The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will spend $320,000 to address contaminated groundwater in the Garden City area. Our news gathering partners at “The Republic” are reporting that the plan includes wellhead treatment, filters for contaminated wells and protective easements, among other measures.

The paper says that the Garden City Plume site contains trichloroethylene (TCE), an industrial solvent, about 45 feet below the ground surface. The plume extends from the former Kiel Bros. Oil Co. property, at 850 Jonesville Road and a former gas station site. The EPA says that most Garden City residents have drinking water with a federally acceptable level of TCE.

According to the report, the Garden City Groundwater Plume site was placed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List in December 2013.

For more on this story, go to therepublic.com.

Saturday, Oct. 13, is Log Cabin Day at Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge. Organizers say the annual event, sponsored by the Refuge Friends Group, will be held at Myers Cabin from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will be a free ham and bean lunch, music, a blacksmith, crafts, a storyteller, wildlife exhibits and more.

For more information e-mail Muscatatuck@fws.gov or call (812) 522-4352.

A Columbus woman was seriously hurt Wednesday morning after she was struck by a car. Just before 7:30 a.m., Columbus Police were dispatched to a report of a person struck by a vehicle in the east bound lanes of State Road 46 at the intersection of Carrie Lane on Columbus’ west side. The victim was identified as 30-year-old Jessica D. Hays.

Officers spoke with the driver, 72-year-old Jayne H. Rogan. Witnesses say that Hays and another woman were attempting to cross State Road 46 while pushing shopping carts when she was struck. Hays was transported to Columbus Regional Hospital and later transferred to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for treatment.

The crash remains under investigation.

Columbus’ proposed budget for 2019 passed first reading at Tuesday night’s city council meeting. The council approved the nearly $61 million proposal unanimously.

Jamie Brinegar, the city’s director of finance, explained that the proposed 2019 budget is 4.3 percent higher than 2018’s budget. He explains that the lion’s share of that increase is due to the new local income tax passed by the Bartholomew County Council. Brinegar says this increased funding will allow the city to lower the property tax burden in the coming years.

Of the total 2019 proposed budget, $20.8 million will be used for public safety needs, $9.9 million would go to public works for things like engineering and public transportation, while $4.9 million will go to projects to improve roads throughout the city. Brinegar noted the city’s good financial position, pointing out that only $1.4 million will go towards debt service, a marked decrease from the 2018 budget. Other highlights he mentioned include the hiring of two additional School Resource Officers for coverage at middle schools, increasing employee salaries as the new salary study suggested. Brinegar noted that the school resource officers will be reimbursed by BCSC. As for the salary adjustments, eligible public safety officers will see an increase taking them to 50 percent of the “mid-point” of the new salary ranges. Eligible civilian employees will see increases to take them to one-third on the “mid-point” for their salary ranges.

Frank Miller, council president, expressed frustration with Brinegar and the administration for a perceived lack of transparency. Specifically, Miller says that there were some changes from the last round of budget discussions that made it into next year’s proposed budget that he had questions about. He noted that Tuesday night’s reading was the first he had seen of the changes. Miller asked that all future changes be given to the council well in advance. Brinegar agreed to do so. Miller also took aim at the state’s method for budgeting. He says that state officials aren’t doing enough to help cities make the best financial decisions. Specifically, Miller took issue with the fact that cities have to budget under a “proposed rate” instead of a “certified rate.” While Columbus has to have it’s budget submitted to the state by November 1st, the state approved certified rate won’t be known until early next year.

Council is set to hold a second vote on the proposed budget at its next meeting on October 16th.

The Indiana Department of Transportation says its contractor is planning paving operations later this week at the roundabout construction site two miles west of North Vernon where U.S. Highway 50 intersects with Walnut Street and County Road 400 West. INDOT says this should normalize traffic flow at the junction.

Milestone is the state’s contractor for this $1.9 million project. INDOT says that striping and other construction activities will be while flaggers direct drivers around work crews.

The work is dependent on the weather.

A pair of open houses on the future of the playground inside The Commons has been scheduled. The Commons Playground Public Input and Design Study Committee announced that it has evaluated public input and created a vision for the future development and redesign of the playground. Designs for the proposal will be unveiled at that time.

Those sessions will be held Monday, October 29th in the lower lobby of The Commons. The first session is at noon, the second at 2 p.m.

The Columbus Fire Department is celebrating the career of one of their own. Paramedic Firefighter Tom Rebber has recently retired after 30 years of service. Capt. Mike Wilson, department spokesman, says that during Rebber’s three decades as a Columbus Firefighter, he also served as a Fire Inspector and Deputy Chief.

Tonight’s suicide prevention program at Columbus North’s Judson Erne Auditorium featuring speaker Kevin Hines has been cancelled. Organizers say that Hines suffered a medical emergency and is unable to travel.

This event may be rescheduled for a later date.

Bartholomew County leaders are still working on a plan for a new highway garage. During Monday night’s County Council work session, members debated the scope of a new bond needed to get the facility built. County Commissioners have been adamant for years that a new garage is needed. They say the current facility on State Street has largely outlived its usefulness. The property is also land-locked, making expansion next to impossible. The commissioners are looking at purchasing property owned by the Bartholomew County Solid Waste Management District. That property is just outside of city limits on 25th Street.

The council offered guidance to commissioners several weeks ago as to how large of a bond it was willing to take on. That amount was set at six-million dollars. There was some debate about possibly lowering that amount to five-million dollars, but Council President Mark Gorbett argued against it, citing cash flow concerns and a slew of other needs throughout the county that need to addressed.

A final decision on the bonding amount won’t be made until early 2019. Commissioner Rick Flohr says that final figures on purchasing the land won’t be known until November. Engineering and architecture plans for the new garage won’t be ready until this January.

Indiana State Police Detectives arrested a Seymour man on child molesting charges following a four month investigation.

Authorities say the investigation began in May when a female came forward to report she had been molested by 73-year-old Jerry W. Rice on multiple occasions in the early to mid-nineties when she was between three and nine years old. The woman reported that the incidents occurred at a home owned by Rice in rural Jackson County.

Through the course of the investigation, detectives say they found a second victim of Rice who had not come forward until now. The second victim told investigators that Rice molested her in the mid-eighties in Vallonia.

At the conclusion of the investigation, the Indiana State Police submitted the case to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office for review. On Thursday, Indiana State Police arrested Rice at his home.

Rice was charged with two counts of Child Molesting, Class A Felony, and two counts of Child Molesting, Class C Felony. He is being held pending his initial court appearance in Jackson Circuit Court.