The Giant Pumpkin Drop was held Saturday at Hensler Nursery in Hamlet where over 2,000 pounds of pumpkin were obliterated when dropped on a junk car. WKVI was there broadcasting live and everyone who attended got a chance to see the carnage.
A great crowd was on hand for the event. Two giant pumpkins were dropped as well as several smaller pumpkins. The smaller pumpkins were dropped for a donation toward the American Cancer Society. Donations were also taken for the Starke County Food Pantry.
The public meeting held last week at the Hamlet Town Hall regarding the local Post Office’s hours of operation brought out a decent turnout. The meeting was held to gather public input regarding the United States Postal Service’s POST plan, which is a review process of certain Post Offices including the Hamlet branch.
The Oregon-Davis School Board adopted the 2013 budget at their meeting earlier this month, which Superintendent Dr. Steve Disney says is healthy.
“Nothing changed based upon the budget hearing,” said Disney. “At this point in time, we will work with the Department of Local Government Finance which will review the budget. We would hope to find out about our adopted budget sometime late December, early January.”
A meeting will be held today at the Hamlet Town Hall to gather public comment on the United States Postal Service’s POST plan. The POST plan is a review process of certain Post Offices which includes the Hamlet facility.
Officials are getting comments on how to help determine the best course of action for providing postal service to the residents of Hamlet. Continue reading
The Monsanto Company will be at the Oregon-Davis Schools this morning to present the school with a grant check for $10,000. Superintendent Dr. Steve Disney said this was a tremendous effort by two teachers.
“This is terrific,” said Dr. Disney. “I think it’s a reflection of two dedicated professional teachers. Mr. Jacob Riley, our Agriculture teacher, and Mrs. Debbie Awald, our Biology teacher, approached me last spring with an idea to put together and apply for a regional Monsanto grant. I think we were one of ten school corporations within the whole Midwest area that received this.”
Oregon-Davis High School was recently awarded a $10,000 grant for Biology and Agriculture Technology for 21st Century Learners through America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund.
Local farmers nominated Oregon-Davis teachers Debbie Awald and Jacob Riley to receive the grant, and their nominations were reviewed first by math and science teachers from ineligible school districts then by the America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education Advisory Council. The council, consisting of a group of 26 prominent farmers from across the country, was impressed with the teachers’ dedication to their students and their innovative ideas for improving their students’ educational experiences.
The check presentation ceremony will take place on Oct. 18 at 7:30 a.m. CT in the Oregon-Davis gymnasium, and every member of the community is welcome to attend the presentation to celebrate this great accomplishment by Awald and Riley for the students at Oregon-Davis.
The winner of the 2012 Giant Pumpkin Contest at Hensler Nursery is John Barenie from Griffith, IN with his contest-winning 1,233 pound pumpkin. John had a clean pumpkin sweep this summer winning his local Lake County Fair, the Indiana State Fair and the Indiana Pumpkin Growers Association contest hosted at Hensler Nursery. Barenie still holds the record for largest pumpkin grown in Indiana with his 1,308 pound pumpkin which won the recognition at the Grower Association contest hosted at Hensler Nursery in 2011. In 2011, Barenie began his string of victories winning first at the Indiana State Fair, and then at the Hensler contest.
Oregon-Davis School Superintendent Steven Disney proudly announced this week that Oregon-Davis High School received a $10,000 grant from Monsanto Fund to help with the school’s bio-agriculture department.
According to Disney, the school will use those funds to purchase necessary equipment for the program and integrate it into the classroom. The BioAg course combines the curriculum of both Biology and the fundamentals of Agriculture, and the grant will help to purchase items like probeware, Proscopes, graphing calculators, and other equipment.
Disney says teacher Debra Awald from the Science Department and Jacob Riley from the Agriculture Department teamed up to apply for the grant. Their project, “Biology and Agriculture Technology for 21st Century Learners,” was awarded the grant alongside ten other schools in Indiana that were awarded grants.
Hamlet Town Marshal Frank Lonigro III says an officer who shot and killed an attacking dog was justified in his actions. On Sept. 15, an officer with the Hamlet Police Department approached a residence at 218 Railroad St. in search of a wanted subject. When the officer asked the woman who answered the door if the wanted female was home, she said she was not.
The officer then asked to speak with Kenneth Schoff, who was also reported to live at the residence. When Schoff opened the door to come outside, a pit bull ran from the house barking and growling, and lunged at the police officer. The officer tried pushing the dog away, but the pit bull continued trying to bite him, forcing the officer to draw his weapon and fire three shots in an attempt to stop the attacking dog. The dog was struck by the shots, and fell onto the ground before quickly jumping up and attacking the officer once again.
Several school board races have surfaced since the Friday filing deadline in the Starke County Clerk’s Office.
For Knox Community Schools, voters will select three members from a ballot of eight candidates for Center Township Seats 2, 3, and 4. Those candidates include incumbent members William Kirk Bennett, Gerald (Jerry) Fletcher and Harold A. Welter, and candidates Dawn M. Bailey, Jeffrey B. Fosler, Wendy McIntire, Larry D. Sennert and Valarie Williams. Incumbent Nathan Marcum and challenger Kurt A. Kemble have filed for the California-Washington Township seat.
The Oregon-Davis School Board got an update on technology improvements during their meeting Monday night.
Superintendent Dr. Steve Disney said Kevin Kajer and his staff have been working with the school’s website to make it easier for students, staff and parents to navigate.
“We’re going through a platform that makes it easier to get updated information and a goal that would produce individual teacher webpages as part of each building’s webpage design,” said Disney.
Disney hopes all of that can be completed by the end of the school year, if not sooner.
The Oregon-Davis School Corporation had a smooth start to the school year, according to Superintendent Dr. Steve Disney.
“We’ve had a terrific start and I think that’s a compliment to all of our staff,” said Disney. “Our custodial staff and maintenance staff worked hard over the summer and the technology staff worked hard to get everything ready that goes into the planning for a new school year.”
He said the teachers worked especially hard.
“Teachers put in a lot of time over the summer. We had high school teachers go to New Tech planning and elementary teachers working on the teacher evaluation process and getting ready for the eight-step and all those things have fallen into the great start to the school year.”
An accident involving two semis on U.S. 30 caused emergency personnel to block off access to the area until the scene can be cleared by authorities.
One semi reportedly overturned as a result of the accident, and multiple fire units were spotted at the scene. No further details are available at this time, but the investigation is still underway and WKVI will report any updates as they come in.
The accident reportedly occurred on U.S. 30 near 750 East in Hamlet Wednesday afternoon.
A number of changes have been made to the rules regarding trash and recycling containers, effective immediately.
Hamlet police say trash and recycling containers must be placed at the roadside no earlier than one day before trash pickup day and must be removed from the roadside no later than one day after pickup day, and they must be stored in a place that is not visible from the roadway if possible, such as the back side of a house or within a fence.
The first transcontinental roadway in America is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year! The Yellowstone Trail, a designated roadway going from Plymouth Rock, Mass., to Peugeot Sound, Wash., was a no-cost idea to help travelers of the newest mode of transportation – the automobile. Large rocks were painted yellow to mark the way for vehicles to follow, and it wasn’t so much a road that was built, but rather a designated route to follow in an effort to cut down on the cost to towns and counties.
Starke County holds the Yellowstone Trail as a central part of its history in the town of Hamlet, and the Yellowstone Trail Festival was started three years ago to help keep the historical trail a part of the town’s living history.
Festival President Audrey Wood says the most important aspect of the festival is the embodiment of history, and the festival makes an effort to not only preserve history, but to remind visitors of the importance of the trail.
A massive storm went through the Kankakee Valley this morning. Currently, over 64,338 NIPSCO customers and 14,800 Kankakee Valley REMC customers are without power.
The Starke County EMA Director Ted Bombagetti, Starke County Commission President Kathy Norem and Starke County Highway Superintendent Steve Siddall urges Knox residents to stay where you are for the time being as many roads in the county are impassable. The storm hit hardest in the Knox, Bass Lake and eastern Starke County areas.
The Starke County Sheriff’s Department has communication issues, but the 911 system is working. A dispatch tower was damaged in the storm.
The Starke County Airport sustained major damage. Several hangars were destroyed and several planes were damaged.
Pulaski County Sheriff Michael Gayer reports roads closed as trees and electric lines are down.
Listen to K99.3 for updates and check the closing and delays section on this website for closures. Continue reading
Hamlet firefighters were called to a garage fire in the area of 102 W. Pearl Street in Hamlet around 11:00 a.m. Knox and Koontz Lake Fire Departments were called to assist. At 11:40 a.m., the fire was reportedly under control.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
The State of Indiana has dropped charges against former Hamlet Street Superintendent John Goble, Sr.
Any outstanding summons regarding charges in this case have been ordered revoked.
Goble had resigned from the Town of Hamlet in January, and his temporary replacement reportedly could not find certain pieces of equipment. A current equipment inventory list and receipts did not match. A warrant was issued for Goble’s arrest and he was arrested in late March on a charge of theft. He pleaded not guilty to the charge in Starke Circuit Court.
After further investigation, the State of Indiana filed a motion to dismiss the cause without prejudice, which was signed on June 27.
Starke County Coroner Kris Rannells has released the name of the man killed in a two vehicle accident in Knox Monday afternoon.
67-year-old Robert Freye, of Hamlet, was traveling north on U.S. 35 in Knox when he suffered a heart attack, causing him to cross over into the southbound lane by John Street and hit a minivan driven by Patrick McCarty, 39, of Knox. Freye died instantly of a torn aorta as a result of the accident. The passenger in his vehicle, Mary Hightower, 63, of Hamlet was injured in the accident and was flown to Memorial Hospital in South Bend. McCarty received minor injuries in the accident.
On Wednesday, June 13, officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department traveled to a residence near 1000 East and 500 North in regards to a book bag that was reportedly thrown from a vehicle.
When the officers arrived, they discovered methamphetamine precursors inside the bag, along with identification belonging ato a Travis O. Davis. After an investigation, police located Davis on June 19 at a residence on Railroad Street in Hamlet.
Davis was arrested and faces preliminary charges of Possession of Precursors.
