The Indiana Attorney General’s office wants to you to be on the alert for home repair scams after the recent high winds and other bad weather. They warn that scammers will frequently drive door-to-door in neighborhoods looking for victims.

Attorney General Greg Zoeller said these sorts of scams are the third most common scams reported to the office. He advises several safety tips including:

• Take your time. Don’t let the contractor rush your decision.
• Do your research. Know how much you can afford and what you want done.
• Get multiple price quotes from different contractors.
• Check with the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General’s Office to see if complaints have been filed against the contractor.
• Check to make sure the contractor is locally licensed, bonded and insured. A performance bond provides the most direct protection for the consumer.  Bonds that cover municipal code compliance may be helpful but would not offer direct monetary recovery for an aggrieved consumer.
• Opt for the local, well-established contractor rather than the door-to-door ‘storm chaser.’
• Get a contract in writing that details what work is to be done and when it will be finished.
• If the contractor came to your door unsolicited, ensure you receive a notice from the contractor of your ability to cancel the contract within three days for a full refund before signing any contract.
• Never pay for the entire project before the work begins. Do not pay more than a third of the total cost as a down payment.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story had the amount of the alleged bribe incorrect. It was $1,000.

A captain in the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department was injured after a fight with a man in the parking lot outside the jail.

The incident started at about 4:30 p.m. Monday when deputies saw a man sitting in a pickup truck in the parking lot, throwing what appeared to be a beer can out onto the pavement, says Judy Jackson, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s department. As deputies watched, the man kicked that can and another into the street.

Capt. Dave Steinkoenig and another deputy approached the man and as he stepped out of the vehicle, they could see another beer can in the center console. The man allegedly tried to run, which led to the deputies chasing him and tackling him a short distance away. The man,identified first as Vladimir Lopez and eventually as Dario Lopez-Mendez, suffered a bump on his head and Steinkoenig was left bleeding from his arm.

While waiting for medics to arrive, Lopez-Mendez allegedly offered to pay the deputies a thousand dollars to let him go. He told the deputies that he didn’t want to be deported.

He is facing charges of Bribery, Resisting Law Enforcement, False Informing and Public Intoxication.

A Bartholomew County woman is under arrest after allegedly battering her fiance in front of their 3-year-old son.

Sheriff’s deputies were called to a home on East State Road 46 at shortly after 9 p.m. Monday about a family fight. Officers found a man on the front porch holding the boy and the man had visible cuts and bruises, says Judy Jackson, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s department.

The witness said his fiance, 45-year-old Shannon Duke was intoxicated and had been attacking him in front of the boy. As deputies arrested Duke, she allegedly tried to walk away from the officers and then kicked one of the deputies.

She was arrested on preliminary charges of domestic battery in the presence of a minor, resisting law enforcement and battery on law enforcement.

Community volunteers will be out in force later this month cleaning up some of the neighborhoods in Columbus most in need of help. But volunteers will also be in those neighborhoods today, hoping to find projects for the April 22 and 23rd Clean Up/Green Up.

The city will be concentrating on eight neighborhoods for this cleanup event including State Street and the Pence Park neighborhood. Workers from the city’s Department of Public Works and volunteers from Cummins and from First Christian Church will be doing projects such as mowing yards, removing trash and junk appliances, trimming shrubs, gathering materials for recycling and cleaning out gutters.

If you would like help with your property you can talk to the volunteers canvassing neighborhoods today or you have until Friday, April 15th to register with First Christian Church. You can call Bonnie Jarvis at 812.379.4491

Bartholomew County government departments hit hard during last year’s budget crunch are back asking for more help after injuries and an e-mail crisis.

Rick Trimpe, head of the county’s maintenance department, said that one of his employees was injured during Saturday’s windy weather. While trying to secure metal siding that broke loose from the county highway garage on State Street on Saturday, the man was blown off his ladder breaking his arm and fracturing his foot. He is expected to be out of work for several months.

But Trimpe told the County Council last night at the council’s work session that after losing an employee to budget cuts last fall, he needs help immediately. Trimpe asked the council to consider reinstating a position lost during the budget negotiations last fall.

The county’s IT department was also looking for help last night. Jeff Wehmiller, the county’s IT director said they need at least $30,000 to hire a contractor to repair an aging e-mail server. The county workers who used to be able to keep the machine running have moved on to higher-paying jobs elsewhere and the department also lost positions during the budget crunch.

To update the server while maintaining all of the county employees email will cost the county up to $200 an hour for a contractor, Wehmiller estimated. Each of the e-mail addresses must be individually moved over to the new server, he said.

Columbus firefighters and paramedics from Columbus Regional Hospital revived an overdose victim on their own doorstep Sunday, likely saving the man’s life.

Capt. Mike Wilson, spokesman for the fire department, said that the rescue crews at Fire Station 1 on Washington Street received word from dispatchers that a possible heart attack victim was being driven to the station. Moments later a car arrived with an unconscious man in the passenger seat.

Wilson said the man was not breathing on his own, but a faint pulse was detected. Although the woman who drove the man to the fire station said he had a heart condition, medics noticed that the man’s pupils were constricted — a sign of heroin overdose. A second driver pulled into the fire station and told police that he suspected the victim had overdosed on heroin.

The rescue workers administered Narcan, a drug that counteracts the effect of overdoses. The man soon began breathing on his own and regained consciousness.

The victim was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital for further treatment, Wilson said.

Although hospital paramedics have been using Narcan for more than two decades, firefighters with only basic medical training received instruction in the use of the drug just last week, Wilson said.

Today is the first day of early voting for the May 3rd primary election.

Bartholomew County voters will be making choices in the Republican primaries including Congress, Indiana House, Circuit Court Judge, County Commissioners, County Council and Coroner. There are no contested local races on the Democratic side of the ticket, but there is a contested race for the statehouse.

You can vote early at the Bartholomew County Courthouse during normal weekday hours, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. That will end on Monday, May 2nd at noon.

Three satellite voting locations will be opening closer to election day. Those will be at Donner Center, Main Source Bank on Jonathan Moore Pike and Flintwood Wesleyan Church. You can vote at those locations April 25th through the 29th from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday, April 30th from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For more information, you can go the Bartholomew County Voter Registration office website.

Bartholomew County Republican ballot candidates:
U.S. SENATOR — MARLIN A. STUTZMAN and TODD YOUNG
GOVERNOR — MICHAEL R. PENCE
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE – DISTRICT 6 — CHARLES (CHUCK) JOHNSON JR., LUKE MESSER, JEFF SMITH
STATE REPRESENTATIVE – DISTRICT 059 — RYAN LAUER, MILO SMITH, LEW WILSON
JUDGE OF THE CIRCUIT COURT – BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY — SCOTT ANDREWS, KELLY S. BENJAMIN
COUNTY CORONER CLAYTON R. NOLTING, RONALD W. SHADLEY, SR.
COUNTY SURVEYOR E. R. GRAY
COUNTY COMMISSIONER – DISTRICT #3 — RICK FLOHR
COUNTY COMMISSIONER- DISTRICT #1 — SUSAN THAYER FYE, LARRY S. KLEINHENZ, JORGE R. (GEORGE) MORALES
COUNTY COUNCIL- AT LARGE — WILLIAM F. (BILL) LENTZM, MICHAEL LOVELACE, MATT MILLER, EVELYN STRIETELMEIER PENCE, JAMES (JIM) REED

Bartholomew County Democratic ballot candidates:
U.S. SENATOR — BARON HILL
GOVERNOR — JOHN R. GREGG
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE – DISTRICT 6 — DANNY BASHAM, GEORGE THOMAS HOLLAND, BRUCE W. PEAVLER, RALPH SPELBRING, BARRY WELSH
STATE REPRESENTATIVE – DISTRICT 059 — DALE NOWLIN, ROBERT M. (BOB) PITMAN
COUNTY CORONER PAULA K. ROTHROCK
COUNTY COMMISSIONER – DISTRICT #3 — BRAD WOODCOCK
COUNTY COUNCIL- AT LARGE — GABRIELLE (GABY) CHEEK, PAM CLARK, LYNNE L. FLEMING

The City of Columbus Engineering Department and the Health Communities coalition will be hosting two workshops next week to get your thoughts on upcoming improvement projects on Taylor Road and Westenedge Drive.

The meetings will be facilitated by a national expert on creating places where more people walk, bike and use public transit. City officials say the city is starting with a blank slate on the improvement projects.

The Taylor Road meeting is Monday, April 11th from 6 to 8 p.m. at Richards Elementary School cafeteria on Fairlawn Drive. The Westenedge meeting will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 12th, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Parkside Elementary School on Parkside Drive.

The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office will be holding a Drug Drop-off day where they will be accepting expired, unused, and unwanted prescription medications from individuals.

That will be on Saturday, April 23 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Columbus/Bartholomew County Recycling Center, on 720 South Mapleton Street. This program is meant for residents. Businesses should be properly managing their own drug waste, says Judy Jackson, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s department.

Bartholomew County deputies say they made a drunk driving arrest over the weekend after a man allegedly ran over mailboxes on South National Road..

Deputies were called to the report of the possible drunk driver on National Road near Base Road at about 7:34 p.m. When deputies found the vehicle at a mobile home park, the driver, 37-year-old Osvaldo Gomes, allegedly said he he didn’t recall hitting the mailboxes, according to a report from the sheriff’s department.

Deputies reportedly smelled alcohol on Gomes’ breath and he was arrested on preliminary charges of driving under the influence, operating a vehicle without ever receive a license and failing to stop after an accident.