State Road 7 is scheduled to close next week about three miles north of the Jefferson/Jennings County line. The Indiana Department of Transportation says that crews will be doing box culvert repair and maintenance. This is the first of four scheduled closures along State Road, south of Vernon.

INDOT says the road will close for approximately 30 days at each of the following locations, moving south to north. Crews will move to the next location following completion of work at each culvert. State Road 7 will be closed at one location at a time.

• 3.16 miles north of Jefferson/Jennings County line, south of Turkey Run (maintenance/repair)
• 3.51 miles north of Jefferson/Jennings County line at Turkey Run (replacement)
• 11.67 miles north of S.R. 250, just south of Crosley Fish and Wildlife Area (replacement)
• 5.71 miles north of Jefferson/Jennings County line, approximately one mile south of S.R. 3/S.R. 7 split (maintenance/repair)

The official state detour for each closure is State Road 3 to State Road 256. This $1.4 million project is expected to be complete by October 31st. All work is weather dependent.

City bus routes in Columbus will see some changes under a proposal put forth by a consulting group. ColumBUS Transit officials held a second public open house to discuss the ongoing Transit Route Study Tuesday night at city hall.

Officials with the Lochmueller Group, a consulting firm hired by the city to look over current routes and find ways to better serve the community, issued its final draft report and recommendations for proposed route changes. The current five routes will be adjusted with the move to a new transit station at 13th Street and Hutchins Avenue. The current station is located in Mill Race Park. The move is meant to make better use of city resources, while better serving those who utilize public transportation.

Officials say that Route 1 has low ridership due to “extensive one way loops.” Under the proposal, this route would be altered the most. However, some segments of the existing route will be consolidated into other routes. The current placeholder calls for the route to end at Fair Oaks Mall, but future work at the mall site may necessitate adjustments in the future.

Route 2 is considered the most productive route due to running along the 25th Street corridor. The route averages 179 weekday riders on the nearly 12 mile trek.

The proposal for Route 3 is largely unchanged and will continue to take passengers from Mill Race Park to Target on National Road.

Lochmueller staff say that Route 4 is consistently productive, as Columbus East High School is on the route. Officials add that there are looking to add additional designated stops along the route.

Route 5, which takes riders to the west side of town, is also largely unchanged, with an extension to the east to include the new transit station. Lochmueller’s report indicated that this is the least productive route for the city.

Lochmueller’s report also suggested increasing the fixed route fair from 25 cents, which has remained unchanged for decades. The document also calls for looking into the possibility of extending service to the northeast side of the city along U.S. 31 and Indianapolis Road.

City officials will take Lochmueller’s report under advisement.

You can learn more about the transit study, as well as offer your thoughts and input, by visiting columbus.in.gov/columbus-transit.

An area teenager is in trouble after allegedly making a a false report.

The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department says that at approximately 3:17 a.m. on Tuesday, deputies were dispatched to the 20000 block of East State Road 46 after dispatch received a call about three armed subjects trying a break in. Multiple units arrived only to find the building secure and no one around.

During their investigation, deputies were able to obtain the suspect’s address. When they arrived, the 14-year-old juvenile’s mother advised that her son was staying with a friend in Hartsville. Deputies retrieved the boy and returned him to his home where he allegedly confessed to making the call because he was bored.

The juvenile was arrested on preliminary charges of False Reporting of a Crime and Placement of a 911 Call for Prohibited Purposes. Both are misdemeanors.

“Making false 911 calls is a criminal offense. This young man knowingly made a false call that took our deputies out of other areas where someone might have truly needed their help,” said Sheriff Matt Myers. He added, “This is not only against the law, it is extremely dangerous.”

Upon arrival at the detention center, deputies say the boy was also found to be concealing tobacco products in his clothing for which he was also charged.

A North Vernon man was arrested after an alleged hit-and-run Monday afternoon.

North Vernon Police were called to Walmart at about 4:40 p.m. for a property damage accident in the parking lot. While en route, officers were told one driver fled the scene. Police found 23-year-old Dillon Steinert at a nearby gas station. He was arrested on a preliminary charge of Leaving the Scene of a Property Damage Accident.

You will have a chance this week to learn more about the architects and designers taking part in the Exhibit Columbus Miller Prize installations.

The Columbus Area Visitors Center will be hosting five short documentaries about the projects starting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday evening.

Anne Surak, creative director for Exhibit Columbus explains.

The films are a partnership between Exhibit Columbus and filmmaking collaborative Spirit of Space.  Following the screening of the documentaries, director Adam Goss and executive producer Samantha Snodgrass will have a Q&A session.

The public screening is free and open to the public. You can get tickets by registering through Eventbrite online.

The 18 Exhibit Columbus installations, including the five Miller Prize winners work, will official open with ceremonies and events August 23 and 24th around downtown Columbus.

A man involved in the 2014 murder of a Jennings County firearms dealer will serve 30 years in federal prison.

U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler has announced that 24-year-old Darion D. Harris was sentenced last week in the robbery that led to the death of Scott Maxie at the Muscatatuck Outdoors Gun Shop.

Harris, of Indianapolis, along with two other men, traveled to North Vernon on Sept. 21st, 2014 to rob Maxie, after checking out the store the previous day. Darryl Worthen shot and killed Maxie, after which Worthen, Harris and the the third man took 45 guns from the store. Many of the guns were later sold.

Worthen was sentenced to 60 years in prison in 2015 in the case. The third man, DeJuan Worthen, has filed to enter a guilty plea in the case.

The James A. Henderson playground at The Commons will be closing Wednesday through Friday while repairs are made to the flooring. T

he playground will be reopening at 7 a.m. on Saturday. If you are looking for other playground during the downtime, the Columbus parks and recreation department suggests you check out their website at columbusparksandrec.com.

The North Vernon City Council is setting up a board to oversee the St. Anne’s Golf Course.

Currently, a five-member group appointed by Mayor Mike Ochs, serves in an advisory role only. That board, along with Director of Golf Robin Brown, can only suggest actions for the city council to act upon.

Members of the new board would be appointed by the city council. The board will be tasked with establishing policies for the city-owned course. The board will meet publicly and is meant to directly address any concerns local golfers may have. Each council member would appoint one board member to serve at that councilman’s pleasure.

Council is expected to finalize language governing the new board at its next meeting.

A one-vehicle crash in Jennings County led to the arrests of two people over the weekend.

The Jennings County Sheriff’s Department says that at approximately 5:23 p.m. Saturday, dispatch received a call about a woman who had rolled her vehicle on US 50 in the area of County Road 900 West. The driver, 26-year-old Devan Whitaker, of Seymour, wasn’t hurt, however deputies detected the odor of alcohol. Police say a certified test indicated that Whitaker was operating at nearly twice the legal limit.

While on scene of the crash, Whitaker’s boyfriend, 27-year-old Jerry Hill, of North Vernon, arrived hoping to take her home. Authorities say that Hill decided to drive to the sheriff’s office in hopes that Whitaker would be released.

Authorities say that Whitaker was booked into the jail at about 7:18 p.m. When deputies went to speak with Hill, they detected the odor of alcohol on him. Further investigation revealed that Hill was also well above the legal limit, according to police.

Both Whitaker and Hill are facing a preliminary charge of Operating While Intoxicated.

Columbus police arrested a wanted man last week after a bicycle and foot chase.

The incident started Thursday afternoon when a member of the Columbus Police Intelligence Led Policing Unit noticed 36-year-old Kolt A. Kreinhagen riding a bicycle in the area of McKinley and Gladstone avenues. The officer recognized that Kreinhagen was wanted on an outstanding Bartholomew County warrant but when he attempted to stop the cyclist, Kreinhagen allegedly took off.

After damaging a fence in the 200 block of Cleveland Street, officers used  a Taser to subdue Kreinhagen and he was was arrested on preliminary charges of resisting law enforcement and criminal mischief in addition to the outstanding warrant.