Knox

The Knox Board of Works met in special session Friday in order to open and award a bid for the 50/50 sidewalk program.

Five businesses provided bids: Custom Concrete, Pete Kuchel Concrete, Do All Concrete, EAM Enterprise, and Covenant Concrete.

Mayor Rick Chambers read aloud the bids for the nine addresses of homeowners who submitted applications for the project. In the end, the Board of Works approved the bid of Covenant Concrete with a total bid of $13,940 as the lowest conforming bid pending a review of the bid packet by Street Superintendent Jeff Borg and City Attorney David Matsey.

The Knox Community School Board members recognized the Knox High School Envirothon team during the Spotlight on Success portion of their meeting Monday night.

The team had gone to the state competition on April 30 and placed 13th out of 17 teams. Coaches Laurie Simmons and Marge Wood told the board they were proud of the effort of the students and competed well at Washington High School.

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The owner-occupied housing rehabilitation project has been pushed back a bit after an administration change caused a delay.

Knox Mayor Rick Chambers stated the city should know something in June on how many homes will benefit from upgrades through grant funding.

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Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz says school districts will have to continue to conduct referendums to seek tax increases until the Indiana Legislature changes the school funding formula. She made the comments during several stops in Lake and Porter Counties. Ritz told educators at the Hammond Area Career Center that “you have to spend money to get money.” She thinks that many voters in areas where school district referendums failed may not have been aware of the issue. The state school superintendent says she encourages the school districts whose referendums did not pass, to try again during the next election. Knox was one such school. Local voters rejected a property tax increase to pay for construction of a new $16 million elementary school wing. The Knox Community School Board has not indicated whether they plan to pursue the issue again during next year’s regular election cycle. In the meantime, Ritz says she will help the schools in any way she can. Ritz addressed members of the Professional Educators Partnership at Valparaiso University.

The third annual fundraising reception held by the Bella Vita Pregnancy Resource Center drew a large crowd, packing the Nancy J. Dembowski Community Center in Knox as the organization thanked those who helped it grow into the resource it is today. Tracey DeGraaf of Shine.FM was the MC for the event and introduced Father Richard Holy, pastor of the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church who led the assembly in a prayer.

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A warranted search in Knox led to the arrest of a Knox woman on charges of Possession of Heroin as a Class D felony on Tuesday morning. Around 8:09 a.m., officers from the Knox Police Department and the Starke County Sheriff’s Department executed a search warrant at a home on Riverside Drive in Knox after a lengthy investigation into heroin use at the residence turned up enough evidence to warrant a search, issued by the Starke Circuit Court.

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The Knox Community School Board got an update on the recent bus inspection conducted by the Indiana State Police.

On April 12, 36 buses were inspected with 31 passing. One bus needed seat covers repaired, one needed a muffler replaced while another bus had low tire tread. Other minor issues were cited and fixed within the same day. All buses eventually passed inspection.

The troopers were quick to tell the maintenance staff that this is the second year where they have seen the buses needing very little repair and noted that Knox had one of the best bus inspections.

The board commended the staff of a job well done.

It was a beautiful day to be outside and the students from the JESSE Corporation and severe and profound special needs classes enjoyed participating in outdoor activities in a great event at the Knox Elementary School yesterday.

Knox teacher Jenny Fletcher said over 80 students from Argos, Plymouth, LaVille, John Glenn and Knox, plus two preschool classes that have students with special needs participated in the Spring Stampede.

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The school referendum question offered by the Knox Community School Corporation did not pass in Tuesday’s special election.

The final vote found 556 voters against the property tax increase and 458 votes in favor of the construction and rehabilitation project at the Knox Elementary School.

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A motorcyclist from Plymouth was airlifted to Memorial Hospital on Sunday after his bike was struck by a car as he was slowing down to turn onto County Road 300 East off of State Road 10 in Starke County – a grim reminder that since the weather is nice, motorcyclists are out, so be careful and pay attention to the road. Shawn Duhnovsky of Plymouth was traveling west on State Road 10 east of County Road 300 East when a witness said he began slowing down to turn, but the driver behind him failed to notice that he had slowed and struck his motorcycle.

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The Knox Community School Board approved the hire of several teachers for summer school instruction during their meeting Monday night.

Most of the staff hired will be at the elementary school level while others were hired for English, Algebra, World Literature/Spanish, Social Studies, P.E., Graphics, and Economics at the middle and high school levels. Superintendent A.J. Gappa said some of the teachers will not be needed as it depends on training and enrollment for certain classes.

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The results for the Knox Community School Corporation Special Election have been tallied and the voters in the school district have said no to a construction and rehabilitation project at the Palmer Wing of the Knox Elementary School.

There were 1,014 votes cast and of those, 556 votes were for against the referendum and 458 votes were for the referendum.

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Vote yes or vote no? The Knox Elementary School Palmer Wing project is now in the hands of the voters as taxpayers in the Knox school district head to the polls today. Voters will decide whether or not to finance through property taxes the construction of a new wing and the demolition of the old Palmer Wing, which Superintendent A.J. Gappa said is antiquated, dilapidated, and overall unfit for education.

Gappa said the wing was originally built nearly 60 years ago – a different time, he said, when electricity wasn’t as advanced, heating and cooling was much less effective, and fewer kids ate in the cafeteria. He said 20 years ago when the west wing of the school was added, California and Washington township schools were closed, bringing more students to the Knox school and putting more strain on the old cafeteria.

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Absentee voting wrapped up yesterday in Starke County, but the totals aren’t all in yet. Clerk Evelyn Skronski told WKVI that 283 in-office ballots have been cast and 15 travel board votes have been collected. However, she said they do not yet have the total on mail-in ballots because they sent out 44 ballots and not all of them have been returned yet.

Voters in California, Center and Washington townships are eligible to vote in this special election, voicing their opinions on a public questions offered by the Knox Community School Board concerning a construction and remodeling project in the Palmer Wing at the elementary school.

The polls open today, giving the rest of the voters in the qualifying townships the opportunity to have their say in the matter. The polls will open at 6 a.m. and close at 6 p.m., and Skronski said they’ll have the final results around 7 p.m.