When two young men begin careers together they don’t always look down the road thinking they’ll work with each other almost a half century. This week’s Ted Hayes Remembers program will feature “Broadcast Buddies”, Ted Hayes and Harold Welter.
Ted and Harold have worked together at two stations over 43 years. This week they’ll remember some of their radio highlights.
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.
Here’s a great story to begin the new year. The family of Andy Howes has acknowledged that remains held by the Army are his. The remains were in one of 23 boxes given to the United States by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1988.
There is no evidence where they came from.
At the time the remains were turned over to the government, there was no way of determining who they belonged to. DNA sequencing was not perfected until 2007 and 2008.
It was recently determined that DNA supplied by Andy’s brother, Rob, positively proved to be a match. To date, there are no burial plans or when the family will receive the remains.
Editors note: Recently the Pew Center on the States and the Council of State Government Justice Center released a report on Indiana’s criminal sentencing procedures. WKVI’s Ted Hayes had an opportunity to interview the ranking member of the Senate’s Appropriation Committee this week, and what follows are Fifth District Senator Ed Charbonneau thoughts on the subject:
“One of the challenges of my position is being responsible on the senate side for the school funding formula. I’ve been sitting in on all budget committee hearings recently. These meetings give a preliminary view of what the recommendations, or requests are going to be for the next budget cycle. The Department of Corrections was one of the departments that came to those meetings. Some pretty stunning numbers came from those presenting the DOC’s needs.”
Four County Councilmen are being replaced in January. Chuck Estok, Bruce Fingerhut, and Bill Dulin attended their final meeting last week. Dan Awald, who is the fourth Councilman being replaced, was not in attendance at his last meeting.
Following the meeting, Ted Hayes talked with the three who were in attendance, starting with Chuck Estok, who has served the longest at 16 years. Ted asked the veteran Democrat Councilman what he is most proud of during his long service to the citizens of the County.
In a joint swearing ceremony, all candidates elected in the General Election in Pulaski County were sworn in by Circuit Court Judge, Michael Shurn, and Superior Court Judge, Patrick Blankenship.
One of those sworn into office was Tracey Shorter who will be the newest member of the Board of Commissioners on January 1st.
Besides being the first woman Commissioner in Pulaski County, she is also the youngest at age 42. Ted asked what prompted her to seek the office.
“I ran four years ago and the race was so close,” said Shorter. “Part of it was because there had never been a woman Commissioner and it became a goal of mine. I got sick and realized life is too short to wait so I ran. None of us knows what tomorrow holds. I’m excited. I think it shows a big win for the party but it also shows progress for our County as far as moving forward. I haven’t really done the background but I think not only am I the first woman, but I think I’m the youngest.”
Like all counties, Pulaski has its share of pressing issues that will need to be addressed in 2011.
“Zoning is a big issue, whether or not we keep the County Home open, keeping our budget balanced and not borrowing what we don’t have. All of those things are huge,” said Shorter.
The following were sworn into office: Ron Powers, Pulaski County Council District 3; Tasha Foerg, Pulaski County Clerk; Tom Roth, Pulaski County Council District 2; Stacey Mrak, Pulaski County Prosecutor; Michael “Mick” Tiede, Pulaski County Council District 4; Alex Haschel Pulaski County Council District 1; Joyce Weaver, Pulaski County Surveyor; Steve Van Der Aa, Pulaski County Coroner; Holly Van Der Aa, Pulaski County Assessor; Michael Gayer, Pulaski County Sheriff; and Tracey Shorter, County Commissioner District 3.
The Department of Education has recently released graduation rates for schools in Indiana and for the first time, Oregon-Davis has gone over 90%. Superintendent, Dr. Steve Disney, was understandably proud of the accomplishment.
“We’re just so proud and we do have one of the highest rates around,” said Dr. Disney.
Ted Hayes asked Dr. Disney what he attributes the increase to.
For over 25 years, Clara Belle Troike has provided a delicious fruit cake to the employees of WKVI radio. When Ted Hayes was on the air, he mentioned once that he had never tasted a fruit cake that he liked. Clara Belle put him to the test with one of her fruit cakes, and that turned Ted around forever. Since that time, Ted and the staff have received a delicious holiday fruit cake. We look forward to it every year.
Wednesday, the station’s fruit cake arrived; a big one for the gang and a smaller one for Ted. To answer a question posed by a listener some years ago, “the fruit cake is the virgin kind, with no alcohol added.”
Again, thank you Clara Belle for the fruit cake, and may you have a blessed Christmas.
When Ted Hayes was told that Pat Dunn was talking with a member of the U.S. Marine Corps in his office this week, Ted naturally thought of the Jarheads his nephew brought home with him when he was in the Corp. Pat asked if Ted might be interested in interviewing his guest, and he said yes, because he’s so impressed with this generation of those who are in uniform now in all branches of the service.
The WKVI staff took a trip to Winamac, Wednesday, for a scrumptious lunch at Kostas Restaurant. We’d like to thank Gus Ress and his friendly staff for hosting us. It gave the staff a chance to greet restaurant patrons, including Mr. and Mrs. David Bennett, Bill Webb, Sheriff Mike Gayer, and Deputy John Rogers.
Many churches and other organizations pitch in to help the less fortunate at Christmas time. Ted Hayes talked about two that were distributing toys and gifts Saturday, and that’s CLASP down at Winamac, and ABATE at Bass Lake.
Ted was at ABATE’s party on Saturday where the Bass Lake Country Club was packed with parents and children. Deb Young was there early signing in parents who were to receive gifts.
Dignitaries from throughout the county and Northwest Indiana attended the 25th Anniversary celebration for the Starke County Development Foundation Friday afternoon at the Knox Community Center.
Emcee, Ted Hayes, brought a number of people to the microphone during the program. They included State Representative Nancy Dembowski, State Senator Ed Charbonneau, Northwest Indiana Forum President, Mark Maassel; Starke County Development Foundation President, Bill Sonnemaker; Foundation Director, Charles Weaver; and former Foundation Director, Terry Kimmel.
The Starke United Radio Auction was held Friday at the CenturyLink Warehouse in downtown Knox. After a five hour auction conducted by Ben Osinski, Starke United netted over $6,000 for it’s fall campaign.
Wendy Medborn, Executive Director of Love Inc. spoke with WKVI’s Ted Hayes this week and said the organization is close to entering into the second phase of the mission.
“This phase is where we do long-term counseling,” explained Medborn. “Whether it’s finances, a job, career, cooking or marriage, it’s something that we’re going to try and get started in the community. Other Love Inc. organizations do that. It takes a lot of volunteers and it takes a lot of people needing that specific need and it is usually a year-long process. We’re doing small, little things that maybe take a week, or a couple weeks, or a month trying to learn but that is part of phase two that we’re working on.”
At the top of the organization’s agenda is leading people to Christ.
“When we talk with our clients, we pray with them right on the phone,” said Medborn. “We tell them, ‘God loves you and He sees you and He’s going to see you through this situation’. We continue to guide them in that. If they don’t belong to a church, we ask them if a pastor come out and talk to them and pray with them. The church is to support you, encourage you and help you get on your feet. We just walk with them day by day.”
Love Inc. is dedicated to offering a helping hand in a time of need.
The 2010 Starke United Auction is happening now, live, on WKVI. You may also listen live online by clicking on the “listen live” prompts for K99.3 or AM 1520 at the top of this website. As you can see, everyone is busy at the auction and eagerly awaiting your bids! Continue reading
The annual Starke United Auction will be held today at the CenturyLink warehouse. The auction will be broadcast on both WKVI AM and FM and kicks off at 10:00 a.m. CT. WKVI’s Tom Berg and Ted Hayes are the hosts. This year we will be assisted by auctioneer, Ben Osinski, who will describe the items and give you bidding rules.
WKVI’s Ted Hayes was part of a program that honored grandparents at the Monterey Elementary School this week. Grandparents were allowed to go to class with their grandchildren and tour the building.
It’s December and it’s the time of year when Ted Hayes’ favorite music is played. He loves Christmas music and for that reason, he placed a call to former Plymouth resident, Amy Ward, to find out about her newest Christmas album.
“There’s a couple of Christmas classics that I put my little spin on like ‘Let it Snow’. It’s kind of a singer-songwriter accoustic laid-back version,” she said. “Then I did kind of an African arrangement for ‘Little Drummer Boy’. At the end is another classic, ‘Jingle Bells’, where I did a shortened jazz rendition of the song. It’s a very Marilyn Monroe type of style.”
If you go to Amy’s website, you’ll be able to contact her and find out how you can own a copy of the release. Amy is the daughter of WKVI Account Executive, Patty Norwick, and the granddaughter of the late Doris Norman.
The Starke United Auction is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. this Friday, December 3rd.
“If you go to www.starkeunited.org you’ll see a list of all the items that we’ll have at the auction,” said Edie Hall, the Executive Director of Starke United. “Some of the items will be listed with pictures and we’re looking forward from a lot of you on Auction Day, December 3rd.”
WKVI’s Ted Hayes will be at the auction all day along with Auctioneer Ben Osinski and his staff. Several volunteers will be manning the phones during the Auction to take your important bid. The number to call on auction day is (574) 772-7209.
Edie says it’s a great way to get your Christmas shopping done, “You don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home.”
The auction will be broadcast live on WKVI AM 1520. The auction will be conducted at the CenturyLink building in downtown Knox. The preview night is Thursday from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at the CenturyLink building and items may be viewed on Friday from 9:00-10:00 a.m.
Knox Community Elementary School students gobbled up the evening at the “Cookies & Milk & Bedtime Stories” event. As students came in they got books, and entered into a drawing for a turkey. They got to sit with their parents and get read to. Then ten lucky kids got to come down and claim a turkey. The evening’s festivities concluded in the cafeteria, where they got cookies and milk while visiting with their friends.
