Winamac Town Board Approves Several Ordinances

Posted on Author WKVI
Winamac Town Hall

The Winamac Town Board approved several ordinances during their meeting last week, including an ordinance establishing the regulation of the opening of the fire hydrants owned by the Winamac Municipal Waterworks Utility.

The Town Board also approved ordinances that establish the salaries and wages for the position of town mechanic, Town Manager, clerical personnel for the Town of Winamac, the seasonal position of Park Manager Assistant, the Winamac Police Department and the crossing guard.

One board member opposed the salary ordinances stating that the federal government gave a 1.7 percent standard of living increase and did not agree with the $.50 raise. The ordinances did pass with four out of the five members approving the vote.

Eastern Pulaski Schools Will Soon Welcome New Baseball Coach

Posted on Author WKVI
Dr. Robert Klitzman
Dr. Robert Klitzman

Eastern Pulaski Schools will soon be welcoming a new member to the coaching staff. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman explained that baseball coach Mark Hendricks will soon be leaving the corporation, and they’ve found his replacement in Tony Carroll.

Klitzman said Carroll brings a lot to the table with years of experience in baseball, though they are sad to see Hendricks go.

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Pulaski County Council Denies Additional Staffing For Auditor

Posted on Author WKVI

The Pulaski County Auditor’s Office isn’t getting any additional help any time soon, as the county council this week denied a request from Auditor Shelia Garling to hire an additional full-time employee.

Garling said her request was denied because the county council felt the office did not need any additional staffing, despite the auditor’s office being down one full-time employee. Fortunately, she said things should change at the start of the new year, when she expects to have three full-time employees and two part-time employees.

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Winamac Police Receive Best in State Award

Posted on Author WKVI

The Winamac Police Department has been commended on their efforts in Operation Pull-Over.

Officer Mike Hoffman told the Winamac Town Board this week that the Winamac Police Department received the Best in State Police Department award and was given a $2,500 equipment grant. The department will be using that money to purchase a computer for a police car. A plaque was displayed to the board.

Rick Dilts, the town park manager, told the town board this week that the park is now closed for the season. More than 100 tables have been placed in storage, the bleachers are now stored and the restrooms have been closed. The volleyball and basketball courts will be winterized this week and a tractor will be set up for the snow season.

Eastern Pulaski Schools Bring Home A’s, B’s From State

Posted on Author WKVI
Dr. Robert Klitzman
Dr. Robert Klitzman

The Eastern Pulaski Schools Corporation is extremely proud of the grade they received from the state. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said the lowest grade the corporation received was a B, and while there is a little bit of room for improvement, he’s excited about their improvement.

“Eastern Pulaski Schools did extremely well academically, in that our high school got an A, our middle school got a B, our elementary school got an A, and our school corporation got an A. So we received three A’s and a B on our report card, so to speak. I don’t know about a lot of our listeners out there, but back in East Chicago when I was a kid, if I’d have brought home three A’s and a B, I’d have probably gotten a reward,” said Klitzman.

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Paul Burke Sentenced To 10 Years in DOC For Attempted Aggravated Battery

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski County Courthouse

A Royal Center man has been sentenced in Pulaski Circuit Court for his attempt to injure a Pulaski County police officer by throwing anhydrous ammonia at him.

Paul Burke was sentenced to 10 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to a charge of Attempted Aggravated Battery. Burke will serve six of those years on good time credit and serve four years on probation. He must also submit to alcohol and drug testing and complete substance abuse treatment. Additional charges of Disarming a Law Enforcement Officer as a Class C felony, Theft as a Class D felony, and two Class A misdemeanor charges of Resisting Law Enforcement and Illegal Storage and Transportation of Anhydrous Ammonia were dropped as part of the plea agreement.

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Safe Routes to School, Winamac Receive $250,000 Grant

Posted on Author WKVI

Dave Bennett and John Bawcum from the Safe Routes to School organization told the Winamac Town Board this week that Safe Routes and the town received a $250,000 grant.

The money will be used to pave the pathway to the depot in Winamac, possibly to State Road 14 West. Bennett shared that he has been in contact with a company to do the paving. An environmental study will also need to be done.

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New Buses To Be Purchased By Eastern Pulaski Schools

Posted on Author WKVI
Dr. Robert Klitzman
Dr. Robert Klitzman

Eastern Pulaski Schools will soon be shelling out nearly $200,000 for new equipment. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman explained that they will be purchasing three buses – one utility bus and two full-size buses.

“The board did authorize us to purchase two new school buses. We had put out bids and the low bid for two full-size passenger buses went to Midwest, so we will get two buses from Midwest this year, and the prices actually came in a little lower than they were a year ago. We are also going to purchase one utility bus, that’s a 14-passenger bus, and that is coming from Kerlin out of Silver Lake,” said Klitzman.

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Eastern Pulaski Schools To Revert To Two Semesters

Posted on Author WKVI
Dr. Robert Klitzman
Dr. Robert Klitzman

Students at Eastern Pulaski Schools will soon be dealing with a number of changes regarding semesters and graduation. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said the school board at their meeting this week voted to approve a number of changes to board policies, including a change from the current tri-semester system to dual-semesters like most other schools in the state.

Klitzman explained that they had previously been on a dual-semester system, but because of changes in state statute, they are once again switching to dual-semesters. The corporation had used the tri-semester system for about ten years, giving students one less class per semester and keeping them in their classrooms for a full 70 minutes.

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Pulaski County Auditor’s Office Stressed To The Limits

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

Things may soon be a bit less stressful in the Pulaski County Auditor’s Office, thanks to a motion passed by the county commissioners to hire an additional full-time employee. Auditor Sheila Garling told the commissioners that she is dealing with the equivalent of a staffing nightmare as one full-time employee is on medical leave until January, another full-time employee is transferring offices at the beginning of the year, and another full-time employee resigned on Friday.

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Pulaski Commissioners Discuss Dilapidated Highway Garage Roof

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

The Pulaski County Commissioners are still dealing with the old highway garage roof woes, as Highway Superintendent Kenny Becker told the commissioners this week that they need to decide what to do with the dilapidated roof.

Commissioner Mike Tiede recommended sending it to the landfill and billing it to Maintenance Director Morry DeMarco’s budget, but Commissioner Ken Boswell said that he had intended to check with Building Inspector Dave Dare to see if he had the funds to cover it. Tiede, however, said that the funds in that budget are intended for unsafe buildings with violations.

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Pulaski Building Inspector In Need of Part-Time Help

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

The Pulaski County Commissioners this week approved a request from Building Inspector Dave Dare to hire an additional part-time employee in the Building Department.

Dare explained that the Board of Zoning Appeals had asked that Dare resubmit a request for a part-time staff member in the department to also serve as the secretary for the BZA and Plan Commission. Dare said that there are responsibilities coming up in 2013 and 2014 that involve a lot of work with the county’s comprehensive plan, and the current secretary would not be able to handle the extra workload.

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Pulaski County Republicans Win Three Council At-Large Seats

Posted on Author WKVI

The Pulaski County voters have spoken, despite having a limited number of contested races for the county.

The contested race for County Commissioner District 1 was won by Republican Terry Young with 2672 votes, while his opponent, Democrat William Bauer, followed closely behind with 2426 votes. He will join his fellow Republican Larry Brady who ran unopposed for the District 2 seat.

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Pulaski County Commissioners Uneasy About Moving Assessor’s Office

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

The relocation of the Pulaski County Assessor’s Office is getting nowhere fast, as the county commissioners this week told Assessor Holly VanDerAa that they don’t feel comfortable with allowing a basement wall to be knocked out to allow her to expand her office. In light of the can of worms that the courthouse bell tower repair project opened up, Commissioner Ken Boswell said that the commissioners want to have an engineer or architect take a look at the wall that would be removed to ensure that it would not compromise the integrity of the historic courthouse.

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Polls Open For 2012 General Election Today

Posted on Author WKVI

It’s Election Day! Make sure to make the effort to vote in this important election. Every vote counts, and with more than 2500 absentee votes filed in Pulaski and Starke counties, votes are already being made.

According to Pulaski County Clerk Tasha Foerg, 846 total absentee votes were filed in Pulaski County this election. In Starke County, more than 1800 absentee votes were tallied, including 1399 in-office absentee votes, 39 votes through the travel board, and 393 votes were mailed in.

The polls are open today from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time. We will have Pulaski and Marshall County results for you live tonight shortly after 5 p.m. CT. Starke County results will be given after 6 p.m. CT. Election night coverage is brought you exclusively by Zingo Express and the newly re-opened station at Koontz Lake.

Pulaski Commissioners Green-light Halted Bell Tower Repairs

Posted on Author WKVI
Pulaski County Commissioners Tracey Shorter, Kenneth Boswell, Michael Tiede

A very frustrated Jim Kuiper, president of Kuiper Masonry, Inc., vehemently assured the county commissioners last night that he is using the correct mix of mortar to repair the crumbling bell tower according to specifications for historic buildings.

County Maintenance Director Morry DeMarco had put a halt on the work being performed by Kuiper because of what he called a number of “red flags.” DeMarco said the first indicator that something was amiss with the repairs when he noticed Kuiper hauling mortar up to the tower, and when DeMarco asked for a sample of the mortar, DeMarco said Kuiper told him that the mix was not ready and he would bring DeMarco an appropriate sample. Further, DeMarco said he was uneasy with the repairs because Kuiper refused to grind out old mortar from several sections of wall in the bell tower that DeMarco felt needed to be replaced.

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West Central Superintendent Responds to State Grades

Posted on Author WKVI
West Central School Superintendent Charles Mellon

The West Central School Board discussed the building grades recently distributed by the state. West Central School Superintendent Charles Mellon had given out preliminary grades in September and they stayed the same despite being reviewed.

“The high school is at an A, the middle school a C and the elementary school is at a D,” said Mellon. “At the elementary school just a couple of years ago, we were an exemplary school so we knew that there was work to be done there. I think we have to concentrate on some of our specific population.”

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Pulaski Drug Free Council Accepting Grant Applications

Posted on Author WKVI

Grant applications are now being accepted for those organizations that address marijuana and alcohol abuse through treatment, prevention and enforcement in Pulaski County.

The Pulaski County Drug Free Council has grant money available that is gathered through the collection of drug interdiction fees from those convicted of substance abuse offenses. This money is distributed as grants to various agencies that addresses substance abuse issues in Pulaski County.

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