TUESDAY September 10, 2013
EN rules courts
LaGrange Focus
Great Day
Knights roll to win over Lakers
County council starts budget work
Brad Miller golf outing a success
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Weather Hot and humid, high in the low 90s. Tonight’s low 70. Hot Wednesday. Page A6 Serving Noble & LaGrange Counties
Kendallville, Indiana
GOOD MORNING Man tries to escape after sentencing LAGRANGE — A Rome City man tried to run away Monday afternoon in LaGrange, after his sentencing hearing in a LaGrange County courtroom, but he quickly Combs found himself back in police custody, police said. Devin C. Combs took off on foot after he was sentenced to 55 days in jail for a probation violation. After a short search of the courthouse area, officers found Combs and took him to the LaGrange County Jail, where he was booked on one count of alleged escape. LaGrange Marshal Rich Snider and Deputy Juan Arroyo of the LaGrange County Sheriff`s Department assisted in the search for Combs and his capture. The case has been forwarded to the LaGrange County Prosecutor’s Office for review.
East Noble band second at Bluffton KENDALLVILLE — The East Noble Marching Knights placed second out of seven Class B bands at the Bluffton Invitational Saturday at Bluffton High School. East Noble scored 62.60, the highest first-week competition score for the band ever, according to Bryan Munoz, East Noble director of bands. The Marching Knights had a 56.4 score in their first competition in 2012. “It was outstanding,” said Munoz. “The band is working hard, and it was nice to receive recognition for it.” The band will compete in the DeKalb Invitational Class B competition Saturday. East Noble is scheduled to perform at 9:14 p.m.
LOOK FOR VIDEO of Friday’s high school football thriller between East Noble and Homestead at kpcnews.com
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.................................B6-B7 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B5 Vol. 104 No. 249
kpcnews.com
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Raises reduced for Ligonier officials BY BOB BUTTGEN bbuttgen@kpcmedia.com
LIGONIER — A proposal to raise the annual salary for both the mayor and clerk-treasurer of Ligonier by 39 percent was scaled back by the City Council during Monday’s meeting. At the council’s last meeting in August, Councilman Chris Fought made a motion to raise the salary for the two elected positions from the current levels of about $43,000 a year to $60,000 a year. But when the official ordinance was introduced at Monday’s
meeting, Fought said he had received feedback from the public that caused him to rethink his proposal. Fought said some people thought the 39-percent raise was “too much and too fast.” He changed his motion to increase the salaries to $52,000 a year for both Mayor Patty Fisel and clerk-treasurer Barb Hawn. That’s about a 20-percent raise that would start on Jan. 1, 2014. The new resolution was approved on a 4-0 vote on first reading only. It will have to be passed twice more by the council at its Sept. 23
meeting. Fought said he wanted to raise the salary levels in order to attract a larger pool of qualified candidates in future elections. He cited research that showed the pay levels are still in line with other cities in northeast Indiana, especially when compared on a per capita basis. In other business, the council: • approved a $6.2 million bond issue for improvements to the wastewater treatment plant — part of an ongoing project. • approved a spending plan
using bonds in the amount of $570,000 to pay for street paving projects in the city. • heard an update from Ligonier parks and recreation director Alan Duncan on a possible boat-launch ramp the state Department of Natural Resources wants to build in Ligonier. The launch would be on Pigeon Street near the downtown area. Duncan said he discovered the city may have to pay for a survey of the launch property. He said a high estimate for the survey would SEE RAISES, PAGE A6
Syria listens
Surrendering control of chemical weapons could avert U.S. action
PATRICK REDMOND
Tragic accident Amos C. Yoder, 64, of LaGrange County died when his minivan collided with this semi Monday at 11:55 a.m., the LaGrange County Sheriff’s Department said. He was pronounced dead at the scene from massive internal injuries. The crash occurred on S.R. 5, at C.R. 635S. Police said Yoder was driving northbound on S.R. 5 when
his 2003 Chevrolet van crossed the center line for an unknown reason and hit the semi head-on. Semi driver Joseph Raeder, 22, of Bristol, was not injured. The Topeka fire department and LaGrange Parkview EMS assisted at the scene. The crash closed S.R. 5 for 3 1/2 hours.
Bridge work to close road BY BOB BRALEY bbraley@kpcmedia.com
ALBION — Bridge resurfacing will close a section of one county road for about two months starting Monday, Sept. 16, the Noble County commissioners heard Monday, Sept. 9. Resurfacing Bridge 12 on C.R. 400S over a county ditch will cause the road to close between C.R.s 950E and 1000E starting Sept. 16, said Noble County highway engineer Mark Goodrich. The work will keep that section of the road closed until about Nov. 17. The commissioners approved a contract with Primco July 8 to resurface the bridge for $231,340. Also Monday, commissioners:
• learned that preliminary work for a project for Bridge 70 over the Elkhart River is proceeding. Bridge 70 is on C.R. 600W between U.S. 6 and C.R. 775N. Toby Steffen of civil engineering consultants Butler Fairman & Seufert told commissioners the surface of the bridge is fine, but its wooden substructure is not. “The decay of the wood piling is increasingly going inward,” Steffen said. It needs to be replaced. Steffen said the hope is to have the project ready to let for bids by April. • learned the county has been approved to use $24,000 for sidewalk improvements around the
Noble County Courthouse. Work to tuck-point bricks on the courthouse damaged parts of the sidewalk on the courthouse’s inner circle. The tuck-pointing contractor has agreed to pay $5,000 for the repairs, but it makes sense to do additional work that is needed due to long-term wear and tear on the sidewalk, officials said. The work will include replacing the entire inner circle of the walk and some pads near the north and south entrances, plus replacing a brick walkway to the gazebo with a concrete path. The work required an additional appropriation of $23,721. State approval was needed for the county to be able to use the unappropriated funds.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rapid and remarkable chain of events, Syria welcomed the idea of turning over all of its chemical weapons for destruction on Monday, and President Barack Obama, though expressing deep skepticism, declared it a “potentially a significant breakthrough” that could head off the threats of U.S. air strikes that have set the world on edge. The administration pressed ahead in its efforts to persuade Congress to authorize a military strike, and Obama said the day’s developments were doubtless due in part to the “credible possibility” of that action. He stuck to his plan to address the nation Tuesday night, while the Senate Democratic leader postponed a vote on authorization. The sudden developments broke into the open when Russia’s foreign minister, seizing on what appeared at the time to be an off-the-cuff remark by Secretary of State John Kerry, appeared in Moscow alongside his Syrian counterpart and proposed the chemical weapons turnover and destruction. The Syrian quickly embraced the idea, and before long U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon did, too. Obama, who appeared Monday evening in interviews on six TV networks, said the idea actually had been broached in his 20-minute meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week on the sidelines of an economic summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. SEE SYRIA, PAGE A6
Co-workers collect $19 million in Lotto INDIANAPOLIS — Linda Spindler and Ken Townsley of rural Huntertown in southern Noble County claimed a $19 million Hoosier Lotto prize at Hoosier Lottery Headquarters in Indianapolis Monday. The lucky co-workers matched six of six numbers in Saturday’s Hoosier Lotto drawing. The winners were accompanied by their spouses, Dave Spindler and Pam Townsley. The co-workers defied odds of 1 in more than 12 million to win the jackpot, and they did it on a free ticket, Hoosier Lottery officials said. The two co-workers have played Hoosier Lotto together regularly for about eight years. They said they usually play $20
worth of tickets containing numbers of their own choosing and use their weekly winnings to buy a few additional quick picks. One of their tickets in Wednesday’s drawing matched two of the six numbers, which carries a prize of a free ticket. It was that free quick pick that matched all six numbers in Saturday’s drawing and turned out to be worth $19 million. The pair’s winning numbers were: 4-33-34-35-36-48. Townsley and Spindler are co-workers at CMA Supply Co. in Fort Wayne, where she is the office manager and he is the operations manager. The $19 million ticket was purchased at Belmont Beverage, 1103 W. State Blvd., Fort Wayne. SEE LOTTO, PAGE A6
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Co-workers Ken Townsley and Linda Spindler of southern Noble County hold a ceremonial check Monday, representing their winnings in a Hoosier Lottery drawing Saturday night.
Celebrating 150 Years.
Sensible Banking for Sensible Lives
Community & Customer Appreciation Day
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Sept. 13
Main Office Orchard and Williams Streets Kendallville, IN
Free Porkburgers and Hotdogs 10:30 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
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