SATURDAY July 27, 2013
• Cruise On Up Page A2 Antique boat show today in Steuben County
Fall Is Coming Page B1 Area football teams aim higher in 2013
Weather Rainy today. High 75. Low 55. Partly sunny skies expected Sunday. High 73. Low 53. Page A7
GOOD MORNING Southern states gird for voter law fight AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Stricter voter identification laws, redrawn political maps fortifying Republican majorities, reducing early voting: States with GOP strongholds intensified these efforts under President Barack Obama and proclaimed victory at the Supreme Court. Now the Obama administration is signaling plans to drag some of these mostly Southern states with histories of minority discrimination into rematches after the high court knocked down a major piece of the Voting Rights Act. First up is Texas, which rushed to enact a tough voter ID law and new redistricting maps after the justices’ 5-4 ruling last month. North Carolina is considered to be another possible target of the administration, and officials in Alabama are also digging their heels in for another possible round with the Justice Department. Other states also are watching closely.
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Auto club to form local chapter AUBURN — A local chapter of the Antique Automobile Club of America will begin next week in Auburn. A meeting to form the chapter is scheduled for Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the National Auto & Truck Museum in Auburn. The new chapter will elect officers and make a formal application to the AACA board of directors. “DeKalb County is the ‘Hub of Transportation,’ and Auburn hosts several world famous museums, so it only makes sense to have a local chapter located here,” said Don Grogg, executive director of the National Auto & Truck Museum. The museum will be the site for future meetings of the new chapter. AACA is the nation’s oldest and largest automotive historical society, founded in Philadelphia in 1935. It has grown to more than 60,000 members from all parts of the world, Grogg said.
Competitive and noncompetitive meets and events of the AACA take place throughout the nation, including an event conducted in May at Auburn Auction Park. Vehicles must be at least 25 years old and their owners must be members to participate in events. Membership includes unlimited free admission to the AACA Museum in Hershey, Pa., which houses vehicles in a 71,000-square-foot space. AACA has approximately 400 regions and chapters in the United States and Canada. The closest chapter to Auburn is more than 65 miles away, Grogg said. Grogg said Tuesday’s meeting is open to people who are members of AACA or wish to join. Forms will be available. First-year dues are $18. Grogg said he expects the meeting to last approximately one hour.
Leno to join auction coverage AUBURN — Late-night television host and car enthusiast Jay Leno will provide color commentary during NBC Sports Network’s coverage of Auburn-based Auctions America’s first-ever California auction. The auction will take place Aug. 1-3 at the Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Hotel. Leno hosts “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on NBC and has an automobile-related website, JayLenosGarage.com. NBC Sports Network will offer live coverage of the California auction Aug. 2 from 7-9 p.m. and Aug. 3 from 1-5 p.m. Auctions America said the sale will include more than 400 collector cars.
Historic home halfway restored
Guilty plea Death penalty avoided in Ohio kidnapping case
BY KATHRYN BASSETT kbassett@kpcmedia.com
Coming Sunday Indiana Safari
Dutch Creek Animal Farm of Shipshewana is host to 40 different types of animals visitors can view by wagon or on foot. Read more about the park that opened in 2008 on Sunday C1 and C2.
Clip and Save Find $218 in coupon savings in Sunday’s newspaper.
LOU ANN ON FACEBOOK Read more from Lou Ann Homan-Saylor facebook.com/ LouAnnHomanSaylor
Info • The Star 118 W. Ninth St. Auburn, IN 46706 Auburn: (260) 925-2611 Fax: (260) 925-2625 Classifieds: (toll free) (877) 791-7877 Circulation: (toll free) (800) 717-4679
Index
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Classifieds.................................B7-B8 Life..................................................... A6 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion ............................................. A3 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A7 TV/Comics .......................................B6 Vol. 101 No. 205
AUBURN — In the front parlor of John Bry’s Cedar Street home, refinished wood floors gleam and antique furniture is set against walls decorated with elegant vintage wallpaper. In stark contrast, paint peels from the ceiling of an upstairs bathroom while plastic grocery bags are used to patch a hole in the bedroom roof. “The house has reached the 50-60 percent complete mark,” Bry said. “I’m very, very pleased. It doesn’t quite seem real yet.” Bry, who is the DeKalb County historian, acquired the historic home at 108 N. Cedar St. in 2010 and began renovations in 2011. The house was built in 1849, and its first owner was John Miller, an early settler from Wilmington Township. “Some people believe it’s the oldest (house in Auburn), but it’s not,” Bry said. “It’s one of the oldest.” Bry will host an open house Aug. 3 from noon to 5 p.m. “So many people are curious about the renovation process, I just thought, ‘Why not just open the house so people can see for themselves?’” Bry said. “Things on the interior have changed quite a bit since it was on the (Lions Club) Christmas tour last November. Everyone is welcome to check out the progress and learn about the history of the house.” Relating the home’s history, Bry said the Millers sold the house in the 1860s to Chester and Julia Hodge. In turn, they sold it to the Baldock family, who operated the Auburn House Hotel at the site where the Main Street YMCA now sits. Later the house was sold to
Leno will join NBC Sports Network broadcasters Bill Patrick and Steve Matchett in covering the California auction. “We are thrilled that Jay Leno will be joining us in Burbank for our debut Leno California sale,” Ian Kelleher of Auctions America said in the statement. “Jay is the perfect person to provide commentary at our first auction in Southern California ... and we are excited to hear his take on the superb roster of vehicles slated for our Burbank auction block.”
widow invited her two sisters to move in with her. The home remained in the family until 2010. John Hood, the grandson of one of Baxter’s widow’s sisters, was the last person to live in the house before Bry. Bry said he had admired the house since he was a child, and he jumped at the opportunity to own it. “I wanted to restore it,” Bry said. “I didn’t want to see the house destroyed.” The house was in a serious
CLEVELAND (AP) — A man accused of imprisoning three women in his home and subjecting them to rapes and beatings for a decade avoided the death penalty Friday, pleading guilty in a deal that will keep him in prison for life. “The captor is now the captive,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty said of 53-year-old Ariel Castro. The women’s escape from Castro’s home two months ago at first brought joy to the city where they had become household names after years of searches, publicity and vigils, then despair at revelations of their treatment. Their rescue brought shocking allegations that Castro fathered a child with one of the women, induced five miscarriages in another by starving and punching her, and assaulted one with a vacuum cord around her neck when she tried to escape. Castro told the judge he was addicted to pornography, had a “sexual problem” and had been a sexual abuse victim himself long ago. He pleaded guilty to 937 counts in the deal, which sends him to prison for life without parole, plus 1,000 years. Prosecutors agreed to take a possible death penalty charge off the table. Castro, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and a bushy beard, was far more engaged than in previous court appearances when he mostly kept his head down and eyes closed. He answered the judge’s questions in a clear voice, saying he understood that he would never be released from prison and adding that he expected he
SEE HISTORIC, PAGE A7
SEE PLEA, PAGE A7
KATHRYN BASSETT
Painting the exterior of this historic home at 108 N. Cedar St., Auburn, was a top priority for DeKalb County historian John Bry when he acquired the property in 2010. Now renovations at the home are at the halfway point. Bry will host an open house Aug. 3 to show what has been done and what lies ahead in the project.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
The exterior of this historic home at 108 N. Cedar Street needed paint when DeKalb County Historian John Bry acquired the property in 2010.
John Baxter, an attorney and clerk of courts. Baxter was a prohibitionist who was known for standing in front of saloons and discouraging people from entering. The Baxters renovated a barn next to the house, and that became their residence. They kept ownership of the house and used it as a law office, Bry said. In 1916, attorney John Baxter sold the house to a doctor, also named John Baxter. The two were not related, Bry noted. Dr. Baxter died in the house in 1928. After his death, his
Animal shelter needs emergency roof repair BY AARON ORGAN aorgan@kpcmedia.com
BUTLER — A ceiling above the dog kennel at the DeKalb County Animal Shelter has burst open, forcing the agency to scramble for help to repair the damage. Shelter manager Anna Feller said a slow leak in the roof of the building at 5221 U.S. 6, west of Butler, saturated the ceiling above a kennel that houses more than 30 dogs, and it burst this week. Feller said a section of the
ceiling is in danger of falling in on the kennel. A contractor visited the shelter Thursday at no cost and cut away the compromised ceiling, Feller said. The contractor applied plastic around the hole as a stop-gap measure before he can make complete repairs, she said. A roofer is scheduled to come to the building to address the leak, Feller said. “It could be bad,” Feller said. “The contractor said that the next
big rain, the ceiling might have very well come down on our dogs. The dogs are safe and the staff is safe for right now, but we’ve just got to get it fixed.” Feller said the ceiling had only a slight crack before it opened this week. She said the building has had shingles fall from the roof repeatedly. Feller said the shelter does not have the money to pay for major building repairs. It will lean on donations and volunteer help to mend the issue, she said.
“If you don’t have it, you can’t spend it,” Feller said. “We do what we can. There’s no extra money at the shelter. We run on a lot of donations and contributions. It’s hard to say what’s in the budget. We have to fix what we have to fix, but it’s just hard. It’s hard to come up with the money.” To donate to the shelter, visit the shelter’s website at dekalbhumanesociety.org or send checks to DeKalb Humane Society, 5221 U.S. 6, Butler, IN 46721.