Trash

The City of South Bend’s “Spring Re-Leaf” program begins Monday (March 15) on a call-in basis only. “Call-in pickup is the most efficient means for leaf pickup and helps to conserve fuel and keep down costs for labor and vehicle maintenance,” Sam Hensley, city street director, stated in a news release. Guidelines for leaf pick-up: Rake loose leaves to curb. Do not bag leaves. Do not mix leaves with other yard waste or trash. Don’t park in front of leaf piles, so vacuum trucks can access piles.

The Nappanee Neighborhood Watch group is offering area residents a safe way to dispose of outdated prescription drugs. When: 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 25 and 8 a.m. to noon Friday, March 26 Where: Nappanee Police Department, 301 W. Lincoln St. More information: (574) 773-4111 Co-sponsors: Nappanee Police Department and Elkhart County T.R.I.A.D. Old prescription drugs can harm the environment if disposed of improperly. Don’t flush, burn or throw old medications in the trash.

GARY, Ind. (AP) - A northern Indiana woman faces neglect charges for allegedly leaving her three sons alone in a home filled with trash and insects. The Post-Tribune of Merrillville reports (http://bit.ly/njAc5t) 36-year-old Tiffany L. Jones is scheduled to be formally charged Wednesday in Lake Superior Court with three counts of neglect of a dependent. Court documents state that officers went to Jones' Gary home July 31 after neighbors reported that a teenage boy was cursing at them.

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio (AP) — A sheriff in central Ohio says a tarp and trash bags were taken from the home of a 13-year-old girl who was found bound and gagged in the basement of a man's home about 10 miles away. The girl had disappeared Wednesday along with her mother, brother and the mother's friend. Authorities say she was found Sunday in the Mount Vernon home of Matthew J. Hoffman, who is being held on $1 million bond on a kidnapping charge. The other three remain missing.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - A 20-year-old Indiana woman faces up to 45 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges she plotted with two other people to beat her boyfriend to death and hide his body in a shallow grave. Carolann Clear pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit murder Friday in Tippecanoe County Superior Court, the Journal & Courier reported ( http://on.jconline.com/x9x7OV ). She could be sentenced to 25 to 45 years in prison under her plea agreement.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Imagine coming home to a clean house, your laundry folded and dinner made. It's a dream come true for most people, but for one South Bend woman it was a shocking and unwelcome invasion of her home. Ann Murray came home Monday night around 11:30 and found a strange man in her apartment on North Lance Court. She thought she was being robbed, but instead the man, "had cooked some chicken and onions in a pot, folded my clothes and swept my floor," Murray says.

SOUTH BEND -- If you live in South Bend and have leaves in your yard that you want to get rid of, now's the time to get them out to the curb. The city's ReLeaf program goes from today through next Friday, April 19. The service is by-request only, so you must call 574-235-9244 if you want the Street Department to come to your home. You are asked to rake leaves to the curb, don't park in front of the pile, separate trash and give crews your exact address. If you prefer to bag your leaves, that goes through a different department -- solid waste.

JENNINGS, Mo. (AP) - Investigators are trying to determine if mummified remains found in the home of an elderly hoarder are those of the woman's mother, who hasn't been seen for more than a decade. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Tuesday that a relative cleaning out the home three weeks after the occupant died found the mummified woman wrapped in plastic and a multicolored curtain. The home's occupant, Gladys Jean Bergmeier, was 75 when she was found dead on Feb. 7. She was known by neighbors to be a pack rat whose home was filled with bags of papers and trash and outdated newspapers.

KOSCIUSKO COUNTY -- Two men were arrested near Lake Wawasee Wednesday after police found several illegal drugs in their possession, police say. Officers responded to a location in a wooded area near the Enchanted Hills neighborhood just before 2:30 p.m. Wednesday on a report of two suspicious males. Officers searched the wooded area and located several items associated with the production of meth and meth lab trash. Officers then saw two men that matched the description the caller provided near the intersection of King Arthur Trail and Beau Peep Lane.

Once Christmas trees adorned with lights and ornaments and surrounded by gifts are now making their way to curbs for recycling. Before recycling trees, remove all ornaments, lights and other decorations. Trees with those items will not be picked up. Artificial trees are not accepted. Elkhart Trees placed at curbsides will be picked up on regular trash collection days from Jan. 3 to Jan. 14 in the City of Elkhart. Four drop-off locations also will be open: West Side Middle School parking lot, 101 S. Nappanee St. North Side Middle School parking lot, near track on Bristol Street Riverview Elementary School softball diamond parking on Riverview Avenue, behind school at 2509 Wood St. Pierre Moran Pool parking lot, behind Pierre Moran School, 200 W. Lusher Ave. For more information , call Allysa Diman at the city’s forestry division at 574-970-0542, Ext. 204. Mishawaka Mishawaka Street Department continues tree pickup through the last week of January.