The Pulaski County Food Pantry is in need of donations.
Pulaski County Human Services Director Jacki Frain indicated that donations of canned items, soups, peanut butter, jelly and other shelf food items are needed. Diapers, shampoo, deodorant, paper products and other toiletry items are also needed.
The amount of absentee ballots already cast indicates voters are showing an interest in the Presidential, U.S. Senate and Gubernatorial races.
Starke County Clerk Evelyn Skronski said over 150 absentee ballots have already been filed and that form of voting has only been available since Monday! With the federal races, Skronski noted that the local races, especially the school board races, have generated a lot of interest in this General Election. She added that many voters in the North Judson area are paying particular attention to the referendum question that asks if the North Judson Town Council should expand to five members from three members.
In honor of the many volunteers who have made the Tippecanoe River State Park what it is today, the Friends of the Tippecanoe River State Park will be holding a Volunteer Recognition Day at the park on Saturday.
The Friends are a new organization formed in June consisting of a group of community volunteers who work with Park Assistant Property Manager Jason Hickman and Park Manager Vernon Gillum. The group provides support to the two and volunteers for activities, even performing cleanups and other services to benefit the park.
Hickman said the recognition day is a small way to show how appreciative the organization is to those who have helped the park.
“We’re recognizing volunteers that have helped throughout the year. We’ve had close to 60 volunteers donate close to 1000 hours this summer and spring, and this is just the park’s chance to say, ‘Hey, thank you, we appreciate what you did.’ So we got a variety of events going on that should be enjoyable for a lot of people,” said Hickman. Mary Perren, the secretary of Friends of Tippecanoe River State Park, said helping this organization is just one way to polish the jewel that is the park.
“This is a way for us in the community to say, ‘This is one of our crown jewels. We want to make it nice. We want to make it enjoyable for everybody to come out here and what can we do to do that?’” said Perren. (10-12-12 – Perren – What Can We Do)
One of the first tasks the volunteer organization did this year was organize a cleanup at the nature center. The group gave the building a floor-to-ceiling detailed clean, and Perren said volunteers helped out where the park’s limited staff was unable to get to, and without these volunteers, the park wouldn’t be what it is today.
One of the first things they did this year was a cleanup at the nature center, pulled everything out, gave it a floor to ceiling cleaning. Volunteers helped where the limited staff was unable to get to, so its beneficial to the park to have them.
To become a member of the Friends of the Tippecanoe River State Park, call (574) 946-3213 for more information.
As schools throughout the country migrate from the rapidly-antiquating textbooks, chalkboards, and other teaching tools, the Eastern Pulaski School Corporation is following the same path, but Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said his corporation is going about it a bit different.
Klitzman explained that the corporation will be slowly phasing in the new technology, as opposed to dropping new technology on the heads of teachers and students at the beginning of the school year. He said they will be systematically adding new devices throughout the year, and they’ve already started this school year with iPads in the hands of 7th graders working in science. On top of that, Klitzman noted they also have several handheld devices that go beyond iPads, such as notebooks, netbooks, and other devices, in several advanced high school classes.
A Winamac man was sentenced in Pulaski Circuit Court on two amended charges of Trafficking with an Inmate, a Class A Misdemeanor.
Charles A. Weaver of Winamac was arrested in February 2011 on a Class C Felony charge of Trafficking with an Inmate, but it was later amended to two misdemeanor counts. Weaver pleaded guilty to those charges in a plea agreement and Judge Michael Shurn sentenced him to one year incarceration on each count to be served consecutively.
The toxicology results are still out for the late 19-year-old Devin M. Holbrook, but Pulaski County Coroner Steve VanDerAa has confirmed the cause of death: drug overdose.
Holbrook was found unresponsive and not breathing on Saturday, Sept. 29 after he had taken a break from landscaping at a residence in Francesville with 32-year-old Anthony Gentry. Gentry told officials that the pair had gone inside to watch television and Holbrook had fallen asleep, but when Gentry went to wake him up, he found him unresponsive. Gentry performed CPR until emergency crews arrived at the scene. EMS found that Holbrook couldn’t be revived and the coroner was called to the scene. Police did reportedly find drugs in the area where Holbrook was found and they field-tested positive for methamphetamine and heroin.
While the toxicology results are pending, the coroner has confirmed that Holbrook died from a drug overdose, but the exact levels of the drugs in his system have not yet been finalized.
A Winamac man has pleaded guilty to federal charges in U.S District Court.
Forty-nine-year-old Paul Minix was arrested on July 25 and taken to the Pulaski County Jail on an active ATF warrant. As a result of an investigation by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Division, a grand jury indicted Minix on two counts of Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. He allegedly committed the offense on Feb. 21.
Last week, Minix pleaded guilty in a plea agreement to the felony offense of Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon. Sentencing has been set for Jan. 10, 2013 in U.S. District Court in South Bend.
Monday was an emotional day at Winamac High School as the entire student body saw the impact their support had on those they sought to help. Karen Butler, the student council advisor, sophomore sponsor, and sophomore English teacher at the high school, organized a penny war fundraiser between the high school classes with the help of the 36-member student council. The goal of the fundraiser was to raise as much money as possible toward the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent in honor of second-grader Aiden Spoor, the grandson of a teacher at Winamac High School.
Aiden was diagnosed last year with leukemia, and shortly thereafter, he began seeking treatment through the hospital. Earlier this year, Aiden’s grandmother Mary Plummer – a teacher at the high school – asked Butler if she would be interested in holding a fundraiser to raise some money toward the programs helping Aiden, and Butler agreed. From Oct. 1 to Oct. 5, five-gallon water jugs were put in each grade sponsor’s room, and students competed to raise the most money in pennies to score points, or the students could go on the offensive and drop silver change in their opponent’s jugs to reduce their points.
Within five days, the combined student body raised $2439.08 in change – a shocking amount, Butler said.
With the number of programs offered at the Eastern Pulaski Schools Corporation, the schools like to keep track on where their students end up after high school. Superintendent Dr. Robert Klitzman said high school counselor Kate Dailey presented the school board with the roundup of the 2012 graduating class, with a follow-up on where they are now.
Klitzman said more than 90 percent of the class of 2012 have either entered the workforce or sought further education, either through trade schools, college, or other training.
A Valparaiso man died after performing stunts at the FMX Paradise Motocross Park in Medaryville Sunday afternoon.
According to witnesses, James L. Miller II, 28, of Valparaiso made a jump on the dirt track and landed on the front wheel of his dirt bike. The dirt bike overturned and Miller reportedly landed on his head, causing his death.
A South Bend man was arrested in Pulaski County early Sunday after police found him to be driving under the influence.
Pulaski County police got a call of someone spotlighting in the area of County Roads 800 South and 600 West. A reserve deputy pursued the vehicle and when the vehicle stopped at a residence, several occupants fled on foot into a wooded area.
The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department now has the jail list available online.
Sheriff Michael Gayer says visitors can obtain the list by going online to http://www.pulaskisheriff.net where the link for the list can be found on the lower right-hand side of the home page.
Starke County Clerk Evelyn Skronski and Pulaski County Clerk Tasha Foerg urge Hoosiers to register to vote in the Nov. 6 General Election. The last day to register is tomorrow!
You can register by going online to http://www.IndianaVoters.com or by visiting your county clerk’s office. If you do not register to vote, you cannot cast a ballot in this important presidential election. You have until 4 p.m. tomorrow to register, and many government offices may be closed due to the Columbus Day holiday today.
With summer closed and fall just beginning, kids are back in school throughout Indiana, but they’re not alone in their return as businessmen and women are volunteering their time to present Junior Achievement of Pulaski County programs to local students. JA volunteers are instrumental in bringing Junior Achievement to life through sharing their personal and professional experiences with students. Combined with Junior Achievement’s age-appropriate curricula, students are able to connect what they learn in school with what they will need to succeed in both work and life.
The autopsy results on Devin M. Holbrook are not conclusive at this time. Pulaski County Coroner Steven VanDerAa told WKVI that Holbrook’s death is being ruled accidental at this time pending the results of a toxicology test.
Holbrook and Anthony Gentry were working outside a residence in Francesville on Saturday and Holbrook said he didn’t feel well. They went inside to watch television and Holbrook fell asleep. Gentry went to wake up Holbrook and he wasn’t breathing. Gentry performed CPR until emergency crews arrived at the scene. EMS found that Holbrook couldn’t be revived and the coroner was called to the scene. Police did reportedly find drugs in the area where Holbrook was found and they field-tested positive for methamphetamine and heroin.
Toxicology results may determine Holbrook’s cause of death.
A beautiful wealth of information is in jeopardy due to a lack of patrons. Pulaski County Library Director MacKenzie Ledley said the Medaryville branch is suffering from a lack of circulation, and she said they aren’t sure what’s causing it.
“Annual circulation at the Medaryville branch dropped from 25,780 in 2007 to a year-to-date of 11,651 – that’s through the end of August,” said Ledley. “We’re really not too sure what’s changed to decrease the circulation; it could be the availability of information online and that patrons are able to access it at home.”
A few changes have been made to the drug testing policy currently in place for Pulaski County employees. Cathy Fritz Consulting is the business authorized by the county to conduct drug testing for employees who operate county vehicles.
Cathy Fritz told the commissioners that she wanted to clear up a few things in an effort to make the drug testing process smoother, which she said includes designating county department heads as “designated employee representatives.” Fritz said these representatives are responsible for sending the employees that have been chosen at random to undergo a drug screen.
The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department has investigated several cases in recent weeks that involve a drug that hasn’t been known to be in the area for a while: heroin.
Pulaski County Sheriff Michael Gayer says heroin is a pricey drug and is not as obtainable as some of the other drugs that deputies have been confiscating from criminals.
“We’re still dealing with the prescription pill epidemic, methamphetamine and marijuana, but now here within the last couple of weeks, my officers have dealt with a couple of scenarios in which heroin has surfaced,” explained Gayer.
A few technological upgrades may be in store for the Pulaski Circuit Court, as the county commissioners this week approved $1500 toward installing new phones in the courtroom, judge’s office, and his court administrator’s office.
Circuit Court Judge Michael Shurn told the commissioners that he has no working line in his office as a result of the switch to digital phones, and he has no way to tell his administrator to pick up the phone besides yelling down the hall. Shurn said this is not the ideal way for a phone system to operate, so he requested permission and funding to purchase two phones and a digital phone card to be installed.
The Pulaski County Assessor’s office may soon undergo some modifications as Assessor Holly VanDerAa told the commissioners this week that Maintenance Director Morry DeMarco has offered to make adjustments to the boiler room, enlarging it, to allow her office to expand into that room. DeMarco explained he would have to enlarge a doorway, removing a section of wall, but the commissioners were uncomfortable with allowing that to happen without first having an engineer check the integrity of the building.
DeMarco explained that this would be the most cost-effective plan because the assessor would not have to move her office, but would rather enlarge it. Fire safety exits and other safety requirements will be unaffected, and he estimated that the overall cost would be less than $1000.
