Local police and deputies are stepping up enforcement efforts against impaired and unbuckled drivers through the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

Bartholomew County deputies and Columbus police will be taking part in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over national enforcement effort through January 1st. Officers will be showing zero tolerance drivers impaired by drugs or alcohol. They will also be out looking for motorists without their seatbelts.

The patrols are funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration through an Indiana Criminal Justice Institute grant.

According to the federal agency, during the Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays in 2018 alone, there were more drunk-driving-related fatalities than during any other holiday period that year in the U.S. Last December in Indiana, there were 415 alcohol-related crashes, resulting in 105 injuries and 11 fatalities.

Correction: A previous version of this story was incorrect in saying that the advisory level also fell along with the current numbers.

According to COVID-19 statistics from the Indiana State Department of Health, several area counties that are in the severe spread category, are showing improvement but are not out of the red yet.

Based on their current numbers, Johnson, Shelby and Jackson counties would be orange, or in the serious spread advisory level on the state’s color-coded map. However, they will continue at the red advisory level, until they have shown lower numbers for two consecutive weeks.

Brown, Johnson, Shelby and Jackson counties have all been ranked as red, showing severe spread of the disease. Bartholomew, Decatur and Jennings counties have remained in the orange during the recent spike in cases.

The only surrounding county still showing red in the daily numbers, is  Brown County with a 7-day positivity rate of 15.69 percent.

As of numbers released yesterday by the state health department, Bartholomew County saw 85 new cases of COVID-19, Decatur 23, Jennings 35, Jackson 48, Brown 10, Johnson 212 and Shelby 45. Decatur County reported 3 new deaths from the disease yesterday and Bartholomew and Johnson Counties both had two deaths.

Statewide, the health department announced 6 thousand 458 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, 79 more deaths and a 7-day positivity rate for all tests at 12.4 percent.

Edinburgh police are reporting that they recovered a stolen vehicle with a Christmas themed license plate yesterday and arrested the driver and a passenger.

According to police reports, Chief Doyne Little noticed the Cadillac with a license plate of “Mr X Mas” leaving a residence in the 800 block of East Thompson Street and recognized the vehicle as one reported stolen from the Beech Grove area.

Officers stopped the vehicle in the 200 block of West Main Cross and took the driver and a passenger into custody.

Paul Amburey is being accused of auto theft, possession of a narcotic, false informing and driving a vehicle without ever receiving a license. He also had an outstanding warrant out of Marion County. Randella Hill was arrested on charges of possessing methamphetamine and paraphernalia.

Photo courtesy of Edinburgh Police Department

Columbus Regional Health gave its first COVID-19 vaccines yesterday in what hospital officials call a test run of the rollout of the vaccine today.

Hospitalist Dr Lee Kiser was the first one to receive the vaccination, followed by five others including nurses, an environmental services associate and a pulmonologist.

The COVID-19 vaccination clinic on Keller Boulevard officially opens today and 240 people are scheduled to be vaccinated.

The hospital is one of the Indiana sites in the first wave of vaccine doses and will be giving the vaccine to all eligible and interested frontline healthcare workers in Bartholomew, Jackson, Jennings and Decatur counties. The first to receive the vaccine will be healthcare workers who regularly work face-to-face with patients or who handle infectious material.

Photo courtesy of Columbus Regional Health

An investigation into allegations of ghost employment at the Columbus Police Department is expanding to include former Police Chief Jon Rohde, according to a report from WRTV-6.

You can find the station’s report here.

According to an investigation by the TV station, Rohde moonlighted at a security job at Columbus Regional Hospital on a schedule that overlapped with the 8 to 5 administrative hours of the Columbus Police Department on more than 130 occasions.

Former officers Daniel Meister and Ronald May are facing similar allegations and have been charged with theft, ghost employment and official misconduct.

The station also reported that Rohde moonlighted as a mediator for the Indiana Office of Court Services, mostly during normal administrative hours. The office of police chief is a salaried position, not hourly.

The TV station is reporting that Indiana State Police, the Indiana State Board of Accounts and special prosecutors confirmed to the station that they are investigating allegations into the department’s record keeping and police pay.

Rohde stepped down as police chief last November, taking a position as a captain in the department while he ran for Superior Court judge. He won that race and is due to be sworn in today.

Former Columbus Mayor Kristen Brown was one of the subjects interviewed for the TV station’s report and compiled records on Rohde’s working hours and side jobs.

The Main Street of Hope group has selected 18 finalists for its Deck the Town Contest. You can view the top town light displays on the group’s Facebook page and vote for your favorite. The deadline to cast your vote is 10 on Sunday evening.

The winner will receive the travelling trophy — a replica of the leg lamp featured in the Christmas Story movie.

Organizers also encourage the community to come and tour the town’s light displays.

Photo courtesy of Main Street of Hope

Two Edinburgh residents are facing drug dealing charges after a raid last week by town police.

According to Police Chief Doyne Little Jr., police executed a search warrant at a home in the 400 block of South Main Street after a two-month long investigation on Thursday. Officers found 13 grams of methamphetamine and marijuana on the kitchen table.

When they searched the pockets of a man at the home, Shawn Park, they allegedly discovered 79 grams of methamphetamine in a baggie. Drug paraphernalia, syringes and prescription narcotics were also found inside the home.

Park is facing a charge of dealing methamphetamine.

A woman at the home, Monica Gilp, was arrested on preliminary charges of dealing methamphetamine, and possessing a controlled substance and marijuana.

Columbus firefighters are urging you to be careful this holiday season as the danger for fires increases along with the holiday cheer.

Capt. Mike Wilson, spokesman for the department, explains

Wilson said to be extra cautious while cooking, as kitchen fires increase this time of the year.

Wilson also said to make sure that you keep fresh Christmas trees well-watered. They need to drink a gallon of water a day. And it is a good time to check to make sure your smoke detectors are all in working order.

Wilson said not to overload your outlets when stringing together strands of Christmas lights and make sure you don’t leave any lit candles unattended.

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.