Serving the Steuben County 101 lakes area since 1857
Purdue experts warn parents against getting gifts aimed at certain genders
Weather A white Christmas might be washed away in next couple days. Page A7
Page A2 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2013
Angola, Indiana
75 cents
kpcnews.com
Angola boy gets to meet his special Santa GOOD MORNING Some Cameron departments closing for the holidays ANGOLA — The following departments of Cameron Memorial Community Hospital will be closed on Christmas Day and New Years Day: Administration, Cameron Counseling Center, Human Resources, Health Information Management (Medical Records), Outpatient Laboratory, Patient Accounting, Regional Cancer Care Center of Angola, Cameron Rehabilitation Center and Urgent Care. Urgent Care will be closing at 4 p.m. on both Tuesday, Dec. 24 and Tuesday, Dec. 31. Health Information Management (Medical Records) will be closing at noon on Tuesday, Dec. 24. For more information, call 667-5336.
BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — An Angola boy and his family got a special visit Saturday. Chase Witherby, 9, his 11-year-old brother Carson and their parents started receiving early Christmas gifts from Santa Claus after Chase wrote a letter to him in mid-September. They’ve posted pictures and thank-yous on Facebook, but until last weekend did not know who had encouraged Santa’s outreach. Saturday, the boys flew to the window of their home when they realized the man in red was at their driveway, escorted by Paul and Candy Oliver.
Chase Witherby, left, and his brother, Carson, met Santa Claus in their Angola home on Saturday. As an act of kindness, Santa has been sending gifts to Chase and his family for months.
Candy is the executive director of Steuben County Cancer Association, and got to know the family through local cancer patient Nancy Rust, Chase’s grandmother. When Chase’s mother, Holly Witherby, posted pictures of Chase sending a letter to Santa Claus, Paul decided to play Santa Claus himself. Chase is severely autistic and currently going through therapy and being home-schooled. He and Holly were shopping one day and Chase saw a Woody doll from the Disney “Toy Story” movies that he wanted. Holly told him to wait for Christmas, “but he really doesn’t PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
SEE SANTA, PAGE A7
Shots fired, man jailed
School unloads iPads quickly in sale GARRETT — GarrettKeyser-Butler Schools sold out a limited number of retired Apple iPads in 45 minutes when it offered them to the public at $65 apiece. The sale was scheduled to begin Wednesday morning and original plans called for it to continue today. School officials said a line of buyers began to form before 7 a.m. Wednesday. Tickets were handed to those in line, and by 7:45 a.m., the supply was depleted and potential buyers were turned away. The first-generation, 16 GB iPads and power supplies were sold as-is with no warranties. The devices were not capable of updating to the latest operating system and were not eligible for the school’s Bring Your Own Apple Device program due to application issues.
Nominations sought for 40 under 40 FORT WAYNE — Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly is accepting nominations for its 2014 Forty Under 40 Awards. READ MORE ON PAGE A2
ONLINE CALENDAR Find out what’s going on in the area this weekend kpcnews.com
Contact Us • The Herald Republican
Man allegedly shot out tires; drug items found BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — A rural Angola man was arrested on multiple criminal counts after allegedly shooting the tires of a woman’s new vehicle last Wednesday. Miller Poultry, Orland, makes its annual donation of of chicken and 300 pounds of sausage. Later Markus W. Degraw, 32, chicken and sausage to Project Help of Steuben Wednesday morning, employees from Verizon Angola, is charged with Class C County on Wednesday. Bill Booth, from left, of Wireless and the Cellular Connection in Angola felony possession of a handgun Miller, and Kevin Diehl, Miller’s director of plant donated $500 worth of food that will be distributed with altered identification marks, operations, work with volunteers Jason Mueller, to folks at Christmas. The Cellular Connection punishable by up to eight years Hillsdale, Mich., and Jason Welker, Angola, donation included boxes of stuffing, green beans in prison. He also faces Class D on unloading the holiday gift of 3,400 pounds and corn. felony possession of methamphetamine and Class A misdemeanor charges of criminal mischief, criminal recklessness with a vehicle, possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia. Angola Police responded to a call from the victim as she was driving on U.S. 20 toward Angola. She had gone to meet Degraw WASHINGTON (AP) — lawmakers in both parties and at to ensure our economy works for at his home and he produced a Congress sent President Barack opposite ends of the Capitol said every working American.” handgun, court documents said. Obama legislation Wednesday they hoped would curb budget The legislation passed the He allegedly shot out the passenscaling back across-the-board brinkmanship and prevent more Democratic-controlled Senate on ger-side tires of her vehicle. cuts on programs ranging from shutdowns in the near future. a vote of 64-36, six days after the Pentagon to the national park “It’s a good first step away clearing the Republican-run House She was able to drive it but system, adding a late dusting of from the shortsighted, crisis-driven by a similarly bipartisan margin of was followed by Degraw, who allegedly struck her vehicle with bipartisanship to a year more decision-making that has only 332-94. his several times as they traveled likely to be remembered for a served to act as a drag on our The product of intensive down the road. partial government shutdown and economy,” he said of the measure year-end talks, the measure met The victim met an Angola near-perpetual gridlock. in a statement issued after the the short-term political needs of police officer at a gas station and Obama’s signature was vote. And yet, he quickly added, Republicans, Democrats and the assured on the measure, which “there is much more work to do SEE BUDGET, PAGE A7 SEE SHOOTING, PAGE A7 MIKE MARTURELLO
Holiday donation from Miller Poultry
Budget bill passes in Senate
45 S. Public Square Angola, IN 46703 Phone: (260) 665-3117 Fax: (260) 665-2322 Classifieds: (toll free) (877) 791-7877 Circulation: (800) 717-4679
Index • Classified.............................................. B6-B8 Life.................................................................A6 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion .........................................................A5 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A7 TV/Comics ..................................................B5 Vol. 156 No. 348
Federal Reserve to cut bond purchases WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve has decided to reduce its stimulus for the U.S. economy because the job market has shown steady improvement. The shift could lead to higher long-term borrowing rates for individuals and businesses. The Fed’s decision amounts to a vote of confidence in the economy six years after the Great Recession struck. It signals the Fed’s belief that the U.S. economy is finally achieving consistent gains. The central bank said in a statement after its policy meeting ended Wednesday that it will trim its $85 billion a month in bond
purchases by $10 billion starting in January. At a news conference afterward, Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed expects to make “similar moderate” reductions in its purchases if economic improvements continue. At the same time, the Fed strengthened its commitment to record-low short-term rates. It said it plans to hold its key short-term rate near zero “well past” the time when unemployment falls below 6.5 percent. Unemployment is now 7 percent. The Fed intends its bond purchases to drive down borrowing SEE FED, PAGE A7
AP
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks during a news conference at the Federal Reserve in Washington, Wednesday. The Fed will begin to reduce bond purchases by $10 billion in January because of a stronger U.S. job market.