LaPorte County Veterans Treatment Court
2/24/2026 Today’s speaker is Judge Jeffrey Thorne. Judge Thorne grew up in Michigan City, is a graduate of IU, earned his law degree from Valparaiso University School of Law, and has served for twelve years as a Superior Court Judge. He discussed his experience overseeing LaPorte County Veterans Court. This is a special court program to address the needs of Veterans in the Criminal Justice System. To qualify for the program the Veteran must be a first time offender, not be charged with a serious violent crime, and have a treatable problem (i.e. alcohol, PSTD, etc.,). The defendant is required to sign a contract that spells out consequences in case of default. Veterans will also need to call in weekly and may be required to take a drug test. Judge Thorne explained that Vets are provided a mentor and must receive treatment for their underlying problem, while under jurisdiction of the Court. Mentors are needed. See https://laporteco.in.gov/courts-services/veterans-treatment-court/for more information.
Thank you, Judge Thorne, for your service to our community!
Thank you, veterans, for your service to our country!
Give a Kid a Flag to Wave
The Michigan City Exchange Club gave hundreds of flags to kids at the start of the parade. Promoting appreciation of our Americanism Programs, Pride in Country, and Respect for the Flag are some of are our club's goals. The tumultuous struggles of world powers in the twentieth century have done little to guarantee a peaceful future for the majority of the world’s people. However, there’s one country in modern times that people flock to for safety, freedom and opportunity — the United States of America.
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Everett Lawson was presented with the MC Exchange Club’s Proudly We Hail Award Plaque on June 3, 2025. This award is given out to patriotic people in our community who have been observed properly displaying and maintaining our nation’s flag. Thank you Everett!
Richard Kidke - Civil Air Patrol with Everett Lawson, Front
Dan Granquist and Dave Bobinski -Exchange Club President Elect
Background
Michigan City JROTC Program
Major McGrath serves as Senior Marine Instructor at Michigan City HS, for the JROTC program. He described the JROTC program not as a military program—but as a leadership program, focusing on leadership traits. Some of the classes discussed are financial planning, debate and history. The MCAS JROTC program typically provides hundreds of hours of service to the community each year, including participation in many patriotic events. The current JROTC program has over fifty students enrolled. Major McGrath summed up the objectives of the JROTC as: being respectful of people, being prompt, and a person of integrity/a person of their word.
Civil Air Patrol
Program Speaker: 6-03-2025. Speaker Chairman for this week’s meeting, Daniel Granquist introduced today’s speaker Richard Lidke from Civil Air Patrol (CAP). Richard provided information on cadets now being trained by the CAP. Cadets range in age from 12–18-year-old. They participate in a wide variety of activities. Last December they placed wreaths on soldiers’ graves. More recently the group went to South Bend’s Airport and received a behind the scenes tour of the facility. On the military side of things, the group also toured Grissom Air Force Base as part of their orientation. Cadets were able to ride on some of the planes at Grissom. Today there are over 60,000 members of the Civil Air Patrol, with forty local. The CAP was created in 1941, with single engine planes patrolling the East Coast of the United States, looking for German submarines or patrol boats. Today the civil air patrol is mainly involved in search and rescue missions as well as disaster relief. Much of this work is done through a network of over five hundred small planes that can seat between 4 to 8 people. Infrared camera technology is utilized aid them in their searches.
L to R: Richard Lidke, CAP, Dave Bobinski, President Elect.
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