The Legal Aid office in Bartholomew County will have a free Legal Aid Clinic from 3 to 5 on Monday March 26th at the United Way Center in Columbus.

Volunteer attorneys will be available offering free legal consultations to low-income residents. If you come to the clinic you can expect a 10-minute consultation to answer general questions, offer legal information or receive other limited assistance. Visits will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. There is no need to register in advance.

Other local clinics include:

• BROWN COUNTY: Brown County Public Library, 3 to 5 p.m., Tuesday, April 3
• DECATUR COUNTY: Greensburg-Decatur County Public Library, 3 to 5 p.m.  Wednesday, May 9
• JACKSON COUNTY: Jackson County Public Library, 3 to 5 p.m., Wednesday, June 6
• JENNINGS COUNTY: Jennings County Public Library, 3 to 5 p.m., Tuesday, May 15

The Bartholomew County legal aid offices are in the United Way Center at 1531 13th St.. You can call 812-372-8933 for more information.

The Yellow Trail Museum in Hope is looking for your memories of playing basketball in the old Burney Barn.

The barn, just outside Hope on County Road 650N was set up inside with a basketball court.

The museum will be having a discussion group about the barn on Sunday, March 25th, at 2 p.m

If you want to talk about your memories you can call the museum at (812) 546-8020.

Schneck Medical Center is currently accepting applications for the Dr. Bud Scholarship for registered nursing school students.

Applications for the scholarship are available at schneckmed.org/scholarships. Applications must be completed in their entirety and returned to Schneck Medical Center on or before May 11, 2018, to be eligible for consideration.

The Dr. Bud Scholarship was established in honor of Dr. H.P. “Bud” Graessle (1893-1977). Born in Seymour, Dr. Graessle was a practicing physician and surgeon for 53 years until his retirement in 1971.

Candidates pursuing a course of study to become a registered nurse and have successfully completed their freshman year of registered nursing program at an accredited school and registered in a registered nursing program are encouraged to apply for consideration. Primary consideration will be given to Jackson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington County residents. Acceptance for enrollment at a nursing school is required for the scholarship to be officially awarded.

A Jennings County teen was arrested on drug charges over the weekend after a traffic stop. Sgt. Andrew Richmond, spokesman for the North Vernon police Department, says that at 11:43 p.m. on Saturday, Officer Kyle Hall reported seeing a vehicle speeding on South State Street. He initiated a traffic stop and spoke with the driver, 18-year-old Todd Madden, II, of North Vernon.

While speaking with Madden, Officer Hall reported the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle. A search of the vehicle allegedly resulted in the discovery of 154 grams of marijuana in multiple packages, along with digital scales and a hollowed out book with a hiding place in the center. Madden also allegedly admitted to smoking marijuana earlier in the day.

Madden was arrested on preliminary charges of Dealing Marijuana, Possession of Marijuana and Possession of Paraphernalia.

The Columbus Police Department is announcing the promotion of two officers.

With the retirement of Deputy Chief Todd Harry after 20 years with the department, Capt. Mike Richardson will be promoted to take Harry’s place. Richardson has 23 years on the department and has served as the uniform division captain for the past six years. Prior to that he served as a patrol officer, sergeant and lieutenant in the uniformed division.

Lt. Steve Norman, also a 23-year-veteran of the Columbus police, will become the new uniform captain. As a lieutenant he has overseen the daytime patrol operations. He has served as a patrol officer, uniform sergeant, narcotics detective, public information officer and as uniform captain prior to Richardson.

Columbus police dog Argo helped officers arrest a burglary suspect who was hiding underneath a vacant mobile home early yesterday morning.

20-year-old James A. Carmer of Columbus was arrested on a preliminary charge of burglary in the incident which started at about 4 Sunday morning.

Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the city police, says that officers were called to a home in the 3000 block of Lamplight Drive about a burglary. They found items had been moved in the home and began to search for suspects. Argo picked up a scent and led his handler, Officer Branch Schrader to a nearby vacant home. Underneath the home, Schrader saw a man who matched the description of the suspect who allegedly fled the scene and Carmer was arrested.

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools are not the only system to be affected by the recent surge in threats and perceived threats against schools.

Superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts explains that nationwide there are normally about 10 threats per day at a school. Since the Florida school shootings, there have been 70 a day.

BCSC has had two threatening incidents at Columbus East High School since the Florida school shootings and on incident where a teacher brought a rifle to school in his truck.

Roberts said some community members raised concerns about BCSC school safety at a school board meeting last month.

Roberts said that the school board held an executive session on Friday to address those concerns.

The results of that meeting will be presented to the community at the March 26th school board meeting, which will be held at CSA New Tech High School on 25th street. School board meetings start at 6:30 p.m.

The town of Hope will have traffic delays to the north and to the south as work begins next month on two bridges on State Road 9.

INDOT contractors will be working north of the town on the State Road 9 bridge at Little Haw Creek, installing a new bridge deck and improving the approach to the bridge. They will also be working south of the town on the State Road 9 bridge at Clifty Creek, replacing the bridge deck and rails, as well as repairing the bridge substructure.

Traffic will be allowed in one direction at a time on both bridges after the work starts on April 10th. This is part of a $1.5 million dollar bridge repair project.

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You will see some delays if you are driving near Walesboro for the next few weeks.

Work is scheduled to get underway today at State Road 58 around the International Drive intersection. Contractors for INDOT will be installing traffic signals at the ramps from State Road 58 to Interstate 65 and at International Drive.

Starting on Wednesday, crews will begin removing old pavement markings on State Road 58 between International Drive and Old Lane Drive. Lanes will be reduced in width while they widen the pavement and build right turn lanes at the Interstate ramps.

Flaggers will be in place while that work goes on, which is expected to take up to six weeks.

INDOT says that this is all part of the $143 million dollar project to improve Interstate 65 between Columbus and Seymour.

The Indiana State Police SWAT team was called out last week to arrest a Jennings County man who barricaded himself in a home for about eight hours.

34-year-old Jonathan Snyder of North Vernon is facing a new preliminary charge of resisting law enforcement.

State police tried to serve an arrest warrant in the 2700 block of Coventry Gardens at about 10 a.m. Thursday morning on Snyder, who was wanted on Jennings and Bartholomew County warrants for domestic battery, as well as a parole violation, says Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, spokesman for the state police. But while police found that Snyder was home, he refused to come outside and barricaded himself in. A search warrant was obtained for the home and the SWAT team was called in.

At about 6 p.m. that evening, the SWAT team entered the mobile home and found Snyder hiding in an attic space above a bedroom.