A Columbus woman is being accused of drunk driving after allegedly leaving the scene of a crash in her SUV yesterday afternoon.

The crash happened at 12:53 p.m. Tuesday afternoon at 17th Street and Hawcreek Avenue. Police located the vehicle near 25th Street and Hawcreek shortly afterwards.

The driver, 49-year-old Tracy J. Jordan appeared to have bloodshot and glassy eyes, and was slurring her words according to police reports. She also failed several field sobriety tests, police say. She is now facing charges of leaving the scene of a property damage crash and driving while intoxicated, with a previous conviction.

Columbus swore in two new police officers yesterday.

Officer Kyle Weaver previously worked at the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department as a corrections officer. He is a graduate of Columbus East High School and Ivy Tech Community College.

Officer Andrew Celik is from Macon, Georgia. After graduating high school, Celik served in the U.S. Navy as a Damage Controlman. He attended Ivy Tech Community College.

After completing their initial training in Columbus, both officers will attend the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in October.

Wilna Braun has been chosen as the Joan Pearcy Senior Citizen of the Year by the Mill Race Center.

Braun is a leader of the Body in Motion class and delivers Meals on Wheels for the center. She is also active as a volunteer at First Lutheran Church, as a tour guide for the Columbus Area Visitors Center, with Book Buddies and Love Chapel.

There will be a reception to honor Braun at 2 p.m. on Friday afternoon at the center on Lindsey Street.

The Senior Citizen of the Year Award has been given annually by the Bartholomew County group since 1957 and was renamed after Joan Pearcy in 2011. The purpose is:

• To recognize an outstanding senior citizen for his or her service to the community;
• To encourage continued achievement and service from the senior community; and
• To reinforce with the public the contributions that senior citizens make to community life.

Heritage Fund: The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County is again asking for your thoughts on how welcoming of a community Columbus is.

The is the third welcoming community survey by the community foundation since the Welcoming Community Initiative started in 2004. Community leaders at the time highlighted the importance of nurturing a diverse community where everyone could feel welcome.

The initial 2004 survey found Columbus to be generally welcoming but there were groups that found it less friendly – including those new to the community or young people. After a second study in 2011, the community has instituted several efforts at welcomeness including: Columbus Young Professionals,CAMEO, diversity panels in area schools, the Women’s Giving Circle, and the African American Fund of Bartholomew County.

You can take the survey through Oct. 5th. You can find links to the survey at heritagefundbc.org, on the Heritage Fund Facebook page, or paper copies are available at the Heritage Fund offices, the Bartholomew County Public Library and Mill Race Center.

You have two chances to see free movies this weekend at outdoor events in Bartholomew County.

The Student’s Fund of Hope will be hosting the film “Moana” on Friday night on the Town Square and Columbus Young Professionals are having a showing of “Back to the Future” on Saturday at Mill Race Park.

The “Moana” showing will benefit the Student’s Fund of Hope a newly created effort to take care of needs amongst the students and families in the Flat Rock-Hawcreek Schools.

There will be face painting, creating leis and an arts project around the Heart of Te Fiti stone featured in the movie. There will also be food including hot dogs and popcorn. All of the activities are free, but if you are able, you are asked to make a donation to the group’s efforts.

Specifically, organizers are raising money to help purchase a headstone for Trevor Frazee , a Hauser student who died recently from a heart attack. They would also like to aid the families and victims of a serious crash that happened in front of the high school, with any  remaining proceeds will go towards helping students in the community.

The event starts at 7 p.m. with the movie at 8 p.m.

Columbus Young Professionals Moonlight Movie activities will start at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night with the movie starting at dusk. They will have popcorn, candy, Ice Pops by Flip Flop Ice Pop and a cash bar provided by Simmons Winery and 450 North Brewing.

Organizers suggest that you bring lawn chairs and blankets and dress in your favorite ’80s themed outfits.

Bartholomew County towns and the city of Columbus will lose some income tax revenue but the county will be able to fully fund the jail  from income taxes under a plan adopted last night by the County Council.

Council members approved the plan to take back income tax revenue from other governments in the county with no opposition last night. The biggest loser of tax revenue will be the city of Columbus, which will see a an estimated $2.7 million dollar decline in income tax revenue next year. Edinburgh will lose about $118,000 dollars while Hope will lose about $28,000.

The city and towns all benefited from an increase in the income taxes approved last year for public safety and to deal with the opioid crisis. The change takes back a portion of that increase.

The ordinance approved unanimously last night by the County Council, will redirect and estimate $4.8 million dollars into the Correctional and Rehabilitation Facilities fund next year. That essentially will completely remove the county jail from the property-tax supported general fund in next year’s budget.

The council also had a first reading of next year’s budget at last night’s meeting.

An expired license plate led to the arrest of a Columbus man who was allegedly carrying a stolen handgun.

Columbus police stopped the vehicle at about 1 a.m. this morning near 17th Street and Central Avenue. The driver, 31-year-old Barrett B. Finke of Columbus, told police he had a handgun in the car and a check on the gun revealed it had been reported stolen almost four years ago, according to police reports..

Finke said he bought the handgun from an online ad and did not realize it was stolen. He is facing preliminary charges of possession of a handgun without a license and receiving stolen property.

The arrest comes on the heels of Columbus police asking gunowners to make sure their firearms are securely stored. Since 2016, there have been 183 firearms stolen in the city, most from unsecured homes or vehicles.

An Elizabethtown man was arrested on rape charges after a Monday morning incident. Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a mobile home park in Elizabethtown at 8:12 a.m.

When deputies arrived, a woman told them that a man had broken into her home, raped and battered her. About an hour later, authorities found the suspect, 46-year-old Teddy Albert Allman. He is facing preliminary charges of:

Rape – Armed with a Deadly Weapon
Domestic Battery – Serious Injury
Intimidation/Deadly Weapon
Criminal Confinement – Armed with a Deadly Weapon
Invasion of Privacy

Allman remains behind bars on $260,000 bond. The investigation is ongoing.

An inmate who died last month in the Bartholomew County Jail was killed by acute methamphetamine intoxication, according to a coroner’s report..

61-year-old Cathy Hull died on August 9th. Jail staff found Hull unconscious in a cell at the jail at about 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon and called paramedics.

A forensic autopsy was ordered by Senior Deputy Coroner Charlie Deweese and was performed two days later. County Coroner Clayton Nolting says the autopsy found no anatomical cause of death, but toxicology results later came back showing a lethal amount of methamphetamine.

Those reports were turned over to Indiana State Police, which is investigating the incident.

Hull was being held after being arrested by Columbus Police on a warrant for a probation violation.

Bartholomew County corrections officials believe there is still time to start a drug treatment program for men this year, if the funding gets approved.

Last week, City Council gave its first approval to pay half of the just over $241 thousand dollars cost of the REALM treatment program. Tonight the Bartholomew County Council will consider funding the other half of the program.

Rob Gaskill, director of residential services for the county community corrections department, says that cost would fund the program for all of next year and the remainder of this year.

If funding is approved, the county would house the program on the first floor of the Bartholomew County Jail building. Community corrections already operates three work-release programs and the WRAP drug treatment program for women in that space.

Gaskill says room for REALM will be made by reducing the number of local male work-release participants.

County officials feel the best use of funds would be a drug treatment program for men, as many of the men in the work-release program would benefit more from drug treatment.

If everything goes according to plan, the first REALM class could be running by early December.

The County Council meets at 6 tonight at the Governmental Office Building on Third Street.