SATURDAY September 21, 2013
Football Scoreboard
Moving Downtown Learning center opens new location
Carroll East Noble
27 7
Lakeland West Noble
Woodlan 32 Prairie Heights 7
Page A2
Weather Partly sunny and cooler, high of 68. Low tonight falls into mid-40s.
33 0
Fremont Central Noble
Columbia City DeKalb
35 20
34 12
Page A6 Kendallville, Indiana
GOOD MORNING Ex-teacher files suit over firing HAMMOND (AP) — A former teacher and boys’ basketball coach at a northwest Indiana high school acquitted of child seduction charges in June has filed a lawsuit against the school district, alleging he was improperly fired. Benjamin Chinn, who now lives in Indianapolis, filed his lawsuit against School City of Hammond Thursday in U.S. District Court in Hammond. Chinn was fired from Morton High School last year after a former student, 17, accused him of kissing her and engaging in sexual activities in his classroom and office. A jury deliberated about three hours before finding him innocent. Chinn contends in his lawsuit the district notified him in a letter that he was suspended without pay but never informed him he had any rights, such as the right to a hearing. Chinn also contends the school board sent a notice of a vote about whether to renew his contract to an address where it knew he no longer lived.
Serving Noble & LaGrange Counties
kpcnews.com
Abducted woman found safe Police hunt for person of interest BY MATT GETTS mgetts@kpcmedia.com
ROME CITY — A woman who was abducted late Wednesday was found early Friday morning and is safe, police said. Jennifer Lee Bitzel of Peru was located in Rome City by that town’s police department, a news release from the LaGrange County Sheriff’s Department said. “It’s great that it ended this way,” Rome City Town Marshal Steve Heltzel said. “We’re pleased she’s been located and that at least she wasn’t terribly hurt,” said John Parrish, investigator for the LaGrange County Prosecutor’s Office. Parrish said Bitzel has bruising to
her head, face and throat. Bitzel’s Facebook page says she was a member of the East Noble High School class of 2003 and previously lived in Rome City. Police still are searching for Steven Gail Gose, 40, who is believed to be involved in the abduction. Lagrange County Superior Court Judge Brown has issued an additional warrant for Gose on charges of criminal confinement, a Class C Felony, and two Class D felony offenses, domestic battery and strangulation. Gose also currently has an active warrant for his arrest on a parole violation. Anyone who spots Gose is urged
to contact the LaGrange County Sheriff’s Department or call 911. Gose should still be considered armed and dangerous and should not be approached by anyone other than law enforcement, police said. “We have found him to be unpredict- Bitzel able and dangerous when confronted by law enforcement,” Parrish said. Police said Gose is 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds. The investigation has revealed that several people have been involved with transporting, hiding and assisting Gose, police said. The LaGrange County Prosecutor’s office said anyone who assists Gose
Ample apples Fortunes turn around at orchards
Bee Keeping
Honey bees play a major role in agriculture. Read how honey is created and what else honey bees are used for, on Sunday’s C1 and C2.
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Info • The News Sun P.O. Box 39, 102 N. Main St. Kendallville, IN 46755 Telephone: (260) 347-0400 Fax: (260) 347-2693 Classifieds: (toll free) (877) 791-7877 Circulation: (260) 347-0400 or (800) 717-4679
Index
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Classifieds.................................B7-B8 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion ............................................. A3 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B6 Vol. 104 No. 260
ALBION – What a difference a year makes. Last fall, Rachael Bender said, her family-owned orchard, Bender’s Orchard, “barely produced enough apples to make a good pie.” This year, however, apples at the southern Noble County orchard are in abundance. “Yes, yes, and we’re very happy about that!” Bender exclaimed. “We have a really good crop of apples this year, and it looks great!” Apple growers across northern Indiana are reporting bumper crops of apples this year, only one year after suffering through last season and what might have been the worst apple crop harvest on record. “It’s as good this year as it was bad last year,” said LaGrange County apple grower Martin Franke. “We’ve got a lot of apples.” Franke’s apple operation produced less than one-quarter its normal yield last year. His farm, like others in the area, was slammed by 2012’s strange twist of weather. First, spring came early to northern Indiana last year, with the area basking in record warm temperatures by mid-March. That springlike weather caused apple trees to produce blossoms early — blossoms that later were damaged or killed when normal cold and frosty weather returned to Indiana
PATRICK REDMOND
Orchard owner Christine Franke reaches to check an apple on a tree on her rural LaGrange County fruit farm. Franke’s 400-plus apple trees are loaded with fruit this season.
in April. What few Indiana apples managed to survive the frost then had to endure a two-month-long drought. “I had about 35 percent of my normal crop last year,” said Rick Meyer of Kendallville’s Orchard Hills Farms. Meyer operates one of the largest orchards in the area, with trees covering more than 70 acres. His farm is a major wholesaler of apples, and like Bender and Franke, Meyer agreed that this is a great year for Indiana
also is committing a crime, and each lead on those who are assisting him will be looked into and considered for prosecution accordingly. Police said Bitzel had last been seen at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday at a residence in the 3000 block of Gose LaGrange C.R. 600E. It is alleged that at the residence, Bitzel was the victim of an extensive battery. She then was removed forcefully from the residence by a man who allegedly made death threats to Bitzel before forcing her into a silver, 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix, four-door sedan, bearing Indiana registration 543AIB.
House makes move
Fresh Fruit
BY PATRICK REDMOND predmond@kpcmedia.com
Coming Sunday
75 cents
apple growers. “We have a big crop,” Meyer said of the fruit on his farm. Orchard Hills Farm’s trees are loaded with fruit this year. His farm grows dozens of different varieties of apples, including honeycrisp, a very popular sweet and tart apple that Meyer said will be a huge crop this season. “We have a big crop of just about everything,” Meyer said. But this year’s apple crop isn’t
WASHINGTON (AP) — The GOP-controlled House voted Friday to cripple President Barack Obama’s health care law as part of a risky ploy that threatens a partial shutdown of the government in a week and a half. The fight is coming on a stopgap funding measure required to keep the government fully running after the Oct. 1 start of the new budget year. Typically, such measures advance with sweeping bipartisan support, but tea party activists forced GOP leaders — against their better judgment — to add a provision to cripple the health care law that is the signature accomplishment of Obama’s first term. Republicans welcomed the vote, saying the new health care law is a disaster that is forcing cutbacks in workers’ hours, raising health insurance premiums and being implemented unfairly. House Republicans have voted more than 40 times to disable all or part of the health care law. “There’s no reason the American people should have to face this train wreck,” said Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga. The partisan 230-189 vote sets the stage for a confrontation with the Democratic-led Senate, which promises to strip the health care provision from the bill next week and challenge the House to pass it as a simple, straightforward funding bill that President Barack Obama will sign. “Republicans are simply postponing for a few days the inevitable choice they must face: Pass a clean bill to fund the government, or force a shutdown,” said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. The White House promises Obama will veto the measure in the unlikely event it reaches his desk. At a post-vote rally by House Republicans, Speaker John
SEE APPLES, PAGE A6
SEE HOUSE, PAGE A6
Area counties see unemployment rates improve INDIANAPOLIS — Improvement in the state unemployment rate was magnified in the area in August, as all four northeast Indiana counties saw their unemployment rate drop by a percentage point or more. “The significant decrease in Indiana’s unemployment rate in August is definitely encouraging, but the fact is too many Hoosiers are still unemployed,” said Scott B. Sanders, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. “This underscores the need to bring unemployed individuals into WorkOne following their fourth week of receiving benefits. It is vital we get folks on the path to reemployment as soon as possible.” Reports released Friday by the
DWD said DeKalb, LaGrange and Steuben counties each saw their unemployment rate fall by 1 percentage point from the revised July figures. LaGrange County’s unemployment rate dropped to 7.2 percent in August, while DeKalb County’s dropped to 7.4 percent and Steuben County’s dropped to 7.5 percent. Steuben County was tied for 38th in the monthly ranking of the state’s 92 counties. Noble County saw its unemployment rate drop 1.1 percentage points to 7.3 percent in August. DeKalb, Noble and Steuben counties did each see a slight drop in their labor force for the month, and Steuben County saw the number of employed workers drop by 29.
However, LaGrange County, despite seeing its labor force rise, saw its number of unemployed workers drop below 1,000 in August. Allen County saw an even larger drop in its unemployment rate, falling from 8.7 percent in July to 7.1 percent in August. “Retooling has wrapped at several major manufacturers, likely contributing to the positive dynamics month-over-month as workers have returned to those production lines. The year-overyear improvement in the region’s unemployment rate is strong and notable (7.0 percent vs. 8.3 percent), pointing to longer-term progress in strengthening the northeast Indiana labor market,” said Ellen Cutter, director of the Community
Unemployment rates In percentages COUNTY DeKalb LaGrange Noble Steuben Allen Elkhart Indiana* U.S.*
AUG. 2013 7.4 6.2 7.3 7.5 7.1 7.7 8.1 7.3
JULY 2013 8.4 7.2 8.4 8.5 8.7 8.5 8.4 7.4
AUG. 2012 8.9 7.8 9.0 8.7 8.4 9.3 8.4 8.1
*seasonally adjusted SOURCE: INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Research Institute at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. “This is the lowest point the region’s (non-seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate has dropped to since October of 2008.”