A Knox woman who reportedly jumped out of a moving car has died.
23-year-old Alicia Husband of Knox was a passenger in a vehicle when witnesses say she jumped from the vehicle as it approached the intersection of State Road 8 and 600 East yesterday afternoon. She was traveling with her husband, Donald Husband, 31, of Knox.
She was taken to IU Health Starke Hospital and airlifted to Memorial Hospital in South Bend. She was pronounced dead today shortly after noon.
An investigator from the Starke County Sheriff’s Office found an inactive meth lab at a home during a follow-up stolen property investigation Monday. The owner of the home on Island View Drive in Knox agreed to a search. The detective reportedly found an inactive one-pot meth lab and precursors in the garage of the residence. Officers from the Indiana State Police Clandestine Lab Team responded and cleaned up the scene. No charges have been filed at this time, and the investigation is ongoing.
Starke County EMS and the Knox-Center Township Fire Department were called to an accident at the intersection 200 E and 100 S. in Knox just before 6:00 p.m. CT Tuesday night. No details were released at the scene, but it appeared that a vehicle hit a utility pole on the south side of the intersection.
More information concerning this accident will be reported at a later time.
Voters in the Knox Community School District will have several more chances to take a firsthand look at the repairs they are being asked to fund through a nominal property tax hike. The Whatever it Takes Committee has scheduled five more informational meetings at Knox Elementary School. Each will start with a brief PowerPoint presentation, followed by a question-and-answer session and tours of the building’s original Palmer wing. All meetings will start in the cafeteria/multipurpose room at the east end of the elementary school building. Continue reading
Spring fever has hit and everyone has been out cleaning yards and burning unwanted brush and leaves. Firefighters ask that you not burn anything outside on days where the gusty winds are forecast. It’s safer to put off until a calm wind is predicted in order to burn things outside.
Vandals have struck at Wythogan Park already this spring.
Park Superintendent George Byer told Knox City Police officers that on Monday, April 1 he found that some unknown person(s) spray painted graffiti on the new curly slide. The suspects also spray painted graffiti on a brick building inside the park.
Applications are now being accepted for the owner-occupied housing rehabilitation program in the city of Knox.
The program is designed to help elderly, disabled, low-income and single parents with children in the home receive funding to help improve safety conditions at their place of residence. These improvements may include a new furnace, roofing, plumbing, electrical, windows, and other qualified accessibility and safety issues. The home must be structurally sound. Those who apply for this program must meet certain criteria.
“The play is Get Smart,” she explained. “The main character is Maxwell Smart played by Joe Clabaugh and I’m one of the four blonde hostages.”
The Knox Community School Board this week recognized High School Assistant Principal Mike Bendicsen for a notable education achievement. Superintendent A.J. Gappa explained that Mike Bendicsen finished his educational doctorate through Oakland City University.
“This was a time for the board to bring him in and give him the credit he deserves for going through that process and obtaining that degree,” stated Gappa.
The Whatever it Takes Committee held an Open House Tuesday night at the Knox Community Elementary School in order to inform those attending of the proposed construction project on the May 7 ballot. Superintendent A.J. Gappa went over the specific problem areas in the 60-year-old Palmer Wing and how the project would be funded.
“I showed them the highlights of the problems with the HVAC units and the electrical system that’s maxed out,” said Gappa. “Door number seven fell in last year into a tunnel beneath it and we had to have that fixed. We also talked about wall separation in certain areas where the foundation is separating from the walls and the boiler system is outdated and in constant need of repair.”
No injuries were sustained in a two-vehicle accident this morning at the corner of Clabaugh and U.S. 35 in Knox.
According to the preliminary investigation and witness statements, Betty Dotlich, of Grovertown, was driving south on U.S. 35 when she apparently ran a stop light at the intersection. Valerie Erickson of Knox was traveling east on Clabaugh Drive and proceeded through the intersection and hit Dotlich’s vehicle.
Officers from the Knox City Police Department responded to the scene along with other emergency responders.
An opportunity is available for you to see what the Knox Community School Board is looking to do in terms of renovation and construction at the Knox Elementary School if the voters approve a public question that will be offered on the May 7 ballot.
You will be able to tour the Palmer Wing of the Knox Elementary School tomorrow from 6–7 p.m. CT. Your tour will begin in the old all-purpose room at the east end of the elementary building.
The organizers of an Easter-eve walk from Knox to North Judson hope their event will raise awareness of many problems that plague Starke County.
“One person can’t fix it all, but as a community we can come together, and we can show these people that we care about ’em,” organizer Jerry Bacon told the crowd prior to the start of the event. “We don’t want to see ’em all thrown in jail because they’re all addicted to drugs. We want to see ’em delivered from that. We want to see ’em set free from that addiction. We don’t want to see people without jobs. We want to see jobs brought into our community and people working and taken out of the situations they’re in.”
He asked Street Superintendent Jeff Borg and Wastewater Superintendent Kelly Clemons to give him job descriptions and a list of all the employees who need a CDL license for drug testing purposes. Mayor Chambers explained that he wants to cut down the number of random drug tests given to the employees. About 50 percent of the employees are being drug tested and the mayor wants to revise the employee handbook to reflect which employees need to be drug tested. If a supervisor believes a drug test is warranted on a certain employee, a drug test will be performed.
All potential employees will be screened for drugs upon pre-employment and that requirement will not change.
A local graduate is now a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army and works as the regional defense counsel for Central Command stationed in Afghanistan.
Lt. Col. Julie Simoni was born and raised in Knox and was on two weeks R&R when she came in to give us an update on how she’s been doing since she graduated from Knox High School in 1989. She is proud to have had some of the core values she learned in her small town to take with her as she moves through the ranks in the Army.
Bob Alloy from Territorial Engineering appeared before the Knox Board of Works members to present a pay application for the construction done. The amount of $82,269 was approved for Chester Construction.
Alloy said about 65 percent of the construction is done. There is $140,000 left to complete the project.
The construction project began in mid-January with site preparations beginning in December. The Phoenix House suffered flooding and grant money was sought by K-IRPC to aid in the construction project. The garage is being expanded to include a storage area, a group meeting room, a library and computer area.
The sewer project for the city of Knox is moving along as officials look to put in a new lift station near the South Side Fire Station. Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston explained to the city council this week that the additional appropriation approved for the project last year expired at the start of the new year, and Houston said they would now have to approve the appropriation once again.
