Columbus police arrested a driver Friday evening after a two-vehicle crash on Jonathan Moore Pike.

The two-vehicle crash happened at about 6:30 p.m. Friday in the 2300 block says Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the police department. A driver, 26-year-old Alex White, originally told police he was eating at the time of the crash. But officers smelled alcohol on his breath and he tested at a .14 percent, says Harris.

White was arrested on a preliminary charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a blood-alcohol level of between .08 percent and .15 percent.

A semi crashed and rolled over early this morning in southern Bartholomew County after a large owl smashed through the driver’s window.

Deputies were called to County Road 850S at about 4:15 this morning on a report of a rolled semi. The driver, 22-year-old Patrick Molex of Ford Heights, Ill., said that he lost control after the bird hit the truck, causing him to strike a culvert and rolling the truck onto the driver’s side, says Judy Jackson, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s department.

The bird was found dead on the floorboard of the truck.

Gov. Mike Pence has appointed an Ivy Tech Columbus accounting student to the Indiana Commission on Higher Education. Mika Mosier of Jonesville will serve a two-year term as the state’s student representative..

Mosier is a 1997 graduate of Columbus East High School plans to earn her associate degree in accounting from Ivy Tech. She then plans to  transfer to the Kelley School of Business at IUPUI to pursue her bachelor’s degree in business with a minor in forensic accounting.

Mosier will serve as a full voting member of the commission, and she will serve on the Student Success and Completion Committee.

The state will be taking longer than expected to release the names of the Indiana bicentennial torchbearers.

Lynn Lucas, who is coordinating the Bartholomew County bicentennial festivities, says that while the state had originally planned to release the names of the torchbearers by tomorrow, it now looks like June 29th will be the date. Lucas said each torchbearer candidate was mailed a letter from the governor, and was asked to confirm that they would participate.

In Bartholomew County, there will be 32 torchbearers who will carry the torch across the county, stopping for festivities at Hartsville, Simmons Winery and Columbus on Sunday, Sept. 18th.

Lucas says the torchbearers will carry the bicentennial torch on foot and by vehicle and the county is lining up unusual vehicles to carry the torch. Those include a vintage Coca-Cola truck and the Columbus Fire Department’s 1917 Stutz fire engine.

Since the city of Columbus built the Jackson Street parking garage, the famous Friendship Alley with its whimsical decorations has ended against the blank wall of the parking garage and a poorly lit tunnel for bicycle parking and equipment storage.

But the city is considering a plan that would brighten up the blank wall with a bicentennial themed mural designed and painted by Ivy Tech students.

Heather Pope, director of the city’s redevelopment department, explains:

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The approval process would include submissions of designs for voting by community members on their favorites. A public meeting will be held July 20th to present the designs and for the students to explain their work.

The eventual winner will be chosen by a selection committee and the goal is to have the mural finished in time for the county’s bicentennial celebrations in mid September, Pope said.

The Columbus Redevelopment Commission, which owns the garage for the city, will consider the mural project at its meeting tonight. The commission meets at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Columbus City Hall.

The city is also considering paving stones or other ways to brighten the area and to extend Friendship Alley through the garage, all the way to Jackson Street.

A windfall from the state will give the city of Columbus just over $3 million more from local income taxes this year, with most slated for local street improvements.

Mayor Jim Lienhoop explains:

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That will mean about $2.6 million for streets and $790,000 for the rainy day fund.

The state recently recalculated the amount of local option income taxes distributed to the counties, cities and towns by reducing the reserve amount the state holds onto.

Columbus City Council will create a special fund to hold the bulk of the money until the city decides on what road improvements to make. The mayor suggests that a portion of the money, about $750,000, would go toward a maching grant program the state has set up that allows communities to get more work done for their dollars.

Columbus City Council meets at 6 pm. tomorrow in the Council Chambers at Columbus City Hall .

A Hartsville man was arrested early Thursday morning after a deputy saw him improperly signal while driving.

24-year-old Tory N. Gray of Hartsville was stopped by a Bartholomew County deputy at 3:25 a.m. Thursday as he was headed westbound on Jonathan Moore Pike. The officer allegedly smelled alcohol on Gray’s breath and found his license had been suspended. Drug paraphernalia was also allegedly found on the driver’s seat by deputies.

Gray is facing preliminary charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, driving while suspended and possession of paraphernalia.

The Columbus Police Department’s Community Oriented Policing and Problem-solving unit took a fugitive off of the city streets Thursday night.

Police Sgt. Kyle Young and Officer Troy Love with the COPPS unit noticed Zackary C. Townsend in the 100 block of Reo Street at about 7:40 p.m. Police knew Townsend was wanted on a warrant from Bartholomew Superior Court II for failing to appear in court on a charge of conversion. They took him into custody, but as they searched him they allegedly found methamphetamine inside a cigarette pack in his pocket, says Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus police department.

In addition to the warrant, Townsend is facing a preliminary charge of possession of methamphetamine, Harris says.

The city of Columbus has received enough applicants that it should qualify for a $350,000 federal grant to help local elderly residents stay in their homes.

The deadline to apply for the aging-in-place grant money was Thursday says Mary Ferdon, director of administration and community development for the city. Unlike most grants, the amount the city qualifies for is determined by the number of applicants.

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The money will go to help elderly homeowners improve their home so they do not have to move. Improvements could include things such as adding accessible bathrooms or wheelchair ramps.

Bartholomew County deputies will be holding a prescription drug take back day on June 23rd.

The event will be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the parking lot at Cummins Plant One and deputies will be on hand to accept unused, expired and otherwise unwanted prescription drugs from Bartholomew County residents.

Sheriff’ Matt Myers said that the drug take back program is a convenient way for residents to dispose of old, unwanted medications in a safe way.