The Pulaski County Airport expansion project is still a very hot topic, as Chris Smith approached the Commissioners this week to ask about the process to close a road. The proposed expansion for the airport would require the closure of road 100 West, in addition to a large amount of land acquisition from citizens. Many residents feel that this is not only unnecessary, but that it would violate many of their rights.
A new fee schedule for the Pulaski County Health Department was approved by the County Commissioners on Monday.
“We came to the Commissioners to ask for them to approve a new fee schedule; we are going to now start charging for childhood vaccines an administrative fee of $8 per shot. For people who are on Medicaid, they will not need to pay that at time of services, we will be filing that with Medicaid because we are soon becoming a Medicaid provider,” said Terri Hansen of the Pulaski County Health Department.
Part of the necessity of this fee comes from the Departments’ desire to change one of their part-time nurses to a full-time nurse. Due to new guidelines and programs implemented by the state, a larger portion of the nurse’s time is dedicated to these programs, which means less time to perform other duties.
Hansen hopes that the change in the fee schedule will bring more money into the fund and make it easier to convince the Council and the Commissioners to approve the full-time position. The cost for the full-time nurse would be $37,000. The county already pays $22,000, and a grant would cover the remaining amount. The only money the county would need to come up with would be the money to cover the employee’s benefits, but with the new fee schedule, Hansen feels that shouldn’t be a problem.
The Pulaski County Commissioners discussed with Sheriff Mike Gayer why a vehicle was purchased without their approval. Gayer said that he was under the impression that, because the vehicle is a necessary tool to the Sheriff’s Department, it fell under the type of purchase that did not need approval from the Commissioners. Gayer also stressed that he was not trying to circumvent the system and he meant no disrespect, and he purchased the vehicle as inexpensively as possible.
Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department officers arrested two people, Friday, May 13th, on methamphetamine related charges.
At approximately 6:30 p.m. ET, officers observed a vehicle pull up to a home near Beardstown on U.S. 35. Officers knew that the occupant of the home is in the nursing home and so they stopped and watched the occupants in the vehicle from a distance. After a while, the officers pulled into the driveway to check their story and one occupant fled into a building. At that time, Avery A. Mullins, 28, of Grovertown and Otis T. Young, 30, of Plymouth, were taken into custody. A wanted persons check found that both subjects were wanted on outstanding warrants in Marshall County.
This week, Indiana will be a key participant in what is possibly the largest ever Indiana exercise and the first ever national level exercise to be designed around a natural disaster. Participants include thousands of local and state emergency responders from eight states, as well as numerous federal officials in Washington, D.C. and the White House.
Pulaski Memorial Hospital will host a community wide Health Fair on Saturday, May 14th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. ET at the Hospital.
The emergency staff will be demonstrating the use of the new robot for stroke victims. The pharmacy will offer a disposal program for out-of-date medicine and massages will be available for a free will donation that will go to the Pulaski Memorial Auxiliary. Prizes will include a Wii game console, a three month membership to the YMCA, gift baskets, and a bone density test.
Today is the property tax deadline in Starke County. All payments are due to the Treasurer’s office today by the end of the day. A drop off box is located outside the Treasurer’s Office if you can not make it to the office by the time the doors close to the office today. If you are mailing your taxes, they must be postmarked today in order to be counted on time.
Property taxes are also due into the Pulaski County Treasurer’s Office today.
The Pulaski County United Fund recently awarded 10 non-profit organizations financial support.
Pulaski County YMCA, Pulaski County REACT, West Central Educational Foundation, North Central IN Rural Crisis Center, Pulaski County Human Services, Salvation Army-Pulaski County Service Extension, Girl Scouts of Northern IN-Michiana-Pulaski County Scouts, and Sagamore Council Boy Scouts-Pulaski County Scouts received funds from the Pulaski County United Fund.
Campbell Soup Company will be joining with the National Association of Letter Carriers to Stamp out Hunger across America. The Stamp out Hunger event will be this Saturday, May 14th.
You are encouraged to leave non-perishable food items by your mailbox on Saturday and the mail carriers in the Kankakee Valley will be pick up your donation where it will be distributed to your local Food Bank.
A bill for the purchase of a new police vehicle for the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department was brought to the Commissioner’s attention this week, and to their annoyance, they discovered it was a purchase they had not approved. The Commissioners had previously passed a resolution that required they approve all purchases over $500 before they can be made, but the new vehicle, a 2011 Dodge Charger with a total price tag of $23,000, had not even been brought to the Commissioners attention before it was purchased.
A rainy and cool spring season has caused planting problems for farmers in Starke and Pulaski Counties.
“Those things combined have made for a very wet season which, in general, has delayed planting and we’re well behind the average planting for this time of the year. I’m specifically talking about corn planting. For example, the information that we had this past week indicated that across the state, we had planted two percent of the corn, compared to sixty-nine percent at the same time last year,” said Alan Kurtz, Ag and Natural Resources Educator at Purdue Extension.
The Pulaski County Commissioners met yesterday evening and were approached by taxpayer Tim Hoffa regarding the airport expansion project. Hoffa explained to the board that there is one vital benefit to be gained from expanding the runway, and that is the ability to save lives.
Hoffa is currently in the process of being evaluated for a double-lung transplant, and one of the qualifications for such a procedure is a nearby airport with a runway of at least 5000 feet. Hoffa said he was ecstatic when he heard about the proposed expansion, because it shortened his trip to the airport in the event of a donor match. Hoffa explained that he would have a limited amount of time to get to the Fulton County airport, which is the closet airport that meets these requirements. He stressed that hundreds of lives could be saved with this expansion, and that the Commissioners should approve and expand the runway because saving lives is more important than any other potential issues with the project.
A breakfast to observe the annual National Day of Prayer will be held Thursday, May 5th, from 6:00-7:30 a.m. ET, at the Church of the Nazarene in Winamac. The event is sponsored by the Winamac Kiwanis Club and all are welcome to attend.
The Pulaski County Community Development Commission has a new Director. Nathan Origer has been in the office for a little over a week and he says he’s ready to begin his duties.
“If you’ve got a business looking to expand here in the County, I’m the guy who’s going to help you look for grants, navigate the abatement process, the revolving loan fund process, and also potential companies coming into the County,” said Origer. “I’m going to be giving them all the reasons why Pulaski County is where they should bring their operation. I’m going to work with the community and county government, small project development, and work with the PACE program on workforce development.”
Origer was asked what aspects Pulaski County has to attract businesses.
“I think we’ve got a government that is looking forward to entertaining new clients and businesses. There are communities with strong infrastructure. Winamac is doing a sewer separation project right now to improve theirs. Medaryville is undertaking a new storm water project so they will have better drainage over there. We’ve got a good agriculture base so we could look into value added products. We’ve got a rail line on the west side of the county and we’ve got a rail bank on the northeast side of the county. We do have one U.S. Highway that has connections to some pretty important places and we’re close to I-65. It’s just an ideal location where you’ve got quality of life, lower cost of living, and still close enough to the big markets for a company to do what it needs to do.”
Voters in precincts 1, 2, 3 and 4 in Center Township have a chance to vote absentee today and tomorrow from 8:00 a.m. to Noon and from 1:00-4:00 p.m. CT in the Starke County Courthouse. The final time to vote absentee will be Monday, May 2nd, from 8:00 a.m. to Noon only. Election Day is Tuesday, May 3rd. The polls will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and voting will be conducted in the Knox Community Center.
The Winamac Town Park is under water. Winamac Park Superintendent, Don Thompson, said the back end of the park is under water and the walking paths are also under water. The water has reached the 4-H buildings in the Town Park as well.
Thompson said the Tippecanoe River is expected to crest near 11 feet Friday afternoon and the flood stage is at 10.0. According to the National Weather Service, at 11.5 feet, houses and lots could flood in the eastern parts of Winamac near the State Road 14 bridge.
Taylor Smith, of Monterey, has made it through the first round of auditions for the new Simon Cowell program, “X Factor”. The auditions were held in Chicago. The next round of auditions were held Thursday morning. The results of that round are being kept secret until “X Factor” airs.
“X Factor” will air on Fox 28 and the premiere of the program will be in September.
Every ten years the Indiana General Assembly reviews the state’s House and Senate Districts and draws new boundary lines after determining that each has an appropriately equal number of voters. 2011 is one of those years. Senator Ed Charbonneau comes in today to tells us of the latest readjustment to his Senate district.
“My District is going to change rather significantly,” said Senator Charbonneau. “The one county where I had the entire county was Starke County and then parts of the six counties that surrounds Starke County. Under the new map, I will lose the townships that I had in Marshall County, I’ll lose some of the townships in LaPorte County, and have all of Pulaski County and then the four townships along the bottom of Starke County.”
Emotions were running high at the Culver Community School Board meeting this week, as supporters of the Monterey Elementary school vehemently defended the school in the face of possible closure. This issue was discussed because of a need to reduce expenses in order to meet budget cuts from the state level in the amount of $855,928 over two years.
The Culver Community School Corporation has a number of options to explore in order to meet this new budget. Some of the options mentioned included increasing revenue through a referenda, in which the school tax rate would be raised $0.11 per $100; the use of the Rainy Day Fund, which has a current balance of $980,000; and decreasing expenses through budget reductions, such as closing Monterey or cutting positions.
When the Culver Community School Board meets tonight, the future of the Monterey Elementary school will be one part of a larger discussion planned for the meeting as “possible” budget cuts at the state level. In spite of much discussion in the community, Superintendent Brad Schuldt says nothing has been decided yet. But he says the Board will have an item on the agenda to begin cutting expenses.
Monterey Elementary, which includes kindergarten through 6th grades, has in recent years, enrolled between 135 and 180 students. Closing the school would result in an increase of about six students per classroom at the Culver facility if they were transferred there. The school at Monterey is listed as the second smallest Kindergarten through 6th grade building in the State of Indiana.
