The St. Joseph County Council has been making controversial decisions in the past few years that need addressing. One of the most known being the closing of Portage Manor.
For those who don’t know, Portage Manor was an assisted living facility that specialized in working with adults above the age of 18, many of whom were elderly, who have mental illnesses and disabilities. All residents had to be discharged to new facilities or not to a facility at all when the Manor closed. The St. Joseph County Council with the County Commissioners officially stated that the facility was closed on July 31, 2023. Now, you may be asking yourself, “why is The Tower publishing an article about something that happened over a year ago?” The answer is simple, the closing of Portage Manor has greatly affected the county and just recently, a former resident there was killed.
Mark Huffman was a former resident as well as chaplain at Portage Manor and lived there for 33 years. He was well-liked and seemed to bring a smile to everyone’s face when he walked into a room. But he was displaced when the facility closed and moved to Wood Ridge Assisted Living Community. His new home is located a short walk away from Douglas Road and State Road 23, where tragedy struck for Mark. On Dec. 19, 2024 Huffman was hit by a car at the aforementioned intersection. According to The South Bend Tribune, 77 year old Robert W. Steinmetz was driving on when Huffman walked into the road, causing the fatal collision. Mr. Huffman was in critical condition after this incident and sadly passed away on Dec. 24, 2024. He will be greatly missed by his many close friends and girlfriend.
Huffman’s death was not only tragic, but preventable. Without proper monitoring and left to his own devices, Huffman suffered the consequences of his former facility’s closing.
On Jan. 14, 2025 I went to the County Council’s public hearing and spoke on this issue. According to the Council, the reasoning behind closing Portage Manor was that it was “wasting” taxpayer money. But after the closing, former County Commissioner Derek Dieter, paid (with tax dollars) for police officers to sit outside the now vacant building in order to make sure it was not getting vandalized. But by having officers wait around outside a vacant building is also a poor use of taxpayer money. Many members of Portage Manor were placed in Fort Wayne, away from everything and everyone they knew. This included Mr. Huffman. He fought to make it back to South Bend and it is extremely sad that his life was cut short. Our hearts go out to Mark Huffman and his friends and family.
Here is the link to the public hearing that I spoke at: Jan 14 Hearing I start right around the 46 minute mark!
