Starke County Democrat candidates who were successful in the fall election will be sworn into office tonight at 7:00 p.m. CT at the Knox Community Center. The Republican officers were sworn into office in ceremonies Tuesday night in the Starke County Circuit Courtroom. All successful candidates will officially take office on January 1st.
When it happened, it rocked the County. A Starke County woman had been brutally attacked and killed by her estranged husband. Mary Wireman had been at home when her husband Ernest stabbed her. Following that, he went to his step-son’s house and attempted to murder him, too.
A Monday afternoon traffic accident in Cass County claimed the life of a Winamac teenager. Alexandra “Ali” Gibson, 19, was a passenger in a car driven by Stephanie McGovern, 16, also of Winamac.
Three of the four Starke County Councilmen going off the board at the end of the year attended their last meeting December 20th. Dan Awald was not present. Bill Dulin is one of the Council members leaving, after 2 years on the board.
“I enjoyed getting to know people on a personal basis and trying to deal with them through this side of it,” Dulin replied after being asked his feelings as he leaves office. “It was pretty enjoyable and I’m grateful to be able to serve on the Council the way that we did.”
Bill Dulin will be replaced by David Pearman.
Gas prices spiked ten cents this week when prices hit $3.19 a gallon.
“We’re kind of seeing a little bit of a combination of things when it comes to crude oil prices,” said Don Good of the Good Oil Company in Winamac. “It’s combination of the weak dollar, we’ve kind of talked about that crude oil is valued in dollars, so when we do something in our economy that makes the dollar weaker, like the $900 billion tax relief plan that added to the deficit, that made the dollar fall. Since the dollar is the currency that they value crude in around the world, it makes crude oil more expensive for us and less expensive for other countries. India’s and China’s economies have really picked up. I think they’re running at about a six or eight percent increase compared to where we are struggling. As a matter of fact, China just passed us as being the largest consumer of petroleum in the world. They’re consumption of oil is going up while ours is pretty stagnant. Right now the markets are focusing on their use than ours.”
The Starke County Republican elected officials were sworn into office last night in the Starke County Circuit Courtroom. Superior Court Judge Patrick Blankenship swore in Judge Kim Hall. Judge Hall then swore in the rest of the candidates.
“It was a wonderful evening and a great opportunity to place these fine folks under oath to faithfully and impartially perform their duties,” said Judge Hall.
After 44 years of searching, the remains of Samuel Hewitt, a 1965 Oregon-Davis graduate, were found near a military base near Da Nang, Vietnam in September of this year. Hewitt was a United States Marine stationed at a base near Da Nang when he suddenly came up missing. That was on March 22nd of 1966. Until his skeleton was unearthed and identified he had not been heard from since that date.
Hewitt served outside Da Nang with the 3rd Battalion of the 9th Division Marines, assigned to night patrols and scouting missions. His sister feels that when Hewitt was out on night patrol, he was shot and killed.
Gerald L. Broude, Jr. was sentenced in Starke Circuit Court Tuesday morning. Judge Kim Hall sentenced Broude, Jr. to 50 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections. He was given 50 years on each of the three Class A Felony counts of Child Molestation, and eight years on one count of Child Molestation, a Class C Felony. The sentences will run concurrently for a total of 50 years.
The mother of the victim gave a victim impact statement this morning and Broude, Jr. maintained his innocence in his statement to the Court. Judge Hall found his actions to have a severe impact on the victim and the family and classified him as a sexually violent predator.
The Hamlet Town Board approved a bid of $571,562 from H&G Underground to improve storm drainage generally in the old downtown area of Hamlet.
Gerald Broude will be sentenced today in Starke Circuit Court. On December 1st, a jury of seven men and five women deliberated for 30 minutes, finding Gerald Broude guilty on four counts of child molestation. The alleged acts occurred in 2008.
After Broude’s verdict came in, Broude was ordered to be held without bond until today’s sentencing hearing.
The Starke County Republican candidates voted into office in the General Election will be sworn in in a ceremony this evening at 5:00 p.m. CT in the Starke Circuit Courtroom.
The swearing in ceremony for the Starke County Democrats elected into office will be on Thursday, December 30th at 7:00 p.m. CT at the Knox Community Center.
The new Starke County Prosecutor will begin his duties in the office January 1st.
“The majority of the staff that is already there will remain there,” explained Nicholas Bourff, Starke County’s newly elected Prosecutor. “I think it’s important to maintain continuity in that office, especially since I’m new at it. The women in the Child Support office have been there for a while, they know that office much, much better than I do and I think it’s important to keep that.”
Four new Starke County Council members will be taking office January 1st. After 12 years, Bruce Fingerhut decided to not seek re-election this year.
“I’d say just working with all of the people in the County,” said Fingerhut on his most proudest accomplishment. “I’ve enjoyed meeting the folks and I was trying to think of all the names of the different Councilmen that Chuck and I have served with over the last 12 years (Chuck the last 16) and I’ve gotten to know some really nice folks. Starke County is a great place to live and I’m going to continue to live here and enjoy it and spend more time working on the Trail.”
Wednesday, we hear from Bill Dulin who has been on the Starke County Council for only two years.
Starke County’s most famous citizen passed away on this date in 1966. Henry Schricker died on December 28th, a Wednesday afternoon after being a hospital patient at Starke Memorial Hospital for almost a month. He died of a heart attack at the age of 83.
He served two terms as Governor of the State of Indiana. He was born in North Judson on August 30th, 1883, when the area was still part of the Great Kankakee Swamp.
The number four story of 2010 is the Republican resurgence in Starke County.
Long a bastion of Democrat government, the Republicans rode the wave of national sentiment to local success. The major impact will be felt on the Starke County Council where the Republicans won three of four seats up for election. Tony Radkiewicz defeated longtime council member Chuck Estok, Mitchell Semans defeated Becky Ferch in a seat that had been held by Dan Awald, and Dave Pearman defeated E.J. Rogers in the seat held by Bill Dulin.
Judge Kim Hall beat back a challenge by former Judge David Matsey by a wide margin.
The state races went Republican, as did the U.S. Senate Race that saw Dan Coats return to the senate by a wide margin. Democrat Representative Joe Donnelly was returned to his seat with a narrow victory over Jackie Walorski, and Democrat Nancy Dembowski got by Frances Ellert for the 17th District House seat. Both candidates, though, blamed the votes that went to the Libertarian candidates for their defeats.
The Republicans gave notice in Starke County that the GOP Party is back, and to be reckoned with in the future.
A tragic auto accident occurred Sunday afternoon at the intersection of State Road 10 and State Road 35 in Starke County. Police found that Megan Smithson, 19, of Illinois, stopped at the intersection and pulled out onto US 35 and into the path of a vehicle driven by Tony Wagner, 37, of Winamac. Smithson was pronounced dead at the scene by Starke County Coroner, Kris Rannells.
Wagner was transported to Starke Memorial Hospital and airlifted to South Bend Memorial for leg injuries sustained in the accident. An 18-year-old passenger in Smithson’s vehicle was also airlifted to South Bend Memorial due to injuries suffered in the accident. The Bass Lake Fire Department and Starke County EMS assisted the Starke County Sheriff’s Department at the scene.
