St Joseph County

Sixteen county employees, led by District Court Judge Jeff Middleton, were recognized for their milestone employment anniversaries Tuesday. The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners staged its annual Employee Service Awards program at the onset of its meeting. Rather than the board chairman read the names of recipients, a new twist saw department heads handle that duty. Ten-year employees recognized …

Members of the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners will have to include a major budget allocation for the parks and recreation department in 2017. Cost estimates for a sanitary sewer and water project for Cade Lake Park and Campground were revealed during Tuesday’s county commission meeting. Daniel Byam, project engineer from Jones Petrie Rafinski, told commissioners the bids range …

Sheriff’s deputies are investigating the theft of a vehicle early Wednesday in Nottawa Township. According to a department media release, the 2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport was taken sometime between 9 p.m. Tuesday and 4 a.m. Wednesday from a location at Klinger Lake and Timm roads. The vehicle was parked in a field and listed for sale. It has a two-inch …

Police in Fairbanks, Alaska, have captured the suspect in a shooting incident involving a Sturgis native last weekend. According to the Fairbanks News-Miner newspaper’s website, a 29-year-old Anchorage man was charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, vehicle theft, second-degree theft and tampering with evidence. The arrest stems from a Sunday morning incident during which Sgt. Allan Brandt was shot …

A lifelong Three Rivers resident has been selected from a field of seven candidates to complete an unexpired term on the Three Rivers City Commission. Pat Dane was the majority’s decision during Tuesday’s meeting to complete the remaining 13 months left on Jared Hoffmaster’s term. Hoffmaster resigned last month in advance of his family’s impending move to Fabius Township. Dane, …

The latest development regarding what is being alleged as unfair termination of three administrators in April 2015 centers on a recent rendering by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Three separate complaints were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last year and the district, in a media statement issued Tuesday, said all three cases have been dismissed; one in January …

A Constantine Township man was injured after the truck he was driving struck a wind-fallen tree Monday night in Flowerfield Township. Sheriff’s deputies said 28-year-old Timothy Sherer was driving a Schwan’s food truck east on M-216 around 8:30 p.m. Sherer told deputies he was unable to stop the truck in time to prevent it from striking a tree in the …

A Vandalia woman reported missing last week has been located. Cass County Sheriff Joe Underwood said Ramona Huffman, 48, is safe and no longer considered a missing person. Huffman was last seen shortly after 9 p.m. Oct. 11, when she left her home to walk to a nearby gas station. Underwood said Huffman left on her own free will and …

A Three Rivers man was seriously injured after attempting to avoid a deer in the roadway last week in Florence Township. Sheriff’s officials said Tawron Johnson, 29, was driving north on Lutz Road at 5:40 a.m. Thursday when his vehicle swerved to avoid the deer. The vehicle crossed the centerline and left the west side of the road before it …

Westly George III, 29, of Three Rivers, was sentenced to prison last week for the 2015 shooting death of Eugene Jackson in Three Rivers. He was sentenced by 45th Circuit Court Judge Paul Stutesman. George was ordered to life for the murder, and also sentenced to three, 4- to 20-year terms on the charges of possession of firearm by a …