Serving the Steuben County 101 lakes area since 1857
Steuben officials want farmers to stop irrigating roads
Weather Sunshine today with a high in the lower 80s. Tonight’s low in the mid-50s. Page A6
Page A2
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2013
Angola, Indiana
School locks down
GOOD MORNING New stop sign going up at Metz Road, S.R. 1 intersection METZ — A new stop sign will be erected on S.R. 1 Thursday. Starting this week, weather permitting, the Indiana Department of Transportation will turn the intersection of Metz Road and S.R. 1 into an all-way stop. There is currently a stop sign on eastbound and westbound Metz Road. The new initiative will also stop traffic coming from north and south S.R. 1, which connects with the town of Hamilton via S.R. 27 to the south and crosses over U.S. 20 to the north. Stop signs, stop bars painted on the road and stop-ahead signs will be erected Thursday. After the signs are in place, all traffic on all approaches will stop before entering the intersection. The change is a result of a traffic study completed by INDOT that reviewed the traffic patterns, as well as the crash history at the intersection, said a news release from INDOT.
Video available at kpcnews.com of ACD Parade of Classics AUBURN — Video from Saturday’s Parade of Classics at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival is online at kpcnews.com. Highlights include clips of grand marshal Wayne Carini, Miss Indiana Terrin Thomas, and a number of the unique cars featured in the parade. DVDs of the complete parade are available at KPC Media Group newspaper offices for $14.95 plus tax and shipping, if desired. Scan the QR code to watch the video on your tablet or smartphone.
FILE PHOTO BY MIKE MARTURELLO
The C.R. 300W bridge that spans Jimmerson Creek at the busy four corners area of Lake James and Jimmerson Lake is seen in this July 27 file photo during the Lake James Antique
Boat Show. Steuben County Commissioners are considering lighting the bridge for pedestrian safety.
James bridge might see light BY MIKE MARTURELLO mmarturello@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — Possible lighting for the Steuben County bridge over Jimmerson Creek at C.R. 300W is being investigated by Steuben County Highway Engineer Jennifer Sharkey. Sharkey was asked to look into lighting on the bridge by Steuben County Commissioners Tuesday after a variety of Americans with Disabilities Act improvements were discussed for the four corners at Lake James and in Pleasant Lake. At issue was creation of handicap ramps on sidewalks in Pleasant Lake and the four
corners at Lake James. There is much pedestrian traffic at the four corners, much of which travels over the bridge between dock sites and Lake James and Jimmerson Lake businesses. In addition to ramps, lighting for the bridge for the safety of pedestrians at night was suggested by an audience member. “Would you like to explore that possibility,” Commission President Ron Smith asked Sharkey, who agreed to the task. Lake James resident Bill Schmidt and Crooked Lake area resident George Pifer suggested taking the lighting beyond typical
street lighting and make it decorative to enhance the busy intersection and bridge that is traversed by many lake visitors. “I think there’s a lot of things you could do,” Smith said. “You could make it a landmark,” Pifer said. When told about the discussion, June Julien, Steuben County Tourism Bureau executive director, said such work would be welcome. “Aesthetic improvement to infrastructure enhances our visitor experience,” Julien said. There wasn’t a time line given for Sharkey to report back to commissioners.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Blue II, the English bulldog who gained national fame as the Butler mascot during its run to NCAA championship games in 2010 and 2011, has died. The university announced Tuesday that the 9-year-old dog died Saturday from complications from congestive heart failure. He was 9 years old. Blue appeared on the floor of every Butler men’s basketball home game, select away games and at the 2010 and 2011 Final Four games. Michael Kaltenmark, the mascot’s caretaker, says, “Blue really galvanized the pride and tradition of having a live mascot at Butler.” Butler retired Blue II from mascot duties on May 20.
Index • Classified.............................................. B7-B8 Life.................................................................A5 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion ........................................................B4 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A6 TV/Comics ..................................................B6 Vol. 156 No. 243
Armed man was seen walking near Fremont Schools campus BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
FREMONT — Fremont Community Schools went on lock down Tuesday afternoon after a report of an unknown person walking nearby with a shotgun. Fremont Police Department received multiple reports of the person walking on West Street, which goes through the school campus. Fremont Community Schools Superintendent Lori Vaughn said Fremont Town Marshal Joe Patterson acted quickly in contacting the school and getting law enforcement presence to the area. Fremont High, Middle and Elementary schools went into code yellow lockdown at 3:07 p.m. The schools had dismissed and buses had left. “What we had were athletes in the buildings,” said Vaughn. Along with any after-school programs, sports teams were doing drills and preparing for evening activities. “We decided just to go ahead and cancel practices,” said Vaughn. A middle school home volleyball game against DeKalb was also canceled. The middle school football team SEE FREMONT, PAGE A6
AMY OBERLIN
Butler mascot dies
75 cents
kpcnews.com
BY MIKE MARTURELLO mmarturello@kpcmedia.com
Gas leak backs up traffic An Ashley Fire truck follows a procession of vehicles on eastbound U.S. 20 near its intersection with Interstate 69, where a vehicle spilled gas down the right side of the road. Traffic was slowed
for military intervention at the committee’s hearing. Kerry had said earlier in the hearing that he’d prefer not to have such language, hypothesizing the potential need for sending ground troops “in the event Syria imploded” or to prevent its chemical weapons cache from falling into the hands of a terrorist organization. “President Obama is not asking America to go to war,” Kerry said in a strongly worded opening statement. He added, “This is not the time for armchair isolationism. This is not the time to be spectators to slaughter.” Obama said earlier in the day he was open to revisions in the relatively broad request the White House made over the weekend. He expressed confidence Congress would respond to his call for support and said Assad’s action
ANGOLA — The boat ramp at Crooked Lake is going to remain at its current location. As part of improvements at the Steuben County Park, where the county owns and operates a boat ramp, work on the launch is included. Steuben County Parks Superintendent Eric Ditmars said he has been in discussions with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, which does permitting and siting of ramps and public access sites. Of the alternatives presented, keeping the ramp where is currently is was seen as the best solution. “That would be the best for us, the cheapest for us, to rebuild the ramp where it is,” Ditmars said. After last year’s drought, many boaters at Crooked Lake reported problems with the ramp. With lowered lake levels, boat trailers would get hung up at the end of the ramp because their tires would drop off the edge. Commissioner Ron Smith said one of the main goals of the new ramp would be to make it larger and deeper. There were other alternatives that would have included moving the ramp to other county-owned property near the existing facility, which is part of the Steuben County Park. One hangup might be over mooring the county offers near the ramp, but that might be grandfathered in as pre-existing under DNR rules. By building a new ramp in the current location the county would
SEE BOEHNER, PAGE A6
SEE RAMP, PAGE A6
Tuesday afternoon between 2 and 2:30 p.m. while Angola Fire Department applied a drying agent to a wide wet streak left down approximately 1/4 mile of the road.
Boehner joins president in supporting strike on Syria WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama gained ground Tuesday in his drive for congressional backing of a military strike against Syria, winning critical support from House Speaker John Boehner while administration officials agreed to explicitly rule out the use of U.S. combat troops in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack. “You’re probably going to win” Congress’ backing, Rand Paul of Kentucky, a conservative senator and likely opponent of the measure, conceded in a late-afternoon exchange with Secretary of State John Kerry. The leader of House Republicans, Boehner emerged from a meeting at the White House and said the United States has “enemies around the world that need to understand that we’re not going to tolerate this type of behavior. We also have allies
Crooked ramp to stay put
around the world and allies in the region who also need to know that America will be there and stand up when it’s necessary.” Boehner spoke as lawmakers in both parties called for changes in the president’s requested legislation, rewriting it to restrict the type and duration of any military action that would be authorized, possibly including a ban on U.S. combat forces on the ground. A new resolution was written Tuesday by Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn. It could get a vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday. Menendez is the chairman and Corker is the top Republican on the panel. “There’s no problem in our having the language that has zero capacity for American troops on the ground,” said Secretary of State John Kerry, one of three senior officials to make the case