Starke County Commissioners to Meet Tonight

The Starke County Commissioners will have updates from several departments when they meet tonight.

Starke County Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler will have a flood damage assessment update for the commissioners tonight along with other information from the highway department. EMS Director Travis Clary and Clerk Mary Lynn Ritchie will provide an update as well as IT Director Mark Gourley.

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CADA Receives Grant to Help Secure the Phoenix House

CADA Executive Director Wendy Elam accepts an Operation Round Up donation from Kankakee Valley REMC Communications/Marketing Director Amanda Steeb.
CADA Executive Director Wendy Elam accepts an Operation Round Up donation from Kankakee Valley REMC Communications/Marketing Director Amanda Steeb.

Women and children fleeing from domestic or family violence can rest a little easier at the Phoenix House, thanks to a grant from Kankakee Valley REMC. The electric cooperative recently gave the shelter $3,115 to assist with security at the transitional home for women and children. Counseling and other support services are also offered. Continue reading

Starke County Building Corporation, Commissioners Meeting This Morning

Starke County Courthouse
Starke County Courthouse

The Starke County Building Corporation plans to appoint a committee to discuss future uses for the current jail. They are meeting this morning at 8:30 at the county annex building, prior to the commissioners meeting at 9. Skillman Corporation will also provide an update on how construction of the new jail east of Knox on State Road 8 is going. It’s scheduled for completion in the spring of 2015. The commissioners agenda includes consideration of a proposal from Starke County Clerk Evelyn Skronski to relocate some precincts. Officials from IU Health Starke Hospital will also discuss the physicians recruitment program. EMA Director Ted Bombagetti and James Coad are on the agenda regarding the county’s emergency preparedness plan. Wendy Elam from CADA has a proclamation for the county to declare April Child Abuse Prevention Month. CADA, CASA and the Indiana Department of Child Services are kicking off the awareness campaign tomorrow evening at 7:30 p.m. at the Nancy J. Dembowski Convention Center in downtown Knox with a Pinwheels for Prevention candle lighting ceremony. Members of the public are invited to come show their support for children in the community. In the event of inclement weather, the ceremony will take place inside.

Candlelight Vigil Planned to Honor Victims of Child Abuse

 
 
April is Prevent Child Abuse Month and the Coalition Against Domestic Abuse, CASA and the Department of Child Services in Starke County will be holding a candlelight vigil to honor victims of child abuse on Tuesday, April 16. CADA Representative Wendy Elam invites you to participate.

“We will have a moment of silence led by Pastor Heyboer from the First Baptist Church in Knox,” said Elam. “It will be held in the municipal parking lot adjacent to the Knox police station. Everyone is welcome.”

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April is Child Abuse Prevention Month

  
 
With nearly 25,000 substantiated cases of child neglect and abuse reported confirmed in Indiana in 2009 with 38 child fatalities – 79 percent of which were under the age of three – Prevent Child Abuse Indiana and Prevent Child Abuse Starke County are working together to raise awareness of the life-threatening issue. Child abuse is preventable, which makes these statistics not only alarming, but disturbing.

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