Published: October 04, 2008 10:46 pm      

Area briefs

Oct. 5, 2008

All Saints holding blood drive Friday

Battle of the Badges blood drive will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10, in the All Saints Elementary Annex Building, 121 Eel River Avenue.

To schedule a donation, call (800) GIVE-LIFE. Walk-ins will be welcome.

The event is dedicated to city police, EMS, sheriff, fire and state police personnel.

Four arrested on arson charges

ROCHESTER — Four teenagers, including two juveniles, have been arrested in connection with a fire last month in Akron.

Trevor A. Williams, 18, Akron, and Brady L. Shephard, 18, Mentone, have been arrested on charges of arson, according to a news release from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department. The case has also been forwarded to the county probation department for additional arson charges against two 17-year-old male juveniles.

The fire, which occured on Sept. 18, destroyed a structure full of hay at a farm at 7794 E. Division Road in Akron. The estimate loss was $350,000.

The investigation by the sheriff’s department determined the fire was intentionally set, according to the release.

State police study targets crash factors

LAFAYETTE — The Indiana State Police have released the findings of a recent study into factors that lead to crashes.

The study revealed three steps to reduce crashes include:

• Reducing the most common causational crash factors, which includes following too closely, failure to yield the right of way, distracted drivers, unsafe lane movement and speeding.

• Educating the public on those crash causes through use of various media outlets, programs for community groups and driver’s education classes.

• Engineering factors that might play a role in causing crashes will be identified and reported to the Indiana Department of Transportation or local highway department.

Troopers will be utilizing both marked and unmarked police vehicles as well as the motorcycle patrols and the newly purchased high-performance Mustangs in their enforcement efforts.

Auxiliary offering scrapbook session

WINAMAC — The Pulaski Memorial Hospital Auxiliary is hosting a “Creative Memories” scrap booking sale from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 8, in the hospital front lobby.

Merchandise will include traditional scrap booking supplies and a variety of computer software to create projects with digital pre-designed pages and story books.