Starke County Community Corrections Report Given to Commissioners

Posted on Author WKVI
Robert Hinojosa

Starke County Community Corrections Director, Robert Hinojosa, presented his annual calendar year report to the Starke County Commissioners this week.
Hinojosa talked about the three components of Community Corrections. Those are Home Detention, Community Service, and the Community Transition Program. He talked about the Community Transition Program.

“The offenders who have been sentenced to the Department of Corrections from Starke County all get released back with little or no services available to them so what we’ve chosen to do is provide services in the last 30 to 60 days of their sentence to transition them back,” explained Hinojosa. “We know that if they are unable to access services, they will fail, they will get rearrested, they’ll go back to the Department of Corrections and it’ll be a never ending cycle.”

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Granger Man Injured in Vehicle Rollover in Starke County

Posted on Author WKVI

Officers from the Starke County Sheriff’s Department were called to a single vehicle rollover Wednesday afternoon on U.S. 35 just north of 300 North.

The driver, Douglas Kline, 67, of Granger, Indiana, told police that he was traveling north on U.S. 35 and he must have dozed off. The vehicle left the roadway and flipped in a ditch on the west side of the road. Kline suffered minor injuries in the accident. He was transported to IU Health Starke Hospital for treatment.

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Officials Meet to Discuss Hamlet West Infrastructure Project

Posted on Author WKVI
This water tower was constructed as part of the Hamlet West Infrastructure project

A meeting was held yesterday with county officials to discuss the funding of the Hamlet West Infrastructure project. Starke County Economic Development Foundation Director, Charles Weaver, has a synopsis of the meeting.

“The meeting came about because we’ve finalized the grant reimbursement with the Economic Development Administration (EDA) which we turned a little more than $128,000 this last last draw for the project. With the completion of the EDA part of the project, we can now go back and do the final billings to the State of Indiana under the Industrial Development Grant Fund, as well as to TIF bonds managed by SYSCO. This will allow the county to be reimbursed, in whole, for the project.”

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Starke County Commissioners Consider Moving Drug Testing

Posted on Author WKVI
IU Health Starke Hospital

The Starke County Commissioners are considering moving the drug testing of some government employees, including the highway department, to Midwest Toxicology. At this week’s Commissioners meeting, Highway Superintendent, Steve Siddall, said when he sends an employee to IU Health Starke Hospital, it could take hours for them to have the drug test administered. In case the Emergency Room is busy, they must wait. Siddall said that he fully understood that the ER room takes precedent, but that with Midwest Toxicology there would be no waiting period.

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September 11th Services Scheduled for Sunday

Posted on Author WKVI

9-11 services are planned throughout the listening area this Sunday.

At Knox, WKVI is sponsoring a Commemoration Ceremony at the Knox High School Football Field from 4:00-5:00 p.m. CT. Among those participating are WKVI personalities Tom Berg, Harold Welter, Ed Hasnerl, and Ted Hayes. Starke County EMS Director, Paul Mathewson, will also speak and vocalist Mae Crider will present special music.

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Donations Needed at Starke County Food Pantry

Posted on Author WKVI
Help fill these shelves at the Starke County Food Pantry!

The Community Services of Starke County Food Pantry shelves are again bare. Cecilia Torres told Ted Hayes yesterday that 279 families were helped with meat and groceries in August. That number reached an all-time high.

“More and more people are turning to the Food Pantry and donations are down,” said Torres. “We get our food from churches, organizations and individuals who open up their pocketbooks and their hearts to us. We’ve gotten a few dollar donations.”

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2010 Audit of Treasurer’s Office Received by Starke County Commissioners

Posted on Author WKVI
Linda Belork

The Indiana State Board of Accounts has completed the 2010 audit of the Starke County Treasurer’s Office. Starke County officials have been anxious to receive the report that will complete the most recent bookkeeping activities in the Treasurer’s Office that the Board will audit. The report is now in the hands of county officials.

Treasurer Linda Belork was removed from office by the County Commissioners after irregularities in the 2009 accounts were reported by the State Board of Accounts. The Commissioners also removed the deputies from office and named Casey Clark and Michelle Snowdon to handle the day-to-day activities in the office until the matter is straightened out.

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Starke County Landfill Close to Closure

Posted on Author WKVI
Starke County Commissioners: Kathy Norem, Dan Bridegroom and Jennifer Davis

Brian Horvath of Weaver and Boos Consultants gave a report to the Starke County Commissioners yesterday that indicates that they are getting closer to closing the old Starke County Landfill. Gas probes were installed over the summer and the Commissioners received a report this week of what information the company has gotten while monitoring the probes.

Horvath was asked what the next step is in getting the landfill closed.

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SCILL Center Students get Visit from Chicago College

Posted on Author WKVI
The college representatives brought their trailer with an interactive gaming system for the students to demonstrate

Two representatives from Universal Technical Institute of Chicago were at the SCILL Center yesterday explaining some of the courses offered at their school for students who would like a career in the automotive field. They brought a 1920s car with a Chevy motor for the students to see. The students were also competing against each other on how fast they could change spark plugs.

SCILL Center Director, Jerry Gurrado, said that these students are lucky in that colleges are able to come to the SCILL Center and present a post-secondary curriculum to the students. Continue reading →

Starke County Commissioners Receive Update on Bridge Projects

Posted on Author WKVI
County bridge #156 over the Robbins Ditch

Starke County Highway Superintendent, Steve Siddall, and Engineer Ken Minot approached the Starke County Commissioners yesterday to give them an update on three bridge projects.

Siddall was asked if Bridge #156, which is located at Range Road and 400 North, is moving on schedule.

“With what the Commissioners want for fall harvest, we’re right on time,” replied Siddall. “Hopefully, the weather cooperates.”

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Commissioners to Hold Public Meeting to Discuss Hospital, Jail

Posted on Author WKVI

Calling the future of IU Health Starke Hospital and the decision to be made on the Starke County Jail the two most important issues over the next five years, Commissioner Kathy Norem said a night should be devoted to providing information to the public on both issues.

The hospital administration was to attend the September 19th regular meeting of the Commissioners, but Norem thought the presentations would be more important than just being discussed with other county business.

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Starke County Courthouse Elevator to be Functional October 1st

Posted on Author WKVI
Starke County Courthouse

The Starke County Courthouse elevator is scheduled to be up and running by October 1st.

That was especially good news to Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall who has been moving his docket to accommodate people who could not get to the third floor for legal matters, because they were unable to climb the steps due to disabilities.

The County Commissioners discussed cleaning the murals on the walls and ceilings at the Courthouse. A figure of $100,000 was initially used to do the work, but after a check with Jim Shilling, it was decided that it might be as low as $13,000. The Commissioners also discussed seeing if the Division of Historic Preservation might be able to release some grant money to help finance the project.

Data Collection of Starke County Jail to begin

Posted on Author WKVI
Starke County Jail

The 32 hour National Institute of Corrections Conference in Denver, Colorado has given Starke County Deputy Bill Dulin a new perspective on how to plan for a new, remodeled or retrofitted jail.

As we heard earlier from Sheriff Oscar Cowen and Councilman David Pearman, now is the time for data collection. It begins with a request by Sheriff Cowen to have the National Institute of Corrections to come in and inspect the jail.

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Starke United Kickoff Event Scheduled for September 21st

Posted on Author WKVI
Starke United

The Starke United kick-off event is scheduled for September 21st at 8:00 a.m. at the Knox Community Center.

WKVI’s Ed Hasnerl will be speaking during the event along with Irene Szakonyi and Knox Community School Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Peggy Shidaker. According to Starke United Executive Director, Julie Dessauer, they will be discussing programs that benefit from Starke United. Integrity Trade is sponsoring the day’s breakfast which will be catered by the Country Kettle.

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Expansion of Knox Industries Promising News for Starke County

Posted on Author WKVI
Crews continue to construct the new J.W. Hicks addition in the Knox Industrial Park

Labor Day is coming this year on the heels of some promising news from the Starke County Economic Development Foundation Office. Executive Director Charles Weaver has had exciting announcements about Sabre and J.W. Hicks, Inc. in the past few weeks. Both announcements included promises of more jobs down the road.

Of course, the community is most anxious to hear about the Sysco project. That project has been hold for several years due to the economy. This summer has brought much speculation that something might be coming to the site near Hamlet.

Weaver, though, has not issued any information on the project except to say that he’s still very hopeful that it will become a reality. If the Sysco Distribution Plant would end up being built here in the not to distant future, it would be a real shot in the arm to a county that has been hovering around 10% unemployment for many months.

Starke County Officials Continue to Study Jail Needs

Posted on Author WKVI

Starke County Commissioner Kathy Norem recently led a group of county officials to a National Institute of Corrections Conference in Denver, Colorado where they studied the procedure for identifying jail needs and how a project moves along after a decision is made.

Norem also led officials on tours of other jails. One thing we have not heard is what the price range might be of a new jail. She talked about how she viewed the make-up and price of the Miami County Jail.

“Miami County was probably more suitable for something that we would want to see locally and that was around $12 million or $14 million.”

One thing the group heard in Colorado is that there is a danger with a jail in the condition of the Starke County Jail because of the possibility of lawsuits. The Jack Haut Class Action lawsuit is still moving through the legal system. Even though Kathy Norem has never expressed guilt in the suit, she has mentioned that there might be others that are brought with merit.

“Basically, that lawsuit is alleging his constitutional rights are being violated and we deny that. That is not true. We do not believe that to be true and we intend to vigorously defend that. However, that doesn’t alleviate us from addressing ongoing issues within that jail. One thing that we need to do is take a look at how other people are doing their facilities and what some of their policies and practices are and try to adopt some of the best ones here.”

Chief Deputy Bill Dulin of the Starke County Sheriff’s Department will be in to discuss jail issues with us tomorrow.

Sabre Manufacturing to Expand

Posted on Author WKVI

Sabre Manufacturing LLC, the Starke County Economic Development Foundation and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation announced plans for the expansion of operations at Sabre in Knox. Development Foundation Director, Charlie Weaver, says that Sabre manufactures temporary environmental equipment known as FRAC and WEIR tanks.

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Niki Hochstetler Receives Sentence for Battery

Posted on Author WKVI
Niki Hochstetler

Following a physical confrontation in a bar in July 2010, Niki Hochstetler was found guilty of Battery, a Class C Felony; and Battery as a Class A misdemeanor after allegedly stabbing Eric Amore at the Country Roads Bar and Grill in Walkerton last July. The two charges were merged with a recommended sentence of four years in the Department of Corrections.

Hochstetler received her sentence Thursday in the Starke Circuit Court. Judge Kim Hall said he felt her aggravating factors and mitigating factors were of equal weight, but her attitude, the fact that she has the support of her family, and her good standing with the home detention program worked in her favor.
Hall sentenced Hochstetler to two years to be served in the Department of Corrections, with two years of probation following her release. She is also required to complete a batterer’s intervention program following her release to probation, and she was credited for the 60 days she has spent in jail. With good behavior, and considering her 60 days credit, Hochstetler is expected to be released in ten months.

When Hall mentioned her mitigating and aggravating factors, he said that her only mitigating factor was that the victim, Amore, refused emergency medical treatment, and instead, returned to the bar.

“That, to me, says a great deal about the entire event,” said Hall. “Had the victim been treated, or taken to the hospital, airlifted, or even died, you’d be looking at a very different set of circumstances.”