The trial of John Brooke, who was reportedly involved in an incident at Bass Lake in February of 2010, begins today in Starke Circuit Court. Brooke is facing seven charges against him. The trial begins at 9:00 a.m. in Judge Kim Hall’s courtroom. A jury of eight men and four women was seated on Friday.
Brooke was supposed to be on trial with Kimberly Hitchens but in a surprise development, Hitchens had charges of Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery and Possession/Manufacturing of a Destructive Device dismissed by the State of Indiana. She plead guilty to one charge of Aiding and Assisting a Criminal, a Class D felony. A sentencing hearing has not been set at this time.
The Indiana Wing of the Civil Air Patrol conducted a search and rescue exercise this past weekend at the Starke County Airport. Ted Hayes visited the site, and talks with Col. Mark Reeves who was directing the cadets through their exercise.
“We’re running an Air Force training mission,” said Col. Reeves. “The Air Force has authorized us to practice our skills in search and rescue. The cadets are from the age of 12 to 21. They can qualify in all sorts of things. Most of the time they are ground team members. They qualify by doing ground team type stuff, first aid, search and rescue, and line searches.”
They are the first person you talk to in an emergency. They are the calming voice in the time of extreme situations. They are emergency services dispatchers at your local law enforcement agency.
This is the week to thank those who have dispatched police, fire, or EMS as a result of your emergency call. This week is National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.
April is Autism Awareness Month and Linda Trent, who lives near Toto, is the grandmother of two grandsons who have been diagnosed with autism.
Although little is known about the care of autism, it is known that it affects information that is processed in the brain. Signs of the disease usually show up in a child between the ages of two and three, although some children regress into the disease as they get a little older.
Trent says that people have a hard time being around an autistic child.
“A lot of times when people see a child acting up they think, ‘Somebody should do something about that brat’, said Trent. “That brat isn’t a brat. That child can not help the activities they’re doing. Whether it’s clapping their hands or tapping on things, or making odd noises, they cannot help it. They need a lot of help in school. Many of them have a para-pro to assist them through the school system. It’s difficult for them because many of them don’t like to feel certain fabrics or certain sounds, or even smells. They might act up when things bother them. They might not hug you if you have that hair spray or cologne on. It might upset them.”
It’s not known if the disease is diagnosed more readily than in past eras, or if more children are born with a propensity for developing into an autistic child.
“We have one in every 110 children who are diagnosed as autistic,” said Trent. “It’s four times more common in boys. If you have an autistic sibling, you’re four times more likely to be autistic. It’s just growing in numbers. Cases of autism surpasses children that have AIDS, cancer and diabetes combined.”
Tomorrow we’ll explore whether vaccinations have anything to do with autism.
Prescription drugs have now passed street drugs as the method of choice for most drug abusers in the United States. There are more deaths caused by prescription drugs than cocaine and heroin each year. 20% of teens say they have taken a prescription drug without a doctor’s prescription. Those facts don’t surprise Porter-Starke Addictions Counselor, Leo Smith.
“It’s one of the problems that people don’t see or that they don’t want to see,” said Smith. “When you get a drug from a doctor and it’s prescribed it’s like, ‘I got it from a doctor and everything’s good’ – until it starts to turn on you. This is a huge problem in Starke County. This is a huge problem everywhere. I don’t care if it’s Starke County, LaPorte County, or Porter County. It’s everywhere.”
Over 20 people died of overdoses last year in Starke County.
“That’s my understanding and in the last year, that’s 20 that they could verify,” continued Smith. “If you’re not on the front line, it does knock your socks off, but I’ve got to be honest with you, it doesn’t surprise me. I hear it first hand. I have the longest grapevine in the whole world as far as what’s going on with the prescription drug use and I hear about it all the time.”
“I got back from vacation after two weeks and the first client I saw said, ‘Did you hear about so-and-so?’ They had overdosed the Friday before I came back.”
“I haven’t fixed you after eight weeks of treatment. After eight weeks of treatment, hopefully you’ll walk out of there with some really good tools. I was laughing with some clients they other day and I said, ‘You know, I’m going to give you some Craftsmans and some Snap-ons, some Milwaukee and DeWalts, but you have to apply them and you have to use them.’ When you walk out of here, you’ll know what you are and what you need to do. Recovery is progressive. It’s a day at a time and it’s a life long process.”
Leo Smith will be talking more about drug abuse next week on WKVI. Leo Smith will be presenting a Lunch and Learn discussion on Tuesday, April 19th at the Knox Community Center from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. He will discuss relapse for persons recovering from substance abuse. Call 772-4040 for more information or to reserve a seat.
Starke County and North Judson police officers arrested a North Judson man early this morning after he allegedly hit and threatened his girlfriend.
According to the police report, the victim called police to report that her boyfriend, Jesus Pedroza, Jr. had battered her and threatened to kill her with a gun. Officers responded to 2683 W. and 500 S. and asked to enter the residence to find the suspect. Police found Pedroza, Jr. running away from the residence. When officers announced the K9 would be released, Pedroza, Jr.surrendered himself to police.
The victim told police that Pedroza, Jr. had punched her when returning home in the car from “The Pub”. He allegedly slammed her head against the passenger side window. Pedroza, Jr. was arrested and taken to the Starke County Jail on preliminary charges of Strangulation, Domestic Battery, Intimidation, and Resisting Law Enforcement.
Is Starke County going to get out of the ambulance business? That was one of the questions several County Councilmen and one Commissioner attempted to answer this week.
Getting out of the ambulance business was only one of the proposals made in a session on upgrading the county’s ambulance capabilities to Advance Life Service (ALS) status.
The annual Starke United meeting was held last night at the Community Services of Starke County Building in Knox. The emcee for the evening, Megan Hamand, introduced the speaker of the evening, Marvin McLaughlin, of North Judson, who blended humor with an appeal to support the organization. Mr. McLaughlin set the stage for the rest of the evening which included the announcement of the Volunteer of the Year, Marilyn Zabinski.
Today on “Ted Hayes Remembers”, our host will be talking about the achievements of the Lilly Scholarship Program in our area, specifically the Starke County Lilly Scholarship effort.
Ted will have not only this year’s Starke County Lilly Scholar, Jessica Jachim, but the Pulaski County Lilly Scholar winner, too. He’s Andrew Frasure.
One question Ted asked was, “At what point did studying and getting good grades become a focus?” Here is Jessica’s response:
“In third grade, I began my interest in writing and I got my first journal and ever since then, I’ve loved to write,” said Jessica. “I have 52 journals now. I began writing short stories in fourth grade on my Grandmother’s computer everyday after school. Ever since then, I’ve just developed my passion for writing.”
Andrew had this response:
“Ever since I started school, my parents were a big influence on me,” said Andrew. “They taught me to work hard and to give everything my best effort. All my coaches that have coached me throughout my entire athletic career, they’ve taught me to work hard at everything I do. In going through Elementary School and Middle School, I realized I had a talent for math and science and in High School I really progressed on this talent and I feel that Chemistry is my best subject.”
Jessica and Andrew will be with Ted today on “Ted Hayes Remembers”. The program airs at 12:20 p.m. and at 5:30 p.m. CT.
Firefighters and others using radio communication equipment attended a meeting Monday night called by Starke County EMA Director, Ted Bombagetti, to explain the future mandate to change radio bands. Because of space demands, the FCC is compressing the bands down to what is called “narrow-banding.”
“There’s too many people that want to get radios and there’s not enough frequencies open,” explained Bombagetti. “So the FCC has decided that they’re going to cut the space in half between each frequency. Right now, we’re operating in a space of 25 mhz and they’re going to cut it to 12 1/2. This allows more licenses to become available to the public.”
The combined trial of Kimberly Hitchens and John Brooke is expected to begin with jury selection on Friday, April 8th at 9:00 a.m. in Starke Circuit Court.
According to court documents, on February 15th, 2010, Starke County officers went to a home at Bass Lake to serve an arrest warrant to Michael Drogosz, who allegedly planned an ambush on police when they served him the warrant. Kimberly Hitchens told police that Drogosz was not at the residence when they appeared. Drogosz was at the residence and in possession of assault rifles and incendiary devices and he did open fire on police with an assault weapon. An accomplice, James Reed, reportedly called John Brooke to come to the residence. He appeared carrying an assault rifle and wearing body armor.
The Indiana Wing of the Indiana Civil Air Patrol will be conducting a weekend search and rescue exercise at the Starke County Airport. Approximately 130 Senior, Junior and Auxiliary cadets will bivouac from Friday night until Sunday.
Eight Civil Air Patrol aircraft will be used in the exercise, which will be a staged plane crash. Col. Mark Reeves will be in charge of the training session.
The annual Starke United Meeting and Recognition night will be tonight. New Executive Director, Julie Dessauer, talks about the evening.
“The Annual Membership Meeting will be April 7th at 5:00 p.m. at the Community Services building,” explained Starke United Executive Director, Julie Dessauer. “The keynote speaker will be Judge Marvin McLaughlin and event is sponsored by IU Health Starke Hospital.” Continue reading →
Dr. Turpin takes time to pose with Dakota Cook, an Oregon-Davis advisor and Danielle Marsh, Oregon-Davis reporter
Dr. Tom Turpin, an Entomology professor at Purdue University, provided the program this week at the Purdue Ag. Alumni Annual Meeting held at the Toto Cafe.
“Many of them are pests, of course,” said Dr. Turpin. “We have many disease carrying insects like mosquitoes and then we have those that feed on our crops and those who feed on our possessions like termites in our homes. The pest status of some of them makes us concerned about them but that’s a very small percentage. Less than three percent of all the species are actually problem insects.”
Lisa Napierkowski was arrested Monday on a warrant for Trafficking with an Inmate and Dealing in a Schedule IV Controlled Substance after a routine traffic stop.
According to police, A car driven by Otis Young was stopped at 700 E. and 100 N. in Starke County on Monday and Lisa Napierkowski was apprehended as a result of the traffic stop. It is alleged that in late February, Lisa had brought Clonzapam to the Starke County Jail lobby bathroom and placed them under the trash bag. An inmate, Korey Draper, then admitted to gaining possession of the drugs which numbered 40. He told police that he put them in a pill bottle and placed them in a vent. When jailers searched the vent, the pills, credit cards and syringes were located and placed into evidence.
Starke County officials closed three bridges last week and determined that at least half of the bridges in the county need to be replaced or repaired.
The following bridges were closed:
Bridge #9 over the Jane Ditch (700 N and 500 E) in Oregon Township;
Bridge #62 over the Smith Ditch (Range Rd. and 500 S) in California Township;
Bridge #156 over the Robbins Ditch (Range Rd. between 400 and 500 N) in Davis Township.
Starke United Inc. honored several volunteers on this date in 2000. Chairman Terry Kimmel announced that the fundraising campaign went $3,000 over its goal of $90,000. Kathy Norem was honored for her work as the Fund Raising Campaign Chair. Kimmel was also given a plaque honoring him for four years as chairman, and Mike Haugh was honored for helping to launch Starke United.
Starke County finally has a drug policy for certain County workers. The Drug Test Policy was voted into the Employee Handbook yesterday on a 3-0 vote of the Commissioners.
All new employees will have to take a pre-employment drug test. Those involved in accidents with County vehicles will have to take a post-accident test.
Starke County employees will see an increase in their contribution for health insurance in 2012. The various increases for individual employees, those with spouses and those with families, will take effect January 1st.
Along with the increases, it was announced that wellness incentives will be built into the policy that will allow employees to reduce the amount of the increases.
The Starke County Commissioners finally recommended a full-time deputy for the Starke County Treasurer’s office. Finding over $6,400 from the Treasurer’s line item accounts and the Commissioners pitching in $5,600, the Board and Treasurer, Linda Belork, found that they were still almost $3,600 short of what was needed.
After much discussion and looking over the line item accounts in the Treasurer’s budget, the money was found that allowed her to fund the person for the rest of the year at just over $18,571.00.
