The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department is looking for the person who stole items from a disabled vehicle including two Columbus North High School Cross-Country team trophies.
Deputies were called to the intersection of East Base Road and North County Road 525E Wednesday afternoon. A driver had returned to recover a vehicle after it had been damaged in a crash and found that someone had taken the vehicle’s battery, catalytic converter, spare tire and the trophies.
If you have any information, no matter how seemingly insignificant, you can contact the sheriff at 812-379-1650 or email sheriff@bartholomew.in.gov
Columbus Regional Health is putting more restrictions in place on its campus in the face of the spike in COVID-19 cases.
Under the new guidelines, one caretaker will be allowed into the hospital for inpatients and general surgical patients so they can receive information such as post-operative instructions, medication changes or mobility restrictions. That will include a support person for those with intellectual or development disabilities or cognitive impairments.
For those receiving end-of-life or comfort care, one or two family members will be allowed.
Patients in the birthing center are allowed one support person during their delivery. That one person will not be allowed to leave the unit during the mother’s entire stay in the birthing center. Parents of minors who are going through a delivery may be granted altered visitation.
For pediatric patients and those in the Level II nursery two people may be designated but only one person at a time will be allowed in.
The hospital is encouraging you to visit with patients virtually or through the E-mail-A-Patient system.
Cheryl Souza. Photo courtesy of Seymour Police Department.
A Statewide Silver Alert has been declared for a missing Seymour woman.
The Seymour Police Department is investigating the disappearance of 63-year-old Cheryl Souza. She is a white woman, 5 feet 3 inches tall, 180 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. She was last seen wearing a blue jeans, and tennis shoes, and driving a blue 2005 Hyundai Sonata with a Michigan plate of DRN3902.
Cheryl is missing from Seymour and was last seen on Thursday at noon. She is believed to be in extreme danger and may require medical assistance.
If you have any information on Cheryl Souza, contact the Seymour Police Department at 812-522-1234 or call 911.
Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers is in self-quarantine after experiencing mild symptoms of COVID-19 and while waiting for test results.
In his absence, Chief Deputy Major Chris Lane is monitoring the overall operations of the department, supervising staff and reporting daily to Sheriff Myers.
Two of the department’s correction officers are also in quarantine for symptoms but no other staff members or inmates are showing any signs of symptoms. The sheriff’s department Road Patrol Division remains at full capacity.
It is another record-breaking day for COVID-19 in Indiana.
After yesterday’s all-time high of 5,135 positive test results, the Indiana State Department of Health is reporting 6,654 new positive cases, for a positivity rate of 10.5 percent of those tested over the past week. There are also 51 newly reported deaths bringing the state total to 4,563 since the pandemic started.
Bartholomew County added 61 new positive cases in today’s numbers with a positivity rate of just over 8 percent. That brings the total cases since the pandemic started to 2,090 in Bartholomew County.
Bartholomew and surrounding counties Shelby, Johnson, Brown, Jackson and Jennings are all ranked as orange on the state color coded map, which shows a high community spread for the disease. Decatur County is in the red, or severe spread category.
Cummins is announcing plans to open a new hydrogen fuel cell facility in Herten, Germany. The cells are slated for use in hydrogen powered trains by global transportation leader Alstom.
The new facility will enable Cummins, through its Hydrogenics Business, to produce a high volume of fuel cell systems for customers. Amy Davis, president of New Power at Cummins says the facility will allow the company to provide support to European customers and to become a leader shaping tomorrow’s hydrogen economy.
The facility will manufacture one megawatt of fuel cell systems a month for Alstom’s hydrogen-powered trains. Each fuel cell system will include six power modules, a cooling system, piping, air blowers and air filters.
Power modules take air from the outside and hydrogen from a storage tank to produce power.
The new facility is expected to open in July 2021.
There will be no Christmas of Yesteryear celebration in Hope next month.
The Yellow Trail Museum in Hope announced yesterday that it was canceling the event due to the uptick in cases of COVID-19 and the governor’s new restrictions. The event in and around the Town Square usually includes holiday lights and re-enactors taking on the roles of famous Hope residents of the past.
In previous years, the event has drawn more than 250 people, well over the new limits on gatherings of 50 people.
Nicholas C. Garrett. Photo courtesy of Columbus Police Department.
Columbus police say a driver was drunk when he flipped his car yesterday morning on Rocky Ford Road.
The incident happened at about 2 a.m. in the area of Rocky Ford Road and Westenedge Drive after the vehicle hit a guard rail. The driver, 21-year-old Nicolas C. Garrett of Columbus seemed unsteady and his speech was slurred, according to police reports. He failed several field sobriety tests and refused a blood test at the hospital.
During a search, officers allegedly discovered pills in his clothing that he did not have a prescription for.
A warrant was issued to have his blood tested and he was arrested on preliminary charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and possession of a controlled substance.
Gov. Eric Holcomb says starting on Sunday, we will no longer be in Stage 5 of the Back on Track Indiana plan. Instead, individual counties will be working with state health officials to set their own restrictions based on whether they are seeing substantial or severe spread of the coronavirus.
The restrictions will include limits to social gatherings, and limited attendance at school extracurricular events. Businesses and restaurants will not be closing, but masks must be worn, and social distancing practiced.
Only five counties in the entire state were color-coded yellow on the Indiana State Department of Health map yesterday, showing moderate spread of the disease. The vast majority of Indiana is now orange, or showing substantial spread. And nine counties are showing severe spread of the disease.
Holcomb said that while Indiana hospitals are not full now of COVID-19 patients, health officials see that the surge will be overwhelming them in the weeks ahead.
According to state figures, more than half of the intensive care unit beds in our area, southern Indiana District 8, are still open and available, with about half of the full beds being used for COVID-19 patients and the rest being used for other illnesses.
Holcomb said that social gatherings will be limited to 50 people in counties that are orange, and to 25 people in counties that are red. If you want to have an event with more than that, you will have to submit plans and get approval from local health officials.
Indoor school extracurricular activities in orange counties will be limited to 25 percent capacity. Red counties will be limited to only participants, support personnel, and parents.
As predicted by local officials, Bartholomew County has moved into the orange category on the state color coded map, which means significant spread of the disease. Bartholomew joins surrounding counties in the orange including Brown, Shelby, Jennings, Jackson and Johnson counties. Decatur County has moved into the red, or severe spread category as of Wednesday.
Larry Nantz. Photo courtesy of Jennings County Sheriff’s Department
Jennings County authorities say a standoff with a wanted man ended without anyone getting hurt.
The incident started at about 11 p.m. on Tuesday night when Jennings County Sheriffs Department deputies tried to serve arrest warrants on 46-year-old Larry Nantz of North Vernon at home in Country Squire Lakes.
Deputies learned that Nantz had barricaded himself inside a back bedroom in the home saying he would not go back to jail. He said he had a gun and threatened to kill the deputies if they tried to take him into custody, according to police reports
Deputies cleared residents from the home and called in the department’s Special Response Team along with the Indiana State Police SWAT team. Authorities negotiated with Nantz for about an hour, before he surrendered to Sheriff Kenny Freeman. Police recovered an air gun that closely resembled a firearm.
While in the driveway, Nantz allegedly spit in the face of a 15-year-old girl while she attempted to secure dogs at the home.
He is facing new charges of battery by bodily waste, intimidation with a deadly weapon and resisting law enforcement, along with the original outstanding warrants for charges including resisting law enforcement and arson.
