TUESDAY November 5, 2013
Remarkable Women Page A2 Organization honoring Zonker, Koher
Our View Page B4 State’s infant mortality rate alarming
Weather Mostly cloudy today. High 60. Low 49. Wednesday could be rainy all day. High 60. Low 47. Page A6
GOOD MORNING Veterans Day parade planned for Saturday GARRETT — The DeKalb County Veterans Day Parade is planned for Saturday at 1 p.m. in Garrett. The parade will begin at American Legion Post 178, 515 W. Fifth Ave., and end at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post at 118 N. Cowen St. Lineup will begin at noon at the Legion post. The parade will travel east on Fifth Avenue, then north on Cowen Street to the VFW post, where auxiliary members will host a luncheon. Following a short break, parade units will return to the Legion by traveling on West Quincy Street, then south on Peters Street.
The
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Fuel leak declared an emergency County needs to pay for cleanup BY AARON ORGAN aorgan@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN — The DeKalb County Commissioners on Monday declared a fuel spill at the county highway department on 19th Street an emergency, allowing the county to pay for a cleanup using cumulative capital development dollars. Last week the DeKalb County Council approved paying an
environmental consultant $104,611 to determine what level of spill occurred from an above-ground tank on the property. The spill was discovered this summer. State law says cumulative capital development funds can be tapped for such projects, if an emergency exists. The commissioners voted unanimously Monday to deem the situation an emergency, citing health concerns and the danger of
fuel leaching into Cedar Creek. “Due to the health hazard, it is an emergency,” said Commissioner Don Grogg. DeKalb County Homeland Security director Roger Powers told the council last week that 524 tons of contaminated soil have been excavated from the site, leaving a hole 40-by-44 feet and 8 feet deep. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management has taken over investigation of the leak. Also Monday, the commis-
Safe Under Stress
Decatur man dies after tree stand fall DECATUR (AP) — Authorities say a northeastern Indiana man paralyzed in a weekend fall from a deer stand has died after being removed from life support at his own request. Timothy E. Bowers, 32, of Decatur died Sunday evening at a Fort Wayne hospital where he was taken after suffering Saturday’s paralyzing injury.
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Index
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Classifieds.................................B6-B8 Life..................................................... A5 Obituaries......................................... A4 Opinion .............................................B4 Sports.........................................B1-B3 Weather............................................ A6 TV/Comics .......................................B5 Vol. 101 No. 305
sioners received a surprise resignation from the county’s chief public defender, Daniel Pappas. Pappas has accepted a magistrate position in Allen County Superior Court, his resignation letter said. Pappas has served as a public defender in the county for 16 years and leaves with “mixed emotions,” he wrote. Pappas’ resignation is effective Nov. 22. A selection committee was established to find a replacement for Pappas. SEE LEAK, PAGE A6
Iran’s rally slams U.S.
One dead, one hurt in shooting incident FORT WAYNE — A Monday morning shooting left one person dead and another in serious condition, our news partner, NewsChannel 15 reports. Police were called to the Black Bear Creek apartment complex around 6:20 a.m. and believe the shootings are a result of a home invasion or armed robbery. According to Michael Joyner, spokesperson of Fort Wayne Police Department, two male suspects entered the apartment. The resident shot and killed one of the men and the other got away. The resident was also shot. He was taken to a local hospital in serious condition. Police said a woman and a child at the home were not injured.
75 cents
Protest opposes outreach strategy
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — In Tehran’s largest anti-U.S. rally SUE CARPENTER in years, tens of thousands of Garrett Police Reserve Officer Chris Rowe takes Park as part of an emergency vehicle operation demonstrators joined Monday in the wheel of a patrol cruiser at Auburn Auction skills test. chants of “death to America” as hard-liners directed a major show of resolve against President Hassan Rouhani’s outreach to Washington more than a generation after crowds on the same streets stormed and occupied the U.S. Embassy. Such American-bashing protests occur every year outside the former BY SUE CARPENTER scarpenter@kpcmedia.com embassy compound to mark the GARRETT — Garrett Police anniversary of the 1979 takeover Reserve Officer Chris Rowe sits following the Islamic Revolution. behind the wheel of a police But the latest demonstration had a cruiser. dual purpose of sending the boldest His mission is to complete warning yet to Rouhani’s governan obstacle course set up in the ment over whether it can expand parking lot of Auburn Auction dialogue with the U.S. or offer the Park at a speed of 35 mph as concessions needed to possibly part of an exercise to earn his settle the nuclear impasse with the Emergency Vehicle Operation West. certification. “Fighting the global arrogance Garrett Police Chief Keith and hostile policies of America Hefner, a certified EVO trainer, set is the symbol of our national up dozens of orange cones on the solidarity,” said Saeed Jalili, who SUE CARPENTER lost to Rouhani in June’s election asphalt parking area where drivers Garrett Police Chief Keith Hefner demonstrates an obstacle course and later was replaced as the weave in and out of the lanes and set up for police training at Auburn Auction Park. follow last-minute instructions country’s top nuclear negotiator. to turn left or right, stop and The choice of Jalili as the main back up — all within a 4-minute, Crown Victoria police cruiser. responding to.” speaker to the crowd showed how 45-second time frame. The driver’s goal is to avoid Trainees also practice backing high the rifts reach in Iran. The instruction session was hitting the cones and not touching skills using side mirrors, as is Jalili is a leading voice of conducted three days last week, the brakes during the entire course, needed with the department’s dissent over Rouhani’s overtures with Garrett officers training while maintaining an even speed Dodge Chargers and SUVs, where to Washington, but he is also a during the day and Auburn police of 35 mph. rearview mirrors do not provide a senior adviser to Supreme Leader officers at night. “The smoother the ride, the clear view at all times. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has Hefner said the exercise tests faster you go,” Hefner said while Rowe completed his second given critical support to Rouhani’s skills drivers use every day on the instructing Rowe to turn sharp into turn at the course, weaving around initiatives. The growing tensions have left Khamenei — the ultimate highway, whether as an emergency the turns. the pylons, stopping, turning on decision-maker in Iran — in the worker or a private motorist “This simulates lane changes, a dime and backing up without unusual role of domestic diplomat. driving to and from the store or and the multi-tasking officers knocking down any cones. All He had stood by Rouhani in work. need to do when driving to a within 4 minutes ,40 seconds. “The course incorporates call,” Hefner said. “Officers need By the end of the week, Hefner apparent hopes that the nuclear talks and outreach can ease Iran’s backing up, controlled braking and to control their driving, listen to hopes to have all 13 full-time isolation from the West and roll evasive maneuvers,” Hefner said the police radio and plan their members of his department while riding shotgun in the Ford approach to the call they are SEE COURSE, PAGE A6 SEE IRAN’S, PAGE A6
CRASH COURSE
Police officers learn emergency driving
Former police officer to stand trial for theft BY KATHRYN BASSETT kbassett@kpcmedia.com
AUBURN —A DeKalb County jury will hear the case of a former local police officer who is accused of obtaining military surplus items through his department and selling some of them for personal gain. Sean L. Kahkola, of the 15000 block of Towne Park Run, Huntertown, is charged with two counts of theft, both Class D felonies. Kahkola had been a Garrett police officer from 1997 through 2005. He joined the Auburn Police Department in 2005 and resigned from the Auburn force April 16, 2012. Monday, Kahkola, his
attorney, Kevin Likes, and special prosecutor Joe Rowe appeared for a final pre-trial conference in DeKalb Superior Court I. The parties did not reach a plea agreement, and Judge Kevin Wallace confirmed a two-day jury trial will begin Dec. 3. According to court documents, in 2005, Kahkola helped the Auburn Police Department obtain a 1988 Chevy pickup through a program that gives police departments items the federal government no longer wants, free of charge. By Jan. 5, 2006, Kahkola was listed on the truck’s title as its owner, according to court documents. On July 28, 2008,
Kahkola sold the truck to his parents for $500. The second theft charge relates to the sale of a 2002 camper that Kahkola also procured while he was a police officer in Auburn. A second police officer, Michael S. Kahkola Reneau of Garrett, was a co-defendant in the case. Earlier this year, Reneau pleaded guilty to theft, a Class D felony, as part of a plea agreement filed in DeKalb Superior Court I. In April, Wallace
sentenced Reneau to three years of incarceration, all suspended, and three years of probation, as called for by the plea agreement. Reneau had been a sergeant with the Garrett Police Department until he resigned in July 2012. He had been with the department for 18 years. Reneau was accused of selling two portable, gas-powered generators owned by the city of Garrett to another Garrett resident for $100. According to court documents, Reneau never repaid the city of Garrett the money he made from selling the generators and had not received permission to sell them.