The Times from Munster, Indiana • 102

in brief no IL FRIDAY FEBRUARY 8 2008 PAGE A6 GET THE LATEST NEWS: nwi.com Bar owners want chance to offer gambling 7 Indiana legislation would OK pull tabs, raffles, other low-stakes games INDIANAPOLIS Tasty pork tenderloins, ice cold beer and succulent chicken wings aren't enough anymore to attract the average Joe and Jane, tavern keepers told state lawmakers Thursday. The bar owners want what veterans clubs got last year: The right to offer pull tabs, punch boards, raffles and other forms of low-stakes he said, when Indiana outlawed video poker machines and electronic slots. Before that, bars could have the machines but weren't allowed to pay out. But the 2007 state law banning those electronic games also gave American Legions and other nonprofits permission to sell paper games of chance any time, day or night. -THE TIMES ,1 "I would like everyone to remember that we for-profits do compete with the nonprofits on a daily basis," said Don Marquardt, president of the Indiana Licensed Beverage Association.

"Gambling has been in bars well before Indiana's (casino) riverboats and the Hoosier Lottery. This has not been a moral issue for Indiana for the last 20 years but rather an issue of who may profit and where will it be located." Marquardt, who owns Timber's Casual Dining and Lounge in Angola, went on to tell the Senate Appropriations Committee that stiffer drunken driving laws and local smoking bans are putting a financial hurt on bars and taverns. Another blow to liquor-pouring establishments was struck last year, Police, citizens group ask for information in child's death HAMMOND 0 East Chicago man charged with gun possession Orinthian Pharms, 20, of East Chicago, i has been charged in Hammond federal court with being a felon in possession of a semiautomatic rifle. Court records state Pharms was pulled over by the Indiana State Police last May for driving erratically and speeding, but the trooper discovered a rifle loaded with clips containing 28 rounds of ammunition. When he was arrested, Pharms' blood- a alcohol concentration was more than twicer the legal limit, court records allege.

i JOSIAHSHAW DIED MUCH TOO YOUNG CROWN POINT Man is sentenced for r. 1 smuggling drugs into jail Lake Criminal Court Judge Diane Ross Boswell sentenced Angel Rivera, 47, of Lakej Station, to seven years in prison Thursday for possession of cocaine. The prosecutor's office said Rivera pleaded guilty last month' to allegations he had a plastic bag of crack; cocaine in his pants on Jan. 17, 2007, while he was an inmate in the Lake County Jail. Police said corrections officers seized it before Rivera could flush it down the toilet of his cell.

The prosecutor's office said Rivera has six prior felony convictions for criminal recklessness, theft, attempted burglary, burglary and drug possession, jj times staff reports Bon startles thieves, they leave with nothing Thieves claiming to be city workers fled empty-handed from a north side senior citizen's house after being surprised by the man's son on Wednesday afternoon. The octogenarian resident, who is recovering from a recent stroke, was downstairs in his home in the 1500 block of Cleveland Avenue with a short, dark-haired man shortly after 2 p.m., his son slid. As soon as the son entered, three other men came down the stairs from the second floor and ran out the back door, the son said. The shorter man claimed the group were Whiting residents there to shovel vsnow, the resident's son said, but they carried no shovels and left immediately a new black Ford Escape with temporary Illinois license plates. The car was parked behind the house.

Police suspect the men are part of a "robbery gang which has been preying on senior citizens using what is called the 'gypsy con' where one gang' member distracts the homeowner while his partners ransack the residence for -cash and valuables. HAMMOND Cops: S'ville man rams 2 cars, leaves scene A Schererville man is facing several charges after a pair of wrecks, which left his passenger and'two other persons injured over the weekend. Raymond Snyder, 21, is accused of rear-ending a sport utility vehicle at a high rate of speed, causing it to flip over and wrap around a tree in the 2100 block of 169th Street, then losing control of his Chevrolet sedan and striking a parked car at Magoun Avenue. The driver of the Chevrolet Blazer and his passenger, as well as Snyder's passenger in the Impala, complained of pains and were treated at the scene. Snyder was taken to a local hospital for examination, where he tested positive for drugs in his system as well as a blood alcohol concentration of .19, police said.

In Indiana, a person is considered intoxicated with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.8. Officers responding to a reported disturbance in the 6700 block of Alexander Avenue shortly before 1 a.m. on Saturday were told that one of those involved had just left GARY Clay says he won't back down from district post Mayor Rudy Clay is refusing demands that he resign as head of the Gary Sanitary District following an ongoing federal investigation into the regional sewer utility, an attorney for the city said Thursday. And even though federal authorities have begun questioning whether district funds were misapplied, sanitary district attorney Hamilton Carmouche denied that the probe has turned into a criminal investigation. Carmouche said Wednesday the district's accountant has been interviewed by federal authorities who were curious about arTundisclosed sum of money that had been misapplied into the wrong type of fund.

He called it an "accounting error." But Clay, who took over as special administrator of the sanitary district when he became mayor of Gary in April 2006, is flatly refusing a demand by federal authorities that he let someone else take over the district because of questions about how he has run the organization. CROWN POINT Police officer resigns in advance of trial A Lake County police officer awaiting trial this spring on a fraud charge has resigned from the department. Lake County Sheriff Rogelio "Roy" Dominguez said Thursday he has received a resignation letter from Robert Porras, a seven-year veteran of the force who rose to the rank of sergeant and position of deputy commander of criminal investigations. Dominguez said Porras' resignation letter did not state a reason for his departure. Neither Porras nor his attorney could be reached Thursday for comment.

Porras is pleading innocent and awaiting trial the week of May 23 on a charge he used his role as treasurer of the Southlake Pop Warner Football and Lowell Little League baseball organizations to divert money to his personal use. JOHN LUKE THE TIMES Protesters of the community action group Concerned Citizens Against Violence in Gary on Thursday try to draw attention to last week's shooting death of 13-month-old Josiah Shaw. They are trying to get information to solve the case that happened last week in the 500 block of West 21st Place in Gary. Schererville toddler killed in apparent carjacking in Gary last week "As hard as it is to hear, it has to be heard," organizer Dwight Taylor said. "We've got a baby killer on the loose." The intersection is well traveled, with stores or apartment buildings on each of the four corners.

"Somebody had to see something," Taylor said. Taylor said he is concerned fear may be keeping people from providing information to police. Cmdr. Samuel Roberts said police are "concerned that we're not getting all the information that we need." Detectives are reviewing several investigative reports in the case and could have an update today, Gary police Cmdr. Bruce Outlaw said.

On Jan. 28, Kwana Shaw was buckling her son, Josiah Shaw, into her sport utility vehicle in Gary when a man approached her and shot her, Roberts said. BY CHRISTINE KRALY ckralynwitimes.com 219.662.5335 GARY Gary police and a citizens group hope drawing more attention to last week's snooting death of a 13-month-old Schererville baby will elicit more information, in the case. The Concerned Citizens Against Violence in Gary picketed Thursday at the corner of 21st Place and Virginia Street, the scene where police say someone shot 29-year-old Kwana Shaw and drove off in her sport utility vehicle with her son inside. The boy was later found with gunshot wounds inside the vehicle at another location in the city.

The group carried signs Thursday as a loud-Speaker blared recordings of two 911 calls made to police after the shooting. CROWN POINT r.v no wo' 5 E.C. man sentenced to six years for shooting Lake Criminal Court Judge Clarence A Murray sentenced Jonathan Michael Comanse, 20, of East Chicago, to six years in prison Thursday for aggravated battery. The Lake County prosecutor's office said Comanse pleaded guilty last year to allegations he shot and wounded an unidentified man April 25, 2005, during an argument at the intersection of Baring Street and Columbus Drive in East Chicago. CROWN POINT E.C.

man gets 6-year sentence for choking Lake Criminal Court Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr. sentenced Timothy D. Johnson, 33, of East Chicago, to six years in prison Thursday for battery. The Lake County prosecutor's office said Johnson pleaded guilty last year to allegations he choked an unidentified 19- year-old man into unconsciousness Aug. 22, 2006, near the 4100 block of Grace Street in: East Chicago, during a dispute regarding 3 money.

INFORMATION STILL SOUGHT Gary police ask that anyone with information about the shooting leave information anonymously on the Police Department's crime tip hot line at (866) 274-6347. INDIANAPOLIS Indiana schools say tax caps will sting li 1 ST. JOHN Lake Central reports smooth transition A month after students were shuffled around the Lake Central School administrators are reporting more elbow room in the halls and shorter lunch lines. Clark Middle School opened in St. John in early January, tunneling 1,150 fifth- through eighth-graders away from the corporation's other schools.

The move coincided with a restructuring that pulled fifth-graders from the elementary schools and placed them in the three middle schools. One teacher said the extra space makes Grimmer Middle School in Schererville feel as though there's a field trip full of kids gone every day, Principal Janet Zeck said. The halls are less congested, students arrive to class on time, the lunch lines are shorter and class sizes reduced to 31 or 32 instead of 35 or 36, Zeck said. CROWN POINT FOP gives Lake Sheriff Dominguez the boot The Lake County police department's Fraternal Order of Police has expelled the county's top cop, Sheriff Rogelio "Roy" Dominguez, from its ranks. Dominguez said he learned Wednesday night he had been removed as a member of the Chris Anton Lodge 125, a social organization representing county police officers, many of whom presently work under the sheriff.

Michael Deppe, the lodge's attorney, confirmed the expulsion Thursday. "The sheriff violated certain sworn oaths and in doing so expelled himself," Deppe said. "He has been slandering the name of the FOP." The sheriff criticized the organization's leaders, with whom he has been feuding for years, for not formally notifying him of the vote. He said only a fraction of the membership -19 members and officers took part in the vote. MERRILLVILLE Firefighters committing arson is not a rarity Firefighters being accused of intentionally setting the blazes they are sworn to quell is not uncommon, a region detective says.

On Wednesday, James Marshall Edwards III, 18, of Crown Point, was charged with six counts of arson. Edwards, a probationary firefighter with the Ross Township Fire Service, admitted to starting several fires in Merrillville to create fire calls for the service. He remained in Lake County Jail. It's not the first time firefighters in the region have been suspected in setting fires. In 1998, some suspicious fires led to misdemeanor criminal mischief charges against three Morgan Township firefighters.

In 1992, four. Burns Harbor firefighters burned Second Summer Greenhouse in order to disguise a burglary they committed, police there said. Looming school spending cuts took center stage Thursday in the latest round of hearings on the constitutional tax caps proposed by Gov. Mitch Daniels. Schools in East Chicago, Gary, Hammond, Merrillville and Munster stand to lose millions to the caps.

But region school -officials have yet to trek to the Statehouse to publicly express their concerns. The House Ways and Means Committee plans to hear from local government 6 leaders, including mayors and county officials, on Monday. The powerful panel is 1 vetting Senate Joint Resolution 1, which would begin the three-year process of writing the tax caps into the Indiana Constitution. The Republican governor wants to limit tax bills to 1 percent of assessed value for homeowners, 2 percent for landlords and 3 percent for businesses. But his so-called circuit breaker provides relief by restricting-, the property tax revenue that flows to local, government and schools, with Lake County units expected to lose $252 million next year..