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LEESBURG - The fire that destroyed Leesburg Grace Brethren Church on Tuesday has been ruled arson, according to police investigators.
Kosciusko County Sheriff Alan Rovenstine said investigators found evidence that the fire was purposefully set, not accidental.
Investigators found traces of a liquid accelerant used to spread the blaze. Samples are being sent for lab tests.
The investigators believe the fire was started in the basement of the church sometime around midnight Monday. When fire crews arrived around 4 a.m. Tuesday, the church was already engulfed in flames. It took them 1-1/2 hours to get the blaze under control.
The church building was destroyed in the fire. Initial damage estimates are up to $1 million.
Rovenstine said they have no reason to believe the fire is related to any other church fires in Indiana.
The church was kept locked between weekly services.
The sheriff's department has asked anyone who has any kind of information on the fire or suspicious activity around the church Monday night to contact Crime Stoppers or the county sheriff.
: ::go::loc:441:tas:thu:accident::05:0:P:07:24:97:
Five people were injured Wednesday afternoon in a two-vehicle collison on Ind. 25 and Ford Lane, Warsaw.
Dane R. Ronk, 31, Warsaw, was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated in an accident causing serious bodily injury. He was also charged with driving with a blood alcohol level over .10, driving while suspended and public intoxication.
According to witnesses, Ronk's pickup started off the road to the right. He overcorrected the truck and crossed the center line into the vehicle of Frederick Kazuk, of Ontario, Canada.
A passenger in Kazuk's vehicle, Mary Jane Kazuk, 34, was transferred to Parkview Memorial Hospital in Fort Wayne, where she was in surgery at press time.
Ronk was admitted to Kosciusko Community Hospital and is listed in stable condition. Kazuk, 25, and two other passengers, Meagan Ashley Kazuk, 10, and Dylan Raymond Kazuk, 7, were treated at KCH and released.
