MONDAY December 16, 2013
County Seat
Our View
Operation Round Up issues, offers grants
Colts trounce Houston
Stutzman qualified to aid with ACA
Page A3
Indy posts win
Page B4
Page B1
Weather Mostly cloudy skies with a 20 percent chance of snow. High of 21. Low of 18. Page A6
Kendallville, Indiana
Serving Noble & LaGrange Counties
kpcnews.com
Baby steps
GOOD MORNING Many area schools delayed today KENDALLVILLE — Many northeast Indiana school districts, including most in Noble and LaGrange counties, had declared delays for today as of Tuesday evening. As of 10:15 p.m., the East Noble, West Noble, Prairie Heights and Westview school districts had announced two-hour delays, as did Smith-Green Community Schools, which serves part of Noble County. Oak Farm Montessori School in Avilla announced a one-hour delay. Temperatures this morning were forecast to be in the low teens in the region. Many back roads and side streets are still snow covered after Saturday’s snowstorms.
Some areas received 8 inches or more of snow SOUTH BEND (AP) — The snowstorm that moved through Indiana left some areas of the state under 8 inches or more of snow, while snow continues to fall in northern Indiana. The National Weather Service says the heaviest snowfall was reported in northeast Indiana, with the community of Hudson in Steuben County receiving 9.5 inches of snow. The community of Leesburg in Kosciusko County received 8.2 inches and in northwest Indiana, Hobart received 8 inches. Mishawaka, near South Bend, and Columbia City received 7.9 inches, while Milford and Wakarusa each received 7.8 inches and Angola and Auburn received 7.5 inches. Fort Wayne received 7.1 inches.
Animal refuge owner challenges IOSHA findings on tiger BLOOMINGTON (AP) — The owner of a western Indiana animal refuge fined $69,000 by the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration for safety violations discovered after a tiger mauled a woman at the center says he is contesting some of the agency’s findings. Exotic Feline Rescue Center owner Joe Taft tells The Herald-Times it would costs millions of dollars to replace the fences or make them higher as IOSHA officials want. He says he has received increased donations, but not enough to pay for the required changes.
Budget deal may signal era of progress
OCTAVIA LEHMAN
The members of the Garrett Model Railroad Club meet at the Garrett Historical Museum
every Thursday. The club started in 1991 and has members from all over northeast Indiana.
Train club stays on track Garrett group serves as outlet for area hobbyists BY OCTAVIA LEHMAN olehman@kpcmedia.com
GARRETT — Despite the cold, two men stand outside the Garrett Historical Society for a brief moment. Leaning on the railing, they watch a train roll through town. Another man walks up the steps and joins them. With the train finally gone, they meander inside to their ultimate hobby: model trains. The men are a part of the Garrett Model Railroad Club and meet every Thursday to discuss trains and the business of the track. John Mohre, the historian at the Garrett Historical Society, started the group in 1991. “I’m a train buff,” Mohre said. The group dug a basement into the Garrett Historical Museum
NEIGHBORS DEKALB
COUNTY
with enough space to lay six miles of scale track. The track has two levels and is loosely based on a route that runs from Chicago to Baltimore. “All the major railways are represented,” said Karl Mavis, the club’s president. Mohre credits Mavis with bringing the club to the 21st century. A few years ago, Mavis oversaw the installation of the club’s new digital command control system. The new system allows the locomotives on the same electronic
Video: See the trains President Karl Mavis and other members talk more about the Garrett Model Railroad Club in video at kpcnews.com that also includes clips of some of the trains and track layout. Scan the QR code to watch it on your tablet or smartphone.
track to be controlled individually. Each of the trains has a chip inside that makes the sound of the actual train. The technology in the prototypes is advanced enough that SEE RAILROAD, PAGE A6
Mandela buried in green, rolling hills of South Africa QUNU, South Africa (AP) — His flag-draped casket resting on a carpet of animal skins, Nelson Mandela was laid to rest Sunday in the green, rolling hills of the eastern hamlet where he began his extraordinary journey — one that led him from prison to the presidency, a global symbol of endurance and reconciliation in the fight against South Africa’s racist rule. Artillery boomed and military aircraft roared through a cloud-studded sky, as the simple and the celebrated gathered to pay their final respects in Mandela’s
native village of Qunu at a state funeral that blended ancient tribal rituals with a display of the might of the new, integrated South Africa. “Yours was truly a long walk to freedom and now you have achieved the ultimate freedom in the bosom of your maker,” Brig. Gen. Monwabisi Jamangile, chaplain-general of the South African military, said as Mandela’s casket was lowered into the ground at the family gravesite. “Rest in peace.” “I realized that the old man is no more, no more with us,” said
Bayanda Nyengule, head of a local museum about Mandela, his voice cracking as he described the burial attended by several hundred mourners after a larger funeral ceremony during which some 4,500 people, including heads of state, royalty and celebrities, paid their last respects. The burial ended a 10-day mourning period that began with Mandela’s death on Dec. 5 at 95, and included a Johannesburg memorial attended by nearly 100 world leaders and three days during which tens of thousands of SEE MANDELA, PAGE A6
Info • The News Sun P.O. Box 39, 102 N. Main St. Kendallville, IN 46755 Telephone: (260) 347-0400 Fax: (260) 347-2693 Classifieds: (toll free) (877) 791-7877 Circulation: (260) 347-0400 or (800) 717-4679
Index
•
Classifieds........................................B7 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B6 Vol. 104 No. 345
75 cents
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
“No-shave” was for a good cause The “no-shave November” tradition practiced by West Noble teachers and staff had a special purpose this year, as all of the proceeds from the beard growing went to Hannah Rose, a seventhgrader at West Noble Middle School. Hannah has had very serious health issues, including surgeries, over the past few years. She continues to have testing and could be headed to University Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa later this month for another
surgery. The no-shave contest brought in more than $1,000 for the Rose family to help with expenses. Shown above, from the left, are West Noble staffer Wes Weimer, middle school athletic director Gene Teel, Stephanie Rose (Hannah’s mother), Hannah Rose, Bobby Rose (Hannah’s father), West Noble Primary School principal Brian Shepherd, and Jason Worrell, one of several teachers and staff members who participated in the fundraiser.
WASHINGTON (AP) — People hoping for a government that works better can’t decide whether to cheer or lament a bipartisan budget bill that legislative leaders call a breakthrough even as they acknowledge it does little. In an era of low expectations, House passage of the bill marks a rare cease-fire that should avoid a repeat of this fall’s government shutdown and flirtation with default. Yet it comes nowhere near the more ambitious efforts to address long-term spending and debt. Such comprehensive plans repeatedly collapsed in recent years despite secret White House talks, blue-ribbon panels, a congressional “supercommittee” and other devices and tactics. Several Washington insiders warn against assuming the new budget deal will lead to progress on immigration and other stalemated issues. “The president calls it a good first step, but to what?” said Bob Bixby of the bipartisan Concord Coalition, which advocates far-reaching budget reforms. “My fear is that it may be the end of the search for the larger grand bargain rather than the beginning. It has that feel.” “Grand bargain” refers to a bipartisan accord that would start to slow the long-term cost projections of Social Security and Medicare while raising tax revenues to lower the deficit, among other things. The bill that passed the House on Thursday, and awaits Senate action, is a tiny step forward, Bixby said. “But you can’t get that excited if your kid brings home a D because it wasn’t an F,” he said. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a chief architect of the budget deal, said the agreement helps “bring some respect to the word ‘compromise.’” Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who represented Republicans in negotiating the deal, expressed hope that “the country is not going to see these shutdowns and Congress is going Ryan to get back to the business of paying the bills and prioritizing spending.” Both Murray and Ryan were interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Some lawmakers see the glass half full. They hope the budget deal will cool partisan passions in 2014 and beyond. “Maybe it’s something we can build on,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. “Success begets success, and trust builds trust.” One possible area of renewed effort is a proposed immigration overhaul. The Democratic-run Senate passed a version this year, but the Republican-controlled House has stalled it. Advocates talk of a possible piecemeal House approach. But Democrats and Republicans are divided on whether millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally should be given a path to citizenship. Some influential lawmakers say the budget deal doesn’t necessarily brighten prospects elsewhere. “I don’t see that this is a clear channel for us to move to immigration,” said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, chairman of the House Rules Committee. “I don’t think that’s what this was about.” Sessions said he hopes the House-passed measure will stave off future budget fights “with a little more certainty, where we can aim at Obamacare, and its impact on the economy and jobs.”