Poshard Drive at the Columbus Municipal Airport will see an  extension of about 750 feet under a proposal approved by the city’s redevelopment commission.

Airport Director Bryan Payne told the commission last fall that the street would have to be extended from Vickers Drive to encourage development at the airport property. The school district is planning a soccer complex in that area, and the street expansion would allow the complex to sit back from Vickers Drive and allow more business development at the airport, said Payne.

Budgeted for just over $416,000, the project is being paid for out of the airport’s revenues of the tax increment financing district at the airport..

Payne says bids on the project are expected within one month. The project itself is expected to take approximately three months. The ultimate goal, says Payne is to connect Poshard Drive with River Road, creating a new main entrance into the air park.

The commission voted unanimously to approve the resolution at its meeting on Monday

Legal Aid will be having a free clinic in Bartholomew County at the Legal Aid Offices in the Doug Otto United Way Center on 13th Street from 3 to 5 p.m. on Monday, April 22nd.

You can get up to a 10 minute consultation with a pro bono attorney to answer legal questions, to offer information or to receive other, limited, advice.

The sessions are available on a first-come first-serve basis and there is no need to register in advance.

Columbus police say that a driver was seriously injured in a Saturday morning crash on 10th Street and Marr Road

46-year-old Daniel Armstrong of Farmersville was flown by Lifeline to IU Methodist Hospital after the accident. .

Police were called to the accident scene at 1:10 a.m. Saturday. They say that Armstrong was driving northbound, left the road and struck a tree. He was not wearing a seatbelt and was thrown from the vehicle. Police believe that alcohol contributed to the crash.

The accident remains under investigation.

Groups in Hope are bringing back Civil War Days next month. The celebration of southeastern Indiana’s role in the conflict will be May 4th and 5th on the Hope Town Square.

The event will start at 8 a.m. on Saturday and 8:30 a.m. on Sunday. Among the activities will be cemetery tours featuring actors taking on the roles of historic Hope figures live music and dancing, traditional church services, and a beans and cornbread lunch on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Also on Sunday, there will be a ceremony at the grave of Barton Mitchell. Mitchell was a Union Army private who is credited with finding a secret Confederate communication that helped turn the tide of the war.

The events are free and are being organized by the Hope Area Chamber of Commerce, Main Street of Hope and the Yellow Trail Museum.

You can get more information by contacting the Yellow Trail Museum and Visitor Center at 812-546-8020.

Poshard Drive at the Columbus Municipal Airport would see an extension under a proposal being considered by the city’s redevelopment commission.

Airport director Brian Payne told the commission last fall that the street would have to be extended from Vickers Drive to encourage development at the airport property. The school district is planning a soccer complex in that area, and the street expansion would allow the complex to sit back from Vickers Drive and allow more business development at the airport, Payne said.

The estimated cost is about $416,000 dollars. That money would come from revenues of the tax increment financing district at the airport.  At the start of the year, the district had about $527,000 in cash reserves with new revenues of $243,000 expected this year and expenses of about $250,000.

The Columbus Redevelopment Commission will be considering the proposal when it meets at 4 p.m. today at Columbus City Hall.

Emergency officials say that a van struck a power pole last night, knocking out power to parts of northwestern Bartholomew County and setting the vehicle on fire.

The crash was at County Roads 800 N and 250W at shortly before 9 last night..

Bartholomew County REMC reports that it was a Duke Energy pole that was knocked down, but the line provided power to the Taylorsville substation. The energy co-op said it had to reroute power to restore electricity to many customers last night, until the pole could be replaced.

Edinburgh and German Township firefighters fought the vehicle fire.

As of this morning, REMC was reporting no outages. There is no information available on the driver of the vehicle.

Columbus police are reporting that four people were arrested early Sunday morning after a disturbance at the McDonalds, on Jonathan Moore Pike.

Officers were called to the scene at about 4 a.m. Sunday after a worker was reportedly battered by a customer. The suspect had already left but police stopped a matching vehicle on State Road 11 near Garden City.

The driver, 29 year old Jose S. Duran of Columbus did not have a valid driver’s license and he was arrested. A search of the vehicle revealed two large chunks of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

All four people in the vehicle, including two passengers, 49-year-old Rosita Montoya of Seymour and 21-year-old Glenda I. Lopez of Columbus, were arrested on methamphetamine possession charges, while Duran is also facing a charge of driving without obtaining a license.

23-year-old Belita A. Correa of Seymour is facing an additional charge of battery with bodily injury.

A number of area organizations have benefited from over $60,000 in grants from Honda Manufacturing of Indiana in Greensburg. The company recently announced that it has 10 grants to nonprofit organizations totaling $60,500.

Those organizations receiving grants include:

– Greensburg-Decatur County Public Library received a grant for its 2019 Summer Reading Program.

– College Mentors for Kids Inc. (Mentor program at Indiana University, Franklin College and Hanover College);

– Girls Incorporated Of Shelbyville/Shelby County: Girls Inc. Operation SMART Field Day

– National Inventors Hall of Fame: Camp Invention STEM programs at North Decatur Elementary School

HMIN officials say the company supports programs and organizations in the areas of education, environment, inclusion, diversity, health and safety.

Columbus police arrested two people for their efforts to cash a stolen check yesterday afternoon.

Police were called to Centra Credit Union on Union Street at about 3:30 Thursday after a suspect tried to cash a stolen check at the drive-through window. Bank officials say that the account had already been closed because of previous theft activity. Officers arrested 35-year-old Travis D. Lyles of Columbus on a charge of attempted forgery.

They also talked to a passenger in the vehicle, 34-year-old Amber F. Harris. She was found to have several drivers licenses and social security cards in her purse that had previously been reported stolen from a vehicle in Columbus. She is facing a charge of theft.

Work is underway on the Hub, a one-stop location for help with drug addiction recovery being led by the Alliance For Substance Abuse Progress in Bartholomew County.

Nathan Walsh, director of the new facility explains that it will be located in the Doug Otto United Way Center on 13th Street. The Hub will be taking up two sections of the building, where the United Way officers were until their recent move to the old firehouse across the street.

Demolition work, being done by volunteers, is underway on the existing space and it is moving more quickly than hoped for. He said that the IU School of Art and Design has been very helpful in coming up with plans for the demolition and with plans for the new offices.

Walsh credited the volunteer efforts for moving the project forward.

Mission Columbus and its volunteers who are tackling the project are the only way it could be made affordable.

Walsh said one of the biggest obstacles will soon be overcome. In the middle of the office space is a giant safe built of brick and mortar. At first, it was thought that the safe would have to remain, disrupting any efforts to redesign the space.

After demolition is complete there will be a complete remodeling of the space.

The Hub is expected to open with some programs in place by July.