The Herald Republican – November 18, 2013

Page 1

Serving the Steuben County 101 lakes area since 1857

High school hoops Hamilton boys’ season preview

Weather Partly cloudy skies with a 20 percent chance of rain. High of 48. Low of 28. Page A6

Page B2 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Angola, Indiana

GOOD MORNING Tornadoes, damaging storms sweep across Midwest states WASHINGTON, Ill. (AP) — Dozens of tornadoes and intense thunderstorms swept across the Midwest on Sunday, unleashing powerful winds that flattened entire neighborhoods, flipping over cars, uprooting trees and leaving at least five people dead. Illinois took the brunt of the fury as the string of unusually powerful late-season tornadoes tore across the state, injuring dozens and even prompting officials at Chicago’s Soldier Field to evacuate the stands and delay the Bears game. “The whole neighborhood’s gone. The wall of my fireplace is all that is left of my house,” said Michael Perdun, speaking by cellphone from the hard-hit central Illinois town of Washington, where he said his neighborhood was wiped out in a matter of seconds. “I stepped outside and I heard it coming. My daughter was already in the basement, so I ran downstairs and grabbed her, crouched in the laundry room and all of a sudden I could see daylight up the stairway and my house was gone.” An elderly man and his sister were killed when a tornado hit their home in the rural southern Illinois community of New Minden, said coroner Mark Styninger. A third person died in Washington, while two others perished in Massac county in the far southern part of the state, said Patti Thompson of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. She did not provide details.

Fire ravages former mushroom farm Dozens of firefighters from more than 30 departments fought blaze BY PATRICK REDMOND predmond@kpcmedia.com

BRIGHTON — A massive fire driven by high winds destroyed a large building Saturday night at the former Brighton Mushroom Farm, 8125 E. C.R. 600N, approximately two miles east of Brighton in northeast LaGrange County. The fire broke out in a large building at the back of the property shortly before 9 p.m. It burned throughout the night and into Sunday morning. A total of 34 fire departments and more than 100 firefighters fought to bring the fire under control. There were no injuries reported. “There’s still fire in there we can’t reach,” Mongo Fire Chief Ike Notestine said, gesturing toward the large structure Sunday morning. “The building is a total loss.” The fire continued to smolder even as the last Mongo fire truck on the scene packed up and left the property around noon on Sunday. The cause of the fire is still unknown. Notestine said the entire structure was completely engulfed in flames when the first fire truck

arrived. Notestine, who was on that truck, quickly called for assistance from other surrounding fire departments. The fire destroyed a 330,000-square-foot building used for storage by the property’s owner, Brighton Properties LLC. Notestine said firefighters were fortunate to keep the fire from spreading to other buildings on the 70-acre property. The facility was built more than 50 years ago by Campbell’s Soup Co. to grow mushrooms for its soups. Other large buildings on the property are now used to store seed corn, sawdust and used coffee grounds. The grounds surrounding the buildings are used by the Brighton Corn Cob Co. to store millions of corn cobs in mounds that are nearly as long as a football field almost 50-foot tall. Notestine said he was particularly worried that the fire would reach one of the corn cob mounds. “If that happened, we would be out here for weeks, not a day,” he explained. The size of the building, its age as well as its large, flat, tar roof, made the fire difficult to fight,

PATRICK REDMOND

A large storage building was completely destroyed by fire Saturday night and Sunday morning at the former Brighton Mushroom Farm just east of Brighton. More than 100 firefighters from 34 different fire departments fought throughout the night to bring the fire under control.

Notestine said. He called the fire the largest ever tackled by the Mongo Fire Department. A lack of hydrants at the scene forced firefighters to stage pumper trucks eight miles away in Orland and ferry water to the scene. Another pump station was set up a few miles up the road, drawing water out of a pond at a local gravel pit. A long, metal-sheeted hallway connected the burning building

BY BOB BRALEY bbraley@kpcmedia.com

MIKE MARTURELLO

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Index • Classified.............................................. B6-B7 Life.................................................................A5 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion ........................................................B4 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A6 TV/Comics ..................................................B5 Vol. 156 No. 318

to similar buildings at the front of the property. Notestine said that hallway was opened by firefighters, effectively stopping the fire from being able to spread to the other buildings. Notestine said overnight rains did little to slow the fire, instead only making the firefighters’ jobs much more difficult. The rain also softened the ground near the fire scene, making it harder to station fire trucks closer to the scene.

Winds whip area

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Pokagon State Park maintenance foreman Tim Glasper stands in front of the chillers used to refrigerate the park’s quarter-mile, two-track toboggan slide. The mechanical equipment for

the slide, which is maintained by Glasper and his crew, is in a building the size of about a single-car garage adjacent to the track.

Glasper keeps Pokagon working Duties include facilities, grounds and toboggan slide BY MIKE MARTURELLO mmarturello@kpcnews.net

LAKE JAMES — Pokagon State Park, with all of its mechanical devices, vast property and just shy of 1 million visitors a year, is like taking care of a small town. The man who makes sure it all works is Tim Glasper, the resident maintenance foreman. “It really is like running a small town,” said Ted Bohman, Pokagon property manager. Glasper is in charge of it all. He’s like the department head of the water, sewer, streets and grounds departments — the park superintendent, so to speak. “Basically my responsibilities are all of the facilities and the grounds,” Glasper said, “as well as Trine State Recreation Area.” (Trine is Pokagon’s sister property.) There’s a sewer plant that handles waste from Potawatomi Inn and a variety of facilities. There are three water plants to

GATSBY

NEIGHBORS STEUBEN

COUNTY

provide drinking water to the campgrounds and Potawatomi and another two in TSRA. There are roads to be maintained. There’s lots of grass to cut. Trails have to be kept clear for hikers. If you think it’s work putting your dock out in the spring and taking it in in the fall, consider all of the slips just in front of Potawatomi Inn alone. Glasper is quick to point out he has a full-time crew of seven who, he says, make him look pretty good. In peak times, as many as 35-40 work in Pokagon. “There are no I’s out here. It’s all we,” said Glasper. One of the biggest challenges Glasper faces comes when Pokagon’s refrigerated toboggan slide opens and treats guests to

29th Annual

Saturday, December 7, 2013 at 8:30 PM

See inside the slide Tim Glasper talks more about his job and shows some of the machinery that makes Pokagon’s toboggan run work in video at kpcnews.com. Scan the QR code to watch it on your tablet or smartphone.

thrilling rides on a quarter-mile refrigerated track. For Glasper and the crew that will work for him this winter, operating the toboggan slide, keeping the ice just right on the track, cleaning off the track and making repairs when necessary is one of the toughest assignments for the entire year. “To me, and I’ve said this for years, the winter season is always

HUDSON — Wind storms whipped through northeast Indiana Sunday afternoon, damaging homes and vehicles and taking down numerous trees and power lines. While damage in other parts of the state was greater, there were reports of heavy damage in some areas, especially in the vicinity of southern Steuben and LaGrange counties. No injuries were reported in the four-county area of northeast Indiana. “It hit us pretty hard,” said Hudson Town Marshal Mark Thrasher. “The wind didn’t last very long, but it was pretty intense.” Power outages also were widespread, scattered throughout Noble, DeKalb, LaGrange and Steuben counties as fallen trees and high winds downed power lines. Heavy rain was also reported in most areas. Indiana Michigan Power reported 72,000 customers without power in Indiana and Michigan due to high winds as of Sunday evening. Gusts of up to 84 mph were reported in the area, a press release said. “Numerous poles were down in areas throughout the service area. Residents of the area should use extreme caution and stay away from fallen poles and power lines,” the press release said. Of the customers without power, about 8,400 were in I&M’s Fort Wayne area, which includes its customers in the northeast corner counties. “Because damage is still being assessed, estimated times that power will be restored is uncertain,” the press release said. A contingent of I&M crews was

SEE POKAGON, PAGE A6

Cameron Hospital Benefit Ball Potawatomi Inn, Pokagon State Park

Hors d’oeuvres & Cash Bar Entertainment by Trine Jass Band followed by Blammo Make reservations at www.cameronmch.com

SEE WINDS, PAGE A6


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The Herald Republican – November 18, 2013 by KPC Media Group - Issuu