The Knox Community School Board learned the results of the recent Indiana State Police bus inspection. Superintendent A.J. Gappa has the report:
“Once again, all of our buses have passed inspection. Mr. Jensen and Mr. Croft at the bus barn do a good job of keeping the buses updated. All of our buses are ready to go and that’s a good thing for the corporation,” said Gappa.
Gappa said more buses are going to be added to the fleet.
“We plan on keeping all the current buses and we have one ordered that should be in later this Fall. It will be one of the larger buses. We’re also anticipating possibly buying another minibus to add to the fleet,” Gappa said.
The Starke County Council discussed the audit of the treasurer’s office at this week’s council meeting. The council, at the recommendation of President Mark Smith and 1st Source Bank gave Auditor Kay Chaffins the ability to monitor various bank accounts and checking accounts. Councilman Smith talked more about this action.
Is the City of Knox considering getting out of organizing the 4th of July fireworks celebration? The officials haven’t said they will stop producing the show, but it’s apparent that something has to be done to help with funding.
At the most recent meeting of the City Council, Mayor Rick Chambers announced that $4200.00 was lost on the 2011 presentation.
“We maybe need to form a committee and try to get Judson and Hamlet and the County on board with us so we can continue this. The city can’t afford to continue paying that kind of money, and time’s only going to get worse from the looks of it,” said Chambers.
The $4200.00 shortfall was taken from the city’s Edit Tax distribution, and the mayor said that absolutely couldn’t happen again.
After five and a half years as director of the Starke County Public Library, Ellen Dodge has announced her resignation. Effective Aug. 31, Dodge’s retirement marks the end of a dedicated 17 years of service to the library.
“When I first came I selected fiction materials and helped people make choices for their recreational reading. I’ve been a reference librarian and was head of the reference department for several years,” said Dodge.
Originally born in Chicago, Dodge spent the majority of her life growing up in Laporte County. She later earned her Bachelor’s in Biology and a Master’s in Library Science, and worked in hospital laboratories and research labs before getting a job at the library.
Robert and Susan Rowles have been selected as the Grand Marshals for the Hamlet Yellowstone Trail Fest parade this weekend.
Robert has lived in Hamlet since he was 2 years old. Growing up in Hamlet he was very busy; in his lifetime he has worked at his stepfather’s car dealership and the Thompson Smith Company. He also served in several positions with the county, and was a Hamlet Town Board member for 12 years.
At the recent meeting of the North Judson Town Board, Fire Chief Joe Leszek told the council that the several members of the department are currently working on becoming certified 1st Responders. Leszek said that when they do become certified, they will need to get a new firetruck because the current truck only seats three people.
Leszek told the council that he estimates a used truck would cost about $50,000, but said he will check with the township to see if they can possibly contribute any funds to its purchase. A decision will be made on the matter in the future.
The Starke County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an incident involving alleged neglected dogs.
According to officials at the Sheriff’s Department, a resident called police on Friday to report that her neighbor is neglecting her dogs. There were dogs inside the residence and no one had been around for days. A couple of days later, police received a call from a resident stating that her dog had been stolen and she believed her neighbor took the dog and sold it in Chicago. On Sunday, police went to the residence at 2230 East and 150 South in Knox, owned by Joanne Coronado. Officers obtained a search warrant and found 12 dogs inside the residence. They were removed from the premises and were released to the custody of the Starke County Humane Society. The health department was also called to the scene and after an investigation, condemned the residence.
We received word that former WKVI morning on-air personality, Tom Belcher, passed away early Tuesday morning. His health had been failing in recent months and was just transferred to Golden Living Center in Knox this week and he passed away at IU Health Starke Hospital.
Tom graduated from Knox High School in 1987 and began as the morning DJ at WKVI in the mid-1990s. He had a great talent for music, singing, dancing and entertaining the residents in the Kankakee Valley. He was 42 years old.
Funeral services are pending with the Braman and Son Memorial Chapel in Knox.
Eight days after Andy Howes was laid to rest with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetary another hero went to her final resting place in Knox. Mira, a retired bomb sniffing dog was laid to rest at the Knox VFW Post with full military honors Saturday. Mira had served in both Iraq and Afghanistan for 8 years. She served her country with great honor before being returned home in 2009.
She was adopted by Don Thomas and retired to his farm near Grovertown. There she lived in peace and tranquility until her passing on June 30 at the age of 12.
Before her death, she was inducted as a full member of the Knox VFW Post #728 and the Hamlet American Legion. Thomas reported that he was told that Mira was shot twice and wounded once in a bomb blast.
We at WKVI salute Mira, and are proud to have her final resting place here in Starke County.
More than 10 years ago, Cheryl Runkle lost her class ring. Thanks to a Facebook Group called “If you grew up in Knox, IN, you remember when,” the ring has been returned, after traveling all the way from Indiana to Florida and back again.
An employee of a gas station in Hamlet found a ring during one of the festival weekends, and turned the ring in to Maxine Rowe, who was the manager of the gas station at the time. The ring was kept in a drawer until its rightful owner could be found, but several months later, all hope was lost. Rowe took the ring home and has been trying to find its true owner ever since.
“Every time I’d look at it, it was like, ‘Man I really need to find out who owns this ring, but how am I gonna do this?’ Then I saw those people on there and I thought somebody has to know somebody that lost a ring that graduated in that year. She just happened to be on there,” said Rowe.
Rowe had posted a comment on the Facebook group, asking if anyone from the Knox High School graduating class of 1985 had lost a class ring. Coincidentally enough, Runkle was the first person to reply to the post, less than ten minutes later. After describing the ring to Rowe, Runkle’s hopes were confirmed after she received a picture of the ring online.
“It was like winning something, you know. It was just like, what? Is it mine? Is it me? That’s the way I felt, is it me? I can’t really describe how it felt. It was great. Then there was the whole suspense, because she didn’t comment right away, and then she said she believed it could be. I think the most exciting thing was that everybody else was so excited too,” said Runkle.
The entire conversation between Rowe and Runkle concerning the ring caught the attention of many members of the group. Several people also replied to the post, saying they were engrossed in the unfolding of the event, sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to learn if the ring had finally come home.
“It was meant to go home, and I put a little note in there: ‘I’m finally home,’ with the ring. I put on a little stickie note and put it on there,” said Rowe.
Runkle has received the ring and confirms it is hers. After more than 10 years on the lam, the ring has returned halfway across the country to its proper owner.
More than a year after the incident, Jack Haut is scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow. On July 22, Haut was found guilty of Reckless Homicide, a Class C felony after his truck struck the motorcycle of Tom White on July 2, 2010, killing him in the crash. The crash occurred on U.S. 35.
In the state’s argument, Bourff said that Haut was driving recklessly, forcing drivers off the road, speeding, and driving in the opposite lane of traffic. After Haut passed two vehicles on U.S. 35, he pulled back into his normal lane of travel, but veered back to the opposite lane where he struck the motorcycle of Tom White. No brake lights were seen by witnesses, and there was no testimony that would indicate why Haut did not recall anything from the accident or afterward.
For the defense, they said that this was a tragic accident. Haut’s speed could not be determined by the state crash reconstructionist, and the coroner said that the injuries were consistent with highway speeds. They argued that the medication in Haut’s system, including Dilata, Oxycodone, and Xanax, were not abused, but were in fact within the therapeutic range prescribed by a physician. No alcohol was involved in the accident.
Haut will be sentenced tomorrow in the Starke Circuit Court at 11 a.m.
Help fill these shelves at the Starke County Food Pantry!
Knox City Clerk-Treasurer, Jeff Houston, and the staff at the Clerk’s Office is conducting a food drive for the Starke County Food Pantry:
“We just thought that this would be a good thing to do for the community and we hope that we get a lot of support from the community. People physically come into the city hall to pay their water bill and their sewer bill and they’ll see this and we hope that people will be generous,” said Houston.
Houston is looking for these items to be brought into the Clerk’s Office at City Hall:
“All kinds of canned vegetables, cereal, canned soup, pastas like macaroni and cheese and ramen noodles. The food pantry was asking for tuna, oatmeal, and those kind of things. So just about anything that’s edible,” said Houston.
Left to right: Starke County Conservation Officer Keith Wildeman, Jeremiah Patrick, Monica Collins, Harold Smith, James Upsall, Rob Olejniczack, Rich Gast, Caitlyn Hinshaw, Melissa Osburn, Sandy Binkley, Hugo Reese, Chris Kisela, and Bob Leffert.
Officers from the Kankakee Valley Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #129 participated in a Shop with a Cop event yesterday at ALCO in Knox. Chris Kisela, Knox City Police Officer and FOP President, talked about yesterday’s event:
“We’ve been doing fundraisers over the summer. We’ve raised over $2000 so far. We’ll take that $2000 and spend it on school clothes. The kids will have $100 each to buy school clothes for the upcoming school year,” said Kisela.
Knox Mayor Rick Chambers announced that the Knox Board of Public Works approved the lowest conforming bid for the upcoming storm water project.
“H & G Underground Services from Laporte, Indiana, their bid for $688,977 was the lowest bid and that was taken under advisement until that could be checked by Territorial Engineering and the City of Knox attorney,” said Chambers.
Have you ever wondered why gas prices go up at the pump when consumption is down, or why pricing varies so much from station to station or even town to town? What about why, when oil prices drop considerably, prices at the pump only drop a few pennies?
Well, WKVI Radio has arranged for those questions and more to be answered by an “insider.” Scott Imus, Executive Director of the Indiana Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, will be in Knox August 25th at the Knox Community Center for a presentation and will be available to answer your questions. All governmental officials and individuals alike are invited to attend. Imus will begin his presentation at 6:30 p.m. CT.
The session is co-sponsored by Senator Ed Charbonneau, Representative Nancy Dembowski, and Knox Mayor Rick Chambers.
Cecilia Torres, Services Coordinator at the Starke County Food Pantry is seeing some donations coming into the facility which helps the 220 families the pantry serves each month.
“We’ve had a lot of organizations, a lot of people making donations, especially of the fresh vegetables. We’re really appreciative of that,” said Torres.
The Starke County Commissioners Thursday removed county treasurer Linda Belork from office. The action was taken after the commissioners received a state audit of the office in which there were a considerable number of irregularities found. The commissioners have filed a complaint for default on the surety bond and damages. The surety bond company, Ohio Casualty Insurance, and Treasurer Linda Belork are named as defendants in the suit. Commissioner Kathy Norem asked for the removal, seconded by Jennifer Davis.
An accident claimed the life of Joann Rannels of Koontz Lake yesterday morning. The accident happened at 1100 East on U.S. 30 at 11:00 a.m. Officers on the scene reported that Rannels proceeded through an intersection and was struck by an eastbound pickup truck driven by Lukas Holcomb of Indianapolis.
