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Homemade Halloween Page C1 Ideas, instructions for kids’ costumes
October 27, 2013
Weather Mostly sunny today with a high near 50. Low around 32 tonight. Page B7
The
Serving DeKalb County since 1871
Auburn, Indiana
GOOD MORNING
KERRY KENNER
Photo contest See the winners of KPC’s September photo contest. Page C8.
DeKalb, Angola marching bands reach state finals INDIANAPOLIS — High school marching bands from Angola and DeKalb qualified for the state finals with their performances in semi-state contests Saturday in Indianapolis. East Noble’s band failed to qualify, falling short of the top 10 in the Class B semi-state despite posting its highest score of the season from judges. DeKalb in Class B and Angola in Class C will participate in the state finals next Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis. Twenty bands performed at each semi-state Saturday, with judges choosing the top 10 for the state finals. DeKalb competed at Pike High School. Other Class B bands making the cut are Concord, Greenwood, Jasper, Northview, Floyd Central, New Castle, Munster, Plymouth and Plainfield, according to the website Indianamarching.com. Angola qualified in the semi-state at Decatur Central High School. Joining Angola in the Class C finals will be Concordia Lutheran, Beech Grove, Fairfield, Western, Norwell, NorthWood, Mount Vernon, Edgewood and Vincennes-Lincoln.
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Index •
Classified............................................D54-D6 Life................................................................ C1 Obituaries.....................................................A4 Opinion .........................................................A6 Business ......................................................B7 Sports.................................................... B1-B5 Weather.......................................................B7 Vol. 101 No. 296
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New rules affect teacher pay BY KATHRYN BASSETT kbassett@kpcmedia.com
Many school districts in northeast Indiana have settled teacher contracts this fall using new state laws affecting teacher pay. Raises now are given only to teachers who are rated “effective” or “highly effective.” Teachers who are rated “ineffective” or “needs improvement” do not receive raises. “No matter what district, teachers will be placed in one of the four” categories, said DeKalb Central superintendent Sherry Grate. Teacher-evaluation models
“Unfortunately, what has happened is that teachers in Indiana have felt like they’ve gotten blamed for everything wrong with education.” Ryan Lengacher DeKalb Educators Association president
• could differ between school districts, Grate added. The Indiana Department of Education created a RISE model that districts may use.
Districts also may create their own models, but must include parameters determined by the state, she added.
In all models, teachers must be evaluated annually, and evaluations must include objective data of student achievement. Statewide and local student assessments may be used. The RISE evaluation model looks at a teacher’s purposeful planning, effective instruction and leadership. A “highly effective” rating means the teacher consistently exceeds expectations for professional practice, student achievement and professional contribution to SEE TEACHERS, PAGE A8
Serving HALLOWEEN HOUSE time Waterloo’s spooky display tops itself again through community service Holiday Fun
BY AARON ORGAN aorgan@kpcmedia.com
WATERLOO – Deb Iddings is pretty easy to find come October. She’s out decorating the yard of her old home on West Union Street. It’s easy to spot, considering the gross quantity of spooky decor planted on just about every available inch of her property. And besides that, the traffic usually slows to a crawl as passing motorists turn into gawkers. Iddings lives at and creates what has become known around Waterloo as the “Halloween House,” on U.S. 6 just west of the Wayne Street traffic light. It’s aptly named. Her display features zombies, aliens, skeletons, ghosts, goblins, giant spiders, gargoyles and witches. There are motion-activated haunts, masks from just about every nightmare imaginable, and handmade tombstones and coffins, including a full-sized antique coffin from the 1800s with a glass front that houses the Crypt Keeper from the popular “Tales from the Crypt” television series. (That item only comes out on Halloween night.) There’s an actual hearse with, yes, a coffin inside. Iddings goes all-out this time of year turning her 1885-built home into an attraction that draws visitors from Chicago and Ohio and generations of anyone who dares pass through the gates. It’s been her passion for 28 years, she says, and it’s gotten progressively larger each year. This year, Iddings and her husband bought a black, 21-foot-long 1973 Oldsmobile hearse to park off to the side and turned a boat out back into the eery “Lost Souls Tavern.” It’s serious business. “I love it,” said Iddings. “I can hardly wait until ACD weekend, then the (DeKalb County) fair, then I can finally
Misdemeanor offenders give thousands of hours to nonprofit groups BY MATT GETTS mgetts@kpcmedia.com
lights or identifying just the right undead subhuman to crawl out of one of her homemade coffins. Yes, the labor of terror and love goes on for nearly a month, until she’s out of time and forced to dress for her — big surprise — favorite holiday, Halloween. But while the trick-or-treaters may come only on Oct. 31, Iddings’ home is an attraction
In total, they account for tens of thousands of hours of free labor. They rake leaves. They shovel snow for the elderly. They clean cemeteries, pick up trash and work for area churches. They help set up and clean up numerous area festivals. But they aren’t Lions, Rotarians or Kiwanians. Each year, hundreds of people are sentenced to community service work in northeastern Indiana as terms of their probations. “They can refuse,” Community LaGrange County Service: One Superior Court Judge of two parts George Brown said. This is the first “I’ve never had of two reports anyone refuse.” on community “Most people service programs prefer community in northeastern service to being in Indiana. Next jail,” said Richard weekend’s installMuntz, a defense ment will focus on attorney whose office the agencies that is in LaGrange. “A lot benefit the most of our arrangements from community are made with that service workers. understanding.” The sentencing is punitive, with the hope that the offenders, most of whom are guilty of misdemeanor offenses, get the point. “It sends a message to the offender they have to give back to the community that they have harmed in some way,” said Stacey Beam, Noble County’s chief probation officer. Each of the four counties in northeastern Indiana handles its community service differently. In Steuben and DeKalb counties, the
SEE HOUSE, PAGE A8
SEE SERVICE, PAGE A8
AARON ORGAN
Deb Iddings creates the displays at her home on West Union Street in Waterloo, unofficially referred to as the “Halloween House” in town. It displays hundreds of ghosts and goblins to scare anyone willing to roam its grounds.
do this.” That’s right, Iddings begins her decoration onslaught annually the weekend after the DeKalb County Fair at the end of September, “and I’m usually still doing it on Halloween night,” she said. Day in, day out, literally rain or shine, Iddings is in and around her yard or porch, meticulously hanging mannequins dressed in bloodied outfits and terrifying masks or stringing cobwebs and black
GOP hopes Obama health care woes have staying power WASHINGTON (AP) — For nearly five years, Republicans have struggled to make a scandal stick to President Barack Obama’s White House. One by one, the controversies — with shorthand names such as Solyndra, Benghazi, and Fast and Furious — hit a fever pitch, then faded away. But some Republicans see the disastrous rollout of Obama’s health law as a problem with the kind of staying power they have sought. The health care failures are tangible for millions of Americans
and can be experienced by anyone with Internet access. The law itself is more closely associated with Obama personally and long has been unpopular with the majority of the American people. The longer the technical problems persist, the more likely they are to affect the delicate balance of enrollees needed in the insurance marketplace in order to keep costs down. “There’s no question the issue has legs, in part because it affects so many Americans very directly
and in part because the glitches with the website are simply one of many fundamental problems with this law,” GOP pollster Whit Ayres said. The cascade of computer problems began Oct. 1, when sign-ups opened for the marketplaces at the center of the law. Administration officials blamed the problems on high volume, but have since acknowledged more systemic issues with HealthCare.gov. White House officials contend the website is just one piece of the
broader law offering an array of benefits. They say that when the online issues are fixed — the latest estimate is the site will be working normally for most users by the end of November — few people will remember the problems that have marred the opening weeks of the six-month enrollment window. “It says a lot about Republicans that their focus here is not on helping Americans get insured, but on making political hay of this mess,” said Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s senior adviser.