News Tagged ‘Bass Lake’

Foul play is not suspected in the death of a Bass Lake man who was found dead in his home Saturday morning. Starke County Coroner Kris Rannells says they won’t have a conclusive cause of death for at least four to six weeks as the official autopsy report is compiled and processed, but he says they do not suspect foul play at this time.

The body of 52-year-old David Griffin was discovered by his brother Saturday morning when he had gone to check on Griffin because nobody had heard from him in several days. The body was found in a Bass Lake home and was reported to be badly decomposed, indicating that he had been deceased for some time.

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The identity of the deceased man discovered in a Bass Lake home has been released. Starke County Coroner Kris Rannells says 52-year-old David Griffin was found dead inside his residence by his brother, who had gone to check on him because nobody had heard from Griffin in some time.

The Starke County Sheriff’s Department, Starke County Coroner, Indiana State Police, and LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department all responded to the scene to conduct investigations. A forensic autopsy was performed yesterday at the Northeast Indiana Forensic Center in Fort Wayne, although no cause or manner of death has been announced.

Rannells says the cause of death will be released when the autopsy report is finalized, but he noted that there does not appear to be any signs of foul play regarding Griffin’s death. The man was found dead in a Bass Lake home Saturday morning, and the body was said to be badly decomposed.

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The Starke County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the mysterious death of a Starke County man who was found in a home along Bass Lake Saturday morning.

Just after 9 a.m., police found a dead body in a Bass Lake home. While his identity has not yet been released, his body was reportedly badly decomposed, indicating that the man had been deceased for some time in the home.

Foul play has not been ruled out, and the Sheriff’s Department has launched a death investigation that will begin Monday with a forensic autopsy.

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Keith Wildeman

The Indiana Division of Nature Preserves is asking you to help protect a state endangered aquatic plant at Bass Lake.

Conservation Officer Keith Wildeman said the plants have been exposed in areas where the water level has dropped and DNR officials have identified off-road and motor vehicle tracks over these plants.

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Scenes like this one in North Judson were all too common in the wake of weekend storms.

Crews are still working diligently to clean up the damage from last weekend’s series of storms, but Bass Lake Fire Chief Les Jensen says the clean up efforts are going very well. The Starke County Highway Department has been removing branches from roads and power lines, and Jensen says the roads around Bass Lake that were previously closed are now open. However, some branches are still close to the road because cleanup crews had focused on getting the roads cleared and open, but those branches will soon be removed.

The NIPSCO Outage Center reports that only one customer in the Knox area is still affected by outages, with a total of 97 NIPSCO customers affected in Northern Indiana. KVREMC crews are also making efforts to clear lines and undo damages caused by the storm.

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It wasn’t a tornado went through the area on Friday, but strong straight-line winds that caused power outages across the listening area and extensive damage to homes and boats at Bass Lake and several other locations.

If you sustained damage caused by severe weather Friday or Sunday, report it to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security by going online to www.myoracle.in.gov/hs/damage. If you don’t have internet access, contact a friend or neighbor for help, or go to the local library and someone can help you with you in this process.

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Keith Wildeman

The drought is affecting everyone from farmers to outdoor enthusiasts.

Conservation officer Keith Wildeman said that because of the drought conditions, water levels are low in public freshwater lakes, rivers, and streams. You should be prepared to run into issues while visiting your favorite lake or river because of the low water levels.

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Do you ever remember diving off the diving board at Bass Lake? What year was it? Well, you might never dive off of it again, but because of the low water at Bass Lake the old diving board and platform have been discovered. A boat struck the items in about four feet of water, and although at first no one knew what it was, it was soon discovered that the platform had four polls on each corner and a rug on top of the deck.

On another note, Starke County’s most famous bridge – the one that went over Eagle Creek – has been removed. The wooden bridge was the site of a near-tragic event that occurred in April 1996 when a runaway school bus went over the bridge before a student, John Waldron, stopped it in a field.

The bridge has recently been taken out and a culvert installed. Highway workers brought the old wooden bridge to the highway garage property. It’s not known if it will be sold, scrapped, or used for parts.

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Selected areas of Bass Lake will be treated with an EPA-registered aquatic herbicide on or after May 21. The herbicide is being applied for the control of Invasive Eurasian Water Milfoil.

The treatment is being funded by the Bass Lake Conservancy District under an IDNR permit, and according to a news release, there are no restrictions on fish consumption or body contact.

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Starke County Commissioners: Kathy Norem, Dan Bridegroom and Jennifer Davis

Several Bass Lake residents got the answer they were seeking at the recent Starke County Commissioners meeting. The residents, who have placed a pier into the water at the end of Shewski Road in the past, petitioned the commissioners to allow them to do so again this year.

One of the sticking points was that the pier would be three feet over the access point in the lake. After several of the residents made points to the commissioners, a motion was made by Commissioner Jennifer Davis to allow the pier to be put in this year, and it will be studied and evaluated before the next season. That motion was approved unanimously as the room rang with applause.

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Knox native Jerry Johnson played in the 1969 NCAA Basketball Final game on this date. His Purdue Boilermakers lost to UCLA 92-72.

Chicago gangster, Diamond Joe Esposito, who owned a cottage at Bass Lake, was shot and killed in a gangland slaying in the Windy City. He had his hand in bootlegging and prostitution. He was killed on this date in 1928.

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It was on this date in 1928 that it was announced that Bass Lake would be the home of the largest and most beautiful Fish Hatchery in Indiana. The Indiana Department of Conservation purchased five acres of land surrounding the present hatchery. The hatchery would then cover ten acres of land.

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Heather Robbins

A Medaryville woman was arrested Sunday after telling police of a battery incident that never occurred.

Heather Robbins reportedly told police that she was traveling on County Road 200 North just west of State Road 39 in Pulaski County when she saw red and blue lights behind her at approximately 4:00 a.m. ET. She said that she pulled over to the side of the road and an unknown person pulled her from the vehicle and beat her. She said she lost consciousness and woke up in her car. She returned home to North Judson to visit her family who urged her to go to the hospital.

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Heather Wilson

Michael Simpson

An F.B.I. Task Force officer arrested two people at Bass Lake Tuesday evening. Police were alerted that 44-year-old Michael Simpson had escaped from a jail in Kentucky, where he was jailed on a sex crime, and may be in the Starke County. An F.B.I. Task Force officer stopped the suspect’s vehicle at County Road 600 East and State Road 10 where he found Simpson and 23-year-old Heather Wilson, both from Louisville, Kentucky. A two-year-old child was also in the vehicle.

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