Girls Basketball Scoreboard
SATURDAY
DeKalb Carroll
December 14, 2013
Weather Expect 3-5 inches of snow today. High 31. Low tonight 14. Partly cloudy Sunday. High 21. Page A6
GOOD MORNING Four seeking open school board seat HAMILTON — Four people have declared themselves as candidates for a vacant seat on the Hamilton Community Schools board. Patti Davis, Richard Brown, Holly Law Bireley and Jeremy Hill have applied for the District 2 at-large seat that opened with the Dec. 1 resignation of Dianna Mejia, school officials said Friday. Mejia, who joined the board in July, has moved to Indianapolis. Remaining school board members will meet Monday at 7 p.m. to interview the candidates, officials said. School board President Scott Lucas has said the board wants to choose a replacement and have the new member seated by Jan. 1.
The
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Garrett Adams Cent.
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Prairie Hts. Eastside
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East Noble Bellmont
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Auburn, Indiana
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Index
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Classifieds.................................B7-B8 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B5 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B6 Vol. 101 No. 343
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Crossing death report released BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.com
KENDALLVILLE — “Why� is the one question investigators cannot answer regarding the tragic death of Ray Sills. The 41-year-old Kendallville man, confined to a wheelchair, was killed Tuesday, Oct. 15, when he was struck by a train on the Main Street railroad crossing. This week, Kendallville Police Chief Rob Wiley and detective
Lance Waters released results of the police department investigation into Sills’ death. Norfolk Southern Police and Noble County Coroner Joan Cripe also participated in the investigation. Cripe ruled in October that Sills died from blunt-force trauma. Sills, who suffered from cerebral palsy, often traveled on city sidewalks and crossed the railroad tracks many times in his battery-powered wheelchair.
Investigators have concluded that at about 5:15 p.m. on Oct. 15, Sills started across the tracks despite the crossing gates being down, red signals flashing and bells ringing, indicating an approaching train. The engineer was blowing the train’s whistle, something trains passing through Kendallville must do when approaching railway crossings. “He intentionally entered onto the tracks when warning devices
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were on, and there was no indication he attempted to get out of the way,� Wiley said about Sills. He added that Sills stopped in his wheelchair before the train struck him. Norfolk Southern Police shared video footage from a camera on the lead train engine with Kendallville Police Wiley said it clearly shows what happened, adding, “For an unknown reason, he did SEE CROSSING, PAGE A6
Shot at school Colorado student wounds two others, then takes own life
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
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The DeKalb Educators Association has donated money to fund a student assistance program for DeKalb Middle School through the Otis R. Bowen Center for Human Services Inc. From left are Ryan Lengacher, DeKalb Educators Association president; Amanda Rice, DeKalb Educators Association secretary; Trisha Prezbindowski,
director of the Bowen Center’s DeKalb County office; Kimberly Fifer, DeKalb Middle School principal; Paulette Bently, Bowen Center public relations and marketing specialist; Erin Howard, DeKalb Educators Association treasurer and Wade Buchs, DeKalb Educators Association vice president.
Students to get free counseling AUBURN — The DeKalb Educators Association has contributed seed money to fund a student assistance program for DeKalb Middle School through the Otis R. Bowen Center for Human Services Inc. Through a student assistance program, students have access to a set number of free counseling sessions each year with Bowen Center therapists. The school corporation pays an annual premium for the sessions. DeKalb Middle School is one of 17 northern Indiana schools with a Bowen Center student assistance program. “We wanted to be able to put a program in place that will give our staff additional options to help a student in crisis,� said school Principal Kimberly Fifer. “We didn’t have anything like that in DeKalb County, and in order to do that we needed the finances to put it in place.�
“Students often have issues that interfere with their education,� said middle school teacher and DeKalb Educators Association President Ryan Lengacher. “DeKalb Middle School does its absolute best to meet the academic, emotional, social and physical needs of our students. Meeting the emotional needs of our students is sometimes very difficult. The Bowen Center’s counseling services will be an excellent asset to help us meet the emotional needs of our students.� A Bowen student assistance program is designed to be an added tool for counselors. For any students using their free sessions through the school’s student assistance program, local professionals will be available through Bowen Center’s DeKalb County office in Auburn. Founded in 1961, the Otis R. Bowen Center for Human
“The Bowen Center’s counseling services will be an excellent asset to help us meet the emotional needs of our students.� Ryan Lengacher, president DeKalb Educators Association
• Services Inc., is a private, not-forprofit, comprehensive community mental health center licensed by the State of Indiana Division of Mental Health. The center has 11 locations in 10 northern Indiana counties — Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, Kosciusko, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wabash and Whitley.
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — A teenager who may have had a grudge against a teacher opened fire Friday with a shotgun at a suburban Denver high school, wounding two fellow students before killing himself. Quick-thinking students alerted the targeted teacher, who quickly left the building, and police immediately locked down the scene on the eve of the Newtown massacre anniversary, a somber reminder of how commonplace school violence has become. One of the wounded students, a girl, was hospitalized in serious condition. The other student suffered minor gunshot-related injuries and was expected to be released from the hospital Friday evening, authorities said. A third person was being treated for unspecified injuries but had not been shot, a hospital spokeswoman said. Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson initially reported that the most seriously hurt student was wounded after confronting the gunman, but he later said that did not appear to be the case. The gunman made no attempt to hide the weapon when he entered the school from a parking lot and started asking for the teacher by name, Robinson said. When the teacher learned that he was being targeted, he left “in an effort to try to encourage the shooter to also leave the school,� the sheriff said. “That was a very wise tactical decision.� Jessica Girard was in math class when she heard three shots. “Then there was a bunch of yelling, and then I think one of the people who had been shot was yelling in the hallway ‘Make it stop,’� she said. A suspected Molotov cocktail was also found inside the high SEE SHOT, PAGE A6
Auburn renews program for facade upgrades BY AARON ORGAN aorgan@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN — The city’s Board of Public Works and Safety on Thursday renewed the downtown facade improvement grant program for a fourth year. The city again will work with the Downtown Auburn Business Association to award grants to businesses that are eligible for facade improvements to their stores. Sixteen facade improvements have been partially bankrolled under the program. Bill Spohn, administrator of the city’s Department of
Building, Planning and Development, said the program will award $2,500 in matching grants in 2014. In previous years, the program would award $5,000 in grants, but Spohn said his 2014 budget is not strong enough to award that level. Spohn said the goal is for the program to be self-sustaining through donations. “We’re trying to keep the program alive until we can come up with a way of maybe some donations or foundations to help fund it in the future,� he said. Businesses interested in
The board also: • approved the street department’s 2014 fuel contract with North Central Co-Op. • approved a sewer extension at the Diamond Lake subdivision to allow for additional development. Spohn said the subdivision is expanding to the east and has added $30,000 in sewers that will tap into the city’s utility. • declared the street department’s 2002 Dodge Durango as surplus. The department has purchased a newer vehicle, and the Durango will be traded in.
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facade improvements must apply through the Building, Planning and Development office for review by a committee. A business must show it can match the grant dollar-for-dollar before the Downtown Auburn Business Association distributes an award. In other business Thursday, the board approved a four-year purchase lease for a new skid-loader for the street department. Street superintendent Bill Brandon said his department will buy a $40,385 skid-loader from AGCO Finance.
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