Two Columbus residents were arrested after officers responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle on Friday night. Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus Police Department, says that Officer

Alyson Rech responded to a parking lot in the 2400 block of Beam Road at 8:40 p.m. in regards to two suspicious men inside a vehicle. When Officer Rech arrived, she noted that the passenger, 23-year-old Phillip L. Thompson, was holding a plastic needle cap that he tried to hide. Officers confirmed that Thompson was wanted on two Bartholomew County warrants and took him into custody. Harris says that a police K9 then arrived at the scene and detected the odor of narcotics inside the vehicle. The driver, 28-year-old Joshua D. Fox, got out of the vehicle and officers reported finding two syringes containing heroin, along with a glass pipe and marijuana near the driver’s seat.

Fox was arrested on preliminary charges of Possession of Heroin, Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Possession of a Legend Drug Injection Device.

Columbus Police are investigating a rash of vehicle vandalism that occurred over the weekend. Lt. Matt Harris says that there six reports of car windows being broken out on the north side of the city. Harris says the incidents took place Saturday night.

If you have any information about these crimes, you are asked to contact the Columbus Police Department at (812) 376-2600. Tips and information can be left anonymously.

Columbus police arrested a man on drunk driving charges after he allegedly crashed into a parked car last night and then fled the scene.

Police report that they were called to the 1600 block of Lafayette Ave at 10:45 p.m. Sunday night after the crash and a witness said that the vehicle took off. Police stopped a  car matching the description on Jonesville Road and found that it had heavy damage to its front end.

Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus police, says that the driver, 30-year-old Kole I. Law  was also allegedly carrying a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle.

Law was arrested on charges including leaving the scene of an accident, driving while intoxicated and possession of marijuana.

Franklin police are looking for leads in a burglary early this morning.

They say the theft happened at about 2:23 a.m. this  morning when police found the door to a convenience store shattered and the alarm going off. Police say that a large quantity of cigarettes were stolen from the store.

If you have any information about the case, you can call Detective Sergeant John Borges at (317) 346-1142.

Hope police say that burglars attempted to remove the safe from the town’s Dollar General store early Sunday morning, by trying to pull it out of the store with a truck and a log rope.

And when that didn’t work, they came back the next night armed with two tow straps and a log chain.

But Marshal Matt Tallent said that he kept a reserve officer on duty last night to watch the store and that officer interrupted the second robbery attempt. Police chased the would-be burglars but eventually lost them.

Tallent said he will soon have more information on the vehicle the suspects were driving. This story will be updated. If you have any information you can call the Hope Police Department at 812-546-6402.

Columbus police say that a driver crashed into another vehicle, seriously injuring the other driver, shortly after police called off a high-speed chase Saturday morning.

49-year-old Gerardo Hurtado of Portage was arrested after the crash at Third and Lindsey Streets, while the other driver 56-year-old David A. Gates of North Vernon was taken to IU Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis with serious injuries.

Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the police department said the city police and Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department called off a high-speed police chase Saturday morning as the driver raced away at speeds of more than 90 mph on U.S. 31 heading toward Interstate 65. About half an hour later, at 7:40 a.m. that morning, the crash happened.

Witnesses said that Hurtado’s car ignored the traffic signal and tried to speed through the intersection, when it hit Gates vehicle. Hurtado refused to exit his vehicle, Harris says, despite police breaking out a window and shocking him with a Taser. Officers report that Hurtado continued to struggle and spit at officers. After a trip to the hospital, he was taken to jail on preliminary charges of criminal recklessness resulting in serious bodily injury, battery by bodily waste on an officer, resisting law enforcement and resisting law enforcement in a vehicle.

Gates had to be rescued from his vehicle and was unresponsive at the scene. There’s no word on his current condition.

The Indiana Historical Society invites you to a “living history” exhibition about Camp Atterbury during World War II.

Angela Wolfgram, exhibitions researcher, says the exhibit focuses on a tiny chapel built by Italian POWs…

Wolfgram explains that Camp Atterbury leadership allowed the chapel to be built by the prisoners…

Wolfgram stresses that this isn’t a typical history exhibit…

Wolfgram says the space will be decorated to reflect the time period, complete with actors portraying POWs, guards and others as if it were August 27th, 1943…

Wolfgram says that this exhibit opened March 4th at the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana History Center in downtown Indianapolis. The exhibit will continue thru August of next year.

Members of the Indiana Historical Society get in free. Non-member costs are $9 for adults, $5 for children and kids under five get in free. The exhibition can be seen Tuesday thru Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Four people were arrested on drug-related charges after police made a traffic stop last week in North Vernon. The Jennings County Sheriff’s Department is reporting that a deputy recognized the driver of an SUV as a person without a license. The deputy stopped the car at about 6:30 in the evening Thursday on State Road 3.

A police dog detected the scent of drugs during the stop and during a search of the vehicle police allegedly found methamphetamine and marijuana. That led to a search warrant of a home on Private Road 675N.

Police say they recovered about $8,500 dollars worth of methamphetamine, along with more than $50,000 in cash and two rifles.

The driver of the SUV, 35-year-old Kurtis M. Turner of Butlerville was arrested on preliminary charges of dealing and possessing methamphetamine, visiting or maintaining a common nuisance and driving without ever receiving a license.

Others facing charges include:

• 37-year-old David E. Turner — possession of methamphetamine, a legend drug act violation, visiting or maintaining a common nuisance and possession of paraphernalia
• 55-year-old Judy K. Nichols — dealing in methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine, visiting or maintaining a common nuisance, possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia.
• 55-year-old Sheryl L. Staublin — Visiting or maintaining  a Common Nuisance.

All of them are from Butlerville.

Indiana Department of Transportation personnel met with contractor representatives, consulting engineers and Seymour officials at INDOT district offices Friday morning to launch a $681,650 construction project to rebuild West Second Street from just northeast of U.S. Highway 50 to Vehslage Road.

INDOT says that Milestone Constructors will be doing full-depth pavement replacement, installation of new storm and sanitary sewer lines and construction of sidewalks with curbs and ADA-complaint ramps. Work is scheduled to begin in early April. A street closure is tentatively scheduled for May 3.

INDOT says that the city of Seymour will cover 20 percent of project costs, while the Federal Highway Administration is funding the rest. The project will impact the 2,330 vehicles who utilize West Second Street every day.

Monday marks the start of spring break for students in BCSC and the Flat Rock-Hawcreek schools. Dr. Laura Hack, BCSC’s director of elementary education, says that classes won’t resume until March 27th…

Discussions to potentially alter the school corporation’s break periods will be held in 2018…

Flat Rock-Hawcreek was also scheduled to have two weeks off for spring break, but the school corporation’s website saya that a cancelled school day on March 1st means that classes will resume on Friday, March 24th.