Serving the Steuben County 101 lakes area since 1857
Mayor Hickman lauds efforts of city employees, residents during winter storm
Weather Chance of freezing rain today. High 37. Low tonight around 35. Page A8
Page A2 FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 2014
Angola, Indiana
GOOD MORNING City gives update on snow removal ANGOLA — The city remains busy cleaning up from all the snow. Angola Mayor Dick Hickman said on the city’s website the wastewater department is working on getting snow off drains so that when the snow melts or if rain comes in this weekend, as is predicted, the water runoff will have somewhere to go. The water department is out uncovering fire hydrants. Today, the street department will continue removing the snow piles on the four Public Square quadrants. Next week they will be working on city parking lots.
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Tax impact under scrutiny Business tax cut would hurt Fremont; county takes up food tax issue BY JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcmedia.com
FREMONT — Like other municipalities around the state, Fremont is waiting to see how the current legislative session plays out in terms of the business personal property tax and locally, a proposed food and beverage tax. Fremont Town Manager Chris Snyder said Thursday if the
business personal property tax is discontinued, as is proposed by Gov. Mike Pence, it would mean Fremont would lose almost half of its budget — 40 percent, or about $400,000. “It would affect next year’s budget,” he said, and cuts to town services would be needed. He said that kind of revenue loss would have to be re-captured somehow.
“You can’t budget for losing 40 percent. We’ll have to adjust and monitor. Stay tuned.” Snyder said the town wants to hire one additional police officer and firefighter. That kind of loss in revenue could mean the town would need to turn around and lay off those newly hired employees, he said. That property tax is on business
ONLINE POLL: How did road and emergency crews do during the snow storm?
PHOTOS BY FRED WOOLEY
Pokagon snow measures up Snowfall totals varied across Steuben County from the weekend and early week storm. At Pokagon State Park, the Nature Center staff measured 13 inches of snowfall, most of which fell on Sunday. Above, Nature Center employee Lauren Hensell employs a snow blower and a shovel to clear away snow on Wednesday. Last winter Pokagon hosted a contest to guess when the large snow pile near the Nature Center would melt. There’s talk of bringing back that contest this year, but with this weekend’s forecast for rain, the snow pile of accumulated snow from plowing might not last long. While Pokagon measured 13 inches of snow from the weekend storm, Angola has received 22.3 inches officially since the start of 2014, with most of that coming on Sunday. So far, Angola has received 35 inches of snow this winter season, dating to December. The 30-year snowfall average for Angola for a winter season is 37.5 inches.
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Index • Classified.............................................. B6-B8 Life.................................................................A5 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion ........................................................B4 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A8 TV/Comics ..................................................B5 Vol. 157 No. 9
SEE TAXES, PAGE A8
Storm’s impact estimated at about $5 billion
ANGOLA — Steuben County has rescheduled three public meetings due to inclement weather for this Monday. The Steuben County Commissioners will meet at 8:30 a.m., the Steuben County Board of Finance’s meeting is at 1:30 p.m. and at 2 p.m., the Steuben County Drainage Board will meet. All three meetings are held in the commissioners’ room at the Steuben Community Center, 317 S. Wayne St.
ANGOLA — Students in the Metropolitan School District of Steuben County will be off next Friday, Jan. 17, for a staff work day. All administrators and teachers will be working at their respective schools on end of semester activities. Child care services will not be provided. MSD schools include Carlin Park, Hendry Park, Pleasant Lake and Ryan Park elementary schools; Angola Middle School; and Angola High School.
equipment and machinery, putting about $1 billion per year into local coffers. Many city and town officials across the state are opposed to cutting the business personal property tax, something Pence and some lobbyists say would make Indiana more attractive to business.
Freeze costly to economy
Still Digging Out
Steuben reschedules three meetings
MSD staff has work day on Jan. 17; another day off!
75 cents
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Hunkering down at home rather than going to work, canceling thousands of flights and repairing burst pipes from the Midwest to the Southeast has its price. By one estimate, about $5 billion. The country may be warming up from the polar vortex, but the bone-chilling cold, snow and ice that gripped much of the country — affecting about 200 million people — brought about the biggest economic disruption delivered by the weather since Superstorm Sandy in 2012, said Evan Gold, senior vice president at Planalytics, a business weather intelligence company in suburban Philadelphia. While the impact came nowhere close to Sandy, which caused an estimated $65 billion in property damage alone, the deep freeze’s impact came from its breadth. “There’s a lot of economic activity that didn’t happen,” Gold said. “Some of that will be made up but some of it just gets lost.” Still, Gold noted his $5 billion estimate pales in comparison with an annual gross domestic product of about $15 trillion — working out to maybe one-seventh to one-eighth of one day’s production for the entire country. “It’s a small fraction of a percent, but it’s still an impact,” Gold said. Major U.S. airlines, which canceled about 20,000 flights starting last Thursday, lost anywhere from $50 million to $100 million, said Helane Becker, SEE STORM, PAGE A8
Pence has ball in Shipshe BY PATRICK REDMOND predmond@kpcmedia.com
SHIPSHEWANA — Indiana Gov. Mike Pence walked away from LaGrange County Thursday afternoon with an unexpected new trophy for his office. Pence was presented with a basketball autographed by Indiana high school basketball legend Bobby Plump of the 1954 state championship Milan team as well as several of the actors who appeared in the movie “Hoosiers,” based on the Milan story. The ball came as a gift from LaGrange Realtor and former LaGrange County commissioner Joy Sharp, who like Pence is a Republican. Pence, a Columbus native and admittedly a huge fan of both basketball and the movie “Hoosiers,” seemed delighted with his gift, pulling it from its box and giving the ball a quick spin atop his finger. He then told Sharp he had the perfect spot picked out to display the ball in his Statehouse office. Sharp later said she got the basketball a few years ago at a fundraising auction for Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. The ball
was a prized possession, but Sharp said she knew the governor would give it a good home. Pence visited Shipshewana Thursday as a guest of the LaGrange County Chamber of Commerce. The local business organization held its annual members meeting and showcase at the Shipshewana Events Center in Shipshewana. Pence was the event’s main speaker. Recent weather almost prevented Pence from making the trip north. Beth Sherman, executive director of the LaGrange Chamber of Commerce, said the winter storm that rolled across Indiana this past weekend forced Pence and his staff to deal with much of the weather’s aftermath, and forced the governor to miss several prearranged events. “I didn’t know until about 3:30 yesterday afternoon if he would make it,” Sherman said. Pence arrived at the Chamber event just before noon and quickly worked his way through the crowd, shaking hands and posing for pictures. He then sat with Sherman and her husband, LaGrange County Commissioner Jac Price, LaGrange County Sheriff Terry Martin and outgoing Chamber of Commerce SEE PENCE, PAGE A8
PATRICK REDMOND
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence shows an autographed basketball he received as a gift in Shipshewana Thursday. It carries signature of Bobby Plump of the 1954 state championship Milan team and several of the actors who appeared in “Hoosiers,” a movie based on the Milan story.