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Weather Temperatures rise to mid-80s today, overnight low in mid-60s. Page A8
Tough, talented core leads Fremont Page B2 TUESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2013
Angola, Indiana
GOOD MORNING Trailer destroyed in Sunday fire at Pleasant Lake BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
PLEASANT LAKE — A trailer in Pleasant Lake was destroyed by fire Sunday afternoon. The Steuben Township Fire Department was called to a stove fire at 720 W. Parkway Drive at 2:10 p.m. and arrived to a fully engulfed blaze, said Steuben Township Fire Chief Jeremy Anstett. Angola, Hamilton and Hudson fire departments helped at the scene and Ashley’s fire department stood by at the Pleasant Lake station. The occupant of the trailer, whose name was not available Monday, sustained second-degree burns and was taken to a hospital for treatment, said Anstett. She had been released from the hospital Monday, he said. The trailer is considered a total loss. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Unemployment dips slightly While down, Steuben rate is 34th highest in state FROM STAFF REPORTS
INDIANAPOLIS — Unemployment rates improved slightly throughout the four-county area in July, said data released Monday by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. LaGrange County saw the largest change, falling to 7.2 percent in July from the revised June figure of 7.6 percent. Noble County’s unemployment rate dropped 0.3 percentage points to 8.4 percent in July. DeKalb and Steuben counties each saw 0.2 percentage-point drops, with DeKalb County’s
unemployment rate falling to 8.4 percent and Steuben County’s falling to 8.5 percent. Steuben County’s unemployment rate tied for 34th highest in the monthly ranking of the state’s 92 counties. The labor force increased in July for all of the four counties except LaGrange. In Allen County, the labor force dropped by nearly 1,000 in July, as that county’s unemployment rate rose from 8.3 to 8.6 percent. The statewide unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.4 percent despite the fourth month in a row
of job growth in the private sector, the DWD said. Ellen Cutter, director with the Community Research Institute at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, said while there was some improvement, unemployment for the region actually increased. “Despite some positive dynamics, the unemployment rate for the 10-county region is 8.4 (percent), up slightly over last month … and is identical to the rate for last July. This stalling out is contrary to what has been observed at the state and national
LOOK FOR VIDEO: From this weekend’s Folky Fish Fest kpcnews.com
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Index • Classified.............................................. B6-B8 Life.................................................................A7 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion ........................................................B4 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A8 TV/Comics ..................................................B5 Vol. 156 No. 229
Unemployment rates In percentages COUNTY DeKalb LaGrange Noble Steuben Allen Elkhart Indiana* U.S.*
JULY 2013 8.4 7.2 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.5 8.4 7.4
JUNE 2013 8.6 7.6 8.7 8.7 8.3 8.6 8.4 7.6
JULY 2012 9.0 8.0 9.1 8.8 8.3 9.5 8.4 8.2
*seasonally adjusted SOURCE: INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
levels, in which year-over-year declines have been recorded for the last four years in Indiana SEE UNEMPLOYMENT, PAGE A8
Council OKs tax break Electri-Tec to expand, add to its workforce
Summer reading wraps up at Fremont Library FREMONT — More than 350 readers participated in the summer reading program at the Fremont Public Library. The following are the winners in the final drawings: animal puppets for readers through fourthgrade — Janessa Ritter, Jacob Behm, Ethan Bock, Mary Bear Long, Aaron Sturtevant, Michael Fisher, McKinzie Quear and Joren Fisher. MP3 winners for teens were Carson Outwater and Jillian Springer. Adult prize winners were MP3 player, Barbara Lloyd; ice cream maker — Latrisha Nickolson; coffee grinder — Carol Hudson; smoothie maker — Angela Wirick and breakfast at Clay’s — Paul Musselman.
75 cents
kpcnews.com
BY JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcmedia.com
said Rebecca, who said she enjoyed the time with her mom before returning to Defiance College in Defiance, Ohio, Sunday night. The Kains roomed with Miss Pike County Ashley Riley and her mother. “It was just uncanny how much the two girls had in common,” said Melody. The girls had plenty to chat about and even the mothers had connections, from being school bus drivers to running manufacturing companies. The Kains operate Kain Tool in Orland. Rebecca is a service leader and plays volleyball at Defiance College. Melody said the volleyball coach was accommodating with Kain returning to school a little later than practices dictated.
ANGOLA — A longtime Angola manufacturer with a Fort Wayne parent company interested in growing businesses was awarded a five-year tax abatement at Monday’s Angola Common Council meeting. Electric-Tec, 509 Growth Parkway, requested the tax abatement on $650,000 in real property improvements and $40,000 in new manufacturing equipment and has forecast adding five jobs. In its application to the city, Eletric-Tec officials said they are planning to complete a 69-foot by 225-foot metal building addition to add manufacturing and storage space. The addition will add 15,525 square feet, including additional restroom facilities, an enclosed air compressor room and high efficiency lighting. Greg Baker, Electric-Tec’s chief financial officer, said the company has already started work on the expansion in Angola. “We’re trying to grow the company,” Baker said. “We’ve already made the investment in equipment. We’ll add 15,000 feet and see where it goes.” Electric-Tec was purchased by and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Khorporate Holdings,
SEE PAGEANT, PAGE A8
SEE ABATEMENT, PAGE A8
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Miss Steuben County Rebecca Kain, back right wearing red dress, was one of the top 10 contestants in this year’s Indiana State Fair Queen
Pageant. The queen is Alyssa Garnett of Pulaski County and her court includes Miss DeKalb County Madison Seifert, second from left.
Steuben fair queen makes history BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
INDIANAPOLIS — Rebecca Kain made Steuben County history this weekend. Kain, Miss Steuben County, was chosen as one of the top 10 contestants in the 56th annual Indiana State Fair Queen Pageant. She is the first Steuben County 4-H Fair queen to achieve the top 10. Queen is Alyssa Garnett of Pulaski County and her court includes Miss DeKalb County Madison Seifert. Seifert was second runner-up; first runner-up was Emily Robertson from Cass County. “I was the first one called in the top 10 and I was just so surprised and so shocked,” said Kain, 19, the daughter of Rod and Melody Kain of Orland.
She was crowned Miss Steuben County in July and was among 87 candidates competing for the Miss Indiana State Fair title. “They’ve all done some really great things,” said Rebecca. “I was really honored.” The pageant spans several days, and Rebecca and her mother spent the weekend in Indianapolis. “It was really a great motherdaughter time,” said Melody. They took in the Montgomery Gentry concert Thursday night before Friday’s interviews and Saturday’s modeling competition, which includes professional wear and evening gowns. A public pageant was held on Sunday. Rebecca thanked the many supporters that spurred her on at the event and by Facebook and telephone calls. “It was a great weekend,”
Court ruling may let Mubarak go free CAIRO (AP) — Jailed ex-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak could be released later this week, judicial officials said Monday, a move that would fuel the unrest roiling the country after the autocratic leader’s successor was removed in a military coup. Underscoring the growing anger over Mohammed Morsi’s ouster, suspected Islamic militants ambushed two minibuses carrying off-duty policemen in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, forcing the men to lie on the sand and shooting 25 of them dead. The brazen daylight attack raised fears that the strategic desert region bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip could be plunged into insurgency. The 25 were given a funeral with full military honors after a plane brought their bodies to an air base in eastern Cairo. Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, who is in charge of the police, and the army’s Chief of Staff, Gen. Sedki Sobhi, led the funeral. The coffins of the victims were
draped in red, white and black Egyptian flags and, in a show of solidarity, were jointly carried in the funeral procession by army soldiers and policemen. Earlier, relatives and friends wept over the coffins. Despite the violence, Cairo, a bustling metropolis of some 18 million people, began to restore a sense of normalcy although the capital remained under a state of emergency and a dusk-to-dawn curfew. Daytime traffic was back to its normal congested levels and stores were open. Government employees also returned to work. And the Central Bank ordered banks to extend by one hour their curtailed opening hours effective today. During his decades ruling Egypt, Mubarak frequently warned that Egypt would fall into chaos without him at the helm. The 85-year-old former president has been in detention since April 2011, weeks after he was ousted in a revolution against his rule.
AP
Damaged pharaonic objects lie on the floor and in broken cases in the Malawi Antiquities Museum after it was ransacked and looted between last week in Malawi, south of Minya, Egypt. The interim Cabinet authorized police to use deadly force against anyone targeting police and state institutions on Thursday. The violence capped off a week that saw more than 700 people killed.
He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in June last year for his failure to stop the
killing of some 900 protesters in the 18-day uprising. His sentence SEE MUBARAK, PAGE A8