FRIDAY October 4, 2013
Cow’s Choices
Adventure Abroad
Hannah forecasts weekend winners
EN graduate will live in Nicaragua
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Opening Romp Cardinals rip Pittsburgh, 9-1
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Weather Rain possible, high in low 80s. Low tonight mid-60s. Rain Saturday. Page A8 Kendallville, Indiana
GOOD MORNING Woman found dead near Pigeon River MONGO — Detectives from the LaGrange County Sheriff’s Department and Indiana Conservation Officers are investigating a death at the Pigeon River Fish and Wildlife Area, near Mongo in eastern Lagrange County. In the early hours of Thursday, deputies from the sheriff’s department and conservation officers responded to a river access in Mongo and found Misty S. McPartlen, 28, of Mongo, deceased near the Pigeon River. Mrs. McPartlen is survived by her four children and her husband, Thomas, police said. This story was posted on kpcnews.com at 3:45 p.m. Thursday.
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Stutzman calls for dialogue BY MATT GETTS mgetts@kpcmedia.com
WASHINGTON — There is room for some horse trading over the now three-day-old government shutdown, says U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd. The first obstacle is to get the traders together. Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have tied a government funding bill Stutzman to the fate of the Affordable Health Care Act. Democrats in the U.S. Senate have balked at changing the bill that was signed into law in March 2010. The two sides are now at an impasse, and Stutzman said it’s time that meaningful dialogue
between the two sides begins in earnest. “A shutdown is not a victory,” Stutzman, of Howe, said Thursday. “A shutdown is a failure of leadership. There has to be some sort of communication. Leadership in the House, Senate and White House — it’s up to them to get the ball rolling.” Some pundits have implied Stutzman is a member of a group of 30 tea party conservative Republican House members who are holding the country hostage. Stutzman insisted it is the will of 234 Republicans in the House, led by Majority Leader John Boehner, that is behind the move to force concessions in the Affordable Health Care Act. Stutzman said he went to Washington on a campaign pledge
Obama, Democrats fire back WASHINGTON (AP) — Indiana GOP Rep. Marlin Stutzman said he wanted respect in the budget standoff. Instead, he got ridicule from President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats. Stutzman is being mocked for saying Republicans should get something from the budget standoff — but he doesn’t know what that is. The tea party-backed lawmaker told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday: “We’re not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.” The three-term congressman
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Index
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Classifieds.................................B6-B7 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A8 TV/Comics .......................................B5 Vol. 104 No. 273
backtracked Thursday, saying in a statement he had “carelessly misrepresented the ongoing budget debate.” But Obama and the Democrats jumped on his original comments, calling him selfish while some 800,000 federal workers remain out of work, parks and museums remain shuttered and various government services are on hold. At an event in Rockville, Md., Obama repeated Stutzman’s quote as the audience laughed. “Think about that. You have already gotten the opportunity to SEE OBAMA, PAGE A8
SEE STUTZMAN, PAGE A8
Woman to serve 2 years
Tea partiers rip mass transit plan INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tea party activists who are among the harshest critics of a proposal to boost central Indiana’s mass transit offerings told a legislative committee Thursday they oppose any tax increases to pay for expanding local bus service or a possible light rail line in the heavily populated region. Two suburban Indianapolis business officials, meanwhile, told the panel that expanding mass transit would make the region more attractive to young professionals and help spur development. In April, Indiana lawmakers delayed action on a bill that would have allowed voters in 10 central Indiana counties to decide whether to increase local income taxes to fund the proposed $1.3 billion plan. The Legislature instead turned the issue over to a committee to study and report back its findings. Don Bauder, the president of the Tea Party of Hamilton County, told that committee that central Indiana’s tax burden is already too high and another tax increase isn’t wanted. “We are tapped out,” he told the panel. “That $1.3 billion isn’t available.”
75 cents
BY BOB BRALEY bbraley@kpcmedia.com
DENNIS NARTKER
Kendallville Park and Recreation Department employee Nate Sibert, left, and Apple Festival of Kendallville entertainment coordinator Nicole Hoyt toss bales of hay from a wagon during setup for the festival Thursday at the Noble County Fairgrounds. The 28th annual festival will
be Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., only at the fairgrounds this year. City workers, Noble County Community Fair board members and festival volunteers join forces each year to prepare the fairgrounds for the pioneer-theme event.
Apple Festival, downtown events set for big weekend BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.com
KENDALLVILLE — There will be no Main Street Village for the Apple Festival of Kendallville this weekend. The Main Street Business Association is sponsoring a Farmers Market and Trunk Treasures in the downtown business district from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Association president Don Gura reported Thursday that vendor
space is sold out. More than 40 vendors have been assigned parking spaces and spaces on the sidewalk. Main Street will remain open to traffic. St. John Lutheran Church will sell apple dumplings downtown, and other food vendors will sell ribs, beef hotdogs, chocolates and homemade cookies. Shuttle buses will operate between downtown, the Apple Festival site at the Noble County
Fairgrounds and free festival parking lots at East Noble High School and the No-Sag lot on Allen Chapel Road. A shuttle bus stop will be arranged at the southeast corner of Main and William streets in front of Joanna’s Dealicious Treats, 201 S. Main St. Those planning to attend the festival can board the bus at the stop. The association will operate the popcorn stand Saturday across from the bus stop.
Potter LaGrange’s leading citizen BY PATRICK REDMOND predmond@kpcnews.net
LAGRANGE — In an honor that caught him completely off guard, former Lakeland teacher and coach Eugene “Gene” Potter, 89, LaGrange, was named the 2013 LaGrange County Citizen of Year Wednesday night at a ceremony near the gazebo on the lawn of the LaGrange County Courthouse. The award is given to one LaGrange County native each year during Corn School. Potter is the 51st person named the citizen of the year. Potter spent 37 years working at Lakeland High School as a classroom teacher, coach and driver training instructor. A World War II Marine, he also served as one of the school’s original football coaches. Potter was active in local politics, serving on the LaGrange Town Board for more than 20 years. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge and Eastern Star. Potter earned his 32nd degree and spent countless hours serving in charitable efforts for those organizations. Flanked by his two adult children, daughter Jeanne of Goshen and son Tom of Chicago, Potter said he was completely taken by surprise to be named this year’s award winner.
PATRICK REDMOND
Gene Potter was named the LaGrange County Citizen of the Year at Corn School Wednesday.
“Am I surprised?” Potter said after receiving the award. “Very much so. I tried to do everything I did well.”
ALBION — A Kendallville woman was sentenced Thursday in Noble Circuit Court to serve two years in prison for stealing more than $212,000 from her then-employer. Christina C. Zimmerman, 41, pleaded guilty Thursday to two Class C felony charges, theft and forgery. She admitted stealing $212,199 from Boyd Machine & Repair Co. of Kimmell between April 1, 2005, and Zimmerman Dec. 1, 2011. Some of the money was stolen by Zimmerman using forged checks, she said. Defense attorney Seth Tipton said Zimmerman repaid more than half the amount stolen before Thursday’s hearing. But Zimmerman was more than just an employee, considered a friend by the company’s owners, Tipton said. “What she has done to them, she knows, goes far beyond financial harm,” he said. Tipton asked that Zimmerman be allowed to serve her sentence on work release to keep restitution payments coming in. Noble County chief deputy prosecutor James Mowery said the No. 1 concern in drafting a plea agreement was to get as much restitution to the victims as possible. But the amount of restitution already paid came from a settlement in a civil lawsuit in which Zimmerman signed over all her property to the victim, Mowery said. Paying that part of the restitution was almost a foregone conclusion, he said. The plea agreement in the case called for Zimmerman to be sentenced to six years in prison with two years of incarceration, with the option of work release or Community Corrections left up to the judge. Matthew Boyd, a relative of the owner of Boyd Machine, was asked to speak on behalf of the owner. “I would tend to say the sentence is a little light myself, but it’s better that she be on work release,” he said. Circuit Judge G. David Laur said Zimmerman has prior convictions for two other crimes involving violation of trust — conversion and check deception. “This was No. 3, and it’s a doozy,” he said. Laur sentenced Zimmerman as the agreement called for, saying she would be ordered to prison. He said, “$212,000 doesn’t get you work release.” Laur gave Zimmerman credit for two days already served. He ordered her to report to begin her incarceration Oct. 11.