Federal Screw Works

Federal drug interdiction agency adds Porter County

Porter County is getting federal help in its fight against drugs.

The White House announced Tuesday that the county will join up with the Lake County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, one of just 28 in the country.

The idea of HIDTA is to make sure that federal, state and local police agencies work together to fight a drug problem in their area, Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said Monday afternoon.

Lake County has had its own HIDTA since 1997 to fight the growing drug problem here and includes the FBI’s Gang Response Initiative Team and a local Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm team. Kerlikowske said directors with the program look at applications several times a year to see if new counties across the country should be added and that they decided to make Porter County one of eight new counties this year.

It was the second time the county had applied, Bob Taylor, the Porter County Drug Task Force coordinator, said.

Because much of the drug problem in Porter County has connections to Lake County, Brian Gensel, the Porter County prosecutor, said, officials decided it made sense for the two counties to join up.

“We’re excited about being part of that because the drug problem isn’t a Lake County problem, it isn’t a Porter County problem, it’s a regional problem,” Gensel said.

Porter County now has access to the Lake County HIDTA’s computers and data, so that they can compare cases and work together. For example, Porter County can now see if another agency is already investigating the same suspect, Taylor said.

“I don’t want to work a case on someone they’re already working a case on and screw their case up,” Taylor said.

Being part of the Lake County HIDTA also gives them a direct connection to the Chicago HIDTA and could lead to cases where everyone works together to track suspects as they drive to either Gary or Chicago and back to Porter County to sell drugs and in turn going after people up higher up on the drug trafficking chain, Taylor said.

Gensel said the change will mean that some of the federal officials involved will now focus more on Porter County.

“It’s a win-win,” Taylor said, adding that the program does not cost Porter County money.

Firemen hot over proposed move to former Screw Works » The Boyne ...

BY BENJAMIN GOHS

Boyne City commissioners are considering moving several municipal operations to the old Federal Screw Works building in the city’s industrial park.

And the idea is meeting some resistance.

“I’m here to represent a committee we formed at the fire department expressing our concerns about the relocation (to) Federal Screw,” Boyne City fireman Scott Carlston told commissioners during their March 22, regular meeting. “We realize you guys haven’t gone forward with that, but we have done a study.”

Officials at the Boyne City Fire Department prepared a four-page report in response to the city’s consideration to move the facility. In it, fire officials discuss, primarily, response times, fire insurance ratings, citizen support and call locations.

“The fire department personnel respectfully challenge the idea that moving the fire service facility to the Air Industrial Park would be feasible or in the best interest of the citizens it serves and property it protects,” they state in their report. “Moving the fire department to the industrial park would be ill-advised. Increased response times will inevitably result in increased property loss and potential loss of life.”

They added, “While it is recognized that there exists a need for a centralized public safety building, careful planning should take place.

Boyne City Mayor Chuck Vondra made it clear that the savings from such a move could be substantial.

“(What) If we can purchase that building at the same cost as building a new DPW that houses three facilities instead of one,” Vondra said. “I’m not saying we can. This is all hypothetical (but) was this part of the analysis that you guys did?”

Carlston said it was not, and that they focused on the health and safety aspects of the proposed move.

According to the report, a structure fire can double in size every 30 to 60 seconds; and reaction time to accidents is also critical.

“The ‘golden hour’ is the time standard whereby a critical trauma patient – i.e. a car crash victim that requires extrication – needs to reach … (the) operating room to have the best chance for survival,” the report states. “The point of the previous two statements is that time is of the essence in the fire service.”

They added, “Moving a fire station to the Air Industrial Park will drastically increase response times to incidents increasing loss of property and, potentially, life.

Federal Screw Works, International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis

Moody's industry review

Reference Book of Corporate Managements, America's Corporate Leaders, 1996

Cases on labor law

2005 LexisNexis Corporate Affiliations: U.S. public companies