Gov. Eric Holcomb, legislators, state education officials and other dignatries will be making a visit to Columbus Friday to check out what the city is doing right when it comes to education.
The entourage is scheduled to meet with city officials and members of the Community Education Coalition Friday, says Mayor Jim Lienhoop. The focus willl be on how Columbus had tied education to workforce development.
There is no word yet on what time the governor will be in town.
A home visit for a probation check led to two arrests on drug charges earlier this week.
The Bartholomew County sheriff’s department reports that a deputy was helping probation officers with the visit when they saw a man run from the home in the 100 block of Cherry Street.
The probationer, Roger K Burton, opened the door and allowed police to enter at about 2:08 p.m. in the afternoon Tuesday, where they discovered two pounds of bagged marijuana, cash, baggies and other drug paraphernalia, according to reports from deputies.
Roger K. Burton was arrested on preliminary charges of dealing marijuana, possessing marijuana and paraphernalia and maintaining a common nuisance. That is on top of the probation violations.
Bradley K. Burton was arrested on preliminary charges of maintaining a common nuisance and probation violations.
A fire in a cardboard compactor and baler caused about $1,000 in damage Wednesday afternoon at a Columbus store.
Firefighters were called to the Office Max store in the Columbus Center on National Road at about 4:20 Wednesday afternoon. Employees had noticed a fire in the cardboard baler and after emptying two fire extinguishers, the fire was still going, says Capt. Mike Wilson with the Columbus Fire Department.
About four customers were evacuated as light smoke began to fill the store. Firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the blaze with a water hose, Wilson says.
Firefighters stayed on scene to remove the smoke from the building and checked the air in neighboring stores to make sure it was safe.. Investigators believe the fire was caused by an electrical short. in the compactor’s motor.
American flags are being lowered to half-staff across the country after yesterday’s deadly shooting spree in Florida. The order from President Trump covers flags on all federal properties, naval vessels and U.S. diplomatic stations.
Indiana Gov. Eric J. Holcomb is directing flags at state facilities also be flown at half-staff until sunset on Monday, Feb. 19th. The governor also asks businesses and residents to lower their flags.
(VERSION 1)
CANstruction is coming up this weekend. The annual event is a food gathering effort to help local food pantries. Eight teams will be building elaborate canned food sculptures in Fair Oaks Mall on Saturday starting at 10 a.m. Gary Parker with the Starving Artists team, says this will be their 10th year participating.
{02-15 Gary Parker Canstruction-1} :18 Q:the lighthouse
The plans for this year’s construction by the Starving Artists team are still under wraps. You can vote for your favorites by donating cans of food over the next week. After the voting is done, all of the structures will be dismantled and both the donations and the building materials will be donated to local food pantries.
You can hear more from Gary Parker with the Starving artist’s team, later this morning on AM Columbus.
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(VERSION 2)
CANstruction is coming up this weekend. The annual event is a food gathering effort to help local food pantries. Eight teams will be building elaborate canned food sculptures in Fair Oaks Mall on Saturday starting at 10 a.m. Gary Parker with the Starving Artists team, says this will be their 10th year participating.
{02-15 Gary Parker Canstruction-2} :28 Q: the banks
You can vote for your favorites by donating cans of food over the next week.
You can hear more from Gary Parker with the Starving artist’s team, later this morning on AM Columbus.
#######
(VERSION 3)
CANstruction is coming up this weekend. The annual event is a food gathering effort to help local food pantries. Eight teams will be building elaborate canned food sculptures in Fair Oaks Mall on Saturday starting at 10 a.m. Gary Parker with the Starving Artists team, says this will be their 10th year participating.
You can vote for your favorites by donating cans of food over the next week. The food used in the constructions and the food donated by those voting will all go to area food banks, including the Salvation Army, Love Chapel, the Hope COmmunity Center food pantry and, new this year, food pantries at Columbus North and Columbus East High Schools.
{02-15 Gary Parker Canstruction-3} :13 Q:
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(VERSION 4)
CANstruction is coming up this weekend. The annual event is a food gathering effort to help local food pantries. Eight teams will be building elaborate canned food sculptures in Fair Oaks Mall on Saturday starting at 10 a.m. Gary Parker with the Starving Artists team, says this will be their 10th year participating.
You can vote for your favorites by donating cans of food over the next week. Parker explains where the food that is donated and the food
{02-15 Gary Parker Canstruction-4} :14 Q: high schools.
CANstruction has donated more than 240,000 cans to local food banks sicne it started 10 years ago.
City officials in North Vernon have moved forward with a plan to update the city’s websites. The city council voted this week to approve a contract with Revize that will, hopefully, allow for more information and services to be shared with North Vernon residents. Kate Eder serves of the city’s website review committee. She talks about how the group came to this recommendation.
Eder talks about how the new website will benefit everyone.
Clerk-Treasurer Shawn Gerkin says there were some concerns about costs.
A committee of volunteers has been working for months to come up with the proposal, which will require an initial investment of nearly $12,000. The goal is to have the updated website operational within one year.
A Columbus man is under arrest arfter a short police chase this morning.
33-year-old Jonathan P. Gamble is facing a charge of resisting law enforcement, driving with a suspended license and several traffic citations after the chase at about 2 a.m. this morning.
The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department says Deputy Kris Weisner was conducting a patrol on Henry Lakes Boulevard and U.S. 31 when he saw a vehicle run a stop sign. The driver refused to pull over for deputies and eventually pulled into a home in the 6000 block of Bonesteel Drive where he was arrested by deputies and state police.
The former Clarion Hotel and Conference Center on the west side of Columbus is largely a pile of rubble.
Columbus Regional Health bought the property last summer after a foreclosure auction and has been in the process of tearing the building down.
Lawyer Excavation from Seymour is doing the work demolishing the building. Kelsey DeClue, spokeswoman for the hospital, explains the process to replace the former Holiday Inn building on Jonathan Moore Pike.
Part of that recycling will be reusing the rubble as fill dirt, to lift the entire property out of the flood plain.
Based on a review of community needs, CRH plans to build a medical facility at the location, likely concentrating on family practitioners and specialty doctors, DeClue said. However the exact mix has not yet been unveiled.
CRH has been undergoing a review of the community’s medical needs, DeClue said. She said the exact mix of those offices has not yet been unveiled.
The hospital does not expect to use the entire 22-acre property and will make some of the property available to other developers.
Peer Foods Group is planning on building a new warehouse and production facility in Edinburgh. Company officials joined Jason Hester, president of the Greater Columbus Economic Development Corp., as the company asked the Bartholomew County Council for tax abatements during Tuesday night’s meeting.
As for the local economic impact…
The new plant is slated to be built in the 300 block of West Presidential Way. Construction is expected to be completed by spring of 2019.
Council voted unanimously to approve the tax abatement requests for real and personal property. Those abatements are for 10 years.
A Salem man was arrested Tuesday morning for allegedly having inappropriate contact with a Bartholomew County teenager. Sgt. Jerry Goodin, spokesman for the Indiana State Police Post at Sellersburg, says that 22-year-old Ryan Andrew Allen is facing two preliminary counts of Sexual Misconduct with a Minor.
Goodin says that Allen was arrested after a joint investigation between the Indiana State Police and the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department began Monday after a complaint was filed by the parents of a 14-year-old girl from Bartholomew County. Authorities say the complaint was made after the girl came up missing from her home on February 10th and reappeared the following day. Police say the teen ran away from her home to meet Allen after he allegedly made arrangements to meet the girl over social media. After allegedly taking the teen to Salem and spending the night with her, Allen returned her home the next day. When she returned home, the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department was contacted, who in turn, contacted detectives from the Indiana State Police Post at Sellersburg to assist in the investigation. After speaking with Allen Monday, an Indiana State Police detective says that Allen knew the girl was 14-years-old.
State Police say that Allen was booked in the Washington County Jail awaiting his first court appearance.