The News Sun – January 8, 2014

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WEDNESDAY January 8, 2014

Brady Live

Heroes In The Storm

One To Go

Colts’ Luck grew up watching Pats’ QB

Officers spend day off helping stranded drivers

PH’s Heller nears 1,000th

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Weather Warmer, chance of flurries, high in the upper teens. Low tonight 8. Page A6 Serving Noble & LaGrange Counties

Kendallville, Indiana

GOOD MORNING Plan commission meeting canceled ALBION — A Noble County Plan Commission meeting scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. was canceled Tuesday afternoon. All agenda items for the meeting will be moved to the regularly scheduled meeting Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. Public hearings for confined feeding, Unified Development Ordinance maps and proposed A1 changes also will be addressed at that time.

Libraries plan to open today at noon KENDALLVILLE — Kendallville Public Library and Limberlost Public Library in Rome City will open today at noon. Library programs for today have been canceled due to East Noble canceling school.

City may take out loan to help pay for police vehicle KENDALLVILLE — The city may borrow nearly $17,000 to help pay for a new police vehicle. City Council Tuesday night approved on first reading a special ordinance allowing the city to borrow up to $16,995 as a two-year loan from Campbell and Fetter Bank with interest READ MORE ON PAGE A2

75 cents

Trying to dig out, stay warm Weather warming up slowly; Roads still slippery, dangerous BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.com

KENDALLVILLE — A wind chill warning expired last night and a warmup was forecast for today, but frigid temperatures, wind chills of 30 to 40 below, snow and slippery road conditions kept emergency responders busy late Monday and Tuesday. A wind chill advisory is in effect until 9 a.m. today. Noble County officials and Mayor Suzanne Handshoe lifted a Level 1 traffic warning at noon Tuesday and declared a Watch Level that was to end at midnight. The county roads and city streets remained slick and hazardous Tuesday, covered with hard-packed snow and ice. The public was advised to stay off the roads Tuesday night unless traveling to and from work and for emergency situations. Despite the warning, police were busy responding to minor accidents and

JAMES TEW

Kendallville Street Department employee Tony Perkins scoops snow into another street depart-

slide-offs. “Salting the roads doesn’t work in these extremely low

ment truck Tuesday to be removed from traffic lanes on Main Street in downtown Kendallville.

temperatures,” said Kendallville Street Department superintendent Ryan Alwine. “Any thawing just

refreezes.” Since Saturday night, city street SEE WEATHER, PAGE A6

Restrictions on driving eased

Man suffers burns as fuel tank explodes HOWE — An Amish man was airlifted to a Fort Wayne hospital about 8 a.m. Tuesday after he suffered second- and third-degree burns to his hands and face when a fuel tank exploded inside his workshop. The man’s name and the address of his shop were not released. The accident occurred west of Howe along S.R. 120. Firefighters closed down a section of the highway to allow Parkview’s Samaritan helicopter to land and take the man to a Fort Wayne hospital. No additional details were available.

kpcnews.com

BY BOB BRALEY bbraley@kpcmedia.com

BOB BRALEY

A pickup in the 100 block of Van Scoyoc Street, Avilla, was one of a number of vehicles still plowed in throughout the area Tuesday as efforts to clear streets of the snow from the storm that hit northeast Indiana Sunday advanced.

ALBION — Government officials relaxed travel restrictions in Kendallville and on Noble County roads Tuesday. The Noble County Board of Commissioners and Kendallville Mayor Suzanne Handshoe each authorized a reduction in the travel emergency status from Red Level 1 Warning to Orange Level 2 Watch effective at noon Tuesday, said Michael Newton, Noble County Emergency Management Agency executive director.

A Red Level 1 Warning allows only emergency vehicles to travel on county or city roads while streets are being cleared. An Orange Level 2 Watch permits all vehicles on roads, but recommends only essential travel such as driving to and from work and travel for medical concerns. The Orange Level 2 Watch was in place for both areas through midnight Tuesday, Newton said late Tuesday morning. The Red Level 1 Warning prompted many people to call SEE RESTRICTIONS, PAGE A6

Wind still makes clearing roads a struggle BY PATRICK REDMOND predmond@kpcmedia.com

LAGRANGE — Late Tuesday afternoon, LaGrange County officials lifted an emergency travel ban, replacing it with a watch that allows motorists to do only essential driving, such as such as going back and forth to work. The ban had been in place since a winter storm struck the area Sunday. More than a dozen people received tickets in LaGrange County for violating the emergency travel ban. The LaGrange County Highway Department still is struggling to open some roads in the county. Strong southwesterly winds Monday undid much of the plowing

work accomplished by road crews, blowing and drifting snow back onto roads that had just been cleared. “That blowing snow really packs hard,” Randy Van Wagner, a foreman with the LaGrange County Highway Department, said Tuesday morning. Officials at the Indiana Toll Road reported driving conditions were still quite slick Tuesday night. They advised motorists to stay off the toll road if at all possible. Stewart Bender, the Topeka fire chief who also serves as the county’s emergency management director, said people who drove their cars Sunday and Monday and got stuck in the snow on the road caused as much trouble for

the highway department as the snow. “For the most part, the hardest part of this was just trying to get people to say off the roads so they (the highway department) can clear out the roads,” Bender explained. “That put police and fire department members at risk, because at 40 below you just can’t leave people stranded out there.” Cars presented a huge obstacle for plow drivers who reported dozens of abandoned vehicles littering county roads. “We’ve got cars stuck all over the place,” Van Wagner said, adding that it is difficult to plow around cars buried in snow. Even Tuesday’s seemingly SEE WIND, PAGE A6

PATRICK REDMOND

The Farmers State Bank sign shows a temperature of 13 below zero at about 9 a.m. Tuesday.

SNOW PHOTOS Send us your photos from the winter storm news@kpcmedia.com

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........................................B8 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B7 Vol. 105 No. 7

Jobless benefits renewal clears key hurdle WASHINGTON (AP) — White House-backed legislation to renew jobless benefits unexpectedly cleared an initial Senate hurdle on Tuesday, raising the prospect of a mid-winter compromise to ease the impact of the recession on the long-term unemployed. “Let’s get it done,” President Barack Obama exhorted lawmakers at the White House shortly after the vote. The vote was 60-37 to limit debate on the three-month legislation, with a half-dozen Republi-

cans siding with the Democrats on the test vote. At the same time, the Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said he and his rank and file would seek changes so the bill’s $6.4 billion cost would not add to deficits. Senate Democrats have so far rejected that approach, although there were signs they would eventually yield. Shortly after the Senate vote, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, issued a statement

expressing views similar to McConnell’s. Almost simultaneously, a senior Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York, signaled a willingness to consider changes to offset the impact of the bill on the deficit, calling that “the second best option.” The vote came at the dawn of an election year in which the two parties have made it clear they intend to battle for the support of millions of voters who have suffered economically through the worst recession in decades and

the slow, plodding recovery that followed. The political phrase is income disparity — the difference between the rich and the economically squeezed. In pocketbook terms, Democrats chose first to seek an extension of long-term jobless benefits, to be followed by a proposal to increase the minimum wage that many Republicans also are expected to oppose. Among the GOP proposals is a suspension in the requirement to SEE UNEMPLOYMENT, PAGE A6

Four killed in crash of Air Force helicopter LONDON (AP) — A U.S. Air Force Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in the coastal marshes of eastern England during a training mission on Tuesday night, killing all four crew members aboard, officials said. The helicopter crashed at about 6 p.m. local time near Salthouse on the Norfolk coast, a statement from the U.S. Air Force said.

The aircraft was based at the nearby Royal Air Force station in Lakenheath, Suffolk County, which hosts USAF units and personnel. The helicopter, assigned to the 48th Fighter Wing, was flying low at the time of the crash, the statement added. In Washington, a U.S. defense official said the accident killed the

four U.S. Air Force crew members aboard. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the crash publicly. Local police in Norfolk County also said they believed all four crew had died. It said family members will be notified before details of the victims can be released. Emergency workers from

the fire brigade, coast guard and police are at the scene. Police in Norfolk County said they believe there is ammunition onboard the helicopter, and the scene was cordoned off so that experts could ensure the area is safe. Apart from the crew, nobody was put in any danger, police said. It is not yet known what caused the accident.


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