The Town of Hope will be holding this month’s Town Council meeting tonight.
The meeting was originally scheduled for last Tuesday, but was delayed due to the snow. Among the topics to be discussed is consideration of a town manager position. The town last had a manager in December of 2018, when the council opted not to renew the previous manager’s contract.
The council meets at 5:30 and you can watch the proceedings livestreamed on the Town of Hope Facebook page.
Bartholomew County deputies say an intoxicated semi driver nearly hit a patrol car on Interstate 65 in an incident over the weekend.
Deputies received reports of a possibly impaired semi driver a few miles south of the Columbus exit at about 3:03 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The driver came close to hitting a deputy’s vehicle when the semi swerved into the deputy’s lane.
The vehicle was stopped south of the Edinburgh exit and the driver, 49-year-old Brian Crawford of Hampton, Georgia, was taken into custody. His vehicle was towed and animal control was called to take custody of a dog in the vehicle.
He is facing a preliminary charge of operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol content of .15 percent or greater.
Two unconscious drivers were arrested at two separate fast-food restaurants in Columbus early Sunday morning, less than an hour apart and a block away from each other.
Columbus police are reporting that the first incident happened in the White Castle drive-through on National Road at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning. A witness told police that they saw a vehicle crash into snowbanks and drive recklessly prior to pulling into the restaurant. Police found the driver, 29-year-old Paris Prophete of Columbus asleep behind the wheel of the vehicle. He blew a .163 percent on a field sobriety test, more than twice the legal limit. He was arrested on a charge of operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol content of .15 percent or greater.
In the second incident, officers were called to the McDonalds on National Road at about 4:15 a.m. in the morning, about an unconscious person in the drive-through. They found 23-year-old Jared B. Schoen of Columbus unconscious with the car in gear and his foot on the brake. After moving the vehicle to safety, Schoen was arrested on a preliminary charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
Bartholomew County Commissioners are praising the county highway department and Columbus city crews for keeping the roads and streets clear during last week’s snow storms.
During yesterday’s meeting, Commissioner Carl Lienhoop commended highway superintendent Dwight Smith and his crews, stressing that mid-day storms are particularly challenging because vehicles pack down the snow, making it harder to remove. And he contrasted local efforts to the crisis facing southern cities he encountered during a recent trip to Memphis, Tennessee.
Commissioner Tony London also said that the highway department’s work in the last week has been very impressive.
Danny Hollander, the county highway engineer, suggested the county’s stores of salt and sand are getting low after years of hardly getting used. He said he is left hoping that the area doesn’t get any more snow this winter.
A Columbus woman was arrested early Sunday after rolling her vehicle on Interstate 65.
The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department is reporting that deputies were called to the southbound lanes of Interstate 65 north of the Edinburgh exit at about 4:24 a.m. about an accident.
Deputies discovered a vehicle upside down off of the roadway. The driver, identified as 23-year-old RileyRae Mitchell of Columbus said she was initially trapped inside the vehicle but was able to climb out of the open passenger side door. Deputies noticed a strong smell of alcohol coming from the vehicle. A field sobriety test revealed a blood alcohol level of .139, according to police reports.
She was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital for treatment, where drug paraphernalia was discovered during a search of her purse.
After being treated for her injuries, she was arrested on preliminary charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and possession of paraphernalia.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department is reporting that an inmate was found dead in a cell early this morning at the county jail.
According to Sheriff Duane Burgess, correctional officers were performing a watch tour at about 1:06 this morning when they noticed an unconscious inmate. Officers and medical staff began CPR and medics from Franklin Fire Rescue and Seals Ambulance assisted, but the inmate could not be revived. The inmate was pronounced dead at the scene.
The inmate was being held alone in the cell and foul play is not suspected, Burgess says. The inmate’s name has not yet been released while family members are being notified.
INDOT says that the outside lanes of Interstate 65 at the State Road 11 interchange in Jackson County will be closed starting today.
That is to allow crews to install high-mast light poles in the area. That work is expected to wrap up by Friday, weather permitting.
INDOT is also planning to demolish the Interstate 65 overpass at Deaver Road in Bartholomew County starting tonight. Traffic will be shut down intermittently between 9 at night and 6 in the morning this week, while the bridge is torn down. One direction of I-65 will close for up to 20 minutes at a time while the overhead work is in progress.
The bridge replacement is expected to be re-opened by June. It is part of the project to widen Interstate 65 to three lanes in each direction between Walesboro and the Columbus exit. The entire project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2023.
A statewide Silver Alert has been issued for a missing Monroe County man.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the disappearance of 38-year-old Daniel Horn. He is 6-3, 175 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a black jacket, gray pants, and flip flops. He is believed to be driving a light blue 2018 Honda Fit, with an Indiana license plate of 735 TP.
Horn is missing from Bloomington and was last seen on Sunday, at 5:30 pm. He is believed to be in extreme danger and may require medical assistance.
If you have any information you can contact the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department at 812-349-2780 or call 911.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department is reporting a woman was arrested over the weekend, accused of threatening another family’s bi-racial children on social media, all over a political disagreement.
According to police reports, the disagreement started on Facebook, and soon spread to online threats and racist slurs against the family’s 14-year-old and 10-year-old children.
Deputies located 31-year-old Bailey Moore of Seymour, who admitted to sending the messages. She was arrested on a charge of intimidation.
The U.S. coronavirus death toll passed the half-million mark late Sunday. The umbers come just over a year after the nation saw its very first death linked to COVID-19. Since then, there have been more than 28 million cases of the virus reported.
As of yesterday’s report from the Indiana State Department of Health, Indiana has had 655,541 cases since last March and has had 11,947 deaths from the disease. 35 new deaths were reported in Sunday afternoon’s figures.
In area counties since last March, Bartholomew County has had 147 deaths, Decatur 88, Jennings 44, Jackson 62, Brown 39, Johnson 348 and Shelby County has had 90 deaths. Johnson and Jackson counties reported 2 new deaths in Sunday’s numbers, and Bartholomew County had one new death.