The Columbus Indiana Philharmonic will be going with a different singer for Friday’s annual SALUTE! concert after the previously scheduled singer backed out due to an appearance by Gov. Mike Pence.
Singer Kate Hamilton, of Columbus, said in an open letter to the community that she could not perform in what would have been her third SALUTE! concert due to Pence’s involvement because she is bisexual, pro-choice and the descendant of immigrants. She said for her to perform at any event that put Pence on a pedestal would be dishonest and against her values.
The philharmonic has announced that Donata Cucinnota will take over as the featured soloist for Friday night’s event.
Columbus firefighters are crediting a free smoke alarm program with saving a homeowner and house Friday morning on Hutchens Avenue.
Capt. Mike Wilson with the fire department says that rescue workers were called to the home at 10:56 a.m. after a smoke alerm alerted the home owner to a fire in the kitchen. Firefighters discovered burnt food in the oven, which the homeowner said must have been left by her grandson when he was making lunch before going to work.
Wilson said that the fire department and Red Cross canvassed the neighborhood last year, giving out smoke alarms. The home was one of more than 100 homes that received the news smoke alarms during that campaign.
Wilson said the home received about $800 in damage, mostly to the stove which was destroyed.
Bartholomew Consolidated schools and the city of Columbus could team up to use redevelopment money for training and education.
Redevelopment director Heather Pope explains that the proposal would mean the city using up to $3 million in tax revenues from its tax increment financing districts to pay for projects in the school district.
Columbus Municipal Airport will be opening up to the public on June 11th for Aviation Day, celebrating the airfield and encouraging an interest in aviation.
Airport Director Brian Payne said he did not know what to expect at the first Aviation Day, but it has turned into a large annual event.
Those performances will be at 10 a.m. and then again at 3 p.m. The show will be from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., and will include plane displays, a car show, airplane rides, a pancake breakfast and a hog roast for lunch and a look at the Lifeline helicopter.
A traffic stop early this morning led to the arrest of a driver on drug and drunk driving charges.
Bartholomew County deputies were responding to a report of a possible drunk driver when they saw the vehicle, pulling a trailer without a license plate and changing lanes without signalling on Interstate 65 at 3:12 a.m.. After pulling the driver over, a deputy could allegedly smell alcohol on the driver, 42-year-old Amanda Sloan from Decatur, Alabama.
After being arrested and taken to the jail, a pipe containing a small amount of methamphetamine was allegedly found inside Sloan’s shirt.
Sloan is facing preliminary charges of possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, as well as operating a motor vehicle under the influence.
Indiana State Police say they will be conducting a sobriety checkpoint at a secret location in Jackson County on Thursday, May 26th.
Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, spokesman for the Versailles State Police Post, says that drivers who come through the checkpoint will be asked for their licenses and registration and should have those ready. Drivers will only be detained briefly, unless they are impaired Wheeles said.
The purpose of the checkpoints are to remove motorists from highways who are impaired by drugs or alcohol. He says that if you have been drinking you should never get behind the wheel. Other tips for a safe holiday weekend include:
Plan ahead and always use a designated driver.
If you’ve been consuming alcoholic beverages call a taxi, a family member, or friend who has not been drinking to give you a ride.
If you are hosting a party, always offer alcohol-free beverages and make sure all of your guests leave with a sober driver or allow them to spend the night.
Take the keys and never let a friend leave your sight if you think that they are about to drive while impaired.
Wheeles said that if you see a vehicle exhibiting erratic driving behavior, call 911 and give a complete description of the vehicle, its location, and direction of travel. These reports can be made anonymously.
You may have seen crews or equipment out taking traffic counts on Columbus streets yesterday and may see them out again today.
Heather Pope, redevelopment director for the city, said that the crews are gathering information as part of a study into what can be done about increasing train traffic in the city.
“The point of having those traffic counts done now, rather than later is to capture the true traffic before school lets out, because once school lets out, then people are on a different pattern,” Pope said.
City officials are concerned that there will soon be up to 18 trains a day running through Columbus on the Louisville and Indiana railroad tracks.
The consultant’s crews will be at intersections with the Louisville and Indiana railroad line, taking counts for the next few days.. Those will include State Road 11 and Jonathan Moore Pike, Fifth Street, Eighth Street, 11th Street and County Road 200S.
“We are looking at those intersections too, because the train does slow down when it comes through there , because of all the curves,” Pope said. “We want to capture what kinds of delays are currently taking place and what kind of delays can be expected when the train traffic increases.”
Later activity will include community meetings, Pope said.
“The community will come and have an opportunity to have a look at possible changes in traffic, be it a rerouting of the rail line, or an overpass…” Pope said. “We really don’t know, that’s why we have hired the consultant is to give us these options and then assign a dollar amount to them.”
Pope said the entire contract with the consultants, American Structure Point, is not to exceed $125,000.
Sheriff Matt Myers speaks to an audience at a neighborhood meeting May 19th in Petersville at the Clay Township Volunteer Fire Department. Photo courtesy of the Sheriff’s Department.
Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers says his department needs body cameras and more deputies on the street. And he is urging residents who share his concerns about public safety to contact members of the County Commissioners and County Council before budget decisions are made this year.
At a neighborhood meeting held last night in Petersville at the Clay Township Volunteer Fire Department, Myers asked residents whether they supported body cameras and all of those in attendance said they did. Myers said he is also in favor of the cameras because they increase the safety of the deputies and the public, but the cameras are costly, at up to almost a $1,000 for each camera plus storage charges for the footage.
To get that equipment, and other public safety needs, the public needs to get involved and make the case to the County Council, which controls the budget, and the County Commissioners, who set policy in the county, Myers said.
“They need to get with their County Council representatives and they need to get with the County Commissioners and let them know what the priorities are, or what they think the priorities should be for the next budget cycle,” Myers said.
“There is only so much money but public safety is a big part of that. It all starts with public safety. Obviously we have some drug issues, heroin, methamphetamine, things like that. It takes resources to slow that down.”
Myers explained the efforts the department has made to combat the drug issue, including assigning deputies full-time to the Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team with the Columbus police and county prosecutors office, and sending a deputy to work full-time with the DEA task force in Indianapolis.
Even with those assignments, since taking office 17 months ago, Myers said he said he had added another deputy on the road to each of the department’s three shifts, by shifting personnel. But at some point it is impossible to do more with less.
And he believes that mentality now threatens public safety. He said national guidelines for staffing by population indicates that Bartholomew County should have 20 more deputies.
“There is only so much money, but I am going to be prepared to go to the County Council this year and ask for additional staffing, more deputies,” Myers said. “We will have the numbers of why we need them, we will have the number of calls. We will lay it all out. And that will have to be a decision the County Council has to make on whether or not we have given them the information they need.”
Myers said he cares little about the politics of the situation and doesn’t expect that he is popular among other elected officials in the county. But his first priority is public safety and getting the tools he needs to ensure that is more important than his career, he said.
Williams says that the Columbus Park Foundation’s Tour de Trails routes will converge at the Bartholomew County Library Plaza on Fifth Street to celebrate the end of the race and to kickoff the ColumBIKE bike-share program.
Festivities will start at 11:30 a.m. Williams said you will be able to check out the bikes for rent and try them out for the first time. Local band the Clodhoppers will also be performing.
A domestic dispute yesterday in Seymour turned into a standoff with police and a raid by the SWAT team, police report.
Seymour police report that they were called to Katherine Court at about 8:50 a.m. on a report of a domestic battery where a man was injured, intoxicated and armed with a knife. 32-year-old Martin D. Juan allegedly battered a woman and then barricaded himself in an apartment with a 4-year-old child.
Juan did not respond to repeated attempts by police to contact him including through an interpreter. Fearing for the safety of the child, police say that the SWAT team broke into the apartment, securing the child and another man, who was later released. The child was uninjured and returned to his mother.
Juan was arrested and taken first to the hospital for injuries he suffered during the incident, and then to the jail. He is facing a preliminary felony charge of domestic battery.
