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CHOICE program’s open house being held on Wednesday in Angola Page A2
Weather Cloudy, chance of rain, high in the upper 50s. Tonight’s low 52. Page A6 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2013
Angola, Indiana
GOOD MORNING Trine ensemble slates performance ANGOLA — Trine’s Musical Theatre and Opera Ensemble will present “A Night of Gilbert and Sullivan” at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Furth Annex, 205 W. Maumee St. The performance is free and will feature Trine students in semi-staged scenes from “H.M.S. Pinafore,” “Pirates of Penzance” and “The Mikado.” “The operettas developed by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan have been a beloved staple of the theatrical repertoire for well over a century,” said Ashlee Bickley, ensemble director. “Trine’s vocal music students have been challenged vocally and dramatically while preparing to bring excerpts from Gilbert and Sullivan’s output to Angola.” The students of the Musical Theatre and Opera Ensemble are freshmen Bonnie Alexander of Avon and August Buehrer of Angola, sophomores Elyse Buehrer of Angola and Tyler Marx of Waterville, Ohio, and juniors Joshua Marty of Clyde, Ohio, and Brandon Sarasin of South Bend. The ensemble is accompanied by Jeri Mow, Angola.
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Index • Classified.............................................. B7-B8 Life.................................................................A3 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion .........................................................A5 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A6 TV/Comics ..................................................B6 Vol. 156 No. 316
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Criminal dismissal appealed BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — An Angola case concerning the drug K2 has been appealed to the Indiana Court of Appeals. The Steuben County Prosecutor’s Office has asked the court of appeals to examine charges filed against Randall Scott Stiverson II, 21, after his arrest in early December 2011. A felony count of causing serious bodily injury when operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and misdemeanor
operating while intoxicated were dismissed in October by Steuben Circuit Court Judge Allen Wheat. At the time Stiverson was arrested, K2 was not illegal in the state of Indiana. He crashed the vehicle he was driving on Dec. 1, 2011, seriously injuring his two passengers, who were airlifted from the scene to a Fort Wayne hospital. Stiverson was taken to Cameron Memorial Community Hospital in Angola for treatment, where he submitted to a blood draw.
According to court documents, Stiverson’s blood tested positive for AM-2011, the chemical in synthetic marijuana. The state contends that though the state law prohibiting the use of AM-2011 had not yet been passed, another statute can be used to uphold the charges. It is a Class B misdemeanor to inhale toxic vapors, which the law says can intoxicate a person. In coming to his decision, Wheat examined the definition of drug in Indiana’s vehicle statutes.
Angola Training Center Opens
Huq venue hearing is Friday
Training facility opens up options
BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
BY JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — Angola Mayor Dick Hickman said the new City of Angola Training Center is a moving target in training and encouraging economic development. Ran by the Kendallville-based Freedom Academy, the Angola center, 306 W. Mill St., is offering workforce skills development classes based on area demand. Those offerings were highlighted at a Friday open house. Freedom Academy has a month-to-month lease on the building with the city under a partnership. The city bought the building that was the site of the former Angola Lumber earlier this year. “You’re standing in a building not on the city’s radar six months ago,” Hickman said. “The reason we bought it was for storage … Fortunately Anita Shepherd was driving by and started talking about Freedom Academy.” Hickman said those involved in economic development endeavors in Steuben County and beyond often talk about the need for technical training to meet job demands. He noted part of Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership’s Vision 2020 was to encourage top global competition and to update
Synthetic marijuana was not on the list of intoxicants that serve as a foundation for the OWI charge. The case was dismissed in early October. On Nov. 1, Cynthia Ploughe with the Indiana Attorney General’s Office filed notice of appeal. A certificate of service of notification to the court was entered this week. The case is in its initial paperwork stages and could be pending for months before the court has the opportunity to consider it.
JENNIFER DECKER
Freedom Academy technical instructor Ron Wolfe, left, explains some of the classes the City of Angola Training Center will offer in the future. Checking out the open house are Dennis Steele, Metaldyne, and Kai Hartman, Univertical.
and provide necessary training. “We’ve been waiting,” Hickman said. “I’m a proponent of vocational training and I’m excited with the programs. From now on, it’s going to be all about education. We think it’s going to be a good partnership.” Two local industrial representatives checked out what the center offers. Kai Hartman, a Univertical mechanical engineer, said his company is considering electrical motor controls training to keep up
with industry demand. Another, Dennis Steele, Metaldyne’s maintenance manager, said he needs more employees technically trained. Melissa Carpenter, Freedom Academy director, said the city’s acceptance to the center has been remarkable. Four of five classes centered around lean manufacturing have been offered and each was full with students. “It’s imperative we start SEE TRAINING, PAGE A6
ANGOLA — Alleged killer Mafuz Huq will be in Steuben Superior Court Friday for pretrial hearings in two cases and a motion to move the murder proceedings out of the Steuben County courts. Friday at 9 a.m., a hearing is set on Huq Huq’s motion for a change of venue. Pretrial hearings will also be held in the 1988 murder case, which includes a Class D felony count of intimidation, and a 1988 burglary case, in which Huq is charged with three Class C felony counts of burglary and three Class D felony counts of theft. A trial is on the Superior Court calendar to start Dec. 9 and run through Dec. 13 in the murder case. Huq, 47, is accused in the Aug. 9, 1989, death of Todd Kelley in Hamilton. Huq — who was extradited from New Delhi this year after being on the lam for more than 20 years — has an Indianapolis attorney and Angola attorney Linda Wagoner. Wagoner has asked for a change of venue due to pretrial publicity that spanned most of northeastern Indiana. She said the case would SEE HUQ, PAGE A6
House bill ignores health law
Knoblauch leaving Fremont board
WASHINGTON (AP) — Brushing aside a White House veto threat, the Republican-controlled House voted by a healthy bipartisan majority Friday to weaken a core component of “Obamacare” and permit the sale of individual health coverage that falls short of requirements in the law. In all, 39 Democrats broke ranks and supported the legislation, a total that underscored the growing importance of the issue in the weeks since millions of cancellation notices went out to consumers covered by plans deemed inadequate under government rules. The final vote was 261-157 as lawmakers clashed over an issue likely to be at the heart of next year’s midterm elections. The measure faces an uncertain fate in the Senate, where Democrats
JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcmedia.com
Bipartisan vote would allow sale of insurance not meeting standards
intended, not around the legislative process.” But Democrats said the measure was just another in a long line of attacks on the health care bill from Republicans who have voted repeatedly to repeal it. “It would take away the core protections of that law. It creates an entire shadow market of substandard health care plans,” said Rep. Henry Waxman of California. The vote came shortly before President Barack Obama
FREMONT — A longtime trustee of the Fremont Community Schools Board of Education is expected to resign his seat at Monday’s regular meeting. Tim Knoblauch, former board president, has served on the FCS Board of Trustees for 13 1/2 years. He could not be reached for comment Friday. “Mr. Knoblauch has been an outstanding board member — one of whom we could always count on for providing leadership, commitment and expertise on behalf of our schools and community,” said Fremont Community Schools Superintendent Lori Vaughn. “Tim, like many of us, has been through several cycles of educational legislative reform in his 13.5 years of school board
SEE HOUSE, PAGE A6
SEE FREMONT, PAGE A6
AP
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks about President Obama’s health care law after Republican lawmakers met at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington Wednesday.
seeking re-election in 2014 are leading a move for generally similar legislation. “For the last six weeks the White House stood idly by ignoring the pleas of millions,” said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and lead sponsor of the legislation. “Our straightforward, one-page bill says, if you like your current coverage, you should be able to keep it. The president should heed his own advice and work with us, the Congress, as the founders