TUESDAY December 3, 2013
LaGrange Focus
Our View
Christmas Bureau opens for season
Let’s make stealing smartphones a stupid idea
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He’s Back Colts RB Brown earns second chance
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Weather Cloudy, chance of rain, high 47. Tonight’s low 39. Rain Wednesday. Page A6 Kendallville, Indiana
GOOD MORNING Commissioners vote to remove stop sign BY BOB BRALEY bbraley@kpcmedia.com
ALBION — The Noble County Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 Monday to remove a stop sign at the intersection of C.R. 525W and C.R. 150S — because it isn’t really an intersection anymore. The commissioners vacated C.R. 150S west of the intersection years ago, said Noble County highway engineer Michael Fitch. The section of former road is now a gated driveway to private property, he said. A stop sign that had been in place on C.R. 525W no longer is needed because it no longer comes in as a “T” intersection to C.R. 150S, Fitch said. Instead, the road simply curves there. From there northward, the road turns again to become C.R. 500W. The vote did not require a public hearing. Fitch said curve signs would be installed at approaches to the intersection. Also Monday, the commissioners voted 3-0 to allow Noble County Sheriff Doug Harp to pursue the purchase of new recording equipment for interview rooms at the Noble County Jail using financing from Noble County banks. Harp had proposed to use a Kansas bank recommended by the equipment’s manufacturer to finance what was called a lease by the manufacturer. The commissioners felt local banks might be able to provide a better interest rate on financing. The current equipment is in need of replacement, Harp said. The new equipment’s projected cost is $17,700.
Deer hunter bags ‘Back Trouble’ GREENSBURG (AP) — A southeastern Indiana deer hunter who bagged a 21-point buck says he named his trophy “Back Trouble” because he strained his back dragging its 300-pound carcass out of the woods. Phil Hadley shot the deer last Tuesday while hunting in Decatur County. He said the buck was by far the biggest deer he’s shot in his long hunting career.
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Index
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Classifieds..................................C6-C8 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B5 Vol. 104 No. 332
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Council OKs switch to vote centers BY BOB BRALEY bbraley@kpcmedia.com
ALBION — Residents of Noble County will cast their ballots at vote centers in the May 2014 primary election. The Noble County Council voted 7-0 Monday to approve using vote centers, rather than precinct polling places as in the past. The council’s vote was the last hurdle the proposal needed to clear to become a reality. But it didn’t clear without discussion of where the centers should be located — an issue that has cropped up repeatedly in
connection with the plan approved last month by the Noble County Board of Elections. Under the plan, vote centers will be in Kendallville, Ligonier, Avilla, Albion, Rome City, Cromwell and Merriam. The scarcity of vote centers in the southern part of the county again came up Monday. Any voter registered in Noble County can cast a ballot at any vote center in the county. Councilman Jerry Jansen said he would prefer a plan in which a vote center was located in LaOtto, even if that meant moving a vote
center out of Avilla. Jansen was concerned because the only vote center in the county’s southern townships is in Merriam, with all the others in the central and northern parts. Noble County Clerk Shelley Mawhorter said the vote centers are distributed fairly evenly when going east to west, and that distances from any point in the county to a vote center remain shorter with an Avilla location than a LaOtto site. “Avilla is more centrally located for the other areas than is LaOtto,” Mawhorter said.
The key to making vote centers work is early voting, Mawhorter said, adding, “We want people to vote early, and we want people to be able to vote early.” Most counties with vote centers, which usually are open for early voting, have seen a 40-percent increase in early voting and an increase in overall voting, even with fewer locations, Mawhorter said. The proposal also will save the county money, Mawhorter said. It will save $9,400 in poll worker wages alone, even after including SEE CENTERS, PAGE A6
Health site on mend
Report says worst glitches are over
PATRICK REDMOND
Max Platt, center, along with his family, friends and city officials, cuts a ribbon offically opening
the new location of his Ford and Lincoln dealership in northwest Kendallville.
Max Platt opens new home BY MATT GETTS mgetts@kpcmedia.com
KENDALLVILLE — A new era has begun in Kendallville. After 40 years at 561 S. Main St., the Max Platt Ford dealership has moved to its West North Street location. The dealership held its grand opening on Monday. Kendallville Mayor Suzanne Handshoe and Councilman Jim Dazey were among the dignitaries on hand to help start the new era officially with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The new dealership will feature an expanded showroom area and an expanded service area that will allow customers to avoid having to park outside to have work done on their cars. “They can drive right in,” Max Platt said, “especially if it’s bad weather.” More room, particularly in the showroom area, is a noticeable difference in the new location. At its South Main Street building, the dealership could feature two cars in its showroom. Platt said the new building can comfortably put five or six new models on display. The service area has been expanded from 14,000 square feet to 17,000 square feet, said Jeff Platt, general manager. Max Platt said the move was necessary to keep the dealership progressing, but it was difficult closing the doors on a place where
PATRICK REDMOND
Jim Dazey of Kendallville looks at the window sticker of a brand new Ford inside the showroom at the new home of Max Platt Ford on West North Street in Kendallville.
he had come to work nearly every day since 1973. “We were down there 40 years,” Max Platt said. “It’s kind of sentimental. Things change, and you’ve got to keep moving forward.” Max Platt was a salesman, then general manager at a dealership in Waterloo. He left Waterloo when he heard the Johnny Roman Ford franchise in Kendallville was available. Kendallville was close to where he was born and raised, and he didn’t want to leave the area.
Leatherman Construction was the general contractor for the new dealership building. According to company president Scott Pounds, Max Platt stressed the importance of using local subcontractors, and more than 80 percent of the work on the new dealership was done by local businesses. Jeff Platt practically grew up in the dealership on South Main Street. “I don’t know if it’s hit me yet,” he said of the move. “It’s kind of bittersweet. We’re starting a new chapter, I guess.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Computer crashes should be giving way to insurance coverage — if the government’s diagnosis of its health care website is correct. The Health and Human Services Department released a progress report Sunday on its effort get the troubled HealthCare.gov website on the mend. Administration officials said the worst of the online glitches, bugs and delays may be over. “The bottom line — HealthCare.gov on Dec. 1 is night and day from where it was on Oct. 1,” said Jeff Zients, the White House’s troubleshooter tasked with making the website function properly. Overnight Sunday, technicians deployed a major new upgrade in the form of a window shopping feature that lets consumers get details on their insurance options without first having to fill out an application. The lack of an anonymous shopper feature was one of the major early shortcomings of the system. A stopgap version that was belatedly put in place until now was seen as rudimentary at best. The new version lets consumers get premium quotes by age, and also displays important plan details such as deductibles. Yet officials acknowledged more work remains on the website, which made its national debut two months ago with hundreds of software flaws, inadequate equipment and inefficient management. Federal workers and private contractors have undertaken an intense reworking of the system. One problem that consumers can’t see — at least not yet — is quickly moving up to the top of the White House priority list. Insurers complain that much of the enrollment information they have gotten through the system’s back-room operation is practically useless: SEE HEALTH, PAGE A6
Shoppers point, click for holiday bargains NEW YORK (AP) — Power up and shop. Millions of Americans took advantage of online deals ranging from free shipping to hundreds of dollars off electronics and half-price clothing Monday, which was expected to be the busiest online shopping day of the year. The spending surge on so-called Cyber Monday came after a disappointing holiday weekend in stores. And it showed that Americans are increasingly comfortable buying items on tablets and smartphones. Early results showed online shopping was up 18.7 percent compared with the same time last year, according to figures by IBM Benchmark. Mobile traffic, which includes smartphones and tablets,
accounted for 30 percent of all online traffic. Brandon Harris, 27, from Memphis, Tenn., started shopping at midnight Sunday and by Monday had spent around $300 and completed half of his Christmas shopping, including a Barbie doll for his niece and a TV for his mother. “I haven’t shopped for a Christmas present in a store in three years,” he said, making purchases from his iPad instead. “It’s a lot more convenient to be at home and shop.” The National Retail Federation, a trade group, predicts more than 131 million people will shop online Monday, up about 2 percent from last year. Meanwhile, UPS SEE SHOPPERS, PAGE A6
AP
Packages ready to ship move along a conveyor belt at the Amazon.com 1.2 million square foot fulfillment center in Phoenix recently. Retailers grabbed online holiday shopping dollars on the first working day after the busy holiday weekend Monday.