Knox City Council Discusses Fire Territories

John Julien

Trying to be proactive in anticipation of the elimination of township government, the Knox City Council invited John Julien, of Umbaugh and Associates, to explain the formation of a Fire Territory.

As explained by Julien, contiguous areas or townships could form a Fire Territory. The Knox Volunteer Fire Department has an agreement with Center Township and a contractual arrangement with part of Jackson Township to provide fire service. Under a Fire Territory, all property owners in the created district would pay the same tax rate for fire protection. They would also receive a uniform level of service.

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Junior Achievement Bowl-a-Thon Gathers $4,500

WKVI Men's Team: Lenny Dessauer, Kim Hall, Pat Dunn, Tom Berg and Jerry Foust

The Junior Achievement Bowl-a-Thon at Bowlaway Lanes in Knox brought in approximately $4,500 Wednesday for the organization, thanks to pledges gathered by the five-member teams bowling from Starke and Pulaski Counties.

WKVI Women's Team: Valda Wielgos, Glenna Hahn, Bobbie Hoover, Norma Heise and Anita Goodan

All bowlers had a great time with some winning door prizes and other chances to win prizes during Wednesday’s fundraiser. Niki Clemons, Bridget Markin, and all involved with Junior Achievement did a great job planning the event. The WKVI Men’s and Women’s teams participated in the two game event with each team winning a game.

Gabi Minix Playing for Marquette

Gabi Minix

Gabi and Harold

Former Oregon-Davis star Gabi Minix is currently a freshman at Marquette University. Gabi has been averaging about 20 minutes per game for the Golden Eagles. In these pictures you can see Gabi taking on the Louisville Cardinals in Big East play. Gabi will be looked to over the next few years as the face of Marquette Women’s Basketball.

S.C.P. Property Sells in Starke County Tax Sale

The S.C.P. property sold Tuesday in the tax sale conducted at the Starke County Annex. S.C.P., doing business as the Federal Group on Culver Road in Knox, had been placed on the sale for back taxes of $93,000. The company’s four parcels of land and buildings were put on the auction, with opening bids of $300.00.

Purchasing all four of the parcels was the Starke County Economic Development Foundation, with with Ben Osinski of the Foundation’s Board placing the bids. The 40 acre parcel of land went for $500 and the other three parcels went for $300 a piece.

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Starke County Board of Zoning Appeals down One Member

Starke County Courthouse

The Starke County BZA Board will continue on with business until a someone steps up to fill a vacancy on the Board.

Roger Chaffins had to relinquish his seat on that Board when he was elected as a Township Trustee. At this week’s Starke County Council meeting, it was announced that no one had emerged to put in his or her name for a seat on the Board. The replacement must be a Democrat.

Don White, Bob Troike, Sherri Bartoli, and Denise Marks are the current members of the Board.

Eastern Pulaski School Board Approves Purchase of Computers for AP English Students

Dr. Robert Klitzman
Dr. Robert Klitzman

The Eastern Pulaski School Board approved the purchase of laptop computers from the Gifted and Talented fund for AP English students.

“The AP students have a very rigorous curriculum,” said Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman. “It is the equivalent of the college level English class so we are going to provide them with laptops where they can do their research, do their word processing and check the internet. The computers are not their computers. We will have a little agreement that they’re going to use it properly and take care of it. At the end of the year, we’ll collect those and hopefully will be able to assign them to a new group of students for next year.”

Starke County Family to Adopt Child from Ukraine

Megan Hamand

Starke County residents, Phil and Megan Hamand, are in the process of adopting a child from the Ukraine.

“We actually put our application in to adopt in July of 2010 so things are going pretty quickly,” said Megan. “We just found out last week that we should be traveling to the Ukraine to meet our child at the end of August, maybe beginning of September of this year. That’s a pretty quick adoption turnaround. Ukraine as approved our home study, which is a big step, and right now we’re just getting all of our international paperwork put together so we can legally adopt the child from Ukraine and the United States.”

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FAFSA Workshops Scheduled This Week

In anticipation of Indiana’s March 10th FAFSA deadline, Ancilla College will offer a series of free one-on-one workshops for people looking to file their 2011-2012 FAFSA applications.

Filling out the FAFSA is a vital step for college students to complete in order to be considered for financial aid. The FAFSA not only enables students to be considered for federal, state, and institutional grants, but is also necessary for those looking to take out a Stafford or Parent Plus Loan for the 2011-2012 academic year.

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Starke County Senior Volunteer of the Year; Older Hoosier of the Year Applications Available

Nominations are being accepted for Starke County’s Senior Volunteer of the Year and Older Hoosier of the Year.

Community Services of Starke County is accepting nominations for these two honorary awards. The Board will decide the winners for each category. The honorees will be entered into the Area 1 competition. Entry forms are available at the Community Services of Starke County on Culver Road in Knox. Forms must be received by March 15th.

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Interstate Shooting Suspect Apprehended

Aaron Di Shon Windom

The Indiana State Police, in cooperation with multi-agencies were able to identify, locate and apprehend the suspect in the shooting that occurred on the evening of February 17, 2011 on I-80 westbound at the Lake Station exit.

The Dodge Charger that was suspected to be involved in the shooting was located on I-74 in Montgomery County. A Fountain County Sheriff’s Deputy and Crawfordsville Police Officer were able to get behind the vehicle where a pursuit began. At one point during the pursuit, a 2008 Freightliner semi-box trailer was shot at and hit twice by the suspect in the Charger. The driver of the semi was not injured. Stop sticks were deployed and the suspect’s front tire blew; the vehicle lost control and went off the road into a tree line. The driver then fled on foot into the wooded area. Trooper Jon Eads and his K-9 Nico were able to locate and apprehend the suspect who was hiding in water. A weapon was also located and recovered.

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Former Rockwell Windows Property in Knox up for Tax Sale

Property owned by S.C.P. Building Products, LLC in Knox will go on the auction block today. The property will go on a tax sale, because over $93,000 in back taxes is owed.

S.C.P. Building Products, LLC has been doing business as The Federal Group. At one time, Rockwell Windows was doing business on the property, and was employing around 180 people, according to Starke County Development Foundation Director, Charles Weaver. Currently, there are approximately 25 people working at the Knox facility.

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Senator Charbonneau Discusses Important Issues Being Debated during this Legislative Session

State Senator Ed Charbonneau

More than the Governor Mitch Daniels’ agenda was at stake in last November’s election. Republicans are now in the majority of both the House and Senate, and now stand to be in control of creating House, Senate, and congressional maps. Those maps will influence the outcome of elections for the next 10 years.

“The House is going to redraw their Districts and the Senate is going to draw their Districts,” explained Fifth District State Senator, Ed Charbonneau. “They are going to get together and approve them and gently draw the Congressional Districts.”

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Starke Circuit Judge Sentences Two on Meth Charges

David Gingerich
Nathaniel Furlong

Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall sentenced two men to the Indiana Department of Corrections late last week. Both were sentenced for Dealing in Methamphetamine convictions. David Gingerich was sentenced to 8 years with 2 suspended, and Nathaniel Furlong was sentenced to 12 years with 4 suspended.

The sentences were handed down Thursday, February 17th.

Wisconsin Man Dies in Roll-Over

Police investigate a roll over accident that claimed the life of a Wisconsin man

Indiana State Police Troopers responded to a fatal accident Monday night.

John P. Leveque of Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin was southbound on I-65 and had slowed down for a crash that was ahead. After clearing the crash, Leveque began to accelerate his vehicle near the Demotte accident when he lost control of his vehicle on an ice patch. Continue reading

Eastern Pulaski School Board Accepts Donations to Corporation

Dr. Robert Klitzman
Dr. Robert Klitzman

The Eastern Pulaski School Board accepted a generous donation for the Elementary School. Here is Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman:

“Our Star City Lions Club donated a sum of money to help with our Reading is Fundamental (RIF) program,” said Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman. “What we do, is we target second grade and with the money provided by the Star City Lions we buy three story books for each student in second grade. Kids are very, very proud to have their own book. They can put their name in it. So, at different intervals through the year, they will receive one of these three books and we thank the Star City Lions Club for helping us with that.”

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