An area man drowned Thursday in a private lake in southwestern Bartholomew County. The Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office says that 80-year-old Lloyd Grimm was reported missing at around 8 p.m. Thursday. Deputies found the man’s body later that night in the water, near the lake’s dam. Authorities say that Grimm was likely cleaning debris from an overflow pipe in the area when the drowning occurred.

The elevator at Columbus City Hall was knocked out of service by the storms earlier this week, which is leading city officials to move several public meetings while the elevator is repaired..

Jamie Brinegar, the city’s finance director, says that Donner Center will host next week’s meetings of the Columbus Redevelopment Commission, City Council and the Board of Public Works and Safety. The redevelopment commission meets at 4 p.m. Monday afternoon, the Board of Works meets at 10 a.m. Tuesday morning and the City Council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday night.

Brinegar says that if you are planning to attend a meeting at City Hall through next Friday, you should call first to make sure of its location or check the city website at columbus.in.gov. Also, if you need help with accessibility issues for any government business, you can call 812-376-2500.

Gov. Eric Holcomb left for Paris yesterday for the second leg of a European trade mission.

Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop and Jason Hester, director of the Greater Columbus Economic Development Corporation, are also taking part in the trip, but separate from the governor’s entourage. Mayor Lienhoop:

Mayor Lienhoop said that the Columbus contingent would be joining the governor in France for the Paris Air Show.

Lienhoop said the goal is to help diversify the Columbus economy, adding aeronautics tech companies to the mix of auto part manufacturers.

After the Paris Air Show, they are slated to attend an automotive show in Stuttgart, Germany.

The Bartholomew County 4-H Council will be holding its 12th annual Drive Through Lunch next week.

That will be on Thursday, June 22nd, from 11 to 1 at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church School parking lot. You can get a $6 lunch that includes the county pork producers sandwich.

You can  call ahead for orders, if you do that before Wednesday. That number is 812-379-1656. The event funds the 4-H summer internship position.

Bartholomew County’s Joint Narcotics Enforcement team made six arrests on drug-related charges while serving a search warrant at a home on the east side of Columbus yesterday evening.

Because subjects at the home were believed to be armed, the Columbus police SWAT team was called in to serve a search warrant at 1945 Dawnshire Drive Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation. The Greensburg Police Department was also involved in the raid. A search of the home revealed 50 grams of methamphetamine, marijuana, heroin and two handguns, says Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus police.

43-year-old David M. Hardin of Columbus is facing the most serious charges. He was arrested on preliminary charges of dealing methamphetamine and possession of meth and drug paraphernalia, as well as maintaining a common nuisance.

Others arrested include:

• Donald R. Shirley, 53, of Clifford: obstruction of justice.
• Colten D. Shirley, 24, of Mooresville: visiting a common nuisance
• Robert W. Goodin, 46, of Seymour: visiting a common nuisance, possession of heroin and a legend drug injection device.
• Michael A. Goodin, 26, of Columbus: visiting a common nuisance.
• Randall W. Garris, 45, of Columbus: possession of marijuana and visiting a common nuisance

The Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team is an effort by the city police, county sheriff’s department and prosecutor’s office to combat drugs coming into the community.

Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers held another town hall forum Thursday evening at Grace Lutheran Church in Columbus. Myers says this was one of the best attended of his forums. Much of the discussion was focused on the drug issue. With that as a backdrop, the Sheriff talked about public-safety needs.

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Myers says that increase is directly attributable to the meth, heroin and opiate scourge in the county. He also took aim at state legislators, who implemented a plan this year sending low-level felons back to county jails to serve their sentences. Myers says that he needs seven new staff members to improve conditions at the jail and help addicts have a better chance at rehabilitation. He’s asking county residents to talk to their elected officials to help him better serve them.

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The Sheriff says that he’ll be going before the county council next week to ask for that overtime money, noting that his overtime budget for this year has already been spent. He adds that it is critical that the jail get additional staffing, not only to reduce overtime costs, but for the physical and mental well-being of current jail staff.

8 a.m. update

A flood warning for our area has been extended until 3 this afternoon. The National Weather Service says up to four inches of rain fell in parts of our area. You can expect rapid lowland flooding this morning along rivers including East Fork White and Muscatatuck rivers, along with Clifty and Haw Creeks.

That area includes Central Bartholomew, Southwestern Decatur, Northeastern Jackson and Northern Jennings Counties.

7 a.m. update

The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for central Bartholomew, northern Jennings, northeastern Jackson and southwestern Decatur counties.

That’s after up to three inches of rain fell overnight and up to another inch is expected this morning. That will be in effect until 9 this morning.

Bartholomew County officials say that they are seeing high water near State Road 7 and U.S. 31. County Road 400S is currently impassable due to the high water.

Decatur County authorities are reporting high water and several road closures. That includes :

• 400 block of  West Main Street in Greensburg
• 421N in St Omer Area
• 1500 block of East County Road 150N
•  I-74 near 124.5 the mile marker. The right lane is completely under water .
• County Road 450W btw 200S and 300S•
• County Roads 700E and 200S
• North Kentucky Avenue in Westport
• Main Street in Westport
• County Road 100S and 700W
• County Road 650W and 700 N (mud over roadway in curve)

The Jennings County Emergency Management Department is now reporting that U.S. 50 has been reopened. They had that closed earlier this morning between Butlerville and Nebraska due to high water over the roadway.

If you come across high water in the road, authorities urge you to turn around and don’t drown.

Cummins has announced plans to adjust its business to focus less on diesel-powered engines, and more on electrification and other technologies in the years to come. During a Wednesday evening conference call with the media, Tom Linebarger, Cummins Chairman and CEO, emphatically stated that the Columbus-based corporation is more than diesel engines.

Linebarger says that in addition to designing and manufacturing diesel engines, Cummins is on the forefront of designing and manufacturing electrified drive-trains. He noted that environmental regulations and growing demand for cleaner power sources is fueling the move…

Julie Furber, executive director of Cummins’ Electrification Business Development, says that the company has been working on the development of electrified drive-trains and alternative power generation equipment for some time. She adds that the fruit of that labor will be available in the near future.

When asked how this shift will affect existing Cummins facilities and employees, Linebarger, said that diesel power will continue to be an important part of Cummins’ business in the years to come.

Cummins officials added that the company will have additional announcements about these efforts in August and September.

A Johnson County man who worked as an information technology administrator for a stainless steel fabrication company in Brown County is facing prison time. Josh J. Minkler, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana announced Wednesday that 34-year-old Benjamin Levi Cox, of Nineveh, pleaded guilty to one count of Wire Fraud and one count of Interception of Electronic Communications and sentenced to eight months in prison. In addition to his prison term, Cox was ordered to serve seven months of home confinement, two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $27,490 in restitution. He was also ordered to perform a further six months of unpaid community service.

Federal prosecutors say that Cox was formerly employed by Electric Metal Fab, Inc., a stainless steel fabrication company in Nashville. Cox worked as the company’s IT system administrator and a designer for its computer-aided drafting system, which is used to custom design products. Around March of 2013, authorities say that Cox began covertly copying the company’s entire computer system to an external hard drive. Over a period of three months, Cox apparently loaded all of EMF’s proprietary digital information, including thousands of files containing its CAD designs, financial data, sensitive personnel records, and operational and technical documents onto this external device.

As part of his plea, Cox admitted that when he resigned from EMF in June 2013, he took the hard drive containing the stolen EMF data and brought it with him to his new employer, a direct competitor of EMF. Cox then copied multiple files to the new employer’s system and altered the CAD designs to appear as if they had been created by the competitor. The doctored CAD designs were subsequently used by the competitor in obtaining over $45,000 in new contracts with customers that had previously been EMF clients.

Prosecutor’s say that Cox further admitted that before quitting EMF, he used his system administrator privileges to secretly configure EMF’s email account settings to auto-forward all of its email communications to two external email accounts he had registered. The intercepted emails included personal correspondence, private financial and legal information, and business dealings between EMF and its clients. After being questioned by investigators, Cox secretly deleted the contents of those email accounts to obstruct the investigation.

“Companies have the right to keep their proprietary interests out of the hands of competitors,” said Minkler. “Those who choose to steal from their employer and then attempt to obstruct a criminal investigation will be held accountable.”

The Cybercrime and High Technology Section of the Indiana State Police and U.S. Secret Service investigated the case, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.

Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers is planning two more community meetings in the coming days.

The sheriff said that he will be meeting with residents at Grace Lutheran Church tomorrow night starting at 6 in the evening. That is at 3201 Central Avenue in Columbus.

There will be a neighborhood meeting in Hartsville on Tuesday, June 27th, also at 6 in the evening. That wll be at the Hartsville Volunteer Fire Department on Jackson Street.

The sheriff’s department says that the meetings will then be put on hold until after the Bartholomew County 4-H Fair.