If you are trying to quit your smoking habit, tobacco cessation classes will kick off tomorrow, organized by Columbus Regional Health’s Healthy Communities program.

Kylee Jones, tobacco awareness coordinator for Healthy Communities talks about the class:

She says Bartholomew County has taken strides to reduce tobacco use in the community over the past 20 years.

Jones talks about the benefits of getting rid of tobacco:

The classes will be held weekly from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays for eight weeks at Our Hospice of South Central Indiana. The cost of $35 includes workbooks and medication. Scholarships are available.

You can register for the class at 812-375-3194

Bartholomew County’s water rescue and recovery team was called out on Sunday afternoon for an intoxicated subject in danger in the Driftwood River.

The call came in at about 2:13 p.m. that afternoon and the team was dispatched to the river near West Randy Road, according to reports from the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department.

Witnesses said that a man identified as 24-year-old Devin McIntosh of Franklin could not maintain his balance in the water and was becoming a danger to himself.  Friends and other kayakers tried to help him, but he reportedly became belligerent.

When deputies arrived McIntosh was halfway in the water and halfway on the bank being restrained by people at the river. The rescue team saved him from the water, even as he fought against them. But he had to be taken to Columbus Regional Hospital because of his intoxication level and the amount of water he had taken in, according to police reports.

Criminal charges of public intoxication are under review.