The Seymour Fire Department has installed a Safe Haven Baby Box at Station #3, at 605 Meadowbrook Drive. The Safe Haven Baby Box will be made available to the public starting on Friday, June 14th.

The Safe Haven Law allows people to anonymously surrender their healthy newborn without fear of prosecution. Safe Haven Baby Box Inc . is a non-profit organization dedicated to installing these boxes in as many safe places as possible. Organizers say this in the ninth installation, statewide. They add that two babies have been surrendered inside Safe Haven Baby Boxes since the first was installed in 2016. Two other babies have been surrendered at fire stations with the boxes.

A blessing and dedication of the Seymour Safe Haven Baby Box is set for Friday, June 14th at 10:30 a.m. Congressman Greg Pence is scheduled to be among the officials in attendance.

The Hope Town Square will be filled with classic and well-loved vehicles and music Friday evening.

The town’s first summer Cruise-In will start at 5 p.m. Friday afternoon and will include a performance by the Night Owl Country Band at the bandstand at 6 p.m. There will also be corn hole, food, crafts and produce vendors.

The monthly cruise-ins will be the first Friday of every month through October.

Each month’s event will have a theme:

• June — Car Club Appreciation
• July — Military Appreciation
• August — Motorcycle Appreciation
• September — Studebaker Appreciation
• October — Jeep Appreciation

The focus on the car show aspect of the monthly event came about after a farmer’s market held in previous years did not draw many vendors.

Columbus police say that a drunk driver nearly hit another car head-on last night after crashing into a concrete median.

22-year-old William D. Hickey is facing charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a previous conviction, resisting law enforcement and criminal mischief.

The crash happened at about 11 Tuesday night near Taylor and National roads. When officers arrived, they noticed that the vehicle had several flat tires. Police say that Hickey had bloodshot eyes and couldn’t maintain his balance. He was taken to the hospital for a blood test, and then to the jail.

Cummins has been approved for tax breaks on building improvements and equipment it will be buying for its new electrification business headquarters in Columbus.

Cummins requested, and received, a tax abatement on $3.3 million in building improvements and $29.7 million in new equipment at the plant on Central Avenue. Company officials say the move is expected to retain 67 jobs and create 75 new ones with an average wage of over $30 per hour.

Mayor Jim Lienhoop says that Columbus is fortunate to be home to Cummins.

According to calculations by the city, Cummins would save just over $2 million dollars in future property taxes with the proposed 10-year-abatement, but the community would still net about $3.5 million in new property taxes from the expansion over the same period.

City council voted 6-0 to approve the request at its meeting Tuesday night.

A program aimed at helping the vulnerable has received a boost locally.

Project Lifesaver is described as “a program of proactive involvement and specialized operations that respond to incidents of victims of Alzheimer’s, Autism, Down Syndrome, and related disorders who have wandered from a safe location and cannot find their way back to safety.”

TRIAD, a branch of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office, and Sgt. Jim Stevens applied for and used a grant from the Custer Nugent Foundation to get the Project Lifesaver program up and running.

The sheriff’s department says that 50 transmitters were purchased and will be assigned to clients. A total of six receivers, used pinpoint the location of the transmitters, were also purchased. Three of the receivers will be kept at the Sheriff’s Office and three will be assigned to the Columbus Fire Department.

Authorities say that, so far, 10 clients have signed up for Project Lifesaver and have been fitted for transmitters.

If you would like to learn more about the program or inquire about transmitter fittings, contact triad@bartholomew.in.gov.

Duke Energy customers in and around Hope can expect disruptions to their service.

The utility says it is making upgrades and improvements on the main
transmission power line that serves that area. They explain that the town is served by a single feed out of the substation with the same name on East County Road 600 North in Bartholomew County. Duke says that once finished, this improvement work will reduce the future risk of longer unplanned outages.

In order for crews to safely complete the upgrade, Duke must de-energize the power line. This will result in two separate seven-hour outages affecting these customers.

The first outage is planned from 11 p.m. on Tuesday, June 11th until 6 a.m. on Wednesday, June 12th. The second outage is planned from 11 p.m. on Tuesday, July 2nd until 6 a.m. on Wednesday, July 3rd.

Duke Energy customers in the Hope area will receive an automated reminder phone call a few days prior to the outages.

Customers who have questions about this outage can call (800) 820-9362.

Police in North Vernon arrested a Madison woman after a disturbance early Monday morning. At approximately 1:13 a.m., officers responded to a reported battery in the 300 block of South Gum Street.

After police arrived, they investigated and arrested 20-year-old Mary Boldery on preliminary charges of Possession of Methamphetamine, Battery with a Deadly Weapon and False Informing.

The Bartholomew County Council will be asked to consider adding 13 new employees to the county’s payroll over the coming year-and-a-half. Bartholomew County Auditor Pia O’Connor gave a brief presentation on the requests during Monday evening’s council work session.

County department heads are asking for the following:

IT Dept. – IT Suppert Technician (1)
Parks – Facilities Coordinator/Support (1)
Assessor – Field Technician (1)
Sheriff – Detective (1)
Jail – Addiction Treatment Counselor (1)
E-911 – Dispatchers (6)
Health Dept. – Part-time nurse to full-time
Corrections – Residential Officer/Recovery Specialist (1)

If all of these new positions were filled, total expenses for salaries and benefits are expected to exceed over one-million dollars. Due to grants and partnerships with the city of Columbus, the county’s portion would be just over $660,000 per year.

Council members stressed that the requests for all of these new hires won’t neccessarily be approved. Councilman Mark Gorbett, a former Sheriff, reminded his fellow members about the tight finances faced by the county over the years due to inadequate planning. He was adadmant that money raised to deal with public safety issues be used for that purpose and not for covering shortfalls elsewhere. “In the past, We’ve robbed Peter to pay Paul,” said Gorbett. “We can’t do that again.”

The council will consider adding three of these new employees, an addiction treatment counselor and two new dispatchers, at its regular meeting next week. The remaining requests will be considered later this summer as the council prepares its 2020 budget.

Council meets next on Tuesday, June 11th at 6 p.m. at the County Government Building.

Jennings County is partnering with Rose Acre Farms for a new program to find jobs for inmates.

The sheriff’s department announced this week that representatives from the Jackson County-based Rose Acre Farms will be coming to the Jennings jail and picking up select inmates to work at the farm for a day. While there, they will be paid the same wage as a normal farm employee and will be able to keep 100 percent of what they earn. And the inmates will be considered employees of the farm during their labor.

According to the sheriff’s department, Rose Acre Farms runs a similar program in Iowa and they approached the county in January with the offer.

There are restrictions on which inmates are allowed to participate, such as not being convicted of a violent crime and having had no disciplinary actions against them while in jail. And the inmate must be approved by the judge and prosecutor before they can participate.

There will be a drama camp for children held in Hope next week that will end with a Friday student showcase performance.

The drama camp is for students in first through 12th grades and participants will learn about the basics of acting, writing and improv. Grades 1 through 3 will be from 10 a.m. to noon starting Monday and from 12 to 3 p.m. for fourth grades and up. Classes will be held at the Hauser Auditorium. You should use door 11.

The drama camp is free. To register, call 812-546-5226.