THURSDAY January 9, 2014
Relay For Life Page A3 Cancer-fighting event needs volunteers
Soaring High Page B1 DeKalb gymnasts expect good season
Weather Cloudy, high 26, chance of snow. One inch of accumulation possible. Low tonight 24. Warmer Friday. Page A6
GOOD MORNING Giffords skydives on shooting anniversary TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — In the three years since she was severely injured in a mass shooting at a political event, Gabrielle Giffords has made an impressive recovery, learned to walk again and founded Giffords a national political organization. On Wednesday, while others gathered for bell-ringing and flag-raising ceremonies, she marked the anniversary by skydiving. The former Arizona congresswoman waved and blew kisses to a crowd at a skydiving site between Phoenix and Tucson after landing without injury. She described the jump as a wonderful experience. Giffords’ husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, posted a picture of her landing on his Twitter account. “Happy she’s safe. So proud of her bravery,” he wrote. Jimmy Hatch, a former Navy SEAL who accompanied Giffords, said she was the least nervous person on the plane. Hatch said the group held hands and formed a circle shortly after exiting the aircraft and then made a line with Giffords in the middle. The entire skydive lasted about a minute, he said. He called Giffords a “rock star” for making the jump on such an emotional day. “It’s pretty incredible,” he said.
County meetings delayed one week AUBURN — A DeKalb County Council meeting will be held Monday at 8:30 a.m., and a county commissioners meeting will follow immediately afterward. Both meetings will take place in the DeKalb County Courthouse on the second floor in the Commissioners’ Court room. Additional appropriations for consideration will be as advertised for the Jan. 6 meeting, which was postponed due to a winter storm.
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Index
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Classifieds.................................B7-B8 Life..................................................... A3 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion ............................................. A5 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B6 Vol. 102 No. 8
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DeKalb Central won’t seek waiver Schools closed fourth straight day BY KATHRYN BASSETT kbassett@kpcmedia.com
Area school superintendents have welcomed the news they won’t have to make up two days of school missed because of this week’s severe winter weather. But at least one DeKalb County school district does not intend to apply for the waiver at this time, according to its superintendent. Tuesday, the Indiana Department of Education said it would grant waivers to Indiana schools for snow days Monday and Tuesday. All DeKalb schools were closed Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and today.
“Each state superintendent has the flexibility to approve waivers from the 180 days. It is comforting to know that the current superintendent recognizes adverse and dangerous weather situations do exist and is willing to take a pro-active approach to help us deal with student safety,” said DeKalb Eastern superintendent Jeff Stephens. However, the DeKalb Central school district’s superintendent currently does not plan to apply for the two-day waiver. “The application for a waiver for canceled and/or loss of instructional days is not a new procedure,
however I find it interesting that school districts are being encouraged to apply for a waiver for missed days,” said DeKalb Central superintendent Sherry Grate. Reflecting on the past four years of school attendance, Grate said the district made up three days in 2009-10; 10 days in 2010-11; two days in 2011-12; and five days in 2012-13. Grate said historically, the district has not applied for a waiver for missed days of school related to winter weather. “At this time, we do not intend to apply for a waiver and would only anticipate an application for some type of extenuating circumstances. We consider each day of SEE WAIVER, PAGE A6
Still Slippery
“We consider each day of instruction with our students an extremely valuable opportunity to make a difference in their lives.” Sherry Grate DeKalb Central Superintendent
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Book slams Biden White House comes to defense
PHOTO COURTESY DEKALB COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT
Roads in rural DeKalb County remained snow-packed and slick Wednesday afternoon, according to DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department
deputies Aaron Long and Lee Stoy. This picture, provided by Stoy, shows a view looking north on C.R. 55, south of C.R. 16.
Snow fighters finally get rest BY MATT GETTS mgetts@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — Finally Tuesday night, after almost four nonstop days, Robert Cook slept. Cook operates Cook’s Snow Service in Angola. When the worst of this week’s weather socked in pretty much everybody, Cook had three trucks and a skid loader working to unsock nearly 11 commercial clients in Steuben County. He called the storm, which dumped more than a foot of snow in northeastern Indiana from Sunday through Monday, the worst he’s seen in 15 years of plowing. Keeping those commercial clients clear required nonstop effort. He estimated he went 90 hours without any sleep. “I couldn’t function any more,” Cook said. “It’s horrible. It just becomes too dangerous to be out.” Brad Gehrig can relate. The storm was the worst Gehring could remember, too. Gehring has owned Curb Appeal in Kendallville for the last 10
years. His company had two plow trucks, two skid loaders and a backhoe operating pretty much continuously. Putting together a string of 16-plus hour days takes a toll. “It’s not so much the body, it’s the mind,” Gehring said. “You write the date a hundred times and still can’t remember it.” Taking time off during such a stretch just isn’t possible. “They want to be open for business,” Cook said of his clients. “The liability issues come into play if somebody slips and falls.” Businesses that need to be open pretty much all the time need to be have their driveways and parking lots cleared. Factories need workers. Workers need places to park. Trucks need to get in to make deliveries and pick up finished products. “It gets to be very stressful,” Gehring said. “Everybody wants you to be at the same place at the same time.” The snow removal business makes up roughly 30 percent of
“It gets to be very stressful. Everybody wants you to be at the same place at the same time.” Brad Gehring Snow removal contractor
• his company’s income, Gehring said. Curb Appeal also does excavating, hauling and construction. Having big machinery sitting idle during winter’s nonconstruction months doesn’t make sense, so Gehrig keeps the machines running doing snow removal. He said in an average winter, he will see $30,000-$35,000 in snow removal revenues. “We will probably see double SEE SNOW, PAGE A6
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is bristling over former Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ new memoir accusing President Barack Obama of showing too little enthusiasm for the U.S. war mission in Afghanistan and sharply criticizing Vice President Joe Biden’s foreign policy instincts. In a book set for release next week by the publishing house Knopf, Gates writes that Biden is “a man of integrity,” but also a political figure who has been “wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” Gates, a Republican, also slammed the National Security Council under Obama’s watch. The Republican cited what he called the “controlling nature” of the White House, writing that Obama’s national security team “took micromanagement and operational meddling to a new level.” White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday that Gates’ account of confrontations at the White House over Afghanistan policy “is hardly news.” Such tell-all books are not new to Washington and they’re woven into the city’s cultural fabric. In the inside-the-Beltway political culture, they burst into view, make a splash on TV, online and in the press and quickly fade. But in the case of the Gates book, the White House chose to speak out quickly and sharply. The National Security Council issued a statement late Tuesday asserting that Obama relies on Biden’s “good counsel” every day and considers him “one of the leading statesmen of his time.” Not only that, the White House allowed SEE BIDEN, PAGE A6
Candidates begin filing for primary ballots AUBURN — Candidates began signing up for the 2014 primary elections Wednesday in the DeKalb County Clerk’s Office. The deadline to file a declaration of candidacy is Feb. 7 at noon. The primary elections for Republicans and Democrats will take place May 6. Local offices up for election in 2014 are: U.S. Representative District 3, currently held by Republican Marlin Stutzman of Howe. Indiana State Senator District 14, currently held by Republican Dennis Kruse of Auburn. Indiana State Representa-
tive District 52, currently held by Republican Ben Smaltz of Auburn. DeKalb Superior Court I Judge, currently held by Democrat Kevin Wallace. DeKalb County Prosecuting Attorney, currently held by Republican ClaraMary Winebrenner. DeKalb County Auditor, currently held by John Fetters, who is not eligible for re-election due to term limits. Republican Jan Bauman of the 2000 block of C.R. 40, Auburn, filed as a candidate for the office Wednesday.
DeKalb County Sheriff, currently held by Republican Don Lauer, who filed for re-election Wednesday. DeKalb County Coroner, currently held by Republican Jeff Warner, who is not eligible for re-election due to term limits. DeKalb County Assessor, currently held by Republican Sheila Stonebraker. DeKalb County Commissioner West District, currently held by Republican Randy Deetz. DeKalb County Council District 1, currently held by Republican Eldonna “Donna” King, who filed for re-election
Wednesday. DeKalb County Council District 2, currently held by Republican William VanWye. DeKalb County Council District 3, currently held by Republican Alan Middleton. DeKalb County Council District 4, currently held by Republican Richard “Rick” Ring, who filed for re-election Wednesday. Voters also will elect township trustees and township board members, Democrat precinct committeemen and Democrat and Republican state convention delegates.