residence. Police later went to the Pawn Shop and found that their XBox system was recently pawned. One suspect, Charles Barnett, allegedly pawned the XBox and tried to pawn the computer but didn’t know the password so the pawn shop would not accept that item. The other suspect, Rhonda Gayheart, then came into the store and stated that they were pawning the computer for a friend and didn’t know the password. After a while, Gayheart, who reportedly lives in the same apartment complex as the victims in the burglary incident, reported an attempted break-in at her apartment. She didn’t report anything stolen.
Officers from the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department arrested two Winamac residents at a campground on methamphetamine related charges yesterday afternoon.
Police were called to a Pulaski County campground for a report of suspicious activity. A person who is familiar with the residents and campers at the campground noticed a vehicle that appeared out of place. Officers arrived and found 24-year-old Jeffrey L. Jacobs and 35-year-old Michael Mills in Possession of Methamphetamine and Possession of Paraphernalia. They were transported to the Pulaski County Jail on those preliminary charges.
Addictions councilor, Leo Smith of Porter-Starke Services, presented a Lunch and Learn program yesterday on distinguishing drug and alcohol abuse from drug and alcohol addiction.
“We talked about the difference between social usage of drugs or alcohol, abuse of drugs and alcohol and dependence and addiction,” said Smith of the presentation. “We really tried to separate what the differences are and the importance of knowing the differences.”
We’re nearing the end of July already and pretty soon kids will be getting ready to go back to school. In fact, the Knox Community School Board recently reviewed the registration dates and times for students that will begin next week.
Knox Elementary, Middle and High School students will register beginning Tuesday, August 2nd through Thursday, August 4th. Superintendent A.J. Gappa highlights a couple of back-to-school events in August.
“We’re going to hold Back-to-School Night on Monday, August 15th and that will be in all three buildings from 4:00-6:00 p.m.,” said Gappa. “Freshmen Orientation will take place on Wednesday, August 10th from 8:00-11:00 a.m. and students will report for the first day of school on Tuesday, August 16th.”
Workers from the Indiana Department of Transportation are working on the Quigley Ditch Bridge on U.S. 35 in Winamac as part of a bridge replacement project. The project began on Monday, July 11th.
The Starke County Election Board will be meeting this morning to discuss a number of items needed for the General Election on Tuesday, November 8th.
Clerk Evelyn Skronski says the Board will touch on a few other items including the consolidation of some precincts.
“We’re going to try and consolidate some so we can eliminate some of the precinct costs,” said Skronski. “We’re also going to talk about a grant that’s available to make the precincts more handicapped accessible. Those are available through the State. We received one last year so I don’t know how good our chances are this year, but we’re going to discuss putting in for that. Of course, the public is always welcome to attend our meetings.”
The cast of Nunsense-The Mega Musical is back on the stage tonight at Argos High School. Director Becky Liechty said that she has sat through all of the rehearsals and she still has a good time watching and laughing as the actors bring the characters to life in this musical comedy.
Liechty gives us a quick review of the musical.
“Sister Julia, Child of God, is the convent cook and she has made some vichyssoise soup which turns out to be poisonous. 52 sisters die. Believe it or not, this is a comedy…it really is funny. They bury 48 of the 52 sisters and then Reverend Mother buys a Plasma TV for the convent thinking there’s enough money to bury the last four and there isn’t. Now they’re putting on this fundraiser which makes it a show within a show so they can raise the money to bury the rest of the dead sisters. It’s a really funny show.”
With the Bass Lake Festival coming up this weekend, the DNR would like to remind you that a new law went into effect July 1st that prohibits “Wake Surfing” or “Teak Surfing” behind certain motorboats.
Teak Surfing is now illegal behind all motorboats powered by an inboard engine, an inboard-outboard engine, or an outboard engine while the boat’s engine is running. This includes just hanging onto the swim platform with the motor is running.
58 years ago today, the armistice was signed ending the Korean War. Korea was divided at the 38th Parallel at the end of World War II. That left Korea with two governments. In June of 1950, the North invaded the South. A United Nations force, led by the United States, entered the war in defense of the South, and after three years of fighting the border was again established at the 38th Parallel.
Whoa — what is velocipede? Generally it was an old term for a bicycle or a vehicle on wheels propelled by a human being. It also describes a vehicle used by the railroad industry for rail inspectors – see attachment. It was a light enough vehicle that the operator could easily pull it off the tracks if a train approached him.
In his book, McCormick’s Guide to Starke County (1902), Chester McCormick talks about the different factories in Starke County. North Judson had two pickle factories, an artificial stone factory, a wholesale frog and turtle industry, a cigar manufacturer. Knox also had two pickle factories, a handle factory, a lumber mill, two grain elevators, a tomb stone factory and a velocipede factory. His little book is online and you can read about some of these items on pages 18. The attachment can be found here.
A velocipede factory ????? You know factories and other businesses come and go. One sees this all of the time on the Radio, TV or in the newspaper. Well, apparently, Marion McCormick’s Velocipede factory came and went, also. I can’t find any reference to a velocipede factory in any of the the other history books. So, what does one do when looking for a velocipede factory in Starke County? You Google it, of course. And finally, there it was – the U.S. Government patent for Mr. McCormick’s Velocipede. What he was making was a kit that you could put on your bicycle to be able to travel the railroads. Think about this. Some of the towns in the county had stone roads – some may have had brick streets in the downtown area. But most of the county didn’t have solid roads – most country roads were still sand roads. Did you ever try to peddle a bicycle through loose sand? So, if you had Mr. McCormick’s bicycle attachment and wanted to go from North Judson to Knox, you could hop on the railroad track and start peddling. Ah, a nice, smooth ride. But, watch out for trains!
In finding his patent, we also now have all of the other government patents in our files for Starke County. See attachment for the velocipede patent’s front page.
Jim Shilling
Starke County Historical Society
Three people were arrested after an alleged harassment and stabbing incident.
On Friday, July 22nd, Knox City Police officers were called to a residence on Bender Street in reference to a harassment and battery. Kayla Thompson reportedly told police that she and Jeff Gibson were being harassed by Shayna Howard, Geoffrey Madison and Ed Diersen who were driving by the property. Thompson said that Shayna Howard allegedly came up to her and hit her. When Thompson was screaming for help, Jeff Gibson came from a bedroom inside the home and was walking toward the back door when Geoffrey Madison allegedly walked into his house and hit him when he was coming around the corner. Gibson then reportedly grabbed his pocket knife and stabbed Madison in the stomach.
The Plymouth Fire Department was called to an apartment fire at Garden Court apartments at 5:04 a.m. ET this morning.
Fire Chief Andy Metzger told WKVI that a 3rd floor apartment started on fire and the entire building was evacuated. The fire was caused by an electrical issue with the refrigerator. Marshall County Emergency Management Agency officials and the Red Cross are currently providing temporary housing for the residents living in the apartments on the entire third floor due to heavy smoke damage in the apartment building. Metzger said that no one was injured in the incident.
Dusty Kasten, 40, a Washington Township Volunteer Firefighter, was killed in an ATV accident on Friday, July 22nd. A firefighter service will be held tonight at 8:00 p.m. and the service will be at the Washington Township Community Center. The DNR is reportedly investigating the accident.
The Adult Learning Program of Pulaski County has been assured office space by the commissioners after being approached by Miche Grant, vice president of the Center of Workforce Innovation in Valparaiso, and Robert Hronum, teacher at the adult learning center.
The county currently provides office space at no cost to the center, allowing them to put more revenue into teacher resources and material instead of paying rent. Grant said the commissioners have been supportive of the program since the beginning, and that support has really paid off: since September, nine individuals have earned their GED, and two people left the program because they gained employment.
The Starke County Election Board appeared before the County Commissioners last week to get approval of the new boundaries for the State Senate Districts and the State House Districts as a result of the State’s redistricting process. County Clerk, Evelyn Skronski, said that two districts will represent Starke County for the House.
Starke United Executive Director, Julie Dessauer, announced yesterday that emergency funding has been approved for the Community Services of Starke County Food Pantry. A check was sent to the food pantry in the amount of $1,500.
The Food Pantry has expressed the need for donations during the summer to help the 220 families it serves each month. The food pantry has received much needed donations from the public and can use more. For more information on how you can donate, call Cecilia Torres at 772-7070.
The Starke County Community Foundation is offering three unique scholarships this summer.
The Back Home Again in Indiana scholarship is for non-traditional students including those who want to advance in their current field or re-enter the job market. Applicants must live in Starke County.
The Legacy of Women Scholarship is also for non-traditional students and is exclusively for Starke County women who are invested in their communities as well as working towards a college degree.
Ed Hasnerl is inviting you to go on another fun-filled adventure with him to Branson. Ed says you will be leaving on October 17th for Branson.
“A number of the folks who are going on this trip with me have been to Branson with me before,” said Ed. “This is our ninth trip.”
Ed said each trip to Branson is a little different.
“There are 100 different shows in Branson and we try to give a variety. Some we do go back to and see – some of the favorites. We are going to a repeat program this year. We’re going to see the Oak Ridge Boys, but we haven’t seen them in nine years.”
