Vandalism Incidents Reported At Local Businesses

This is just a small portion of vandalism done to the buildings in the Industrial Park

Several cases of vandalism were reported in Starke County over the weekend. The vandals spray-painted buildings at J.W. Hicks and Toll Brothers, and a truck parked at M.P.I. was tagged as well.

Starke County Development Foundation Director Charles Weaver issued a statement yesterday condemning the acts, describing them as “despicable.” The foundation is offering a $1000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators.

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Starke County Economic Development Office Moves from Downtown Location

This is the old Starke County Economic Development Foundation location

The moving truck was in downtown Knox yesterday removing the furniture from the Starke County Economic Development Foundation office. Director Charles Weaver and his staff will be moving to 1915 Heaton Street in the strip mall by Christos Restaurant. The move is being made to give the Foundation more room, but what will happen to the building on Main Street that is over 100 years old?

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Starke County Officials Hold Successful Tax Sale

Totals are in from last week’s tax sale held in the Starke County Annex. Two separate sales were conducted. One was a certificate sale and the other was a deed sale. The certificate sale is one in which the original owners might redeem the property by paying the back taxes. A deed sale is one in which the deed is held by the County where the County is attempting to get the property back on the tax rolls.

38 parcels were sold in the certificate sale for $11,400 and 24 parcels were sold on the deed sale for $2,400.

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Knox City Council Approves Knox Industrial Park Name Change

Knox City Council #2
Back Row: Mayor Rick Chambers, Ed Blue, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, Greg Matt and Attorney David Matsey. Front Row: Linda Berndt, Jeff Berg and Ron Parker

At the recent meeting of the Knox City Council, Starke County Development Foundation Director, Charles Weaver, requested that the Council change the name of the Knox Industrial Park to the Starke County Rail Park. The Council unanimously approved the name change and the proposal will be taken to the Starke County Commissioners for approval. The name was changed to give it a county feel rather than a city feel.

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News from the Knox City Council

Knox City Council #2
Back Row: Mayor Rick Chambers, Ed Blue, Clerk-Treasurer Jeff Houston, Greg Matt and Attorney David Matsey. Front Row: Linda Berndt, Jeff Berg and Ron Parker

During its meeting Tuesday night, the Knox City Council approved the final payment to close out the rehabilitation project at the Wastewater Treatment Facility. Even with the change orders presented, the total project came in $9,991 under budget. Mike Strang, from Bonar and Associates, said he and Wastewater Superintendent, Kelly Clemons, were happy with the work done by the contracting company, R. E. Crosby.

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Starke County Development Foundation Holds 25th Anniversary Celebration

Back Row: Charles Weaver, Bill Sonnemaker and Terry Kimmel. Front Row: Chris Madsen, Matt Swanson, Marvin Peters, Steve Spaw, and Jack Lynch. Picture by Jayme Goetz

Dignitaries from throughout the county and Northwest Indiana attended the 25th Anniversary celebration for the Starke County Development Foundation Friday afternoon at the Knox Community Center.

Emcee, Ted Hayes, brought a number of people to the microphone during the program. They included State Representative Nancy Dembowski, State Senator Ed Charbonneau, Northwest Indiana Forum President, Mark Maassel; Starke County Development Foundation President, Bill Sonnemaker; Foundation Director, Charles Weaver; and former Foundation Director, Terry Kimmel.

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Week in Review for December 6th-10th, 2010

Here is just some of the news that made the news in the Kankakee Valley this week.

Diana Jedynak, 67, died of fire related injuries after her home caught fire early Monday morning in Washington Township. Indiana State Fire Marshal, Fred Sumpter, said the investigation into the cause of the fire was postponed due to the weather conditions and the integrity of the structure.

Northwest Indiana Forum, Inc.

The Northwest Indiana Forum’s Board of Directors have voted to acknowldge the organization’s service territory to extend beyond Lake, Porter, LaPorte and Starke Counties to include Newton, Jasper and Pulaski Counties.

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Starke County Commissioners Approve Motion to Close out Federal Grant

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

The Hamlet Infrastructure grant was discussed at the most recent Starke County Commissioners meeting. Starke County Development Foundation Director, Charles Weaver, requested, and received, permission to begin the process to close out the Federal Economic Development Administration Grant. Starke County received almost $2 million dollars from E.D.A. toward the water tower in the Hamlet West Park, the installation of about 2 miles of 12 inch water mains, fire hydrants, and the installation of one mile of sanitary sewer lines to service the industrial area.

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Starke County Commissioners Asked to Classify County Road as Rural Major Collector

Charles Weaver
Charles Weaver

Starke County Development Foundation Director Charles Weaver appeared before the County Commissioners at it’s most recent meeting. He asked the Board to sign an application to be submitted to the Indiana Department of Transportation to classify County Road 300 East, between Culver Road South and State Road 8 on the North, as a rural major collector.

“This makes that parcel of road eligible for eighty percent federal financing on a highway project,” said Weaver.

The major collector will link the road that will be rebuilt to state standards to service not only the industry in that area but the residents and other users as well.