The annual Lincoln Day Dinner was held Saturday night at the Bass Lake Community Center. With party leaders, state, national, and local candidates in attendance, the evening was proclaimed a success for the Grand Old Party (GOP).
Following the evening festivities, WKVI interviewed three Republicans of note, State Senator Ed Charbonneau, State Treasurer Richard Murdock, and candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, Jackie Walorski.
The Knox City Council recently approved the street paving schedule for this summer.
“We do have some intersections that we’re going to take care of that are in really bad shape. We’re still able to pave up to a half of a mile of streets. We used to be able to pave one mile and now we’re down to a half of a mile with the same budget,” explained Street Superintendent, Jeff Borg.
The Pulaski County Community Development Commission has a new Director. Nathan Origer has been in the office for a little over a week and he says he’s ready to begin his duties.
“If you’ve got a business looking to expand here in the County, I’m the guy who’s going to help you look for grants, navigate the abatement process, the revolving loan fund process, and also potential companies coming into the County,” said Origer. “I’m going to be giving them all the reasons why Pulaski County is where they should bring their operation. I’m going to work with the community and county government, small project development, and work with the PACE program on workforce development.”
Origer was asked what aspects Pulaski County has to attract businesses.
“I think we’ve got a government that is looking forward to entertaining new clients and businesses. There are communities with strong infrastructure. Winamac is doing a sewer separation project right now to improve theirs. Medaryville is undertaking a new storm water project so they will have better drainage over there. We’ve got a good agriculture base so we could look into value added products. We’ve got a rail line on the west side of the county and we’ve got a rail bank on the northeast side of the county. We do have one U.S. Highway that has connections to some pretty important places and we’re close to I-65. It’s just an ideal location where you’ve got quality of life, lower cost of living, and still close enough to the big markets for a company to do what it needs to do.”
The Knox community is encouraged to give Baugh Construction a big thank you as the owner brought a crew down to Wythogan Park and erected two new dugouts on field number two, at no cost to the Park Board or the City.
Ted Hayes was there Friday afternoon to talk with the owner, Jed Baugh.
“Our kids are in baseball and my oldest boy was probably in it for seven years and somebody said they needed dugouts so we figured we would do them,” said Baugh. “The dugouts are cement block dugouts. We poured a concrete pad to set them on and we’re building benches on the inside. The roof will be trimmed out with cedar trim with a steel pole barn metal on top.”
Baugh Construction’s main focus in the past few years has been siding and exterior work, but as Jed told Ted his crew will tackle just about everything in the construction line. Jeff Sample donated the metal for the roof.
If you’d like to thank Jed and the crew you can call them at 772-6808.
As many as 120 students are expected to receive diplomas at the Ancilla College 2011 Commencement, Saturday, May 7th. College President, Dr. Ron May, says an Ancilla alum will deliver the address.
“Mary Szymusiak is an Ancilla College graduate, Class of 1995,” said Dr. May. “Her degree from us is in Liberal Studies. She went on to complete her Bachelor’s Degree. She taught Junior High and High School in North Judson. She has remained very much involved since that time with the whole Ministry Center community here at the college, along with her husband, Jim. She is now the owner and operator of Tefft Bridge and Iron in Wheatfield and we think she’s a very good example for our graduates of how you can take a degree at Ancilla and build it into something substantial.”
Free diabetes screenings will be held at IU Health Starke Hospital Tuesday from 7:00-11:00 a.m. CT.
“I, and a nurse from LaPorte Hospital, who is certified Diabetes educator, will be set up in the hospital lobby for free screenings for anybody who would like to come in and get their blood sugar tested and screened for diabetes,” said Dietitian, Deb Meznarick. “Following that, on May 10th, we’re going to start diabetic classes. Dr. Holm, who is from Holm Clinic in Plymouth, will be assisting and teaching the classes. It will be a four week series on Tuesdays from 6:00-7:00 p.m.”
To set up a time for your screening, please call IU Health Starke Hospital and speak to Deb Meznarick.
Here is a look at some of the news that made the news in the Kankakee Valley this week:
The Starke County and Knox City Police arrested Patrick Sobieck and Richard Selva, Saturday, on preliminary charges of Burglary and Theft after they allegedly stole six steel tie plates from the rail yard in Knox. Continue reading
Several upgrades are in the works for the Starke County Jail. The Commissioners approved a bid this week for the tear off and installation of a new roof on the Jail and the Board members will also be reviewing bids to replace the HVAC system at the Jail during their meeting on Monday.
One recent upgrade has helped the operation of the jail and the courts. Here is Sheriff Oscar Cowen:
Voters in precincts 1, 2, 3 and 4 in Center Township have a chance to vote absentee today and tomorrow from 8:00 a.m. to Noon and from 1:00-4:00 p.m. CT in the Starke County Courthouse. The final time to vote absentee will be Monday, May 2nd, from 8:00 a.m. to Noon only. Election Day is Tuesday, May 3rd. The polls will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and voting will be conducted in the Knox Community Center.
There are two other candidates running for a seat on the Knox City Council and they are unopposed in the Knox Primary Election.
Greg Matt has served for eight-and-a-half years on the Council and he says that his focus is the economy and jobs.
“In the next four years, I hope we can continue our partnership with the Starke County Economic Development Foundation and bring in more industry and more jobs,” said Matt. “Charlie’s been a great asset to us and we’ve been quite successful. A lot of that is because he had a great opportunity to bring in the rail into our Industrial Park. I’m very pro industry because that gives us a lot of employment and that’s what we would all like to see.”
The Knox Community School Board got a lesson in technology at their recent school Board meeting and the teachers were 5th grade students.
“We just showed the Board what we’ve been doing this year in technology,” said Laura Barnes, Computer Applications Teacher at the Knox Elementary School. “We’ve started all of the grade levels on various new technologies IPads, some web tools such as Glogster and My Big Campus so we showed the Board some of those things. Glogster is a web tool which is basically a cross between a blog and a virtual poster. The kids can use them for presentations with projects, they can use them as a creative journal – there are a lot of educational tools for it.”
The Winamac Town Park is under water. Winamac Park Superintendent, Don Thompson, said the back end of the park is under water and the walking paths are also under water. The water has reached the 4-H buildings in the Town Park as well.
Thompson said the Tippecanoe River is expected to crest near 11 feet Friday afternoon and the flood stage is at 10.0. According to the National Weather Service, at 11.5 feet, houses and lots could flood in the eastern parts of Winamac near the State Road 14 bridge.
It’s been a wet spring season and that means the mosquitoes could be coming out in full force soon. Knox City Street Superintendent, Jeff Borg, said they will begin their eradication treatments soon. Continue reading
Taylor Smith, of Monterey, has made it through the first round of auditions for the new Simon Cowell program, “X Factor”. The auditions were held in Chicago. The next round of auditions were held Thursday morning. The results of that round are being kept secret until “X Factor” airs.
“X Factor” will air on Fox 28 and the premiere of the program will be in September.
After a week off for a vacation, Ted Hayes is back today on “Ted Hayes Remembers”. This week at 12:20 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. you’ll hear an interview done 20 years ago with the late Captain Stubby.
For years, listeners in the Kankakee Valley awakened to Captain Stubby and Charles Home Bill on “Is Anybody Home.”
Captain Stubby was the perfect way to start the day.
Join Ted Hayes and the late Captain Stubby today on “Ted Hayes Remembers”.
Starke County Highway Superintendent Steve Siddall reports that the Robbins Ditch at 400 North and Range Road in Starke County has overflowed its banks and has flooded the road and surrounding fields. The road is closed until further notice.
Photos provided by Becky Pulver of Brems. Continue reading
The Starke County Commissioners opened roof repair bids Wednesday for the Starke County Jail. Three bids were received and Commissioners Kathy Norem and Dan Bridegroom awarded the bid to Northern Indiana Roofing and Sheet Metal Corporation out of South Bend. Commissioner Jennifer Davis was absent from the meeting.
