Sunday
Women in the Pulpit Page C1 Answering the call to ministry
Girls Golf Page B1 Barons close season sixth in NHC
September 15, 2013
The
Weather Today, mostly cloudy. 20 percent chance of rain. High 70. Low 50. Page B6
Serving DeKalb County since 1871
Auburn, Indiana
kpcnews.com
$1.25
Prosecutor won’t reopen child death case Group vows to continue to fight for justice
GOOD MORNING Crash in Ligonier kills Cromwell man LIGONIER — A Cromwell man died in a one-car crash Saturday at 5:14 p.m. in Ligonier. Oscar Rodriguez, 24, of the 500 block of Baker Street was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, the Noble County Sheriff’s Department said. A male passenger in the car, Karol Rodriguez, 21, of Ligonier, suffered injuries to his leg and upper body. He was airlifted to Parkview Regional Medical Center in Fort Wayne Police said the crash occurred at 825 Morton St., Ligonier, when Oscar Rodriguez was driving eastbound on Morton Street from Gold Street. His 2005 Lincoln LS went off the south side of the street, then came back onto roadway. It slid sideways into the westbound lane, then into a ditch on the north side of the street. The car came to a stop when it struck a tree, facing northeast. Alcohol was factor in the crash, police said in a news release. Assisting the Noble County Sheriff’s Department at the scene were Ligonier Police, Noble County EMS and the Ligonier Fire Department.
BY MATT GETTS mgetts@kpcmedia.com
LAGRANGE — LaGrange County Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Wible and self-appointed child advocate Bernadine Buccafuri of Pennsylvania both would like to see true justice done in the name of a LaGrange County 16-monthold who died in 2009. Thursday, Wible received a certified letter from Buccafuri on behalf of a group called BabyAlissaCries4Justice.org requesting that Ohio attorney Kevin Rumes be
named a special prosecutor in the case of Alissa Guernsey’s death. The letter sent to Wible reads, in part, “We believe … you failed in your prosecution of justice on behalf of Alissa Beth Guernsey and respectfully request that you relinquish any participation in this case.” The group has held at least two protests on the LaGrange County Courthouse grounds in the past year. Saying he shares the group’s frustration with how the case turned out, but that he did all he could with the case, Wible said he will not respond to the group’s request. “I guess I am going to have to keep on pushing,” Buccafuri said when told the news. “We are just not going to stop.”
On March 28, 2009, emergency responders were called to the Christy Shaffer residence on Pine Street in Topeka. Alissa Guernsey, who had been placed at the home by the Steuben County Division of Child Services, was taken to Parkview LaGrange hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Police reports indicated multiple bruises on the girl’s body. Dr. Scott Wagner, a forensic pathologist, ruled the cause of death as blunt-force trauma to the head and classified the death as a homicide. A LaGrange County grand jury indicted Shaffer in June 2009 on charges of neglect of a dependent causing serious bodily injury, a Class B felony; and neglect of a dependent causing bodily injury, a SEE CASE, PAGE A8
Syria deal sealed
Show Us Your Shoes
Bus overturns in Ohio, 35 injured CINCINNATI (AP) — A Greyhound bus drove off an interstate highway in southwest Ohio early Saturday, struck a tree and a fence and flipped on its side before sliding to a stop in a cornfield, injuring at least 35 people. None of the injuries was considered life-threatening, though several people were trapped and had to be extricated by firefighters and paramedics, the State Highway Patrol said in a statement.
PRO FOOTBALL Get the latest news from the NFL kpcnews.com Sports > Pro Football
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 •
Classified.............................................. D5-D7 Life................................................................ C1 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion .........................................................A6 Business ......................................................B6 Sports.................................................... B1-B5 Weather.......................................................B6 Vol. 101 No. 254
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED AREN STRAIGER
Miss Indiana on parade Miss Indiana Terrin Thomas of Auburn wears an Indiana University-inspired outfit in the traditional Show Us Your Shoes parade Saturday in Atlantic City, N.J. The parade features all Miss America
contestants wearing costumes that reflect their home states. The finals of the Miss America pageant will be broadcast live Sunday at 9 p.m. on ABC television.
GENEVA (AP) — A diplomatic breakthrough Saturday on securing and destroying Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile averted the threat of U.S. military action for the moment and could swing momentum toward ending a horrific civil war. Marathon negotiations between U.S. and Russian diplomats at a Geneva hotel produced a sweeping agreement that will require one of the most ambitious arms-control efforts in history. The deal involves making an inventory and seizing all components of Syria’s chemical weapons program and imposing penalties if President Bashar Assad’s government fails to comply will the terms. After days of intense day-andnight negotiations between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and SEE SYRIA, PAGE A8
Dog’s foster owner keeps friendship going BY PATRICK REDMOND predmond@kpcmedai.com
LAGRANGE — Sometimes, a good thing comes in a small, white furry package. For Harvey Neu, that good thing is his best friend, a Corgi terrier mix dog named Rex. Their story began in 2008 when Neu, a retired milk inspector, decided that he needed another dog in his life. He found Rex during a trip to the LaGrange County Animal Shelter. “I love dogs, and thought I should have a dog,” said Neu, now 93. Rex already was living large for a small dog. While he was a shelter dog, he’d managed to charm the shelter staff into allowing him to spend most of his days in the shelter’s front office, greeting every person who entered the building. Neu said he was quickly drawn to the dog because of Rex’s friendly nature. Rex went home with Neu, and the two quickly became inseparable. Often, the dog would accompany Neu on fishing trips. “He loved every minute of it,” Neu said of their adventures
SEE YOU AT THE FAIR MONDAY Wellness & Sports Medicine
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
These two photos were taken from the Facebook page BabyAlissaCries4Justice.org. Alissa Guernsey was 16 months old in 2009 when she died from blunt-force trauma to her head.
TUESDAY Women’s Health
together on the lake. “He’s my friend. … He’s my friend.” The pair spent five years together. But this summer, things changed. Neu started to have health problems. “They told me I got my medications mixed up, and I guess the medication got the best of me,” Neu explained. That mix-up caused Neu to suffer from dizziness, and one bout in particular caused him to fall hard and injure himself. Afterward, Neu and his children decided that for his own well being, the time had come for Neu to move into Miller’s Merry Manor assisted living unit. Unfortunately, Rex could not make the move with Neu. And despite an entire family’s best efforts, neither Neu nor his daughters could find the dog a new home. So Neu feared that Rex would have go back to the shelter, and he contacted Ark, the Howe-based animal rescue organization that last year took over the LaGrange shelter. “Moving was tough on me” SEE DOG, PAGE A8
PATRICK REDMOND
Foster owner Lisa Bowen-Slaven takes Rex, a Corgi terrier mix dog, to visit his longtime owner Harvey Neu at Miller’s Merry Manor in LaGrange.
DeKalb County Free Fall Fair – September 23-28 Visit the DeKalb Health booth in the Industrial Tent WEDNESDAY Senior Health
THURSDAY Respiratory & Sleep Services
FRIDAY & SATURDAY Kid’s Health & Health Insurance Marketplace