FRIDAY October 25, 2013
Local Video Page A8 City-owned service adding content
Volleyball Sectionals Page B1-2 DeKalb, Eastside, Hamilton advance
Weather Chance of showers today. High 47. Low tonight 33. Partly sunny Saturday. High 50. Page A8
GOOD MORNING National Guardsman shoots 2 at armory MILLINGTON, Tenn. (AP) — A member of the National Guard opened fire at an armory outside a U.S. Navy base in Tennessee, wounding two soldiers before being subdued and disarmed by others soldiers, officials said Thursday. Millington Police Chief Rita Stanback said the shooter was apprehended Thursday by other National Guard members, and that he did not have the small handgun used in the shooting in his possession by the time officers arrived. Stanback said two National Guard members were shot, one in the foot and one in the leg. “I’m sure there could have been more injury if they hadn’t taken him into custody,” Stanback said. The two people shot were taken to a hospital. Stanback said at a news conference that their conditions were not immediately known, though the Navy said on its official Twitter account that neither had life-threatening injuries.
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Band seeks return to state finals BY OCTAVIA LEHMAN olehman@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN — The DeKalb High School Baron Brigade marching band hopes to return to the state finals this fall after missing the cut in 2012. “The kids feel confident,” said director Terry Fisher. “They have been performing at a high level all season. I’ve been really impressed with them.” The band won first-place awards in Class B at the On the
Banks of the Wabash Invitational, the East Noble Invitational, Riley Marching Festival and Mighty Panther Parade of Champions this season. In those competitions, the Baron Brigade also claimed the music, visual and general effect awards. Fisher said the band, though, can learn from last year. While the band scored high in seasonal competitions, Fisher said they might have taken for granted their semi-state performance in 2012.
“They decided that we were pretty good,” Fisher said. “They thought they were the shoo-in.” This week the director has reminded the band members that they have to perform with the same intensity they have demonstrated all season. “We can learn from mistakes in the past,” Fisher said. The 124-member band will perform Saturday in Class B semi-state competition at Pike High School in Indianapolis.
Serious Simulation
Police probe dead animals at shelter INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Central Indiana police are investigating whether neglect played a role in the deaths of several animals at a suburban Indianapolis animal shelter. Lawrence Det. Jim Vaughan said officers found the carcasses Tuesday at Lawrence’s animal shelter after they were called to investigate reports of juveniles throwing rocks. Vaughan says the officers found dead cats and dogs inside the shelter and the appearance of neglect.
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Index
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Classifieds.................................B5-B6 Life..................................................... A3 Obituaries......................................... A6 Opinion ............................................. A7 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A8 TV/Comics .......................................B4 Vol. 101 No. 294
Twenty bands will compete for 10 spots in the Indiana State Marching Band Finals finals Nov. 2 at Lucas Oil Stadium. DeKalb will perform ninth at 2:57 p.m. Saturday. With colder temperatures expected, Fisher said the band has been doing a good job of SEE BAND, PAGE A8
Health website panned Flaws diagnosed at Capitol hearing
until police can get here. That classroom is your threshold, your space.” Earlier, as the faculty gathered in the Millie Hansen Auditorium, another trooper fired a blank round in the massive room, generating a sound easily identified with a gunshot. That same trooper stepped outside the auditorium and fired again, this time producing a muffled sound not so easily identifiable. Again and again, at varying distances, more shots were fired,
WASHINGTON (AP) — The leading contractors on the Obama administration’s troubled health insurance website told Congress Thursday that the government failed to thoroughly test the complicated system before it went live. Executives of CGI Federal, which built the federal HealthCare. gov website serving 36 states, and QSSI, which designed the part that helps verify applicants’ income and other personal details, testified under oath before the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. The contractors said they each tested their own components independently but that the Health and Human Services department was responsible for testing the whole system from end to end. That kind of testing didn’t happen until the last couple of weeks before the system’s Oct. 1 launch. It quickly crashed once consumers tried to use it. Representing QSSI, Andrew Slavitt told the committee that ideally, end-to-end testing should have occurred well before the launch, with enough time to correct flaws. How much time? “Months would be nice,” said Slavitt. “We would have loved to have months,” concurred CGI vice president Cheryl Campbell. The administration’s determination to go live on Oct. 1 despite qualms about testing quickly became a focus of the hearing, which turned sharply partisan at times. Republicans, still committed to repealing Obama’s health care law, approached the questioning with a prosecutorial tone, leading New Jersey Democrat Frank Pallone to call the whole exercise a “monkey court.”
SEE DRILL, PAGE A8
SEE HEALTH, PAGE A8
Crews battle fire at vacant house FORT WAYNE — Fire crews battled a fire at a vacant house at the 3200 block of Smith Street Thursday afternoon, our news partner, NewsChannel 15 reports. Crews were called to the fire at 12:57 p.m. and arrived in three minutes. Firefighters initially thought the house may be occupied but upon entering to fight the fire determined that the house was vacant. There were no injuries in the fire. Heavy smoke could be seen coming from the home, some of which did appear to be boarded up. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
SALUTE TO DEKALB Baron Brigade’s marching season. PAGES A10-A11.
JEFF JONES
Armed police officers go through the Eastside Junior-Senior High School hallways as teachers and staff look on during a training exercise. The drill for responding to a school shooting incident
was conducted by Indiana State Police, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and Butler Police.
School shooting drill opens eyes BY JEFF JONES jjones@kpcmedia.com
BUTLER — Gunfire rings out in the hallways of the school. In the office doorway lies a school resource officer. A few feet down the hallway is a student, face down — another shooting victim. In the distance, more gunfire is heard as the shooter goes from room to room, leaving more victims in his wake. In one room, two student victims can be seen holding hands, as if trying to comfort each other. Spent shell casings are strewn about the hallways as more students fall victim to the sniper. Police officers — more and more by the second — arrive and enter the building, armed with shotguns and rifles. This scenario has taken place in more than one school across the nation in the past 15 years. On this October morning, the shooting scene is Eastside Junior-Senior High School — but it is only a drill, conducted by Indiana State Police, the
DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department and Butler Police, as teachers, principals and staff members from Eastside and Butler and Riverdale elementary schools observe. “It’s something I hope always remains an exercise and something no one has to come through and face in a real-life situation,” Superintendent Dr. Jeff Stephens said. “For the staff, I think how much time it seems to take is very eye-opening,” he said. “On TV, (police are) there within 30 seconds, the situation is resolved, and you go on with life. That’s not how it works.” “It’s a sad day when we have to have this discussion,” Indiana State Police Sgt. Max Weber told the gathered faculty. “You didn’t go into this to become a defender. You went into education because you love kids. “The shooter fired about 20 rounds, but he could have just as easily fired a lot more, maybe 200-300 rounds,” Weber said. “Your main priority is to buy time
“Your main priority is to buy time until police can get here.” Sgt. Max Weber Indiana State Police
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Reed to replace Middleton as school chief BY JENNIFER DECKER jdecker@kpcmedia.com
BRUSHY PRAIRIE — Jeff Reed has been easing into the top job at Prairie Heights Community Schools this year and will assume the reins once Superintendent Alan Middleton retires. Reed, currently assistant superintendent and principal of Prairie Heights Middle School, was named to the superintendent’s position Monday by the Prairie Heights Board of Education. He will become superintendent July 1, 2014, when Middleton retires. Middleton has served as superintendent the last five years. Reed said he’s looking forward to being the corporation’s top administrator. ‘We’ve had a lot of changes with staff and curriculum,”
he said. “We had good ISTEP scores. We’ll continue with what we’ve been doing and continue to tweak.” For the last seven years, Reed has been at Prairie Heights, first as assistant principal for three years at the middle school, followed by four years as principal. Reed A native of Columbia City, where he and his family make their home, Reed graduated from Columbia City High School. From there, he obtained his degree in elementary education from Huntington University and his master’s degree and administrative certification
from Indiana Wesleyan University. Before coming to Prairie Heights, Reed taught one year in Columbia City and eight years in the Wawasee Community School Corp. He said he feels his strength is being a good listener and collaborating. “Prairie Heights has been a truly great place to work. We have great kids,” Reed said. As for becoming superintendent, Reed said, “It’s not something I had my eye on. I’m glad to accept that challenge.” Middleton said he’s confident Reed will serve the corporation well. “I think he’ll do fine. It was a good transition,” Middleton said. “He had the opportunity to work in leadership.”
Middleton said Reed brings a vast amount of knowledge to the job. “He’s a real excellent listener and has a calm demeanor,” Middleton said. Reed said he has a lot of family members in the area. He and his wife, Monica, have four children. Once Reed becomes superintendent, he said the corporation is not expected to name a replacement for him as assistant superintendent. Also in its Monday meeting, the board approved the corporation’s $9 million budget for 2014, which Reed said is slightly less than this year. It includes replacement of 4 1/2 buses, including the corporation’s one-half share in paying for a special education cooperative bus.