The votes are in and the Town of Hope has chosen the winner of its annual Deck the Town Holiday lights competition. And it was the same as last year, the Griffin Family at 1607 Manor Drive in the Liberty Place subdivision. The winner will receive the travelling trophy, a replica of the leg lamp from the movie “A Christmas Story.”

Organizers at Main Street of Hope photographed 58 locations around the town and chose 18 finalists. Voting was done through the Main Street of Hope Facebook page and wrapped up last night.

Organizers suggest that you can come to northeastern Bartholomew County to tour the town’s lights, as a socially distanced and free holiday event.

Photo courtesy of Main Street of Hope.

Two local history groups will be receiving grants from the Indiana Historical Society’s Heritage Support Grants program.

The Heritage Support Grants are made possible by the Lilly Endowment and have been given since 2016 to Indiana’s local, county and regional historical societies, museums and sites, recognizing the critical role these organizations play in upholding the state’s heritage. This cycle they ranged from just under $5 to $50 thousand dollars and went to 10 organizations around the state.

The Bartholomew County Historical Society will receive just under $5 thousand dollars to sand, feather, paint and glaze windows and paint doors at their headquarters on Third Street. The McEwen-Samuels-Marr House is on the National Register of Historic Places and the restorations will help ensure the building and the museum collections housed within are protected.

The Jackson County History Center was awarded just under $5 thousand dollars to update the electrical wiring in the C.T. Robertson Livery Barn. The new electrical system will provide a safer, enhanced viewing experience in the museum and will allow for the installation of archival-safe lighting in the barn.

The grants will be awarded in the first half of 2021, according the the state society.

For more information, you can go to www.indianahistory.org/grants.

A driver was flown by Lifeline helicopter to an Indianapolis hospital after a crash Saturday morning on East State Street in Columbus.

The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department is reporting that they were called to the single-vehicle rollover crash in the 4000 block of State Street at about 8:25. The driver, 37-year-old Latisha Carter suffered injuries after being thrown from the vehicle.

Columbus Township Fire and Rescue Department, CRH paramedics and Indiana State Police helped at the scene.

Photo courtesy of Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department.

A Jennings County man is under arrest after he was found hiding in a barn after a police chase.

Jennings County deputies are reporting the incident happened on Thursday, when they went to a home on County Road 900W to serve civil papers. But 30-year-old Thirld W.A. Ross of North Vernon was wanted on an outstanding warrant and fled the scene in a vehicle.

Deputies called off the chase but later found the vehicle left partially in the road on County Road 500S. Police dog Vampir was brought to the scene and tracked Ross to a barn about a half mile away. He was arrested without incident but was found to be carrying a handgun.

He is facing new charges of resisting law enforcement on a vehicle and on foot and carrying a handgun without a license.

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