Bartholomew County United Way’s 2-1-1 service is adding the ability to send and receive texts

The organization helps people find community resources and services such as help with food, health care and housing. By calling 2-1-1, callers can get connected with a person who will point them toward the social services they need.

But the local 2-1-1 center is now offering the ability to get that information by text message. First you have to send a text to TXT211 with your zip code. A trained speicalist will then help you through a two-way text conversation, says Alicia McCreary with the Bartholomew Count agency. That service will be available Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Bartholomew County United Way’s 2-1-1 center serves Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings, Orange, Scott, and Washington counties.

2-1-1 will still accept phone calls.

For more information, click here.

If you have a child in the fourth to sixth grades in Bartholomew County who likes to sing, planners for the upcoming bicentennial torch relay events would like to talk to you.

Taffy Schroer, with the Daughters of the American Revolution, is organizing the children’s choir performances on Sept. 18th, during the torch relay festivities at the Bartholomew County Public Library plaza. The children’s choir will sing sing the state song, “On the Banks of the Wabash” and “Back Home Again in Indiana.”

She said if you have a child who s interested, your first stop is to go to the Bartholomew County Public Library website at mybcpl.org.

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Schroer said that she would like to have up to 200 children in the choir, representing all of Bartholomew County’s elementary schools.

Columbus City Garage staff reminds you that there is no trash, recycling or brush collections today due to the holiday.

Instead, collections will run one day behind this week with with Friday’s regularly scheduled collections running on Saturday.

Most government offices are closed today due to the holiday including the Columbus/Bartholomew Recycling Center and the Bartholomew County Landfill.

You will see some traffic tie ups over the next two weeks on Central Avenue.

The Columbus city engineer’s office staff says that contractors will be milling and paving on Central Avenue from 2nd to 11th streets from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday this week and again on September 12th and 13th. The work is going to start on the south end of Central Avenue near 2nd Street and then move north. No work will happen before 8 a.m. north of Seventh Street.

The engineer’s office staff ask that you be careful in work areas and avoid the area if you can.

A Columbus man was seriously injured when his all-terrain vehicle rolled over him yesterday in Ripley County near Holton.

Conservation officers from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources are reporting that 51-year-old Thomas Johnson was found pinned and not breathing under the ATV by other riders at about 5:35 p.m. yesterday. Paramedics performed CPR until he could be airlifted to the University of Cincinnati Hospital.

His current condition is not known, officers report.

The accident remains under investigation and authorities believe alcohol may have been a contributing factor.

Officer Joshua Thomas says you are strongly encouraged to wear a helmet and safety equipment when operating an off-road vehicle. And you should always abstain from drinking alcohol when operating any sort of motor vehicle.

A Versailles woman was killed in a head-on collision Sunday in Decatur County and a second driver was sent to an Indianapolis hospital with serious injuries. The crash happened at about 10:15 a.m.

52-year-old Rebecca S. Cole was driving southbound on U.S. 421 just north of the Ripley/Decatur County line when she crossed the centerline and crashed into a pickup driven by 60-year-old Roger C. Horan of Greensburg.

Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, spokesman with the Indiana State Police, says that Cole was pronounced dead at the scene by the Decatur County coroner’s office.

Horan was flown by helicopter to St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis for treatment.

The road was closed for about two hours to investigate and to clean up from the crash.

The accident remains under investigation.

North Vernon police are looking for your help solving two recent crimes. They have posted surveillance photos of suspects involved in thefts from Walmart and from the Good Samaritan food pantry.

If you have any information, you should contact the police at 812-346-1466, or you can use the tip line on the website at nvpd.org

A North Vernon man is facing a long list of preliminary charges after a week-long investigation into illegally harvested ginseng.

Conservation officers with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources say that 57-year-old Brian T. Barrett was arrested on initial charges of buying illegally-possessed Ginseng out of season and being a non-licensed Ginseng buyer.

But a search warrant served at his home allegedly revealed evidence of other crimes ranging from dealing methamphetamine and possessing stolen handguns, to possessing eagle feathers and eastern box turtles.

The commander of the conservation district, Lt. Bill Beville, says drug use and illegal ginseng possession frequently go together.

Barrett is facing preliminary charges including:

• Dealing in Ginseng without a License
• Illegal Possession of Ginseng
• Dealing in Marijuana
• Dealing in Methamphetamines
• Possession of Marijuana
• Possession of Methamphetamines
• Maintaining a Common Nuisance
• Possession of Stolen Firearms
• Possession of Eagle Feathers
• Possession of Owl Feathers
• Possession of Eastern Box Turtles.

Conservations officers say that American Wild Ginseng can only be harvested between Sept. 1st and Dec. 31st of each year, because the plant’s berries are immature until around September and will be unable to repopulate if harvested prematurely.

For more information on ginseng laws click here.

A Bartholomew County dove hunter accidentally shot himself in the foot Thursday, according to Indiana conservation officers.

63-year-old Rudolph Zeigler was dove hunting yesterday morning with friends, but as he drew up his gun to fire, he accidentally pulled the trigger, shooting himself in the right foot. Conservation officer and spokeswoman Corporal Angela Goldman says Zeigler was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital by personal vehicle.

No charges are expected against Zeigler, Goldman said..

Bartholomew County government’s struggling IT department has taken another hit, with the pending resignations of all but one of its staff members, including a newly hired director.

The IT department keeps vital systems operating in the county including the emergency dispatch center, the jail computers and the court system network. Judge Kitty Coriden said earlier in the week that without daily IT support, the county courts simply can’t operate.

Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said all of the resignations won’t take effect until next week but the county is making plans. Yesterday the county met with two consulting firms to provide backup IT support, Sharp Management Services and Data Strategies.

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Until the county can find qualified workers, get them hired and trained, the county will rely on the one employee and contractors to provide the needed around-the-clock IT support.

The IT department normally is supposed to have five employees, but was down to four until recently. Two staff resignations have come in the past two weeks and then the unexpected resignation of the newly hired IT director came Wednesday at 5 p.m., Kleinhenz said. The director had just started work this week.

The county recently raised the ceiling on the director’s pay to about $94 thousand a year to try to attract candidates.