The Herald Republican – December 2, 2013

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Serving the Steuben County 101 lakes area since 1857

Colts, Pacers post wins Indianapolis teams keep pace in NBA, NFL Page B1

Weather Cloudy skies with a 20 percent chance of precipitation. High of 38. Low of 29. Page A6 MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2013

Angola, Indiana

kpcnews.com

Is the worst over? Officials say

GOOD MORNING Indiana Christmas tree buyers urged to go green MUNCIE (AP) — Environmental officials and activists want Indiana residents to go green this Christmas. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is urging Hoosiers to help the environment and the economy by buying Indianagrown Christmas trees this year instead of artificial ones. Indiana tree farms grow a wide variety of trees, though some — such as the popular Fraser fir — don’t grow well in the state. Most of those trees are brought in from places like Michigan or North Carolina, where soil conditions and temperatures are more conducive to their growth. That shouldn’t prevent people from checking out real trees instead of artificial ones, IDEM spokesman Dan Goldblatt said. “Unlike artificial trees, which are usually made of petroleum-based products and smell the same way a plastic shoe horn smells, a real Christmas tree can fill your home with fresh air and can be recycled,” Goldblatt told The Star Press. “Even after you cut the tree down and put it in your house, it continues to absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen as long as it has a fresh water supply to keep it alive.” The Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups share his view, saying artificial trees typically made of metal and polyvinyl chloride aren’t biodegradable and often wind up in landfills after six to nine years. Real trees can be recycled into mulch or used as habitats for wildlife during the winter. “A lot of people, when they’re done with their tree, they put them outdoors on their property,” said Bob Beavers of Branch Ranch, a Christmas tree farm in Yorktown. “They’re a great home for birds to have a warm place to live in the winter.” Reprints of all KPC photos can be purchased online at kpcnews.com under Marketplace: Photo Reprints.

LOOK FOR VIDEO See the latest KPC Media Group videos kpcnews.com Multimedia > Video

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Index • Classified.....................................................B7 Life.................................................................A5 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion ........................................................B4 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A6 TV/Comics ..................................................B6 Vol. 156 No. 331

75 cents

website now working better TYLER MOORE

Joe Peters of Angola conducts a community choir during a rehearsal of Handel’s “Messiah” at the Furth Annex in Angola on Nov. 17. The choir, made up of approximately 60 people from six Steuben County church choirs, and singers

throughout the tri-state area, along with a 15-piece orchestra from the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, will perform “Messiah” at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church at 7 p.m. Sunday. The concert is free.

Classical connection For Joe Peters, ‘Messiah’ is something personal BY MIKE MARTURELLO mmarturello@kpcmedia.com

ANGOLA — For three years, Joe Peters has immersed himself in the study and production of Handel’s “Messiah.” Peters, 27, of Angola, will conduct the third holiday production of “Messiah” at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, Angola, starting at 7 p.m. Sunday. The production will feature a choir of about 60 members, accompanied by a 15-piece orchestra from the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra. Leading the charge will be Peters, who holds a master’s degree from the Jacob School of Music at Indiana University. “The first year when we got together, we had our directors’ meeting and it was already into October, and we decided that well, it was probably a little too late to start it, so why don’t we just have a meeting of all the people that are interested and see how it goes?” Peter said.

NEIGHBORS STEUBEN

COUNTY

The meeting morphed into a rehearsal, and a production was born. “The first year we did it, I arranged the accompaniment for it myself for two trumpets, two trombones, organ and timpani,” Peters said. He called on some IU friends to play. “After that, we decided the best way to fill out the sound,” Peters said, “I thought we needed to get an orchestra.” He didn’t envision having enough time to put together a local orchestra and have rehearsals for those musicians, too, so the Philharmonic was brought in, with the cost covered by sponsors. “They are fantastic. Of course, they show up. They know the piece,” Peters said.

Video at kpcnews.com Joe Peters talks more about the upcoming performance of “Messiah” in video at kpcnews.com that includes clips from a recent rehearsal. Scan the QR code to watch it on your tablet or smartphone.

It starts in early October with rehearsals, ending with the dress rehearsal — the only time the chorus rehearses with the Philharmonic. For about 1 hour, 40 minutes, this classical English-language oratorio that tells the story of the birth, life and resurrection of Jesus will be presented to a standingroom-only crowd, if past performances are any guide. For Peters, it is the culmination of 11 months of study and preparaSEE MESSIAH, PAGE A6

Man injured in pickup rollover NEVADA MILLS — A Michigan man was injured when his pickup rolled over Sunday afternoon, the Steuben County Sheriff’s Department said. Alcohol is suspected to be involved of the crash, deputies said Emergency personnel responded at about 4:30 p.m. to the 5000 block of North C.R. 450W on a report of a personal

injury accident. Arriving units located a 2005 Ford F-250 pickup in the yard at that location. The truck had gone off the road and struck a large rock, causing it to overturn. The pickup then struck a Steuben REMC utility pole. The driver, Jeffrey Haupt, 34, of Coldwater, Mich., had visible face and head injuries.

He was transported to Cameron Hospital, Angola, for treatment of his injuries. He was wearing his seatbelt. The crash is still under investigation. Assisting at the scene were Steuben County EMS, Indiana Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officers and Orland Fire-Rescue.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The worst of the online glitches, crashes and delays may be over for the problem-plagued government health care website, the Department of Health and Human Services said Sunday. But that doesn’t mean HealthCare.gov is ready for a clean bill of health. Officials acknowledged more work remains on the website that included hundreds of software bugs, inadequate equipment and inefficient management for its national debut two months ago. Federal workers and private contractors have undertaken an intense reworking of the system, but the White House’s chief troubleshooter cautioned some users could still encounter trouble. “The bottom line — HealthCare.gov on December 1st is night and day from where it was on October 1st,” Jeff Zients told reporters. More than 50,000 people can log on to the website at one time and more than 800,000 people will be able to shop for insurance coverage each day, the government estimated in a report released Sunday. If true, it’s a dramatic improvement from the system’s first weeks, when frustrated buyers watched their computer screen freeze, the website crash and error messages multiply. The figures — which could not be independently verified — suggest millions of Americans could turn to their laptops to shop for and buy insurance policies by the Dec. 23 deadline. “There’s not really any way to verify from the outside that the vast majority of people who want to enroll can now do so, but we’ll find out at least anecdotally over the coming days if the system can handle the traffic and provide a smooth experience for people trying to sign up,” said Larry Levitt, a senior adviser at the Kaiser Family Foundation. But, he added, HealthCare.gov is clearly working better than when it first went online. Its challenge now is to convince users who were frustrated during their first visit to SEE WORST, PAGE A6

Train derailment kills 4, hurts more than 60 NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City commuter train rounding a riverside curve derailed Sunday, killing four people and injuring more than 60 in a crash that threw passengers from the toppling cars and left a snaking chain of twisted wreckage just inches from the water. Some of the roughly 150 passengers on the early morning Metro-North train from Poughkeepsie to Manhattan were jolted from sleep around 7:20 a.m. to screams and the frightening sensation of their compartment rolling over on a bend in the Bronx where the Hudson and Harlem rivers meet. When the motion stopped, four or five of the seven cars had lurched off the rails. It was the latest accident in a troubled year for the nation’s second-biggest commuter railroad, which had never experienced a passenger death in an accident in its 31-year-history. “Four people lost their lives today in the holiday season, right after Thanksgiving,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference. Eleven of the injured were believed to be critically injured and another six seriously hurt,

AP

Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board inspect a derailed Metro North commuter train where it almost fell into the Harlem River Sunday in the Bronx borough of New York. The

according to the Fire Department. The train operator was among the injured, Cuomo said.

Metro-North train derailed on a curved section of track early Sunday, coming to rest just inches from the water.

The governor said the track did not appear to be faulty, leaving speed as a possible culprit for

the crash. But he noted that the National Transportation Safety SEE DERAILMENT, PAGE A6


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