Knox Communty School Board Approves Apple, Inc. Lease

Posted on Author WKVI
Gary Dulin, Jerry Fletcher, Harold Welter, Mary Lynn Ritchie, Kirk Bennett, Nathan Marcum, Mike Yankauskas, Superintendent A.J. Gappa

The Knox Community School Board members approved a lease agreement with Apple, Inc. to provide a one-to-one computer program for students in grades six through twelve.

“The computers are not going to take the place of teachers as some people fear,” explained Superintendent A.J. Gappa. “They’re just a modern tool that teacher have to use so students can improve their learning throughout Middle School and High School. Under this program, the student will get a computer that will be his computer for the next four years. The plan is that the student can take it home because that just extends their learning day. After four years, we will reevaluate the lease.”

No Vote Yet on Pawn Shop Ordinance in Knox

Posted on Author WKVI
Knox City Council #2
Back Row: Mayor Rick Chambers, Ed Blue, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, Greg Matt and Attorney David Matsey. Front Row: Linda Berndt, Jeff Berg and Ron Parker

The Knox City Council members are currently in the process of gathering information on a Pawn Shop Ordinance and at their last meeting, they reviewed an ordinance prepared by City Attorney David Matsey. Because it was just an information item, there was not a vote to move it to first reading. Mr. Matsey said his ordinance was modeled after similar ordinances in Bloomington and Indianapolis.

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Hamlet Storm Water Improvement Project Nearly Complete

Posted on Author WKVI

At their meeting Tuesday night, the Hamlet Town Board members learned that the storm water improvement project is almost complete. Paving will be done this week on Starke Street, Pearl Street, and Davis Street and the project should be done. Work has been ongoing to extend storm drains along those roads to alleviate a standing water issue in the old downtown area in Hamlet. The project came in under budget and the Board was able to use the extra funds, plus $15,000, to pave the roads after the drainage equipment was installed.

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Starke County Named in Disaster Declaration

Posted on Author WKVI
Flooding occurred after a levee break on the Robbins Ditch. Photo by Becky Pulver.

Governor Mitch Daniels has issued a disaster emergency for 34 counties due to severe weather that caused widespread damage to homes, businesses and public property beginning April 18th.

Affected counties experienced flooding, damaged roads, downed power lines and other severe damage. The Executive Order includes Starke County, which is the only county in the northern part of the state to be included. Starke County EMA Director, Ted Bombagetti, told WKVI that the levee break on the Robbins Ditch was included in the claim along with a levee break by the Kankakee Fish and Wildlife area outside of North Judson.

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Bella Vita Fundraising Event Tonight at Knox Community Center

Posted on Author WKVI
A ribbon cutting ceremony was recently held at the newly opened Bella Vita

The Bella Vita Pregnancy Resource Center’s First Annual Fundraising reception will be held tonight at 6:30 p.m. CT at the Knox Community Center. A ribbon cutting for the center was held last week, and Executive Director Suzanne Lange said tonight’s affair will be to raise funding for the operating expenses.

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SCILL Center Auto Show this Saturday

Posted on Author WKVI
SCILL Center

The 10th annual SCILL Center Auto Show is this Saturday, May 21st from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. CT at the facility in the Knox Industrial Park. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. and everyone is invited to participate. Bring in that classic or modern car and show it proudly during this event. There is a $15.00 registration fee and that includes a dash plaque.

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Knox Community School Board Appoints New Middle School Principal

Posted on Author WKVI

The Knox Community School Board members appointed a new Middle School Principal Monday night.

“The Board appointed Dave Miller, the current Middle School Assistant Principal, as Principal,” said Superintendent, A.J. Gappa. “His term will begin on July 1st of this current year. Dave has been with the Corporation for a little over 20 years, I believe, and he’s been in the current post of Assistant Principal at the Middle School for the last 17 years. The Board thought he’s been loyal to the District and they wanted to give him his chance at the Principal-ship. In the past, Mr. Miller has served under two or three different principals and at one point, he didn’t feel that he wanted to accept the Principal-ship because he was happy where he was. But, at this point I think he feels it was time for him and the Board agreed.”

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Knox City Hall Phone Numbers Left out of New Phone Book

Posted on Author WKVI

A lot of times secretaries and government office workers wish they could get away from phone calls so they can get some work done. The phone calls have quieted down at Knox City Hall under an unusual circumstance.

“Our phone numbers were left out of the new phone book,” Mayor Rick Chambers told the Knox City Council. “That was because of the switch over to the computer system. I’ve gotten with the newspaper this week and they’re going to put an article in the paper listing all of the phone numbers. I’m going to have cards printed up with phone numbers and we will leave those at the Clerk’s office. We’ll pass them out to anybody who needs them.”

Pulaski County Commissioners Approve New Health Department Fee Schedule

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

A new fee schedule for the Pulaski County Health Department was approved by the County Commissioners on Monday.

“We came to the Commissioners to ask for them to approve a new fee schedule; we are going to now start charging for childhood vaccines an administrative fee of $8 per shot. For people who are on Medicaid, they will not need to pay that at time of services, we will be filing that with Medicaid because we are soon becoming a Medicaid provider,” said Terri Hansen of the Pulaski County Health Department.

Part of the necessity of this fee comes from the Departments’ desire to change one of their part-time nurses to a full-time nurse. Due to new guidelines and programs implemented by the state, a larger portion of the nurse’s time is dedicated to these programs, which means less time to perform other duties.

Hansen hopes that the change in the fee schedule will bring more money into the fund and make it easier to convince the Council and the Commissioners to approve the full-time position. The cost for the full-time nurse would be $37,000. The county already pays $22,000, and a grant would cover the remaining amount. The only money the county would need to come up with would be the money to cover the employee’s benefits, but with the new fee schedule, Hansen feels that shouldn’t be a problem.

Starke County Health Board Introduces New Fee Schedule

Posted on Author WKVI
Frank Lynch

Starke County Health Nurse, Frank Lynch, presented a new fee schedule for the Commissioners’ final approval.

The fees to obtain copies of birth and death records have been slightly increased to a flat-fee of $10 each. Previously, the fee to obtain birth certificates was $8 for the first copy and $7 for each additional copy, while the fee for death records was $10 for the first and $9 for any additional copy.

A fine of $250 for food establishments operating without a permit has also been approved. This is a very important step in cracking down on food-related infractions, as David Kesvormas, the Starke County Contract Food Inspector, is conducting inspections and will now be able to issue these fines.

On the other end of the spectrum, fees for septic permits have been decreased significantly from $200 for a new install and $40 for repair to a flat rate of $60. This change is due to the retirement of the previous Environmentalist, David Singleton, who was certified and able to perform borings and soil samplings. Because he will no longer be doing so, contractors and home owners will need to hire a soil scientist to perform these procedures, which can get pricey.

Operation Pull Over Campaign to Begin May 20th

Posted on Author WKVI

The Indiana State Police, including the Lowell District troopers that cover Starke, Pulaski, Lake, Porter, Newton and Jasper Counties, will be joining 250 other law enforcement agencies in the state in an effort to reduce injuries and fatalities by participating in the Operation Pull Over, Blitz 67, “Click it or Ticket” campaign. Troopers are able to perform extra patrols during the Memorial Day holiday travel period thanks to federal funds.

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Three Sentenced in Starke Circuit Court

Posted on Author WKVI

Three defendants were recently sentenced in Starke Circuit Court.

Judge Kim Hall sentenced Michael DeWitt on charges of Bribery, a Class C Felony, Public Intoxication and Criminal Mischief. He was sentenced to serve four years in the Indiana Department of Corrections with two years suspended on the Bribery charge. DeWitt will serve six months in the Starke County Jail with three months suspended on the remaining charges. The sentences will run concurrently. In a second case, DeWitt was given six months in the DOC with none suspended for a probation violation which will be served consecutively to the first case. The first 20 months shall be served in prison and the last 10 months will be served on electronically-monitored home detention. He also serve 24 months on probation.

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Knox High School Student to Participate in Indiana’s Electric Cooperative Youth Tour

Posted on Author WKVI

Knox Community High School Junior, Connor Carlson, applied for and was chosen by Kankakee Valley REMC to participate in Indiana’s Electric Cooperative Youth Tour to Washington, D.C.

The purpose of the trip is to provide young adults with the opportunity to travel to our nation’s capital. Connor will be able to experience first-hand how our government functions, learn about the complexities of today’s electric utility industry, discover the unique characteristics of cooperative business enterprise, and to meet and work with hundreds of his peers from throughout the United States.

Connor, along with other students in Indiana, will travel from Indianapolis on Friday, June 10th to Washington, D.C. with a stop in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to see the battlefield. The students will visit several places in Washington, D.C., and participate in a Town Hall Meeting where they will share their thoughts and opinions on a variety of timely issues. They will then visit with representatives of Indiana’s Congressional delegation. The group will return on Thursday, June 16th.

All of Connor’s travel expenses from Indianapolis, meals, lodging and scheduled event fees will be paid for by Kankakee Valley REMC.

Historic Locomotive No. 765 to Visit Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum

Posted on Author WKVI
Locomotive No. 765

The staff at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum are gearing up for another busy season with train rides and visits to the Museum on Mulberry Street in North Judson.

The Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive no. 765 will be making another trip to the Museum during the Memorial Day weekend, May 28th through the 30th. Recognized as a national historic landmark, locomotive no. 765 is the largest operating steam locomotive east of the Mississippi River. It was rebuilt and is operated by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society. The locomotive will take passengers on a 2 hour, 20 mile round-trip journey in Starke County. Passengers will have the rare opportunity to enjoy “the steam experience” in an open-air sightseeing car.

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Miss Sandie’s Dance Students to Present Recital this Weekenie

Posted on Author WKVI
Sandie Martinkus

Students of Miss Sandie’s Dance Studio will present the 33rd recital this weekend at the Knox High School Auditorium. The performances will be Saturday, May 21st at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 22nd at 2:00 p.m. CT. There are 125 students in the recital and the theme this year is “Dancing Through Life”.

“It’s about life’s experiences from childhood to adulthood, the happy times and the sad times and the good and the bad times,” explained Miss Sandie. “You’ll be seeing creative musical theater numbers, dynamic jazz, really cute tiny tots, beautiful lyric and ballet, humorous novelty numbers, some tap, and ethnic dance. There will be serious moments and deep spiritual expressions.”

Marshall County Sheriff’s Department Investigating Daytime Burglaries

Posted on Author WKVI

The Marshall County Sheriff’s Department is investigating several daytime residential burglaries in north central Marshall County. Burglaries have been reported at residences on Quince Road, 3rd Road, Lilac Road and Filbert Road.

Witnesses have told police that a few of the burglaries revealed the suspect vehicle as a white Ford Ranger and two males, approximately 20 to 30 years of age, to be the occupants of that vehicle and allegedly participating in the acts.

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Starke County Bridge Project Moving Along

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

Starke County Highway Superintendent, Steve Siddall, approached the Starke County Commissioners last night with some good news: The DNR has given them a bit of leeway in the bridge repair situation. IDEM and CORE permitting will not be involved as long as construction stays above the water line, and only the DNR permit will be needed.

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Judge Hall Approaches Starke County Council for Fund Transfer

Posted on Author WKVI
Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall

Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall came before the Starke County Council last night to request a transfer of funds to help cover the cost of hiring court-appointed attorneys for defendants who cannot afford a lawyer. Because of the increasing number of criminal cases, particularly those dealing with methamphetamine, the costs for appointing these public defenders are becoming staggering. Hall mentioned that the percentage of defendants who cannot afford an attorney and request to have one appointed has also gone up; 75-80% of defendants now need a public defender.

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