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Candidates start filing for local offices up for grabs in May primary Page A2
Weather Chance of an inch of snow today with a high of 26, low 24. Page A6 THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014
Angola, Indiana
GOOD MORNING Trine classes off for rest of the week ANGOLA — Classes at Trine University’s main campus in Angola are canceled for today and Friday to protect the safety of students travelling from a distance, the university announced Wednesday. Classes will resume Monday. The School of Professional Studies will resume classes today. All offices will remain in operation today and Friday.
Educators welcome waiver BY KATHRYN BASSETT kbassett@kpcmedia.com
Area school superintendents have welcomed the news they won’t have to make up two days of school missed because of this week’s severe winter weather. But at least one northeast Indiana school district does not intend to apply for the waiver at this time, according to its superintendent. Tuesday, the Indiana Department of Education said it would grant waivers to Indiana schools for snow days Monday and Tuesday. All northeast Indiana schools were closed Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday. All Noble, DeKalb and Steuben county schools are closed today, while in LaGrange County, the Lakeland and Westview school corporations had called a 2-hour delay as of Wednesday evening. “Each state superintendent has the flexibility to approve waivers from the 180 days. It is comforting to know that the current superintendent recognizes adverse and dangerous weather situations do exist and is willing to take a pro-active approach to help us deal with student safety,” said DeKalb Eastern superintendent Jeff Stephens.
East Noble superintendent Ann Linson described the state’s offer to apply for a waiver as “a very pleasant and welcome surprise.” She said the district has applied for a waiver, but has not yet received an official approval. “Waivers have been in place for a very long time; however, most districts do not apply unless the situation is extreme and leaves the area completely helpless,” Linson said. “As for Monday and Tuesday, the low temperatures were so extreme that it was dangerous for schools to expect students to
FORT WAYNE — The Fort Wayne Board of Park Commissioners is expected to vote today on a proposal to move Cindy’s Diner to a new location at West Berry Street and Maiden Lane. The popular Fort Wayne diner is being relocated to make way for the construction of a $71-million, mixed-use development that includes the new national headquarters of Ash Brokerage Corp. The diner would be placed on a portion of the Community Center parking lot, a move that will not affect visitor parking there, a Wednesday announcement from the city said. Pending approvals and appropriate weather conditions, the move could occur next month.
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Fort Wayne adds Chicago flight
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wait for buses or walk to school regardless of the amount of time they were outside. East Noble School Corporation is committed to ensuring students receive appropriate and valuable instructional time; however, adding days at the end of the school year, after testing is completed, is not always time well spent.” Linson said with the early start to winter, the district anticipates many additional snow days that it will need to make up. She said the district will use Jan. 20 to make up Wednesday and Feb. 17 in place of today. East Noble announced
Plow operators finally get a break
Fort Wayne eatery may be moved
FORT WAYNE — Travelers will be able to take advantage of an additional flight to Chicago from Fort Wayne International Airport starting April 1, our news partner, NewsChannel 15, reports. SkyWest Airlines, which operates flights for United Express, will now have four round-trip options. This newest flight will depart mid-day, although a news release issued by SkyWest didn’t give a specific time. Like the other United Express flights out of Fort Wayne, the aircraft used will be a Bombardier CRJ200 jet that seats 50 passengers.
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MIKE MARTURELLO
Bonnie Smith of Snow Lake cleans her car after shopping for essentials at the Angola Meijer store Sunday. With snow falling at a rate of 1- 2 inches an hour at times Sunday, it didn’t take long to cover a vehicle with snow during
a shopping trip. Steuben County officials are investigating whether the county will qualify for disaster assistance based mainly on the 11.5 inches of snow that fell on Sunday.
Steuben studies storm aid BY MIKE MARTURELLO mmarturello@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — Steuben County officials are investigating whether it will be eligible for federal disaster assistance following this week’s major snowstorm. On Monday, Gov. Mike Pence said he would sign an executive order declaring emergencies for at least 29 of Indiana’s 92 counties following a storm that dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas Sunday and Monday and delivered the coldest temperatures in two decades. Those counties included LaGrange, Noble and Steuben in northeast Indiana. “We shared all that information when we were on our conference call this morning,” said Ron Smith, president of the Steuben County Board of Commissioners. Commissioners, Sheriff Tim Troyer and Emergency Manage-
ment Director Kristy Clawson have been meeting via phone regularly since the onset of the storm on Sunday to determine whether to declare travel emergencies. The county was lowered to the least restrictive level on Wednesday, to advisory. Whether the county can get federal assistance depends on whether state and federal Emergency Management Agency officials consider Steuben County to have had a snow event that would be considered emergency status. For that to occur for a winter storm, conditions have to reach a certain threshold. “In order to be even considered we have be at or near record for snowfall,” Clawson said. During the storm, 11.5 inches of snow was recorded on Monday. For a 48-hour period, the total was 12.5 inches officially in Angola.
The record snow event for Steuben County — Angola, actually, where records have been kept religiously since the late 1800s — came on Feb. 28, 1900, when the total snow was 18 inches. This week’s storm ranked eighth all time for Steuben County. “I have to do more checking with the state to see what they consider near record,” Clawson said. If approved, the county could receive up to $150,000 in reimbursement. County officials, Smith said, are being directed to conduct a detailed accounting of expenses incurred during the storm. Smith said some private contractors had to be employed for snow removal. Also, additional emergency personnel were brought in to deal with any problems that might occur.
ANGOLA — Finally Tuesday night, after almost four nonstop days, Robert Cook slept. Cook operates Cook’s Snow Service in Angola. When the worst of this week’s weather socked in pretty much everybody, Cook had three trucks and a skid loader working to unsock nearly 11 commercial clients in Steuben County. He called the storm, which dumped more than a foot of snow in northeastern Indiana from Sunday through Monday, the worst he’s seen in 15 years of plowing. Keeping those commercial clients clear required nonstop effort. He estimated he went 90 hours without any sleep. “I couldn’t function any more,” Cook said. “It’s horrible. It just becomes too dangerous to be out.” Brad Gehring can relate. The storm was the worst Gehring could remember, too. Gehring has owned Curb Appeal in Kendallville for the last 10 years. His company had two plow trucks, two skid loaders and a backhoe operating pretty much continuously. Putting together a string of 16-plus hour days takes a toll. “It’s not so much the body, it’s the mind,” Gehring said. “You write the date a hundred times and still can’t remember it.” Taking time off during such a stretch just isn’t possible. “They want to be open for business,” Cook said of his clients. “The liability issues come into play if somebody slips and falls.” Businesses that need to be open pretty much all the time need to be have their driveways and parking lots cleared. Factories need workers. Workers need places to park. Trucks need to get in to make deliveries and pick up finished products. “It gets to be very stressful,” SEE SNOW, PAGE A6
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Giffords goes skydiving on shooting anniversary
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Index • Classified.............................................. B7-B8 Life.................................................................A3 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion .........................................................A5 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A6 TV/Comics ..................................................B6 Vol. 157 No. 8
AP
Former Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Tucson, blows kisses to the media, waves, and says “it was wonderful” as she briefly describes her skydiving experience as the SUV she was in drives past media cameras Wednesday in Eloy, Ariz., marking the three-year anniversary after she was shot in a mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., during one of her political events. According to her Facebook page, she did the tandem skydive jump with her friend, former Navy SEAL Jimmy Hatch.
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — In the three years since she was severely injured in a mass shooting at a political event, Gabrielle Giffords has made an impressive recovery, learned to walk again and founded a national political organization. On Wednesday, while others gathered for bell-ringing and flag-raising ceremonies, she marked the anniversary by skydiving. The former Arizona congresswoman waved and blew kisses to a crowd at a skydiving site between Phoenix and Tucson after landing without injury. She described the jump as a wonderful experience. Giffords’ husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, posted
a picture of her landing on his Twitter account. “Happy she’s safe. So proud of her bravery,” he wrote. Jimmy Hatch, a former Navy SEAL who accompanied Giffords, said she was the least nervous person on the plane. Hatch said the group held hands and formed a circle shortly after exiting the aircraft and then made a line with Giffords in the middle. The entire skydive lasted about a minute, he said. He called Giffords a “rock star” for making the jump on such an emotional day. “It’s pretty incredible,” he said. SEE GIFFORDS, PAGE A6