TUESDAY October 29, 2013
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Man allegedly held another at gunpoint GOOD MORNING Country star’s tour bus strikes, kills pedestrian NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A tour bus carrying country star Jason Aldean struck a man walking along a highway in southwest Indiana early Monday and the pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Aldean and his driver were the only ones aboard the performer’s bus, which hit the man after he had walked onto U.S. Highway 41 North around 1:28 a.m., said Sheriff Michael P. Morris in Indiana’s Knox County. The deceased was identified as Albert Kennedy of Vincennes, Ind. Morris said no charges will be filed, calling the accident “unavoidable.” “In all the years I’ve been touring and all the miles we’ve driven, nothing prepares you for something like this to happen,” Aldean said in a post on his Twitter account. “I’m praying for Albert Kennedy’s family and friends today and ask that you do the same.” Morris said the man had been known to travel along the roadway on foot or by bicycle at all times of the day.
BSU president to retire in June MUNCIE (AP) — Ball State University President Jo Ann Gora says she sees good days ahead for the Munciebased university. Gora met with reporters on Monday, two days after announcing she plans to retire in June. The Star Press reports Gora said she’s proud of many things during her tenure including immersive learning at the university, a geothermal heating and cooling project that has attracted national publicity; the collaboration between the university and Muncie, and appearances on the Muncie campus by alumnus David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey and others. Gora says she won’t miss “the long days and long nights” required of a college president.
LOOK FOR VIDEO East Noble hosts NorthWood to open football sectionals kpcnews.com
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Index
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Classifieds.................................B6-B8 Life..................................................... A6 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A7 TV/Comics .......................................B5 Vol. 104 No. 298
BY BOB BRALEY bbraley@kpcmedia.com
CROMWELL — A Middlebury man allegedly used a gun to hold another man against his will over the weekend, Noble County authorities said. Trent A. Faulkner, 27, also allegedly led police on a vehicle and foot chase that straddled county lines and ended when a police dog found him, said Noble County Sheriff Doug Harp. Faulkner was charged Monday in Noble Circuit Court with criminal confinement with a deadly weapon, a Class B felony, Noble County Prosecutor Steven
T. Clouse said. The incident began Saturday night, when Faulkner allegedly held a male victim in a car as the car drove around in the Noble-Kosciusko-Elkhart-LaGrange counties area, Harp said. “It was a mobile location,” he added. Faulkner Faulkner allegedly showed the victim a gun that was in his possession at the time, Clouse said. Once the victim was able to get
away in extreme western Noble County, he called police, Harp said. Police reports indicate the call from the victim came at 8:34 a.m. Sunday. Officers began to search for the suspect, Harp said. When they approached Faulkner, he allegedly fled in a car, the sheriff said. Faulkner allegedly drove the car off the road, through a field and a wood line, Harp said. At one point, the Noble and Kosciusko county sheriff’s departments, the Ligonier Police Department and Indiana State Police were involved in the case and search. Faulkner then allegedly
abandoned his vehicle and fled on foot, Harp said. K-9 officers from the Ligonier and Avilla police departments were called in to track Faulkner, Harp said. The Ligonier Police K-9 found him hiding in a thicket. No one was injured during the events, Harp said. Faulkner is being held at the Noble County Jail for $100,000 bond, Clouse said. The next hearing in his case will be Dec. 12. Faulkner is seeking to hire his own attorney, Clouse said. This story was posted on kpcnews.com at 4 p.m. Monday.
Topeka clinic to specialize New in treating genetic disorders
party
BY PATRICK REDMOND predmond@kpcmedia.com
TOPEKA — A blue ribbon carefully taped between two posts was neatly cut Saturday morning, officially opening the new Community Health Clinic in Topeka, although the independent health office has been seeing patients since September. Nearly five years in the planning, the clinic is unique, its manager says, specializing in treating and understanding the rare medical needs of many patients who suffer genetic disorders. The clinic is on Lehman Street on the northern edge of town, sharing a building with a Topeka physician, Dr. John Egli. “We’re a genetics clinic, aimed at helping the Amish, Mennonite and rural community, especially those with metabolic disorders,” said Jared Beasley, operations manager for the facility. Founders of the clinic the Amish tend to have an increased risk for having children with rare genetic disorders. “There are a lot of what we call metabolic conditions, and the reason why is there is a lot them is because they are recessed conditions, meaning they happen when the parents are carriers for that condition,” said Dr. Zineb Ammous, a clinical geneticist and staff physician at CHC. “And because, obviously, the Amish tend to marry from within the same community, there is higher
Group raising funds to take on tea party
PATRICK REDMOND
Dr. Zineb Ammous, a clinical geneticist, is on staff at the Topeka Community Health Clinic that officially opened its doors on Saturday. The clinic is on Lehman Street at the northern edge of town, sharing a building with Topeka physician Dr. John Egli.
prevalence for genetic conditions.” According to statistics provided by the clinic, northeast
Indiana is the home to more than 35,000 Amish residents, and SEE CLINIC, PAGE A7
INDOT listens to bridge ideas BY BOB BRALEY bbraley@kpcmedia.com
ALBION — The Indiana Department of Transportation sought input Monday on the idea of removing the Northport Road bridge over S.R. 9, and they got it. Reaction to the proposal ranged from people recommending no decision be made until after new developments are in to Rome City officials expressing strong opposition. “If you remove that bridge, it’s opening the door to a lot of other accidents we don’t have now,” Rome City Town Council president Dave Abbott said during Monday’s hearing. INDOT held its hearing during a Noble County commissioners meeting Monday. INDOT representatives Benjamin B.
Shaffer and Jason Kaiser said the proposal was not yet officially in place, and public input was being sought. Expense is prompting the state to consider removing the state-owned bridge, Shaffer said. “It’s a bridge that’s in need of repair. The deck needs to be replaced,” he said. A simple patching job won’t be enough, since the deck is decaying under the surface, he added. It would cost the state $400,000 to remove the bridge and bring it down to grade, Kaiser said. The cost to re-deck the bridge would be $700,000, and the state would need to pay to maintain it after that. The proposal calls for removing the bridge and making Northport Road a T-intersection
on the east side, Shaffer said. The existing access road, which also is state-owned, would remain in place as the access to S.R. 9 from Northport Road west of S.R. 9. The earliest the plan would be implemented would be 2017, Kaiser said. INDOT evaluated traffic patterns on the road and did a traffic count Aug. 27, Kaiser said. It showed traffic would not be negatively impacted, and the number of left turns would not create a significant traffic problem. Abbott and Rome City town manager Leigh Pranger questioned whether creating a jog turn for people coming across Northport Road is a good plan. Abbott questioned whether saving the cost of repairs and maintenance SEE BRIDGE, PAGE A7
WASHINGTON (AP) — A slice of corporate America thinks tea partyers have overstayed their welcome in Washington and should be shown the door in next year’s congressional elections. In what could be a sign of challenges to come across the country, two U.S. House races in Michigan mark a turnabout from several years of widely heralded contests in which right-flank candidates have tried — sometimes successfully — to unseat Republican incumbents they perceive as not being conservative enough. In the Michigan races, longtime Republican businessmen are taking on two House incumbents — hardline conservative Reps. Justin Amash and Kerry Bentivolio — in GOP primaries. The 16-day partial government shutdown and the threatened national default are bringing to a head a lot of pent-up frustration over GOP insurgents roughing up the business community’s agenda. Democrats hope to use this rift within the GOP to their advantage. Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., chairman of the House committee to elect Democrats, insists there’s been “buyer’s remorse with House Republicans who have been willing to put the economy at risk,” and that it is opening the political map for Democrats in 2014. That’s what the Democrats would be expected to say. But there’s also Defending Main Street, a new GOP-leaning group that’s halfway to its goal of raising $8 million. It plans to spend that money on center-right Republicans who face a triumvirate of deep-pocketed conservative groups — Heritage Action, Club for Growth and Freedom Works — and their preferred, typically tea party candidates. In one race, the group plans to help Idaho eight-term Rep. Mike Simpson, who faces a Club for Growth-backed challenger in a GOP primary. “These conservative groups have had it all their own way,” said former Republican Rep. Steve LaTourette of Ohio, head of the new group. “They basically come in with millions of dollars and big-foot a Republican primary.”
Ligonier opts not to add mayor to PERF BY BOB BUTTGEN bbuttgen@kpcmedia.com
LIGONIER — After a debate that stretched over two months, the Ligonier City Council Monday night turned down the idea of adding the mayor’s job to the state’s Public Employee Retirement Fund. Currently, all city jobs except the mayor are covered by the retirement fund. The city pays about 10 to 11 percent of an employee’s salary into the fund, and the employee adds another 3 percent. Public safety employees
pay 6 percent of their wages into the plan. But people are not vested into the fund, meaning they cannot start collecting pension checks until they have been in the system for 10 years. That would require a mayor to either serve at least 2 1/2 terms or take another job with the city that is covered by PERF. Council members wrestled with the option during their last three meetings. Monday’s meeting was the first time all five council members were present for the discussion.
Council member Julie Bell said the idea is not specifically meant to benefit current Mayor Patty Fisel, who was not present at the meeting. Bell said she favored adding the mayor to the retirement system because it would attract younger and more qualified people to run for mayor. Council member Ken Schuman, who presided over the meeting in Fisel’s absence (she was ill), said he opposed the idea, based on his own feelings along with input from the public. The cost of adding the mayor to the state
fund was a factor in his decision, he said. The cost of adding the mayor to PERF would be shared three ways, with the water and sewer departments contributing two-thirds out of their revenues, and the general fund kicking in the other one-third. Only the general fund portion would use tax dollars. Schuman said, “We have an exceptional mayor now in Patty, but there’s no guarantee of that in the future. We need to protect the city in case our next mayor is not SEE LIGONIER, PAGE A7