Indiana Conservation Officer Robert Klakamp has been selected the 2018 District 6 Officer of the Year.

Klakamp, who was raised in Jackson County, is currently assigned to Brown County. He has been a conservation officer for just over two years. Klakamp serves the division as a certified breath test operator and venomous snake handler, and is a certified EMT.

The nine-county district covers Brown, Monroe, Bartholomew, Morgan, Johnson, Shelby, Hancock, Marion and Hendricks counties.

Klakamp is now in the running for the Pitzer Award, which is given to the top overall Conservation Officer in the state of Indiana and selected from the 10 district award winners.

The Pitzer award is named after Conservation Officer James D. Pitzer, who was fatally shot while investigating illegal hunting activity Jan. 1, 1961 in Jay County.

The Greater Seymour Chamber of Commerce is taking reservations now for its annual awards dinner.

The event will include the Rising Star Award Winner, Mindy Roeder; B. Loved as the Small Business of the Year; Teacher of the Year awards to Martha Bloch , Jennifer Miller and Kelly Reasoner. Rose Acre Farms will be honored as Corporate Citizen of the year and Marshall Royalty will receive the Citizenship Award.

The awards dinner will be March 7th at the Celebrations Banquet Hall. You can make reservations online at seymourchamber.com, or by calling 812-522-3681.

The Columbus movie is coming to DVD in a few weeks, but you can order your copy now through the Columbus Area Visitors Center.

Erin Hawkins, marketing director with the visitors center explains.

Hawkins says that the video release will include documentary extras and a commentary track from film stars Haley Lu Richardson and John Cho.

The movie premiered in 2017 and was shot in and around Columbus. It includes many scenes of Columbus architecture and used local residents as extras.

You can get more information at the Columbus Area Visitors Website at columbus.in.us

Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Whipker recently completed training for a train/railroad safety program called “Operation Lifesaver”.

Deputy Whipker is now available to give presentations to community residents of all ages, businesses, organizations, groups, schools, social clubs, etc.

Anyone who would like to schedule a presentation, may contact the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office, 812-379-1650.

The group tasked with figuring out the city of Columbus’s plans for the Fair Oaks mall property held it’s first meeting Friday afternoon. The Fair Oaks Community Development Corporation’s Design Committee held its first meeting inside the mall property, which was purchased in December.

The committee agreed to terms for Requests for Proposals that would transform the 36 acres from mall property to a “great community asset.” The RFPs should include plans for an indoor space, outdoor space and connectivity between the two.

The scope of the work is being broke down into four sections.

Section 1 – Existing property and ideas for the future, with focus on the needs and desires of facilities for Columbus Parks and Rec and Columbus Regional Health.

Section 2 – Focus on surrounding areas and how to best integrate the mall property. These include items like People Trails, parks, sidewalks, etc.

Section 3 – Making the property compatible with a revitalized 25th Street.

Section 4 – Address the future of Donner Center once most operations move to the mall property.

The Design Committee will formalize the RFP with the understanding that firms must have them submitted by March 20th. A sub-committee will then go over the proposals with a recommendation to the full board, who will decide how to proceed. Prospective firms will then be interviewed by the board by April 18th.

The Design Committee will then make its recommendation to the Fair Oaks Community Development Corporation.

A Hope man driving without a license plate was arrested on five outstanding warrants yesterday afternoon according to Columbus police.

Officers report stopping the vehicle at about 3:40 p.m. Thursday afternoon near 13th Street and Michigan Avenue.

The driver, 25-year-old Chanceton M. Daniels, also had a suspended driver’s license. He was taken into custody.

SMART Recovery meetings are now underway in Bartholomew County.

The program is free and works in conjunction with other recovery groups. Scott Hundley, director of counseling for Community Downtown, explains the program in an interview last fall.

You can find a SMART Recovery meeting at

• 5:30 p.m. Mondays at Community Downtown 522 7^th St. in Columbus
• 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays at St. Peters Lutheran Church 719 5^th St. in Columbus
• 11 a.m. Thursdays at CRH
• 6 p.m. on Thursdays at Ogilville United Methodist Church, 9250 E. State Road 58

Columbus Police arrested two people on theft and drug charges Wednesday afternoon. At approximately 1:25 p.m., officers were dispatched to Target in the 1800 block of North National Road. The store security guard advised officers that he was battered while attempting to stop a woman, later identified as Jennifer L. Bunting, 27, of Columbus, who was suspected of stealing merchandise from the store.

CPD officers located the suspect’s vehicle on Middle Road and stopped it a short time later. Bunting, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was taken into custody. Officers reportedly found stolen merchandise in her possession and also inside the vehicle that was driven by Damon L. Bailey, 20, of Columbus. In addition, the officers reported finding two syringes as well as drug paraphernalia inside the car.

Bunting’s infant child, who was also in the vehicle, was cared for by Child Protective Services who responded to assist the officers.

Bailey and Bunting were both arrested on preliminary charges of Theft, Possession of a Syringe and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Bunting is also facing a charge of Battery.

Three people are dead after a five-vehicle crash and fire on Interstate 65 yesterday about two miles south of the Jonesville Road exit.

Sgt. Stephen Wheeles with the Indiana State Police says that 67-year-old John W. Mumma, of Philo, Illinois along with 57-year-old Glenn E. Cardelli, and his wife 57-year-old Kathryn L. Cardelli, both of Minocqua, Wisconsin all died in the crash yesterday morning. They were slowed for construction work in southbound traffic behind a semi in the left lane at about 10 a.m. in the morning when a semi driven by 46-year-old Roger E. Woody of Mooresboro, North Carolina hit them from behind. Wheeles said that Woody failed to slow down for the backed up traffic.

The Cardellis were in a motor home that was pushed into Mumma’s pickup that was then pushed under the back of the slowed semi in front. Woody’s truck then hit another semi in the right lane. The vehicles burst into flames, with a fire that raged until early evening shutting down the interstate. Wheeles said that the highway was finally reopened last night after almost 11 hours.

Neither Woody, nor the drivers in the other two semis,  Cameron R. Haskett, age 28, Halethrope, Maryland and Anatoliy M. Petrov, age 43, Park Ridge, Illinois,  were injured.

The crash remains under investigation.

Indiana State Police say the southbound lanes of I-65 in Jackson County have opened back up after the crash eleven hours earlier that claimed the lives of three people.

More details on the crash to be released.