THURSDAY January 16, 2014
Big Road Win
Inside Comment
Twice As Nice
Hammons, Purdue prevail at Illinois
Thieves at work with aluminum foil
Both West Noble teams top Angola
Page B1
Page B4
Page B1
Weather Snow showers, 1-2 inches possible. High in the lower 30s. Tonight’s low 20. Page A8 Serving Noble & LaGrange Counties
Kendallville, Indiana
GOOD MORNING Councilman signs up to try for re-election ALBION — One more Republican candidate signed up seeking re-election to the Noble County Council Wednesday, the Noble County Clerk’s office said. Councilman Tom Janes is seeking re-election to his District 1 seat on the council. District 1 includes Elkhart, Washington, Sparta and Perry townships. Candidates have until noon Feb. 7 to file for re-election. The four district seats on the Noble County Council are up for re-election. Other positions to be voted on in the May 6 primary election include 3rd District U.S. representative, 82nd District state representative, Superior Court II judge, prosecuting attorney, sheriff, county auditor, county assessor, and the District 1 seat on the Noble County Board of Commissioners. Township trustees are to be voted on, as are two seats on the Albion Town Council and one seat each on the Albion and Cromwell town councils.
kpcnews.com
Districts get grades
School accountability grades
Prairie Heights improves to A after B year before FROM STAFF REPORTS
INDIANAPOLIS — One local school corporation earned an A, and one showed improvement in quality grades released Wednesday by the Indiana Department of Education. The grades apply to entire school districts. They are being issued four weeks after the state released grades for individual schools in December. The Prairie Heights school district improved to an A for 2013 after earning a B in 2012. The Lakeland school corporation dropped to a C
grade for 2013 after earning a B in 2012. Five other local school districts in Noble and LaGrange counties received the same grades for 2013 as for 2012. Earning B’s for the second year in a row are Westview and East Noble. Earning C’s for two consecutive years are Central Noble, West Noble and Smith-Green school districts. Like many of his counterparts, West Noble Superintendent Dr. Dennis VanDuyne is not a big fan of the state’s grading system. “Although the stated reason
for issuing school grades was to have a clear and transparent way to rate schools that everyone can understand, the product certainly fails to achieve that,” he said Wednesday. But there’s no doubt there is room for improvement at West Noble, he added. “We need to do better and are working hard at it. Reaching goals is hard enough in a business or manufacturing facility. It is all the more difficult when you add the complexities of human nature, language, social and environmental obstacles,” VanDuyne
The following grades for local school corporations were released by the Indiana Department of Education on Wednesday after individual school grades were released last month. The grades are based on a 4-point scoring system, with 4 being the highest possible grade, much like a grade point average. School corp.
2013 2013 2012 2012 grade points grade points DeKalb Eastern C 2.92 C 2.90 G-K-B* C 2.85 B 3.39 DeKalb Central B 3.44 C 2.88 Prairie Heights A 3.63 B 3.09 Westview B 3.31 B 3.29 Lakeland C 2.40 B 3.04 Central Noble C 2.28 C 2.29 East Noble B 3.16 B 3.19 West Noble C 2.49 C 2.68 Fremont A 3.65 A 3.78 Hamilton C 2.50 C 2.70 MSD of Steuben B 3.12 C 2.86 Smith-Green C 2.72 C 2.88 * Garrett-Keyser-Butler SOURCE: INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
SEE GRADES, PAGE A8
House passes budget Stutzman votes in favor of plan
Town hall meeting to address drugs KENDALLVILLE — City police will host a town hall meeting on drug awareness Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in City Hall. The public is invited to learn about drug abuse and how to help police in combating the problem. Last November, police held a similar town hall meeting before a City Council meeting. Time ran out before police could respond to all the questions from the public, said Police Chief Rob Wiley. He announced the drug abuse discussion would continue at a future town hall meeting. Noble County Prosecutor Steve Clouse, a police meth recovery technician, a Kendallville Police Department detective, a representative from Drug Free Noble County and Mayor Suzanne Handshoe have been invited to the meeting.
MOST POPULAR See which stories are the most read on KPC’s website kpcnews.com
Info •
75 cents
Middle School, a 2 1/2-inch water line behind the ceiling in the front entrance burst, flooding the entrance hallway, administration offices and gym floor with water. “A cast fitting just split,” said Leitch. School maintenance employees repaired the pipe. Kendallville firefighters and other city employees responded to the scene and helped squeegee water. A contractor, Protech, helped with the cleanup. Leitch publicly thanked city employees for their help in getting the water out of the building. • Jan. 13 — A heating system blower motor seized up and overheated, causing a minor fire in a classroom on the third floor of the middle school building. Kendallville firefighters were
WASHINGTON (AP) — Party leaders pushed a massive $1.1 trillion spending bill for this year through the House on Wednesday, shunning the turmoil of recent budget clashes with a compromise financing everything from airports to war costs and brimming with victories and concessions for both parties. The huge bill furnishes the fine print — 1,582 pages of it — for the bipartisan pact approved in December Stutzman that set overall spending levels for the next couple of years. With that decision behind them, the measure sailed through the House with no suspense and little dissent — fueled additionally by lawmakers’ desire to avoid an election-year replay of last fall’s widely unpopular 16-day federal shutdown. Approving the legislation “is showing the American people we actually are capable of working in a bipartisan manner,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. He praised the bill for holding down spending and said passage would be “the responsible thing to do. It’s the thoughtful thing to do.” The measure was approved by a one-sided 359-67 roll call, with virtually all opposition coming from Republicans. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., of Howe, voted in favor of the bill. “While this bill isn’t perfect, it cuts discretionary spending
SEE START, PAGE A8
SEE BUDGET, PAGE A8
DENNIS NARTKER
Fixing the problem Water Department employee Darin Metzger installs a clamp over a break in a 6-inch water line about 10 feet under South Main Street in Kendallville Wednesday afternoon. The 800 block of South
Main Street between Lisle and Henry streets was closed to traffic for about four hours. The repair did not disrupt water service.
EN has rough start to 2014 BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.com
KENDALLVILLE — Burst water pipes, a fire caused by an overheated motor in a heating unit and rodents chewing electrical wires to cause backflow in a well have plagued East Noble schools this month. East Noble business manager Brian Leitch reviewed the problems for East Noble school board members Wednesday night. Claims for damages have been submitted to the school corporation’s insurance carrier for all of the incidents, repairs have been made and cleanup of flooded areas in some cases has been completed. Leitch gave this rundown of what happened: • Jan. 3 — A 1-inch water line in the East Noble High School
building’s maintenance area burst, causing the boiler providing heat to shut down. School corporation maintenance employees located the problem and, with the help of a contractor, Combustion Mechanical, repairs were made and cleanup done. Students and staff were not in school. “The temperature in the building went down to the low 60s,” said Leitch. • Jan. 8 — Two 3/4-inch water lines froze and burst behind the ceiling in the lobby area of the high school gym and Cole Auditorium, causing water damage to the ceiling, trophy cases and 20 light fixtures. A custodian found the problem and alerted Leitch and maintenance employees. Leitch estimated the damage at $13,000 to $15,000. • Jan. 10 — At East Noble
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..................................................... A6 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B5 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A8 TV/Comics .......................................B6 Vol. 105 No. 15
Report on Benghazi points out mistakes WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Intelligence Committee released a report on the deadly assault on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, Wednesday, laying blame on the State Department, the intelligence community — even the late Ambassador Chris Stevens — for failing to communicate and heed warnings of terrorist activity in the area. The highly critical report also says the U.S. military was not positioned to aid the Americans in need, though the head of Africa Command had offered military security teams that Stevens — who
was killed in the attack — had rejected weeks before the attack. It also said that in the aftermath of the attacks, U.S. analysts confused policymakers by blaming the violence on protests without enough supporting intelligence. The 2012 Benghazi attacks have dogged the Obama administration, because then-U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice initially blamed the violence on mob protests over an anti-Islamic film. Al-Qaida-linked militant groups were later blamed for the attacks, first when militants overran the temporary U.S. mission on Sept. SEE REPORT, PAGE A8
AP
This 2012 file photo shows a Libyan man investigating the inside of the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, after an attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. The Senate Intelligence Committee released a report on the deadly assault on the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, Wednesday.