A missing 10-year-old girl from Wisconsin was found safe in Hartsville and her father taken into custody.

According to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department 10 year-old Jocelyn Van Duyn was found safe by law enforcement in Hartsville at approximately 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

She had been reported missing on Sunday from Walworth, Wisconsin.

She was found in the company of her father 33-year-old Jonathan J. Van Duyn. The FBI’s Indianapolis Division SWAT team and Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office took him into custody without incident. He will be held at the Bartholomew County Jail until he is extradited to Illinois where he is wanted on an active warrant for failure to appear.

Family members are traveling to Indiana to reunite with the girl.

Donna Browne has been chosen as the winner of this year’s Joan Pearcy Senior Citizen of the Year award from Mill Race Center.

The center announced yesterday that Browne has been privately honored for her work in the community. She is the leader of the Lasting Impressions Show Choir at the center. She is a member of the Bartholomew County Retired Teachers Association and in 2018 received that group’s volunteer of the year award for her work with the choir.

The Senior Citizen of the Year award has been given out since 1957 and in 2011 was renamed in honor of Pearcy. It recognizes a senior citizen for their service to the community and is meant to encourage continued achievement and service from seniors in the community and reinforcing the contributions that seniors make.

Today is the deadline to enroll for Bartholomew Consolidated elementary students parents who want to send their children back to class next year through the Bridge online learning option.

At this week’s school board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts said that a survey of teachers wrapped up on Monday, finding out which educators want to take part in the Bridge program. The assumption is that the schools will start in person learning again on Jan. 5th, but some parents will want to continue online learning. The district is working to gauge not just the teachers’ interest but also the parents intentions.

Enrollment forms have been sent to all those parents, Roberts said.

A North Vernon man is being accused of battering a two-month-old girl.

Jennings County Sheriff’s Department is reporting that Child Protective Services contacted investigators after the infant was taken to an area hospital with severe injuries last week.

After four days of gathering evidence and talking to witnesses, deputies arrested 22-year-old Buddy W. Woods on charges of neglect of a dependent, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

A driver ended up with his car in the Mill Race Park pond after losing control Monday night.

Columbus police say that they were called to the scene at about 8:40 p.m. last night to find the car submerged in the pond. The driver, 20-year-old Christian D. Sconce fo Columbus told police that his brakes had failed. Witnesses said that they saw the car speeding through the park before it lost control, hit a tree and launched into the pond.

The Bartholomew County Dive Team was called in to remove the car from the pond and assist with the investigation.

No one was injured.

An endowment fund benefiting northeastern Bartholomew County has hit a major milestone. The Hawcreek- Flat Rock Area Endowment fund has passed $1 million in its nest egg for the community, according to HSJ Online, the Hope news website.

According to the site, the benchmark was hit on Dec. 4th.  Tim Andrews, a St. Louis Crossing native, and now a business executive in New Jersey promised to donate $25,000 to the endowment if the community could raise $975,000 by the end of next year. However the community fundraising reached that total a year early, and Andrews made the final donation to push the fund over the top.

The money in the fund is held in trust through Heritage Fund: The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County. Each year, earnings from the endowment are used to support programs and projects in the two townships in northeastern Bartholomew County. This year the endowment awarded grants of almost $33.000. The endowment is set up so that the nest egg will never be dipped into, with grant funds coming from the earnings on the investments.

You can get more information at hsjonline.org

Bartholomew County deputies are reporting that a two-vehicle crash on Sunday morning sent five people to the hospital.

Emergency workers including deputies, Columbus Regional Hospital paramedics, Columbus Township Fire and Rescue Department and the Indiana State Police were called to the crash at about 11:17 a.m. Sunday morning at U.S. 31 and East County Road 100S.

According to deputies, five people including one juvenile received minor injuries and were taken to Columbus Regional Health.

Photo courtesy of Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department

The Bartholomew County Historical Society is adding a new twist to a recent tradition — Christmas Trees Through Time, but viewed from outside.

Organizers say that the windows of the historical society’s museum at 524 Third Street feature trees decorated by area designers including Christy Langston, Geri Handley, Shari Donnelly, Pam Zeller, Bruce Pollert and Jean Donica. You are invited to stroll around the building to see the trees and enjoy the lights.

Gramz Bakery on Washington Street is also featuring a historical society created display in the window featuring several Arvin Industry items.

Diane Robbins, executive director of the society, said that the Christmas Trees Through Time tradition started in 2018 and the outside plan is a way to keep it going.

The museum itself is closed until at least February.

Columbus police say that two women tried to flee from police after shoplifting from a Eastbrook Plaza store.

Police were in the area  at about 3 Saturday afternoon when they were flagged down by a witness, who saw two women pushing full shopping carts out of the Dollar General Store. Officers saw the women’s vehicle, with the trunk still open, race out of the parking lot.

As police chased after the women, the suspects lost control of their vehicle and crashed into the median at Herman Darlage Drive and U.S. 31. Although the driver, later identified as 28-year-old Ashlee N. Dyer of Edinburgh briefly attempted to free her vehicle, she eventually surrendered.

Police discovered more than $750 in stolen merchandise in the vehicle. It was returned to the store.

Dyer was arrested on charges of theft, resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, driving while suspended with a prior conviction and reckless driving.

The passenger, 42-year-old Tiffany D. McCammon, of Elizabethtown, is being accused of theft.