MONDAY December 16, 2013
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Colts trounce Houston Page B1 Indy posts win over hapless Texans
Weather Mostly cloudy skies with a 20 percent chance of snow. High of 21. Low of 18. Page A6
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GOOD MORNING County’s schools delayed today WATERLOO — All three DeKalb County school districts issued on Sunday two-hour delays for today. DeKalb Central Schools, DeKalb Eastern Schools and Garrett-Keyser-Butler Schools all issued delays for this morning. Low temperatures this morning were projected to be in the low single digits, and some roads were still snow-covered from Saturday’s snowstorm in the area.
Water Department warns customers to protect meters AUBURN — The Auburn Water Department is reminding customers to protect their water meters and supply piping from freezing during frigid winter temperatures. The department is not responsible for damage to water meters or supply piping due to freezing. Customers will face a $100 charge if a water meter freezes and breaks.
Some areas received 8 inches or more of snow SOUTH BEND (AP) — The snowstorm that moved through Indiana left some areas of the state under 8 inches or more of snow, while snow continues to fall in northern Indiana. The National Weather Service says the heaviest snowfall was reported in northeast Indiana, with the community of Hudson in Steuben County receiving 9.5 inches of snow. The community of Leesburg in Kosciusko County received 8.2 inches and in northwest Indiana, Hobart received 8 inches. Mishawaka, near South Bend, and Columbia City received 7.9 inches, while Milford and Wakarusa each received 7.8 inches and Angola and Auburn received 7.5 inches. Fort Wayne received 7.1 inches. Reprints of all KPC photos can be purchased online at kpcnews.com under Marketplace: Photo Reprints.
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Index
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Classifieds........................................B7 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B6 Vol. 101 No. 345
Budget deal may signal era of progress
voice cracking as he described the burial attended by several hundred mourners after a larger funeral ceremony during which some 4,500 people, including heads of state, royalty and celebrities, paid
WASHINGTON (AP) — People hoping for a government that works better can’t decide whether to cheer or lament a bipartisan budget bill that legislative leaders call a breakthrough even as they acknowledge it does little. In an era of low expectations, House passage of the bill marks a rare cease-fire that should avoid a repeat of this fall’s government shutdown and flirtation with default. Yet it comes nowhere near the more ambitious efforts to address long-term spending and debt. Such comprehensive plans repeatedly collapsed in recent years despite secret White House talks, blue-ribbon panels, a congressional “supercommittee” and other devices and tactics. Several Washington insiders warn against assuming the new budget deal will lead to progress on immigration and other stalemated issues. “The president calls it a good first step, but to what?” said Bob Bixby of the bipartisan Concord Coalition, which advocates far-reaching budget reforms. “My fear is that it may be the end of the search for the larger grand bargain rather than the beginning. It has that feel.” “Grand bargain” refers to a bipartisan accord that would start to slow the long-term cost projections of Social Security and Medicare while raising tax revenues to lower the deficit, among other things. The bill that passed the House on Thursday, and awaits Senate action, is a tiny step forward, Bixby said. “But you can’t get that excited if your kid brings home a D because it wasn’t an F,” he said. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a chief architect of the budget deal, said the agreement helps “bring some respect to the word ‘compromise.’” Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who represented Republicans in negotiating the deal, expressed hope that “the country is not going to see these shutdowns and Congress is going to get back to the business of paying the bills and prioritizing spending.” Both Murray and Ryan were interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Some lawmakers see the glass half full. They hope the budget deal will cool partisan passions in 2014 and beyond. “Maybe it’s something we can build on,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. “Success begets success, and trust builds trust.” One possible area of renewed effort is a proposed immigration overhaul. The Democratic-run Senate passed a version this year, but the Republican-controlled
SEE MANDELA, PAGE A6
SEE STEPS, PAGE A6
OCTAVIA LEHMAN
The members of the Garrett Model Railroad Club meet at the Garrett Historical Museum
every Thursday. The club started in 1991 and has members from all over northeast Indiana.
Train club stays on track Garrett group serves as outlet for area hobbyists BY OCTAVIA LEHMAN olehman@kpcmedia.com
GARRETT — Despite the cold, two men stand outside the Garrett Historical Society for a brief moment. Leaning on the railing, they watch a train roll through town. Another man walks up the steps and joins them. With the train finally gone, they meander inside to their ultimate hobby: model trains. The men are a part of the Garrett Model Railroad Club and meet every Thursday to discuss trains and the business of the track. John Mohre, the historian at the Garrett Historical Society, started the group in 1991. “I’m a train buff,” Mohre said. The group dug a basement into the Garrett Historical Museum
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with enough space to lay six miles of scale track. The track has two levels and is loosely based on a route that runs from Chicago to Baltimore. “All the major railways are represented,” said Karl Mavis, the club’s president. Mohre credits Mavis with bringing the club to the 21st century. A few years ago, Mavis oversaw the installation of the club’s new digital command control system. The new system allows the locomotives on the same electronic
Video: See the trains President Karl Mavis and other members talk more about the Garrett Model Railroad Club in video at kpcnews.com that also includes clips of some of the trains and track layout. Scan the QR code to watch it on your tablet or smartphone.
track to be controlled individually. Each of the trains has a chip inside that makes the sound of the actual train. The technology in the prototypes is advanced enough that SEE RAILROAD, PAGE A6
Mandela buried in green, rolling hills of South Africa QUNU, South Africa (AP) — His flag-draped casket resting on a carpet of animal skins, Nelson Mandela was laid to rest Sunday in the green, rolling hills of the eastern hamlet where he began his extraordinary journey — one that led him from prison to the presidency, a global symbol of endurance and reconciliation in the fight against South Africa’s racist rule. Artillery boomed and military aircraft roared through a cloud-studded sky, as the simple and the celebrated gathered to pay their final respects in Mandela’s native village of Qunu at a state funeral that blended ancient tribal rituals with a display of the might of the new, integrated South Africa. “Yours was truly a long walk to freedom and now you have achieved the ultimate freedom in the bosom of your maker,” Brig. Gen. Monwabisi Jamangile, chaplain-general of the South African military, said as
AP
A military honor guard escorts former South African president Nelson Mandela funeral cortege on its way to its burial site in his home village of Qunu, South Africa on Sunday.
Mandela’s casket was lowered into the ground at the family gravesite. “Rest in peace.” “I realized that the old man is no more, no more with us,” said Bayanda Nyengule, head of a local museum about Mandela, his
Mystery diner gives “Tips For Jesus” — up to $10,000 NEW YORK (AP) — The $111.05 New York restaurant receipt includes a $1,000 tip and the words “god bless!” scrawled across it. The handle tipsforjesus is stamped next to an illegible signature. In recent weeks, similar tabs have popped up in restaurants from coast to coast and even in Mexico, with tips of as much as $10,000 — all charged to American Express. So who’s the anonymous tipster leaving a trail of generosity across the continent? Tips for Jesus — an Instagram account filled with photos documenting the tips — has more than 50,000 followers.
The account displays photos of smiling servers holding receipts with outlandish gratuities on bills also tallied in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Phoenix and Ann Arbor, Mich. On Twitter, Tips for Jesus has nearly 3,000 followers but no tweets. The Instagram feed comes with the tagline, “Doing the Lord’s work, one tip at a time.” Three Manhattan restaurants were especially blessed the first weekend of December. A waiter in the restaurant of the NoMad Hotel got a $7,000 tip, another at The Smith restaurant was left $3,500, and $1,000 went to Aruj Dhawan, a 25-year-old fashion marketing student and immigrant from India working at Bo’s Kitchen & Bar
Room. Dhawan served three guests who walked in one recent Saturday evening. Their order — a bourbon, a beer, an appetizer, a pork ragout and a pork chop — amounted to $111.05, plus $1,000 for the waiter. When they were gone, “Aruj approached me, handed me the receipt and said, ‘Is this for real?’” said general manager Benjamin Cramer. Again, before leaving, the tipster had snapped a photo of the waiter with the check and posted it on Instagram. The tipster also wrote his cellphone number at the bottom of the tab, telling Cramer to call
AP
Bo’s Kitchen Waiter Aruj Dhawan from Bo’s Kitchen in New York City beams over his recent $1,000 tip.
him if American Express had any issues with processing the receipt. After seeing the amount, Cramer said he understood why the credit card company might be SEE DINER, PAGE A6