The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department is providing a few more details about an incident where a Columbus man is accused of attacking Sheriff Matt Myers in the jail building.

The department is reporting that 32-year-old Justin C. Eddelman, arrived at the sheriff’s department at about 10 a.m. Monday morning and told the staff at the front desk that he was going to commit serious bodily harm to the sheriff. He then went up the stairs to the administrative offices, where he met the locked door. The sheriff’s department reports that Eddelman never gained access to the administrative offices.

Sheriff Matt Myers began talking to Eddelman through the door with the goal to de-escalate the situation and to keep him at the door until deputies arrived, according to police reports.

When Eddelman attempted to leave the area, Myers opened the locked door to restrain the man. The two got into a scuffle which injured the sheriff’s knee, but left Eddelman in handcuffs.

The sheriff was treated for his injuries and released. Eddelman was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital for evaluation before being arrested on charges including intimidation on a police officer, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and disorderly conduct.

The sheriff’s department stresses that  the front desk staff followed all proper procedures and took appropriate action.

The city of Columbus would add almost 40 acres on the northeast side of the city under an annexation and rezoning plan given first approvals Tuesday night by Columbus City Council.

Developers are planning a 103-unit retirement community at the northeast corner of Talley Road and Rocky Ford Road or County Road 250N.

Neighbors expressed concerns about drainage in the area. Their worry is that the water at the location flows into the Sloan Branch creek, which already has flooding problems. Neighbors said that adding in the homes, surface streets and parking spaces would increase the water runoff, making that flooding problem worse.

City-County Plan Department Director Jeff Bergman said that under state law, the builders will have to show engineering plans that will not make the problem worse than it is now in order to build.

Council voted unanimously to approve the first reading of the annexation ordinance.

The Council also gave its first approval of a rezoning request that would change the property’s use from Agriculture to Multi-Family Residential. The changes would return for council’s final approval on July 7th.

Developers with BHI Retirement Communities said when the proposal  first came before the city in February, that they had originally hoped to start construction this summer . They are still optimistic that they can begin site work this summer.

Cummins Inc. has announced that Amy Davis will be the new vice president and president of its New Power Segment.

Davis joined Cummins in 1994. Since 2015, Davis she has served as Vice President of the Filtration business, where she achieved record revenues.

The New Power Segment includes Cummins’ electrified power and hydrogen portfolios and represents Cummins’ investment in future technologies. The goal is to deliver value to customers and communities using materials and technologies that have less impact on the planet.

The appointment takes effect on July 1st. She will replace Thad Ewald, who established and incubated the New Power segment. Ewald will continue to lead strategy and corporate development for Cummins.

Bartholomew County Commissioners said that they plan to largely stay out of the dispute about body cameras for the sheriff’s department.

Sheriff Matt Myers said last week that he believes adding body cameras for deputies are a non-negotiable safety item and that it should be a priority for the county. He has urged members of the community to contact the County Council and County Commissioners to argue for the cameras, if they agree with the sheriff.

Last week County Council members said that they weren’t the reason that the department doesn’t have body cameras, saying that the sheriff withdrew his request in 2016 and 2017 without a vote from the council.

At yesterdays’ Bartholomew County Commissioners meeting, Commissioners President Carl Lienhoop said that they plan to stay out of the spat.

Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said that the body’s only involvement in the issue was agreeing to provide some funding out of a telecommunications fund that the commissioners control.

More than 7,000 Bartholomew Consolidated School system parents have already taken an online survey gauging their thoughts on reopening the schools in August.

Superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts updated the school board last night on the progress toward reopening schools in just over two months, and cited the parent survey as one of the key components that is being looked at.

Parents are being asked to fill out one survey for each of their children in the school district. With over 11,000 students in the district, 7,000 responses would indicate more than two thirds have already filled out the survey, which launched last week.

The survey asks parents what their initial thoughts are on allowing their student to return to school in August and what their specific concerns were, Roberts said.

Roberts said that the district will analyze the parent survey data as well as meet with stakeholders including the Columbus Education Association (the teacher’s union) to come up with a complete plan for reopening.

The goal is to have a plan to present to the community by July 6th, one month before school is supposed to start on Aug. 6th. Roberts said that he doesn’t want to release any of the survey results prematurely, as he doesn’t want to skew any of the responses that have yet to come in.

There is still time to fill out the survey. The deadline is Friday. You can find links to the survey on English and Spanish on the school district website at bcscschools.org and on the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. Facebook page.