Sunday
Basketball Notre Dame topples IU 79-72
Electric Cars
Santa Claus
Tesla Motors opens Angola charging station
Page B1
Readers share awkward photos
Page A2
December 15, 2013
Page C1
Weather Chance of more snow today. High 19. Low 4. Snow possible Tuesday. Page B8
GOOD MORNING Indiana man accused of stealing electricity PERU, Ind. (AP) — A central Indiana man faces theft charges after police say he tore a power meter off of a house and used two spoons to illegally conduct electricity into the residence. Miami County deputies say 22-year-old Johnny W. Harrington of Kokomo stole the Miami-Cass REMC’s meter and unlawfully established power at the house. He was arrested Wednesday on a theft charge and is being held at the Miami County jail, where he faces a pending probation violation. Miami-Cass REMC CEO Jim Yates tells the Kokomo Tribune the utility received an anonymous tip that Harrington had removed the meter and was stealing power. He says that when a crew checked the house, they found that someone had replaced the meter with two spoon handles to conduct electricity into the residence.
Woman allegedly hit boy who didn’t know alphabet GARY, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana woman faces battery charges after videos posted online by her ex-boyfriend allegedly showed her hitting and berating a child for failing to repeat the alphabet. Twenty-five-year-old Rosena Small is being held at the Lake County Jail on charges of neglect of a dependent and battery resulting in bodily injury. The Post-Tribune reports that a probable caused affidavit states that Small acknowledged hitting the 3-year-old boy but that she said she didn’t intend to hurt him.
MOUND CAM Check out the latest view of downtown Angola kpcnews.com Multimedia > Web Cams
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
Inside • Classified.............................................. D5-D6 Life................................................................ C1 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion .........................................................A6 Business ......................................................B8 Sports.................................................... B1-B5 Weather.......................................................B8 Vol. 104 No. 344
kpcnews.com
Kendallville, Indiana
$1.25
Winter storm strikes area BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.com
Mother nature dumped 5-8 inches of snow on northeast Indiana late Friday night and Saturday. Snow began falling steadily after 10 p.m. Friday and continued through the day Saturday in most areas until about 6 p.m. Fortunately the snow was not accompanied by high winds that cause drifting and closing of roads. Noble, LaGrange, DeKalb and Steuben counties were under a winter weather advisory overnight, and the National Weather Service issued a winter weather warning for LaGrange County Saturday afternoon when the county was expected to get heavy lake effect snowfall. The winter weather warning was lifted after SEE WINTER, PAGE A8
PATRICK REDMOND
LaGrange resident Victor Nieves and his 11-year-old son, Victor, shovel snow Saturday morning in
their home’s driveway. More than seven inches of snow fell in parts of LaGrange County Saturday.
Writing career is in the cards Health Kendallville woman initiative crafts messages for Hallmark Cards a mixed bag for residents BY DAVE KURTZ dkurtz@kpcmedia.com
KENDALLVILLE — People buying cards and gifts next year could be purchasing words written by a local woman. Korynn Wible of Kendallville has created greeting-card messages, children’s books and verses to accompany Christmas ornaments for Hallmark Cards, the nation’s largest producer of such items. “I’m excited to see them come out next year,” Wible said. “It’s been an incredible experience” writing for Hallmark, she added. A 2010 graduate of East Noble High School, Wible was studying English at Indiana University when she applied for an internship with Hallmark last spring. The company selected her from a field of 750 applicants. Wible, 21, arrived at Hallmark’s headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., in late May to begin an internship that ran through mid-August. “From a writer’s perspective, it was a dream job,” she said, and it worked out well for Hallmark, too. Wible immediately set a record for interns by having her first work accepted for publication within two days, when editors selected her rhyming birthday card intended for a young girl. By the time she finished the summer, Wible also had broken the record for the most pieces accepted from an intern. Among her production, Wible wrote 28 compositions for boxes of Hallmark Keepsake ornaments. “That was one of my favorite things to write, because so many of them were in verse,” she said. Her first book for Hallmark tells the story of a girl traveling to
BY MATT GETTS mgetts@kpcmedia.com
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
A heated trolley from Allure Limousine of Fort Wayne will give free rides around Kendallville Thursday to see Christmas lights. The trolley will park in front of the Strand Theatre from 6-9 p.m. and is promoting the Save the Strand fundraising campaign.
a city on a rainbow, all in rhyme. Her second book, designed for a toddler, will be sold along with a stuffed animal. For each book, Hallmark assigned her a plot idea and descriptions of characters, then let Wible’s imagination do the rest. “It has been my dream from a young age to be a children’s book author,” Wible said. “I would love to keep up with this.” Following her internship, Wible is continuing as a freelance writer for Hallmark, especially with its DaySpring Cards subsidiary that focuses on Christian cards and books. Wible credits her parents, David and Lori, for developing her love of writing. “She read to me all the time, and she was a particular fan
of rhyme,” Wible said about her mother. She added that her second-grade teacher, Dawn Jackson at Wayne Center school, was “a huge influence” who encouraged creative writing. In addition to writing books, Wible would like to help children in other ways. Now that she’s completed an associate degree in English at Indiana University in Bloomington, she is studying toward a degree in social work at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. Another internship — in foster care — inspired her in that direction. “I would love to work with children,” Wible said, “especially in foster care agencies, adoption agencies.” And Hallmark might even need a card congratulating adopting parents.
ROME CITY — Robert Sparkman of Rome City found himself between a rock and hard place. Sparkman, 50, has been unemployed since the spring of 2012 due to health issues that led to his being placed on disability through the Social Security Administration. On a fixed income, he soon found himself in financial difficulty. “I had to drop my insurance,” said Sparkman. “It was a matter of losing my vehicle or having health insurance.” On Nov. 12, Sparkman made the difficult decision to let his health insurance policy lapse. He had been paying $620 per month through a special, state-sponsored health insurance program. With a pre-existing condition, the state’s insurance program was his only option. And now it was an option he couldn’t afford. Just like that, his safety net was gone. “It is pretty scary,” Sparkman said. “If something happened, I would have an issue as far as payment went.” Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, beginning Jan. 1 Sparkman will have that safety net back — SEE HEALTH, PAGE A8
Trolley rides to support Save the Strand campaign BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.com
KENDALLVILLE — A heated trolley will offer free rides for area residents to see Kendallville’s neighborhood Christmas lights Thursday as part of the Save the Strand campaign. The 40-passenger trolley will be parked from 6-9 p.m. in front of the Strand Theatre on Main Street and leave every half hour. Free tickets will be available inside the theater. Participants also can enjoy free hot chocolate and popcorn inside. Donations to the Save the
Strand fund will be accepted. Committee members will be selling tickets for a drawing for an XBox gaming system with proceeds going to the fund. The drawing will be held in the theater Thursday at 9 p.m. The winner need not be present. Tickets cost $5 for one ticket, $10 for three tickets and $20 for seven tickets. Raffle tickets are also on sale at Campbell & Fetter Bank in Kendallville and Albion and the Kendallville Area Chamber of Commerce office in Kendallville. A committee of volunteers SEE STRAND, PAGE A8
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
A heated trolley from Allure Limousine of Fort Wayne will give free rides around Kendallville Thursday to see Christmas lights. The trolley will park in front of the Strand Theatre from 6-9 p.m. and is promoting the Save the Strand fundraising campaign.