March 13, 1946: Files For Post Held By Granddad In 1868

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on March 13, 1946.

Files For Post Held By Granddad In 1868

From 1868 to 1874 Samuel Putnam Robbins served as county commissioner of Porter county. Today his grandson, Joseph S. Robbins, of Portage township, is a candidate for the republican nomination for county commissioner of the North district.

Samuel P. Robbins was identified with the early life of Porter county, coming here in 1835, before the county was established. During his service on the county board Valparaiso university came into being, and the present county jail was built. The elder Robbins played a prominent part in encouraging Henry Baker Brown, then a young Ohio educator, in starting the school in Valparaiso. He favored a donation to Brown, but was opposed by the other commissioners, A.V. Bartholomew and A.B. Price.

Idea Ridiculed

Many people at the time ridiculed the idea. But Robbins persisted and won Bartholomew over to his side and Brown went on to build one of the greatest educational fronts of learning in the United States.

Joseph S. Robbins, who aspires to the county board post, was born and reared in Porter county. He is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis H. Robbins, both Portage township pioneers.

Robbins has confined his public office holding to acting as a member on the Portage township advisory board and serving as postmaster at McCool for nine years.

He is married and has four children: Lewis Robbins, who lives on the old Robbins homestead near McCool, and three daughters, Miss Ruth Robbins, a deputy in the Porter county treasurer’s office; Mrs. Ralph Herren, home economics teacher in the Portage township school, and Miss Loretta Robbins, visiting nurse for the Goodfellows’ club, Carnegie-Illinois Steel company, Gary.

Jan. 17, 1961: ON FIRE RADIO NETWORK

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on February 17, 1961.

ON FIRE RADIO NETWORK

Clerk John A. Heller, of Chesterton’s fire and police departments, works at new fire frequency base station KAY 218 in fire station enabling truck-to-truck and fire-station-to-truck contacting in cases of emergency. Receipt of license from Federal Communications commission and installation of equipment enables Chesterton Volunteer fire department to call truck-to-truck to Liberty, Pine, Portage and Ogden Dunes departments. Chesterton and area police cars are also on the same frequency.

Oct. 31, 1985: Halloween fright 1985 - Dujmoviches transform garage into custom haunted house

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on October 31, 1985.

Halloween fright 1985

Dujmoviches transform garage into custom haunted house

By Elizabeth Cloyd

Staff writer

The garage at 732 Governor looks a lot like any other garage in South Haven.

Once inside, however, the differences are frighteningly apparent.

Inside the garage is the fifth haunted house members of the Dujmovich family have constructed. Randy, John and Scott Dujmovich and cousin Tony Dujmovich have made creating haunted houses an annual family affair.

This year’s edition features Frankenstein’s laboratory, Dracula in his coffin, an automated witch stirring a cauldron and a scene from The Exorcist, complete with Regan screeching and spinning her head around.

According to its creators, the haunted house is guaranteed to spook.

Randy, Tony and John Dujmovich made their first haunted house when they were in the sixth grade. The following year they also made a haunted house, but they took a break from scaring people until three years ago, when the haunted house became an annual family event.

To make the most of the limited garage space, the Dujmovich clan and their friends build an intricate maze with plywood, rails and cardboard to baffle visitors.

Constructing the haunted house took about a month.

The steps, turns and twists of the haunted house make visitors lose their sense of direction, making them more susceptible to the surprises the haunted house offers.

The Dujmoviches, and friends Jim Stewart, Brett Homann, Floyd Vestal and Jay Walker planned, built and staff the house. Members of the group take turns performing the different jobs in the house, from serving as haunted house, from serving as haunted house tour guides to donning masks and scaring people from under bridges and from behind windows in the house.

Randy Dujmovich said the group gets a lot of inspiration from horror movies, although an idea for the haunted house can strike at any time even while he’s at class at Purdue North Central.

“We’ll see something in a movie and try to adapt it to work in the haunted house,” he said. 

“Sometimes we’ll be sitting there in school and get an idea and just start drawing.”

Although they charge admission for entry to the haunted house (50 cents for those 12 and under, 75 cents for those 12 and over) the haunted house has never made any money.

“We usually end up $50 or $75 in the hole,” Tony Dujmovich admitted. He said he and his crew continued to create the haunted houses because of popular demand.

“The public seems to like a lot and people were asking about it, so we did it again,” Ton said. “We just do it for fun.”

Randy Dujmovich could not predict how long they would continue to produce the haunted houses, but said they would probably continue.

“We’ll probably still be doing this when we’re 40.”

Brett Homann comes to life as Frankenstein at the Dujmovich Haunted House.

A ghoulish Dracula peers out from his coffin at visitors to the Dujmovich Haunted House in South Haven. Jim Stewart, in monster garb, is one of eight South Haven residents who staff the annual homemade haunted house.

An automated version of Regan, the waif possessed by the devil in The Exorcist, spins her head and screeches while Tony Dujmovich, in the werewolf mask, appears from behind her bed.

(V-M: Kathy Woodward)

Oct. 7, 1950: Fire Levels Six Farm Buildings

Originally published in The Vidette-Messenger of Porter County on October 7, 1950.

FIRE LEVELS 6 FARM BUILDINGS

Call 4 Crews To Blaze In Portage Twp.

Property Owned By George Lute; Crowd Attracted

A spectacular fire destroyed six farm buildings late Friday afternoon at the George Lute farm in Portage Township, occupied by his son, Howard Lute, and his family.

A large barn, about 90 by 50 feet, was the source of the fire and that building was the major loss.

Four fire departments answered the call to the blaze which broke out in the hay mow about 4:40 p.m. and the last unit left the scene about 10 p.m.

The fire, which consumed the barn, milk house, implement shed, garage, an older implement shed and corn crib, could be seen for miles around and attracted hundreds of cars which lined the road for nearly a mile. Residents in Crocker, about five miles away, reported seeing the flames.

The 267-acres farm is located on the first east-west road north of U.S. 6 in Portage Township, near the south end of the Willow Creek Road.

Spontaneous Combustion

Spontaneous combustion in the hay mow was believed to be the only possible cause for the fire, according to Mrs. George Lute, who said that hay and straw had been stored in the barn for only a month.

A south wind contributed greatly to the loss in property as the fire spread rapidly north from the barn, consuming the other buildings and much machinery as the flames progressed.

The large farm house, occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Howard Lute and their two children, was saved although neighbors, whose efforts were although neighbors, whose efforts were praised by Mrs. George Lute, had cleared the house of all its furnishings, even tearing the cupboards from the kitchen walls. Also saved was a new corn crib.

Improvements costing $4,000 were affected on the barn, which was built in 1913, last summer. The building, which had facilities to house 39 head of cattle, had no cattle in it when the fire broke out. But had the blaze started 10 minutes later, the cattle might have perished in the conflagration since it was almost time for the evening milking when the fire started, Mrs. Lute said.

Milkhouse Destroyed

The milkhouse, which was joined to the barn, contained a milk cooler, cans and tanks used in washing milk implements which were destroyed.

The implement shed loss included a corn shredder, corn sheller and corn picker and numerous smaller articles.

A car was driven out of the garage before flames engulfed that building. The corn crib loss included the building. The corn crib loss included the building and a brooder and fanning mill. An old implement shed, formerly used as a granary, also contained several farm implements which were destroyed.

Damage to the silo attached to the barn was confined mainly to the doors, Mrs. Lute said.

The East Gary Fire Department, first to arrive at the scene, was assisted by units at the scene, was assisted by units from Chesterton, Valparaiso, and Hobart. They concentrated mainly on saving the farm house and also were instrumental in saving some machinery from the smaller buildings.