WEDNESDAY October 2, 2013
Art Exhibit Page A2 Display honors late Auburn artist
Girls Soccer Page B1 Conference co-champ DeKalb edges Leo
Weather Mostly cloudy today. High 81. Low tonight 62. Chance of rain Thursday. High 80. Page A8
GOOD MORNING Pleasant Lake woman dies in crash FORT WAYNE — A Pleasant Lake woman died in a crash Monday on Interstate 69 in northern Allen County, authorities said. Judy E. Fisher, 68, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash that occurred at about 2 p.m. near the 321 mile marker, one mile south of the DeKalb-Allen county line. She was the sole occupant of a vehicle she was driving that went off the highway and flipped down an embankement. Witnesses told police Fisher was driving erratically, our news partner, NewsChannel 15 reported. Fisher went off one side of the road, then overcorrected before leaving the highway. One southbound lane of I-69 was closed for several hours as emergency personnel worked at the scene of the crash. A news release from the Allen County Coroner’s Office said Fisher was wearing a safety belt, and alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the crash. The cause of death was blunt-force trauma caused by the crash, said Patt Kite, deputy coroner for Allen County. Fisher became the 25th traffic fatality in Fort Wayne and Allen County this year.
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Government powers down WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Institutes of Health began turning away patients for experimental treatment, and rugged Yellowstone National Park was closed to visitors as the vast machinery of government clanged into partial shutdown mode. President Barack Obama warned that more families and businesses would be hurt if it lasted much longer, while Republicans insisted the fault was not theirs but Obama’s and his fellow Democrats’. “What we are doing now puts American lives at risk,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., warning Tuesday of the effects on
intelligence agencies of a government closure that some lawmakers said could last for weeks. At the White House, Obama unleashed a blistering attack on Republicans, accusing them of causing government’s first partial closure in 17 years as part of a failed, non-stop “ideological crusade” to wipe out his signature health care law. Republicans countered that Democrats were to blame for refusing to negotiate on Obama’s health care overhaul, and they disclosed plans in the House for quick passage of measures aimed at reopening small slices of the
VIDEO Music from the DeKalb County Free Fall Fair kpcnews.com
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Index
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Classifieds.................................B7-B8 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A8 TV/Comics .......................................B6 Vol. 101 No. 271
Shutdown not total here FROM STAFF REPORTS AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The partial federal government shutdown is having mixed impact across northeast Indiana. Most notable is the shutdown of local field offices with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, there are government functions that still are running unabated by the shutdown that started at midnight Tuesday, sending hundreds of thousands of
Ready To Reap
SEE NOT TOTAL, PAGE A3
Health policy demand surges
SUE CARPENTER
Dozens of farmers and friends gathered Tuesday to help with a community harvest for Garry Thrush.
HARVEST OF FRIENDSHIP Group will bring in beans for Garrett-area grower BY SUE CARPENTER scarpenter@kpcmedia.com
GARRETT — Dozens of farmers waited until noon for Tuesday’s fog to lift. But the sun didn’t get the message. Larry Kummer organized a community effort to help Butler Township farmer Garry Thrush, who was diagnosed with leukemia and is undergoing chemotherapy. The group met at Custer Grain Co. near Garrett for lunch at noon Tuesday, standing in the doorway to check the skies for a glimpse of sunshine. But a reluctant sun and wet conditions put their plans on hold until today, weather permitting. Kummer sent letters to area farmers asking them to offer their equipment and time, “and most importantly, their personal thoughts and prayers for fellow farmer Garry Thrush.” Kummer rounded up 11 combines, three semi trucks, wagons and dozens of workers to help bring in nearly 400 acres of soybeans Thrush farms on a cash/ rent basis.
federal workers home across the country. Nine USDA inspectors work at Miller Poultry in Orland, eight on the day shift and one on second shift. They are an essential factor in the poultry operation, said director of operations Kevin Diehl, and they will continue to report to work as usual. There are 9,633 federal meat, poultry and egg inspec-
SEE GOVERNMENT, PAGE A3
Truck driver trapped more than two hours FORT WAYNE (AP) — Emergency workers needed about 2-1/2 hours to remove a semitrailer driver from his mangled rig after a crash on Interstate 69 in Fort Wayne. The crash that happened about 12:15 a.m. Tuesday saw the semi go through a guardrail and smash into a large sound barrier wall near the U.S. 33 interchange on the city’s northwest side. Fort Wayne police spokesman Chris Felton said the driver was taken to a hospital in critical condition. The crash left the semi’s cab stuck through the sound barrier wall, which had two large panels knocked out. WANE-TV reports emergency crews cut away parts of the cab and removed it with a wrecker.
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SUE CARPENTER
Equipment is staged along C.R. 54 near Garrett to harvest soybeans for a Butler Township farmer. Weather conditions delayed Tuesday’s project.
The Thrush family asked the group to concentrate on four tracts of soybeans just south and east of Garrett, amounting to about 400 acres. Soybeans from these fields needed to be taken to the elevator as part of the cash/rent process. Kummer divided the volunteer workers and equipment into four quadrants to work efficiently. Others contributed to Tuesday’s effort by donating toward food for the workers and fuel for the farm equipment.
Thrush also farms 3,500-4,000 acres that his family and friends will harvest on their own, according to Kummer. Kummer is a crop insurance agent with Peoples Federal Savings Bank and attends the Auburn United Methodist Church with the Thrushes. Kummer said the amazing part of the day would be that 11 combines, three semi trucks and more than a dozen workers could SEE HARVEST, PAGE A8
CHICAGO (AP) — The online insurance marketplaces that are at the heart of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul struggled to handle the wave of eager new consumers Tuesday, the first day of a six-month open-enrollment period that inaugurates the biggest expansion in coverage in nearly 50 years. A combination of high demand and technical glitches seemed to overwhelm the online system early in the day. Federal and state officials were working to address the problems, which led to long waits on government websites and a federal call center. As a sign of how ready Americans were to get started, Obama said more than 1 million people had visited the government’s main website before 7 a.m. EDT — exceeding expectations and contributing to the delays. In Obama’s home state, dozens of people who came to a Champaign, Ill., public health office to sign up for coverage found computer screens around the room flashing an error message: “System is unavailable.” Kimberly Shockley — logging in from Houston, Texas — and Mike Weaver, who lives in rural southern Illinois, ran into similar glitches: They could not get past the security questions while trying to set up their personal accounts through healthcare.gov. “I’m frustrated, very frustrated,” said Shockley, a self-employed CPA. She spent more than an hour trying to get the security questions to work Tuesday morning without success. When she clicked on a drop-down menu of suggested security questions, none appeared. She then tried to create her own questions, but that didn’t work either. Weaver, a self-employed SEE HEALTH, PAGE A8
‘Conservative’ city budget includes pay raises BY AARON ORGAN aorgan@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN — The Auburn Common Council on Tuesday evening voted in favor a 2014 city budget Mayor Norm Yoder called “very conservative” that still includes a slight pay raise for employees and hikes to utility rates. At slightly under $14 million, the total budget is less than 1 percent higher than the city’s 2013 version. It includes a general fund of $4.36 million, nearly half of which is dedicated to the city’s police department, as well as a $2.24 million fire protection territory fund, a $1.8 million motor vehicle highway fund and a $3 million Auburn Redevelopment
Commission fund. Figured into the budget is an across-the-board $600 raise for each full-time employee, which Yoder explained is designed to help ease the burden of a spike in insurance costs. “They’re not going to lose money because of insurance,” Yoder said. The budget also includes an additional $30,000 for street work and appropriations for utility hikes, Yoder said. “It’s a very conservative budget,” said Yoder. “It meets the needs of the city.” The city budgeted for a tax rate of $1.3897 per $100 of assessed property value, which is higher than the city expects the state will
assign it come February. The state recommends that cities underestimate their assessed valuations to be safe, because they are not calculated at the time budgets are due. No residents spoke at a public hearing on the budget Tuesday. The council will take a final vote to pass the budget at its Oct. 15 meeting. Another public will be held during that session. In line with the budget, the council passed an annual ordinance that sets the pay classifications and salary ranges for city employees. In other business Tuesday, the council: • passed the city’s completed inventory of the federally required
“It’s a very conservative budget. It meets the needs of the city.” Norm Yoder Mayor of Auburn
• Americans with Disabilities Act transition plan. The plan lists an inventory of all city street crossings, sidewalks and handicap-access ramps, as well as out-of-code bathroom SEE CITY BUDGET, PAGE A8