GIS Data Contract Approved for Plymouth Trail Project

Posted on Author Lenny Dessauer

The Marshall County Commissioners have approved a measure to help the City of Plymouth move forward with the Greenway Trail.

City Attorney Sean Surrisi told the commissioners last week that the city is attempting to complete phase two of the grant-funded project. Officials with SEH Engineering need GIS data in order to continue with the design work.

“In order for them to prepare the plans, they would like to have some GIS data for that area,” explained Surrisi. “We’ve made a similar request before and we were able to put together a contract where we signed off and said we were guaranteeing that the contractors were just going to use the information for this project and not for any other commercial purposes.”

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Culver Community School Board Reorganizes, Approves Master Agenda

Posted on Author Anita Goodan
Front L-R: Dr. Vicki McGuire, Marina Cavazos Back L-R: William J. Sonnemaker, Mark Maes, Ryan Sieber, Ken Vandeputte, Jack Jones, Jim Wentzel
Front L-R: Dr. Vicki McGuire, Marina Cavazos
Back L-R: William J. Sonnemaker, Mark Maes, Ryan Sieber, Ken Vandeputte, Jack Jones, Jim Wentzel

The Culver Community School Board elected officers for 2015 after the swearing-in of recently reelected members Jack Jones, William Sonnemaker and Ryan Sieber. Ken Vandeputte replaces Jack Jones as president. Jim Wentzel succeeds Vandeputte as vice president, and Mark Maes took over Wentzel’s previous seat of secretary.

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Marshall County Commissioners Discuss Juvenile Detention Center Contract

Posted on Author Lenny Dessauer

The Marshall County Commissioners received clarification on a proposed contract for 2015 with the Muskegon River Youth Center in Logoda.

James Pheibush from the probation department explained that he negotiated with the detention center for point to point transport.

“For $149, they will transport a kid from point A to point B which I think is cheap,” stated Pheibush. “If they exceed eight hours in a transport, it’s $238 and I thought that was a bargain compared to having one of our road officers tied up for that many hours and other legal questions involved.”

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Marshall County Commissioners Reappoint Department Heads, Meet Today

Posted on Author Lenny Dessauer

The Marshall County Commissioners reappointed department heads last week.

Doug Masterton was retained as buildings and grounds maintenance supervisor, Jason Peters as supervisor of county highways, Laurie Baker as highway administrator, Chuck DeWitt as building inspector, Gary Masterson as jail maintenance supervisor, Clyde Avery as EMA director, Michael Marshall as IT director Linda Rippe as museum director, Pam Schweitzer-Betz as veteran’s service officer, and Jim Clevenger as county attorney.

The commissioners will meet this morning at 8:30 a.m. ET for their first regular meeting of the new year with Julie Fox as the newly elected auditor and Kurt West Garner who is beginning a four-year term in the commissioner in District 1 seat.

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Nepotism Law May Affect Local Officeholders

Posted on Author Lenny Dessauer

A state law passed fairly recently may start having implications for elected officials in Starke County.

House Enrolled Act 1005 states that an individual may not hold elected office if they are working, or volunteering, for a fire department providing services to that unit of government. The language may have consequences for several individuals about to serve in county, city, and township government.
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Officers Identified in Police-Involved Shooting Incident in Plymouth

Posted on Author Lenny Dessauer

Officials from the Indiana State Police, Bremen Post and Plymouth Police Department have released the names of the officers involved in a shooting in Plymouth. Trooper William B. Ennis and Plymouth officer Matthew Emenhiser were involved in firing shots at Lane Dodson of Plymouth Monday evening.

Trooper Ennis conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Dodson. Dodson pulled his van into the Kmart parking lot and Trooper Ennis waited for a Plymouth officer, Emnenhiser, to assist at the scene. The pair walked up to the driver’s side window to question Dodson about an alleged domestic issue that occurred earlier in the day. When Dodson was asked to step out of the vehicle, Dodson reportedly raised his gun at police and the officers fired their guns.

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Fatal Fire Prompts Smoke Detector Donation Drive

Posted on Author Anita Goodan

culver-town-hallSmoke detectors will soon be handed out to residents of  Culver and the surrounding community. Culver-Union Township Fire Chief Terry Wakefield told the town council last night his department is collecting smoke detectors to give out. Their action was prompted by a recent fatal house fire in which the home’s lone occupant died of smoke inhalation because the home lacked a smoke detector.

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Marshall County Commissioners to Meet Today

Posted on Author Lenny Dessauer

The Marshall County Commissioners will meet for the last time this year today at 8:30 a.m. ET.

The commissioners will review the county’s contract with the Muskegon River Youth Center. The probation department had a previous contract with the juvenile detention facility in Muncie but operations have moved to a new location in Evart, Indiana. The 2014 contract expires today.

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ISP Releases Name of Suspect in Officer-Involved Shooting

Posted on Author Lenny Dessauer
A Plymouth Police Officer and state trooper from the Bremen post pulled this white van over in the parking lot of the Plymouth KMart Monday night. The driver was wanted for questioning in a domestic battery incident.
A Plymouth Police Officer and state trooper from the Bremen post pulled this white van over in the parking lot of the Plymouth KMart Monday night. The driver was wanted for questioning in a domestic battery incident.

An officer-involved shooting last night in the parking lot of a Plymouth store resulted in serious injury to a suspect in a domestic battery case. The man, identified as Lane G. Dodson, 33, of Plymouth, allegedly raised a gun at a state trooper and a Plymouth Police Officer when asked to get out of his vehicle in the KMart parking lot. The officers opened fire and struck him multiple times. Continue reading →

ISP Investigating Officer-Involved Shooting in Plymouth Kmart Parking Lot

Posted on Author Lenny Dessauer
A Plymouth Police Officer and state trooper from the Bremen post pulled this white van over in the parking lot of the Plymouth KMart Monday night. The driver was wanted for questioning in a domestic battery incident.
A Plymouth Police Officer and state trooper from the Bremen post pulled this white van over in the parking lot of the Plymouth KMart Monday night. The driver was wanted for questioning in a domestic battery incident.

An officer-involved shooting last night in the parking lot of a Plymouth store resulted in serious injury to a suspect in a domestic battery case. The man, whose name has not been released, allegedly raised a gun at a state trooper and a Plymouth Police Officer when asked to get out of his vehicle in the KMart parking lot – check here for parkade floor cleaning. The officers opened fire and struck him multiple times. Continue reading →

Resolve to Maintain a Better Budget in 2015

Posted on Author Lenny Dessauer

Money management is difficult and many people resolve to budget better as the new year starts. Devan Wallen from Financial Partners in Knox says the first step to a better budget is to cut out unnecessary expenditures.

“Probably one of the first things you can do is to rid yourself of the non-necessity things. A lot of times people engage in bad habits like smoking, drinking, dining out, and shopping too much and that can cause quite a hindrance to the budget,” said Wallen.

Credit card bills can be overwhelming, especially after the Christmas holiday. Wallen suggests cutting credit cards out completely.

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