SATURDAY December 28, 2013
Basketball Scoreboard
Friends In Need Donations being taken to help family after fire Page A2
Weather Partly cloudy, high 42. Low tonight 30. Chance of rain Sunday, high 38.
Homestead E. Noble boys
48 26
NorthWood E. Noble girls
61 45
Prairie Heights 72 Eastside (boys) 62
Marion E. Noble boys
74 39
E. Noble girls S.B. Adams
50 47
Leo Angola (boys)
61 50
Page A6 Kendallville, Indiana
Serving Noble & LaGrange Counties
kpcnews.com
75 cents
New Year’s Eve revelers will tip a few GOOD MORNING Retired teacher leaves large gift to fight cancer INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A retired Indianapolis school teacher who died February at age 94 has stunned a local cancer-research company by leaving it $1.9 million. Margaret M. Weeks’ nearly $2 million bequest to Hoosier Oncology Group is the second-largest in the Indianapolis-based company’s history and one of its most surprising gifts. “It came out of left field for us. We totally weren’t expecting it,” Chris Fausel, chairman of Hoosier Oncology’s board, said. Hoosier Oncology Group spokesman Randy Dillinger said the organization knows little about Weeks, whose gift was announced Thursday. “There isn’t much that we know about her, which makes this kind of a mysterious gift to us, but one that we’re extremely grateful for,” he said. The donation was made from a trust established by Weeks in 2001 through Fifth Third Bank in Evansville, where she was living until she died on Feb. 14 at Good Samaritan Home in Evansville. Many questions remain about Weeks, who was preceded in death by her husband, John F. Weeks. Her obituary states that she was a retired schoolteacher from the Indianapolis School Corp.
Coming Sunday Best Movies of 2013 KPC movie reviewer Jenny Kobiela Mondor breaks down her favorites by category on this Sunday’s C1 and C2.
Clip and Save Find $73 in coupon savings in Sunday’s newspaper.
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-B8 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion ............................................. A3 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B6 Vol. 104 No. 356
Alcohol sales more for other holidays, area merchants say BY AARON ORGAN aorgan@kpcmedia.com
The celebration of New Year’s Eve isn’t accompanied by as much alcohol as you might assume, local liquor store managers report. Brad “Cricket” Gay, owner of Gay’s Hops-n-Schnapps, said the much-commercialized evening of partying and partaking in spirits falls well behind other holidays
when it comes to actual sales for his stores. Gay’s, with locations in Angola, Auburn, Fremont and LaGrange, reports New Year’s Eve sales rank “by far” behind, for instance, Independence Day. The store manager at Kendallville Party Store, 120 N. Main St., echoed that, saying the holiday certainly ranks in his top 10 busiest of the year, but well behind Independence Day and even Halloween. That manager, who asked not to be identified, said sales around New Year’s Eve fell off after 2000 and have rebounded only slightly in the years since. Why? Gay said the location of
his stores around the lakes make them hot spots for sales over the summer holidays. The Kendallville Party store listed reasons such as a crackdown on drunken driving and “alcohol doesn’t hold the allure it used to.” That’s not to say it’s a dry holiday. Gay’s and the Kendallville Party Store both experience major spikes in sales on New Year’s Eve over regular business days. In preparation, each starts ordering and stocking at the beginning of December. The Kendallville Party store concentrates its orders on beers and
sparkling wines, its manager reported, saying “There are some things you don’t want to run out of, of course, so you have to plan right the whole month ahead.” Gay said he’s sure to order trendy items such as craft beers and craft spirits. “It’s the new craze,” said Gay. “Craft beer, craft spirits have become huge. It’s just insane. So you need to know something about it and you need help choosing it. You want to know what that is before you reach out and purchase it.” That’s where training comes SEE NEW YEAR’S, PAGE A6
Court backs NSA KPC FILE PHOTO
Water flies in the air as participants run into the frigid waters of Bixler Lake in Kendallville at the
annual Bixler Lake Polar Bear Plunge last Jan. 1. The plunge will take place again Wednesday.
Be ready for very cold splash BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.com
KENDALLVILLE — People planning to participate in Wednesday’s fifth annual free Bixler Lake Polar Plunge should be prepared for icy conditions and very cold temperatures, organizers say. Kendallville Park Department recreation director Dawn McGahen she strongly recommends that anyone taking the plunge should bring dry towels, blankets and a change of clothing. “The weather forecast is showing a high of 15 degrees with a 50 percent chance of snow. Participants should take extra precautions with warm, dry clothes and shoes,” she said Friday. Bixler Lake had 4 to 5 inches of ice Friday, and McGahen expects the park staff will have to cut and remove ice at the west beach for the plunge. Last year the beach area had open water with no ice. “We would suggest that once participants are done plunging, they dry off and then get out of the elements to avoid lengthy exposure to the cold temperatures,” she said. Last year the lake’s water
temperature was 38 degrees, and the air temperature was 26 degrees. The lake was iced over in places but not at the beach. An estimated 200 adults and children ran into the water last year. There are no buildings or enclosures open at the beach where participants can get warm after exiting the water. Beachhouse restrooms will be closed. McGahen recommends participants wear old shoes for entering the water, then change into dry ones immediately after exiting. Kendallville firefighters and Noble County EMS will be on hand in case of emergencies. This year’s event hits the water at 4 p.m. with registration starting at 3 p.m. Each child must be accompanied by a supervising adult. Every participant must sign a waiver, according to McGahen. Waiver forms are available at the Youth Center park office, 211 Iddings St., Monday and Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The office is closed from 1-2 p.m. Waivers also are available online at kendallville-in.org/departments/ park or at the event.
Annual plunge set at Hamilton BY JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcmedia.com
HAMILTON — Bikini-clad men and women, Santa suits, Hawaiian wear, costumed owners with matching-dressed pets. It’s the annual Jack Gibson Polar Bear Plunge at the Hamilton Lake Beach Tuesday at 2 p.m., and just about anything goes for the fundraiser. Gibson was a longtime educator, high school sports official, military veteran and member of the Hamilton Lions Club who died from cancer in 2011. Hamilton Lions President Bob Howard said the event is fun, especially for those willing to brave the harsh winter elements and face goose bumps. “Girls wear bikinis like it’s 97 degrees in summer,” SEE HAMILTON, PAGE A6
NEW YORK (AP) — The heated debate over the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of millions of Americans’ telephone records fell squarely into the courts Friday, when a federal judge in Manhattan upheld the legality of the program and cited its need in the fight against terrorism just days after another federal judge concluded it was likely not constitutional. The ruling by U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III and an opposing view earlier this month by U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington D.C. sets the stage for federal appeals courts to confront the delicate balance developed when the need to protect national security clashes with civil rights established in the Constitution. Pauley concluded the program was a necessary extension of steps taken after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He said the program lets the government connect fragmented and fleeting communications and “represents the government’s counter-punch” to the al-Qaida’s terror network’s use of technology to operate decentralized and plot international terrorist attacks remotely. “This blunt tool only works because it collects everything,” Pauley said. “The collection is broad, but the scope of counterterrorism investigations is unprecedented.” Pauley’s decision contrasts with Leon’s grant of a preliminary injunction against the collecting of phone records of two men who had challenged the program. The Washington, D.C. jurist said the program likely violates the SEE NSA, PAGE A6
Linemen working non-stop to restore power in Michigan DETROIT (AP) — When an ice storm glazed over Michigan last weekend, Tony Carone feared he wouldn’t be spending Christmas at home with his family. “Nobody had to call. I heard it on the top of my roof,” Carone said. The 52-year-old lineman for Detroit-based DTE Energy is one of the thousands of electrical workers who have put in double shifts trying to restore power to more than a half-million homes and businesses. Outages stretched from the Great Plains to Maine and into eastern Canada. “My power went out the same time as everybody else’s,” Carone said of the power to his Lapeer
home, north of Detroit. It was about 7:30 a.m. Sunday, while he was on the phone with his utility’s area leader. He walked out the door a half-hour later and has been working 16 hours a day ever since. The storm has been blamed for 17 deaths in the U.S. and 10 in Canada. Five people apparently died from carbon monoxide poisoning tied to using generators. Michigan bore the brunt of the storm as nearly 600,000 homes and businesses lost power, and as of Friday morning, about 64,000 customers remained in the dark. Maine reported almost 12,000 outages and in eastern Canada, nearly 62,000 still hadn’t had their SEE POWER, PAGE A6
AP
Cory Bean works atop a utility pole to repair a power line Thursday in East Lansing, Mich. Bean is part of a crew from utility service company T&D Solutions out of Kentucky brought in to assist Consumers Energy with restoring power after an ice storm. Bean has been working in Michigan since Sunday.