Water remains high in parts of our area and authorities are warning you not to drive onto flooded roadways.

Sgt. Stephen Wheeles with the Indiana State Police said this afternoon many rural roads in low-lying areas are still flooded and impassable. Throughout the Versailles State Police District emergency personnel have responded to many calls of vehicles becoming disabled and people needing to be rescued due to the high water.

Jackson County Sheriff Rick Meyer posted to social media about the dangers, with a photo of a truck that tried to push through, drove off of the submerged roadway and nearly flipped over.

They say that it doesn’t take very deep floodwaters to disable your vehicle or to sweep it off the flooded roadway.

East Fork White River in Seymour remains under a flood warning and minor flooding is still going on. The river is about a foot and a half below the moderate flood stage and is not expected to leave the minor flood stage until Thursday morning.

A Columbus man was arrested on drunk driving charges early Tuesday morning, after falling asleep in the drive-through lane at a closed restaurant.

Columbus Police found a running truck in the drive-through at Taco Bell on Jonathan Moore Pike at about 2:10 a.m. Tuesday morning with the driver asleep at the wheel. Police say that they could smell a strong odor of alcohol from the vehicle, and when they woke the driver, 52-year-old Keith B. Yeager of Columbus, he put the vehicle in gear and began to drive off. Additional police arrived on the scene and stopped him in the parking lot.

Police report that Yeager’s speech was slow and slurred. Sobriety tests showed he had a blood alcohol content of .181 percent, more than twice the legal limit.

He was arrested on a preliminary charge of operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol content of .15 percent or higher.

Columbus City Council will be considering an ordinance tonight that will legalize the use of fireworks in the city during the Hindu festival of Diwali.

The ordinance change would allow fireworks between 6 and 10 p.m. in the evenings on the day before, the day of and the day after Diwali. Diwali falls in October or November each year.

Representatives of the local Hindu community and local fireworks stores have asked for the ordinance change.

The ordinance change would allow fireworks from 10 a.m. until midnight on the Fourth of July and New Years Eve. In the five days leading up to the Fourth of July and the five days after, fireworks would be allowed from 5 p.m. until 11 p.m., or until two hours after sunset, whichever comes first.

Columbus City Council meets virtually at 6 tonight. You can watch the streaming video on the city’s website at columbus.in.gov.

Bartholomew County Commissioners gave their first approvals to an ordinance yesterday that will make it cheaper and easier for high-speed internet to come to the county.

Commissioners Carl Lienhoop and Tony London approved the change that would revoke a 1988 ordinance that banned plowing by companies working in the county-controlled right-of-way along county roads.

County Attorney Grant Tucker explains the ordinance changes:

London explains that the change is part of the plan to reduce barriers that prevent rural broadband:

County Engineer Danny Hollander said that the new ordinance also sets bond amounts for contractors working in the right of way to today’s levels. He said that the 1988 bonds would not pay for potential damages caused under today’s prices.

Hollander also said the county does not have a permit application fee for work installing internet in the right-of-way.

London, who is heading the county’s efforts to improve high-speed internet access in rural parts of the county also announced Monday that internet provider Charter (Spectrum) has committed to bringing fiber speed internet to almost 1,600 homes in rural Bartholomew County. The affected areas stretch from across all parts of the county except for the area northwest of Columbus. London said he did not have a timeline for that service’s arrival.

Planned internet coverage map provided by Bartholomew County.

Several rivers and streams in our area remain under flood warnings today after heavy rains Sunday.

Minor flooding is subsiding. Among the affected rivers are Driftwood River and East Fork White River in Seymour.

The Driftwood River at Edinburgh has dropped back below the minor flood stage as of this morning according to the stream gauge at the Hendricks Ford Bridge. The flood warning on Driftwood River remains in effect until this afternoon.

East Fork White River near Seymour came within inches of the moderate flood stage, but it has crested in the minor flood stage and is on its way back down, according to storm gauges. The river is expected to drop completely below flood stage by Thursday morning according to forecasts.

The flood warning on East Fork White River at Seymour remains in effect until Thursday evening.

You can see current river conditions here.

Columbus firefighters say that clothes caught fire in a dryer at an east Columbus laundromat yesterday afternoon.

The fire at the Speedy Clean Laundromat on Gladstone Avenue was reported at about 2:51 Monday afternoon as a structure fire. Columbus police arrived on the scene and discovered the fire was within a dryer unit. They used a fire extinguisher to put it out and a bystander pulled the smoldering pile of clothes outside the store.

Firefighters arrived and used water to fully extinguish the burning clothes, as well as ventilation fans to remove smoke from the business. The damages to the building are estimated at $15 thousand dollars. No injuries were reported and firefighters say the cause of the fire was accidental.

Photo courtesy of Columbus Fire Department.

Funeral services for former Bartholomew County Sheriff Rick Hill will be Friday at Jewell Rittman Family Funeral Home. Hill died Sunday at the age of 74.

Among his survivors are his wife, Lisa as well as his four children, Gregory Lynn Hill (wife, Sonia, grandchildren, Ciara Morgan, Hayden Hill, Amelia Hill and Hudson Hill,) Dustin Rick Hill (partner, Brittany Heitz, grandchild Kennedy Hill), a daughter Amber Nicole Mudgett (Hobbs-Hill) (Spouse; Shawn, grandchildren; Devon, Gavin) and BethAnn Lynn Hill (grandchild, Braelynn Jo Hill)

Visitation will be from 3 until 8 p.m. Thursday and one hour prior to Friday’s services at the funeral home. Funeral services will be at 1 Friday. Burial will be at Garland Brook Cemetery with the Bartholomew County Veteran’s Honor guard performing military rites.

Jewell-Rittman Family Funeral Home asks that attendees wear masks and practice social distancing.

You can get more information at Jewell-Rittman Family Funeral Home

Columbus police arrested a man Saturday after he allegedly threatened witnesses who saw him enter someone else’s car.

The witnesses saw the man, later identified as 33-year-old Zachary D. Ping, going through vehicles in a parking lot near Sixth and California streets at just before noon Saturday. He then allegedly threatened those who saw him..

When police arrived, Ping was shouting in the middle of the street. Police went to arrest Ping, but he tried to walk away, refusing to stop, according to police reports.

Officers used a Taser to subdue Ping and he was taken to the Bartholomew County Jail on preliminary charges of intimidation, resisting law enforcement and disorderly conduct.

Jennings County deputies arrested a wanted man last week after he ran from officers and tried to hide in the woods.

The sheriff’s department is reporting that Thirld A. Ross was wanted on Jennings County warrants for a probation violation and for failing to appear in court on a charge of possession of a handgun by a convicted felon.

Deputies determined that Ross was at a home in Spencer Township and at about 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday, they arrived to arrest him. Deputies say that Ross ran into the woods but was quickly arrested.

He is facing new charges of resisting arrest and possession of a syringe.

Photo courtesy of Jennings County Sheriff’s Department

Former Bartholomew County Sheriff Rick L. Hill has died.

The sheriff’s department is announcing that Hill died early yesterday morning at the age of 74. He served as Bartholomew County Sheriff from 1987 to 1990.

He is survived by his wife Lisa. Arrangements are being made through Jewell Rittman Funeral Home in Columbus.