Today is the last chance for you to vote absentee in this year’s General Election.
The clerk’s offices in Starke County, Pulaski County and Marshall County will be open from 8 a.m. to noon local time to give you an opportunity to cast your important vote.
As of Friday afternoon, the Marshall County Clerk’s office reported 1,451 total absentee votes which includes mail-in, walk-in and travel board tallies while Pulaski County had 475 walk-in votes.
Several area school corporations are considering the adoption of a balanced school calendar for the 2015-2016 school year. The Rochester Community School Corporation already has one in place. Officials from that corporation will present information during a community meeting this evening at 6 p.m. EDT at Culver Community High School. Continue reading
The Marshall County Commissioners will receive updates on three major construction projects when they meet this morning.
Bart Trester from USI will have status updates on the 7th Road construction project, the Metronet project and the Jefferson Street Bridge rehabilitation project.
The commissioners approved paperwork at their last meeting to call sections of the Metronet project substantially complete. Supervisor of County Highways Jason Peters told WKVI News last week that Beer and Slabaugh is working on the east end of the Jefferson Street bridge and that road should be open at the end of next week.
The Triton School Superintendent held a public presentation Thursday night to discuss the status of funding for public schools.
“The money that we used to get we no longer get,” stated Donna Burroughs. “Triton, for instance, is receiving $1.7 million less in 2014 than we received in 2004. Everyone knows that the cost of everything is going up so it’s making it very difficult for our schools to maintain programs and staffing as it has been in the past.”
Donna Burroughs added that the biggest catalyst in the lack of funding is the state takeover of the General Fund which pays salaries, insurance and operating costs.
Formal charges are pending against the man accused of hitting and biting another man at a Bremen residence early this morning. Officers from the Marshall County Police Department responded to 1426 Jute Road in Bremen at 12:43 a.m. for a report of a fight in progress. A man told them Larry W. Baltes, 40, had hit him in the face and bitten his upper thigh. The victim refused medical treatment, according to a news release. Baltes was arrested on preliminary charges of battery resulting in moderate injury, public intoxication and disorderly conduct.
A Marshall County jury convicted a defendant on several charges in a two-day trial in Marshall County Superior Court.
The jury members deliberated over three hours and found Russell Prosser guilty on one count of possession of stolen property, one count of resisting law enforcement, four counts of unauthorized entry of motor vehicles and four counts of theft of items found in those vehicles.
Prosser was arrested on Dec. 9, 2013 after he had stolen items out of cars from a number of Culver residents the previous evening. He also led police in a foot pursuit. He was apprehended the next day after he was found sleeping in his truck in the McDonald’s parking lot in LaPaz.
Work on the Jefferson Street bridge in Plymouth is nearing completion.
Crews from Beer and Slabaugh have finished the west end of the bridge and the east end is about half done. Marshall County Supervisor of Highways Jason Peters told WKVI News that less work needs to be done on the east side of the bridge.
Construction is being done to reinforce the sidewalk along the bridge and to reinforce the corners of the bridge to alleviate stability issues. Once all of the repairs are done, the crews will reseal the deck.
A Plymouth School Bus driver faces charges in connection with a hit-and-run accident. It happened on Friday, Oct. 17 in the 16000 block of Cook Lake Trail and was reported to the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department at 7:41 a.m. A resident told a Marshall County Sheriff’s Deputy her vehicle was parked in her driveway at the time. Continue reading
A Plymouth man is accused of child molesting after a report was made about an incident involving a teenager.
On Sunday, Oct. 26, Plymouth City Police Department officers received a complaint of sexual activity between a 20-year-old man and a 13-year-old female, according to a news release. Police say during the course of the investigation, information revealed that two sexual encounters took place at a location in Plymouth on Monday, Oct. 6 and on Saturday, Oct. 11.
A man was arrested in Marshall County on Sunday after a moped accident.
A deputy from the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department responded to the scene at 13th Road near Nataka Trail where they found Dylan D. Craft who was involved in an accident while driving his moped.
The deputy noted that Craft was intoxicated and alcoholic beverage containers were located by the wrecked moped, according to a press release from the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department. Craft was transported to the Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in Plymouth for his injuries.
Plymouth fire crews responded to a grain dryer fire last night on Juniper Road.
According to Assistant Fire Chief George Cook, the dryer on the silo became clogged with corn and caused the dryer to combust. Firefighters had to cut out the dryer and evacuate some corn in order to put out the fire.
The estimated damage was unknown.
Firefighters were on the scene for two hours with a tanker truck, rescue truck, an ambulance and an engine truck.
A Marshall County man ended up in jail there Sunday evening after a scuffle with police responding to a report of a stabbing. Officers were called to a residence in the 7000 block of 11A Road around 4:30 p.m. When they arrived they learned nobody had been stabbed but a fight had taken place between the residents. Continue reading
A man and woman from Rochester each face multiple felony charges after state police reportedly found an active meth lab and drugs at their home early Saturday morning. They discovered them at the residence in the 3100 south block of 150 East in Rochester while serving a search warrant in connection with an illegal narcotics investigation. Continue reading
This is the last full week to vote absentee in the General Election.
So far, Marshall County has reported 730 absentee votes.
Absentee voting in Marshall County will be available today through Friday from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. The clerk’s office will be open on Saturday, Nov. 1 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET.
The September unemployment report shows Marshall County with a ranking of 46th in the state with a rate of 4.9 percent.
Starke County had a rate of 5.5 percent unemployment in the month of September which matches the U.S. rate. That four-tenths of a percentage drop ranks Starke County 16th in the state.
Addict turned triathlete Todd Crandall will share his story of overcoming a 13-year addiction to drugs and alcohol with the community during a program tonight at LifePlex in Plymouth. Crandall is the founder and president of Racing for Recovery. It’s a nonprofit organization that strives to save lives and improve the quality of life for addicts and their friends and family by promoting a lifestyle of health, fitness and sobriety. Crandall first tried alcohol at age 13 to cope with the depression and confusion of his mother’s suicide 10 years earlier due to her struggles with addiction. For the next 13 years Crandall says he tried every type of drug he could get his hands on before making the decision to quit. Continue reading
Marshall County Building Inspector Chuck DeWitt gave the Marshall County Commissioners a quarterly update where he announced the number of permits beginning in August and their permit values.
“We had 35 permits totaling approximately $1.6 million, giving us almost $30 million for the year,” explained DeWitt. “We had 183 inspections during August. In September, we had 52 new permits with a value of $2.4 million which gives us a total of $32 million for the year and 326 permits. We’re probably going to be on track to have about 425 to 440 total permits which is an exceptional year.”
A man was arrested after allegedly battering a pregnant woman and a child.
On Wednesday night, Marshall County deputies were called to a home in the 13,000 block of State Road 17 where they found that the victim had fled the residence. The suspect, Jason Phillips, had also left the residence prior to the officer’s arrival. The victim was transported to the hospital for treatment for injuries sustained in the incident.
During the course of the investigation, police discovered that a young boy was also battered. Police were able to locate Phillips in Rochester and with the help of the Rochester Police Department he was taken into custody on Thursday.
A Knox woman was flown to a South Bend hospital Thursday night after a head-on collision in Marshall County. It happened on 9th Road west of Sycamore Road just before 10 p.m. EDT. Police say a vehicle driven by Brittany Roxey, 26, of Knox was eastbound behind a car driven by Brittany Orr, 26, of Grovertown, pulled out to pass and hit a sport-utility vehicle driven by David Holdread, 51, of Knox, head-on. Continue reading
A Plymouth woman was arrested this week after an investigation into an unauthorized use of a credit card.
The investigation started on Thursday, Oct. 9 when Plymouth Police Department officers received a call from the victim who told police that transactions in excess of $1,000 were charged to the victim’s debit/credit card in a three month period.
Kristen Hayes, 42, was questioned about the alleged transactions on Oct. 22. She was subsequently arrested on preliminary charges of credit card fraud and theft.
She was booked into the Marshall County Jail with a $1,500 cash bond.
