“Four board members, along with high school Principal Dr. Ratliff and myself, will attend the Patrick Carr discussion in Plymouth on March 14. Mr. Carr is the author of ‘Hollowing out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What it Means for America,’” said Gappa.
The board also received board policies for review.
“The board received a set of NEOLA policies and guideline recommendations for updates and revisions. The board will bring those back to discuss them at the next board meeting and we probably will adopt revisions and updates at the first board meeting in April,” stated Gappa.
In light of Todd Boldry’s permanent surrender of his teaching license, Superintendent A.J. Gappa said the Knox Community School Board Monday night approved his resignation as an educator at the Knox Middle School.
“Todd Boldry’s resignation had been submitted by his lawyer and the board did accept it,” said Gappa. “His position had been filled by a teacher on a temporary contract from the time he was suspended earlier this school year,” said Gappa.
Street Superintendent Jeff Borg told the members of the Board of Works that there is a full stock of salt. He stated that last year, the department didn’t even use 80 percent of the salt due to the mild winter but they are close to that mark this year.
Driver Sober or Get Pulled Over will begin Friday, March 8 and will continue through March 24. Due to the increase rate of alcohol consumption these events inspire, it’s a dangerous time on Indiana roadways and police want to keep roadways as safe as possible. Operation Pull Over is a federally-funded enforcement initiative administered by the Traffic Safety division of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.
Starke County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested a man and a woman after reportedly busting a meth lab at a home near Round Lake where a toddler was present. Johnny Mullens and Amber Lain were arrested last Friday after officers served a search warrant for narcotics at a trailer on 200 E. south of Toto Road in Knox and found methamphetamine, precursors used in its manufacture, marijuana, syringes and an active meth lab within reach of a three-year-old male child, according to the arrest report. Officers also found $2,100 in a safe, which was confiscated. Mullens and Lain both face charges of dealing methamphetamine and neglect of a dependent. Mullens is also looking at charges of possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia.
The Knox City Council previously approved a request from Police Chief Clint Norem to allow the officers to buy their own service pistols in order for new guns to circulate into use by the department.
These are the last two guns to be purchased in this cycle. The Board of Works approved the request with a reminder that the officers re-register them in their own name.
Superintendent Kelly Clemons presented three bids for two doors that have corroded and rotted and are not functional. One door includes an emergency exit. The doors are located in the building where the pretreatment of the sewage occurs.
An increase in blood drive donations was seen last year in the Knox community.
Trish Cochran, donor recruit representative for the American Red Cross, appreciates the support of the community blood program and all of the donations will go a long way toward replenishing blood supplies and saving lives.
A 22 percent increase in collections was realized at the Knox blood drives. WKVI was the the host of a few blood drives last year.
More blood drives are scheduled throughout the season. Listen to WKVI for dates and locations for those blood drives.
Roads were glazed over with a thin sheet of ice this morning, which made for slick and in places treacherous travel.
A school bus from the Knox Community School Corporation was involved in a minor crash this morning. Bus #16 was on U.S. 35 on the way to pick up students when a vehicle traveling westbound on 200 North slid through the intersection and barely clipped the school bus. The bus did not have students on it at the time. A rear tire was flattened and a scratch was made during the collision. Superintendent A.J. Gappa said the bus was then taken back to the bus garage and another bus was dispatched to take it’s place so repairs could be made. The driver was not injured. Continue reading
On Saturday, March 9, many employees at the Knox Five Star will be wearing pink or grey shirts with purple ribbons in honor of their coworker, Wanda Gross, who has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Gross has been a cashier at Five Star for several years, and the employees are banding together in an effort to show their support for the family.
Also on Saturday, Five Star has announced that they will be donating two percent of the day’s sales to the Gross family. So, if your pantry is looking a bit scarce, save your shopping for Saturday, March 9, and a portion of your purchase – at no additional cost – will go toward the Gross family to help cover the often-overwhelming costs of cancer treatment.
A motion was filed and signed to drop the criminal charges against Todd Boldry in an agreement that he would surrender his teaching license permanently.
Starke County Prosecutor Nicholas Bourff explained that the victim in the case didn’t want Boldry to necessarily get prison time for the offense that occurred between 2007 and 2008; she just wanted him to lose the ability to teach.
The Knox Board of Public Works approved three change orders to the Phoenix House construction project Wednesday morning.
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.
A Knox man was arrested Sunday after a brief pursuit with an officer from the Knox City Police Department.
The officer saw a vehicle travel at a high rate of speed on Main Street near the John Street intersection. As the driver approached the Culver Road intersection, the officer saw that he had picked up speed. The officer turned on his red and blue lights to conduct a traffic stop, but the driver failed to stop.
The Melody Drive-In in Knox is preparing for the upcoming movie season with some new digital upgrades. Fred Heise, owner of the drive-in, said that the theater will soon be moving away from the older standard of film to digital film, and he said they are now putting in new digital equipment in an effort to enhance the movie-viewing experience.
Heise said the new equipment will serve to make the picture more clear and improve the sound quality, but it’s not just moviegoers who will benefit from the new equipment. Heise said the new equipment and digital film will save the theater a lot of time and preparation.
This is a chance for residents to repair sidewalks at half the cost. If you have a troublesome area that would benefit from this program, Mayor Rick Chambers is accepting requests now from homeowners and business owners. The application deadline is Monday, April 15.
