Starke County Council Reorganizes

Posted on Author WKVI
Mark Smith

The Starke County Council has re-organized for the new year. Mark Smith was retained as the President and Mitchell Semans was elected Vice President.

Marty Lucas was retained as Council Attorney, Dave Pearman was named to the Kankakee Iroquois Regional Planning Commission, Mark Smith will stay on the Starke County Economic Development Board, Judy Benninghoff is a hold-over on the Starke County Planning Commission Board, Tony Radkiewicz, Sr. was selected for the Starke County Environmental Management board. Judy Zerniak was retained on the P.T.A.B.O.A. Board and Katie Dedloff was again selected for the Starke County Library Board. Kenny Wallace was named to the Alcohol Beverage Commission Board.

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Starke County Ministerial Alliance Reorganizes

Posted on Author WKVI
Charles Bachelder

The Starke County Ministerial Alliance met Wednesday and selected Reverend Charles Bachelder, of the First Christian Church in Knox, to be the President, and James Pradke, of Victory Christian Church, to be the Secretary.  Retired Father Richard Zollinger has been selected to be the Treasurer.

Discussed at the meeting was the Right to Life Rally to be held in Starke County the end of the month.

Walkerton Man Arrested on Theft Charge; Sheriff’s Deputies Recover Stolen Property in Unrelated Case

Posted on Author WKVI
Robert Packer

Starke County Police deputies arrested Robert Packer, 40, of Walkerton, on Monday, January 3rd, in connection with the theft of auto parts from the Grovertown Truckstop on December 31st, 2010.

Packer is being held at the Starke County Sheriff’s Department on preliminary charges of Theft, Driving While Suspended and Possession of a Syringe.

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Fitness-Wellness Program for County Employees Presented to the Starke County Commissioners

Posted on Author WKVI
Mary Labuzienski (L) and Patty Choquette present a wellness program for County employees to the Starke County Commissioners

Two representatives of the Fitness Forum in Plymouth approached the Starke County Commissioners about instituting a fitness-wellness program for the County’s 125 employees. Corporate Representative, Patty Choquette, and Mary Labuzienski, Clinical Program Director, pointed out that employees who work-out make better employees in the long run. They also described the weight reduction, smoking cessation and healthy living classes the employees could take advantage of.

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Andy Howes’ Remains Positively Identified

Posted on Author WKVI
Andy Howes

We are learning more details about a story WKVI broke on Saturday. Several bones that were returned to the Army in 1988 have been positively identified as belonging to Andy Howes, the young soldier from Knox who was MIA for over four decades after the helicopter he was in went down in Vietnam.

We now know there were six bones recovered (a right upper arm, a left lower arm, a right upper leg, one rib, and two other bones). All of the bones are partial and degraded, but positively match the DNA profile provided by Rob (Andy’s brother) and his late sister, Valarie.

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New Starke County Prosecutor Talks about Upcoming Cases

Posted on Author WKVI
Nicholas Bourff

Nicholas Bourff is the new Starke County Prosecutor, taking over from Julianne Havens. Ted Hayes sat down with Bourff last week and talked to him about a number of topics. In the interview, Bourff announced his staff including his First Deputy, Todd Wallsmith.

One of the questions Ted asked Bourff was what he will do with cases that are active, been filed by the former prosecutor, but have not been adjudicated.

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Starke County Home Detention Participants Will be Closely Monitored this New Year’s Eve

Posted on Author WKVI
Shawn Mattraw

New Year’s Eve is a dangerous time for many people, especially those who decide to party, drink a little too much, and attempt to drive home.

Another group that enters the danger zone are those individuals who are on home detention. Many of this group has had trouble with drugs and alcohol in the past, and holiday times can be tempting to violate the home monitoring rule that calls for no drinking.

Shawn Mattraw is the Case Manager/Senior Field Officer for the Starke County Community Corrections organization, and he says this is a difficult time for some of the participants.

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Jay and Katie Amidei Witness a Miracle as Their Son, Colton, Lives Through Rare Disease

Posted on Author WKVI
Colton Amidei

It’s said that 80% of Americans believe in miracles. Do you? The Jay and Katie Amidei family, on Anns Ct. in Knox, believe in miracles. Here’s why:

Their son, Colton, was diagnosed with a rare disease after doctors found a large mass behind his eye. The disease, which is difficult to pronounce, was so rare that very few Americans had ever been diagnosed with it.

At this time last year, little Colton had gone through two surgeries to remove the tumor, the first surgery taking 12 1/2 hours. The second was performed after opening his head to remove the mass that had been missed the first “go round.”

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Top 10 Stories of 2010; Story #1

Posted on Author WKVI
Michael Drogosz

For the past two weeks, we have been scrolling down the top 10 stories of the year 2010. Here is the top story of 2010:

It was like a shootout from the wild-west. On February 15th, two Starke County officers tried to serve a felony warrant on Michael Drogosz at Bass Lake.

After he failed to come out, officers called for a SWAT team. Before those officers could arrive, officers Don Ferguson and Bill Dulin took fire from inside the residence. With bullets whizzing too close for comfort, the officers fired back in self defense.

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Knox Man Arrested on Charges of Rape, Sexual Battery

Posted on Author WKVI
Virgil Noble

Virgil Noble of Knox was arrested at his home on Tuesday, December 28th. He was arrested on a warrant issued by the Starke Circuit Court on two counts of Rape, a Class B Felony and two counts of Sexual Battery, a Class D Felony. He is currently out of the Starke County Jail on bond.

Noble’s initial hearing in Starke Circuit Court is set for January 7th, 2011.

Bill Dulin Finishes Term on Starke County Council

Posted on Author WKVI
Bill Dulin

Three of the four Starke County Councilmen going off the board at the end of the year attended their last meeting December 20th. Dan Awald was not present. Bill Dulin is one of the Council members leaving, after 2 years on the board.

“I enjoyed getting to know people on a personal basis and trying to deal with them through this side of it,” Dulin replied after being asked his feelings as he leaves office. “It was pretty enjoyable and I’m grateful to be able to serve on the Council the way that we did.”

Bill Dulin will be replaced by David Pearman.

Starke County Republicans are Sworn into Office

Posted on Author WKVI
Superior Court Judge Patrick Blankenship swears Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall into office

The Starke County Republican elected officials were sworn into office last night in the Starke County Circuit Courtroom. Superior Court Judge Patrick Blankenship swore in Judge Kim Hall. Judge Hall then swore in the rest of the candidates.

“It was a wonderful evening and a great opportunity to place these fine folks under oath to faithfully and impartially perform their duties,” said Judge Hall.

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Top 10 Stories of 2010; Story #3

Posted on Author WKVI
Samuel Hewitt

After 44 years of searching, the remains of Samuel Hewitt, a 1965 Oregon-Davis graduate, were found near a military base near Da Nang, Vietnam in September of this year. Hewitt was a United States Marine stationed at a base near Da Nang when he suddenly came up missing. That was on March 22nd of 1966. Until his skeleton was unearthed and identified he had not been heard from since that date.

Hewitt served outside Da Nang with the 3rd Battalion of the 9th Division Marines, assigned to night patrols and scouting missions. His sister feels that when Hewitt was out on night patrol, he was shot and killed.

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