THURSDAY April 4, 2013
Preservation Project
Outdoor Page
Field school launches with Sower Farm work
Lake Michigan coho fishing heats up
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Baseball Knights open with 22-2 win over Central Noble
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Weather Partly cloudy today. High 55. Low 32 Sunshine Friday. High 52. Low 35. Page A6 Kendallville, Indiana
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Ritz leery of armed staff
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Schools chief says decision should be made by individual districts, not state legislature
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s state schools superintendent signaled her opposition Wednesday to a plan that would require public and charter schools to have an employee armed with a loaded gun, saying such decisions should be made by the individual districts rather than mandated by
the Legislature. Glenda Ritz, a Democrat who took office in January, said she didn’t know about the proposal before a Republican-controlled Indiana House committee added it Tuesday to a Senate-approved bill aimed at starting a school security grant program. The armed
employee proposal would have to clear both the full House and Senate by the Legislature’s April 29 adjournment deadline to become law. Leaders of the Indiana School Boards Association and the Indiana Ritz State Teachers Association also said they didn’t believe the
AREA LEADERS react to proposed legislation. SEE PAGE A6.
proposal was well thought out. Supporters of the requirement say it would lessen the vulnerability of schools to violent attacks such as the December elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., in which 20 students and six teachers died. SEE RITZ, PAGE A6
Library sets open house
Park department taking campground reservations KENDALLVILLE — The Bixler Lake campground will open Friday, May 3. Campers of all types are welcome, with grass sites — not dirt — featured and electricity and water available, city park officials said. The campground also has a sanitary station. Rates begin at $15 per night and increase to $18 per night during holiday and Apple Festival of Kendallville weekends. Reservations are required for holidays and weekends by calling the Kendallville Park and Recreation Department at 347-1064 or at 2426898 starting at the end of April. Roger and Jody Ford are the new campground directors.
Syrian rebels set sights on south BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels captured a military base in the south on Wednesday and set their sights on seizing control of a strategically important region along the border with Jordan that would give them a critical gateway to attempt an attack on the capital, Damascus. With foreign aid and training of rebels in Jordan ramping up, the opposition fighters have regained momentum in their fight to topple President Bashar Assad. But while the fall of southern Syria would facilitate the rebel push for Damascus, it might also create dangerous complications, potentially drawing Syria’s neighbors into the 2year-old civil war. Besides abutting Jordan, the region includes territory that borders Syria’s side of the Golan Heights, along a sensitive frontier with Israel.
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Inside • Classified ................................B7-B8 Deaths ............................................A4 Opinion ..........................................A5 Sports ......................................B1-B3 Life ..................................................A3 TV, Comics, Dear Abby ..............B6 Vol. 104 No. 93
AP
South Korean marines work on their K-55 selfpropelled howitzers during an exercise against possible attacks by North Korea near the border
village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, Wednesday.
North Korea ratchets up rhetoric Military cleared to wage nuclear attack on U.S.; Pentagon to deploy defense system SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Ratcheting up the rhetoric, North Korea warned early Thursday that its military has been cleared to wage an attack on the U.S. using “smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear” weapons. The Pentagon, meanwhile, said in Washington that it will deploy a missile defense system to the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam to strengthen regional protection against a possible attack from North Korea. The defense secretary said the U.S. was seeking to defuse the situation. Despite the rhetoric, analysts say they do not expect a nuclear attack by North Korea, which knows the move could trigger a destructive, suicidal war that no one in the region wants. The strident warning from Pyongyang is latest in a series of escalating threats from North Korea, which has railed for weeks against joint U.S. and South Korean military exercises taking place in South Korea and has expressed
anger over tightened sanctions for a February nuclear test. Following through on one threat Wednesday, North Korean border authorities refused to allow entry to South Koreans who manage jointly run factories in the North Korean city of Kaesong. Washington calls the military drills, which this time have incorporated fighter jets and nuclearcapable stealth bombers, routine annual exercises between the allies. Pyongyang calls them rehearsals for a northward invasion. The foes fought on opposite sides of the three-year Korean War, which ended in a truce in 1953. The divided Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of war six decades later, and Washington keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea to protect its ally. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Washington was doing all it can to defuse the situation, echoing comments a day earlier by Secretary of State John Kerry. “Some of the actions they’ve
taken over the last few weeks present a real and clear danger and threat to the interests, certainly of our allies, starting with South Korea and Japan and also the threats that the North Koreans have leveled directly at the United States regarding our base in Guam, threatened Hawaii, threatened the West Coast of the United States,” Hagel said Wednesday. In Pyongyang, the military statement said North Korean troops had been authorized to counter U.S. “aggression” with “powerful practical military counteractions,” including nuclear weapons. “We formally inform the White House and Pentagon that the everescalating U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK and its reckless nuclear threat will be smashed by the strong will of all the united service personnel and people and cuttingedge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means,” an unnamed spokesman from the General Bureau of the Korean People’s Army said in a statement carried by state media, referring to North Korea by its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “The U.S. had better ponder over the prevailing grave situation.”
KPL director to explain renovation BY DENNIS NARTKER dennisn@kpcnews.net
KENDALLVILLE — The community is invited to an open house Tuesday at the Kendallville Public Library to see its proposed basement renovation plans and tour the unfinished basement area. At 6 p.m., library director Gregg Williamson will explain plans for finishing the basement, conduct the tour and answer questions about the proposed project. The library’s basement was not finished as a cost-saving measure when the building was constructed nearly six years ago. The portion of the basement that has been completed houses the library’s art gallery and is used for meetings and special events. A stage for public performances, a kitchen for community use and meeting rooms have been proposed for the unfinished space, which is not heated and currently is used for storage and a staff work area. Renovations to the circulation and teen areas in the main library also have been proposed. Williamson estimates the renovations will cost $400,000 to $500,000, and he said the library has enough money in reserve to cover the project’s cost. No additional public funding will be needed. On March 12, the library’s board of trustees voted to proceed SEE LIBRARY, PAGE A6
Ligonier tries, again, to bring motel to city BY BOB BUTTGEN bbuttgen@kpcnews.net
LIGONIER — Mayor Patty Fisel is spearheading an effort to bring a motel to Ligonier. And while the effort is still in its early stages, the plan is beginning to take shape. Fisel said this is the fourth serious attempt to bring a motel to Ligonier that she has been involved with in the past several years, either as mayor or as a business owner. The city was approached by officials of Cobblestone, Inc., out of Kenosha, Wisconsin, who want to explore the possibility of a motel being built in Ligonier. Cobblestone, which is not connected with the Kendallville golf course, works with smaller cities and towns in the Midwest to see if a motel is a feasible reality. “A lot of things have to happen before this can become a reality,”
Fisel said. “But we are gaining more support for this project than ever before. I feel really confident we will get it done this time.” Fisel has been in contact with a dozen factories in Ligonier who have indicated a need for a motel in the city, as well as a willingness to support it. Many of those factories bring in employees and visitors from out of the area. Those visitors usually go to Goshen, Kendallville or Syracuse to find a motel. Ligonier has a bed and breakfast that is used frequently by area businesses, but it is not big enough to accommodate the demand. “Ligonier has a lot of potential for a motel,” Fisel said. “We have a great location with highways 6, 33 and 5 all coming together here.” The next step would be a feasibility study, and the Ligonier SEE MOTEL, PAGE A6
AP
History book presentation Terry Housholder, president and publisher of KPC Media Group, right, presents a copy of his book, “150 Years — Kendallville, Indiana,” to Mayor Maurizio Giacoletto of Levone, Italy, Tuesday. Giacoletto and a group from the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, are visiting northeast Indiana this week, staying with host families in Noble, LaGrange and DeKalb counties. Kendallville and Levone are Friendship Cities. Kendallville is marking its sesquicentennial this year. The 320page, hardbound book, produced by Courier Kendallville Inc., is available for sale at The News Sun office, 102 N. Main St., Kendallville. See related story on Page A5.