Huntington water dept., wellhead group hosting meeting on plan

Huntington County Tab:

The City of Huntington Water Department and the Wellhead Protection Local Planning Team will be hosting a public informational meeting on the City's Wellhead Protection Phase II Plan.

The meeting will be held on Aug. 15, at 6:30 p.m., in the City Council Chambers, on the third floor of the City Building.

The purpose of Wellhead Protection is to prevent drinking water from becoming polluted by managing possible sources of contamination in the area that supplies water to the city wells.

Construction begins on Limberlost Visitor Center

Berne Tri-Weekly News:

Arnold Co., Inc., of Decatur has started pouring the foundation for construction of the Limberlost Visitor Center.

Cole Fryback, representing the company, which has been contracted to construct the facility, said earlier this week that a pad has been built and cement is being poured to set the foundation for the center.

In the meantime, Randy Lehman, executive director of the Limberlost State Historic Site said that the Decatur-based construction company told him that it has been given the verbal green light to go ahead and has begun the project.

Currently, said Lehman, he has been given no timeline on completion of the project.

Knous tax deal is given the OK

Decatur Daily Democrat:

As expected, Decatur City Council, at its meeting this week, approved via a confirming resolution a 10-year tax abatement on a warehouse which Knous Enterprises LLC of Decatur will improve for its affiliate, P&B Trucking.

The request had been presented at the previous meeting by Portland attorney John Coldren, representing owners Robert and Pam Knous of Decatur.

The Knouses have an empty warehouse in Industrial Park I and will build a 12,000 square foot improvement to it at a cost off $352,000 to $372,000. That would translate into the hiring of three of four employees, Coldren said previously.

Young entrepreneurs starting new crop in county

Huntington County Tab:

Growing along U.S.-24, on a hillside between Roanoke and Huntington, are hundreds of grape vines.

Eric Harris and Emily Hart planted them there this spring, and now they are training them to grow according to vertical shoot positioning - a method used by vineyards in California to maximize visual appeal and efficiency of the plant, says Harris.

But why are these plants now a part of the Huntington County landscape?

They are a component of Harris' and Hart's dream of owning a winery.

Police pay hike stirs city debate

Decatur Daily Democrat:

An hour and 20-minute budget discussion at Tuesday night's Decatur City Council meeting was mostly devoted to a stirring, passionate debate over a requested pay increase for members of the city police department.

In the end, three council members voted to provide a $2,500 increase to each of the 17 members of the department. That will be in addition to the two percent pay boost set up earlier for all city employees.

The issue of extra police raises came up as, for the first time, the proposed city budget for 2013 came into public view. It carried a figure of $7,131,597, up $275,710 from last year's $6,855,869 proposal. But the new proposal will now have to be recalculated due to the hikes granted the police department.

Busy day for police - Apprehensions in two incidents

Decatur Daily Democrat:

City and county law-enforcement authorities had a busy Monday afternoon, conducting an extensive search for an individual northwest of Decatur and during that time apprehending at gunpoint two people in a vehicle reported as stolen.

It all began around 2:15 p.m. when the sheriff's department got a tip that a wanted man, Michael A. Robinson, was staying at a residence on northwest Winchester Road. As Decatur police Det. Leonard Corral Jr., on duty with the sheriff's department, was attempting to serve a warrant the man, he fled into a corn field.

Sheriff's deputies and city officers set up a perimeter around the field and the Indiana State Police K-9 was called. After approximately an hour, the search was called off without an apprehension.

Courthouse damage could top $10,000 - Likely lightning zaps electrical equipment

Decatur Daily Democrat:

While Saturday's storm didn't cause any structural damage to county buildings, plenty of electrical equipment was zapped by an apparent lightning strike.

Dave Meyer, of building maintenance, told the Adams County Commissioners Monday that he checked on the courthouse after he failed to receive a routine status email Sunday morning.

Meyer said when he got to the building he discovered the second floor air conditioning unit, elevator, emergency alarms and panic alarms were not working. Meyer called Bleeke Electric to fix the problems and as of Monday all systems, except the air conditioning unit, were operating again.