Serving the Steuben County 101 lakes area since 1857
Prosecutor Mike Hess announces he will not seek second term in office
Weather Partly cloudy, chance of rain, high 76. Tonight’s low in the mid-50s. Page A6
Page A2 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2013
Angola, Indiana
kpcnews.com
75 cents
Showgirl hearing might be delayed
GOOD MORNING
BY MIKE MARTURELLO mmarturello@kpcmedia.com
Coming Sunday Good Gourd
Area artist transforms gourds into lasting artwork. See her creations and read about her craft on Sunday’s C1 and C2.
Clip and Save Find $92 in coupon savings in Sunday’s newspaper.
Rieke receives tax abatement HAMILTON — Rieke Packaging Systems has received a property-tax reduction for equipment it will add at its Hamilton operations. The Hamilton Town Board agreed to a 10-year phase-in of taxes on $1.8 million in plastic injection molding equipment for Rieke’s plant at 2855 E. Bellefountaine Road, said Brent Shull, Hamilton town manager. Rieke told Hamilton officials it plans to add nine employees to its current roster of 45 workers in Hamilton. The new equipment will allow Rieke to more efficiently supply its customers in the eastern United States, Shull said. Rieke maintains its headquarters and main manufacturing plant in Auburn, where it has operated since 1923. Its Hamilton operations began in 2002. Rieke makes drum closures and a wide variety of product dispensing systems.
Play KPC
WILD
bing
MIKE MARTURELLO
Fremont firefighters pack up their equipment Friday morning following the Thursday night fire that claimed the life of a rural Fremont teen.
Augustus “Gus” Larson, 13, died in the fire that’s still under investigation.
Teen dies in blaze BY MIKE MARTURELLO mmarturello@kpcmedia.com
FREMONT — A Fremont Middle School eighth-grader lost his life in fire late Thursday night. Augustus “Gus” Larson, 13, apparently did not want to jump from the window of his second story bedroom to flee the fire, said information from Steuben County Sheriff Tim Troyer. “The upstairs window/screen to Gus’s bedroom was broken out and it is believed that Gus did not want to jump and retreated back inside the home in an attempt to escape elsewhere. His body was discovered still inside the bedroom area,” Troyer said. Fremont Community Schools officials were notified and prepared for grief counseling for students. Steuben County Coroner Bill Harter said Gus succumbed to smoke inhalation. His death was ruled accidental. An autopsy was
conducted Friday morning in Fort Wayne. The fire was at 6655 E. C.R. 500N, Fremont, at the Mitchel and Crystal Larson residence. It was reported at about 11:45 p.m. “The Larson family was sleeping when an adult was awakened to the smell of smoke. All family members were immediately awakened and began to escape the home that was filling with heavy smoke,” Troyer said. When Fremont Police arrived on the scene, they found the home fully engulfed in flames, said a news release from the Steuben County Sheriff’s Department. Members of the Larson family were outside of the home and told police there was one person still inside. Personnel from the Fremont Police and Fire departments and Steuben County Sheriff’s Department were on the scene. Fremont Fire and Police personnel tried in vain to reach
Gus, “however, the fire was too involved to fully enter the structure,” Troyer said. Firefighters from seven departments were called in to fight the fire, which was placed under control at 1:17 p.m. The fire remains under investigation by the sheriff, Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office and Fremont Fire. Investigators remained on the scene Friday afternoon. Assisting the Fremont Fire Department were fire departments from Angola, Orland, Ashley, Steuben Township, Hudson, Montgomery, Mich., and Northwest Township in Ohio. Also on the scene were personnel from the Indiana State Police, Steuben County Emergency Management, American Red Cross and Steuben County Coroner’s Office. AN EARLY VERSION of this story was
posted on kpcnews.com at 7:05 a.m. Friday.
Community RISEs to the Occasion
COVERALL
GRAND PRIZE
500
$
NUMBERS PUBLISHED DAILY INSIDE
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.............................................. B7-B8 Life.................................................................A3 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion .........................................................A5 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A6 TV/Comics ..................................................B6 Vol. 156 No. 281
BY JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — Once again, an annual signature event that helps more than 250 people saw Steuben and DeKalb counties RISE to the Occasion Thursday. RISE Inc.’s eighth annual RISE to the Occasion featuring tastes, sights and sounds of the lakes was held at Trine University’ Busse Center. Proceeds from the event helps to rehabilitate more than 250 developmentally disabled RISE clients reach their fullest potential, while becoming self-sufficient and independent. Denise Payton, RISE’s executive director, said 500 people preregistered for the event and she felt it was a smashing success. “Every year it’s grown,” she said. “Ninety percent of this event is done by sponsor ships. This is the first year we tried the auctions and I thought they were very successful.” Payton was pleased 10 new businesses contacted her willing to be sponsors. “We’re only as successful as the community lets us be,” she said. “We started this because we wanted to give back to the community. We wanted to show what’s unique to Steuben and DeKalb counties.” Payton said four RISE clients served as greeters, as different ones are chosen each year. Clients and staff attending were treated to new outfits borrowed from Maurice’s.
JENNIFER DECKER
The tastes, sights and sounds of the lake were featured at the eighth annual RISE to the Occasion event Thursday. The signature event for RISE featured restaurants, vendors, auctions and music. Proceeds go to assist developmentally disabled clients at RISE. Caterer Linda Hankins, right, serves Tina Lancaster, Pleasant Lake, some treats.
Amber King, RISE Creations activity director, did make-up and hair for clients attending. “They thought it was their prom,” King said. The event featured a booth of RISE Creations. The handmade goods are made and sold by clients “I think it fills clients with pride,” Kathy Rowe, RISE Creations activity staff member. “They work very hard and made all the centerpieces and candles.”
Jamar Averyhart, a Trine student, volunteers at RISE and helped at the clients’ booth. Averyhart also teaches sports to clients. “They laugh at how serious we are,” he said about the clients. “They remember my name before I remember theirs.” The entertainment line up included the Trine University Jazz Band and Adam Strack. Numerous local restaurants and artists participated.
ANGOLA — The first hearing in the federal lawsuit against Angola brought by the owners of a proposed Showgirl strip club in the city likely will be continued, indicated a Thursday filing in U.S. Federal District Court, South Bend. Alva and Sandra Butler of Fort Wayne, owners of the Showgirl III strip club in that city, are suing Angola over alleged rights violations in denying the opening of a Showgirl club here. The case was filed in March and through a variety of filings and pleadings on the part of Butler and Angola, the case was headed for an Oct. 25 hearing in South Bend before Judge Robert L. Miller Jr. The hearing was to take up the city’s motion for summary judgment and Butler’s motion for a preliminary injunction. “It appears very likely that the court will be unable to produce a ruling (with adequate reasoning and discussion of the cited authorities) on the pending motion for judgment on the pleadings before the Oct. 25 hearing,” Miller wrote. “Such a ruling was expected to be issued before Oct. 25 when the other motions were set for hearing on that date.” SEE SHOWGIRL, PAGE A6
GOP pitches solutions WASHINGTON (AP) — With time running short, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner accelerated efforts Friday to prevent the U.S. Treasury from default and end a partial government shutdown that stretched into an 11th day. The latest impacts: New aircraft grounded, military chaplains silenced and a crab harvest jeopardized in the Bering Sea. “Let’s put this hysterical talk of default behind us and instead start talking about finding solutions,” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Republicans in the House and Senate separately made proposals to the White House for ending an impasse that polls say has inflicted damage on their party politically. Each offered to reopen the government and raise the $16.7 trillion debt limit — but only as part of broader approaches that envision deficit savings, changes to the health care law known as Obamacare and an easing of across-the-board spending cuts that the White House and Congress both dislike. The details and timing differed. “We’re waiting to hear” from administration officials, said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. Hopes remained high on Wall Street, where investors sent the Dow Jones industrial average 111 points higher following Thursday’s 323-point surge. Obama met at the White House with small business owners about the impacts they were feeling from the budget battles, and said he hoped to be able to bring them toward a conclusion, said Det Ansinn, who attended the session. “He was a little slightly melancholy that maybe it could be done over the weekend and maybe not. He’s been down this road before,” said Ansinn, owner of Doylestown, Pa.-based mobile and Web app developer Brick Simple.