A Seymour man was shot by police in an incident over night.

Indiana State Police are investigating the shooting. They report that Seymour officers were called to an incident on Westgate Road where an 80-year-old man was acting erratically, including carrying a knife and a rifle and firing the gun in the home. When the man came out the front door and allegedly pointed the rifle at police, Officer Michael Payne fired at least one shot, hitting the man in the arm and causing him to drop the rifle, according to troopers.

Police took the man into custody, providing first aid until medics could arrive and transport him to Schneck Medical Center. He was treated for non-life threatening injuries and then was held for a mental evaluation.

Indiana State Police were called in to investigate at about 1 a.m. Payne, a five-year veteran of the police department, is on paid administrative leave until an investigation is completed. When that happens, the case will be turned over to the Jackson County prosecutor’s office for review.

The town of Hope is moving ahead with plans to spruce up the downtown area including facelifts on buildings and a possible new town hall.

According to town officials, more than 20 percent of the commercial and business space in the Town Square is now vacant. That does not include two entirely vacant lots, one owned by the town and one by the Hope Community Center.

The Town Council voted to designate the area around the Town Square as a economic revitalization area last night, as part of a way to unlock grant funds for projects in the area.

The Main Street of HOPE program is looking at a grant to provide facelifts to some of the facades on buildings in the downtown area.

And a town committee is moving ahead with plans to hire RQAW architects at a cost of $9,300 dollars to provide a preliminary architectural study of the town’s needs for a new government building. The existing town hall is in a converted pole-barn like structure that does not have indoor public bathrooms, has heating and cooling issues and is not ADA accessible, town officials have said.

Trena Carter, with Administrative Resources Association, advises the town on grant opportunities. She said that the town could apply for low-interest loans on a 40-year term and grants to pay for a new town hall.

Columbus North High School will be holding an open house and post-secondary education planning session on Thursday night.

The open house will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Parents should report to their students’ first period classroom and then will follow their students’ daily schedule throughout the event.

The post-secondary planning session will be held at 5:30 p.m. in Erne Auditorium and it is open to seniors and their parents.

Two vacant properties in the area of Ninth Street park in Columbus will be taken over by the city, rehabilitated and then resold as family homes.

The Bartholomew County Commissioners agreed Monday morning to waive most of the back property taxes on two properties that have repeatedly been unable to be sold at tax sales. The city will take over those properties on Pearl Street and Werner Avenue, said Robin Hilber, with the city’s community development department.

She said the goal would be to construct mostly pre-built container homes on the properties and then sell them to people who want to own a home in that neighborhood. She said the ratio of rental homes vs owner-occupied homes has grown to more than 2:1.

Hilber said that the C4 program at Columbus North High School has expressed interest in using one of the properties as a project home for its students.

Hilber said the money to purchase and rehabilitate the properties would come from the city’s unsafe housing and blight elimination funds.

Columbus city employees and elected officials would see a pay bump next year. That’s under a proposal up for consideration tonight.

Mayor Jim Lienhoop explains:

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Lienhoop also said that a handful of employees will see larger pay hikes. Those are tied to employees facing changes to their salaried status under new labor standards going into effect at the start of the year. Under those rules, employees making under about $48,000 a year must be paid hourly and paid overtime. Lienhoop said the impact on the budget for raising the pay of about 10 employees now below that threshold would be about $30,000, but he expected it would be much more expensive to pay those employees time and a half in overtime.

The city also could no longer offer those exempt employees comp time to make up for longer hours, Lienhoop said.

City Council meets at 6 p.m. tonight in Columbus City Hall

Purdue Polytechnic Columbus is offering two new degree programs this year — a bachelor’s in science in either robotics engineering technology or in supply chain management technology.

That brings the total number of bachelors degrees available at the Columbus campus up to 7.

Joe Fuehne, director of the school of engineering technology, says that 30 to 35 percent of the local workforce is in manufacturing. He talks about the need for robotics technology experts in Columbus:

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Purdue Polytechnic Columbus faculty and staff stress the fact that students can earn Purdue degrees locally at a fraction of the cost of attending the main campus.

Five people were arrested over the weekend after reports of suspicious activity at a Columbus apartment.

Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus police department says officers came to the apartment in the 700 block of Sycamore Street at just after 12 a.m. Saturday to check on the welfare of one of the residents. Officers immediately noticed that one of the people at the apartment, 24-year-old Brittnee B. Briynt, was wanted on a warrant. 50-year-old Scott W. Bryant and 26-year-old Courtney P. Bullington were allegedly found in a bedroom with drug paraphernalia and 29-year-old Yvette S. Bryant of Greensburg who was also wanted on a warrant, was found hiding in a closet, Harris said.

The apartment’s resident, 57-year-old Charles T. Jeffers was also arrested on a charge of maintaining a common nuisance.

Other charges include:

• Brittnee B. Bryant:  Visiting a Common Nuisance, Bartholomew Superior Court II Warrant (Failure to Appear on Initial Charge of Battery).
• Scott W. Bryant: Visiting a Common Nuisance, Possession of a Legend Drug Injection Device, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
• Courtney P. Bullington: Visiting a Common Nuisance, Possession of a Legend Drug Injection Device, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
• Yvette S. Bryant: Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Possession of a Legend Drug Injection Device, Visiting a Common Nuisance, Bartholomew Superior Court II Warrant (Failure to Appear on Initial Charges of Conversion, Unauthorized Entry of Motor Vehicle, Possession of a Controlled Substance)

A fire damaged a vacant Columbus house that was undergoing renovations on Saturday.

Capt. Mike Wilson, spokesman for the Columbus Fire Department reports that firefighters were called out at 3:24 a.m. to the fire in the 3000 block of North Marr Road. The firefighters found heavy smoke and fire in the nearly-finished home.

Wilson said there were no furnishings inside and the house received about $100,000 in damages.

No injuries were reported.

Governor and vice presidential candidate Mike Pence made a surprise visit home on Saturday.

Our news-gathering partners at The Republic report that Pence stopped in Columbus to support his Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb at campaign events, including a stop at the Upland Brewery Pump House, the downtown farmer’s market and at Joe Willy’s Burger Bar.

Pence was last back here in his hometown during the Bartholomew County 4-H Fair, just days before he was announced as Donald Trump’s running mate.

For more information, go to www.therepublic.com

The Columbus City Council is set to take its first action on the 2017 city budget Tuesday night.

One area that won’t be budgeted for during next year’s budget are transportation improvements to the Walesboro industrial park. Jamie Brinegar is the city’s director of finances. He stresses that area isn’t being overlooked…

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As for when any work might be done in that area…

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Mary Ferdon, the city’s Community Development director, says it’s important to understand that the city won’t be on the hook for the total costs of improvements…

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Mayor Jim Lienhoop noted earlier this year that residents, as well as businesses in that area, were pushing for traffic improvements.

During Tuesday night’s city council meeting, the body will discuss pay for elected officials and city employees. That meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall and you are invited.