Before he passed away in 1995, beloved Knox Middle School Principal Chuck James bequeathed some of his prized possessions to those who he thought would enjoy them. One of the possessions was an MIA bracelet he had worn after the downing of Andy Howes’ helicopter in Vietnam. The bracelet has been in the Board Room at the Knox Elementary School in a display case.
The Knox High School Athletic Hall of Fame Induction night will be January 29th, 2011. The new inductees will be introduced before the start of the Knox and Washington Township boys varsity game.
NIPSCO has reported that 415 customers are without power in the Wanatah/LaCrosse area. The power reportedly went out around 10:17 a.m. CT. NIPSCO crews are investigating why the outage occurred and will restore power as quickly as possible. LaCrosse Schools will be dismissing at 1:00 p.m CT today (Tuesday, January 4th) and Wanatah schools will dismiss at 1:15 p.m.
On a 2-1 vote, President Dan Bridegroom, Vice President Kathy Norem and Secretary Jennifer Davis were reappointed to their positions on the Starke County Board of Commissioners. Jennifer Davis and Dan Bridegroom voted for the slate and Kathy Norem voted against. Bridegroom and Davis are both Democrats and Norem is a Republican.
The first Starke County baby of the year was born at the LaPorte Regional Medical Center. Amy Singleton, of Knox, gave birth to an 8 lb., 5 oz. baby girl on Saturday, January 1st at 6:26 a.m. CT. The baby’s name is Ireland Rose Furlong. The LaPorte Regional Medical Center’s OB department reported that three New Year’s babies were born that day and Amy’s was the only one from Starke County.
Bob Howard has been replaced as a member of the Starke County Health Board. Howard had served for 10 years on the Board, 8 of them as President. Although he reapplied for another term on the Board, the Starke County Commissioners named Jennifer Davis and Beverly Fraine for the two positions that were available.
In her first lengthy interview since the election, Jackie Walorski told South Bend Tribune writer, Kevin Allen, that she is keeping her options open for another run for a congressional seat. Walorski lost to Congressman Joe Donnelly in November in a race that was decided by only 2,500 votes. In the article, Walorski blamed her defeat on the fact that Libertarian candidate, Mark Vogel, got a last minute boost in a mailer sent out by the Democrat Party. The mailer called Vogel the “true” conservative candidate in the race.
Two representatives of the Fitness Forum in Plymouth approached the Starke County Commissioners about instituting a fitness-wellness program for the County’s 125 employees. Corporate Representative, Patty Choquette, and Mary Labuzienski, Clinical Program Director, pointed out that employees who work-out make better employees in the long run. They also described the weight reduction, smoking cessation and healthy living classes the employees could take advantage of.
North Judson Town Marshal, Doug Vessely, reports that in the month of December 2010, there were 134 police calls, 25 traffic stops, 3 thefts-conversion, 5 accidents, and 4 family disturbance calls. 2 Battery reports, 2 Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated reports, 2 thefts-conversion reports and 2 alcohol-drug reports were filed. 14 traffic/ordinance tickets were written, 11 traffic warnings were given, and 6 adults arrests were made.
Knox Mayor Rick Chambers would like to remind residents that it’s time to renew or purchase dog tags for the year. There is an ordinance in effect that requires all dogs within the City of Knox to have a dog tag. This ordinance will be enforced regularly as the new year progresses.
Knox City Police Chief, Clint Norem, has released the Department’s December statistics. The Department had 370 calls, 11 accident reports and 18 incident reports. There were 7 Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated reports and 1 Public Intoxication report. 12 people were arrested on 15 traffic charges, 29 people were arrested on 55 criminal charges, 5 juveniles were arrested on 6 charges, and 3 people were cited for ordinance violations.
North Judson Clerk-Treasurer, Connie Miller, informed WKVI that a water leak has been detected off Sheridan Street between Laurel and Cherry Streets. The Street Department is currently working on correcting the issue. If any residents experience discolored water, let the water run for a little while until it clears up.
We are learning more details about a story WKVI broke on Saturday. Several bones that were returned to the Army in 1988 have been positively identified as belonging to Andy Howes, the young soldier from Knox who was MIA for over four decades after the helicopter he was in went down in Vietnam.
We now know there were six bones recovered (a right upper arm, a left lower arm, a right upper leg, one rib, and two other bones). All of the bones are partial and degraded, but positively match the DNA profile provided by Rob (Andy’s brother) and his late sister, Valarie.
Nicholas Bourff is the new Starke County Prosecutor, taking over from Julianne Havens. Ted Hayes sat down with Bourff last week and talked to him about a number of topics. In the interview, Bourff announced his staff including his First Deputy, Todd Wallsmith.
One of the questions Ted asked Bourff was what he will do with cases that are active, been filed by the former prosecutor, but have not been adjudicated.
The new year brings new appointments to government Boards. Today, the Starke County Commissioners will appoint officers to the Starke Regular Drainage Board, Planning Commission, Kankakee Iroquois Regional Plan Commission, Health Board, Hospital Community Board, Alcoholic Beverage Board, City Plan Commission, Regional Workforce Board, Wage Commission, P.T.A.B.O.A. Board, Innkeepers Tax/Visitors Association Board, and Community Corrections Board. The Commissioners are likely to reorganize as well.
