An Indianapolis man was arrested at Jonathan Moore Pike gas station Sunday morning after allegedly being caught driving drunk at about three times the legal limit.

Columbus police were called to a report of a possible drunk driver on the Interstate and located the vehicle in a gas station parking lot at about 7:30 a.m., says Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus Police Department. The driver, 47-year-old Kevin E. Rice, appeared wobbly and smelled of alcohol according to police reports. A breath test revealed a blood alcohol level of .236 percent, Harris said.

Rice was arrested on preliminary charges of operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol level higher than .15 percent, operating a vehicle while intoxicated after a previous conviction and Johnson County warrants for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

A community discussion of the future of architecture and art in Columbus will kick off Thursday with an event on the Bartholomew County Public Library Plaza.

Richard McCoy was the keynote speaker at last week’s Arts Council annual meeting. He said the discussion is being organized in part by the Heritage Fund of Bartholomew County.

“This is a big project we have been working on for about a year,” McCoy said. “I have the good fortune of working on this project out of Heritage Fund with Tracy Souza and a number of key sponsors in the community.

“Our effort is to create a catalyst in the comunity that talks about the future of Columbus in architecture and design. We call it Exhibit Columbus. We will announce it May 5th and we hope you all come.”

More details about Exhibit Colubmus wll be unveiled at 5 p.m. Thursday

Correction: The start time of the event is 5 p.m. and was incorrect in an earlier version of this story. We apologize for the error.

The former Eastside Community Center will be celebrating its new name as the Roby Anderson Center with a dedication ceremony Thursday.

Julie Bilz, president of the State Street Area Association, says that the United Way, the City of Columbus, Heritage Fund and the State Street Area Association will be hosting a spaghetti dinner at the site from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. At 6 p.m., she says that Mayor Jim Lienhoop will read a proclamation to officially name the building after founders Roby and America Anderson.

Bilz adds that from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the State Street Area Association will be holding what is being called a “general meeting” at the newly dedicated building. She says that residents of the city’s east side, business owners and any other interested individuals are welcome to attend.

The center is at 421 McClure Road and you are invited to attend the festivities.

A Columbus man is being accused of impersonating a police officer after an incident Saturday night where a victim was allegedly forced to his knees at gunpoint.

Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus Police Department, says that police were called at about 11 p.m. Saturday to a disturbance on Mapleton Street. 26-year-old Taylor T. Talkington allegedly found a man walking in the alley behind his home and accused the man of looking into Talkington’s garage. Police say Talkington falsely told the man he was a police officer , forced the victim to his knees and made the victim put his hands over his head.

Talkington was arrested on a preliminary felony charge of impersonating an officer, Harris said.

Early voting in Bartholomew County wrapped up at noon today and it is proving to be a huge success.

As of the end of the day Saturday, there were more than 5,000 voters in the county who cast their ballots early via walk-ins to the voter registration office or to one of three satellite voting centers open last week. That blew past the record number of early voters from last year’s Columbus city primary.

This morning there was a steady stream of voters in line to cast ballots early at the courthouse, according to election officials.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow, and in Bartholomew County it will be the first countywide election to use the new vote centers concept. Instead of voting at your old precinct, you can choose to go to any of the 18 vote centers around the county.

The vote centers:

1. Flintwood Wesleyan Church

2. St. John’s Masonic Lodge

3. Grace Lutheran Church

4. Healing Waters Church

5. Donner Center

6. East Columbus Fire Station

7. The Commons

8. Main Source Bank

9. Terrace Lake Church

10. Faith Lutheran Church

11. REMC Building

12. Elizabethtown Fire Station

13. Shiloh Baptist Church

14. Hope Moravian Church

15. Clifford Fire Station

16. German Twp. Fire Station

17. Southwest Fire Station

18. White Creek Lutheran Church

Bartholomew County government workers saw a slight pay increase last year, but also a large increase in the cost of their healthcare.

We asked the Republican candidates running for Bartholomew County Commissioners District 1 seats how the county can keep and hire good employees with pay lagging behind the private sector.

Incumbent Larry Kleinhenz is running against Susan Thayer-Fye and Jorge Morales for the County Commissioners seat.

Kleinhenz said:

05-02 Larry Kleinhenz Question 5 Full

Morales said:

05-02 Jorge Morales Question 5 Full

Thayer-Fye said:

05-02 Susan Thayer-Fye Question 5 Full

Incumbent Republican Commissioner Rick Flohr will also be on the ballot, along with his Democratic challenger Brad Woodcock, for the District 3 seat on the County Commissioners but they are both unopposed and have clear paths to the November general election.

Bartholomew County government workers saw a slight pay increase last year, but also a large increase in the cost of their healthcare.

We asked the Republican candidates running for Bartholomew County Council’s at-large seats how the county can keep and hire good employees with pay lagging behind the private sector.

Incumbents Evelyn Strietelmeier Pence, Jim Reed and Bill Lentz are running for the three at-large seats along with Mike Lovelace and Matt Miller on the Republican ticket.

Evelyn Strietelmeier Pence said that the county is not seeing much turnover in its employees:

05-02 Evelyn Pence Question 5 Full

Jim Reed said that the county is not seeing much turnover in its employees:

05-02 Jim Reed Question 5 Full

Bill Lentz said that the council would like to see county employees paid more, but it does not seem to be affecting retention:

05-02 Bill Lentz Question 5 Full

Matt Miller said that the County Council needs to find ways to improve employee morale after the changes:

05-02 Matt Miller Question 5 Full

Mike Lovelace said that government employees will never catch up with the private sector:

05-02 Mike Lovelace Question 5 Full

Democrats Pam Clark and Lynne Fleming are also running tomorrow, but they are guaranteed a spot on the November ballot. Democrat Gaby Cheek will also appear on ballots tomorrow, but she said she plans to drop out of the race due to family and work commitments.

You still have time to cast an early ballot in Bartholomew County. You can vote until noon today at the courthouse.

The 18-area vote centers will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow. You can listen to live election result coverage when the polls close on NewsTalk 1010 WCSI.