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.
The Culver Fire Department will be getting a new squad truck to start off the new year. Every five years the fire department sells the oldest vehicle in their fleet and purchases a new one. The new truck is expected to be just over $300,000. The town will pay $151,455 out of the General Fund while the fire department has plans to set $20,000 aside for each of the next five years to pay that back. The township will pay the remaining balance of the new truck. Culver Fire Chief Terry Wakefield explains the payment assistance from the town and the township .
In less than a week voters will go to the polls for the general election. WKVI will provide live anchored coverage of election returns on Tuesday, Nov. 4th. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. local time. Results and complete coverage will begin after the news at 5 p.m. CT. WKVI reporters will be in Starke and Pulaski counties to gather information and interviews with candidates. Election results will also be given from Marshall County.
This weekend is the official end of Daylight Saving Time. You will need to set your clock back one hour before you go to bed Saturday or at 2 a.m. Sunday local time when the official fall back begins. Continue reading
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.
Ancilla College is rewarding high school students who finish at the top of their class. Beginning in 2015, Ancilla College will be offering full tuition scholarships to the top high school graduates from schools in 10 north-central Indiana counties. Ancilla’s Val-Sal Scholarship offers free full-time tuition, as much as $13,500 each year, to local graduates who attend Ancilla.
Local salutatorians, traditionally students who graduate second in their class, will be offered up to $10,000 in free tuition. Ancilla College Professor Kristin Korcha says starting your college career at Ancilla can be very beneficial.
“To stay local and to really start your education here with us is just fantastic. Having worked in this community for over ten years in teaching I see firsthand how important it is to really get to know your professors, small class sizes, you can commute and save money from having the tuition and then also being able to have the chance to save up so that when you get ready for your four year school you can just transfer there,” said Korcha.
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.
Marshall County Attorney Jim Clevenger told the commissioners this week that the paperwork for the Metronet project is complete.
There were some endorsements and fees that were added to the paperwork that couldn’t be avoided. The conduit installation is nearly finished.
The bonds for the jail project were closed on Wednesday, Oct. 15. The lease amendment was recorded and sent to the state.
Clevenger told the board members at the last meeting that the prospective sale of the jail bonds to refinance the previous bonds found lower rates. Umbaugh and Associates predicted a possible $500,000 in payments, but the bond refinancing helped save the county $639,000.
The Marshall County Highway Department was busy this summer with the road program.
Supervisor of County Highways Jason Peters told the commissioners Monday morning that crews were able to chip and seal 38 to 40 miles of roads this year.
“We pugged right around five-and-a-half miles, we paved a little over two-and-a-half miles. We used about 2,000 tons of milling for paving. We used about 1,500 ton of that for miscellaneous patching here and there. Roughly 1,000 to 1,500 ton we used for patching which offsets a tremendous amount of money in years to come as far as buying cold mix,” said Peters.
The Culver Community School Corporation is seeking a $52,747 grant from the state for retention incentives for highly effective teachers. The purpose of the state grant is to increase the academic achievement of all students by helping schools and districts improve teacher and principal quality and effectiveness. Evaluations of the teachers determine who receives part of the grant as a bonus. Director of Operations Chuck Kitchell says if the grant is received, a portion of the grant will be set aside.
“About $6,000 of that money we would like to set aside to help with professional development activities for our teachers,” said Kitchell.
With sobriety, anything is possible. That’s the message addict turned triathlete Todd Crandell is sharing with students in Starke and Marshall Counties during Red Ribbon Week. He first tried alcohol when he was 13. Crandall says his life was” normal on the outside” but he was pretty emotionally distraught due to his Mom’s suicide 10 years earlier due to her struggles with addiction.
“I had a giant void that I was looking for something to fill it with, and unfortunately trying alcohol at age 13 was the catalyst for the next 13 years of destruction,” Crandall said.
He says he used “anything I could get my hands on” to try to numb the pain. Continue reading
The Marshall County Museum and the Weidner School of Inquiry recently teamed up to digitally record stories of World War II veterans. The Museum staff contacted nearly 40 known veterans and high school students to schedule face to face interviews. The students generated questions from researching the era and videotaped the conversations. A composite DVD of the interviews was produced by the students to give to each interviewee and to also become part of the Museum’s military exhibit. Executive Director Linda Rippy says the students got into the project and bonded really well with the veterans.
