Accident Causes Gas Leak in San Pierre

Posted on Author WKVI

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 Continues at Holloway Motel

Posted on Author WKVI
Holloway Motel

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.

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Starke County Prosecutor Receives Report of Erroneous Toxicology Lab Results

Posted on Author WKVI
Nicholas Bourff

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.

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Starke County Commissioners Discuss Dog Kennel Ordinance

Posted on Author WKVI
Starke County Commissioners ( L to R ) Kathy Norem, Dan Bridegroom, Jennifer Davis

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.

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Starke County Relay for Life Focuses on Survivors

Posted on Author WKVI

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.”

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News from Starke Circuit Court

Posted on Author WKVI

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.

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Jackie Walorski is Gaining Endorsements

Posted on Author WKVI
Jackie Walorski

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.

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Starke County Mint Farmer Pleads Guilty to Discharging Pollutants without a Permit

Posted on Author WKVI

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.

Starke County Sheriff Requests Increase in Fees for Services

Posted on Author WKVI
Sheriff Oscar Cowen
Sheriff Oscar Cowen

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.

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Storm Water Improvement Project in Hamlet Substantially Complete

Posted on Author WKVI
Hamlet Town Board: Curtis Simpkins, Kerry Stone and Bob Yung

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.

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State Representative Tom Dermody Visits with Hamlet Town Board Members

Posted on Author WKVI
State Representative Tom Dermody

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.

Knox Community School Board Approves Small Cafeteria Price Increase

Posted on Author WKVI

The Knox Community School Board approved a small increase in cafeteria prices for the 2011-2012 school year:

“This year the State is requiring schools to increase by at least a dime,” said Superintendent, A.J. Gappa. “We’re going to hold our breakfast the same but we’re going to increase our lunch price at the Elementary, Middle and High Schools by $.20. Next year, our breakfasts will still be $1.10 for each student at all of the buildings, but lunch at the Elementary School will be $1.70 and lunch at the Middle School and High School will be $1.95.”

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Knox City Police Department Acquires Hummer

Posted on Author WKVI
Knox City Police Department Hummer

The Knox City Police Department recently acquired a 1985 Hummer from the Federal Surplus Property Acquisition Program that Police Chief Clint Norem said they received at no cost to the Department.

“Any property that the Federal Government has or has purchased and no longer needs is made available to law enforcement agencies throughout the United States,” explained Norem. “In order to acquisition this property, we submit an application to them and once approved, we’re assigned an ID and we can go to a website and review this property. Anything that can be used by our department, we submit the request. Once they review it and we can provide a reason of how we can use it and they agree with that, then they will allow us to pick up the property.” Continue reading →

City of Knox Fireworks Celebration July 2nd

Posted on Author WKVI

The City of Knox Fireworks celebration is scheduled for Saturday, July 2nd at the Starke County Airport. Mayor Rick Chambers said the gate will open at 4:00 p.m. so you can take advantage of all the pre-fireworks activities.

“Besides the many food booths, we’ll also have a remote control model airplane club putting on a demonstration all afternoon,” previewed Mayor Chambers. “We will have some ramps set up for a BMX bike riding display and we will have the local Ham Radio Club set up and putting on a demonstration. The Fire Department is sponsoring a car cruise-in and for an additional $5.00 you can cruise down the runway at the airport behind the fire trucks. The best part is that the entry fee for all of this is still $5.00 a carload.”

Thieves Hit Medaryville Marathon Station

Posted on Author WKVI

A burglary occurred at the Marathon Station in Medaryville on Sunday, June 5th.

The power had gone out in the store late Saturday and the store was forced to close. At approximately 1:30 a.m. ET, an employee drove around the store to check on it and all doors were secured. The store manager arrived at the business about four hours later and discovered the west door had been kicked open. The suspect(s) went into the cash register area and forced open a change box, but no money was reported missing. After a preliminary inventory check, it was found that seven to eight cartons of cigarettes were stolen, seven or eight 24 pack cases of beer were stolen along with an unknown amount of alcohol.

The police continue to investigate this incident. An Indiana State Police Crime Scene Technician was called to investigate the scene. If you know anything about this incident, call the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department and leave an anonymous tip at (574) 946-6655. The case has been turned over to Pulaski County investigations and the Medaryville Police Department.

Bridge 156 Project Still Hopeful to be Complete by Fall Harvest

Posted on Author WKVI
County bridge #156 over the Robbins Ditch

The Starke County Commissioners received a promising update regarding Bridge 156 over the Robbins Ditch on Range Road on Monday. Surveys are expected to be done soon, Debco has provided the loads on the trusses, and everything is expected to be back in operating order in time for our local farmers to use the road during their busy harvest season.

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Pulaski County Commissioners Grant Request for Full-Time Health Nurse

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

Terri Hansen of the Pulaski County Health Department informed the Commissioners this week that she has received a letter from the entire health board requesting permission to hire the current part-time nurse as full-time, which would help tremendously with the amount of work they are now required to do. Last week, the Health Department began charging an administrative fee for vaccinations and other shots, and this has been generating roughly $200 per day. With this new income, hiring the employee full-time should not be a problem, especially since the additional cost of the employee would be covered by the Master Tobacco grant money, and the only cost to the county would be to cover her benefits.

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Star City Man Arrested on Methamphetamine Related Charges

Posted on Author WKVI
Nathan VanDerAa

Nathan VanDerAa, 33, of Star City, was arrested in Monterey on Friday, June 3rd, on suspicion of Possession of Methamphetamine.

An officer from the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department reportedly saw VanDerAa pass by him and noted that he was speeding on 700 North in the area of 450 East. As the officer was turning around to follow VanDerAa, the officer allegedly saw VanDerAa’s left hand reach out of the driver’s window and let go of a bright white bag. The officer retrieved the bag and it contained a white powdery substance that later field-tested to be positive for methamphetamine.

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Two Injured in Motorcycle Accident in Pulaski County

Posted on Author WKVI

Officers from the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department investigated a single motorcycle accident on Tuesday, May 31st, near the intersection of 1000 South and 1400 West. The driver of the motorcycle, Kyle Anderson, 23, of Buffalo and his passenger, Joshua Anderson, 21, were traveling westbound on County Road 1000 South when the motorcycle collided with a deer. The motorcycle then struck a concrete culvert and a utility pole. The pair were located in the ditch on the north side of the roadway and were airlifted to South Bend Memorial for their injuries. The extent of their injuries is unknown. Alcohol is not suspected in this case.