MONDAY November 4, 2013
Winners
New look
Albion costume contest held
NASCAR
Ligonier auto dealer makeover completed
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Jimmie Johnson wins Texas race
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Weather Mostly sunny skies with a high of 53 and an overnight low of 42. Page A6 Kendallville, Indiana
GOOD MORNING Two charged with making meth in Topeka home BY BOB BRALEY bbraley@kpcmedia.com
TOPEKA — Two area men were charged with several felony offenses after they allegedly made methamphetamine in a Topeka mobile home park, the LaGrange County Sheriff’s Department said. Christopher Douglas Hollowell, 33, of Topeka and Justin M. Harrington, 28, of Albion each is charged with Hollowell manufacturing meth within 1,000 feet of a park and family housing complex, a Class A felony; possession of Harrington meth within 1,000 feet of a park and family housing complex, a Class C felony; and possession of precursors with intent to manufacture meth, a Class D felony. Hollowell also was charged with maintaining a common nuisance, a Class D felony. Harrington faces an additional charge of visiting a common nuisance, a Class A misdemeanor. Both were held at the LaGrange County Jail without bond Sunday. The arrests were the result of a joint investigation between the LaGrange County Sheriff’s Department, Topeka Police Department and LaGrange County Prosecutor’s office over several weeks, a press release said. LaGrange Circuit Court issued a search warrant Friday for Holowell’s residence in the 300 block of North Street, Topeka. Police executed the warrant at about 9:15 p.m. due to the large number of children in the area trick-or-treating. During the search, officers allegedly obtained a “one-pot” meth lab, meth, numerous meth precursors, numerous hypodermic needles and a large amount of meth paraphernalia.
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Classifieds........................................B7 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B6 Vol. 104 No. 304
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Benefits of vote centers promoted BY BOB BRALEY bbraley@kpcmedia.com
LAOTTO — Approximately 20 people gathered Sunday afternoon at the LaOtto Fire Station for a discussion about a proposal to start using vote centers in Noble County . Event organizer Carmen Darland, the Third District chairwoman and Noble County vice chairwoman of the Democratic Party, said the goal of the session was to hear more voices from voters. In the current system, 19 polling places serve the county’s 29 precincts, Darland said. The proposal made by Noble County Clerk Shelley Mawhorter is to
shift to eight vote centers for the 2014 election. Darland was concerned that Swan and Green townships wouldn’t have vote centers, since they have experienced long lines and parking problems in the past. John Bender, who has served as a precinct worker in Swan Township, said the largest volume of people seems to come in late in the voting day, starting between 2-3 p.m. “It’s a mad rush at the end to get in and get your vote in,” he said. Bender noted that another aspect of the vote center plan is to open centers for early voting as well as on Election Day. “That’s the best thing you can do,” he
said. Homer Smith said he’s spoken to handicapped voters who’ve said they won’t change voting locations. “People just won’t vote,” he said. Noble County Councilman Jerry Jansen said the move to vote centers will save money long-term, and that the biggest problem in recent years has been getting enough precinct people to work the polls. Vote centers need fewer workers, he said. Mawhorter estimated the savings in poll workers at $17,000 per year. she said there would be about $25,000 in start-up costs. Each center will have a tablet connected to Wi-Fi that will sign
voters in, guaranteeing a person can vote only once, Jansen said. With early voting, people could vote before or after work, or even on a Saturday. Another advantage to vote centers is that any voter registered in Noble County could vote at any vote center in the county, Mawhorter said. “I think this has been pretty well thought out,” Jansen said. “Noble County has 82 voting machines,” Mawhorter said. About 15-20 of those machines would be used for early voting. By law, those machines couldn’t be used in the general election for that cycle. All others would, she SEE CENTERS, PAGE A6
Seniors: Don’t mess with Social Security SUE CARPENTER
DeKalb County horseman Bill Knott drives a carriage with Kallie Knott, his granddaughter, as
part of the 2012 Heritage Days parade in Garrett.
Workhorse for the community Like his Percherons, LaOtto’s Bill Knott stays busy BY MATT GETTS mgetts@kpcmedia.com
LAOTTO — For a man who hasn’t strayed far from his roots, Bill Knott sure seems to get around. There’s Knott, 71, of rural DeKalb County, in a parade. There he is at the Apple Festival of Kendallville. There he is at an assisted care facility. What those events have in common are draft horses, large Percherons that cause people to stop and stare. “It’s my brother Jim’s fault,” Knott said. “He got me all stirred up in the horse business.” That was in 1983. He’s been hitched up to draft horses, Percherons in particular, ever since.
NEIGHBORS DEKALB
COUNTY
“They’re just very fascinating,” he said. “It’s amazing how docile they can be, if you don’t surprise them. That’s how they are.” His Percherons aren’t just show or parade animals. Knott uses them as work animals, pulling farm machinery that weighs more than a ton. It would be faster to do the same work with a tractor, he admitted. “That’s not the point here,” he said. The horses, if not worked, can
Video: Horse sense Bill Knott and Neil Sutton of the DeKalb County Horsemen’s Association talk more caring for draft horses in video at kpcnews.com. Scan the QR code with your tablet or smartphone to see the interview and the horses in action.
grow bored. And with their great size, you don’t want an ornery Percheron on your hands. “You have to be firm,” Knott said. “They’ll test you.” SEE HORSES, PAGE A6
CHICAGO (AP) — Raise the age at which you can begin collecting full Social Security benefits? Older Americans say no. They also veto reductions in the cost-of-living increase. But a poll finds support among those 50 and older for raising the cap on earnings that are taxed to fund the Social Security program so higher-income workers pay more. The survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds passionate opposition to any change in the way Social Security benefits are calculated that could result in smaller annual raises. Some 62 percent of respondents expressed opposition to such a proposal, compared with 21 percent who supported it. The chained CPI, or consumer price index, has been proposed as a new way of calculating the cost-of-living adjustment, but it would reduce raises. “I really think it’s a sacred cow,” said Margie Nugent, a 55-year-old farmer from North SEE SOCIAL SECURITY, PAGE A6
Horsemen break ground for Draft Animal Museum BY SUE CARPENTER scarpenter@kpcmedia.com
FAMILY MAGAZINE
Serving Noble & LaGrange Counties
AUBURN — Members of the DeKalb Horsemen’s Association held a groundbreaking ceremony Sunday for a new 100-by-60-foot barn and 40-by-60-foot office building that will become the Draft Animal Museum just south of Auburn. Association president Myron Stackhouse shared the association’s vision with dozens of people assembled in a sunny, grassy area near a pond as a swan swam silently on the water. The group always has had a dream to one day build a barn — to have some farmland on which to build a museum. Sunday, that dream came true, Stackhouse said. The buildings will house the association’s antique farm equipment, 10 wagons and other assorted implements. The club has used the draft horses to plant wheat and soybeans and hopes in the future to grow corn in patches, where children can come and watch the process from plowing to harvesting as an educational project, Stackhouse said. Stackhouse said they hope to one day build an arena in which to show animals and maybe add another barn for horses and perhaps a petting zoo. He thanked major donors “who made it all happen” including the Rick and Vicki James Foundation,
Dekko Foundation, The Andersons Charitable Foundation, The Mary C. & Perry F. Spencer Foundation; Joe Witmer and hundreds of other individual donors. Funds were started more than seven years ago, according to association secretary-treasurer Mark Carunchia. “We got involved in some farm opportunities and saved as much as we could,” Carunchia said. “We had a pretty good surplus from farming” to put a sizable down payment on the property — which includes 28 acres and a pond. A small mortgage remains, he said. In 2010 the fund held $5,000 in seed money. Since then, more than $130,000 has been added to the fund. “We are well underway,” Carunchia said. Harshman shared the history of the association that now numbers 76 members and more than 30 teams of horses. Some members own horses, some do not. It is not a requirement for membership, he said, only that members maintain the group’s goal, which is now focused on educating youth and adults about “what these heavy horses can do. “This is one of the ways we are going to do it here, by farming with horses,” Harshman said. The original group started in the 1930s “with a few gentlemen to promote the breeding draft
SUE CARPENTER
Members of the DeKalb Horsemen’s Association serve food from a chuck wagon at Sunday’s groundbreaking ceremony for a new Draft Animal Museum south of Auburn.
horses, and to go out to dinner,” Harshman said. “They would hold meetings and then go eat. That tradition lives with this club here today,” In 1942, the Draft Horse Club, now the Horsemen’s Association, incorporated, according to Harshman. With eight to 15 members, dues were 50 cents a year, and Harry Provines was the first president. The club met on a quarterly basis at that time. In about 1970, they began meeting on a bimonthly basis,
raising dues to $1 per year. “But they still had the same adage, the same principal, to promote the breeding of draft horses,” Harshman said. The association’s tradition will continue through public service educational programs, demonstrations, draft animal shows, funeral service assistance, 4-H club involvement and horsedrawn services for both public and private events covering all 12 months of the calendar year. SEE MUSEUM, PAGE A6