Contracts Signed for Debris Removal along Yellow River

Yellow River

Contracts were signed last week by the Starke County Commissioners for work to be done by the Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission for debris removal work on the Yellow River.

“We’re going to start at the Marshall-Starke County line,” explained Commissioner Dan Bridegroom. “We’ll GPS all of the log jams, those will be bundled, and that’s the work they will bid on.”

Only recently more debris has gone into the river.

“We do know there was one big tree that fell in during the last big storm we had about three weeks ago. Since then, five more trees have gone into the water.”

The $150,000 grant to do the work is coming from the stimulus money offered two years ago. Territorial Engineering is now preparing the bid specifications and work will hopefully begin sometime this summer.

Starke County Under Travel Advisory

With today’s large amount of snowfall, Starke County has been placed under a travel advisory status of “Advisory.” A travel advisory status of “Advisory” means that routine travel or activity may be restricted in areas because of a hazardous situation. Citizens should use caution or avoid these areas.

Commissioner Dan Bridegroom says the plow trucks have been pulled off the streets for the day, but will resume clearing the roads at 5 a.m. Sunday morning.

The National Weather Service has issued the following alert for Marshall and St. Joseph counties.

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Starke County Planning Commission Tables Dog Kennel Ordinance

The ordinance regulating dog kennels is slowly making progress to being approved, and it’s been sent back to the tech committee for further revision. Previously, a committee consisting of many dog owners collaborated on making a revision to the proposed ordinance that would differentiate between commercial and non-commercial kennels, but none of the members of the Planning Commission had a list of the people on that committee.

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