Do you feel like you’re a yo-yo when it comes to gasoline prices? If you filled up Tuesday night or early yesterday morning you were lucky because by mid-morning the gas prices had spiked higher. Prices that had fluctuated between $3.60 and $3.80 for a gallon of regular suddenly were up to $3.95 locally.
The Memorial Day Weekend is the “kick-off” for summer fun in the area. Rich Wieczorek, spokesperson for the Tourism Board in Starke County, is in to tell us about the guides that are available at the tourism office in the Chamber Depot.
“Right now we’ve got the Visitor’s Guide and it’s information for people coming into the county because when the come in the county, where do they go? Well, they pick up the Visitor’s Guide and there it is. The festivals are in there, recreation, antique shops, places to eat, and if they don’t have a place to stay, lodging is listed. At the same time, the campgrounds are all opening up now. The Bass Lake Beach and Campground will have free Wednesdays again and Hickory Hills is going full blast too.”
WKVI News had an opportunity recently to talk with Eighth District State Senator Jim Arnold (D) of LaPorte. Arnold, if elected in 2012, will represent a few townships in Starke County.
“It’s a pleasure and an honor to have the opportunity to represent the people of Starke County,” said Senator Arnold. “I don’t have all of Starke County, but I do have five townships in the northern part of the County. I picked up additional portions of St. Joe County as well. I’m honored and privileged to be down here and I look forward to working with the people on concerns of mutual interest.”
Public areas in Culver may soon be alcohol-free, as the town council approved the ordinance on its first reading this Tuesday. This ordinance has been discussed for over a year, but this is the first draft of such an ordinance.
The ordinance prohibits open containers of alcohol from public property, but restaurants, bars, and other similar places of business remain unaffected.
Monday we told you about the Triathlon on the campus of Ancilla College. While on the campus, Ted Hayes had a chance to talk with Dr. Ron May, the President of Ancilla, and asked him about graduation and summer school.
“We had more than one hundred graduates that participated and had a great ceremony and a great speaker,” said Dr. May. “One of our graduates, Mary Szymusiak, Class of 1995, did a great job. We’re into summer school already. It’s up and running and we’ll do our first session here and end it toward the end of June and then start up with a second summer term and keep right on moving.”
The Pulaski Memorial Hospital Auxiliary has openings for volunteers for both men and women. Areas of service include the gift shop, reception desk, hostess program and the patient service program.
If you are a leader of a group, encourage members to consider volunteering at the hospital. It is a great way to make new friends and feel good about yourself. Call (574) 946-2100 for more information.
Mrs. Ridley’s third grade class from North Judson-San Pierre Elementary School took a tour of the Starke County Museum in Knox Tuesday morning. The tours were given by Marianne Gappa, June Golding, Peg Brettin and Dan Roscka. Dan Roscka told the students about the time capsule that was opened during the County’s Sesquicentennial.
Keith Evans, known professionally as “Mr. Bubbles”, will be the entertainment today at the 2011 Pulaski County Senior Citizen Picnic and Annual Meeting at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Winamac.
This week on “Ted Hayes Remembers”, Ted will talk with Jim Shilling.
Jim and Melba Shilling have been in the forefront of collecting and maintaining a history of Starke County for decades. Jim has shown the Starke County Courthouse to hundreds of people, and taken hundreds more on tours of the Starke County Museum.
Ted asked Jim to talk about historical events over the past 50 or so years that have impressed him.
Knox senior Kierstynn Combs has decided to attend Bethel College where she will continue her basketball career. A 4-year letter winner for the Knox Lady Redskin basketball team, Kierstynn scored over 550 points in her career at Knox and has been known for her hard-nosed, competitive nature on the court.
With the use of technology in public schools on a quickly increasing trend, Culver Community School Board has approved a lease with Apple, Inc. to provide iPads for all high school and middle school students. Culver Community Schools will be spearheading what they’ve called the “One-to-One Technology Initiative,” which gives students the equipment and opportunities to “learn by doing.” Students would be able to bring these devices home at the end of the day, but they would be returned to the school at the end of the school year.
Services will be held in Starke County in August for Chief Warrant Officer, Andy Howes. Although complete details are not available at this time, it is known that services will be August 2nd and that his remains will be taken on to his final resting place, Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Those services will be held August 5th. Howes’ partial remains have been in U.S. possession since 1988. They were identified through DNA samples.
Originally, plans were set for 2012 but were moved up to August of this year.
Howes was on a mission in November of 1970 when his helicopter failed to return to base. He was a Knox High School graduate.
The annual Starke United Golf Outing is right around the corner.
“The Golf Outing will be on Friday, June 24th at Chesapeake Run Golf Course in North Judson,” said Executive Director, Julie Dessauer. “Registration starts at Noon and the start time is 1:00 p.m.”
The largest ever Indiana exercise and the first ever national level exercise designed around a natural disaster was held last week. Starke County EMA Director, Ted Bombagetti and Pulaski County Chief Deputy Sheriff, Ron Patrick, who is the District Two Task Force Commander for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, were involved in the exercise that took place at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center. Pulaski County Sheriff, Michael Gayer, attended the training and he talks about the training center in Jennings County:
The Five Star store in the Knox Mall is going to house 40 to 50 four by six foot pictures depicting Starke County’s history. The first picture went up yesterday and Jim Shilling was there to describe the scene.
“We’re putting up the first picture above some of the produce on the northeast corner of the store,” said Shilling. “It’s a picture of the Charles Windisch store that was in Starke County about 100 years ago. If you look closely to the left, that’s Charles Windisch and if you look in the back, you’ll see the cooler. That’s not a cooler like you think of now. That storage above it is filled with two or three hundred pounds of ice and that’s the cooler. He butchered his own meat, it was always fresh and it was quite a grocery store. On the bottom right, you can almost pick out a Red Delicious apple.”
The former owner of Gutwein Seed Company in Francesville has passed away at the age of 92. Harvey Gutwein passed away Sunday in the Jasper County Hospital in Rensselaer. Mr. Gutwein said before he passed that his pleasures were simple: flying his plane, picking citrus in Florida, and spending time with his family.
Spending time with his family could have been a full time job as Mr. Gutwein had 5 living sons, 5 living daughters, his wife, 4 living sisters, 1 living brother, 31 grandchildren, 55 great grandchildren, and 4 great-great grandchildren.
A LaPorte woman has been arrested in Starke County on charges of Attempted Murder, Resisting Law Enforcement with a Vehicle, Motor Vehicle Theft and Battery on a Police Officer after a pursuit incident in the San Pierre area late Sunday night.
The third annual Ancilla College Triathlon was held Saturday morning on the Donaldson campus.
The swimming, biking, and running event attracted over 100 competitors from throughout the Midwest and beyond.
Organizer, Todd Zeltwanger, told WKVI’s Ted Hayes why the school promotes such an event. Continue reading
There will be a special information session today for Indiana University Health LaPorte Hospital employees affected by the recent reduction in force at the WorkOne office in LaPorte. The session will introduce you to the many transition services available through the WorkOne system.
WorkOne services, including assessment such as Work Keys; free workshops; e-learning and training opportunities; labor market information and job search assistance through Indiana Career Connect; and information on unemployment insurance will be featured. Today’s information session will be offered at four different times at the LaPorte WorkOne office from 8:30-10:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m. to Noon, 1:00-2:30 p.m. and 2:30-4:00 p.m. CT.
If you are interested in attending one of these sessions and would like to reserve a spot, call Shelley Cottrell at (219) 362-2175 ext. 258.
Elementary Principal, Glenn Barnes, brought in members of the fifth grade choir to be recognized during last week’s Knox Community School Board meeting.
“He brought in some of the the fifth grade choir to receive certificates and the Board got to see a video that Miss Guzman and the choir students put together where they sang three of the songs that they have been practicing,” said Superintendent A.J. Gappa. “Keep in mind that the fifth grade choir is not a requirement and it’s not all the fifth graders. It’s a volunteer group that came in early in the morning one day a week for the last semester on their own time to practice and pick out songs. They did a nice job singing on the video they presented to the Board.”
