WEDNESDAY October 16, 2013
Statebound Spellers Page A2 Garrett academic team qualifies for finals
Cross Country Page B1 DeKalb’s Beckmann runs to sectional win
Weather Cloudy with rain possible today. High 62. Low 45. Cloudy Thursday. High 57. Low 40. Page A6
GOOD MORNING Freight train kills man in wheelchair BY DENNIS NARTKER dnartker@kpcmedia.com
KENDALLVILLE — A man in a wheelchair was killed Tuesday when he was struck by a train at the Main Street railroad crossing. At about 5:18 p.m., police and fire units and Noble County EMS ambulance were called to the Norfolk Southern crossing to investigate a report of a person struck by a train. The freight train was traveling westbound and the wheelchair-bound man was heading northbound on the sidewalk on the west side of Main Street, according to Police Chief Rob Wiley. Witnesses told police the railway crossing gates were down across traffic lanes, red lights were flashing and a warning bell was ringing, indicating an approaching train. The man began to cross and was struck and killed by the train. His body landed along the north side of the tracks, just west of the Kendallville Pawn Shop. The train stopped, blocking the Main Street and Riley Street crossings for hours. Police cordoned off the area with crime scene tape and directed traffic to the Park Avenue crossing. Wiley said the train’s engine had a video camera and the video of the mishap may help investigators determined what happened. The Noble County coroner arrived at the scene about 6:30 p.m. to conduct an investigation.
Foundation gives $1 million to Big Brothers Big Sisters FORT WAYNE (AP) — A Fort Wayne foundation has donated $1 million to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Indiana to use in any way it chooses. Multiple news outlets report the mentoring group announced the gift from the Edward D. and Ione Auer Foundation at the grand opening Tuesday of its new headquarters in Fort Wayne.
ONLINE POLL How do you feel about the sign at a Kendallville plaza comparing President Obama to Hitler? kpcnews.com
Info • 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.................................B7-B8 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B6 Vol. 101 No. 285
The
Serving DeKalb County since 1871
Auburn, Indiana
75 cents
kpcnews.com
Murder suspect claims self-defense BY AMY OBERLIN aoberlin@kpcmedia.com
ANGOLA — The suspect in a Saturday-night stabbing murder ripped off his shirt and “pumped himself up” before allegedly stabbing another man to death, said witnesses from the scene. Kenny Rogers Fletcher, 41, Angola, was formally charged with murder Tuesday afternoon via videoconferencing equipment between the Steuben County Jail and Steuben Magistrate Court. A
preliminary plea of not guilty was entered in his behalf, and a pretrial conference was set for Nov. 4 at 1 p.m. in Steuben Circuit Court. A jury trial is scheduled for March 3. He will be represented by public defender Robert Hardy. Judge Randy Coffey ordered Fletcher held without bail. He turned himself in Monday evening at the Steuben County Jail after being sought for two days by police. Fletcher is accused of stabbing
39-year-old Wilbur D. Renshaw, Angola, multiple times with a knife, causing his death. Murder is a felony punishable by 45 to 65 years in prison. “I was trying to protect my son. How is that Fletcher murder?” Fletcher said after the charge was read. He said the killing was in self-defense.
“He came to my house. Is that murder?” Fletcher said. Angola Detective Sgt. Tim Crooks testified at the hearing at the request of Chief Deputy Prosecutor Jeremy Musser. He said he spoke to two witnesses who saw Fletcher in an agitated state in the parking lot of Washington Square Apartments, 408 N. Washington St., Angola. Fletcher lives in apartment 10 with his girlfriend. SEE MURDER, PAGE A6
Senate trying again AARON ORGAN
Andy Hipskind, left, and Rory Minnich with Three Rivers Barricade install a new sign alerting drivers to an approaching stop sign along Indiana Avenue near the intersection
with Fourteenth Street on Monday. The city is replacing all traffic-regulation and street-name signs.
New street signs bigger, brighter BY AARON ORGAN aorgan@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN — A sweeping replacement of street-name and traffic signs around the city is nearly finished, city officials said Thursday. A federally mandated project to replace all signs with upgraded, highly reflective signs should be complete by Friday, Auburn street superintendent Bill Brandon said. Crews began the project to replace the city’s more than 2,400 signs last month. The federal government required a couple years back that all municipalities upgrade their street markings to highly reflective signs. Auburn city engineer Steve Bruns said the city jumped into the project ahead of most communii-
ties, and he hopes the upgrade will allow Auburn to implement more regular replacement of signs in the future. Brandon said the signs and their reflective material have a lifespan of around a decade. In addition to the reflectivity of the signs, the new street-name signs are larger. Brandon said the signs have grown from 6 inches to 9 inches tall, and now feature 6-inch letters, up from 4 inches on old signs. “So they are more visible, even driving down the street in the daylight,” said Brandon. “That’s a big plus.” The signage upgrade program is 90 percent federally funded, with local governments picking up the remaining 10 percent of the
cost. In Auburn’s case, the federal government covered $225,900 of the project’s cost. The city’s match was $25,100. The project initially was estimated to cost $251,000, Bruns said. With the project, the city will remove more than 20 “Slow — children at play” signs from around the city. Brandon said the signs — commonly placed in residential areas with children — are not recognized by the national Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices system. The city is pulling them because, according to a memo from the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, they “cause confusion among pedestrians and vehicle operators, prompt wrong decisions, and can contribute to accidents.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Time growing desperately short, Senate leaders took command of efforts to avert a Treasury default and end the partial government shutdown Tuesday night after a last big attempt by House Republicans abruptly collapsed. Aides to both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, expressed revived optimism about chances for a swift agreement — by Wednesday at the latest — that could pass both houses. Their efforts toward a bipartisan resolution had seemed likely to bear fruit a day earlier before House conservative were given a last-minute chance for their version. As hours ticked down toward Thursday’s Treasury deadline, the likeliest compromise included renewed authority for the Treasury to borrow through early February and the government to reopen at least until mid-January. While a day of secret meetings and frenzied maneuvering unfolded in all corners of the Capitol, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., stood on the Senate floor at midafternoon and declared, “We are 33 hours away from becoming a deadbeat nation, not paying its bills to its own people and other creditors.” In New York, the stock market dropped and the Fitch rating agency warned that it was reviewing the government’s AAA credit rating for a possible downgrade, though no action was SEE SENATE, PAGE A6
Obama-as-Hitler sign draws strong reactions BY BOB BRALEY bbraley@kpcmedia.com
KENDALLVILLE — The owner of a controversial sign that carried an image linking President Barack Obama and Adolf Hitler said Tuesday the image has been removed from a Kendallville shopping center — not because of the controversy over the image, but because it was scheduled to come down. The image and a related message from LaRouchePAC. com actually was scheduled to be up only Saturday and Sunday, but was left up a day too long, said Roger Diehm, owner of Cornerstone Plaza at U.S. 6 and S.R. 3. Of the sign’s Obama message, Diehm said, “It’s been such a great thing for me.” The plaza’s video sign featured an illustration of Barack Obama with a Hitler-style mustache followed by the words “IMPEACH” and “OBAMA” on Monday. The message was supposed to be shown only as long as LaRouche PAC, a political action committee for controversial politician Lyndon LaRouche, was in town for the weekend passing out literature, Diehm said. The image prompted contro-
versy, especially since it was paired with a “Welcome to Kendallville” message in the video rotation and was shown above signs for businesses located in Cornerstone. Some business owners within the plaza weren’t pleased with the sign, in part because people associated it with them. “You would think that the public would realize that the businesses that occupy Cornerstone Plaza are not responsible for what the scrolling sign says, unless they themselves pay for a spot advertising on the board,” said Karen Holbrook, co-owner of Dude’s Dairy Treat in Cornerstone. “Most business owners would not stoop to such antics, whether they are political, racial, religious, gender or otherwise, as our very existence depends on each and every customer that walks through the door, regardless of their preference,” Holbrook said. “The sign depicting what it does not only makes the plaza businesses look bad, but the whole city of Kendallville as well,” Holbrook said. “It’s highly inappropriate, and regardless of how the people feel about the president, he and his office
deserve respect.” Holbrook said Congress has to be considered when thinking about the nation’s problems. “Remember, there are also 435 Representatives and 100 Senators in Washington who make decisions for us (or supposedly do) and what does that say about how we voted?” she said. Carolyn Castel of CVS/ pharmacy said in an email that the company does not support the message of the Obama display. “CVS/pharmacy is not affiliated with the picture of President Obama that appears in the Cornerstone Plaza store signage, nor do we support the message,” Castel said. “This is a paid advertisement, and we have reached out to express our concerns to the landlord about the inappropriateness of this advertisement. “We apologize for any inconvenience or disturbance that this may have caused our customers,” Castel said. “We’re not happy that the image appeared on the same signage where our logo also happens to be placed,” said 3 Rivers Federal Credit Union strategic marketing manager Steve Levendoski, commenting by email.
“The sign ... not only makes the plaza businesses look bad, but the whole city of Kendallville as well.” Karen Holbrook Business co-owner
• “Like the other merchants who also share space on the sign, we received no advance notice and became aware only after it had been posted. We neither control nor have any input on the landlord’s signage,” Levendoski said. Diehm repeated his statement Monday saying the sign is for advertising. “The businesses in the shopping center don’t have anything to do with that sign,” Diehm said. It’s not only the Cornerstone business owners dealing with the Obama sign’s aftermath. The Obama-Hitler digital billboard at Cornerstone Plaza SEE OBAMA, PAGE A6