Starke County Jail Committee Public Meetings Set for Next Week

Starke County Jail

The Starke County Jail Committee will be holding three public meetings to present information on what the Jail Committee has been discussing concerning a jail project.

The first meeting will be on Tuesday, January 17th at 7:00 p.m. at the Knox Middle School Cafeteria. Other meetings will be held on Wednesday, January 18th at 6:00 p.m. at the North Judson-San Pierre High School and on Thursday, January 19th at 6:00 p.m. at the Oregon-Davis High School.

Starke County Commission Vice President Dan Bridegroom will address the crowd and a history of the Starke County Jail will be provided. The Committee will discuss jail needs and options and a representative from Umbaugh and Associates will discuss financing options.

Starke County Sheriff, Oscar Cowen, invites you to attend to learn about the needs at the jail.

“It’s to educate the public on the needs and the changing times of the crimes in Starke County and the safety needs of both personnel and inmates of a facility that can better house such inmates,” he said.

Cowen talks about the options.

“We have discussed either revamping the jail we have or finding a different building to revamp into a jail, or building new. Obviously, the main concern is taxes and no one, including myself, likes to pay more taxes but unfortunately that’s the way revenue is gained in counties nowadays to assist with doing any government activity you do.”