There is still time to get refunds for tickets to last weekend’s canceled Rock the Park show. The Columbus Area Arts Council annual event at Mill Race Park was set to feature KC and the Sunshine Band, but was canceled due to heavy rain.

Kathryn Armstrong, executive director of the Arts Council, says if you bought your ticket in person, you can get a refund directly from the arts council at their offices in the Commons. You will need the physical ticket and to have your ID. If you purchased your ticket online, Brown Paper Tickets has processed online refunds, and your card will be credited in 3-5 business days.

Armstrong said the Arts Council did have foul weather insurance for the event and they are in the process of finding out of it covered Saturday’s rain out.

For more information, go to www.artsincolumbus.org

Residents of Franklin, Columbus and other central Indiana communities are finding unwanted information about joining the Ku Klux Klan on their front yards.

Johnson County sheriff’s reports describe one incident where a note was enclosed in a plastic bag which also contained bird seed. A paper inside encouraged people to join the Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and included rants about second amendment rights and the taking down of Confederate symbols.

The Johnson County sheriff’s department said there does not appear to be anything illegal about the distribution of the material, but suggested people throw the papers away and feed the bird seed to the birds.

The city of Columbus is studying how to get rid of the crumbling dam on East Fork White River between the 2nd and Third Street bridges.

The dam is obviously breaking down and is in need of removal or replacement. Mayor Jim Lienhoop says that preliminary studies show that the dam is made up of rubble covered by a concrete shell, which means it shouldn’t be hard to remove. But first the city wants to more details on what that would mean.

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Lienhoop said there may also be concrete bridge piers as part of the dam construction and those would reach down to bedrock.

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The city redevelopment commission is looking at a contract cost of up to $48,500 dollars to study the hydrological problem and the city is looking for grant money to do the actual work. The commission voted to approve contracts for the work on Monday.

Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputies are looking for 23-year-old Paul Cody Childers as their most wanted fugitive this week.

Childers is a white man, six foot three and weighing 149 pounds. He has blonde hair, hazel eyes and multiple tattoos.

He is wanted on Bartholomew County warrants for failing to appear in court on a charge of conversion and of operating a motor vehicle without receiving a license, says Judy Jackson, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s department.

If you have any information on his whereabouts you can contact Capt. Dave Steinkoenig at 812-565-5940 or call the sheriff’s tip line at 812-379-1712

Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing is planning $3 million in improvements to its plant on Inwood Drive in the Walesboro-area industrial park.

The majority of the investment, or about $2.1 million would be to construct testing facilities in Columbus. Company officials said last night that other Toyota plants in Japan and elsewhere already have testing facilities in place, and the construction of such facilities would work toward the company goals of regional development here.

The company is also planning on spending more than $800,000 to modernize the front protector assembly line equipment.

The company made a presentation to Columbus City Council last night as part of an application for a tax abatement on the investments. The company said the investment would let it retain 1,163 jobs and add five more new engineering positions. The council approved the request unanimously.

Under a tax abatement, property taxes are phased in over a 10-year- period.

Columbus city employees and elected officials would see a raise of 1.5 percent under a plan adopted last night by Columbus City Council.

The city’s financial director, Jamie Brinegar, explained that the city essentially has to plan for next year’s raises now, even though revenue estimates won’t be in for more than a month. However once a budget is set and reviewed by the Bartholomew County Council the city can go back and lower the numbers if needed, but it can’t raise them.

Councilman Frank Miller voted against the pay raises as a protest against the lack of revenue figures.

The pay raises were criticized by three audience members who have become frequent critics of Mayor Jim Lienhoop’s administration. Glenn Petri suggested that it was unseemly to give raises to city employees when seniors in the community are not receiving more money to pay their tax bills. Dave Jones suggested that the raises were too high compared to the rate of inflation, which he suggested was also overestimated by city officials.

The final pay for next year doesn’t have to be approved until October.

At the end of the meeting, Jones asked for permission to read a letter into the record criticizing Council President Frank Jerome for a joke Jerome made on Facebook about an apartment fire. Jones suggested that Jerome resign or be censured by the council for the remark. There was no action or council discussion of Jones’ demands.

A North Vernon truck driver was seriously injured in a series of traffic crashes that tied up traffic on Interstate 65 and other roads around Columbus for more than five hours yesterday.

Indiana State Police report that the chain of wrecks started on the Interstate between Columbus and Walesboro around 1 p.m. with a crash that only caused damage to the vehicles involved. But that was followed by a more serious three-vehicle crash just south of the Columbus exit.

36-year-old Shawn B. Beeman of North Vernon was driving a semi pulling an empty tanker trailer and couldn’t stop in time to avoid the stalled traffic. He hit the rear of a box trailer driven by 54-year-old Patrick R. Russell of Campbellsville, Kentucky. That crash pushed Russell’s truck into a Cadillac driven by 39-year-old Kelli J. Buckley of Trafalgar.

The cab of Beeman’s truck was severely damaged and he had to be rescued by Columbus firefighters. He was taken first to Columbus Regional Hospital and then to IU Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis with possibly life-threatening head injuries. The other drivers were uninjured.

That crash caused further traffic backups and fender benders that disrupted traffic on Southern Crossing, State Road 11 and Jonathan Moore Pike all afternoon..

The southbound lanes of the interstate were closed until almost 6 p.m. to recreate the accident scene and to clean up the mess. Russell’s truck spilled its cargo of bulk mail across the interstate, causing further cleanup problems.

Updated: Bartholomew County officials report that the interstate has reopened as of 6 p.m.

Earlier: The Bartholomew County Emergency Operations Center is reporting that as of 2:40 p.m., Interstate 65 is shutdown at the 76 mile marker southbound due to multiple accidents at the 67.5, 67, and 66 mile markers. The interstate is expected to be shutdown for a few hours for re-construction of the accident and cleanup. Please avoid the area.

Columbus police are also asking you to avoid the area of State Roads 11 and Jonathan Moore Pike/State Road 46. Traffic is being rerouted through that area and is also backed up.