Congressman: Guard shouldn't be charged to use Gary airport\nGARY -- The Indiana National Guard should not have to pay an annual fee to locate an anti-terrorism center at the Gary airport, said U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky.\nVisclosky helped broker the $25 million deal last year to bring the Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team to the Gary/Chicago International Airport along Lake Michigan.\nAirport officials have been considering charging the National Guard about $300,000 a year to house the facility, The Times of Munster reported Tuesday, citing a source close to the negotiations.\nVisclosky, however, said any rent charged to the Guard for use of the airport's property would be unacceptable.\n"I believe it is inappropriate for the airport authority to charge the Guard rent, and I have made my position known to those connected with the airport," said Visclosky, D-Ind. "I always assumed that the airport authority would provide the necessary property in return for the benefits attained."\nThe airport's director, Paul Karas, said he would not confirm whether the airport has considered charging the Guard for use of its land.
Photos of man's dead daughter must stay posted in cell\nFORT WAYNE -- A judge has ruled that photographs of a man's dead daughter must remain posted in his prison cell as part of his sentence for causing a crash that killed the girl.\nA defense attorney for Christopher Lorentzen had sought permission for the pictures to be removed, arguing that Lorentzen had never pleaded guilty to causing his daughter's death.\nLorentzen's 9-year-old daughter, Brittney, was killed in a September 2002 crash that also injured his two sons, according to court records. Blood tests showed Lorentzen, who was the driver, had cocaine in his system at the time of the crash in Spencerville, about 10 miles northeast of Fort Wayne.\nFollowing the terms of a plea agreement, Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull sentenced Lorentzen in January to three years in prison for his conviction on charges of criminal recklessness and operating a vehicle with a controlled substance.\nGull added eight years to the sentence on a habitual substance offender count and ordered the photos of Brittney be posted in Lorentzen's cell. Gull also issued an order prohibiting Lorentzen from having contact with his two sons who were injured in the accident.\nGull on Monday denied the defense motion on both the photographs and no-contact order, ruling that the photo directive was an appropriate order now in the hands of the Indiana Department of Correction.\nBrittney's stepgrandfather Dale Anderson, who supplied the photographs that line Lorentzen's cell, attended the hearing.\n"I was just a little upset to hear what was going on, given, in my estimation, the case has been watered down so much from the original 12 charges," he said.\nWith credit for time served and good behavior, Lorentzen will likely be done with the prison portion of his sentence in a little more than a year.
