The Star - December 3, 2013

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TUESDAY December 3, 2013

Our View Page B4 Make stealing smartphones a stupid idea

New Direction Page B1 Sarkisian takes over USC football

Weather Chance of showers today. High 47. Low tonight 39. Rainy Wednesday. High 53. Low 40. Page A6

GOOD MORNING Christmas Walk opens this weekend AUBURN — The Auburn Parks and Recreation Department will present its 23rd annual Christmas Walk on two weekends, This Friday through Sunday and Dec. 13-15, from 6-8 p.m. each evening. The Christmas Walk takes place in Eckhart Park, 1500 S. Cedar St and provides a “winter wonderland,” the department said. It features: favorite holiday and cartoon characters; Santa Claus listening to children’s Christmas wish lists; Mrs. Claus telling stories by a fire; Santa’s elves preparing gifts; snowmen ice skating and playing; and synchronized music and lights Admission costs $2 per person or $1 per person with a donation of a nonperishable food item. All food items will be donated to the Community Center for Caring Food Pantry to help people in need this holiday season. For more information, contact the park office at 925-2997, or visit its facebook page or website at ci.auburn.in.us.

One man off hook in IU disappearance INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a civil lawsuit against one of three men who were with an Indiana University student when she disappeared in 2011. U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt says Michael Beth offered Lauren Spierer, 20, a place to sleep when his roommate, Corey Rossman, brought her intoxicated to their apartment. When she refused, he escorted her to the nearby apartment of Jason Rosenbaum. Spierer’s parents claimed the men didn’t ensure the woman returned safely to her apartment.

VIDEO FEATURE Downtown Auburn’s annual Christmas Parade kpcnews.com

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Woman dies from crash injuries Motorcycle struck gate in October AUBURN — An Auburn woman has died from injuries she suffered in a motorcycle crash Oct. 13. Connie K. Cossairt, 59, died Saturday at DeKalb Health in Auburn. She was one of two people injured when a motorcycle struck a railroad crossing gate arm

Oct. 13 at 5:35 p.m. southwest of Butler, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department reported. Cossairt had injuries to her head and face. The driver of the motorcycle, Michael Powell, 56, of Spencerville, had injuries to his head, face and right shoulder. A Samaritan helicopter flew them to Parkview Regional Medical Center

at Fort Wayne for treatment. Powell was in fair condition after the crash, but Cossairt was listed in critical condition, according to a hospital spokesman. Police said the 2007 Harley-Davidson motorcycle was traveling south on C.R. 59, approaching the Norfolk Southern railroad crossing south of C.R. 42. The crossing arms were down, with red lights flashing.

Century Award Winner

Powell told police he did not see the crossing arms immediately, because the sun was shining in his eyes. When he saw the crossing arms were down, he applied the brakes but slid, striking the southbound crossing arm with the front of the motorcycle. Police said neither Powell nor Cossairt was wearing a helmet. An obituary for Ms. Cossairt appears on page A4 of today’s edition.

Health site on mend Report says worst glitches are over

a national campaign to promote its sacred art calendars and spent more than $40,000 in advertisements. Messenger wanted to make businesses aware of the benefits of using the calendars for promotional advertising. Messenger acquired the Auburn Greeting Card Co. in the 1930s and moved to Seventh Street just east of downtown Auburn, where it still operates. At that time, the company began producing funeral stationery to sell to funeral homes. By the mid-1970s, funeral stationery sales overtook calendar sales. The company is credited with introducing many products and services to the funeral industry, such as coordinating stationery graphics, printing full-color art on register book covers, same-day service for personalized thank-you cards and establishing

WASHINGTON (AP) — Computer crashes should be giving way to insurance coverage — if the government’s diagnosis of its health care website is correct. The Health and Human Services Department released a progress report Sunday on its effort get the troubled HealthCare.gov website on the mend. Administration officials said the worst of the online glitches, bugs and delays may be over. “The bottom line — HealthCare.gov on Dec. 1 is night and day from where it was on Oct. 1,” said Jeff Zients, the White House’s troubleshooter tasked with making the website function properly. Overnight Sunday, technicians deployed a major new upgrade in the form of a window shopping feature that lets consumers get details on their insurance options without first having to fill out an application. The lack of an anonymous shopper feature was one of the major early shortcomings of the system. A stopgap version that was belatedly put in place until now was seen as rudimentary at best. The new version lets consumers get premium quotes by age, and also displays important plan details such as deductibles. Yet officials acknowledged more work remains on the website, which made its national debut two months ago with hundreds of

SEE MESSENGER, PAGE A6

SEE HEALTH, PAGE A6

KPC FILE PHOTO

In this 2009 photo, Kevin Keane, president of Messenger Corp., inspects a display of boxed

sets of the company’s funeral stationery products.

Messenger’s history honored INDIANAPOLIS — Messenger LLC of Auburn is one of 14 companies to receive Centennial Business Awards from the Indiana Historical Society, in partnership with the Indiana Economic Development Corp., in a ceremony Monday night. The recognition came at the society’s annual Founders Day Dinner, presented by Wells Fargo Advisers, at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center in downtown Indianapolis. Each company will be added to the historical society’s Historic Business Register. In 1992, the trustees and members of the Indiana Historical Society founded the Historic Business Register with three goals in mind: to provide special recognition to Indiana companies continually in business for a century or more, to encourage the

preservation of historically significant business-related archival materials, and to develop increased awareness of the state’s rich business and industrial heritage among Indiana’s citizens. The Centennial Business Awards are presented every year in partnership with the development corporation. To date, the names of more than 400 companies have been registered Frank and listed on the historical society’s Messenger website, most with organizational narratives. Frank M. Messenger founded the Messenger Corp. in 1913 in Chicago to promote and sell Scripture text calendars. In 1927, the company started

The Star 118 W. Ninth St. Auburn, IN 46706 Auburn: (260) 925-2611 Fax: (260) 925-2625 Classifieds: (toll free) (877) 791-7877 Circulation: (toll free) (800) 717-4679

Index

Classifieds.................................B6-B8 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B5 Vol. 101 No. 332

Council votes to pay for removing bridge BY AARON ORGAN aorgan@kpcmedia.com

AUBURN — The DeKalb County Council on Monday approved a $150,000 appropriation to pay for removal of a compromised iron bridge that spans the CSX railroad tracks on C.R. 75. A deal struck between the county and the railroad calls for CSX to reimburse the county for the project after the bridge is pulled out. The railroad wants the bridge removed by year’s end, and the roadway will be barricaded on either side until it can be turned into cul-de-sacs next year. The council approved the funding by a 6-1 vote, with Councilman Bob Wilder voting against it. Wilder has voiced a displeasure with removing the

only bridge over the CSX tracks in that area without a plan to replace it. Contractor Primco will handle the bridge removal. The county had planned to store the bridge on the county farm property until federal funding became available to place it on a trail system in St. Joe, but that plan appears up in the air now. County highway superintendent Eric Patton approached the council Monday for its support of a commitment letter required to apply for that federal funding, but it required the county’s agreement to pay 20 percent of the estimated cost, more than $400,000. The council decided not to sign the letter for this year’s call-out for projects, saying it could not

joy

commit to its share of the cost. If the county does not pursue funding, it either would pay nearly $3 million for the bridge’s relocation or shop the bridge to another Indiana county interested in preserving it. Because it is a select bridge in the Indiana Historical Society’s catalog, it must be preserved. Later Monday, consultant Ben Beer with USI Consultants warned the county commissioners that once the bridge is removed, the county will be ineligible for federal funding to replace it with a new bridge. In other business, Sheriff Don Lauer approached the council Monday to discuss paying Deputy Lee Stoy $100 a year in longevity pay he is owed. Lauer said when

Stoy moved from detective to road patrol duty, a pay level decrease, he inadvertently lost the longevity pay he had earned. The county did away with longevity pay years ago, but it was locked in for those who earned it before that time. After a lengthy discussion, the council agreed to correct the issue through an ordinance that would, if passed at its Jan. 6 meeting, pay Stoy the $100 per year he is owed from 2011 to 2013 and continue it moving forward. The council also reappointed Terry Rayle to the local alcoholic beverage board, Kate Mason to the Waterloo Grant Township Public Library board of trustees and Carolyn Foley to the Eckhart Public Library board of trustees.

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