The Times from Munster, Indiana • 114

PO THURSDAY. JULY 17. 2008 PAGE A8 GET THE LATEST NEWS: nwi.com 7 city officers charged with various crimes in six-month span In a similar case, former mayoral security officer Kenneth Moore pleaded guilty in April to receiving paychecks from the same housing development company, Trillium Properties, even though he did not work the hours. Moore's sentencing hearing is set for July 23. admit to a crime this year.

Jordan was one of seven Gary officers charged with crimes within a six-month period of time between October 2007 and March 2008. The charges ranged from misdemeanors to federal felonies. On Wednesday, Jordan appeared before U.S. District Judge Philip Simon to admit he collected paychecks from a security job at a publicly subsidized housing development while also working as security for the Gary Housing Authority. He collected more than $5,000 for hours he did not work between 2005 and 2007.

His sentencing hearing is scheduled for October. BY JOE CARLSON jcarlsonnwitimes.com 219.933.3364 HAMMOND Gary police reserve Officer Parnell Jordan on Wednesday pleaded guilty to ghost pay-rolling in Hammond federal court, becoming the second city officer to i IS1 immi ii ft -J a NAME in brief times staff reports JHOBART Grant might assist sin business recycling The Board of Works on Wednesday gave Mayor Brian Snedecor the authority to proceed with application for a grant that will help make the city greener. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management grant for $23,514 is for what will be a new recycling program geared to businesses. The amount is based on a 5050 match, Snedecor said. The grant would be used, in part, to 'purchase five roll-off Dumpsters to be placed at the Public Works Department site, both Public Works Director Wayne Snider and Assistant Director John 1, Dubach said at a recent City Council meeting.

City Council last week gave a green light to the proposal. MERRILLVILLE M'ville man charged with child molesting A 40-year-old Merrillville man is accused of molesting two of his child relatives on various occasions between January 2006 and December 2007. Steven S. Jones was charged with two counts of child molesting and one I count of sexual battery in Lake Criminal Court, Merrillville police said, Court documents allege Jones i molested the relatives while they visited him at his Merrillville apartment. The two relatives reported Jones would rub his genitals on them, court documents allege.

Police said Wednesday an arrest warrant had been issued for Jones. LOWELL I Transportation fee put on hold by Tri-Creek I The Tri-Creek School Corp. board has opted to rescind the bus transportation fee, saving $25 for families with one child and $50 for families with multiple I children. "Last year, we cut it in half," board President Lon Childress noted, adding that the previous $50 for one child and i $100 maximum for families was a burden for many, The board's decision to rescind the fee was recommended by Ray Cusic, assistant superintendent of finance, after analyzing the transportation budget, Superintendent Alice Neal said, i After the state pulled transportation funding in 2004, Neal said the school district was forced to recoup the loss through the fee. Now, Neal said, the district should be able to make do without such fees for at I least two years'.

Beyond that, Neal said, the administration can only speculate. "The Legislature is doing a study now on how transportation is funded," I she said. H0BART Council allows tax breaks for condos I Although residential tax break requests are pretty much history throughout the city, those who build condos in the city's historic downtown might soon be eligible under a new ordinance, i The City Council on Wednesday passed on first reading a new residential i tax abatement ordinance allowing for tax breaks for those building new condos or townhouses in downtown I areas zoned B-2 or Central Business District. City Councilman John Brezik, D-5th, who heads the tax abatement ordinance committee, said the change was added 1 as an incentive to promote growth in the downtown, "It dovetails with the downtown I revitalization program," he said, i Single-family home construction wouldn't qualify under the change, i Brezik said. Those eligible to apply for such a tax break would include those building a new condo or townhouse above a downtown storefront or those building a new four-unit condo in the city's downtown.

Each applicant would be judged on its own individual merit and wouldn't qualify unless the projects were quality ones, he said. Denarie Kane, director of development, earlier this year told the City Council that the existing tax abatement ordinance is currently a moot point since a 1999 clause written into the tax abatement program now effectively suspends it. TO REMEMBER TIMES PHOTOS BY JESSICA A. WOOLF INDIANAPOLIS Valpo lawmaker to help study immigration issues State Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, was named Wednesday to a legislative panel that will spend the next few months studying illegal immigration.

Senate President Pro Tern David Long, R-Fort Wayne, also appointed Charbonneau to interim committees that will examine autism, education technology, shoreline development and transportation, including mass transit. "I look forward to serving on these committees and addressing such important issues affecting Hoosiers, including illegal immigration," Charbonneau said in a statement. The study committee is charged with charting the financial impact illegal immigrants have on health care, law enforcement, schools and welfare programs. Efforts to create a three-tiered punishment system for Indiana companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants fell victim to partisan gridlock in the final days of this year's legislative session, which ended in March. The interim committees, which will begin meeting later this month, research potential legislative issues and will make recommendations for the full General Assembly to consider when it reconvenes in January.

Charbonneau, who was appointed to fill a vacancy last year, represents Senate District 5, which includes all of Starke County and portions of six other counties, including Porter and LaPorte. Charbonneau is seeking a full four-year term in November against Larry Balmer, a Plymouth Democrat. GARY Mayor supports Bayh as Obama's running mate Now that his candidate is the Democratic presidential contender, Gary Mayor Rudy Clay is endorsing a possible running mate. Clay announced Wednesday he is advocating that U.S. Sen.

Evan Bayh, join U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's ticket this fall. During the primary season, Bayh campaigned throughout Indiana and the region for U.S. Sen.

Hillary Clinton but is now being discussed as a potential Obama running mate for the fall. In a statement, Clay said he supports Bayh as a vice presidential candidate "without reservation." "He would guarantee electoral votes for Indiana and surrounding states and unite Clinton and independent voters," Clay said. "I believe Senator Bayh will be a tremendous asset for the Obama campaign in Indiana and other red states and toward a win for the White House." CROWN POINT Pact signed on offices, housing for prisoners Representatives of the Lake County Community Corrections program and the sheriff's office signed an agreement Wednesday that might finally end a smoldering feud over use of county office space for their residential offender programs. The sheriff will retain a wing of the former Parramore Hospital building to house inmates in his work-release program and the former sheriff's house, a nearby two-story building at 93rd and Broadway that may be converted to office space. The Community Corrections program will renovate and occupy an upper story of Parramore to expand the number of prisoners it holds for the Indiana Department of Correction.

It also will occupy a suite of offices in Parramore previously used by the sheriff and will occupy another suite oj offices in Westwind Manor, another nearby building, currently occupied by the Emergency Management-Homeland Security staff. ABOVE: The ribbon is cut Wednesday during the dedication of the Rev. Dr. Robert Lowery Commemorative Study Area at the Library Center at IUN. Low ery was a minority studies professor and Gary pastor for many years.

He died in July 2007 at age 82. RIGHT: Bruce Bergland, chancellor at IUN, shares opening remarks Wednesday during the dedication. lit- i -v-r i ft 1 1 I Xi Family testifies in St. John arson trial CASE BACKGROUND. Cary Patrick, 21, was charged with felony identity deception, misdemeanor intimidation and two counts of misdemeanor harassment for pestering several girls, including a relative of the Badgley family, in North Carolina, according to Whitley County, court records.

The case with North Carolina victims was dismissed last year after Patrick pleaded guilty in another case to one felony count of possession of child pornography. Court records indicate Whitley County prosecutors dropped the harassment case and seven other counts of possession of child pornography in return for the guilty plea. Patrick was sentenced to six months in jail with a year on probation, community service and fees, records state. He is registered as a sex offender. BY HARISA KWIATKOWSKI mkwiatkowskinwitimes.com 219.662.5333 CROWN POINT Deborah Badg-ley testified Wednesday that she was reading in her bedroom when she heard her daughter screaming downstairs.

"'Get out Mom, get out she said her now 11-year-old daughter yelled. "'There's a Three members of the Badgley family, formerly of St. John, testified Wednesday in the jury trial of Cary Patrick, 21. The Warsaw, man faces seven felony counts of attempted murder and one felony count of arson related to the August 2007 fire that ignited the Badgleys' sun room off their home in the 12400 block of Stark Court in St. John, Lake Criminal Court records show.

Defense attorney Marc Laterzo said Wednesday that none of the witnesses who testified ever saw Patrick near the Badgleys' home. Lake County prosecutors contend Patrick targeted the St. John home after he fixated on the Badgleys' teenage relative in North Carolina. A few months before the fire, Patrick spray-painted that 16-year-old relative's name and phone number on the Badgleys' garage, Bob Badgley testified Wednesday. The family filed a protection order against Patrick in January 2007, court records show..