Two Columbus residents were arrested on drug charges after a traffic stop in southern Jackson County turned up more than pound of methamphetamine.

Indiana State Police were patrolling near the Scott and Jackson county border Tuesday when they noticed a pickup with false or fictitious plates and following other vehicles too closely in the northbound lanes of Interstate 65. After the vehicle was pulled over, troopers brought in police dog Teague who alerted to the odor of drugs. A search revealed a pound and a quarter of meth hidden under the truck. Troopers also report finding marijuana, a syringe and more than $4,500  in cash.

53-year-old Gregory S. Nasby and 46-year-old Teresa M. Burns were both arrested on preliminary charges of dealing and possessing methamphetamine and dealing marijuana. Burns is also facing a charge of possession of syringe.

A drug court and a residential treatment center for women are a step closer to becoming reality. Over the past few weeks, the ASAP Board presented a plan to local officials to fund the Fresh Start Recovery Center. The center is a residential treatment program for pregnant women and women with young children. The board recommended that the city of Columbus and Bartholomew County split a one-time $200,000 payment to get the program established. City Council approved $100,000 in funding out of Substance Abuse Non-Reverting Fund during it’s meeting last week. County Council approved funding it’s $100,000 contribution during its meeting Tuesday night. These contributions will be utilized to refurbish the old post office site at Seventh and Washington streets.

County Commissioner Carl Lienhoop says he’s excited.

Officials indicate they hope to have the recovery center up and running by the end of this summer.

The ASAP Board also recommended that the city and county split the cost of an Adult Drug Recovery Court. The court is designed to integrate substance abuse and mental health treatment, drug testing, sanctions and incentives. The hope is to reduce recidivism, as well as offer hope and opportunity for those in the system. The city and county split funding $92,603 to get the court established.

County Councilman Mark Gorbett voted to fund both…

Judge Kelly Benjamin, who will preside over the drug court, says the hope is to start the program in April.

Expect slowed traffic or delays on northbound I-65 Wednesday between Columbus and Seymour. The Indiana Department of Transportation are advising drivers to be aware of advancing lane closures between U.S. Highway 50 at Seymour and the Walesboro exit south of Columbus.

Two contracted crews have been scheduled to repair potholes between mile markers 50.0 and 64.0 requiring lane closures at worksites impacting northbound and southbound traffic. At the same time, a pavement striping operation will occur along the same roadway—also requiring restricted lanes. Many identified pothole locations are along center line pavement joints and in I-65 left lanes.

This work is part of the state’s $143 million Next Level construction project between Seymour and Columbus. When completed, I-65 will be completely rebuilt as a six-lane highway between U.S. 50 and State Road 58.

The Columbus Engineering Department says that emergency utility repair will affect traffic on State Road 46 in downtown Columbus.

The left two lanes of westbound Third Street/State Road 46 are slated to close in downtown Columbus from Wednesday morning through Friday evening.

Northbound California Street will also be closed at the Third Street intersection. Westbound State Street (State Road 46 and State Road 7) traffic will be diverted to the right lane approaching California Street.

Columbus City Utilities will have emergency repair crews working on a broken sewer, estimated to be 90 years old. Authorities say the sewer main and brick manhole collapsed due to the heavy rains, creating a large pothole in the pavement. Traffic has been temporarily diverted around the pothole since Friday. City officials say they are working with INDOT and other agencies to expedite the repair.

You are encouraged to take an alternate route and avoid the area, if possible.

Real World Testing, a testing company for engines, donated $4,000 toward the purchase of a second K9 for the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department. The company made the donation on Tuesday.

Previously, Real World Testing donated $18,000 to purchase the department’s second police dog, Diesel, and also chose his name. Since K9 Bolt retired last month, BCSO has only one police dog available.

“It is our goal to send a deputy to K9 school next month and to have two dogs back on our streets in May,” said Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers. He says the department’s ultimate goal is to have three K9 units. Sheriff Myers says this donation helps towards that goal. “I can’t thank the folks from Real World Testing enough for stepping up again”, said Myers.

Real World Testing’s donation comes one day after Emmylou and John Wischmeier donated $10,000 toward the purchase of a second K9.

If you would like to donate to this project, send an email to: sheriff@bartholomew.in.gov.

Schneck Medical Center announced it has been named one of the Top 100 Rural & Community Hospitals in the United States by The Chartis Center for Rural Health.

Schneck was one of only a few hospitals in southern Indiana to be named. The others are: King’s Daughters’ Health in Madison, Major Hospital in Shelbyville and Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center in Jasper.

“We are honored to have been recognized as a top performer among rural hospitals in the nation. This recognition reaffirms our commitment to providing excellent healthcare, while maintaining efficient and effective operations,” said Warren Forgey, President & CEO of Schneck. “It is the dedication and compassionate care of all our staff which has made this distinction possible.”

Hospitals recognized as a Top 100 facility scored in the top 100 among all rural and community hospitals nationally. Now in its ninth year, the INDEX leverages 50 rural-relevant indicators across eight pillars of hospital strength to determine an overall score for each hospital.

“In an era of increased complexity and uncertainty, Top 100 hospitals have established themselves as a bellwether for rural provider performance,” said Michael Topchik, National Leader of The Chartis Center for Rural Health. “Top 100 status is a real indicator of how proactive these hospitals are when it comes to pushing for performance improvement in areas such as quality, outcomes, patient safety, market share and finance.”

Legal Aid will be having a free clinic in Columbus Monday Feb. 25th.

You can get up to a 10 minute consultation with a pro bono attorney to answer legal questions, to offer information or to receive other, limited, advice. The sessions are available on a first-come first-serve basis and there is no need to register in advance.

The clinic will be from 3 to 5 p.m. on February 25th at the agency’s offices in the Doug Otto United Way Center, on 13th Street in Columbus.

Firefighters were on the scene of an early morning blaze at the Burger King restaurant in Taylorsville today.

Capt. Mike Wilson with the Columbus Fire Department says German Township firefighters were the first on the scene of the fire on U.S. 31.

Wilson said that worker noticed smoke and called in firefighters at 5:58 a.m. Those that arrived discovered flames inside the building.

The fire was extinguished with the assistance of other area fire departments, Wilson said. Damage was mostly to the kitchen area of the restaurant. No injuries were reported.

A Columbus police officer noticed the smell of burnt marijuana coming from a vehicle stopped for a traffic violation Sunday night, leading to an arrest on seven drug related charges.

The vehicle was pulled over at about 9:35 p.m. Sunday night in the 1500 block of Union Street. Officers reported finding cocaine in the vehicle during a search and a passenger was allegedly carrying narcotics along with a digital scale, several cell phones and a large amount of cash, according to police reports.

The passenger, 37-year-old Matthew G. Ratliff was arrested on preliminary charges of:

• Dealing Methamphetamine
• Dealing Heroin
• Dealing Cocaine
• Possession of Methamphetamine
• Possession of Heroin
• Possession of Cocaine
• Trafficking with an Inmate

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools are looking at policy changes, in a variety of different areas. The school board heard a long list of proposals last night for issues ranging from sunscreen, to sex education and the inclusion of computer science classes at all grade levels.

The changes were mostly being made to comply with changes to state law, said Dr. Jim Roberts, the school superintendent. Those included changes such as allowing students to bring and to use sunscreen, which had previously been classified as a medicine requiring involvement of a school nurse. The state is also requiring schools to notify parents of upcoming human sexuality classes giving them a chance to review materials beforehand and also to opt their child out of the class.

The district would also be instituting computer science classes at all grade levels and reclassifying physical education classes as health classes, Roberts said.

The biggest discussion last night was around the security and search policies surrounding metal detectors. Although the district has no plans to install walk-through metal detectors, a policy would be put into place to regulate their use, as well as the hand-held metal detectors issued by the state last year. Those would require training and guidelines on when and how they would be used, and how students would be searched if necessary.