TUESDAY September 3, 2013
Collector Cars Page A2 Auction success proves ‘Auburn is back’
Cross Country Page B2 DeKalb girls place sixth at invitational
Weather Sunny today with a high of 78. Low tonight 52. Sunny Wednesday with a high of 82. Page A8
The
Serving DeKalb County since 1871
Auburn, Indiana
GOOD MORNING Molten aluminum ignites factory fire AUBURN — Molten aluminum caused a fire late Saturday night at Shiloh Industries (formerly Contech), at 1200 Power Drive on the city’s west side, Auburn Fire Chief Mike VanZile said. Firefighters rushed to the factory at 10:28 p.m. to find that a large melting furnace was leaking molten aluminum, which ignited a nearby storage rack and other materials. Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire and declared the situation under control at 10:54 p.m. The factory makes cast aluminum parts for automobiles.
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Car fest sparkplug Randinelli dies BY DAVE KURTZ dkurtz@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN — Jack Randinelli, a founding father of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival, died unexpectedly Sunday morning on the festival’s final day. Friends said Randinelli suffered a heart attack at his home in Auburn at age 74. Thursday at the festival’s opening event, Randinelli had received an award for his 50th year of serving as a volunteer for the classic-car celebration. Saturday afternoon, he drove his 1932 Auburn automobile in the festival’s Parade of Classics, carrying the parade’s grand
marshal, Wayne Carini, host of the “Chasing Classic Cars” television series. In public life, Randinelli had served as a member of Auburn’s Board of Public Works and Safety since 2000. “Auburn is a better place to live because of Jack Randinelli,” said Mayor Norm Yoder, who chose Randinelli for the board. Like many of Randinelli’s friends, Yoder learned of his death during the awards luncheon for the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club, Sunday morning in the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum. ACD Club member Dick
Greene of New Jersey said he had breakfast at Randinelli’s home Sunday, then left for the museum only minutes before his friend died. “I don’t think the impact of losing him will be realized,” immediately, Greene said, until a full year of ACD events goes by without Randinelli Randinelli’s presence. “Jack, in my opinion, was a master facilitator. He made things happen and got people together,” Greene said. He had known
Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival
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Index
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Classifieds.................................B6-B8 Life..................................................... A6 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A8 TV/Comics .......................................B5 Vol. 101 No. 242
Randinelli for 50 years. Another of Randinelli’s good friends, Vincent Pietracatella of Auburn, received the ACD Club’s Man of the Year blue blazer only minutes after hearing the news of Randinelli’s death. “After winning this, I would have gone right to see my friend, Jack,” Pietracatella told the audience at the luncheon. Randinelli also owned a blue blazer as a previous man of the year. SEE RANDINELLI, PAGE A8
Assad warns of war
State to dredge Little Turkey Lake STROH — The Indiana Department of Natural Resources will dredge Little Turkey Lake beginning next month, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division announced Saturday. Beginning sometime during the second week in September and continuing through the end of October, the public access boat launch site on the lake will be closed. Access to the lake will be inaccessible from the boat ramp due to the location of equipment on the lake. Anyone using Little Turkey Lake should watch for navigational hazards during the dredging operation. Danger buoys will mark piping and other equipment. There could be underwater dangers as a result of submerged piping. Work will continue throughout the duration of the project, including weekends. When completed, normal access to the lake from the boat launch will resume. Indiana’s Lake and River Enhancement program is funding the project.
AN OBITUARY for Mr. Randinelli appears in today’s edition. PAGE A4.
Says Middle East is a ‘powder keg’
DAVE KURTZ
Bill and Barbara Parfet of Hickory Corners, Mich., stand with their 1933 Auburn V-12 Salon Speedster, which won the Best of Show award
Sunday in judging by the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club.
Quintet car stands alone as best BY DAVE KURTZ dkurtz@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN — Saturday afternoon, Bill Parfet of Michigan put on an impressive display with his five identically painted Auburn automobiles in the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival’s Parade of Classics. Sunday, one of those cars claimed the Best of Show trophy in the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club’s judging of cars entered in the parade. After driving in a five-car formation through downtown Auburn during the parade, Parfet’s 1933 Auburn V-12 Salon Speedster stood out from the pack in the club’s meticulous judging. Lavine Restorations of Nappanee had finished a fresh restoration of the car only three days earlier. Parfet said he has been collecting cars for 50 years. In his third purchase, he bought the first of his five 1933 Auburns, a Phaeton. “We always had our eye out for a boattail,” Parfet said. Fifteen years ago, he said, “We found an absolutely original one in a museum in Texas and bought it. We did a quick restoration and drove it and drove it and drove it.” Parfet then set out to acquire all five body styles of the massive V-12 Auburn Salon models. Next, in order, he bought a Cabriolet, sedan and Brougham. He liked the silver and purplish-blue paint scheme of his first Auburn, so he painted the others to match. “This is the flagship of the fleet,” he said about the Speedster. “To win Best of Show really means a lot to us.” Parfet can place the trophy
DAVE KURTZ
Vincent Pietracatella of Auburn, right, receives his blue blazer as the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club Man of the Year from Tom Lee, the club’s president, Sunday.
Blue blazer bittersweet BY DAVE KURTZ dkurtz@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN — On what should have been his happiest moment, Vincent Pietracatella wiped away tears of sadness. Sunday at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Club’s awards luncheon, Pietracatella received the club’s Man of the Year award and the blue blazer that comes with it. But less than an hour earlier, Pietracatella learned that his good friend, Jack Randinelli of Auburn, had died from a sudden
heart attack at his home Sunday morning. The news came midway through the awards luncheon. Randinelli also owned one of the club’s blue blazers as the 2004 Man of the Year. “After winning this, I would have gone right to see my friend, Jack,” Pietracatella told the luncheon guests at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum. Pietracatella and his wife, Barbara, have been involved in SEE BLAZER, PAGE A8
PARIS (AP) — Syria’s president warned Monday that the Middle East is a “powder keg” and potential Western military strikes against his country risk triggering a regional war. In an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro, Bashar Assad also was quoted as saying that Syria has challenged the U.S. and France to provide proof to support their allegations that Damascus has used chemical weapons, but that the leaders of both countries “have been incapable of doing that, including before their own peoples.” STUTZMAN President IS SKEPTICAL Barack Obama about action and his French against Syria. counterpart, SEE PAGE A8. Francois Hollande, have accused Assad’s regime of carrying out a deadly chemical attack against rebel-held suburbs of Damascus on Aug. 21. The Syrian government denies the allegations, and blames opposition fighters. Obama initially seemed poised to launch military action, but abruptly announced on Saturday he would first ask Congress for authorization. Hollande also has called for a forceful response against Assad, but is awaiting a decision from Washington first. If the U.S. and France decide to strike, Assad said “everyone will lose control of the situation.” “Chaos and extremism will spread. The risk of a regional war exists,” he added. Asked whether France, which has been a staunch supporter of the opposition, has become an enemy of Syria, Assad said that whoever contributes “financially and militarily to terrorists is an enemy of the Syrian people.” “The French people are not our enemy, but the policy of their government is hostile to the Syrian people. Insofar as French government policy is hostile to the Syrian people, this state will be its enemy,” he said. As the U.S. has been presenting its case to a wary public, the French government on Monday published a nine-page intelligence synopsis that concluded that the Syrian regime launched an attack on Aug. 21 that involved a SEE ASSAD, PAGE A8
SEE QUINTET, PAGE A8
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