New Buffalo man returned to Indiana to face allegations on alleged bank robbery

Local Government Meetings

New Buffalo Times

Democracy Requires Transparency

CITY OF NEW BUFFALO JOHN HUMPHREY, MAYOR CITY COUNCIL MARK ROBERTSON, ROGER LIJESKI, JOHN HUMPHREY, BRIAN FLANAGAN, VANCE PRICE City Council meets on the 3rd Monday of each month at 6:30PM CITY OF NEW BUFFALO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETINGS to be determined NEW BUFFALO TOWNSHIP BOARD PETE RAHM, MICHELLE HEIT, JUDY H. ZABICKI, PATTY IAZZETTO, JACK ROGERS Board meets on the 3rd Monday of each month at 7PM NEW BUFFALO TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION Meets on the 1st Tuesday of each month at 6:30PM

NEW BUFFALO AREA SCHOOLS BOARD PAUL KELLER, LISA WERNER, HEATHER BLACK, DENISE CHURCHILL, BRADLEY BURNER, VANESSA THUN CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP BOARD DAVID BUNTE, PAULA DUDIAK, LIZ RETTIG, RICHARD SULLIVAN, BILL MARSKE Chikaming Board meets on the 2nd Thursday of each month at 6:30PM CHIKAMING TOWNSHIP PLANNING COMMISSION Meets on the 1st Wednesday of each month at 6:30PM THREE OAKS THREE OAKS TOWNSHIP BOARD Meets on the 2nd Monday of each month at 7PM VILLAGE OF THREE OAKS BOARD Meets on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7PM GRAND BEACH Meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7PM MARY ROBERTSON, CLERK DEBORAH LINDLEY, BLAKE O’HALLORAN, JAMES BRACEWELL, PETER DOERR, PAUL LEONARD, JR. MICHIANA VILLAGE OF MICHIANA COUNCIL Meets on the 2nd Friday of each month at 1PM

New Buffalo man returned to Indiana to face allegations on alleged bank robbery

BY STAN MADDUX

ANew Buffalo man previously held in Michigan has been returned to Indiana to face allegations that he held up a bank in Michigan City.

Ryan James, 43, was being held Tuesday, Jan. 3, in the LaPorte County Jail on $15,000 bond on a level 5 felony charge of robbery.

He appeared for his initial hearing Dec. 30 in LaPorte Circuit Court, where a jury trial was scheduled for Dec. 11.

A customary plea of not guilty was entered by the court on behalf of the defendant, who also was appointed a public defender after a judge ruled that he was unable to afford private legal counsel.

James allegedly robbed First Source Bank in the 3900 block of Franklin Street Dec. 15.

According to court documents, he was wearing a surgical type of mask when he slipped a note to a teller demanding money and claiming to have a gun.

James fled with about $4,000 in a dark colored sport utility vehicle, which was later spotted by a Pokagon Tribal Police officer parked outside Judy’s Motel on U.S. 12 just west of the New Buffalo city limits.

The motel was placed under surveillance while police and prosecutors gathered evidence to present to a judge for an arrest warrant.

During that period of time, James had a pizza delivered to his motel room and paid the tab with the stolen money based on the serial numbers on the bills matching the currency taken from the bank, according to court documents.

The arrest warrant was issued about three hours later and James was taken into custody without incident.

He was housed in the Berrien County Jail for about two weeks until the process required for transferring an offender to another jurisdiction to face charges was completed.

Police said James confessed to the robbery and stated he did not have a gun during the heist

LETTERS TO THE NEW BUFFALO TIMES:

TOWN SQUARE

THE VIEWS HERE DO NOT REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THE NEW BUFFALO TIMES. THE NEW BUFFALO TIMES ASKS THAT YOUR LETTER TO THE NEW BUFFALO TIMES, BE UNIQUE, KIND AND BASED ON REASONED FACTS. THE NEW BUFFALO TIMES RESERVES THE RIGHT TO NOT PUBLISH ANY CORRESPONDENCE FOR ANY REASON. PLEASE KEEP YOUR LETTERS TO 300 WORDS OR FEWER. PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR NAME, PHONE NUMBER AND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. PLEASE EMAIL YOUR LETTER TO INFO@NEWBUFFALOTIMES.COM. THANK YOU.

New Buffalo Times

LOCAL INTELLIGENCE — SINCE 1942 —

THANKS FOR THE BLESSINGS...

As we begin a new year, River Valley Blessings in a Backpack would like to thank those who helped close out 2022 with a special holiday pack.

Fifty-dollar grocery gift certificates for Harding’s Friendly Market in Three Oaks and a toy from Harbor Country Toys for Tots were included in each child’s December pack. The Pokagon Fund contributed funds for the cost of the food. Volunteers from Harbert Community Church, Harbor Country Rotary Club and Three Oaks United Methodist Church prepared the December food packs. Thank you all!

River Valley Blessings in a Backpack provides food on the weekends for school children who might otherwise go hungry. Our program is made possible through volunteers’ time and efforts, food and cash donations, and grant awards.

For more information about the program, please visit www. blessingsinabackpack.org or our Facebook page, or call 269-756-9812.

— VICKIE WAGNER

PROGRAM COORDINATOR

It’s not a faith in technology. It’s faith in people. — Steve Jobs

Community center efforts moving into next phases of development

Alocal nonprofit has been making great strides in addressing needs with regards to health and wellness for the local community by moving forward with plans for a community center and programming for the region of Southwest Michigan just above the Indiana state line.

Harbor Country Community Center Leader Katie Maroney said that members of a steering committee met twice last fall and have been reviewing survey data that was collected over the summer from the community as well as cultivating additional ones send out to different groups, such as municipal leaders, the New Buffalo, River Valley and Bridgman school districts (which included teachers, administrators and students) and area nonprofits.

Including the additional surveys that were rolled out, Maroney said they’re getting closer to 1,500 responses.

“We would like to thank the community for participating in all of the surveys that have gone out since the summer, as we are working with several municipal leaders, the area schools and regional nonprofits as well,” Maroney said.

She added that the nonprofit would also like to thank the Steering Committee, which is comprised of a group of over 30 people representing all communities and demographics in the Harbor Country region and beyond, as well as a “sincere and more heartfelt thank you to the team at Abonmarche and all of our community partners.”

Now, Harbor Country Community Center will be conducting site evaluation.

To date, Maroney said up to six sites, which include existing buildings and properties as well as build to suit options, have been evaluated. With the help of the engineering firm Abonmarche, they’ll narrow those choices down to one build to suit option and one property that already exists, such as one that needs renovations or additions built out in the future.

Maroney said they have been able to identify a possible “corridor,” which “would work for all of our community members that are wanting access to this facility.”

“As we’re understanding that we’re trying to serve very large portion of the population, we want to make sure the site is centrally located, it’s accessible, we want to make sure that we have in mind ADA compliance in things and that it’s a facility that’s safe for all ages to access,” she said.

Maroney added that they also hope to have live maps for people to navigate soon on their website, and that Abonmarche has been able “to layer all of the data in correspondence with the very large Berrien County Trail Map that was put together.”

“We understand that transportation is a huge issue pretty much anywhere but especially here in southwest Michigan and we want to make sure that this facility is accessible from multiple directions, we hope to partner with entities like the schools and DialA-Ride to get people to the facility,” she said.

The hope is to roll out some programs by the spring or summer and into this fall at either the potential location or through a hybrid approach, where existing facilities will be used in the interim to roll out some of the programs.

As the group homes in on the two sites – the build to suit one and the retro fitting one – Maroney said there’ll be a design charette process, during which community members can view the sites. A capital campaign fundraising effort will commence possibly in the spring and by the summer as the group applies for grants for all the amenities and programs.

Maroney said the YMCA of Greater Michiana has been a “great steward” of the program and hopes to get more involved in the spring and summer.

Maroney said the top of the wish list for the center is a pool. Access to healthcare, especially mental health services, also rose to the top. Meeting spaces for different community groups is also a priority.

Maroney said there was also mention of having a safe space for local youth to hang out or participate in sports programming. A connectivity to nature was also mentioned in the survey, which could involve a facility to access year-round to indoor and outdoor activities.

In the fall of 2018, The Pokagon Fund was selected for a Rural Economic Development Cohort by the Council of Michigan Foundations (CMF) and the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (CEDAM). They conducted the Harbor Country Community Needs Assessment, which identified affordable housing, broadband internet, a community center and jobs as four areas of need in the region.

“We don’t take that data lightly - we definitely want to home in on the fact that the work was already completed and we’re just building off it from a community center standpoint because it’s imperative for us to define what that means to people, what does a community mean to people and how can we fulfill that wish list in that sense,” Maroney said.

Updates on the community center can be found at www. harborcountrycommunitycenter.org, where you can subscribe the email newsletter, as newsletters will begin the coming weeks, or on its social media channels.

BY FRANCESCA SAGALA

LOCAL INTELLIGENCE New Buffalo Times — SINCE 1942 —