Zesto Fire

"Officers with the Huntington Police Department are asking people to avoid the area of North
Jefferson Street after a fire.

Police say the fire is happening at the Zesto in Huntington.

This incident remains under investigation." 

NBC33

Raytheon jerking around town of Andrews

"United Technologies Automotive was in the town of Andrews in Huntington County for

18 years.

During that time, the town claims a local factory dumped chemicals that wound up in their groundwater. Thirty years later, the chemicals still taint the water below Andrews. It’s something that even Raytheon admits, as their response to Andrews, “Raytheon also admits that there are two plumes of contamination in the groundwater in the Town of Andrews, Indiana.”

And those chemicals have been the focal point of a number of lawsuits.

There are at least three separate court cases that include over 150 plaintiffs all alleging “independent personal injury, property damage and/or nuisance claims against Raytheon and the other defendants,” according to a document provided by the Raytheon defendants. The three main cases (referred to as the Asher, Zidar, and Coffield cases).

 

Former UTA employee Samuel Avalos testified that he dumped barrels of Trichloroethylene (TCE) while working in Andrews. 

A motion that Andrews filed against Raytheon and other companies stated:

“He was required to clean out the used TCE from the factory’s vapor degreaser at least once a week. When Avalos cleaned out the degreaser, he collected ‘at least a couple of barrels’ of used TCE. Avalos testified that for a one-to-two year period, upon instructions from the UTA Facility’s engineering manager, he would wheel the barrels of used TCE to the edge of a loading dock, and ‘we’d dump them on the ground’ into the grassy area behind the factory.”

 

TCE breaks down into dichloroethylene isomers and vinyl chloride which, according to the CDC, can cause “permanent liver injury and liver cancer, neurologic or behavioral symptoms, and changes to the skin and bones of the hand.”

Because of those adverse effects, the EPA says that any more than two parts per billion of Vinyl Chloride makes water unsafe to use.

According to a test taken by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management in 2014, there was as much as 532 ppb in the groundwater.

In other words, 266 times the limit you can safely drink.

 

 .....in 2020 when residents were instructed not to use their water.

Due to smell and taste complaints, Andrews had previously shut off the first of their three wells that provide public drinking water to the town. However, when wells two and three were no longer producing enough to cover the city’s water needs, they turned pump one back on.

That’s when Andrews became the site of a crisis.

 

Ahead of the actual trial, a status conference was scheduled to be held in Adams County Court on July 27th.

However on July 26th, a day before the status conference on the case, Raytheon submitted a motion and memorandum to change how the case is processed.

In short, the defense is trying to condense the number of plaintiffs. You can read the document in full here.

In response, the plaintiffs requested a continuation that would push back the status conference until August 25." WANEtv

Former VP Quayle visits political hometown

"During his time in Huntington, Dan Quayle served in a number of roles: Congressman,
Senator and Vice President.

Monday, he became a tour guide.

“This is where it all started,” he said as he opened the door to Nick’s Kitchen for his son Benjamin’s family.

Quayle recalled standing on a chair at Nick’s in 1976 to announce his first run for Congress.

“I was 29 years old. I think half the room laughed.”

He won that race, upsetting long time incumbent Democrat J. Edward Roush.

Four years later, he knocked off legendary Indiana Senator Birch Bayh.

In 1988, few pundits thought he would be named as George H. W. Bush’s running mate.

All those races were launched with a trip to Nick’s.

Quayle quickly shot down any thought his return meant another race.

“No, I think that time has passed me up.” WANEtv

BOLO (Be On The Lookout) [Charles Benfer]

"The following information is from the Huntington County Sheriff’s Department attempting to
locate Charles Benfer:

Active warrants for resisting and multiple other charges have been filed (multiple other charges are being filed for recent behavior).

Over the last week or two, local law enforcement has attempted to stop Mr. Benfer while riding his motorcycle, a 2004-2005 Suzuki GSXR . Mr. Benfer has been taunting the police (Sheriff’s office, Huntington Police, State Police and local Marshals) into a pursuit, reaching very dangerous speeds. 

Mr. Benfer recently discharged a weapon in the city limits. Due to his dangerous actions, taunting and now carrying a weapon, he is considered to be armed and dangerous to public safety personnel and the public.   

We are asking for the publics help in locating him and taking him into custody, preferably, not while he is on his motorcycle, he has no known address at this point. 

The The Huntington County Sheriff’s Department, Huntington City Police, State Police and the US Marshals office are now investigating and making him priority number one. He needs to be locked up ASAP before he kills or injures an individual or family. "  WANEtv

Murder Rocks Huntington

 

"James L. Bonewits, 27, faces two counts of Murder and two counts of Attempted Murder related to the violence that unfolded around 7:20 p.m. Thursday in the 600 block of Whitelock Street, near the county fairgrounds.

So many people in Huntington are still shocked after a quadruple stabbing happened in the city leaving a couple dead. Family members are remembering them and calling for justice.

Katelyn and Danny England were fatally stabbed in Huntington Thursday night. 

Police say two other people were stabbed as well and are in critical

condition. Katelyn’s sister, Jessica Houston, says the couple was loving and cared for so many. She says they’re leaving behind a four-year-old son and 2-year-old triplets.

 

Huntington City Police say it all happened Thursday night when they received a call about a stabbing in a home on Whitelock Street. Police arrested the suspect 27-year-old James Bonewits for the crime Friday morning. 

He was first seen in court Monday.

 

--When officers arrived and found a woman on the ground in front of a home suffering from multiple stab wounds, and a man on a back porch with a severe cut to his arm and a large laceration to his chest.

The man – identified as Danny England – was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman – Katelyn (Huddleston) England – would die at a hospital later.

 

--Inside the back door of a home, another man – Beau Williamson – was found with numerous cuts to his torso. “I don’t want to die,” he said repeatedly, the affidavit said.

 

--Another man was found on the floor of a bathroom also suffering from numerous cuts to his torso. Terry Saulmon II told investigators he heard screaming and found his neighbor on the ground outside and when he went outside a man with “dark scraggly hair” and dark facial hair attacked him with knives with orange handles, the affidavit said.

 

About an hour before the violence on Whitelock Street, a suspicious person report was made in Bluffton, “with a male fitting our suspect’s description,” the affidavit said. In that situation, police were called to the Family Farm and Home store on a report that a man was there holding two orange-handled knives, the affidavit said.

The man drove off in a silver sedan before police arrived.

Police were able to find the suspect’s vehicle with traffic footage, and found it was registered to Bonewits. 

 

--Around 9 p.m. then, police in Madison County received a report about a suspicious vehicle that was parked in a vacant property. Deputies were told a male parked a silver Impala there and walked toward a wood line.

When police arrived, inside the vehicle, they found two knives with orange handles and blood on them sitting in the car, the affidavit said....

--Around 10 a.m. the next morning, Bonewits was found in a field in Madison County. His clothing was stained in blood, the affidavit said. An extensive house-to-house searches were conducted at about 75 residences in the northern part of the county. He was taken into custody and later transported back to Huntington County." WANEtv

Fire that destroyed Pizza Junction was caused by spontaneous combustion

 "The fire that gutted the popular Pizza Junction in Huntington was
apparently caused by spontaneous combustion. Pizza Junction said in a post on its Facebook page.....Spontaneous combustion occurs when an organic matter ignites from self-heating, caused through internal rapid oxidation. Pizza Junction called the fire “devastating” and said it “resulted in the loss of our building and business for the foreseeable future.”

WANETV

Pizza Junction Burns

"Huntington’s iconic restaurant, Pizza Junction, went up in flames Friday afternoon. The restaurant, located at a former train station is situated next to the Huntington County Historical Museum. 

The fire started around 2:00 p.m. Friday. Flames could be seen coming from the side of the building. Crews were able to get the fire under control by 4:30 p.m." 

WANETV