Serving the Steuben County 101 lakes area since 1857
Pizza Hut entrepreneur Richard Freeland dies. Page A2
Weather Mostly cloudy, high near 50, chance of rain after 5 p.m. Low tonight 33. Page A6 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013
Angola, Indiana
GOOD MORNING Vote this week in Carnegie’s amateur photography contest ANGOLA — The seventh annual Friends of the Library Amateur Photography Contest has 50 entries currently on display at the Carnegie Public Library of Steuben County. Patrons are asked to stop in and vote for their favorite photo. Voting begins today and ends Thursday at 4 p.m. Voters must be 16 or older and may cast a ballot only once. The people’s choice cash award will be announced at a Thursday award ceremony at 6 p.m. Also, the first-, second- and third-place winners will be announced. Barbara Knights Hale of Jitterbug Photography will lead the event. The library is located at 322 S. Wayne St.
Molester sentenced to 48 years BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — A Garrett man was sentenced Monday to four 12-year sentences for repeated sexual misconduct with a minor. Nicolas D. Duesler, 28, was found guilty of four Class B felony counts by a Steuben County jury on Sept. 26. He was held in Steuben County Jail pending his sentencing hearing, and now will be remanded to the Indiana Department of Corrections. Judge William Fee took Steuben County Probation Department’s recommendation and
sentenced Duesler to 12 years on each count, with two years on each suspended and a total of six years probation after he is released from prison. With Duesler Indiana good time credit, his served term would be 16 years. He received credit for 263 days already served in jail, though he did not get credit for the time he served under a contempt of court sentence leveled by Judge Randy
Coffey at Duesler’s initial hearing. Due to Duesler’s disrespect, which included numerous expletives, Coffey originally told him to serve two years for contempt. Duesler served about a month before Coffey accepted a time-served term and allowed him to post $50,000 bail at the request of his Fort Wayne attorney Samuel Bolinger. Family members, a jail Bible study leader and a Garrett pastor spoke on the witness stand in Duesler’s behalf. Bolinger asked the judge to consider the low end of the sentencing spectrum to
Manchester president retiring NORTH MANCHESTER — Manchester University President Jo Young Switzer will retire June 30 and be succeeded by Dave McFadden, who helped the higher-education institution open its College of Pharmacy in Fort Wayne in 2012. The North Manchester school’s board of trustees accepted Switzer’s retirement and appointed McFadden president, effective July 1. Switzer became president in 2004. Before then, she served as the university’s vice president and dean for academic affairs, and she formerly was chair of the Department of Communication Studies.
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Index • Classified.............................................. B6-B8 Life.................................................................A5 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion ........................................................B4 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A6 TV/Comics ..................................................B5 Vol. 156 No. 291
SEE DUESLER PAGE A6
Venue change hearing gets postponed BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
MIKE MARTURELLO
Fall cleanup Doug French of Franz Nursery, Hamilton, trims some of the rose bushes in one of the planters on the Public Square in downtown Angola on
Monday. Franz crews were getting the downtown landscaping ready for its winter rest.
Kruse seeks upgrades for IPFW BY DAVE KURTZ dkurtz@kpcmedia.com
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne deserves a better status and funding level, says state Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn. Kruse chairs a legislative committee studying the state’s regional university campuses. It meets for the final time Wednesday, and Kruse hopes it will endorse changes for IPFW. “IPFW at this time in history is worthy of having a unique designation, whatever the name might be,” Kruse said Monday. One possibility is declaring it a metropolitan campus, he said. A result of a new designation, IPFW might be able to offer doctoral degrees and increase its
funding, Kruse said. “IPFW has never had a doctoral program,” Kruse said. As the state’s fifth-largest university campus, “I think it’s worthy,” Kruse he added. Kruse listed five possible doctoral programs for IPFW — education, health services (possibly doctor of nursing), insurance, orthopedics industry and engineering. “If we have a unique status as a campus, maybe the funding formula could be a little bit different to enhance the funding of IPFW,” Kruse added. “It seems we should have a higher position in
the funding status. IPFW’s down at the bottom almost all the time. It seems to me, we shouldn’t be.” Of the state’s 14 university campuses, IPFW traditionally ranks between 12th and 14th in funding, Kruse said. With 13,459 students this fall, IPFW is larger than Indiana State University and the University of Southern Indiana. The only larger sites are the Indiana University and Purdue University main campuses, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and Ball State University. Kruse suggested the possibility of having Indiana University govern all of the state’s regional campuses, instead of splitting the task with Purdue, which oversees SEE KRUSE, PAGE A6
The Herald Republican 45 S. Public Square Angola, IN 46703
allow Duesler time on probation to be active in his segue from prison back into society. Fee said Duesler’s support system was admirable, but three major aggravating circumstances were apparent, including an extensive criminal record. Fee said efforts made in the Florida justice system to provide alternative sentencing and opportunities for Duesler to help himself were largely unsuccessful. The majority of Duesler’s criminal past is in Florida. He was living in Angola,
Huq has first hearing
Prairie Heights hosts Haunted Theater BRUSHY PRAIRIE — Prairie Heights High School’s award-winning thespians will feature an evening of improvisation Friday at a Haunted Theater 7-10 p.m. Entrance is by donation. All proceeds will go to the Clothes and Food Basket of LaGrange County. Those attending the sectional sporting event Friday will be allowed to exit to attend the haunted theater and re-enter the game provided they have their game ticket.
75 cents
kpcnews.com
‘No excuse’ for rollout trouble, Obama admits
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Monday said there was “no excuse” for the cascade of computer problems that have marred the rollout of a key element in his health care law, but declared he was confident the administration would be able to fix the issues. “There’s no sugarcoating it,” Obama said. “Nobody is more frustrated than I am.” The president said his administration was doing “everything we can possibly do” to get the federally run websites where people are supposed to apply for insurance up and running. That includes bringing in additional technology experts from inside and outside the government to work on the issues. People have until March 31 to sign up for coverage. The non-partisan Congressional Budget SEE NO EXCUSE, PAGE A6
ANGOLA — A man accused of a murder that occurred more than 20 years ago had his first pretrial hearing in Steuben Superior Court Monday morning. Mafuz Huq, 47, accused of killing a Hamilton man 24 years ago, appeared with Angola attorney Linda Wagoner, who is assisting Indianapolis attorney James Voyles, retained by Huq Huq. He is charged with murder, burglary, theft and intimidation in the Aug. 9, 1989 murder, which occurred in Hamilton, allegedly because Kelley was in a relationship with Huq’s ex-girlfriend. In court Monday, Wagoner requested a final pretrial conference, which was set for Nov. 18. Plea negotiations will be closed at that time, said Judge William Fee. That hearing will be held just days before a change of venue SEE HUQ, PAGE A6
Steuben divided over HR proposal BY MIKE MARTURELLO mmarturello@kpcmedia.com
AP
President Barack Obama reaches back to aid Karmel Allison of San Diego who began to lose her balance during an event in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington Monday. Obama acknowledged that the widespread problems with his health care law’s rollout are unacceptable, as the administration scrambles to fix the cascade of computer issues.
ANGOLA — Steuben County Commissioners continuing with exploration of a shared human resources officer for Steuben and LaGrange counties. Commissioners approved a measure to keep the talks moving forward and offered a draft memorandum of understanding to be presented to LaGrange officials. Last week officials from both counties met to discuss the possibility of having a shared HR person. During discussion on the proposal in a meeting Monday, Ron Smith, president of the commissioners, said unless some great revelation occurs to convince him otherwise, he thinks Steuben County needs its own dedicated HR person and he would vote against the shared person. Department heads attending the meeting were divided over the proposal. SEE STEUBEN, PAGE A6