FRIDAY August 16, 2013
Federal Court
Big Ticket
Kendallville man is indicted
Inside today, find out when your team plays
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Prep Soccer West Noble geared up
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Weather Plenty of sun and mild today with a high of 75. More sun, and warmer temperatures, are on the way. Page A10
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Police find family feared to be missing GOOD MORNING Two festival activities canceled ROME CITY — Two Chautauqua Days Festival events scheduled for this weekend have been canceled, organizers said. Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site naturalist Tiffany Conrad said Thursday that a wing cook-off scheduled for Saturday from 2-4 p.m. at the historic site has been called off. Also, the local Lions Club will not be selling porkburgers Saturday and Sunday. Conrad said no one signed up for the wing cook-off.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
AUBURN — The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department found a local woman and her two young children safe, ending an alert that they might be missing and in danger, said sheriff’s Detective Adam Friedel. Police located Madeline Holmes, 20, and her sons, ages 3 years and 7 months, at their residence in a campground south of Auburn around 9 a.m. Thursday, Friedel said. Officers also spoke with Holmes’ husband, James Holmes, 24, by telephone, confirming his whereabouts. Friedel said some type of
domestic incident apparently occurred early Thursday morning at the family’s residence. “It appears the parties separated last night,” he said. No criminal charges have been filed, and the incident remains under investigation, Friedel said. He added that James Holmes allegedly is wanted on a warrant from Wisconsin charging him with simple assault, but police have not taken him into custody. The episode began Thursday at approximately 12:20 a.m. Friedel said Madeline Holmes called 911 and reported that someone in a white Dodge pickup truck was breaking into her vehicle. The call
was disconnected before DeKalb County dispatchers could determine her precise location. A search of phone records indicated Holmes made the call from the Auburn area, Friedel said. Police discovered she was residing at the campground just south of Auburn, known as Fireside Resort at Kruse Park, 5612 C.R. 11-A. Police who responded did not find Holmes at her camper, but did find signs of forced entry into the camper and evidence of a struggle inside, the detective said. Neighboring campers told police that Holmes and her husband, James Holmes, have two sons. They were living in the camper
Crash kills former resident
New mammal discovered WASHINGTON (AP) — Imagine a mini-raccoon with a teddy bear face that is so cute it’s hard to resist, let alone overlook. But somehow science did — until now. Researchers announced Thursday a rare discovery of a new species of mammal called the olinguito. The reddish-brown animal is about 14-inches long with an equally long tail and weighs about 2 pounds. It belongs to a grouping of large creatures that include dogs, cats and bears. The critter leaps through the trees of mountainous forests of Ecuador and Colombia at night, according to a Smithsonian researcher who has spent the past decade tracking them. But the adorable olinguito (oh-lihnGEE’-toe) shouldn’t have been so hard to find. One of them once lived in the Smithsonian-run National Zoo in Washington for a year in a case of mistaken identity. “It’s been kind of hiding in plain sight for a long time” despite its extraordinary beauty, said Kristofer Helgen, the Smithsonian’s curator of mammals. The little zoo critter, named Ringerl, was mistaken for a sister species, the olingo. Before she died in 1976, Ringerl was shipped from zoo to zoo in Louisville, Ky., Tucson, Ariz., Salt Lake City, Washington and New York City to try to get it to breed with other olingos. She wouldn’t. “It turns out she wasn’t fussy,” Helgen said. “She wasn’t the right species.” The discovery is described in a study in the journal ZooKey.
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.................................B5-B7 Life..................................................... A8 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion ............................................. A5 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather..........................................A10 TV/Comics .......................................B4 Vol. 104 No. 225
along with an older brother of James Holmes. All occupants were gone from the camper, and it appeared they left in a hurry, Friedel said. Neighboring campers reported they heard arguing just before the 911 call, he said. Before finding Madeline Holmes and her two children, the sheriff’s Department issued an alert to news media outlets around 8 a.m. Thursday, reporting concerns that they may be in danger. Friedel said a protective order from the state of Minnesota is in force protecting Madeline Holmes and her eldest child from James Holmes.
JAMES FISHER
Football campers The East Noble Football League handed out uniforms to more than 250 kids on Thursday at East Noble High School. Taylor Johnson, left, catches
his uniform from Chris Brazzel, the coach of the Hoosiers.
Two sentenced for sex crimes BY KATE STOLTZFUS kstoltzfus@kpcnews.net
ALBION — A woman and man were sentenced for separate sex-related crimes against minors Thursday morning in Noble County Circuit Court. Bianca R. Dewitt, 19, of LaOtto was sentenced for sexual relations involving an underage boy. She was charged in January with three class C felony offenses — one count of child molesting and two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. She pleaded guilty to all counts. Judge David Laur sentenced Dewitt to serve four years, with the first two in prison and the remainder served on probation
with sexual-offender rules. The incidents occurred in 2012 in Dewitt’s home in the 3000 block of South C.R. 950E. The molesting charge involved fondling between June 26 and Aug. 15. The sexual misconduct, where Dewitt reportedly performed or submitted to sexual intercourse, happened between Aug. 15 and Dec. 31. “There’s no indication that there was violence,” said J. Seth Tipton, her defense attorney. “The act appeared voluntary. However, when someone is 14 and the other is 18, that makes no difference. She has learned her lesson in a very harsh way.” Nathan Kiser, 21, of Cromwell,
was sentenced for sexual misconduct with a minor, a class B felony. The incident took place in December 2012, when Kiser engaged in sexual relations with a 15-year-old girl at her home in Ligonier. Kiser was a given a four-year sentence, with one year to be served on work release or with community service, and the remainder on probation with sex-offender rules and no contact with the victim. Kiser will receive 93 days of credit for time already served. He was first taken into custody May 14. “You certainly have learned a lesson,” Laur said to Kiser.
Death toll rises in Egyptian crisis UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Weeping relatives in search of loved ones uncovered the faces of the bloodied, unclaimed dead in a Cairo mosque near the smoldering epicenter of support for ousted President Mohammed Morsi, as the death toll soared past 600 Thursday from Egypt’s deadliest day since the Arab Spring began. World condemnation widened for the bloody crackdown on Morsi’s mostly Islamist supporters, including an angry response from President Barack Obama, who canceled joint U.S.-Egyptian military maneuvers. Violence spread Thursday, with government buildings set afire near the pyramids, policemen gunned down and scores of Christian churches attacked. As turmoil engulfed the country, the Interior Ministry authorized the use of deadly force against protesters targeting police and state institutions. The Muslim Brotherhood, trying to regroup after the assault on their encampments and the arrest of many of their leaders, called for a mass rally on Friday in a challenge to the government’s declaration of a
monthlong state of emergency and a dusk-to-dawn curfew. At least 638 people were confirmed killed and nearly 4,000 wounded in the violence sparked when riot police backed by armored vehicles, snipers and bulldozers smashed the two sit-ins in Cairo where Morsi’s supporters had been camped out for six weeks to demand his reinstatement. It was the deadliest day by far since the 2011 popular uprising that overthrew autocratic ruler Hosni Mubarak and plunged the country into more than two years of instability. Also on Thursday, The United Nations Security Council called on both the Egyptian government and the Muslim Brotherhood to exercise “maximum restraint” and end the violence spreading across the country. Council members called for national reconciliation. The Health Ministry said that 288 of those killed were in the largest protest camp in Cairo’s Nasr City district, while 90 others were slain in a smaller encampment at al-Nahda Square, near Cairo University. Others died in clashes that broke
out between Morsi’s supporters and security forces or anti-Morsi protesters elsewhere in the Egyptian capital and other cities. Mohammed Fathallah, the ministry spokesman, said earlier that the blood-soaked bodies lined up in the El Iman mosque in Nasr City were not included in the official death toll. It was not immediately clear if the new figures included the ones at the mosque. Inside the mosque-turned-morgue, the names of the dead were scribbled on white sheets covering the bodies, some of them charred, and a list with 265 names was plastered on the wall. Heat made the stench from the corpses almost unbearable as the ice brought in to chill the bodies melted and household fans offered little relief. Weeping relatives filled the mosque courtyard and spilled into the streets. In a corner, a woman cradled the head of a slain man in her lap, fanning it with a paper fan. Nearby, an anguished man shouted, “God take revenge on you el-Sissi!” a reference to the powerful military chief, Gen. Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi.
FORT WAYNE — A former Ligonier resident lost her life in a one-vehicle traffic crash Tuesday night in Allen County. Kayla Connie Yelton, 20, of Fort Wayne, died of blunt-force trauma, according to the Allen County Coroner. Her death was ruled an accident, said our news partner, WANE-TV. Yelton previously lived in Ligonier and attended West Noble schools. Yelton She worked as a package handler for a shipping company in Fort Wayne and also at a Fort Wayne amusement center. Emergency personnel were called to the 17000 block of Dawkins Road, east of Webster Road, around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday for a single-vehicle crash. First responders found a car wedged into several trees. Investigators said a 21-yearold man and Yelton were driving back from Cedar Point amusement park in Ohio when the car crossed the center line and left the road. The vehicle went into a ditch, and a steep incline launched the vehicle into a set of trees. Yelton was pronounced dead at the scene. The man, who was driving, was not injured. Both were wearing seat belts. Police said a preliminary investigation revealed the driver might have fallen asleep. The passenger was asleep in a reclined position when the crash occurred. Police said alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the crash, which remains under investigation.
Judge hears three drug cases BY KATE STOLTZFUS kstoltzfus@kpcnews.net
ALBION — Noble County Circuit Court Judge David Laur handled three drug-related criminal cases in his courtroom Thursday morning: • Nathan Hinsch, 24, of Kendallville, was sentenced after pleading guilty to charges of dealing methamphetamine, a Class B felony, and seeling the legend drug Tizanidine, a Class D felony. Laur sentenced him to 10 years for the meth charge, with eight served SEE DRUG, PAGE A10