The Times from Munster, Indiana • 75

in brief Plenty of pancakes Lake Lodge 157, F. A.M. hosts an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m. March 17 at Masonic Temple, 213 S. Main St.

in Crown Point. Mora local news, All reaionNews EA 4 GET THE Council considers Supporters: Facility could help new jail program bolster revenues for Hammond BY CAROLYN THOMPSON cthompsonnwitimes.com 219.933.3229 HAMMOND A new jail commissary program could benefit federal inmates and the city's budget, officials said. The Hammond City Jail has a population of local and federal THURSDAY MARCH 15 2007 PAGE A7 tee for review. Council President Dan Repay, the ordinance's sponsor, said a final vote would take place at the March 26 meeting. The prisoners could order $50 maximum per week in commissary items from money they get via family and friends during weekly visitations, officials said.

PORTAGE Portage driver's ed fees will be higher for summer Students taking driver's education in Portage this summer will likely see an increase in fees. The Portage Township School Board on Wednesday discussed raising the course cost by $70 to $300 this summer, a hike that intends to accommodate higher car rental and gas prices. Superintendent Mike Berta called the price tag "competitive," as neighboring Chesterton High School charges $350, and some private companies can charge up to $425. Berta also said that administrators and board members would soon discuss the district's new enrollment projection study, in which demographer Jerry McKibben recommended building an intermediate fifth- and sixth-grade school. Athletic Director Carl Hensley has been Unflagging reassigned to supervisor of the high school's new field house.

It will be Hensley's responsibility to create a policy and Z. schedule for the field house's school and public use. The academic calendar for the 2007-08 school year will not change much, Assistant Superintendent Ric Frataccia said. A slight change will take place for professional development days, and to accommodate elementary schools, which will receive 60- day report cards instead of those on a 45-. day cycle.

"fa times staff reports HIGHLAND Highland eyes economic redevelopment areas The Town Council has cast an eye on several areas in town that might become Economic Revitalization Areas. Such a designation would offer tax abatement to businesses as encouragement to locate in these areas to improve them, council members said. In a meeting earlier this week, some council members said one area of interest runs along Ridge Road, from Grace Street to Cline Avenue. This would include all the nonresidential sites on the north side of the road and a few spots on the south side. Indianapolis Boulevard has some economic woes that also could be helped, city officials said.

The targeted section lies on the east side of the road from Martha to Lincoln streets. Even the town's industrial park, at the south end of town, might benefit from such a designation, council members said. DYER Sandy Oaks developers seek more time to build Developers of a new bed and breakfast on U.S. 30 want a little more time on the project. Debbie Foster and Robert Golding won permission to build a new development in three phases, with office buildings in front and a bed and breakfast in the rear, several years ago.

The primary plat for that development, known as Sandy Oaks, has expired, and Foster and Golding need more time to build, they said. Phase two of the bed and breakfast located in the property's original farmhouse, already has been opened, but phase three, which involves several guest cottages behind the house, has yet to be built. Foster and Golding appeared before the Plan Commission in a study session, which is for discussion purposes only. They are likely to appear again before the board in April. EAST CHICAGO East Chicago wants power of appointment The City Council wants its own appointment to the Lake County Convention and Visitors Bureau, just like the councils in Gary and Hammond.

A resolution approved on Monday night urges the Indiana General Assembly, to correct the perceived inequity among the three cities. Legislation that created the 15-member governing board for the bureau provides for both a mayoral and a council seat from Gary and Hammond but only a mayoral appointment from East Chicago. MERRILLVILLE Chicago woman charged in check fraud incident A Chicago woman faces three felony charges after she allegedly tried to cash a check made out to another woman. Dene Eleanor Edwards has been charged with one count of forgery, a class felony, and one count each of attempted check fraud and identity deception, both Class felonies. According to a probable cause affidavit, Edwards allegedly entered the Meijer store in Merrillville on Monday and attempted to cash a check using a suspicious driver's license.

Edwards allegedly claimed a man had sent her into the store with his girlfriend's check for $43629 and identification to cash it The woman whose name was on the check said She had no knowledge of the check, did not know Edwards and had not been to Meijer. CROWN POINT County eliminates primaries in 4 towns Four Lake County communities will be sitting on the sidelines during the May 8 primary election. The county elections board has cancelled balloting in Munster, St. John, Whiting and Winfield because there are no contested races on either the Democratic or Republican side of the ballots. County Election Administrator Michelle Fajman said cancelling those four community elections saves the county $42,000 in expenses because it will not have to rent polling places and pay workers to operate polls.

There remain scores of contested races in the rest of the county's other cities and towns. LATEST NEWS: nwi.com offenders, but the facility does not have an area for the inmates to purchase small food and personal hygiene articles. On Monday, the City Council proposed an ordinance to provide the new service for federal prisoners, who may be incarcerated up to a year or more awaiting hearings and trials. herself physically because of the disease, she has lived at the Valparaiso Care and Rehabilitation Center, on Wall Street, for the past 25 years. From that location she drives her wheelchair to the Vale Church of Christ on Sil-havy Road about 2 miles away and the library in downtown Valparaiso; she recently attended a funeral at Moeller Funeral Home on Roosevelt Road.

She puts more miles on her wheelchair than some people do on their cars. In fact, she is an example of someone who fights for the rights of the handicapped and for women. Around 1990, she said, she went to the newspapers when a fast food restaurant refused to serve her at the drive-through window in her GRIFFITH Griffith councilman wants out of township If a town councilman gets his way, Griffith will opt out of Calumet Township and treat itself to a financial boost. "I believe that, in order to better compete with our neighboring communities and to make Griffith an even better place to live, Griffith must remove itself from Calumet Township," Rick Ryfa, R-3rd, said Thursday. Ryfa said the town's tax levy from Calumet Township more than 700 percent higher than other townships.

Calumet Township's levy is .6192 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, he said. By contrast, Ryfa said North Township's rate is .0704, Ross Township is .0425, and Hobart Township levies at .0545. "Griffith gives Calumet Township approximately $32 million per year, and our residents get very little in return," Ryfa said. He said it is almost impossible for Griffith residents to sit on the board. CASEY RIFFE THE TIMES Leona Townley and other residents of Valparaiso Care and Rehabilitation Center, on Wall Street, are protesting a move by new management to limit unaccompanied travel by residents anywhere off the property.

Townley, who has cerebral palsy, has lived at the center for 25 years and is accustomed to traveling all over the city in her motorized wheelchair. Woman fights for freedom as care center restricts patients' travel "It will bring some dollars into the city, and any money coming into the city is a good thing," said Councilwoman Cynthia Matasovsky. The State Board of Accounts would set the guidelines for establishing the commissary, according to the ordinance that was assigned to the council 's Finance Commit spirit wheelchair, but it served a man in a wheelchair. She has not had a problem getting service since. Everything for Townley changed last week after the center's new management called a meeting of all the patients and told them, effective immediately, no one would be allowed to leave the grounds by wheelchair on their own.

Anyone violating the policy would be given 30 days to move out of the facility. Townley said American Senior Communities took over the center Jan. 1 and is concerned about the liability if one of the patients should be in an accident after leaving the grounds. The company's Chief Operating Officer Dan Benson did not return a call. PORTAGE Pastor says church is running out of space The First Assembly of God Church is simply running out of room.

Pastor Michael Bean said the congregation of some 200 is outgrowing its present church at 2386 Willowcreek Road. Bean and representatives of Chester Inc. construction services, of Valparaiso, presented initial plans for an expansion project this week to the Development Review Committee. The committee issued few concerns and will forward the project to the full Plan Commission for site plan approval on April 2. Bean said the present building is some 13,000 square feet.

The addition, which includes a sanctuary addition, an area for children and a small cafe, will add an additional 13,000 square feet to the building. Bean said the church's interior was remodeled in 1997. The church was founded in 1963. GARY Lake County Democratic chairman refuses demand Mayor Rudy Clay said Wednesday he has no intention of stepping down as Lake Counfy Democratic chairman. Karen Freeman-Wilson, one of his opponents in the May 8 Democratic mayoral primary, is demanding he relinquish his party post until after the spring election.

Freeman-Wilson, a former Indiana attorney general and city judge, said she believes Clay will use his authority as party leader to manipulate the primary to his advantage. She said she wrote Democratic State Party Chairman Dan Parker recently asking him to suspend Clay's leadership role. Parker said Wednesday he doesn't have that power. Clay responded Wednesday, "I have always been fair, that is why I was elected chairman." GARY IU Soul Revue coming to IUN for March 29 event The acclaimed musical ensemble IU Soul Revue offers a one-night-only free concert performance at 6 p.m. March 29 in the Savannah Center Auditorium at Indiana University Northwest.

IU Soul Revue delivers the sounds of timeless rhythm and blues, soul, funk, and contemporary urban music. The IU Soul Revue is a full ensemble featuring male and female lines, horns, and a rhythm section, at times augmented by strings and dancers. Founded in 1971, the IU Soul Revue is one of three performance ensembles of the Indiana University African-American Arts Institute. The IU Soul Revue is directed by Nathaniel Fareed Mahluli. For more information, please contact the Office of Multicultural Affairs at (219) 980-6763 or e-mail hmooreiun.edu.

BY PHIL WIELAND pwielandnwitimes.com 219.548.4352 VALPARAISO Leona Townley likes to get around town. She goes to church three or four times a week, to the Goodwill store, Kmart, the library, her doctor and her dentist, and to visit friends in the hospital or at nursing homes in the city. She always seems to be on the go in the motorized wheelchair she's been confined to for most of her life. Only 50 years old, Townley has cerebral palsy. It has taken away her ability to walk and do certain things with her hands, but it has not taken away her spirit of independence.

Unable to take care of GRIFFITH Walgreens a no-show at own hearing In Griffith Everyone showed up for the Walgreens public hearing on Wednesday except for Walgreens. About two dozen residents were disappointed when no one appeared to represent the proposal to put a store at the northeast corner of Cline Avenue and 45th Street. However, last month the Plan Commission granted a delay and said it could be delayed again over the next couple of months as Gemini representing Walgreens, completes traffic and stormwater drainage studies. The commission unanimously continued the issue to April and said it is not known if Gemini tried to contact the town about the meeting because the building commissioner is on vacation this week. When the hearing resumes, it will not include further public comment because that portion of the hearing is complete..