BY CHERYL PATRICK LEADER STAFF WRITER
What would you do if every minute of your existence was spent in fear: If every time the phone rang or someone knocked on the door, your blood ran cold because you just knew the person on the other end was going to shatter your world into a million pieces?
“I used to sit and wait for the phone to ring or for the police to show up to tell me my daughter was dead. It wasn’t that I was paranoid; I just knew it was a very real possibility. I had gone to so many of her friends’ funerals. That drives home a cold and bitter reality — I knew my baby could be next,” Pam Messer said.

LAPORTE — The LaPorte Regional Health System (LRHS) Board of Directors and the Clarian Health Board of Directors each approved Wednesday, June 17 the proposed purchase of Starke Memorial Hospital in Knox by LRHS.
Specifically, both entities approved a purchase agreement and the transfer of operations from LifePoint Hospitals to LRHS, and the transfer of the leased property of Starke Memorial Hospital to LRHS as well. Just the day before, the Starke County Council and Starke County Commission, which hold the building lease on Starke Memorial, unanimously supported transferring the lease to LRHS. The first approval of sale came from the Starke Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees in May. The sale and transfer are expected to close June 30.