Santa Arrives in Angola

Riding in a restored sleigh and float originally built by Charles Rodebaugh in the 1960's, Santa pulled into town and set up court at Fit 4 Life. As an antique calliope strummed holiday tunes, kids of all ages lined up to see the jolly old elf and to enjoy coffee, cocoa and donuts.

Fire Departments on scene

Squire pallet shop on fire, 7000 block of 800 W. Large plume of smoke visible from Kendallville. Multiple departments on scene. Road blocked.

Woman indicted on charges of defrauding PBS station

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) A federal grand jury has handed down a 20 count indictment which accuses a woman hired to handle the finances of WFWA PBS Channel 39 of defrauding the station for more than $130,000.

According to court documents, Gail Waymire took $48,000 donated by two entities and transferred the money into her personal accounts.

The indictment alleges Waymire, 58, used six other methods to defraud the station. The methods included the use of false invoices, the inflation of employees’ payroll, and the inflation of employees’ commissions with the excess money, again, being funneled into her own accounts.

WFWA hired Waymire in October of 2009 and she allegedly defrauded the station starting in 2010. She left WFWA in 2013.

Waymire was arrested in La Port, Indiana September 24. She was arraigned in federal court in South Bend a day later.

PBS employees referred NewsChannel 15 to Randall Steiner, the station’s board president.  His voicemail said he was out of the office Tuesday and he didn’t return an email looking for comment.

Waymire’s attorney also didn’t respond to a phone call Tuesday afternoon.

PBS is known for pledge drives that help fund the station.  It’s unclear how big of an impact the alleged embezzlement had on the Fort Wayne station.

Who's the real "ASSHOLE?" Mike Marturello, editor in chief.

A letter I was forced to write to Terry Housholder, head of Kendallville Publishing Company, parent company of our local "paper" the Herald-Republican. Please read:

This morning I had the extreme displeasure of sitting next to Mike Marturello at a Steuben County Commissioners meeting. He sat next to two old men that I could only liken to the Hecklers on the Muppet Show. I could see that they had no actual business at the meeting except to voice their derogatory opinions on every topic that came up. That's fine, I guess, but it was supremely distracting for the rest of us in attendance. What isn't right is that your employee, Mike Marturello, would join in with them, oftentimes referring to people as "assholes," when they got up to speak or were brought up. One county employee was referred to as a "lazy, overpaid asshole." When the topic came up that I was interested in, they kept it up. Asshole was muttered again, and the Hecklers proceeded to call the County home a "money pit" and "shit hole."

 I told them that was enough, they needed to shut up, and your employee, Mike Marturello, said, "No, you need to shut up." I told him, "As a reporter, you shouldn't be sitting here calling everyone 'Asshole.'"

I then changed seats before I completely lost my temper. You see, for a brief period of time, I wrote for the Angola Evening Star as a full-time reporter covering police action, court proceedings and county government. I knew, didn't have to be told, that I was there to observe, not interject myself into the story, and only speak to people in attendance if I was in fact interviewing them. Now with his college degree, you'd think Mr. Marturello would know that. I did, and I'm self taught. I'm sure you don't care about this. I'm sure you won't do a thing, except maybe show this email to Mr. Marturello and get a good laugh.

But here's the thing - I don't like being told to shut up. I don't shut up when told to by the likes of him. And I'm going to tell everyone what happened, especially all the people he called "assholes."

The Herald-Republican has really hit an all-time low. Amy Oberlin? Nice person. Jennifer Decker? Really awful writer. Mike Marturello? Obviously a bitter, disrespectful individual who's lacking in talent and manners. I think the people of Steuben County should maybe just let the Herald sit. Look at it for free at the gas station or the library. They certainly shouldn't plunk down their hard-earned cash for something put together by him.

Thanks for listening, Melanie M. Varner

Holiday Giving - You Might Get More Than You Bargained For.

On December 3, this intrepid reporter went undercover at Biolife, on Coldwater Road in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Ok, actually, it’s Christmastime and I need money. I thought maybe it was a way to earn some extra cash for presents and help out at the same time. It’s not easy obtaining an appointment at Biolife. I originally had the idea to donate years ago, and at that point you had to call to set up a time to do so. It was impossible to first of all get through, and secondly to schedule an appointment. The staff was incredibly rude, telling you to call back the next day and hang up on you. A few months ago I tried again, walking into the office, and discovering that you can now schedule an appointment online by setting up a username, profile and password. After having a time to donate on three separate occasions and being forced to cancel them due to emergencies, I finally made it through the door yesterday. The woman next to me was asked what she had eaten right before arriving. When the woman’s answer wasn’t satisfactory, she was chastised and sent away, being told that she was informed in an email what to eat. As a fellow potential donor, I knew this to be false. You receive an email telling you to eat a meal high in protein the night before, not the day of. The employee of Biolife was extremely rude to this woman, and sent her away in near tears. No one, it seems, is at Biolife out of the goodness of their hearts. They are there because they are desperate for cash. When asked what I ate, I decided to fib. “Scrambled eggs,” I told the same rude employee. “And toast.” Again this seemed not be good enough, but she gave me a bottle of water, told me it was the first of three I would have to drink before I could donate, and instructed me to sit in the waiting area. That’s where I sat for forty-five minutes without acknowledgement. I watched the other people ahead of me being assessed for donation, because they do that right out in the open. Blood pressure and weight is measured (oh, the horrors!) and an initial blood sample is taken by poking the forefinger, much like when a diabetes patient tests their blood. I watched one employee trying to get a blood sample from the forefinger of a young woman. I say trying because after piercing the forefinger of the girl with the lancet and not being able to draw blood, she told her, “This happens all the time,” and proceeded to stick the lancet back in and roll it around in her finger pad, causing the girl to look ill and grab her forehead. I felt nauseous watching this. I’m no wimp when it comes to pain. I sustained a back injury years ago, and live with pain everyday. But the sight of this girl being tortured by an incompetent twenty-something in a lab coat was too much for me to bear. I started talking to the others in the waiting area with me. “How much will I get today?” I asked. I had received an email stating that I might get up to $75, but was informed by the others it would more than likely only be $20 on my first visit. “How long will this take?” Hours, was the answer. They only have one person giving physicals, so the originally stated time of two hours would more than likely be four. I decided to leave, but realized that they had kept my drivers license and social security card at check in. It dawned on me that this was to keep people from bolting. I sat there at least another fifteen minutes trying to screw up the courage to ask for my ID from the snotty staff. In that time I watched the people coming and going, and wondered how safe of a product is Biolife churning out. When my father was going through cancer treatments, he had to be infused with a couple of bags of plasma. This is part of the reason I wanted to give, to help others like him. But now I have to wonder if those people in need are being infested with something even worse after observing actual donors. One woman in particular caught my eye and ear. I say woman now, because at first her sex was not easy to pin down. Her hair was chopped, her features lifeless and her pallor as gray as window putty. She sat down to be assessed, rolled up her sleeves and the staff found needle tracks. At this, she finally showed signs of life. “I haven’t used in a while,” she protested. The staff was satisfied with her obvious false answer, and she was okayed for donation. This amazed and sickened me, because this woman, an IV drug user, was questioned less about her fitness to donate than the woman who didn’t eat a lumberjack sized breakfast. That was all I needed to propel me out of my seat. I got my identification back, and promptly went to the nearby Dunkin Donuts. A Christmas tree shaped pieced of fried dough with a hidden pocket of vanilla pudding helped set me right and calm my quavering nerves. Christmas is coming, I still need money. But I will find another way to get it, maybe even make gifts, rather than return to Biolife. The sight of the desperate and ill, subjecting themselves to physical pain and rough treatment for money drove home some big points - there are so many worse off than me, and yes, Virginia, there is still a recession and high unemployment.

STORM DAMAGE IN PLEASANT LAKE, IN

Ghost Hunters Start Society

Steuben County can be a mysterious place. Its over 100 lakes invoke a mysterious feeling in the right light, and its wooded areas could hide any number of things that go bump in the night.

Angola was founded by Thomas Gale, a devotee of spiritualism. Spiritualists were Christians, but believed strongly in the afterlife and communication with the dead. Some believe holding a seance or using a ouija board can summon spirits that never leave. So it's no surprise that Angola and the surrounding area is considered haunted by true believers.

A new group of supernatural enthusiasts, the Steuben Paranormal Society, has started doing investigations. Founded by Melanie Varner and Valerie Varner in the spring of this year, the group has a Facebook page and counts over sixty people as it's members. So far they have done three investigations since August - Old Angola Cemetery, Circle Hill and Lakeside, which is on the outskirts of Fremont.

Steuben Paranormal Society has garnered photographic evidence and one EVP [electronic voice phenomenon] during those hunts, and hope to line up more investigations in the near future. They are open to researching all claims of the paranormal, and are willing to explore homes, businesses and outdoor properties.

They can be reached by emailing steubenparanormalsociety@outlook.com or found on Facebook by searching for Steuben Paranormal Society.