Serving the Steuben County 101 lakes area since 1857
Relay for Life getting organized for 2014 event in Steuben County
Weather Warmer, high in the upper teens, chance of snow. Low tonight 8. Page A6
Page A2
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2014
Angola, Indiana
kpcnews.com
Social media stumbles
GOOD MORNING Trash removal service backed up Due to inclement weather, Republic Services was unable to pick up trash and recyclables Monday and Tuesday, a company news release said. Because of the weather, trash and recyclables missed Monday will be picked up next Monday. The rest of this week, service will be a day behind. The company requests that customers place their trash and recycling carts out early.
Angola, Fremont reschedule meetings The city of Angola and Fremont have rescheduled public meetings this week due to the inclement weather. Meetings rescheduled include: • Wednesday’s Angola Parks and Recreation meeting scheduled for today was changed to Feb. 5. • Monday’s Angola Board of Public Works meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at city hall, 210 N. Public Square. • Monday’s Angola Common Council will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, also at City Hall. • The Fremont Plan Commission meeting will meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the town hall, 205 N. Tolford St.
US helicopter crash in England kills four LONDON (AP) — A U.S. Air Force Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in the coastal marshes of eastern England during a training mission on Tuesday night, killing all four crew members aboard, officials said. The helicopter crashed at about 6 p.m. local time near Salthouse on the Norfolk coast, a statement from the U.S. Air Force said. The aircraft was based at the nearby Royal Air Force station in Lakenheath, Suffolk County, which hosts USAF units and personnel. The helicopter, assigned to the 48th Fighter Wing, was flying low at the time of the crash, the statement added.
Posting put local town in the dark BY MIKE MARTURELLO mmarturello@kpcmedia.com MIKE MARTURELLO
Angola firefighter Pete Decker heads back to the Angola Staples store after a sprinkler activated inadvertently Tuesday morning. Angola
firefighters had to deal with a similar situation at Trine University.
Thaw near BY JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcmedia.com AND STAFF REPORTS
Steuben County is looking to start returning to normal winter conditions today, but the likelihood of that happening is really about a day away. “The likelihood of a true normal will be better placed on Thursday,” Sheriff Tim Troyer said Tuesday afternoon. “I think things will be slow to return to normal. There are still county roadways that are drifting and we have only upgraded to essential travel only.” In addition to drifting snow and numbing cold, the Steuben County Highway Department is battling plows getting stuck and salt that’s ineffective. Ken Penick, highway superintendent, said Tuesday he and his 25-employee staff has been quite busy. “We had a bunch of trucks get stuck — maybe 10 or 12. One was stuck for four hours and another for three hours,” he said. “We’ve been working 12-14 hours, but guys need some rest.” Penick said despite every effort, road conditions remain poor around the county, especially in rural areas.
Steuben still working way out of freeze
State grants waiver for missed classes BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
The Indiana Department of Education has granted waivers to Indiana schools for Monday and Tuesday snow days. All northeastern Indiana schools were closed Monday and Tuesday. In Steuben County, Metropolitan School District of Steuben County, Hamilton and Fremont community schools had announced closures for today by early Tuesday. Blowing and drifting snow continues to hinder travel on county roads. Metropolitan School District of Steuben County Superintendent Brent Wilson said he hoped the wind chills would subside by the time children again were waiting at morning bus stops. Because of recent extreme weather, the DOE announced that schools would not have to
make up lost days for Monday or Tuesday, said Wilson. There was no word Tuesday if the waiver would be extended to today. If a make-up day is required, it will be tacked onto the end of the school year, which is currently set to end on May 30 at MSD. “A required make-up day would change our last student day from May 30th to June 2nd,” said Wilson. “That still leaves us some room for make-up days before the high school graduation on June 8th.” At Steuben County schools, winter break started Dec. 20, so students are now in their third week off. Parents expressed everything from gratitude for the extended time with their children for projects and snuggling to wishes that school would start up again to combat burgeoning boredom.
SEE WEATHER, PAGE A6
SNOW PHOTOS Send us your photos from the winter storm news@kpcmedia.com
Contact Us • The Herald Republican 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.....................................................B8 Life.................................................................A5 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion ........................................................B4 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A6 TV/Comics ..................................................B7 Vol. 157 No. 7
75 cents
AUBURN FIRE DEPARTMENT
Firefighters suspect a gas-powered heating unit may have started a fire that destroyed this
mobile home in northwest Auburn during a citywide power outage Monday night.
Blaze destroys mobile home BY DAVE KURTZ dkurtz@kpcnews.net
AUBURN — A raging fire destroyed a double-wide mobile home at the west edge of Auburn during a citywide power outage Monday night. Owner Lowell King was not home when the fire broke out at 707 Peterson St., Auburn Fire Chief Mike VanZile said. A relative had picked up King due to the power outage. ”We’re looking at the possibility he had left a heater or gas-powered fireplace on,” VanZile said about the cause of the fire. No one was injured by the fire or the efforts to control it, VanZile reported. The home borders Interstate 69, and a passing driver called to report the fire at 10:54 p.m. Firefighters arrived three minutes later to find heavy flames and smoke.
Knee-deep snow and 15 below zero temperatures hampered firefighting efforts. The fire still was roaring beyond midnight, and firefighters declared it under control at 12:33 a.m In addition to the home, the flames destroyed two vehicles in an adjoining garage. A neighbor who wished to remain anonymous complained that a lack of fire hydrants in West Edge Park added to the difficulty in fighting the fire. “The fire departments had to call out to other fire departments to bring water because they kept running out. Once they gained control, they ran out of water,” the neighbor wrote in a message to KPC Media Group. The neighbor said King, who lost his home to the fire, is in his 80s. Firefighters worked at the fire scene until 3 a.m. They already
had been involved in a busy evening. The fire department spent two hours at Wesley Healthcare on the city’s east side after its backup generator failed, VanZile said. Firefighters assisted with manual breathing devices for several of the facility’s 15 ventilator patients and helped move six of those patients to DeKalb Health hospital next door. The department also responded to a couple of calls for medical assistance and reports of natural gas odors. As a result of all the calls, water in the fire engines was starting to freeze by the time the mobile home fire broke out, VanZile said. Auburn called for assistance during the fire from the Garrett, Waterloo and Butler fire departments. DeKalb EMS and the Auburn Police Department also assisted.
ANGOLA — Social media played a role as people tried to cope with this week’s severe winter storm, and in at least one case, not in a good way. Many people were posting snow photos, jokes and a variety of weather anecdotes online, but at least one discussion had emergency personnel out for what turned out to be a false alarm. As people were tending to the power outage in Auburn, a rumor popped up on one social media site claiming that power was out in Pleasant Lake, Steuben County Emergency Management Director Kristy Clawson said. “People were saying on social media that people in Pleasant Lake were without power,” Clawson said. “A rep from the Red Cross … called me.” Clawson called Steuben Township Fire Chief Jeremy Anstett, who went out and toured town to see if they report was true, which it was not. Clawson said her good working relationships with emergency personnel helps diffuse situations and prevents activation of service providers. For example, had there been an outage, an emergency Red Cross shelter would have had to be opened to house people. Other providers most likely would have had to provide transportation. Food would have had to be procured and the like. While social media can be fun and sometimes is informative, Clawson said people need to take what they read online with a grain SEE SOCIAL MEDIA, PAGE A6
Senate acts on jobless benefits WASHINGTON (AP) — White House-backed legislation to renew jobless benefits unexpectedly cleared an initial Senate hurdle on Tuesday, raising the prospect of a mid-winter compromise to ease the impact of the recession on the long-term unemployed. “Let’s get it done,” President Barack Obama exhorted lawmakers at the White House shortly after the vote. The vote was 60-37 to limit debate on the three-month legislation, with a half-dozen Republicans siding with the Democrats on the test vote. At the same time, the Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said he and his rank and file would seek changes so the bill’s $6.4 billion cost would not add to deficits. Senate Democrats have so far rejected that approach, although there were signs they would eventually yield. Shortly after the Senate vote, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, issued a statement expressing views similar to McConnell’s. Almost simultaneously, a senior Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York, signaled a willingness to consider changes to offset the impact of the bill on the deficit, calling that “the second best option.” The vote came at the dawn of an election year in which the two SEE UNEMPLOYMENT, PAGE A6