The Starke County Traffic Safety Partnership will be conducting a Safe Family Travel patrol beginning this Friday and it will continue through November 27th.
This blitz is a grant from the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute and will focus on impaired drivers and seat belt enforcement. This grant will allow additional officers to enforce these laws and they will not be giving out warnings. They will be issuing tickets to those who are in violation of these laws.
The Starke County Development Foundation’s annual meeting will be held tonight at the Knox Community Center. It begins at 5:30 p.m. and the formal program begins at 6:15 p.m. You are invited to the event.
Several awards will be given including the Robert Hamilton Award which will be given to Mat Swanson and Jack Lynch.
Starke County Emergency Ambulance Service Director, Paul Mathewson, came before the County Commissioners on Monday to ask for a reimbursement program for personnel trying to achieve upgraded certification.
“They’re in classes two days a week plus clinical hours and there’s a lot that goes into it. It costs money to go for them and we’re going to see if we can aid our employees by having a reimbursement program. This is just the first step,” said Mathewson.
Today is Election Day! Polls are open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. prevailing time today.
Knox residents will be voting at the Knox Community Center, North Judson residents will vote at the North Judson Community Building (the old firehouse) and Hamlet residents will be voting at the Hamlet Fire Station.
Starke County Highway Superintendent Steve Siddall came before the Commissioners yesterday and reported on two bridges in the county.
The first bridge, #51 was closed last week. Siddall said the caps, that were wooden and placed on the bridge in the 1950s, have crushed and failed. He said that this was a bridge that was scheduled to be replaced.
“Several years ago, I’m going to say 10 or 12 years ago, they set up a program to replace these bridges and put them by category by year,” said Siddall. “If we were still on that, this year that bridge was scheduled to be replaced. It will be bid out in the spring.”
The Community Services of Starke County was recently chosen Agency of the Year.
The Food Bank of Northern Indiana recently presented a plaque to Community Services of Starke County Program Coordinator, Cecilia Torres-Bowman.
Community Services of Starke County Food Pantry currently serves over 250 families a month, a huge jump from serving 150 families in January of 2010. The pantry has matched the government commodities by 240% in 2011 and has been able to operate the food pantry through the generous donation of time and labor from volunteers.
Saying they had heard some complaints from the community, the Starke County Commissioners yesterday voted to have County Attorney, Marty Lucas, create a draft of an employee nepotism ordinance. When passed, the ordinance would spell out that no employee could work directly under a relative in any office.
The ordinance will make it clear that no parents, grandparents, spouse, children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, or adopted relatives could be given employment where they work directly under, or having reporting responsibilities, to the supervisor or department head.
Officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department and emergency personnel were called to a personal injury accident on Saturday afternoon.
The accident occurred on Highway 421 south of San Pierre by the south junction of State Road 10. Carey Foley, 56, of Demotte, was traveling in that area when for some unknown reason, he passed out, left the roadway, hit a tree, hit a utility pole and then hit another tree and came to rest. Foley was pinned in the vehicle and the San Pierre and North Judson-Wayne Township Fire Departments were called to the scene to assist with extrication. Foley was airlifted from the scene to Memorial Hospital in South Bend and his condition is unknown at this time.
Brett Kersey appeared in Starke Circuit Court on Thursday. The state submitted a plea offer, but it was rejected by the defense. Kersey’s attorney, Richard Ballard, will be taking the case to trial. Kersey is charged with Child Molesting, Rape, and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor. He faces a potential sentence of 20-50 years in prison.
Immunization eligibility requirements are changing as of January 1st, 2012.
All childhood immunizations are administered by the local health departments for free of charge, but due to funding constraints, eligibility requirements are changing. The State will only be providing childhood vaccines to the local health departments that have patrons who are on any type of Medicaid insurance, who are American Indian/Alaskan Native children, and those who are underinsured. “Underinsured” is defined as having no insurance, insurance that does not cover vaccines or the insurance caps vaccine coverage at a certain amount.
Denise Dalton, 42, of Knox, received her sentence in the Starke Circuit Court on Thursday for Possession of Methamphetamine, as a Class D Felony. All other charges against her were dismissed, including Manufacturing Methamphetamine as a Class A Felony, Illegal Drug Lab, and Battery.
Dalton was sentenced to 18 months in the Department of Corrections with none of that time suspended. Her time will be served on home detention with electronic monitoring by Community Corrections, and was given 16 days credit for time served.
Samuel Smith plead guilty last week to battering his wife in the presence of his two-year-old child. Smith was present in Starke Circuit Court on Thursday along with his attorney, Richard Ballard.
Convicted of a Class D Felony, Domestic Battery with a Child Present, Smith will serve 18 months in the Department of Corrections with none of that sentence suspended. A $50 domestic violence fee has also been imposed, and he will submit to a DNA cheek swab. He was credited with 176 days served, and he is also required to complete a Batterer’s Intervention program.
As part of the plea agreement, charges of Criminal Confinement and Resisting Law Enforcement were dismissed.
The Knox Christmas tree lighting ceremony is on Sunday, November 27th.
Prior to the tree lighting, the Knox-Center Township Fire Department will be sponsoring a Christmas Parade. The fire trucks will leave the South Side Fire Station at approximately 4:30 p.m. and travel north on Main Street to the Starke County Courthouse in the downtown area. The firemen will be delivering Santa Claus to the tree lighting ceremony on the Courthouse Square at 5:00 p.m.
Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday, November 6th, at 2:00 a.m. You will need to set your clock back one hour before you go bed tonight (Saturday) or at 2:00 a.m. prevailing time Sunday morning.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 marks the change in the observance of Daylight Saving Time. It officially begins on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
The case against Stacie Brown continues with a plea deadline extension that was accepted by the Starke Circuit Court. Judge Kim Hall granted an extension to December 1st at 8:00 a.m. to allow Brown’s attorney, Timothy Lemon, to finish the discovery of the case and speak to some of the state’s witnesses. Lemon says the discovery is going well, but because expert witnesses are involved, he would like more time in order to speak to each of them.
The National Emergency Alert System will be tested across the nation on Wednesday, November 9th at 2:00 p.m. ET.
The National-level EAS is a national public alert and warning system that enables the President to address the American public during extreme emergencies. Warnings will be sent to radio and television stations, cable television, satellite radio and television services and wire line providers.
Having previously plead guilty to two counts of Sexual Misconduct with a Minor as a Class B Felony and Incest as a Class B Felony, 39-year-old Ken Singleton appeared before Judge Kim Hall in the Starke Circuit Court on Thursday to be sentenced. The victim of the sexual abuse was not present to make a statement but a victim impact letter she had written was read aloud in court.
The topic of fireworks came up again at the most recent meeting of the Knox City Council. Even though it’s billed as the Starke County Fireworks celebration, Mayor Rick Chambers explained to the Council that the City has been on the losing end monetarily while trying to support the effort.
“A fireworks contract was sent to me…what do we want to do with the fireworks?” Mayor Chambers asked the City Council. “We took quite a beating on that this year really because of the weather. We didn’t collect what we had collected in the past. Starke County didn’t donate like they’ve donated in the past. We got stuck with $4,700 which was the City’s cost this year. Last year, it cost us $640. We hustled, we worked, we got donations, and this year it sort of fell through with the economy and the bad weather that night.”
Mat Swanson and Jack Lynch, two long time members of the Board of Directors of the Starke County Economic Development Foundation, will be honored next Thursday night by the Foundation at its “Prospectus and Achievements Night.”
Only five contested races on the ballots could mean a low turnout in next Tuesday’s municipal elections in Starke County.
Starke County Clerk Evelyn Skronski was asked how the absentee balloting was going.
“We’ve had three full days and 21 hours and we’ve had 25 voters so it’s slow,” she said.
