A plan to highlight vacant and underused properties in the city of Columbus for new uses by business developers has been successful in filling about a third of the properties on the list.

Emilie Pinkston, a senior planner with the city of Columbus, told a joint meeting of the city and county plan commissions last night that the city’s infill development profiles on about 30 potential sites has helped guide development to 13 vacant or derelict lots in the city. Of those six have been completed and the rest are in various stages of construction, development and planning.

On the city web site, developers can find a current and updated list which shows areas ripe for development, what the surrounding land uses are, the zoning for the property, photos, maps and other details. The list has been especially useful for developers of affordable housing complexes, who get a boost to their applications for tax credits by building in infill locations.

Among the properties on the original list that have since seen development were the then-derelict Golden Castings Foundry site on 10th Street, the St. Bartholomew Catholic Church location on Seventh Street and the site of the new Rickers gas station and an office complex at County Road 325W and State Road 46 and the Casey’s General Store location on State Street and Gladstone Avenue, Pinkston said.

The city started the infill project in 2012.

Some drivers in Columbus could be stopped for up to 40 minutes nearly every hour of the day at the Jonathan Moore Pike and State Road 11 intersection.

That’s under the plans for increased train traffic by CSX railroad along the Louisville & Indiana railroad line through the city starting next year.

Dave Hayward, the Columbus city engineer and director of public works, said that state and railroad officials didn’t look at the entire impact of the increased train traffic which will cause an accordion-like effect with drivers at the very end of the stalled traffic suffering through long waits. CSX is expecting 22 or more trains a day through Columbus.

Based on modeling software used by the city, during peak driving hours each of the long, slow trains could end up with drivers backed up to Walmart or further on Jonathan Moore Pike/State Road 46.

Hayward said officials only focused on the drivers inconvenienced at the stopping gate itself, and not those who line up behind those first drivers.

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Hayward and Heather Pope, the city’s redevelopment director, made a presentation last night to a joint meeting of the Columbus and Bartholomew County plan commissions.

The state prepared a plan to build an overpass around the intersection of State Road 11, Jonathan Moore Pike/State Road 46 and Second and Third streets, but at a cost of $35 million. It was assigned a low priority because of the state’s assumption that the traffic impact would be minimal, Hayward said.

Even if the project were approved today and in the state pipeline for projects, it would still be six or seven years from construction, Hayward said.

Interstate 65 through Bartholomew County will be renamed in honor of the World War II Tuskegee airmen at a ceremony tomorrow morning at the Columbus Municipal Airport.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. at the airport hanger next to the terminal building at Ray Boll Boulevard and Arnold Street. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African American military aviation unit in U.S. history and have an infamous tie to Seymour with the “Freeman Field Mutiny” where over 100 officers were arrested for refusing to sign an order preventing them from going to the white only officer’s club.

The state is renaming the interstate from Johnson County to Seymour in honor of the pilots.

For more information: 812-376-2519

There will be addition opportunities for bars and restaurants to get a liquor license within Columbus’ Riverfront District. Heather Pope, the city’s Redevelopment Director, explains the purpose of the district…

Pope says that five liquor licenses were initial approved…

The city council voted to approve the request to increase the number of licenses.

A left-wing political action group is under investigation for alleged voter fraud in Indiana. State Police say their investigation is expanding in an effort to ensure the rights of Hoosier voters.

“I would like to thank Secretary of State Connie Lawson for her diligence in contacting Indiana State Police detectives and reporting that thousands of paper form voter registration applications were changed, including dates of birth and first names,” said Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter. “Given our ongoing investigation, Secretary Lawson believed this could be further evidence of voter fraud and immediately contacted Indiana State Police detectives who were working on the case,” Carter added. He went on to say that ISP is grateful to Secretary Lawson for her prompt attention to this matter.

Carter says that the scope of the investigation is changing drastically. “Because of these new revelations, the magnitude of the possible fraud involved and with the election less than three weeks away, I have directed all available resources within the Indiana State Police to assist with this investigation,” said Carter. He continued: “Given the fact that the Statewide Voter Registration System has not been compromised, we believe the reports Secretary Lawson turned over yesterday (Tuesday) may serve as evidence of forgery by representatives associated with the Indiana Voter Registration Project, which is a subsidiary organization of a group that calls itself Patriot Majority USA.”

Carter takes issue with the group’s response to law-enforcement and Indiana residents. “It is very important to recognize that instead of telling Hoosiers they would cooperate with our investigation and working with Indiana officials to get to the bottom of the fraud issue, Patriot Majority USA instead launched a partisan advertising campaign accusing Governor Pence of leading a ‘government attack against’ Hoosiers and the Indiana State Police of ‘police intimidation,’” said Carter. He added, “This is completely false and I condemn these attacks on the Governor and Indiana State Police in the strongest possible terms. Furthermore, Patriot Majority’s claim that our investigation began at the direction of Governor Pence is false. Governor Pence has never asked me or anyone in the Indiana State Police to initiate any investigation. Any suggestion to the contrary is offensive to me personally and the more than 1,000 troopers who serve with integrity and distinction every single day. The leadership of Patriot Majority should be ashamed of itself for suggesting otherwise.” Carter says the investigation began with a concerned citizen alerting county election officials to dozens of voter application forms with grave discrepancies that indicated the possibility of fraud and forgery. From there, he explains that election officials called the Indiana State Police and a detective responded and determined further investigation was warranted.

“Our investigation currently spans 56 of Indiana’s 92 counties and has more than two dozen state police detectives diligently reviewing thousands of suspect voter application forms,” said Carter.
He continued: “While I cannot speak to the specifics of this investigation I have the highest level of confidence there will be County Prosecutors in multiple Indiana counties who will hold a number of people criminally responsible for their actions.”

Carter says that the Indiana State Police are about enforcing the law. “In this case,” says Carter, “the laws associated with voter registration to ensure every Hoosier who is eligible to vote can cast a vote with confidence that their vote will count and they will not be disenfranchised as a result of the criminal actions of others.”

Patriot Majority USA was founded in 2005 by Democratic political strategist Craig Varoga, according to www.factcheck.org.

State and county election officials are urging you to double-check your voter registration information to determine if it has been tampered with. You can do so by visiting www.indianavoters.com. Officials say those living in the counties in this probe are most at risk. This includes residents of Bartholomew, Jackson, Jennings and other area counties.

Thursday’s event aimed at fighting domestic violence, called “Men Take a Stand,” is being moved due to the possibility of bad weather.

Stephen Dishinger, Community Prevention Manager for Turning Point Domestic Violence Services, says that the gathering is being moved to the Cal Brand meeting room inside City Hall. He says that the group will meet around 11:45 a.m. outside of City Hall for a modified march, if the weather allows it. Please pass the word along to those you have invited.

For more on this event, along with domestic violence resources, visit www.turningpointdv.org.

Columbus police arrested a Seymour man who allegedly crashed into a fire hydrant and then fled the scene while driving drunk on his way to work Tuesday morning.

According to police reports, a security guard told police that a driver tried to drive around a long line of cars waiting at a parking lot in the 8200 block of South International Drive at about 7:40 a.m. The van struck a fire hydrant while maneuvering off the roadway.

57-year-old Horacio J. Tamariz of Seymour then allegedly left the scene and the left the vehicle in the parking lot. When he returned a few minutes later police noticed that he appeared to be slurring his words and unsteady on his feet, says Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the police department.

Tamariz was arrested on preliminary charges including operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol content of .15 percent or greater, leaving the scene of a crash, operating a vehicle without ever receiving a license and operating a vehicle without proof of financial responsibility.

State officials are looking into a new set of problems with voter registrations in Indiana — thousands of cases where voters had their names or date of birth changed in the registration system without their knowledge.

The secretary of state’s office announced the investigation yesterday, saying voters couldn’t check their registrations on indianavoters.com because their details had been changed.

“We ran a report in the Statewide Voter Registration System and found thousands of dates of births and first names were changed,” said Secretary of State Connie Lawson.

“These records were changed on paper forms, at the BMV and online. At this time, my office is not sure why these records were changed, but we have evaluated the Statewide Voter Registration System and have found no indication it has been compromised. We believe this may be a case of voter fraud and have turned our findings over to the State Police, who are currently conducting an investigation into alleged voter fraud.”

The voters who have encountered this issue and have contacted the Secretary of State’s office did vote in the Primary Election, Lawson said.

The state suggests that you should contact your county election office if you discover a problem. Since the voter registration deadline has passed, only the county election offices may be able to assist voters to correct information under limited circumstances.

Lawson said that voters who find their date of birth or first name is incorrect on their registration will still be able to vote in the Nov. 8 election. Voters who find a problem can correct their date of birth for their voting record on Indianavoters.com. Although the correction will not take place until 30 days after the election, the voter will be able to vote on Nov. 8 or participate in early voting.

As the state continues to investigate an unfolding voter registration fraud case, Bartholomew County has been relatively unaffected.

Bartholomew is one of the 56 counties identified by state officials in the probe but County Clerk Jay Phelps says that there have only been a few problems here..

“I can just tell you that in Bartholomew County, we had a handful that looked like the same person had tried to fill out some same registrations,” Phelps said. “But those didn’t get processed. We have actually finished processing the ones up through the deadline and I can tell you that it doesn’t look like we have had any more fraud.”

Phelps said that the investigation began in Marion County and that is also where the apparently fraudulent Bartholomew County applications originated.

“I just want to assure voters that are rolls are accurate and they are up to date,” Phelps said. “I would just encourage you to take pride in the process and to show up to vote and don’t worry about anything you see as far as the investigation goes. Because I really think it is minimal here in Bartholomew County.”

As of noon yesterday, more than 1,700 people had cast early ballots, either in person or by mail. Phelps said that is about four times the pace of 2008.

Friday night, the Hope branch library and the Yellow Trail Museum will be putting on the annual Goodies, Goblins, and Ghost Stories event from 5 to 8 p.m. on the Town Square.

The event will include trunk or treating, a hayride, campfire with S’mores and the telling of family-friendly ghost stories. The Yellow Trail Museum will also be hosting its “Night in the Museum” where volunteers will make exhibits come to life. The event is free.

For more information or to volunteer, you can call the library at 812-546-5310.