THURSDAY October 10, 2013
End Of The Line
Inside Comment
Final Set
EN tennis season stopped in regional
Children learning fire prevention
Westview, Lakers to play for title
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Weather Mostly sunny, high 73. Tonight’s low in the upper 40s. High in mid-70s Friday. Page A8 Kendallville, Indiana
GOOD MORNING EN homecoming parade tonight KENDALLVILLE — The annual East Noble homecoming parade is scheduled for tonight at 6 p.m. Parade participants will gather in the American Legion post’s parking lot at 5:30 p.m. The parade will proceed south on Main Street from the Legion post to Lisle Street, then east to the school’s baseball field for the annual bonfire and pep rally. Police will temporarily close side streets along the parade route during the parade.
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Parts maker moving to Howe BY PATRICK REDMOND predmond@kpcmedia.com
HOWE — After sitting vacant for more than year, the former Multi-Plex plant just north of Howe will come alive as a Michigan auto parts firm moves two operations into the LaGrange County complex of buildings. “This is great — great for LaGrange County, great for the community, and great for workers,” said Jac Price, LaGrange County businessman and president of the Board of Commissioners. “This might be the biggest news in local economic development in the
last 10 or 12 years.” Exo-s, a supplier of injectionmolded and blow-molded thermoplastic systems for automotive and specialty markets, announced Wednesday it will move its manufacturing operations in Three Rivers, Mich., and machine and tool shop in Centerville, Mich., to the former Multi-Plex site. The Canadian-based company expects to complete the move in 2014 and to increase its workforce by 20 percent over the next 18 months. “The move will allow Exo-s to accommodate planned
expansion of operations to support increased customer demand for our high-quality products, while holding the line on cost,” said Todd Fowler, plant manager at the Exo-s Three Rivers location. “Representatives of the local and state government, and the local business community partnered with Exo-s to present an offer that is perfectly aligned to our company’s future plans.” The company will begin renovating the Howe plant. At a meeting Monday with LaGrange County commissioners, Fowler said a new, multi-million dollar
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Artist and muralist Kelly Meredith of Butternut, Wis., created this mural showing a steam engine pulling into the old Howe train station. Installed
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Classifieds.................................B5-B7 Life..................................................... A6 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion ............................................. A5 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A8 TV/Comics .......................................B4 Vol. 104 No. 279
Wednesday, it measures 43 feet wide and 15 feet tall on the west wall of the Ark Paws and Claws bookstore in downtown Howe.
Mural revives Howe’s history BY PATRICK REDMOND predmond@kpcmedia.com
HOWE — The old Howe train depot lives again, in a mural that now graces the west wall of the Ark Paws and Claws bookstore in downtown Howe. Wednesday, crews finished installing the last of the metal panels Meredith that Butternut, Wis., artist and muralist Kelly Meredith used to depict Howe’s past. Her mural measures 43 feet wide and 15 feet tall,
showing a steam engine pulling into the old Howe train station. Phil Yunker, a Howe businessman, said the idea to create the mural was born a couple of years ago after he and other members of a local group saw Meredith’s work in Ligonier. The Wisconsin artist has painted five murals there. The Howe Revitalization Association and the Howe Community Association spearheaded the project. The work was commissioned by township trustee Tom Smith and members of his advisory board, and paid for using the township’s economic
development income tax funds. An old photo of the Howe Depot inspired the mural. The artwork is made up of 22 separate metal panels Meredith painted in her Wisconsin studio and shipped to Howe. It took the artist six weeks to paint the mural, and it took two full days to install the panels. Meredith spent part of Wednesday giving her artwork a final protective coating. “I think it’s great,” Yunker said of the artwork. Yunker said his group is considering more downtown murals, as grants and funds become available.
Library trustees balk at costs BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.com
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contract with tractor manufacturer John Deere means the company’s anticipated payroll of 250 workers at the Howe facility is now expected to increase, possibly reaching 450 workers. “Exo-s is a great fit for LaGrange County,” said a statement from Keith Gillenwater, president and CEO of the LaGrange County Economic Development Corp. “It supports several regional companies and further diversifies our local industrial base. We are pleased to welcome them to our community.” SEE PARTS, PAGE A8
GOP weighs raising limit
State’s high court to take up case of alleged upskirt video INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Supreme Court is taking up the case of a man who allegedly used a camera hidden in one of his shoes to shoot video under the skirts of teenage girls at an Indianapolis shopping mall. The state’s high court will hear oral arguments Thursday in the case of David Delagrange, a 44-year-old Fort Wayne man convicted of attempted child exploitation and sentenced in March 2012 to six months in prison. Delagrange was arrested in February 2010 at an Indianapolis mall and found to have video images obtained from beneath the skirts of a 15-year-old girl and three 17-year-olds. But the state appeals court threw out Delagrange’s conviction in January, finding that to support that conviction state law requires the girls to have exposed their genitals.
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KENDALLVILLE — Several concerns expressed by library trustees about the Kendallville Public Library’s completion project have caused them to postpone action on the architect’s schematic proposal. Wednesday, representatives from MKM Architecture+Design, a Fort Wayne-based firm hired to design completion of the library’s lower level, presented a 20-page preliminary report on the project. It includes results of a staff survey of the library’s needs, MKM’s discussion with staff during an in-service day and schematic drawings incorporating staff recommendations. In addition to finishing the lower level at an estimated cost of
Open house planned for Monday KENDALLVILLE — The Kendallville Public Library will have an open house Monday from 5-8 p.m. to share thoughts and ideas on the library’s building completion project. Representatives from MKM Architecture+Design will be at the open house to answer questions and explain preliminary plans for the project. Library board members are expected to be at the library. “After listening to staff on how the library can best serve the community, we intend to evaluate what strategies and
emerging trends would fit the needs and identity of the Kendallville Public Library,” said Zach Benedict, a partner with MKM. The proposed lower-level space development may include a large flexible meeting space, a more defined area for teens, a kitchen for meetings and programming use. Upper-level renovations could include new study rooms and areas specifically designed for supervised visitations. The public is invited to the open house to meet the architects, board members and library staff.
SEE LIBRARY, PAGE A8
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republican leaders are considering a short-term increase in the U.S. debt limit as a possible way to break out of the gridlock that threatens the nation with an unprecedented default in as little as a week, officials said Wednesday night. There now is far less urgency on Capitol Hill about ending the government shutdown, which heads into its 10th day on Thursday. It has caused inconvenience and financial concern for many individual Americans but appears not to threaten the widespread economic damage a default might bring. The officials declined to say what conditions, if any, might be attached to legislation to raise the $16.7 trillion debt limit for an undetermined period, perhaps a few weeks or months. The GOP rank and file are expected to meet and discuss the issue on Thursday, before a delegation led by Speaker John Boehner goes to the White House to meet with President Barack Obama. Obama has said he won’t agree to sign a debt limit increase if conditions are attached. Republicans are demanding as yet-unspecified concessions to reduce deficits or make changes in the nation’s three-year-old health care law. At the same time, the House has voted to create a 20-member group of lawmakers from the House and Senate to negotiate over those and other issues — a bill that made no mention of the debt limit. The officials describing the developments late Wednesday spoke only on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to disclose details of private deliberations. The disclosure came as Obama met at the White House in late afternoon for more than an hour with House Democrats. He told them that while he would prefer legislation extending the Treasury’s borrowing ability beyond the next election, he would also sign a shorter-term bill. In addition to leadership conversations, a group of House SEE LIMIT, PAGE A8
Problem railroad crossings to be repaired BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.com
KENDALLVILLE — It’s a bumpy, uncomfortable ride over the Riley Street and Park Avenue railroad crossings. Motorists drive around the holes and dips, and others avoid the crossings as much as possible. City officials know it. Norfolk Southern Railroad officials know it. Kendallville Engineering Department administrator Scott
Derby told the Redevelopment Commission Wednesday morning he has been urging the railroad for months to fix the crossings. He learned this week Norfolk Southern is waiting for delivery of concrete slabs that will be placed in the crossings and connected to new asphalt pavement. Repairs could take about a week for each crossing. When completed the crossings will be level, like the Main Street crossing, Derby said.
“We can’t patch the holes in the crossings due to liability,” said Derby. The railroad must do the work. Asphalt patches don’t last because of underlying problems in the crossing bed, he added. Asphalt plants typically close down for winter in late October or early November, Derby said. As a result, “The window of opportunity for the railroad to do the work is closing,” he said. Meanwhile, motorists must be patient and slow down at the Riley
Street and Park Avenue crossings. In other business, commissioners: • heard Derby report work is progressing on improvements to the East Industrial Park roads. Reconstruction of Production Road could begin later this month. • learned the Kendallville Heritage Association will select items for a time capsule that will be buried as part of Kendallville’s sesquicentennial year.