Serving the Steuben County 101 lakes area since 1857
Prairie Heights homecoming court selected for this year’s celebration
Weather Sunny with a high in the upper 70s. Tonight’s low 50. Page A9
Page A2 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2013
Angola, Indiana
GOOD MORNING
Inside today Meet the medical staff who are saving lives all around us at area hospitals. And learn some tips on what you can do in emergency situations. In the special section, Life Savers, in today’s newspaper.
kpcnews.com
Man guilty of child molesting BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — A Garrett man was convicted of four counts of child molesting Thursday afternoon by a Steuben County jury. Nicolas D. Duesler, 28, will be sentenced on four counts of Class B felony sexual misconduct with a minor Oct. 21 by Steuben Superior Court Judge William Fee. Twelve Steuben County residents heard his case Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning in the Superior Court before adjourning at 10:30 a.m. for deliberations. They spent almost five hours debating the case, which included testimony from the victim, who has a mild cognitive disability. According to testimony, though she is 15 years old, she
has the mind of an 8-year-old. Duesler had sex with her four times during the summer of 2012 while she was living at a Broad Street home. Duesler was often there Duesler during the morning hours with the girl and her cousins while other family members were working. On three occasions, Duesler walked with her to his apartment on Washington Street, undressed her and had sex with her. The first time was shortly after the girl’s 14th birthday. The girl described the events very curtly and told the jury she did not have feelings for
Duesler, though they were able to read a journal she had kept at school during the fall of 2012 where she professed to care for him. “She was starved for attention. He gave it to her,” said Prosecutor Michael Hess during his opening statements. The case was filed Sept. 28, 2012, after the girl’s parents became aware of the activity. Duesler was arrested in early October 2012. In his initial hearing before Magistrate Randy Coffey, Duesler — who has a significant criminal record — was found in contempt of court following a profanity laced episode. Coffey sentenced him to two years in prison for the outburst and Duesler served about a month before Coffey accepted a
Angola Investment board meets Monday ANGOLA — The first meeting of the Angola Investment Fund Account Board will be Monday at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 210 N. Public Square. The meeting’s agenda will explain the purpose of the account, policies, the application and scoring process, marketing, clarification of roles and set meeting dates. The fund was established to spur economic development and support small businesses. Earlier, the Angola Common Council earmarked $1 million in Major Moves funding from leasing of the Indiana Toll Road toward the fund.
Fremont Crime Watch seeks volunteers FREMONT — The Fremont Neighborhood Crime Watch will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Fremont Public Library, 1004 W. Toledo St. Volunteers are sought to keep Fremont crime free. Refreshments will be served and information will be shared.
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Index • Classified.............................................. B5-B8 Life.................................................................A8 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion .........................................................A5 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A9 TV/Comics ..................................................B4 Vol. 156 No. 266
time-served term and allowed him to post $50,000 bail. That was after Duesler hired Fort Wayne attorney Samuel Bolinger; he was originally assigned a public defender. In Duesler’s defense, Bolinger pointed out how the victim’s story had varied from interviews with court officials and the Department of Child Services to the testimony on Wednesday. The jury was faced with conflicting statements about what occurred during the sex acts from a witness who experts said had difficulty keeping facts straight and remembering details. The verdict was read at 3:19 p.m. and Duesler was remanded to the Steuben County Jail to await his sentencing. Duesler faces up to 20 years on each Class B felony count.
One dies in crash
Dine and donate for haunted harvest fest ANGOLA — Today from 5-10:30 p.m., diners at Las Limas, 2201 N. Wayne St., may dine and donate. Proceeds will go to the Kiwanis Haunted Harvest Festival.
75 cents
BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
HAMILTON — One person died in a crash on Bellefontaine Road in downtown Hamilton Thursday afternoon. It appears the driver of a maroon passenger car pulled from a grocery store parking lot into the path of a pickup truck, said Hamilton Town Marshal Jeremy Warner. The car’s driver was killed in the crash. The name of the driver was being withheld Thursday so family members could be notified. Warner expected further information to be released today. Warner said it is the first fatal AARON ORGAN accident within the town limits in his 16 years on the department. The crash remains under investigation. The Rich Montgomery and Kent Roush team Beckley team from Lacy, Ky., pulled 12,000 pounds The truck was driven by Tyler from Hartford City wins Thursday’s heavyweight 8 feet, 8 inches for third place. The lightweight Nilson, 23, of Angola. Nilson was draft horse pulling contest at the DeKalb County contest was won by Tom Brown’s second team not injured, said Warner. The truck Free Fall Fair. The team pulled 13,000 pounds a from Jonesville, Mich., which pulled 12,000 pounds. was totalled. distance of 6 feet, 11 inches. The Dave Rossman Brown’s first team took second place, and the team Also damaged was a Town of team of Jonesville, Mich., pulled the same weight of Angola’s Rick Likes finished in third place. Hamilton light pole, which was 3 feet, 6 inches for second place, and the Joe toppled from its cement housing into a yard in the 3800 block of Bellefontaine Road. The road was closed for around two hours while crash reconstruction specialists from Steuben County Sheriff’s Department and Angola Police Department worked at the scene. There Indiana Department of Homeland damaging winds and heavy rainfall was a large amount of gasoline FROM STAFF REPORTS and other vehicle fluids in the INDIANAPOLIS — Local Security and was held for that resulted in flooding. road, said Warner, and Hamilton emergency managers and first counties in IDHS District 3 that The week-long exercise Fire Department used floor dry responders participated in includes LaGrange, Steuben, included about 800 role players, and sprayed water on about a an Indiana full-scale disaster Noble, DeKalb, Huntington, responders and exercise control block’s expanse to remove the response exercise this week at Whitley, Allen, Miami, Wabash, and evaluation staff. chemicals. the Muscatatuck Urban Training Washington, Wells and Adams. Several elements affected Steuben County Emergency Center in Jennings County, a news The exercise simulated severe response efforts during the Medical Service also was at the release said. weather sweeping through a town exercise, including structural The exercise was led by the in Indiana, including a tornado, SEE TRAINING, PAGE A9 scene.
Champion horse pull team
Local responders do training
A whole lot of painting going on W. Maumee
BY JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — There’s been a whole lot of painting going on lately along West Maumee Street voluntarily by a downtown business owner. Diana Killian, owner of Three Sisters, is leading the endeavor, sprucing up storefronts as part of “paint therapy,” she says. “It’s to make things look better and to get ready for Autumn in Angola Fall Festival,” she said, pausing from painting Wednesday. “I’ve been a paint therapist.” Killian took it upon herself to make her surroundings look better using donated paint. “This is the first thing you look at” coming into Angola “and I said it’s disgusting,” she said. So far, she and other volunteers, Norma Baker, Carol Cole and Lisa and Andy Shroyer have done the work. Right ahead, Killian said they plan on painting the fronts of Cahoot’s Coffee Cafe, Angola Sports Center and Bella Mia. The Shroyers are preparing to open their first business, Annice’s Attic, which will sell antiques and re-purposed items. The couple was going to SEE PAINTING, PAGE A9
JENNIFER DECKER
Angola business owner Diana Killian, left, painted storefronts along West Maumee Street with help from Andy and Lisa Shroyer, pictured, and Carol Cole and Norma Baker. Killian has been working with others to spruce things up to make a good impression for this weekend’s
Autumn in Angola Fall Festival. The Shroyers are preparing to open their first business, Annice’s Attic. Killian led efforts to welcome the Shroyers by painting their storefront in hopes they will have a successful business.