Decatur Plastic Products, a manufacturer of custom injection-molded plastic parts and components, plans to expand its operations in North Vernon. The website, areadevelopment.com is reporting that the company plans to create up to 40 new jobs by 2019.

According to the report, the company will invest more than $3 million to update its equipment and provide training opportunities for employees at its facility located near Highway 7 in Jennings County. Decatur Plastic will also offer its employees training, as well as leadership and career development courses.

The website is reporting that the Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered the company up to $75,000 in training grants based on the company’s job creation plans. These incentives are performance-based, meaning that until Hoosiers are hired, the company is not eligible to claim incentives.

For more on this story, visit areadevelopment.com.

The Jennings County Sheriff’s Department says that it has joined an enforcement drive aimed at helping to keep drivers and passengers safe. Sheriff Gary Driver says that his department is joining over 230 law-enforcement agencies across Indiana that will have assets aimed specifically at targeting seat belt violators and impaired drivers through the weekend after Thanksgiving. During this time, Sheriff Driver says that you can expect to see increased patrols and checkpoints.

The overtime for officers to participate in this drive is being paid for by funds provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, administered by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.

Sheriff Driver says that the department is publicizing this blitz to give drivers a fair warning that violators will face penalties. In all states, it is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol content of .08 percent of higher. In addition, drivers under the age of 21 with a BAC of .02 or higher are subject to fines and license suspensions.

The Columbus Fire Department responded to the River Stone Apartments Wednesday afternoon after a fire was discovered on a second floor patio deck. Capt. Mike Wilson, department spokesman, says that firefighters were called to 3460 Limestone Lane shortly after 3 p.m.

Wilson says that firefighters arrived on the scene to find a smoldering wooden patio deck and melted vinyl siding on a second floor apartment. Firefighters also found that a third floor sprinkler head had activated and was still flowing water on the smoldering materials below. Firefighters marked the fire under control within minutes of arrival.

Columbus Fire Department investigators determined that the tenant had been smoking a cigarette outside. The tenant told investigators that he had placed a lit cigarette on a cardboard box, with the intention to briefly enter the apartment and then return to the patio deck. The tenant told investigators that he became distracted while inside the apartment and forgot that he had left the cigarette on the cardboard box.

As firefighters surveyed the damages, they found that the origin of the fire was near an external storage closet located on the patio. At the time of the fire the storage closet door was closed. Inside the closet were additional cardboard boxes stacked from floor to ceiling. The closet door was a fire rated door which protected the contents for at least one hour. Additional damages were noted to the vinyl siding on the second floor apartment’s exterior as well as fire damages to the bottom of the third floor wooden patio decking.

The cause of the fire has been ruled accidental and damages are estimated at $3,000. Investigators say that damages were greatly reduced as a result of the sprinkler system.

A mobile home fire early yesterday morning left a Jennings County man dead.

32-year-old Matthew M. Loper was found dead inside the home at 2910 E. County Road 200N., according to the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department. Rescue workers were called to the blaze at just before 4:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.

An autopsy has been scheduled and the investigation is ongoing, according to the sheriff’s department.

The Indiana State Fire Marshall’s office and the Indiana State Police are assisting with the investigation.

The Bartholomew County community Veterans Day services will be held Saturday starting at 11 a.m. at the veterans memorial on the county courthouse lawn.

The highlight of the ceremony is the memorial balloon release by Bartholomew County funeral directors while the names of local veterans who have passed since last Veterans Day are read.

The event also features music and speakers, including U.S. Sen. Todd Young, the laying of wreaths, a 21-gun salute by the Bartholomew County Veterans Honor Guard and taps.

If you cannot attend in person, the ceremony will be broadcast live on News Talk 1010 WCSI.

The rain location will be the Donner Park shelter house.

The Columbus Firemen’s Cheer Fund is looking for volunteers to help box and wrap presents for their annual toy delivery. The toy boxing sessions 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, starting on Monday.

Capt. Mike Wilson with the Columbus Fire Department said that 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

Planning can go forward for an expanded interfaith worship campus on the west side of Columbus after the Columbus City Council gave its approval to a rezoning of the property off of Goeller Boulevard.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbus and the Hindu Society asked the council to consider rezoning their properties from agricultural use to public facilities. The goal is to build more facilities for small faith communities such as the local Jewish population.

Neighbors said they were opposed because of concerns over drainage, the commercial septic system, vandalism, noise and the traffic from large number of people worshipping at several churches and temples planned for the property.

Neighbor Lawrence Myers said that he was concerned about the effect on the values of neighboring properties if the campus fills the entire lot with buildings.

“How many would want to buy property right up next to a big community space,” Myers said.

Allan Gilford, representing the faith groups, said that the rezoning approval would give them the go-ahead to at least try to engineer solutions to those problems.

Whatever plans they develop at the property would have to come back before city and county planners for review, said Jeff Bergman, head of the city/county planning department.

Although the properties are outside of the Columbus city limits, they are within the city’s two-mile zoning jurisdiction.

Council members Frank Jerome and Lori Booher voted against the proposal.

Developmental Services, Inc. held their awards banquet Wednesday night. The 42nd edition was held at the Commons and White River Broadcasting’s own Sam Simmermaker served as Master of Ceremonies.

Six organizations and individuals were honored at the banquet. They were:

Volunteer and Service Award – Sandy and Doug Royer; The Seymour couple delivered Thanksgiving meals to residents of the Elm Street group home, purchased and delivered Christmas and birthday gifts for DSI clients, attended client events and donated to the Special Olympics.

Volunteer and Service Award – EMERGE Wrestling; – This Columbus-based professional wrestling group have raised nearly $3,000 for DSI and provided free tickets for DSI clients. In 2017, EMERGE wrestlers Ricky Ruckus and Donny Idol trained and worked with DSI client Justin Wells to help him fulfill a dream of competing in the squared circle. That culminated in a tag-team match at the organization’s annual “Downtown Throwdown” held on Fourth Street this past summer in front on nearly 1,000 fans, which saw Justin gain the win for his team.

Direct Support Professional Award – Brenda Wade; Wade has worked in a group home for several years, helping clients live more independently and aiding them in locating opportunities to help them help themselves. DSI specifically thanked Wade for her help in organizing transportation and working through clients’ mobility issues to ensure that they are able to attend community events.

Consumer Achievement Award – Joe Broomall; The Nashville resident serves as a volunteer at the Children’s Museum in Indianapolis. There, he works in the Paleo Prep Lab, thanks to the cooperative efforts of DSI’s community habilitation program, IMPG case management and the museum.

Professional of the Year – Brandon Shumaker; Shumaker is the fleet and facilities manager for DSI. His crew is responsible for fixing, building, cleaning, replacing and modifying items and facilities in 55 Indiana counties. Shumaker’s crew has important in the construction of Education and Enrichment classrooms, as well as a new fitness center for DSI clients in Columbus, a Personal Enhancement classroom in Seymour and maintaining security systems and vehicles.

Industry of the Year – GECOM; The company in Greensburg is celebrating 30 years and has the company has worked with DSI for 28 of those years to help provide opportunities for those with disabilities.

Employer of the Year – Amy Rodgers McDonald’s of Muncie); DSI says that Rodgers demonstrated extraordinary patience and compassion to make sure that DSI clients had the best opportunity to succeed, hiring four DSI clients. The organization adds that Rodgers has restructured tasks and work schedules to accommodate client needs, maximizing their productivity.

DSI William K. Hadar Scholarship Fund – Olivia Ortman; Last year, DSI announced that it was creating a scholarship through the Heritage Fund of Bartholomew County to honor DSI’s longest serving chief executive officer. Ortman, a Columbus East graduate, received the first $1,000 scholarship. She is studying occupational therapy at Indiana University.

Columbus will be making its first down payment on the overpass project soon.

The city must raise $15 million dollars for its share of the estimated $30 million project to put an overpass into the downtown area. That project will lift traffic over the railroad tracks at Jonathan Moore Pike and State Road 11.

City Council last night approved moving $5.5 million in funds from the Cummins Tax Increment Financing district on Central Avenue into the overpass fund. Previously the city has moved $4 million from the downtown TIF district to support the overpass project.

Tax Increment Financing districts are areas of the community where rising property taxes are harvested to be used for infrastructure or other spending to benefit redevelopment efforts in those districts.

Heather Pope, the city’s redevelopment director, said the first payment to INDOT of $10 million dollars will be due on Dec. 15th. The payment will help fund INDOT’s planning and engineering for the project, Pope said. The second payment of $5 million will not be due until the project begins seeking bidders in 2019.

Money for the first payments will come from the city and from Bartholomew County donations. County officials have pledged $1.5 million to support the project with their first payment due later this month. City officials said that city has not yet received the actual cash from the county but an interlocal agreement has been approved and the payment is expected by Nov. 15th.

The railroads have also pledged money to support the project.

Columbus Police arrested a local man Tuesday afternoon on weapons charges after he was allegedly spotted with a handgun at his job. Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the department, says that shortly after 1 p.m., officers were dispatched to a business located in the 1300 block of Indiana Avenue. Once they arrived, police reported recovering the weapon. Harris says that later arrested 52-year-old Kenneth D. Wood, at his home in the 600 block of Hutchins Avenue after confirming that Wood did not have a permit for the weapon. During the investigation, officers noted that the serial numbers were scraped off the gun.

Wood is facing preliminary charges of Carrying a Handgun without a License, Possession of a Handgun with an Obliterated Serial Number and Possession of a Firearm by a Serious Violent Felon.