SATURDAY December 14, 2013
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Middle Ground Senate appears to have votes to pass budget deal
East Noble Bellmont
49 16
Prairie Heights 68 Eastside 46
Page A2
Weather Snowfall of 3-5 inches expected, high 31. Tonight’s low 14. Colder Sunday.
West Noble Churubusco
65 53
Westview Central Noble
66 43
Fairfield Lakeland
53 30
DeKalb Carroll
54 49
Page A7 Serving Noble & LaGrange Counties
Kendallville, Indiana
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Man killed by train stopped on tracks GOOD MORNING Bennett pitching Common Core tests INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Former Indiana Schools Superintendent Tony Bennett is back in the public eye, helping to pitch a Common Core test to state education leaders four months after he resigned as Florida’s schools chief in the midst of a school grade-change scandal. ACT spokesman Ed Colby said Friday that Bennett will help the company pitch its Aspire test throughout the states, but deferred specific questions to Aspire’s president. ACT is more widely known for its college-entry tests administered throughout the Midwest. But it also is among many testing companies looking to sell tests to states that have adopted Common Core standards.
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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
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Classifieds.................................B7-B8 Life..................................................... A3 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B5 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A7 TV/Comics .......................................B6 Vol. 104 No. 343
BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.com
KENDALLVILLE — “Why� is the one question investigators cannot answer regarding the tragic death of Ray Sills. The 41-year-old Kendallville man, confined to a wheelchair, was killed Tuesday, Oct. 15, when he was struck by a train on the Main Street railroad crossing. This week, Kendallville Police Chief Rob Wiley and detective Lance Waters released results of the police department investigation into Sills’ death. Norfolk Southern
Police and Noble County Coroner Joan Cripe also participated in the investigation. Cripe ruled in October that Sills died from blunt-force trauma. Sills, who suffered from cerebral palsy, often traveled on city sidewalks and crossed the railroad tracks many times in his battery-powered wheelchair. Investigators have concluded that at about 5:15 p.m. on Oct. 15, Sills started across the tracks despite the crossing gates being down, red signals flashing and bells ringing, indicating an
approaching train. The engineer was blowing the train’s whistle, something trains passing through Kendallville must do when approaching railway crossings. “He intentionally entered onto the tracks when warning devices were on, and there was no indication he attempted to get out of the way,� Wiley said about Sills. He added that Sills stopped in his wheelchair before the train struck him. Norfolk Southern Police shared video footage from a camera on
the lead train engine with Kendallville Police Wiley said it clearly shows what happened, adding, “For an unknown reason, he did not attempt to move away from in front of the train.� Investigators examined the crossing and tracks and interviewed witnesses to eliminate possible explanations for the tragedy. “There’s no indication from the evidence and the video that there was a malfunction in the wheelchair or the wheelchair got SEE TRACKS, PAGE A2
Students shot at school Stutzman votes yes on deal
Colorado youth wounds two, then takes own life CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — A teenager who may have had a grudge against a teacher opened fire Friday with a shotgun at a suburban Denver high school, wounding two fellow students before killing himself. Quick-thinking students alerted the targeted teacher, who quickly left the building, and police immediately locked down the scene on the eve of the Newtown massacre anniversary, a somber reminder of how commonplace school violence has become. One of the wounded students, a girl, was hospitalized in serious condition. The other student suffered minor gunshot-related injuries and was expected to be released from the hospital Friday evening, authorities said. A third person was being treated for unspecified injuries but had not been shot, a hospital spokeswoman said. Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson initially reported that the most seriously hurt student was wounded after confronting the gunman, but he later said that did not appear to be the case. The gunman made no attempt to hide the weapon when he entered the school from a parking lot and started asking for the teacher by name, Robinson said. When the teacher learned that he was being targeted, he left “in an effort to try to encourage the shooter to also leave the school,� the sheriff said. “That was a very wise tactical decision.� Jessica Girard was in math class when she heard three shots. “Then there was a bunch of yelling, and then I think one of the people who had been shot was yelling in the hallway ‘Make it stop,’� she said.
AP
Students comfort each other outside of Arapahoe High School after a shooting on the campus in Centennial, Colo., on Friday.
A suspected Molotov cocktail was also found inside the high school, the sheriff said. The bomb squad was investigating the device. Within 20 minutes of the first report of a gunman, officers found the suspect’s body inside the school, Robinson said. Several other Denver-area school districts went into lockdown as reports of the shooting spread. Police as far away as Fort Collins, about a two-hour drive north, stepped up school security. Arapahoe High students were seen walking toward the school’s running track with their hands
in the air, and television footage showed students being patted down. Robinson said deputies wanted to make sure there were no other conspirators. Authorities later concluded that the gunman had acted alone. Nearby neighborhoods were jammed with cars as parents sought out their children. Some parents stood in long lines at a church. One young girl who was barefoot embraced her parents, and the family began to cry. The shooting came a day before the anniversary of the Newtown, Conn., attack in which a gunman killed 20 children and six adults
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman voted in favor of a budget agreement that passed Thursday by a vote of 332-94 in the House of Representatives. “While this bipartisan agreement isn’t perfect, it stops President Obama’s dangerous habit of governing from one budget crisis to the next,� Stutzman said in a statement released after the vote. “Each of the president’s manufactured crises brought new calls for more taxes and higher spending, and that’s exactly what I’m working to prevent.� He added, “This is by no means a permanent solution, but it does give Congress an opportunity to cut our debt, end ObamaCare’s pain, and lower taxes for families and businesses.� Earlier in the week, Stutzman had said he was undecided about how he would vote on the judgment agreement.
Rome City caucus set ROME CITY — A Republican caucus Jan. 9 will elect someone to finish the term of Rome City Council Member At-Large Rob Glass, who is resigning Dec. 31, said Noble County Republican Chairman Randall Kirkpatrick. The caucus will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Rome City Town Hall, 123 Kerr Ave. Republican precinct committeemen in Orange Township Precincts 12 and 13
SEE CAUCUS, PAGE A2
SEE STUDENTS, PAGE A2
East Noble goes quiet during ‘Hour of Code’ BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.com
KENDALLVILLE — More than 1,200 East Noble High School students joined students from around the world this week for an Hour of Code during Computer Science Education Week. Friday morning during the first hour of classes, the high school hallways were quiet and vacant, but students weren’t taking exams or reading books. They were engaged in coding on their laptop computers. For one hour, they were computer programmers. “This could not be done if we didn’t have One-to-One,� said East Noble Principal Steve Peterson, who moved around the school building looking in on classrooms. At several stops, students were keyboarding to design Christmas cards and applications for smartphones and coding Angry Birds, a video game, to learn the science of computers. Students worked quietly on their own or helped each other with problems assigned by teachers, who offered guidance when needed. There were no instructors lecturing, no students flipping pages of textbooks and no one taking SEE CODE, PAGE A2
East Noble High School students in the Principles of Engineering class demonstrate computer-programmed, remote-controlled robots they built from kits. From left are seniors Jacob Brown and Nathan Wible, sophomore Tanner Fought and senior Tim Macon. They took part in
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Friday’s Hour of Code event at the high school for Computer Science Education Week. During the first hour of the school day, all students were introduced to computer coding using their laptop computers.
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