7TH GRADE LOCOMOTIVES WIN dual conference titles, MORE ON PAGE 6
The Garrett Clipper An edition of The
THURSDAY OCTOBER 31, 2013
VOL. 127 ISSUE #87 On the web at: kpcnews.com
75 cents Garrett, Indiana Established in 1885
Anti-bullying policy moves forward By Sue Carpenter scarpenter@kpcmedia.com GARRETT — The GarrettKeyser-Butler school board Monday introduced and passed on first reading an anti-bullying policy for the corporation. The policy describes bullying as aggressive behaviors that involve unwanted actions that are repeated over time and involve an imbalance of power. The definition includes: • overt, unwanted, repeated acts or gestures, including verbal or written communications or images transmitted in any manner
NEWS IN BRIEF Trick or Treat in Garrett tonight
including digitally or electronically; • physical acts committed, aggression or other behaviors committed by a student or group of students against another with the intent to harass, ridicule, humiliate, intimidate or harm the targeted student and create a hostile school environment, such as fear of harm to the targeted student or student’s property; • substantially interfering with a targeted student’s physical or mental health; and • interfering with a targeted student’s academic performance or
with a targeted student’s ability to to participate in or benefit from the services, activities and privileges provided by the school. The policy includes provisions for investigations of bullying, reporting bullying to a teacher or staff member, timetables for reporting to parents on the reported incidents involving their children, a process for discipline for teachers and staff for failure to comply with the rule and procedures for follow-up services for the victim and the bully. In other business, the board approved:
• the 2014 school budget; • a superintendent employment contract; • a Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act resolution; • Dennis Stockdale, Tonya Weaver, Matt Smith, Lucas Fielden and Kristi Surfus to attend the AASA National Conference on Education in Nashville, Tenn. from Feb. 13-15, 2014; • a Martin Riley Architects-Engineers proposal for roof consulting services for the J.E Ober Elementary School and the old section of the high school; • a 2013-2014 Title I and
Council to meet on airport budget AUBURN — The DeKalb County Council will meet in a special session Friday at 8 a.m. on the second floor of the courthouse in downtown Auburn. The council will review the DeKalb County Airport Authority’s proposed budget for 2014 and consider approval of the budget.
County Veteran’s Day Parade is Nov. 9
Healthcare clinic closed this week AUBURN — St. Martin’s Healthcare will be closed the week of Oct. 28 at its temporary location at DeKalb Health in Auburn. The clinic is preparing to reopen Monday, Nov. 4, at 9 a.m. and resume its regular hours at its renovated permanent home at 1359 S. Randolph St., Garrett. The clinic has operated from the Auburn site since a fire on March 29 gutted the Garrett office. A community open house at the free clinic’s renovated office is planned for a later date.
Draft Animal Museum groundbreaking set AUBURN — The DeKalb County Horsemen’s Association will hold a groundbreaking ceremony Sunday, Nov. 3, at 1 p.m. for a Draft Animal Museum at its farm at 5873 C.R. 427 south of Auburn The event is open to the public and will feature horsedrawn wagon rides on the farm, antique equipment displays and information about the new facility being built at the site. The association said the museum will reach out to the general public and advance its mission, building an educated understanding of the true value of the draft animal in the past and in today’s fast-paced society.
The Garrett Clipper P.O. Box 59 Garrett, IN 46738 Phone: 925-2611 ext. 45 Fax: 925-2625 attn: Garrett Clipper
Chad Kline
Garrett High School students participated in several activities during Character Counts Week Oct. 21-25. Throughout the week, students and teachers nominated students who they saw doing an act of kindness or exhibiting one of the Six Pillars of Character— trustworthiness, fairness, caring, respect, responsibility, citizenship. Names were drawn at the end of the week for prizes such as smart phone cases, markers and sticky notes. At the beginning of each day, students shared a quote to go with a Pillar of the Day with teachers showing a lesson to go with that pillar. On Friday, students were asked to wear a white shirt and tie to show character. This group photo was taken before a pep session for the fall teams Friday morning.
County council passes 2014 budget Hears airport objections AUBURN — The DeKalb County Council passed the county’s 2014 budget on third and final reading Monday. It includes an $8.27 million general fund and a $2 million highway fund. The council met Monday, rather than on the first Monday of the month as regularly scheduled, to meet the state’s deadline for passing a budget. It will not meet in November. The council also approved a $310,000 appropriation for the county assessor’s office into a new reassessment fund to cover the final six months of the year. The county’s old reassessment fund had just over $56,000 in it, but when the new reassessment fund started July 1, 2013, the county had to replenish the appropriations.
Residents reportedly mistook the advertised assessor’s appropriation for one for the DeKalb County Airport, and they called and wrote several council members throughout the week to voice displeasure, members reported. The council did discuss a proposed appropriation for the airport — $160,000 for capital projects including the runway extension project, power line relocation and wetland mitigation. After a lengthy discussion Monday, the council denied the appropriation. It asked the airport to submit an itemized description of each project. Residents packed the courthouse meeting room to discuss the airport’s planned power line relocation project, which has some residents upset because American Electric Power plans to
Anti-bullying, Page 6
EMS proposes combined station
SCHOOL CELEBRATES CHARACTER COUNTS WEEK
GARRETT — Trick-or-treat in Garrett will be Thursday, Oct. 31 in downtown from 4-5 p.m. and citywide from 5-7 p.m.
GARRETT — The DeKalb County Veteran’s Day Parade is planned in Garrett on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 1 p.m. The parade will begin at the Garrett American Legion Post 178, 515 W. Fifth Ave. and end at the Veterans of Foreign Wars at 118 N. Cowen St. Line up will be at noon at the Legion. The parade will travel east on Fifth Ave., then north on Cowen St. to the VFW Post where auxiliary members will host a luncheon.
2013-2014 NESP grant awards, for $22,118 and $3,362, respectively; • an FFA National Convention field trip in Louisville, Ky., from Wednesday through Saturday of this week; and • a proposal offering a criminal justice course at Garrett High School. Superintendent Dennis Stockdale said the school is checking with various agencies to provide services for the vocational course.
move and upgrade its transmission lines near the airport to sites directly on and above residential properties. The airport has an agreement with AEP to move the lines for $2.6 million as part of the airport’s planned runway extension project, because the lines would interfere with flight patterns. The electric utility has planned to move the lines whether the runway extension occurs or not, but the airport has agreed to pay to have them moved sooner to move its own project along. The cost would be reimbursed by the Federal Aviation Administration from user fees. The residents told the council taxpayers should not fund an upgrade to electrical service and said the council should be more strict with its appropriations.
By Aaron Organ aorgan@kpcmedia.com AUBURN — County officials are considering an early proposal to consolidate the Garrett and Auburn EMS hubs into a single site at a new building west of Interstate 69. EMS head Randy Fox approached the DeKalb County Council on Monday to pitch a plan to build a new EMS building between Auburn and Garrett, likely near S.R. 8. The 12,000-square-foot building would include six garage bays, room to sleep four people, a training room and offices. It would merge Auburn and Garrett EMS stations into one unit, a plan that has been discussed by county officials for nearly five years. There is now a sense of urgency, however. Within a year, DeKalb Health hospital has planned a major renovation of space around the current building that houses Auburn’s EMS station. Miller’s Merry Manor, which houses the Garrett EMS unit, has planned a future expansion that likely will include the area now occupied by EMS. The projects would leave the two EMS units effectively homeless. “For the last three or four years I’ve been saying it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen, and the urgency now exists that it’s going to happen,” Fox told the council. “Auburn for sure, Garrett’s very, very likely — so we need to be proactive with some kind of a plan for how to do this.” Fox said a building west of I-69 would provide a “central location” for ambulances to serve Auburn, Garrett and the surrounding areas. EMS, Page 6
Democrats meet for Jefferson-Jackson Dinner By Sue Carpenter scarpenter@kpcmedia.com GARRETT — Outnumbered and outfinanced, Democrat contender Glenda Ritz said she ran a grassroots campaign to defeat incumbent Dr. Tony Bennett in the 2012 election for state superintendent of public instruction. When funds ran out for printed signs, teachers fashioned homemade signs for her campaign, she said. “It wasn’t about fancy mailers or television ads,” Ritz told DeKalb County Democrats at Saturday’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner at Garrett Country Club. “It’s who shows up at the polls.” Ritz described how she has organized a large group of educators to ensure elected people keep education moving in the right direction. She aims to provide equity in education, with focused, student-centered programs. Ritz
also shared her outreach program for school improvement with 13 coordinators thoughout the state to know every school in Indiana. “Education, to me, is the cornerstone of being a Democrat. It’s our entire public education system,” she said. But as one of only a few Democrats in the state governnment, she has found moving her programs forward has been a challenge. “It would be nice to have some friends over there in the Statehouse,” Ritz said. “I knew what I was signing up for, and I will tell you, it’s a good fit for me.” She listed a number of education policy committees on which she has served, statewide and nationally. “You have to stay involved. Jefferson-Jackson, Page 6
Sue Carpenter
Democratic candidate for Congress Justin Kuhnle, Third District Democratic Chairwoman Carmen Darland and Indiana House District 52 candidate Charlie Odier gather at Saturday’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Garrett.