Serving the Steuben County 101 lakes area since 1857
Garage tour shows off new facilities used for maintaining museum’s fleet
Weather Cloudy with a chance of rain. Hot with a high of 91. Tonight’s low 73. Page A8
Page A2 TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013
Angola, Indiana
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Battle to find proof
GOOD MORNING Olympian to visit Wavemakers clinic ANGOLA — The YMCA Wavemakers is hosting a breakout swim clinic on Sunday, Sept. 8 at the YMCA of Steuben County, 500 E. Harcourt Road. The clinic will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for individuals who are 8 years old and older. It will feature Olympic Gold Medalist Ian Crocker. The cost is $30 per participant. Ian Crocker is an American former competition swimmer, five-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. He has won a total of 21 medals in major international competition, spanning the Olympics, the FINA World Aquatics Championships and the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. The clinic is designed to teach swimmers how to break bad habits, build new skills and uncover talent. Throughout the course of the morning, each participant will learn champion performance techniques on all four strokes and will understand how the body, mind and heart affect swimming. Participants will receive a Breakout! T-shirt, poster, DVDs and other souvenirs. Details are available by calling 668-3607. Deadline to register is Saturday.
Sixth hidden regatta clue is presented ANGOLA — The sixh clue in the Steuben County United Way Cardboard Boat Regatta hidden regatta contest is available. The clue is: “Go Blue! Button down the hatches … it’s a serious state … see your banker and secure your farms.” Boats are scattered around the county. People must identify all seven boats to win. The contest is a lead up to the Cardboard Boat Regatta, which is 1 p.m. Sept. 7 at the Potawatomi Inn beach at Pokagon State Park. To enter the competition, entrants must list in order the number, name and exact location of each boat. Submissions must be received by 4:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28, at the Steuben County United Way located at 317 S. Wayne St. Suite 3D, Angola. Email address is bobbi@unitedwaysteuben.org.
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Index • Classified.............................................. B6-B8 Life.................................................................A5 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion ........................................................B4 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A8 TV/Comics ..................................................B5 Vol. 156 No. 236
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U.N. experts collect samples, testimony of chemical attack PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Dogs have their day at Pokagon The Pokagon State Park Campground Amphitheater filled with dog lovers and their best friends for the fifth annual Pokagon Dog Idol. Prizes were provided by Pawsitively Paradise Pet Resort of Angola. Awards went to the smallest dog, largest dog, cutest dog, best dressed dog, most unusual dog and the best dog and owner look alike. Helping
the crowd judge the competition was Smokey Bear, who also spread his message of woodland care and conservation, while also providing great photo opportunities with his canine friends. Joining Smokey were park rangers, Tammy Sawvel, Lauren Loffer and Bonnie Mitchell.
Sex offender who worked at ministry gets time served BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — A man who had worked at an Angola youth mission pleaded guilty to failure to register as a sex offender and was sentenced to time served Monday in Steuben Circuit Court. Adam Gord Garza, 44, has been in Steuben County Jail since his arrest in late August 2012 — 367 days. That amounts to a two-year served Garza sentence with Indiana good time credit. The maximum faced by Garza under the Class D felony charge was three years. He was fined $1.
Garza must register as a sex offender when he is released from incarceration. Though his time served in Indiana is completed, there is a hold in Michigan, said his attorney Robert Hardy. He is wanted for three counts of failure to comply with registry reporting. Two of the pending allegations in Shiawassee County, Mich., are misdemeanors and one is a felony. Garza worked as a cook at Cahoot’s Coffee Cafe in Angola for four years before his Michigan criminal record came to light. Garza was convicted of three separate sex offenses in Michigan from 1997 to 2005. Those offenses involved victims who were minors, and Cahoot’s is a youth outreach operated by two local churches. He also managed Mason
House of Hope, run by the First Congregational United Church of Christ as a temporary housing facility for men recovering from addictions. Around 15 members of the UCC attended court Monday in support of Garza, who made a statement after a brief sentencing hearing. As a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, he said he looks back on a “dark” past, in which he rolled through people’s lives like a tornado causing destruction and heartbreak. He has a 24-yearold daughter, he said, whom he promised over and over that he would change. By the time he changed, she had become numb, he said, and no longer has a relationship with him. SEE GARZA, PAGE A8
Cemetery tour heads to Teeters BY JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcmedia.com
FREMONT — This year’s sixth annual Fremont Historical Society’s Cemetery Tour will be held in Teeters Cemetery on Sunday, Sept. 8, at 2 p.m. The rain date is Sunday, Sept. 15. This is the first time the tour will be held at the Teeters Cemetery. “It was located on the Vistula Trail and there were several people buried there,” said Nancy Noyes, the walk’s coordinator. The tour will honor the late John Oberst, who was the longtime sexton of the cemetery. “He was known for the countless care and generosity given to the cemetery,” Noyes said. “Everyone has a story,” Noyes said and those stories will be told and come to life. The tour will feature stops at grave sites of early pioneers and stories will be told of the families of Brouse, Throop, Arthur Middleton, Elisha Teeters, Peter Smith, Oberst and Chester Chapin, an early veterinarian. Christopher Oberst, the great-great-grandfather of John Oberst, Noyes said, was a Civil War soldier who was wounded at Shiloh. Another Civil War honoree will be Samuel Bailey, who was part of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s march to Atlanta. Once again historical society member and Fremont Town Judge Marty Hagerty will conduct the tour. Noyes said research shows about 1860, David Benton Teeters and his brother, Elisha, gave enough land to be platted into 80 lots and was called Teeters Cemetery. In later years, two additions were made. In 1902, the cemetery was incorporated by Lewis Smith and others. The cemetery’s first burial was for a woman who died in a covered wagon in transit with Joseph Smith and some
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
John Oberst was the longtime sexton of Teeters Cemetery in rural Fremont. The late Mr. Oberst will be honored at the Fremont Historical Society’s sixth annual Cemetery Walk on Sept. 8.
Mormon followers. The Fremont Historical Society was formed in 2006 with a mission to preserve local history. Members of the society researched those who will be featured on the walk. The society’s museum is located at 102 W. Toledo St. and is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. between June and Labor Day. The museum includes an extensive obituary collection. Appointments may be made for viewing or for details on the cemetery walk by calling 495-4711 or 495-3262. Teeters Cemetery is located on S.R. 120 in Clear Lake Township, about one mile west of C.R. 925E. The walk is free, but donations are accepted to cover expenses of future walks.
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — U.N. experts collected samples and testimony from Syrian doctors and victims of an alleged chemical weapons attack Monday following a treacherous journey through government and rebel-held territory, where their convoy was hit by snipers. As U.S. officials said there was very little doubt that Syria used chemical weapons and Western powers stepped up calls for swift military action, President Bashar Assad’s government vowed to defend itself against any international attack, warning that such an intervention would ignite turmoil across the region. It also would bring the U.S. closer to a conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people since Assad cracked down on Arab Spring-inspired protesters in March 2011. Syria’s civil war has been increasingly defined by sectarian killings between the Sunni-led rebellion and Assad’s regime, dominated by Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. It would essentially pit the U.S. and regional allies Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar in a proxy SEE SYRIA, PAGE A8
5 hurt in LaGrange collision LAGRANGE — Four cars were scattered over about 50 yards of U.S. 20 on LaGrange’s western edge early Monday after a chain-reaction crash that injured five people, sending three to the hospital. The accident occurred shortly after 7 a.m. and closed the state highway in both directions for more than an hour. A report from the LaGrange County Sheriff’s Department said George Vanscoyk, 51, Sturgis, Mich., was driving east on U.S. 20, about a quarter-mile west of South Townline Road, when he crossed the center line and collided with a westbound van driven by Royer P. Allman Jr., 61, of LaGrange. Allman then lost control of his vehicle, swerved and struck a a third vehicle, a westbound van driven by Michelle Dininny, 32, of LaGrange. After the second collision, Allman’s van rolled onto its top and came to rest in the eastbound lane. After his initial collision, the left front wheel of Vanscoyk’s vehicle collapsed and pushed his vehicle into oncoming traffic in the westbound lane, where he collided with a car driven by Erin Wood, 21, of LaGrange. Vanscoyk suffered lacerations to his face and mouth and was transported by an ambulance to Parkview LaGrange Hospital for
SEE CRASH, PAGE A8