WEDNESDAY August 14, 2013
Meth Lab Blaze
Albion Council
Man hospitalized with serious burns
Town rejects national TV program
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Football Irish planning to focus on present
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Weather Sunny today. High 72. Low 48. Sunshine again Thursday. High 73. Page A6 Kendallville, Indiana
GOOD MORNING Stutzman hosting job fair at IPFW FORT WAYNE — U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Indiana, will sponsor a job fair Friday from 1-4 p.m. at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. More than 50 employers with nearly 1,000 jobs to fill are scheduled to attend the job fair in the Classic Ballroom of the Walb Student Union, 2010 E. Coliseum Boulevard, a news release said.
Officer shoots dog in rural Albion ALBION — A dog owner says a Noble County sheriff’s deputy wrongfully shot and killed a family dog, but the sheriff and a witness say the deputy didn’t have a choice, our news partner, WANE-TV, reported. Saturday, the Noble County Sheriff’s Department responded to calls saying a dog was running loose and chasing children in a neighborhood at Bear Lake near Albion. When Deputy Shafter Baker arrived, he got out of his car to talk to a concerned resident. Baker said the dog, a Rottweiler, aggressively ran across the street toward him, barking, so he shot and killed it. Dog owner Jeremy Nordman said the dog was friendly, but a neighbor disagreed in an interview with WANE-TV. Nordman said he and his family were on an outing and their dog, Chevy, was tied up in the backyard and somehow got loose. He said when they returned home, they found their dog dead in the street. “It’s unfortunate. We never want to do those kind of things, but sometimes you’re forced to,” said Noble County Sheriff Douglas Harp. He said there was no time for Baker to use less lethal action. “This dog was in an aggressive mode when it was running at the officer, and so he had to make a split-second decision on what to do,” Harp said. The sheriff said Baker has expertise with dogs as a retired military officer who was in charge of the kennel at a canine unit.
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Classifieds.................................B7-B8 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B6 Vol. 104 No. 223
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Man ‘stunned’ by charge of rape Brown allegedly held woman at knifepoint BY BOB BRALEY bbraley@kpcmedia.com
ALBION — A Brimfield man was charged with rape, criminal confinement and battery with a deadly weapon Tuesday in Noble Superior Court I. Jeffrey S. Brown, 49, seemed surprised as the charges against him were read. On hearing the rape charge, he said, “I’m just stunned.” The charges stem from an incident in which Brown allegedly held a woman at knifepoint in the 400 block of West William Street, Kendallville, on Aug. 7. Police used a Taser on him
during his arrest. Brown is formally charged with rape while armed with a deadly weapon, a Class A felony; criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon, a Class B felony; and battery while armed with a deadly weapon, a Class D Brown felony. Brown appeared in court Tuesday by closed-circuit transmission from the Noble County Jail. Noble County chief deputy
prosecutor James Mowery requested that Brown be held on $1 million bond because of the defendant’s lengthy criminal record, including a record of violent crime in Noble and Kosciusko counties. “He is a substantial danger to the public,” Mowery said of Brown. Noble Superior Court I Judge Robert Kirsch ordered Brown held on $100,000 bond, with no option to pay 10 percent of the bond directly to the county and be released. Brown also was ordered to have no direct or indirect contact with the alleged victim. When Kirsch tried to ask Brown questions to determine if a public defender should be
Teen saves his buddy, 5, from fire
Free before talks
BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.com
KENDALLVILLE — A 15-year-old boy is credited with saving the life of a child trapped in a bedroom fire in a mobile home Monday night. Kevin Williams broke a window with his bare hands to rescue his 5-year-old neighbor and “buddy,” Damion Shepherd. “We hear a lot about the bad things teens do, and we don’t hear enough about the good things. He saved the boy’s life,” said Kendallville Fire Chief Mike Riehm. Firefighters were dispatched at 9:58 p.m. to 1818 Oak Tree Road in the Maple Grove Mobile Home Park, on the city’s south side. Kendallville police had received a 911 call reporting a mobile home fire with a person trapped inside. Firefighters arrived on the scene at 10:02 p.m. to find smoke coming from a bedroom window in the single-wide mobile home, Riehm said . The home’s occupants, Lisa Shepherd, 27, and Damion, her son, were outside unharmed. Firefighters entered the bedroom by forcing open the door and quickly extinguished the fire in a trash container just inside the room. Firefighters had the fire under control at 10:08 p.m. The mobile home sustained smoke damage and minor fire damage. The incident happened during a thunderstorm with heavy rain and lightning. Shepherd said Tuesday she and her son were in her bedroom. When she left the room, the young boy apparently locked the door. “I was gone only a split second, and then I smelled smoke,” she said. She looked through a crack between the door and wall and saw smoke and flames. “I panicked and screamed. I couldn’t get in because the door was locked,” she said. Shepherd went for help at her neighbors’ mobile home at 1816 Oak Tree Road where Williams lived. “Before I could finish explaining what was happening, Kevin ran out,” she said.
appointed for him, Brown tried to protest his innocence. At one point, he said he was the alleged victim’s bodyguard. The Noble County Public Defender’s office was appointed to represent Brown. Court records allege police broke into a residence on hearing cries for help and found Brown holding the alleged victim by the throat, pointing a steak knife with a 4- to 5-inch blade at her. Officers used a Taser to subdue him. The victim’s hand allegedly had been cut by the knife, and she allegedly told police Brown had forced himself on her and confined her at knifepoint, court records said.
Israel releases 26 Palestinian inmates ahead of meetings DENNIS NARTKER
Kevin Williams, 15, of Kendallville, saved his “buddy,” Damion Shepherd, 5, of Kendallville, from a fire in the boy’s mobile home in Kendallville Monday night. Williams wears a bandage on the hand he used to break two windows in the rescue effort.
DENNIS NARKTER
East Noble sophomore Kevin Williams of Kendallville demonstrates how he punched out a window on this mobile home to rescue a 5-year-old trapped in a bedroom fire.
Williams said he used his clenched right hand to punch and break the glass window to Damion’s bedroom on the north side of the mobile home. Shepherd told Williams her son was in her bedroom. He ran to the east end of the mobile home, broke a second window with his right fist and pulled the 70-pound Damion from the room that quickly was filling with smoke. “He was crying. I called to him, ‘Here, buddy,’ and pulled and lifted him out,” Williams said. Riehm said the teen saved the boy without regard to his own
safety. “This could have been bad. There were aerosol cans in the trash that went off, spreading shrapnel. The fire had started to move up a wall. He had the child out before we got there,” Riehm said. Williams saved her son’s life, said Shepherd. “The things that were burned can be replaced. My son cannot,” she said. The teen suffered a sprain and cuts to his hands and was taken by a private vehicle to SEE FIRE, PAGE A6
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel released 26 Palestinian inmates, including many convicted in grisly killings, on the eve of long-stalled Mideast peace talks, angering families of those slain by the prisoners, who were welcomed as heroes in the West Bank and Gaza. Buses carrying the inmates departed the Ayalon prison in central Israel late Tuesday, a nighttime release that was aimed at preventing the spectacle of prisoners flashing victory signs as has happened in the past. Relatives of the victims, many with their hands painted red to symbolize what they say is the blood on the hands of the inmates, held protests throughout the day, and some protesters tried briefly to block the buses from leaving. The decision to release the men stirred anguish in Israel, where many Israelis view them as terrorists. Most of the prisoners were convicted of killings, including Israeli civilians, soldiers and suspected Palestinian collaborators, while others were involved in attempted murder or kidnapping. Celebrations erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where thousands of Palestinian well-wishers awaited the buses’ arrival. Palestinians generally view the prisoners as heroes regardless of their acts, arguing they made personal sacrifices in the struggle for independence. Fireworks lit the sky in Gaza, where rival Hamas and Fatah supporters, including several masked gunmen, celebrated to the beat of drums. Some danced while others flashed victory signs and waved flags of the Palestinian factions. Cars with loudspeakers blasted nationalistic songs. “Today is a day of joy and happiness. I can’t wait until I hug my beloved son,” said Aicha Abu Setta, the 68-year-old mother of freed prisoner Alla Abu Setta. SEE TALKS, PAGE A6
Rome City council orders concert venue changes BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.com
ROME CITY — Blaising’s Tavern owners will have to make changes to their outdoor concert venue to appease nearby residents complaining about loud music. The Rome City Town Council Monday night issued a directive that limits the number of concert events, relocates the stage, requires a sound barrier inside the stage and a 6-foot privacy fence
on the three sides of the venue and calls for an 11 p.m. end to the nighttime concerts. The stipulations do not affect an Aug. 24 benefit concert. The directive followed about a 45-minute discussion by the council, with council members Rob Glass, Ben Castle and Dave Abbott making recommendations before coming to a consensus. They did not arrive at a decision before the meeting, according
Abbott, the council president. “This is a compromise,” he said. “The only alternative is no concerts.” Approximately 60 people attended the meeting. The council’s directive to Blaising’s owners Adam and Carol Williams followed a special, 40-minute hearing on July 29 where the council heard public comments supporting and opposing the concerts. Opponents
primarily objected to excessive noise levels disturbing nearby residents. Blaising’s is on Kelly Street (S.R. 9), and the concert venue is behind the building, surrounded by a temporary, orange-colored wood and wire fence sometimes referred to as a snow fence. The elevated stage currently sits at the northwest corner of the property. The council stipulated: SEE VENUE, PAGE A6