Here is just some of the news that made the news in the Kankakee Valley this week:
Herman Hopkins, of Knox, was arrested Saturday, June 4th, after he allegedly broke into the residence of Virginia Neace and battered her son. He was also reportedly in possession of stolen goods from the residence and the residence of Tony and Nina Radkiewicz.
The Starke County Election Board continues to look into the consolidation of several polling places.
The Starke County Commissioners discussed a claim submitted by Treasurer Linda Belork for stamps that she says are required to send out delinquent bill notices. The claim, which was for $6,000, was denied because the Commissioners felt they were unable to justify spending such a large amount of money on stamps with the necessary data to back up the claim. Belork was informed that she will need to pull her records and find a more specific number of stamps required for mailing.
Several citizens of Pulaski County approached the Commissioners with a slide presentation detailing many issues and potentially false figures with the proposed airport expansion project. The presentation also argued the reasoning behind the proposal.
One of the reasons that was given for the airport expansion project was that increasing the length of the Arens Field runway to 5,005 feet would decrease insurance premiums for corporate aircraft. In the presentation, insurance premiums are “based on pilot age and experience, history of claims, expected hours of operations.” Also, the Airport Layout Plan states that the proposed action would have no effect on business or economic activity in the project area or local public service demands.
Second District Congressman Joe Donnelly confirmed this week that he is part of a group of Democrat Representatives who are urging President Barack Obama to tap into the Strategic Premium Oil Reserves.
“These prices are outrageous,” said Donnelly. “I’ve asked the President to open up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve right away. I am trying to lead the fight against speculators. We need to be an energy independent country. We need to open up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and go after speculators. If we do those things, we will see prices drop.”
The Knox Community School Corporation, along with IU Health Starke Hospital and Starke United, are teaming up to offer a Kindergarten Countdown program that will begin Monday, June 20th. The two week Kindergarten mini-camp is for those students entering Kindergarten who have had no exposure to Pre-School. Peggy Shidaker, Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Knox schools, says this is a great jump start program for these children.
Several complaints have been received about cars traveling too fast between Pearl Street and Indiana Street in Hamlet, and the Town Board approve changing the speed in that area to 20 miles per hour. Because there are often children playing nearby, the Town Marshal originally approached the Board to request the installation of a stop sign on Short Street to slow traffic, but Board Members Curtis Simpkins and Kerry Stone were uneasy about the idea. Instead, they changed the speed in that area from 30 MPH, and will put reflective tape on the sign to ensure drivers notice the change.
Here is the Best of “TOMT”
A car caught fire in the McDonald’s parking lot in Knox this morning. No injuries were reported and the Knox-Center Township Fire Department responded to the scene. The car was owned by Bill Wallace. There is no report yet on how the fire started.
US 421 is now open in the San Pierre area where NIPSCO crews were working to correct a gas leak that occurred last night around 8:00 p.m.
According to police, a person was driving his vehicle traveling in the area of State Road 10 and US 421when he left the roadway and struck a telephone pole. The vehicle ran over a NIPSCO gas main causing a gas leak. The vehicle landed on its top. The driver was treated at the scene and eventually taken to IU Health Starke Hospital.
For safety reasons, residents were evacuated from the area. The accident remains under investigation.
Clean-up efforts continue at the Holloway Motel. In April, Starke County police discovered active methamphetamine labs at that location. Six individuals were arrested in the raid and face several methamphetamine related charges. The Indiana State Police Clandestine Lab team was called to remove the three active labs.
The IU Toxicology Lab was recently audited and was found to have erroneous marijuana lab results that could potentially cause trouble in cases that involved those test results. Starke County Prosecutor, Nicholas Bourff, said he has received two notices involving marijuana cases.
“The toxicology department notified us several months back that they were being audited on some tests from between 2007 and 2009 that some mistakes may or may not have been made. Regardless, they have to notify us of those. We got our first two in and they arrived Monday morning. I’ve been reviewing those two and they were both on misdemeanor cases in Knox City Court and I believe they were from 2008. So far, I haven’t quite been able to determine if those results had anything to do with the outcome of their cases,” said Bourff.
An ordinance regulating dog kennels was discussed at Monday’s Starke County Commissioners meeting. The Planning Commission has been working on this ordinance for several years, and it has been sent back to the Planning Commission with several comments from the commissioners to consider for correction. The maximum number of dogs that would be allowed outside at any time is six, but the Commissioners had a concern with that and requested it to be changed.
The Starke County Relay for Life event is this Friday and Saturday and event chairperson, Megan Hamand, says the committee is really trying to get the survivors engaged in the event.
“What they’ve gone through, it’s an amazing victory and they really deserve to be celebrated,” said Hamand. “We have a new survivor chair, Michelle Downs, who is really passionate about survivor engagement. We’ve got a special scavenger hunt for them, we have a special lap just dedicated to survivors and caregivers, we have prizes, we have a reception with a birthday cake because a world with less cancer is a world with more birthdays.”
The Knox High School renovation project is moving along. Superintendent A.J. Gappa said crews are replacing the water pipes in the building now and the water main has been shut off to the building so construction can continue. The School Board approved two bids Monday that pertain to the project.
Several cases were dismissed, others were modified, and some were set for trial in the Starke Circuit Court this week.
Jamie Jones, with her attorney Richard Ballard, was scheduled for jury trial Tuesday morning but was able to reach an agreement for three felony cases. Jones was charged with possession of a controlled substance, a trafficking charge, and a third charge of possession of stolen property. She was able to reach an agreement in which the third charge, possession of stolen property, would be dropped, but she would receive one year in the DOC for possession of a controlled substance and five years for trafficking. None of that sentence would be suspended, and they would be served consecutively.
Jackie Walorski announced in a press release this week that she had received the endorsement of seven Second District Republican Chairmen in counties that account for more than 80% of the population in her district.
Walorski received the endorsements of Brenda Stanojevic of Starke County, Parish Foerg of Pulaski County, Dale Stickel of Elkhart County, Deb Fleming of St. Joseph County, Keith Harris of LaPorte County, Chad Hartzler of Fulton County, and Barton Ewer of Miami County.
A Starke County mint farmer has pleaded guilty to knowingly discharging pollutants without a permit in violations of the Clean Water Act.
Michael Materna, 56, of Hamlet was operating a still which harvests mint leaves and distills them to create mint oil. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, water that was heated to temperatures of 160 to 190 degrees and mint oil was also being discharged from the facility into a roadside ditch which then flowed into the stream. The water reportedly scalded a dog to death when Starke County resident, Pete Dailey’s, dog entered the heated water. Charges were filed May 31st as a result of an investigation by the Envrionmental Protection Agency-Criminal Investigation Division and IDEM.
Sheriff Oscar Cowen approached the Starke County Commissioners on Monday to look into the possibility of increasing fees for some of the services they provide. Currently, Starke County charges significantly less for services compared to other counties in the area, and Cowen feels that implementing new fees and raising current prices could help with budget problems they’ve been experiencing.
The storm water improvement project in Hamlet in now substantially complete, according to Territorial Engineering and the Hamlet Town Board. Van Janovic with Territorial Engineering, the firm that handled designing and overseeing the project, requested the Board to consider the project substantially complete and approve a change order. This would allow them to receive some of the final payments for the project.
Tom Dermody, the State Representative for District 20, was present at the Hamlet Town Board meeting Tuesday night. Because of redistricting, Dermody may soon be the representative serving Starke County, Knox, and Hamlet. Dermody has been attending town hall meetings in both the new district and his current district, which covers the majority of LaPorte, Pulaski, and Jasper Counties, along with some of Porter County.
“I will be hopefully having the opportunity to serve Starke County, Knox, the Town of Hamlet, and so I’m spending my summer here once session is over going around not only to the current district that I represent but also the new district to learn about the issues as we prepare for legislation, and seeing what we can do to help the local communities,” said Dermody.
