Around The Region

WESTVILLE, Ind. -- Locks in some of the most critical areas at the state's largest prison have been changed after the warden lost two master keys, leading officials to lift a partial lockdown.\nPrison officials decided to end the partial lockdown Tuesday even though most locks at Westville Correctional Facility still need changing, assistant superintendent John Schrader said. All sensitive areas of the prison, including medical storage cabinets and fire escapes, have been equipped with new locks.\nSchrader said it will be at least a couple of more weeks before the remaining 80 percent of the locks that could be turned with the missing keys are changed inside the prison, which is about 35 miles west of South Bend.\nThe medium-security prison's 2,559 inmates had been under restricted movement since Feb. 18, when acting prison Superintendent James Smith discovered the keys missing from his office, according to prison officials. The keys have still not been found.\nAn investigation is under way to determine how the keys disappeared, said Pam Pattison, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of Correction. No decision has been made on whether Smith will face disciplinary action.\n2,000 turn out for Porter County landfill hearing\nVALPARAISO -- A proposed landfill that could damage centuries-old Indian burial mounds has stirred passions so much that about 2,000 people turned out Wednesday for a public hearing on its zoning.\nOpponents far outnumbered supporters at the Porter County Expo Center as the county's zoning appeals board heard lawyers from both sides argue for and against the landfill. The board delayed action on the landfill until April 2.\nThe developer, Porter Development LLC, is seeking a zoning exception allowing the 353-acre trash site in an agricultural area southwest of Valparaiso.\nPorter Development has hired an archaeologist to study Indian burial mounds in the area, Leeth said. Most of the mounds are not in the area where garbage would be dumped, he added.\nState officials have said there are nine documented mounds on the landfill site, though not all are visible above ground.\nLawyers representing landfill opponents said the project was not needed to handle the county's trash needs. In addition to citing concerns about the mounds, they said the landfill could harm water supplies and property values.\nThey also noted that the project would be within a mile of an elementary school and middle school.\nThe zoning board's decision will not be the final word in the case.\nIf the board grants approval, Porter Development still would have to obtain a state permit to build and operate the landfill.\nBoth sides also have pledged to file court challenges of decisions not favoring their positions.\nHighway worker charged with making repeated false reports\nCOLUMBUS, Ind. -- A state highway department maintenance worker has confessed to using a CB radio to make a string of 20 false accident and crime reports over a two-week period, police said.\nRobert G. Gribbins Jr., 32, faces three misdemeanor counts of false informing. He surrendered Wednesday and was released on $22,500 bond.\nAccording to court documents, the Bartholomew County Sheriff's Department and Columbus Police Department started receiving false crime and accident reports in late January. The calls would come in over a CB, and the person would persuade other CB operators to contact police.\nGribbins was identified as a possible suspect because his job afforded him access to a CB. Gribbins is an employee at the Seymour garage of the Indiana Department of Transportation but was temporarily assigned to the Columbus branch.\nPolice said an investigation found that all of the false calls came in during times Gribbins was working.\nGribbins was interviewed by detectives last week and confessed to making the reports, according to court documents.