Marla Freeman was sentenced in Pulaski Circuit Court this week after pleading guilty to possession charges in two separate cases.
Freeman pleaded guilty to Possession of a Controlled Substance as a Class D felony in the first case, and Possession of a Narcotic Drug as a Class D felony in the second case. She was sentenced to serve six months in the Department of Corrections for each case to run consecutively.
Two Medaryville residents were arrested after a pursuit incident with Pulaski County police on Monday.
Two police officers were out on patrol together in the same area and one deputy saw a vehicle traveling on 1400 West in Medaryville, ran the license plates and found the plate to be expired and didn’t match the make and model of the vehicle on the registration. Deputy Mat Anderson pulled over the vehicle and as he got out to driver’s side of the vehicle, he saw the tires turn sharply to the left and heard the engine rev. The vehicle then drove away from the traffic stop. By that time, Deputy Ryan Austin had pulled up and the suspect ran into his squad car.
The Pulaski County Commissioners this week approved a new purchase for the Sheriff’s Department: a new Dodge Charger squad car from Braun Chrysler. Sheriff Michael Gayer told the council that he will obtain several more quotes from local dealerships for both quarter- and half-ton trucks to add to his fleet.
Gayer said that so far, Goble has been the only local county dealership to provide a price on the new vehicle, and Steve Dobson at Jim Dobson Ford has yet to give him a response. On top of that, Gayer’s contact at Braun Chevrolet has been on vacation and Gayer has not been able to reach him.
A number of elected Pulaski County officials were sworn into office yesterday in the commissioners meeting room in the Pulaski County Courthouse. Among those sworn in were two county commissioners: Terry Young was sworn in and will serve once again as county commissioner, and Larry Brady, who underwent his first swearing-in for his new position as county commissioner for District 2.
Free income tax preparations will be offered in several new areas this year.
The Northwest Indiana A$$et Building Campaign will begin sponsoring free income tax preparations at the Pulaski County Human Services building in Winamac this year. This location was added to help more families file their income taxes, avoid user fees and collect their maximum benefit.
They will continue this same effort at the Community Services of Starke County.
Volunteer Income Tax Assistants helped over 1,300 tax returns and approximately $1.2 million was returned to the communities they serve. If you would like to learn how to can volunteer to help low-wage earning individuals and families with free tax preparation, call Leona Liuzzo at (219) 794-1829 ext. 2432.
As the nation recovers from the unbelievable tragedy that rocked the town of Newtown, Conn., schools around our area have been taking extra precautions and conducting drills to ensure they know how to respond if the unthinkable were to occur.
At Culver Community Schools, students at the elementary school coincidentally conducted a lockdown drill the day before the Newtown tragedy occurred. After the tragedy, Superintendent Brad Schuldt said the middle school and high school conducted their lockdown drills, which is something the schools do annually.
Ed Clark of the Pulaski County Recycling Center told the county commissioners this week that the recycling center is coming in a bit lower than last year in revenue. Clark explained that while last year the center turned around $300,000, this year’s lower commodity prices have put a damper on their revenue. He anticipates coming in at $275,000 revenue for the year, despite actually having a greater number of sales.
Pulaski County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Winamac man Friday night after he allegedly fired a shotgun toward an occupied house.
At around 11:46 p.m., police were called to 5885 N. 575 W. in Winamac in reference to a shooting, and were told that a gray or silver truck had pulled up by their residence while the family, including the wives and infant children, was standing outside. The property owner said the truck seemed to shine a light on them, and then fired five or six shots that seemed to be in their direction, which led police to find four red shotgun shells lying on the ground by the intersection of county roads 600 North and 575 West.
The Pulaski County Commissioners this week approved the purchase of a new emergency 911 system after they learned their current system, which is about 10 years old, has been discontinued for about three years.
The new system, which will cost $144,000, will satisfy the order by the state fire marshal who told the county that they must relocate their 911 system to a new location for fire protection. A representative from a company who handles 911 systems told the commissioners that he developed a number of bullet points for a new system, because his company would be unable to renew the maintenance contract on their current system due to it being effectively obsolete.
A swearing-in ceremony for Pulaski County elected officials will be held Wednesday, Dec. 19 at 4:30 p.m. ET in the Pulaski County Commissioners meeting room in the courthouse.
All elected officials will officially be sworn into office. Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Michael Shurn and Pulaski Superior Court Judge Pat Blankenship will administer the oaths of office. If you are an elected official and don’t attend this service, you will be sworn into office by appointment.
The November 2012 election found several new candidates elected to the Commissioners office, school boards and county positions.
More than 1,000 people will enjoy a happier holiday season after 45 Pulaski County volunteers distributed food bags, toys and gifts to those in need.
More than 300 households received assistance and more than 700 children were served in this total. Volunteers from Pulaski County Human Services, the Methodist Church in Winamac, Kiwanis members, Winamac High School Sunshine Girls, boys basketball team and Student Council, Winamac Boy Scouts, Head Start, Junior Leaders, and community members spent the day Saturday helping parents shop for toys and wrapped them for distribution.
A donation drive was held to gather toys for the children this year for the Toy Store at the Pulaski County Human Services building in Winamac. Jacki Frain from PCHS thanks all who helped and proved that Pulaski County is working to help bring the community together.
The Winamac Town Council this week heard updates from a number of department heads regarding ongoing projects. Rick Dilts, park superintendent, told the council that the park has been closed and winterized in light of inclement weather, and he pointed out a number of mole holes near the baseball diamonds that need to be filled.
Dilts also told the board that his department has been staying busy with chopping trees, brush, and leaves, and their snowplow is in tip-top shape, ready for winter. The park department also has a new lawn mower, which Dilts said has been working out great.
A number of changes will soon be taking place at the state level, and Eastern Pulaski Schools are gearing up for some changes as well. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said that while the state is preparing to welcome a new governor, state superintendent, senator, and new House members as well, the Eastern Pulaski School Board is preparing to welcome a number of new school board members while saying goodbye to some familiar faces.
“We had three school board members, last Monday was their last school board meeting. They decided they did not want to run for another term, so they ended here in December,” Klitzman said. “So out with the board members that decided not to run and in with the newly-elected.”
The Coordinated Local Assistance Project, coordinated by Pulaski County Human Services, will soon be distributing the donated items to families in need. Today is the last day the organization will take donations, and tomorrow, the Annual Toy Store food and gift distribution will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Pulaski County Human Services building.
Individuals who only registered for a holiday food bag must pick them up by noon today at the PCHS Food Pantry, and families who are being served by ABATE today will receive all of their items at the ABATE party.
A Winamac beverage company has announced plans to close up shop after they were bought out by two wholesalers.
Tippecanoe Beverages, Inc., owned by brothers Fred and Dave Zahrt, has been in business for more than 50 years in Winamac. Fred said the “time was right” to sell the business, and though they weren’t actively looking for someone to purchase the business, a deal was made.
The Eastern Pulaski School Board this week held a public hearing regarding the corporation’s budget. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman explained that as a fiscal year school, they do things a little bit differently.
“We are a fiscal year school, so what we are working on now is a budget that will come into play in July. Here we are in December, we’re doing this thing for July, but we have to work that far in advance,” said Klitzman.
The West Central School Board got an update on the wind turbine during their recent meeting and Superintendent Charles Mellon said production is ahead of projections.
“We did have a very good month of October where we produced over 240, 000 kilowatts of energy. That has been our best month to this point. This was considerably above projection. Our other months have been slightly above or slightly below so that was good for us,” said Mellon.
Ninety-one kids from White and Pulaski counties enjoyed a day with police officers as part of the annual Shop with a Cop Program on Sunday. Approximately 31 kids from Pulaski County and 60 children from White County attended the event which included pizza, pictures with Santa, a police escort to Wal-Mart, and a shopping spree for purchases of much-needed clothing, and the kid’s favorite toys.
Pulaski County Sheriff Mike Gayer profusely thanked everyone who generously donated to the event, and the officers who participated on their own time to make this great program a success.
The West Central School Board scheduled a work session for Jan. 15 to discuss the strategic plan for the corporation. Superintendent Charles Mellon explains some of the points the board will be going over during the work session.
“Our most important is student performance, you know we want to make sure that the staff has adequate resources. That’s both material type things and staff, you know to do the best job possible. We also look at projects that may be upcoming, always put energy savings and kinds of things first on the list. So, we’re working our way through that list,” Mellon said.
The West Central School Board members approved several action items during their meeting Thursday night and Superintendent Charles Mellon said one of those items included approving the purchase of school buses.
“We have one that is a 72-passenger bus, also an activity bus. Best bids came in from Midwest Transit so the board approved the purchase of those and they will be delivered here sometime in the second semester,” said Mellon.
The Board also approved the school calendar for the 2013-2014 school year.
“People like to have that a year in advance to schedule vacations,” Mellon said.
