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Awkward Santa photos Readers share pictures of Santa Claus Page C1
Weather Chance of more snow today. High 19. Low 4. Snow possible Tuesday. Page B8 Angola, Indiana
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Health initiative a mixed bag for residents GOOD MORNING Indiana man accused of stealing electricity PERU, Ind. (AP) — A central Indiana man faces theft charges after police say he tore a power meter off of a house and used two spoons to illegally conduct electricity into the residence. Miami County deputies say 22-year-old Johnny W. Harrington of Kokomo stole the Miami-Cass REMC’s meter and unlawfully established power at the house. He was arrested Wednesday on a theft charge and is being held at the Miami County jail, where he faces a pending probation violation. Miami-Cass REMC CEO Jim Yates tells the Kokomo Tribune the utility received an anonymous tip that Harrington had removed the meter and was stealing power. He says that when a crew checked the house, they found that someone had replaced the meter with two spoon handles to conduct electricity into the residence.
BY MATT GETTS mgetts@kpcmedia.com
ROME CITY — Robert Sparkman of Rome City found himself between a rock and hard place. Sparkman, 50, has been unemployed since the spring of 2012 due to health issues that led to his being placed on disability through the Social Security Administration. On a fixed income, he soon found himself in financial difficulty. “I had to drop my insurance,”
said Sparkman. “It was a matter of losing my vehicle or having health insurance.” On Nov. 12, Sparkman made the difficult decision to let his health insurance policy lapse. He had been paying $620 per month through a special, state-sponsored health insurance program. With a pre-existing condition, the state’s insurance program was his only option. And now it was an option he couldn’t afford. Just like that, his safety net was gone. “It is pretty scary,” Sparkman
said. “If something happened, I would have an issue as far as payment went.” Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, beginning Jan. 1 Sparkman will have that safety net back — and at a fraction of what he had been paying. The insurance plan he finally was able to sign up for through HealthCare.gov will cost him less than $200 per month. It will mean more than $400 per month extra to spend. From a peace-of-mind standpoint?
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Index • Classified.............................................. D5-D6 Life................................................................ C1 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion .........................................................A6 Business ......................................................B8 Sports.................................................... B1-B5 Weather.......................................................B8 Vol. 156 No. 344
Website woes Navigating HealthCare.gov wasn’t easy for Sparkman. It proved impossible for James Bailey, a rural Auburn resident who spent weeks trying to assist a SEE INITIATIVE, PAGE A8
Winter storm strikes BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia
Littlejohn recalled. Littlejohn said he told Winkler that if the bank ever wanted to get rid of Santa, to call him. About a year later, in 2010, the bank was undergoing a renovation and Winker contacted Littlejohn. “He said, ‘You’ve got 15 minutes to get Santa Claus, because he’s going to get pitched if you don’t want him,’” Littlejohn recalled. “I said, ‘I’m leaving right now,’” Littlejohn said. He rushed down the street to the bank, rescued Santa and moved him to the upstairs of his jewelry store. “I put a bag over his face and thought some day I’d get to fixing him up,” Littlejohn said. “This
Mother nature dumped 5-8 inches of snow on northeast Indiana late Friday night and Saturday. Snow began falling steadily after 10 p.m. Friday and continued through the day Saturday in most areas until about 6 p.m. Fortunately the snow was not accompanied by high winds that cause drifting and closing of roads. Noble, LaGrange, DeKalb and Steuben counties were under a winter weather advisory overnight, and the National Weather Service issued a winter weather warning for LaGrange County Saturday afternoon when the county was expected to get heavy lake effect snowfall. The winter weather warning was lifted after 6 p.m. A check with area Sheriff Department dispatchers indicated no serious accidents, and no officials declared snow emergencies. “I think people had adequate warning the snow was coming and pretty much stayed off the roads,” said DeKalb County emergency management director Roger Donaldson. Vehicle slide offs were reported in Noble, LaGrange and Steuben counties as road conditions stayed slick. County highway department snow plows and municipal plow trucks were busy Saturday trying to keep with the falling snow. No roads were
SEE SANTA, PAGE A8
SEE WINTER, PAGE A8
Woman allegedly hit boy who didn’t know alphabet GARY, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana woman faces battery charges after videos posted online by her ex-boyfriend allegedly showed her hitting and berating a child for failing to repeat the alphabet. Twenty-five-year-old Rosena Small is being held at the Lake County Jail on charges of neglect of a dependent and battery resulting in bodily injury. The Post-Tribune reports that a probable caused affidavit states that Small acknowledged hitting the 3-year-old boy but that she said she didn’t intend to hurt him. Detective Alex Jones says in the affidavit that five videos posted on YouTube by Small’s ex-boyfriend show Small hitting the boy and using a door stopper to smash his toys when he fails to recite the alphabet.
“It helps me to rest a little easier,” Sparkman said. From providing a safety net, to trouble with the website to getting insurance dropped, the president’s health initiative is impacting northeastern Indiana.
KATHRYN BASSETT
Mike Littlejohn, Dan Cory and Michaele Marks have restored and renovated this 1950s-built animated figure of Santa Claus, which again is welcoming customers at Peoples Federal
Savings Bank in Auburn during the holidays. Admiring Santa, from left, are Marks, Littlejohn, retired bank president Roger Wertenberger, who acquired Santa in Chicago in 1959, and Cory.
Santa finds his way back to bank BY KATHRYN BASSETT kbassett@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN — For about 30 years starting in the late 1950s, an animated Santa welcomed customers at Peoples Federal Savings Bank in Auburn throughout the holidays. Roger Wertenberger, the bank’s president at the time, had acquired Santa while attending a banking convention in Chicago in 1959, and the figure, with his waving arm, became an annual holiday tradition. The years eventually caught up with Santa, and he fell into a state of disrepair. His arm no longer waved, and his face and clothing became shabby and worn. With that, Santa was put away in a
bank closet. This holiday season, bank staff members and customers have welcomed back St. Nick, along with a freshened face, new suit and his familiar, waving arm. Mike Littlejohn of Carbaugh Jewelers, together with Dan Cory and Michaele Marks, have been restoring Santa since October. Littlejohn explained the seed for the project was sown about four years ago when Littlejohn inquired into Santa’s whereabouts. Bank president Maury Winker explained Santa’s demise. “He said Santa was in a closet. … His face was in bad shape, his clothes were in bad shape. Sure enough, he was pretty rough,”
Tesla Motors opens Angola charging station BY MIKE MARTURELLO mmarturello@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — Hitesh Patel knows his Ramada Angola Hotel is conveniently located for travelers passing through Steuben County on Interstate 69 and the Indiana Toll Road. And the folks with Tesla Motors saw the site as a strategic spot to place a supercharging station to help power their vehicles. The Angola site is one of two Tesla Motors has opened in northern Indiana as it works to establish a nationwide network for its electric cars. It has 41 such stations open. Next year, Tesla expects to
have enough stations in place to enable travel from Los Angeles to New York. A main piece of that travel corridor is I-80-90 in northern Indiana. A nearly full charge at the stations takes about 40 minutes. “The benefit of having a Tesla Charging Station on our property is we have the hotel and we have the restaurant, and it only takes 45 minutes, so we have a captive audience. They can eat at our restaurant (6 Autumns) or they can stay in our hotel and they can charge,” Patel said. The six charging stations at Ramada are free to use for Tesla car owners. Signs at the stations SEE TESLA, PAGE A8
MIKE MARTURELLO
Tesla Motors has installed a charging station at the north end of the parking lot at Ramada Angola Hotel. The six charging units work only with Tesla cars and are free to use for car owners.