Help From Kiwanis
FRIDAY September 13, 2013
Weather Partly sunny, cooler with high in low 60s. Tonight’s low 42. Sunshine on Saturday.
East Noble grad receives scholarship
Ready To Listen
Soccer victory
Mayor wants to hear about sidewalks
Westview downs Prairie Heights
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Page A8 Serving Noble & LaGrange Counties
Kendallville, Indiana
GOOD MORNING GOP women plan Monday meeting ALBION — The Noble County Republican Woman’s Club will meet at the Albion Pizza Depot on S.R. 9, across from Courthouse in Albion, Monday at 6 p.m. Meetings are the third Monday of the month, with each meeting held at a different location in the county. To make reservations or for more information, contact club president Shelley Mawhorter at 636-2893 or mlm5860@ gmail.com
Library board moves special meeting back KENDALLVILLE — The Kendallville Public Library Board of Trustees has canceled a special meeting planned for Tuesday, Sept. 24, with an architect to discuss the library building project. The meeting date conflicted with the annual Light the Night Walk that day. The architect will attend the regular board meeting Tuesday, Oct. 8.
Three sentenced in Elkhart killing GOSHEN — Three teenagers convicted of murder in an Elkhart burglary last fall were sentenced Thursday, according to news reports. The Elkhart Truth reports Levi Sparks, 18, received a 50-year sentence from Elkhart Circuit Court Judge Terry Shewmaker. Blake Layman, 17, was sentenced to 55 years in prison, and Anthony Sharp, 19, a third teenager involved in the case, also received 55 years. The three were found guilty after being accused of being responsible for the death of Danzele Johnson, 21, who died during an attempted burglary.
PHOTO GALLERIES: DeKalb vs. East Noble boys soccer kpcnews.com Multimedia > Photo Galleries
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..................................................... A3 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion ............................................. A5 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A8 TV/Comics .......................................B4 Vol. 104 No. 252
kpcnews.com
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Kerry talks tough with Russia GENEVA (AP) — Striking a tough tone, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry opened swiftly convened talks with Russia on Syria’s chemical weapons Thursday by bluntly rejecting a Syrian pledge to begin a “standard process” by turning over information rather than weapons — and nothing immediately. That won’t do, Kerry declared at an opening news conference, a stone-faced Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at his side. “The words of the Syrian regime in our judgment are simply not enough.” “This is not a game,” Kerry said of the latest developments in a series that has rapidly gone from
deadly chemical attacks to threats of retaliatory U.S. air strikes to Syrian agreement with a Russian plan to turn over the weapons and, finally, to the crucial matter of working out the difficult details. “We believe there is nothing standard about this process at this moment because of the way the regime has behaved,” Kerry declared. And he kept alive the threat of U.S. military action, saying the turnover of weapons must be complete, verifiable and timely — “and finally, there ought to consequences if it doesn’t take place.” Adding to the drama, Russian President Vladimir Putin weighed in from afar, raising eyebrows SEE KERRY, PAGE A8
AP
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks next to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, right, during a press conference before their meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, Thursday.
Albion woman sentenced Bennett Crimes included meth, racketeering
has more trouble
BY BOB BRALEY bbraley@kpcmedia.com
ALBION — An Albion woman was sentenced in Noble Circuit Court Thursday for crimes including dealing methamphetamine and racketeering. Stephanie Sandusky, 35, will serve eight years in prison for dealing methamphetamine, a Class B felony. She also was sentenced on charges of corrupt business influence, a Class C felony, and possession of marijuana, a Class A misdemeanor. Defense attorney Eric Blackman argued that Sandusky’s case is far from typical. The dealing charge stemmed from one incident in which no money changed hands. “She was never the target,” he said. The meth was given to someone who had come to a house in the 3000 block of South S.R. 9 in rural Albion June 12 to make a meth deal, Blackman said. “I was in a fire last October,” Sandusky said. She had just relearned to walk and was staying in a camper behind the house of co-defendant Randall Katz, 44. “I wasn’t even in the house when it was raided,” Sandusky said. “I was coming back from Logansport.” “The state spent a lot of time trying to get her to say she saw people cooking meth or she was somehow more involved than she was,” Blackman said. Sandusky admitted buying pseudoephedrine and accepting some of the meth the operation made from it as a
he said. A mini-SD card found in Sandusky’s purse showed scenes of the meth-making operation in action, the detective said. She was not in any of the video found on the card. The operation at Katz’s home was referred to by people doing business there as a compound, the detective said. “If you were living there, you were providing part of the function,” the detective said. Clouse said Sandusky was involved intensely in a large meth-making operation. “She’s not feeding her own addiction. She’s feeding the addiction of others,” Clouse said, adding, “She’s an absolute scourge on the people of our county.” He asked for her to be sentenced to
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Former Indiana schools chief Tony Bennett kept multiple campaign databases on Department of Education servers and ordered his staff to dissect a speech by his Democratic opponent for inaccuracies last fall in apparent violations of Indiana election and ethics laws, documents obtained by The Associated Press show. Bennett on Wednesday denied instructing his staff to do campaign work and told The Associated Press one of the lists was used to make “thank you calls” on his own time after the election. Indiana law prohibits state employees from engaging in political activity, including seeking contributions, while on duty or acting in an official capacity. It also bars state employees from working on anything outside their official job duties while on the clock, or ordering others to do so, and from using state resources for political purposes. Violating the official duties law, known as the “ghost employment” statute, can be a felony punishable by up to three years in prison. It’s rare to have officials prosecuted because finding proof of violations can be difficult. Complaints typically go to the state inspector general, then to prosecutors. But prosecutors also can launch investigations on their own. Though Bennett has been out of
SEE SENTENCE, PAGE A8
SEE BENNETT, PAGE A8
BOB BRALEY
Stephanie Sandusky, right, is escorted from the Noble County Courthouse Thursday after being sentenced to eight years in prison for dealing methamphetamine, a Class B felony.
way of admitting to the Class C felony, Blackman said. Blackman asked Noble Circuit Judge G. David Laur to sentence Sandusky to a short prison term with probation, such as six years in prison with two years served and four years suspended and on probation. An undercover police detective with the Indiana Multi Agency Group Enforcement Drug Task Force, which conducted the sting in which Sandusky, Katz and eight others were arrested, said there were multiple reports of a woman with burns who was part of the large meth-making operation at Katz’s property. The detective said Sandusky was found in the garage where the meth lab was located when officers arrived for the sting on June 21. Marijuana was found by her purse,
Downtown windmills to be up for bid BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.net
KENDALLVILLE — The downtown business district’s “Winds of Change” windmills will be auctioned during an event Saturday, Sept. 21, from 3-9 p.m. at SOZO Art Studio and Gallery, corner of Mitchell and Main streets. West Mitchell Street between Main and Orchard streets will be closed during the event. Advancing Regional Talents Inc. is planning live music and hors d’oeuvres from the Grid Iron, Pizza Forum, Dawson’s Dogs and Paul’s Pub from 3-5 p.m., with a cash bar and wine garden and drawings to win prizes from featured area artists during the sale of the windmills and artwork. The auction is scheduled
for 5 p.m. outside SOZO, featuring Joe Atz and Fred Kreigh as auctioneers. Proceeds will benefit Advancing Regional Talents and the artists who created the windmills. Donations also will be accepted for the Save the Strand Theater fund. The rain date for the event is Nov. 9 in Baker Hall at the Mid-America Windmill Museum, said Peggy Tassler of Advancing Regional Talents. “Advancing Regional Talents chose the windmills as Kendallville’s first public art project to help revitalize the downtown through art,” said Peggy Tassler of SOZO Art Studio and Gallery. Free tickets are required for admission, and tickets are available at downtown businesses, the Kendallville
Area Chamber of Commerce and Noble County Convention and Visitors Bureau. Fifteen windmills were decorated for Advancing Regional Talents’ first display in the downtown business district. The windmills are displayed along the three-block district. Sponsors were: Best Western, Chain O’ Lakes Correctional Facility, the city of Kendallville, Olive B. Cole Foundation, Community State Bank, Farmers & Merchants Bank, Flint & Walling, Jansen Family Dentistry, Kraft Foods, Lutheran Life Villages, Orizon Realty, Parkview Noble Hospital, Roush & Will Optometrists, State Farm-Don Gura, Tri Kappa Sorority, WAWK in memory of Don Moore, Work Prep and Young Family Funeral Home.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
“Fish Out of Water” is the title of this windmill on display with the “Winds of Change” exhibit in downtown Kendallville.
Celebrating 150 Years.
Sensible Banking for Sensible Lives
Community & Customer Appreciation Day
TM
Sept. 13
Main Office Orchard and Williams Streets Kendallville, IN
Free Porkburgers and Hotdogs 10:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
NMLS # 416300 ©2013 Campbell & Fetter Bank.