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Love’s will pay more than $900,000 to run Angola utilities to development site
Weather Partly sunny, high 68. Tonight’s low 44. A little warmer Wednesday. Page A6
Page A6 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2013
Angola, Indiana
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Death case charges pending BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — Two new charges and two potential sentence enhancers were approved Monday against a Jimmerson Lake man charged with murder. Mark Zachery Hines, 28, is charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the July 7 shooting death of Ruben Sanchez, 29.
In a pretrial conference Monday morning in Steuben Circuit Court, Judge Allen Wheat approved the filing of 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.
Murder carries up to a 65-year sentence and the conspiracy to commit murder charge is a Class A felony, punishable by up to 50 years in prison. In addition to Count III, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Jeremy 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.
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Local group moves meeting, offices due to federal shutdown
Indy woman pleads to cancer scam INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indianapolis woman has agreed to plead guilty to forgery for collecting nearly $1,500 in donations by falsely claiming her 10-year-old son had cancer. The Indianapolis Star reports 33-year-old Stephanie Weddle will face up to four years in community corrections under the plea deal. Prosecutors agreed to drop a second forgery count and a theft charge. Weddle also must make restitution. Prosecutors say she collected $1,250 raised by a teacher and never paid $216 to a youth baseball group for T-shirts and wrist bands earmarked to raise money. A police detective who happened to coach the boy in baseball became suspicious because the boy did not show signs of having gone through radiation treatment and chemotherapy. Weddle later admitted to police the boy was never diagnosed with cancer.
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Index • Classified.............................................. B6-B8 Life.................................................................A5 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion ........................................................B4 Sports.................................................. B1-Bx3 Weather........................................................A6 TV/Comics ..................................................B5 Vol. 156 No. 277
The habitual offender designation potentially provides the judge an opportunity to enhance Hines’ sentence under both charges if he is convicted. A jury trial is on Hines the court calendar SEE HINES, PAGE A6
Mayor to lead advocacy group
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ANGOLA — This week’s Steuben County Soil and Water Conservation District Board meeting will be held in the Steuben Community Center instead of the district office, due to the federal government shutdown. The Soil and Water Conservation District, which is a state agency that helps provide conservation resources for area property owners and farmers, is temporarily housed on the third floor of the Steuben Community Center, 317 S. Wayne St., Angola, because it shares offices with local offices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is shutdown. The board meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. following an executive session set for 5 p.m. During the executive session, the board will be doing interviews for the position of resource conservationist in the Angola office.
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BY JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcmedia.com
PHOTOS BY FRED WOOLEY
National Public Lands Day Pokagon’s first National Public Lands Day program was considered a success, officials say. Seventeen people hiked from the Pokagon Spring Shelter to Trail 8 of Bluebird Hills, collected prairie seeds and enjoyed a beautiful first Saturday of fall on Sept. 28. Then participants carpooled to nearby Trine State Recreation Area and scattered the seeds on a new hillside from the recently constructed new entrance road. Pokagon State Park crews, who also share some duties at Trine State Rec, have been working to prepare public spaces with natural plantings for the eventual opening of the new property. A soft opening of the property is being planned yet this fall. The dedication ceremony for the facility has yet to be announced to the public.
INDIANAPOLIS— Angola Mayor Dick Hickman will be sworn in today as president of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns. IACT is currently having its annual convention. IACT is a coalition of municipal officials seeking to improve effective governHickman ment through education, training and leadership. “My job will be doing more to represent town and cities’ concerns,” he said. From what he learns through IACT, Hickman shares the information with the Angola Common Council. He’s also able to stay abreast of new legislation. Hickman said he’s been involved with the IACT since he became Angola mayor 2001 at the suggestion of Angola Clerk-Treasurer Deb Twitchell. SEE HICKMAN, PAGE A6
Fremont board inks contract BY JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcmedia.com
FREMONT — The Fremont Community Schools and Fremont Classroom Teachers Association have agreed to ratify a new one-year contract. The Fremont School Board approved the contract at a special meeting Monday. have an HR person for Steuben The 29-member FCTA voted County,” Smith said. to ratify the new contract last “I don’t think sharing a job Thursday. The corporation will put our people first,” said Nicci Upp, payroll clerk who has employs 61 teachers. exercised some HR responsibilThe FCTA and Fremont ities in the absence of a true HR Schools have been bargaining and person. negotiating the contract. “We have enough employees The old contract expired in June and enough department heads who and teachers have been working have been floundering” to justify without an agreement with the an HR person for Steuben County school district. only, said Cindy Snyder, Steuben The new contract will expire SEE STEUBEN, PAGE A6 June 30, 2014. Fremont Schools Superintendent Lori Vaughn said negotiations with FCTA were cordial. “We’re just glad it’s ratified,” she said. Perhaps the biggest challenge to uncompromising — while a the contract was the subject of health new poll suggested Republicans care, which will see an increase of are paying a heavier price than some 40 percent in costs. Democrats for the deadlock. The corporation kept Anthem President Barack Obama said Blue Cross Blue Shield, moving the House should vote immedifrom a self-insured independent ately on ending the partial closure contractor to the Northeast Indiana of the federal establishment. He School Insurance Consortium. accused House Speaker John Vaughn said teachers will be able to take advantage of a mobile Boehner of refusing to permit health clinic that will visit the the necessary legislation to come corporation every Tuesday with to the floor because he “doesn’t
Steuben ponders HR position BY MIKE MARTURELLO mmarturello@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — Steuben County Commissioners agreed to appoint a committee to work with a similar body from LaGrange County to explore the possibility of hiring a shared human resources person. The decision followed a lengthy discussion with department heads who said there was a definite need to have someone on staff who has human resources expertise. It was also mentioned that
the need was imminent because the county is currently involved in a federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation over the recent firing of an employee. The idea for a shared HR person came from Commissioner Loretta Smart, who started the discussion with LaGrange County officials. However, Commissioner Ron Smith and others said Steuben County needed its own HR person. “I still believe we should
Debt debate eclipses shutdown WASHINGTON (AP) — A possible national default loomed closer on Monday as the partial government shutdown lingered, rattling markets in the U.S. and overseas. A gridlocked Congress betrayed little or no urgency toward resolving either of the threats. Stocks got a case of the jitters on Wall Street, and halfway around the world China stressed the importance for the interna-
tional economy of raising the U.S. debt limit. “Safeguarding the debt is of vital importance to the economy of the U.S. and the world,” Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. China holds $1.277 trillion in U.S. Treasury bonds, second only to Japan. At home, the political rhetoric was unchanged — and generally
SEE SHUTDOWN, PAGE A6
SEE FREMONT, PAGE A6