Serving the Steuben County 101 lakes area since 1857
Two women sentenced Burglary, drugs among crimes addressed
Weather Cloudy, chance of rain, high in the mid-50s. Tonight’s low 40. Page A5.
Page A2 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2013
Angola, Indiana
GOOD MORNING Trick-or-treating set for Thursday The following are trick-ortreat times for across Steuben County: • Angola, Thursday, 6-8 p.m. • Ashley, Thursday, 5:30-7:30 p.m. • Clear Lake, Thursday, 5:30-7:30 p.m. • Fremont, Thursday, 5-7 p.m. • Hudson, Thursday, 5-7 p.m. • Orland, Thursday, 5-6:30 p.m.
Man killed when struck by country star’s tour bus NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A tour bus carrying country star Jason Aldean struck a man walking along a highway in southwest Indiana early Monday and the pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Aldean and his driver were the only ones aboard the performer’s bus, which hit the man after he had walked onto U.S. Highway 41 North around 1:28 a.m., said Sheriff Michael P. Morris in Indiana’s Knox County. The deceased was identified as Albert Kennedy of Vincennes, Ind. Morris said no charges will be filed, calling the accident “unavoidable.” “In all the years I’ve been touring and all the miles we’ve driven, nothing prepares you for something like this to happen,” Aldean said in a post on his Twitter account. “I’m praying for Albert Kennedy’s family and friends today and ask that you do the same.” Morris said the man had been known to travel along the roadway on foot or by bicycle at all times of the day. Aldean’s publicist said the singer had just finished his “Night Train” tour and was heading to Illinois for a short vacation before his planned appearance at the Country Music Association Awards next week in Nashville, Tenn.
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Index • Classified.............................................. B6-B8 Life.................................................................A3 Obituaries..............................................A4-A5 Opinion ........................................................B4 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A5 TV/Comics ..................................................B5 Vol. 156 No. 298
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Man admits to murder BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — A Jimmerson Lake man admitted to murder Monday morning. After backing out of a plea hearing Friday afternoon, Mark Zachery Hines, 28, went through with his guilty plea in a hearing Monday morning in Steuben Circuit Court. The hearing was set for 8 a.m. Hines and his attorney Anthony Kraus continued to discuss the plea agreement for about a half hour before the public was allowed into the courtroom around 8:30 a.m. Steuben County chief deputy prosecutor Jeremy Musser
presented a deal that calls for a 45-year sentence for Hines’ admission to murder. Other counts pending against Hines, which include two habitual offender allegations that Hines could have substantially lengthened his sentence under other felony convictions, would be dismissed. Hines admitted to knowingly and intentionally killing Ruben Sanchez on July 7. According to court documents, Hines used a .40-caliber pistol supplied by
Tyler Lee Biggs, 18, of Jimmerson Lake, to kill Sanchez, 29, in the front yard of the home where he had been living at Jimmerson Lake. Biggs, who has retained counsel at a Fort Wayne law firm, is set for a final pretrial conference on Nov. 25 in Circuit Court. His jury trial is set for Dec. 16-20. Judge Allen Wheat took Hines’ admission under advisement and he will remain in Steuben County Jail with no bail. A sentencing hearing was set for Nov. 18, the week Hines’ jury trial had been scheduled to start. The murder charge carried up to a 65-year sentence and an accompanying conspiracy to commit murder charge was a
Class A felony, punishable by up to 50 years in prison. On Oct. 7, the state filed Count III — Class A misdemeanor carrying a handgun without a license — along with an accompanying Count IIIA, carrying a handgun without a license with a felony conviction within 15 years, a Class C felony. Class C felonies carry up to an eight-year prison sentence. At that same time, Musser filed two counts of habitual offender. Filed as Counts IV and V against Hines, they correspond to both the murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges and would have allowed the judge to add up to 30 additional years to each sentence if he was found guilty.
New sensory room gives Business RISE clients comfort zone tiring of tea party
BY JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — Ron Imbody has a knack for remembering everyone’s name, birthday and reciting facts from television game shows — years later. A RISE Inc. client, Imbody is also autistic. He sat in RISE’s new sensory room Friday holding a lap pad that comforted him. He slightly rocked back and forth, grinning the whole time with contentment from feeling it. RISE serves developmentally disabled clients from Steuben and DeKalb counties. Adding the sensory room was in response for the need to serve autistic clients, RISE Executive Director Denise Payton said. RISE received a grant to fund the room from the Cornerstone Foundation for Autism. Autism is a developmentally disability affecting the ability to communicate and interact with others. Sixteen RISE clients are either low spectrum or autistic, Payton said. “Autistics are quiet and like calmness,” Payton said. “We knocked a hole in the wall and combined two rooms. The separation has done wonders. We built this room with a lot of added research, as everything’s based on sensory.” Payton explained the lap pad that Imbody was holding serves to calm a client, as it’s colorful with glitter inside, plastic and is squishy to touch. Beanbag chairs serve the same function. “They like the hugging sensation. The hammock does the same thing,” Payton said. Payton pointed out one table built in the RISE workshop has
beanbag chair and played an electric keyboard she was mesmerized with. Amanda Book serves as the RISE adult day activities instructor. She played cards with a male client, who joked he didn’t have any cards up his sleeve, then laughed. “It’s different,” Book said about working with the autistic. “You never know what’s going to go on. It keeps you on your toes.” One thing Book said she’s learned in her job is the importance of patience in dealing with clients. “I have two kids, but I learn so
WASHINGTON (AP) — A slice of corporate America thinks tea partyers have overstayed their welcome in Washington and should be shown the door in next year’s congressional elections. In what could be a sign of challenges to come across the country, two U.S. House races in Michigan mark a turnabout from several years of widely heralded contests in which right-flank candidates have tried — sometimes successfully — to unseat Republican incumbents they perceive as not being conservative enough. In the Michigan races, longtime Republican businessmen are taking on two House incumbents — hardline conservative Reps. Justin Amash and Kerry Bentivolio — in GOP primaries. The 16-day partial government shutdown and the threatened national default are bringing to a head a lot of pent-up frustration over GOP insurgents roughing up the business community’s agenda. Democrats hope to use this rift within the GOP to their advantage. Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., chairman of the House committee to elect Democrats, insists there’s been “buyer’s remorse with House Republicans who have been willing to put the economy at risk,” and that it is opening the political map for Democrats in 2014. That’s what the Democrats would be expected to say. But there’s also Defending Main
SEE RISE, PAGE A5
SEE BUSINESS, PAGE A5
JENNIFER DECKER JENNIFER DECKER
RISE Inc. recently added a sensory room for autistic clients. Pictured, Ron Imbody, a RISE client, feels sand on the room’s sensory table, which serves as tactile stimulation.
such sensory items as sand, rice and Play Dough. “Our adult activity room is to keep up with fine motor skills. They do arts and crafts,” Payton said. The sensory room also has magnetic covers over fluorescent lights to make them dimmer, as those who are autistic are sensitive to bright light. As Payton talked, clients were using the rooms. Sarah Myers, a five-year RISE client, smiled and did piece work. Myers spoke quietly spelling her name and saying how much she liked the sensory rooms. Another client, Brittany Smith, relaxed on a
Ron Imbody, a RISE Inc. autistic client, holds a lap pad recently in the facility’s new sensory room. RISE received a grant from the Cornerstone Foundation For Autism to fund building the room.
Toboggan run undergoing extensive work BY MIKE MARTURELLO mmarturello@kpcmedia.com
LAKE JAMES — More than $100,000 in reconstruction on the Pokagon State Park toboggan run tower and the slide’s refrigeration system has been done prior to the start of this year’s season. For several weeks, contractors have been active doing repairs and preventive maintenance on the park’s refrigerated toboggan run tower. The run is just one of two in the Midwest and the only refrigerated toboggan run in Indiana. “It will be frozen and open for fun just one month from today, Nov. 29, the day after Thanksgiving,” said Fred Wooley, Pokagon’s interpretive naturalist. This is the first major work done on the tower since the metal-framed structure was built in 1974, said Ted Bohman, park manager. Park officials said the track became refrigerated in 1971. It was originally built during the 1930s by Civilian Conservation Corps workers. This is the first major work done to the facility since 1974, with the exception of 1984, when the old steel tracks and refrigeration system were rebuilt starting in that year.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Construction crews work on repair and maintenance work of the Pokagon State Park toboggan run tower in this Oct. 20 photo. Much work has taken place on the tower and refrigeration
Due to major problems with the rebuild, the track did not open for the 1985 system. It reopened for the 1986 season. Park officials also report that
system in anticipation of the run opening on Nov. 29, the traditonal day after Thanksgiving start of toboggan season at Pokagon.
there are still job openings to work both the toboggan run and cross-country ski rental for the winter season, which runs from late November to the end of
February. The work is mostly Friday nights and weekends and days between the winter holidays. For more information, call the park at 833-2012.