The News Sun – January 6, 2014

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MONDAY January 6, 2014

Honored

Library News

Local fireman recognized

Playoffs

County now offers mobile laptop lab

Page A2

San Diego win sends Colts to New England

Page A3

Page B1

Weather Bitter cold temperatures will hit today, with blowing snow also making for rough going. Page A6

Kendallville, Indiana

Serving Noble & LaGrange Counties

kpcnews.com

Country bracing for deep freeze

GOOD MORNING General Assembly postpones opening of 2014 session INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana General Assembly has decided to postpone the opening of its 2014 session because of bad weather. The Indiana House and Senate were scheduled to being the legislative session on Monday but have decided to postpone that because of expected extreme low temperatures and snow. The National Weather Service is predicting heavy snow Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis with 6 inches or more of snow expected by Sunday night. The weather service also is predicting temperatures in the Indianapolis area to hit a high of about 11 below on Monday, saying that strong winds may produce wind chills of 25 to 45 below zero. Officials say General Assembly staff members are expected to report to work 1:30 p.m. Monday.

Pence orders state offices closed due to winter storm, cold INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Gov. Mike Pence has told all state government offices closed Monday because of the expected severe weather, but has told essential personnel to report to work to ensure public safety and critical services are available. Pence says he issued the order because he wants to help keep people off the roads and out of the extreme cold. Pence’s announcement early Sunday evening followed earlier announcements that the General Assembly postponed the opening its 2014 session Monday and that state appellate courts, including the Indiana Supreme Court, will be closed. The state is bracing for an Artic air blast expected to bring wind chills of up to 45 degrees below zero through Tuesday. Authorities in many Indiana counties are warning residents to stay off the roads because of unsafe conditions.

CHAD KLINE

Heavy snow falls Sunday afternoon as a couple walk near downtown Kendallville.

Snow chokes area Officials issue ‘Red’ emergencies in 4 counties FROM STAFF REPORTS

Across northeast Indiana, activity ground to a slow crawl if not a complete halt due to about a foot of snow that fell Sunday. LaGrange, DeKalb, Steuben and Noble counties issued Red Level 1 travel warning emergency declarations, meaning that travel there was restricted to emergency management personnel only, taking effect Sunday. LaGrange County’s was issued at 4:38 p.m. Sunday, Steuben’s at 6:10 p.m., DeKalb’s at 6:43 p.m., and Noble’s at 7:02 p.m., the Indiana Department of Homeland Security’s website said. Mayor Tonya Hoeffel announced the city of Garrett was placed under a Level 1 snow emergency effective 7 p.m. Sunday night until further notice. Travel is restricted to emergency vehicles only. Kendallville

declared a Level 1 emergency after 8 p.m. Sunday. The Noble and Steuben county Level 1 emergencies are effective until noon today. DeKalb’s, LaGrange’s, Kendallville’s and Garrett’s were indefinite as of Sunday at 7:30 p.m. The cities of Ligonier declared an Orange Level 2 watch emergency, as of 6 p.m. Sunday. Under an Orange level travel watch emergency, only necessary travel is recommended. A watch emergency recommends people should travel only in such cases as emergencies or to get to and from work. Travel in Noble County was extremely hazardous, said Noble County Emergency Management Agency executive director Michael Newton, adding, “It’s treacherous out there.” Noble County Highway Depart-

ment crews had labored to keep roads open all day, but were unable to keep up with the falling and blowing snow, Newton said. “Every report is, the roads are just getting worse,” he said. The county ordered road crews to stop for a few hours of sleep Sunday evening and expected to have them back on the roads by 4-5 a.m. today, Newton said. The situation was similar in DeKalb County, where highway superintendent Eric Patton was driving a snowplow on C.R. 427 just after 5 p.m. Sunday, before the red warning emergency was declared. He described the road’s condition as “not too bad,” but added, “In another hour, it’ll be closed if the wind keeps up like it is.” Patton said the wind picked up SEE WEATHER, PAGE A6

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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

Classified.............................................. B7-B8 Life.................................................................A5 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion ........................................................B4 Sports.................................................... B1-B3 Weather........................................................A6 TV/Comics ..................................................B6 Vol. 105 No. 5

CHICAGO (AP) — Snow-covered roads and high winds created treacherous driving Sunday from the Dakotas to Michigan and Missouri as residents braced for the next round of bad weather: dangerously cold temperatures that could break records across much of the nation. Temperatures were being suppressed by a “polar vortex,” a counterclockwise-rotating pool of cold, dense air that will affect more than half of the continental U.S. throughout Sunday and into Monday and Tuesday, with wind chill warnings stretching from Montana to Alabama. The forecast is extreme: 25 below zero in Fargo, N.D., minus 31 in International Falls, Minn., and 15 below in Indianapolis and Chicago. Wind chills — what it feels like outside when high winds are factored into the temperature — could drop into the negative 50s and 60s. Northeastern Montana was warned Sunday of wind chills up to 59 below zero. “It’s just a dangerous cold,” National Weather Service meteorologist Butch Dye in Missouri said. Several Midwestern states were walloped by up to a foot of new snow on Sunday. Five to 9 inches fell in the Chicago area by Sunday afternoon, while the St. Louis area had about a foot of snow and northern Indiana had at least 8 inches. Central Illinois was bracing for 8 to 10 inches, and southern Michigan could see up to 15 inches. Officials closed several Illinois SEE FREEZE, PAGE A6

‘Short sessions’ political slogs

KPC PHOTO CONTEST

kpcnews.com More > Photo Contest

75 cents

PATRICK REDMOND

Viola Brodbeck, an 89-year-old client at The Arc of LaGrange County, works some small devices designed to keep her fingers nimble and her

mind sharp. Brodbeck has been with program since the mid-1980s and has not missed a single day of “work.”

Keeping on the go Woman, 89, stays active through Arc of LaGrange BY PATRICK REDMOND predmond@kpcmedia.com

LAGRANGE — No one at The Arc of LaGrange County can remember a day when 89-year-old Viola Brodbeck, an Arc client, didn’t make it in to “work.” Sitting at a classroom table, working to thread nuts to a set of bolts — an exercise designed to keep the woman’s fingers nimble while at the same time, stimulating her mind — Viola has a simple answer to the question of why she never takes a day off. “I like to work,” she said, continuing her task, barely looking away as she answers. Technically, Viola is retired, and has been ever since she first arrived at Arc of LaGrange in

NEIGHBORS LAGRANGE COUNTY

1985. Arc is a LaGrange County institution, a part of the local landscape since 1966. According to CEO Deb Seman, The Arc of LaGrange County’s mission is “to protect and support individuals with disabilities and to develop their potential within our unique community.” Viola has a mild disability, explained Seman, and her speech is a little difficult to understand for anyone who doesn’t know her. But that does nothing to tarnish her

Learn more about Viola See Viola Brodbeck at work and learn more about her in video at kpcnews.com. Scan the QR code to watch it on your tablet or smartphone.

remarkable work ethic or to slow down her drive to remain busy. According to Sue Hankinson, one of Viola’s supervisors at Arc as well as a longtime friend and supporter, Viola is always on the go. SEE VIOLA, PAGE A6

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Increasingly inside the Statehouse, “short session” is no longer a term to be confused with an inconsequential gathering of the state’s lawmakers. When lawmakers return for the start of 2014’s “short session” this week, they are set to take up two high-profile measures — one to write the state’s gay marriage ban into the constitution and another that would eliminate the personal property tax paid by businesses. Lawmakers began adding a second annual meeting to each two-year term — just like Congress’ — more than four decades ago as a means to deal with minor budget fixes that could not wait. But that budget-fixing mechanism has evolved in recent years into sessions in which elected leaders tackle some of the most high-profile and contentious measures. The precursor to this year’s business tax cut proposal came during the short session of 2008, when lawmakers (and ultimately voters) placed property tax caps into the state constitution. The Indiana Chamber of Commerce, among others, has argued that the cuts unfairly placed the burden of local property taxes on businesses and left homeowners largely unscathed. Top Republican leaders, including Gov. Mike Pence and House Speaker Brian Bosma, want to eliminate the tax, along SEE SESSION, PAGE A6


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