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SCEDC having bang up year BY MIKE MARTURELLO mmarturello@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — Dave Koenig isn’t one to go out on a limb, but he feels pretty safe about doing so in 2013. The Steuben County Economic Development Corp. Koenig heads is having a banner year, surpassing goals set previously for the organization. Even though the year is just about to enter the fourth quarter, Koenig feels as though there will be more economic development activity before the confetti flies on New Year’s Eve. “Typically I would not want to
make projections … generally they don’t work out the way I envision,” Koenig said in an activity update he gave Thursday during a meeting of the Steuben Koenig County Industrial Guild. The meeting featured as its main speaker Eric Doden, the new director of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. For the year, the SCEDC has worked on 18 industrial projects
that resulted in 291 new jobs pledged and an investment of $43.5 million. The IEDC has worked five of the prospects. That surpassed the SCEDC board’s goal of $40 million in investment creating 250 new job commitments. “My projection is that, the 18 projects, $43.5 million investment and 291 new jobs committed thus far in 2013 will not be are final number for the year. The buildings in Fremont, as well as a few businesses that we have been working with, along with the IEDC, are likely to announce their
projects yet this year. We aren’t talking about hundreds of jobs, but nice job gains with good wages and diversification of the local economy,” Koenig said. One of the key ingredients to future success in landing new business and jobs will be getting more shovel-ready site designations in the community, Koenig said. “In addition to the activities brought on by the available building space, we continue to work towards gaining more shovel-ready sites in Steuben SEE SCEDC, PAGE A10
Inside today Find the special section Our Time, created for the 50 and over crowd, in today’s newspaper. Read about ways to stay fit, including Tai Chi, Zumba, even active vacations for the whole family.
Waste board cuts rate increase Hike exits with big budget cut
Coming Sunday
Women in the Pulpit
The number of women preachers is on the rise. Read about a few in the area and what made them decide to serve. On Sunday’s C1 and C2.
Clip and Save Find $64 in coupon savings in Sunday’s newspaper.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Check out the latest college football news and photos kpcnews.com Sports > College Football
Contact Us • The Herald Republican 45 S. Public Square Angola, IN 46703 Phone: (260) 665-3117 Fax: (260) 665-2322 Classifieds: (toll free) (877) 791-7877 Circulation: (800) 717-4679
Index • Classified.............................................. B7-B8 Life.................................................................A7 Obituaries.....................................................A3 Opinion ........................................................B4 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather.....................................................A10 TV/Comics ..................................................B6 Vol. 156 No. 253
BY AMY OBERLIN amyo@kpcnews.net
FLINT — The Steuben Lakes Regional Waste District will have AMY OBERLIN a public hearing on an ordinance The Venue owner Sean Hanson, right, and the bar, featuring 20 flavors of Pinnacle vodka. doing away with a rate hike at general manager Jimmy Watson stand behind October’s meeting. The district board of trustees will hold public hearings on an amended rate ordinance and on its updated sewer use ordinance. Both were discussed at Thursday night’s meeting, along with the district budget, which also is expected to be passed at the Oct. 10 meeting. Meetings are at 6 p.m. at the district office, 8119 W. C.R. 150N. BY AMY OBERLIN Hamilton, who retired to enjoy play starting at 9:30 p.m. for a This year’s budget, as aoberlin@kpcmedia.com more time on his boat. grand opening party. There will be estimated, is less than last year’s ANGOLA — A Clear Lake Some things people remember drink specials and appetizers will by $200,000. It will be forwarded native has taken the helm of an from Skip’s have stayed the be served from 6-9 p.m. to Indiana’s U.S. Department of Angola institution. same — many of the same bands, The Venue will be open Fridays Agriculture Rural Development Sean Hanson, a 2007 Fremont including house favorite Brother, and Saturdays noon to 3 a.m. and office for review and approval after High School graduate, is holding will be appearing and Hanson weekdays and Sundays 11 a.m. to the board’s approval. a grand opening tonight at The said he might try to bring back 1 a.m. The rate ordinance takes away Venue, 110 W. Maumee St. weekday blues acts, for which It has a fresh look, with a row an $8.80 per month increase set Operated as Skip’s for 43 years, Skip’s was a staple for many of clear bottles of Pinnacle vodka to start in 2014 for Class 2 users, the downtown location has been a years. Hanson said he will be accented by blue lights behind the the bulk of lake area customers. bar since the 1800s. scouting for the area’s best, and bar. The brick facade has been The change was made possible by Hanson studied business and hopes to provide entertainment in cleaned and the walls painted the board’s decision to use $2.8 hospitality in Orlando, Fla., and diverse genres. black. Downstairs, the dance floor million in capital improvements worked seven years in the bar The Venue has been open was expanded and bar seating funding to pay off an 18-year business before deciding to buy the past couple of weeks and was added instead of booths in open market bond obtained as Skip’s and return to the area. Wednesday afternoon there was a the aisle. There are several large part of a $41.4 million project “I love being on the lake,” ribbon cutting during an Angola TVs that Hanson said will come in the mid-2000s at Lake James, Hanson said. He shares that love Area Chamber of Commerce in handy for Sunday customers Jimmerson Lake, Crooked Lake with the former owner, Skip event. Tonight, Boomswang will SEE VENUE, PAGE A10 and surrounding areas.
Venue lighting up downtown
Former Skip’s D&H holding grand opening tonight
Talks take aim beyond chemical weapons GENEVA (AP) — The top diplomats from the United States and Russia raised hopes Friday for reviving broad talks to end the long and deadly Syrian civil war, even as they struggled to deal with the most notorious part — the use of chemical weapons on civilians. The path to a U.N. resolution on securing those weapons seemed at least somewhat clearer, with the U.S. indicating it could accept an enforcement measure that didn’t threaten military retribution. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, leading talks in Geneva to defuse the crisis, both made clear that any prospects for restarting broad peace negotiations depended on
first settling the standoff over the chemical weapons. They were to meet again Saturday. The U.S. has been seeking a U.N. Security Council resolution to solidify the turnover that Syrian President Bashar Assad has promised, including consequences if he doesn’t follow through. Addressing a difficult sticking point, administration officials said Friday that President Barack Obama was open to a resolution that did not include military force as a punishment, given that Russia would be all but certain to veto any measure including such a penalty. Even without a military trigger included in a U.N. resolution, the officials said Obama would retain
the authority to order U.S. air strikes against Syria. At the White House, Obama said any agreement to remove Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile “needs to be verifiable and enforceable.” As for possible U.N. action, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, “We are not going to prejudge the outcome of negotiations that are just beginning in New York. The U.S. has been clear that for any effort to be credible it must be verifiable and include consequences for noncompliance.” Senior administration officials also outlined for the first time a timetable for a diplomatic resolution of the issue of the weapons, saying the U.S. will know within
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a few weeks whether a path is workable. The officials spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the internal deliberations publicly. U.N. inspectors prepared to turn in their own poison gas report this weekend, sure to be an important basis for any further action. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he expected “an overwhelming report” that chemical weapons were indeed used on the outskirts of Damascus on Aug. 21. The chief inspector, Ake Sellstrom, told The Associated Press that he would deliver his report to the secretary-general in New York this weekend.
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