Bartholomew Consolidated schools will be spending just over a million dollars more this year than previously budgeted. That’s under a new appropriation the school board passed last night.

Superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts explains the additional spending was caused in part by an increase in teacher’s pay under the new contract. Originally the district budgeted for a 2 percent raise, but the negotiations led to a three point two percent increase.

The district also had higher than budgeted health insurance premiums.

The increased spending is being offset by increased revenue this year. That is coming from a higher than anticipated student enrollment and from higher interest payments. Roberts said that the September enrollment count, which was up by almost 60 students over last year, would mean more money going to the district, retroactively to this summer.

Looking forward to next year, Roberts said that the increases have already been built into the 2018 budget.

Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers is looking for information on who is smashing mailboxes and running over traffic signs in the county. The sheriff said that there were nearly 20 incidents of mailboxes being destroyed Saturday night and Sunday morning, with most being concentrated on Sprague Road, Deaver Road and County Road 300S.

It appears as if the mailboxes and road signs had been run over or sideswiped by a vehicle.

The sheriff warned that damaging a mailbox is a federal offense. He said that could carry a penalty of a $250,000 fine and three years in prison, for each act of vandalism to a mailbox.

If you have any information you should contact Lt. Chad Swank at 812-565-5928. You can also call the sheriff’s department tip line at 812-379-1712. Tips and information can be left anonymously.

The Columbus Area Arts Council is announcing this year’s slate of shows for its First Fridays for Families program held at the Commons.

The first show is “A Dickens Tale” to be held Dec. 1st. The arts council says that the show will feature Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, the ghostly visitors and a hilarious beggar woman.

Other scheduled shows:

• Dr. Seuss’s The Cat In The Hat, Jan. 5
• Adzooks Puppets: Circus of Imagination, Feb. 2
• Beethoven’s Wig, March 2
• Peter & The Wolf, April 6

The family-friendly shows are held on the First Friday of the month, December through April, starting at 6 in the evening at The Commons. The shows are free to the public through the support of Old National Bank.

For more information, go to artsincolumbus.org

The Yellow Trail Museum in Hope will be holding its annual Christmas of Yesteryear on the Hope Town Square, starting at 5 p.m. Friday evening.

Barb Johnson, with the museum, says that this is the 15th year for the annual event.

The festivities will feature strolling carolers, carriage rides and Santa Claus at the Sweet Chiropractic Office. There will also be a live nativity on the square put on by Hope First Baptist Church.

Johnson said there will be crafts, a bake sale and cookie decorating at the Yellow Trail Museum itself, on the northwest corner of the Town Square. Hauser students will also be talking about the Moravian Church traditions carried on by the town.

For the first time, this year’s event will include fireworks starting at 8:45 p.m.  Friday night. Those fireworks were held over from Hope Heritage Days, in September, when the fireworks were canceled due to the hot dry weather.

A car chase by Columbus police Friday night led to a man’s arrest on drug related charges.

Police noticed a truck without a license plate near 10th Street and Whitfield Drive at about 6:30 p.m. Friday evening and attempted to pull the pickup over. However the driver took off south on U.S. 31 at speeds of up to 80 mph.

Eventually the driver lost control and crashed into a fence in the 200 block of Patterson Drive, says Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus police.

The driver, 41-year-old Shawn J. Tatman was found hiding under a bush. After he refused to show his hands, he was hit with a Taser. Police allegedly found methamphetamine on the ground where he had been laying, Harris says.

He is facing preliminary charges of possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, reckless driving, resisting law enforcement with a vehicle and an outstanding warrant from another county.

This Thursday is the Great American Smokeout.

Local anti-smoking efforts are being organized by Healthy Communities at Columbus Regional Hospital. Kylee Jones, tobacco awareness coordinator for Healthy Communities explains that she will be leading a class from St. Peters Lutheran School on an anti-smoking project on Thursday.

The sixth graders will be picking up cigarette butts from the street, starting at The Commons and then up Washington Street to about Fifth Street. She said the goal is to help show the chlidren how nasty smoking can be.

Jones said that the American Cancer Society encourages tobacco users to quit cold turkey during the Great American Smokeout, whether it is a minute, hour or the whole day as a way to feel what it is like to be smoke-free.

Jones said that Columbus Regional Hospital will be picking up its smoking cessation classes again in January. The classes are held five times a year in eight-week sessions. The classes cost $35, which covers the cost of the books and other materials. Participants will also be given nicotine patches or gum.

For more information, go to the Healthy Communities Tobacco Awareness page on crh.org.

You can call 1-800-QUIT-NOW to speak to a smoking counselor 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

Tonight is the first night that you can help firefighters make a child’s Christmas brighter.

The Columbus Firemen’s Cheer Fund’s toy boxing sessions start tonight. They will be held in the Doug Otto United Way Center on 13th Street from 6 to 9 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings.

Volunteers are needed to sort toys, clean used toys, stock donations on shelves, replace batteries and package gift boxes.

The Cheer Fund is also still accepting toy donations. You can drop those off at the United Way Center or at any Columbus fire station.

The delivery day for the packages is Saturday, Dec. 16th. Volunteers are also needed that morning to make deliveries across Bartholomew County.

For more information or to make a monetary donation you can go to www.cheerfund.com

Today is the last day for you to get a chance to be Sheriff for a Day by helping Pack a Patrol car with canned food for local food pantries.

The sheriff’s department will be taking food donations until 5 today for the contest. The person who donates the most food will get to shadow Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers for a day including touring the jail, meeting the staff, attending meetings and following the sheriff on his other duties.

All items donated to the sheriff’s department through 5 p.m. today will be tracked for the contest and every $1 donation will count as two canned food items. You can drop off items in the lobby at the sheriff’s department on Second Street.

The sheriff’s department will be taking donations for the Pack-A-Patrol car efforts through tomorrow.

Donated items will be delivered to Love Chapel and the Salvation Army.

A Columbus man was taken into custody last week, accused of scuffling with officers who tried to arrest him for outstanding warrants.

38-year-old Donald L. Estes, was arrested Thursday afternoon after an officer saw him acting suspiciously outside of a residence in the 900 block of California Street. Police recognized that Estes was wanted and as they approached, he fled into the home says Lt Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus police.

When police entered the home, Estes refused to take his hands out of his coat pockets, Harris says. After a struggle, police used a Taser to subdue Estes and take him into custody. He was taken to the Bartholomew County Jail on the outstanding warrants charging him with conversion, as well as a new charge of resisting law enforcement.