The Hope Volunteer Fire Department could be getting an early Christmas present.

Pending final inspections, the firefighters should be moving into their new fire station on Aiken Street this week. Ed Johnson, who has been shepherding the project through the system, says that while the station isn’t complete, it is ready for use.

“The building will not be 100 percent complete, but the safety features and everything that needs to be there in place to protect members and the fire department itself will be completed,” Johnson said.

For example, he said the building will still need carpet.

The project has been delayed for years, hampered by financial problems.

“It has been a long, overdue period for the fire department to get into that building and it is a much-needed change for them,” Johnson said.

“Hopefully it will spur a lot more interest in the fire department and show the community that the fire department is well-grounded in the community.”

The curent fire station just off the Town Square is an aging structure and has a long history with previous uses as a stable and a telephone switching station. Firefighters began construction on the new building several years ago, but ran into problems with cost overruns and a lawsuit with its contractor.

The final inspection is set for this week, Johnson sold the Hope Town Council at their meeting last night.

Diesel, the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department’s newest police dog, got his badge at yesterday morning’s County Commissioners meeting.

Diesel has been working the streets with his trainer, Deputy Matt Bush, since they completed their six-week training program together in October. Diesel finished at the top of his class at tracking and drug detection, Bush said. Bush said his four-legged partner is nearly 100 pounds and has been trained to receive his commands in Dutch.

Dylan Prather, a Bartholomew County dispatcher, took up the duty of raising money for the new police dog, as he did for the Columbus Police Department when he was a high school senior. Real World Testing, a testing company for engines, donated $18,000 for Diesel’s purchase and training. The company also picked Diesel’s name.

An arrest has been made in the murder of a Greenwood man.

On the morning of Friday, Dec. 2, the body of 50-year-old Andrew Perry was discovered in his home by his mother. Police say that the garage door of the home, in the 2900 block of Cadogan Road, was open, as was the entry way door into the home from the garage. Perry died from blunt-force trauma to the head.

Johnson County Sheriff Doug Cox says that investigators determined that the crime scene was likely staged. he says that the kitchen drawers were emptied onto the floor and a baggie with what appeared to be narcotics was on the floor near Perry’s body. Perry’s teenage son did not spend the night in the home and his live-in girlfriend had left for work hours earlier.

Sheriff Cox says that Perry had made two prior police reports for harassment where Joseph (Evan) Avart was thought to be the suspect. Avart was reportedly a former boyfriend of the live-in girlfriend. Cox says that investigators were able to find Avart at his home in Plainfield. He came to the Sheriff’s Office voluntarily for an interview.

Sheriff Cox says that his department learned from Avart was “infatuated with his former girlfriend.” Cox says that Avart had been stalking Perry by following him in his vehicle, staking out his home and peering in his windows. In addition, authorities say that Avart made harassing phone calls.

Cox says that, during Avart’s initial interview, he denied being at or near near the victim’s home on the morning of the murder. The sheriff says that there were contradictions between Avart’s initial statement and the facts gathered by investigators.

Sheriff Cox says that Avart took part in another interview on Friday, Dec. 16. It was during this time that Avart admitted entering Perry’s home without permission while armed with a handgun, says Cox. The sheriff says that Avart then confessed to killing Perry.

A Columbus woman was arrested for drunk driving after police say she was found unconscious inside her vehicle on Sunday evening. Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman with the Columbus Police Department, says that

officers were called to an unconscious person in a vehicle at the intersection Marr Road and North National Road at 6:20 p.m. Police say the vehicle was facing south in the northbound lanes of US 31 and had been driven up on to the curb. The officers also noted that the fresh damage on the vehicle was consistent with a street sign that was struck a few blocks away.

Lt. Harris says that officers woke the driver, 40-year-old Melinda J. Smith. While talking with Smith, officers reported the strong odor of alcohol on her breath. Harris says that Smith was given a portable breath test and provided a breath sample of .353-percent, more than four times the legal limit. Smith was transported to Columbus Regional Hospital for a blood alcohol test and later transported to the Bartholomew County Jail on preliminary charges of Operating a Vehicle with Intoxicated and Leaving the Scene of a Property Damage Accident.

Bartholomew County Commissioners are planning to spend $110,000 to purchase the furnishings for what will be a new county office building off of South Marr Road.

The commissioners are buying the Premiere Ag buildings for about $700,000 to use for county offices including the Bartholomew County Purdue Cooperative Extension offices. At Monday morning’s commissioners meeting, they said that there have been further negotiations and the commissioners have agreed to buy the furnishings for the building also. They said that the furnishings are nearly new and include extras such as the wiring and cublcles already installed. Commissioners said that based on their estimates, that will be a substantial cost savings for the county.

The Premier Ag offices are moving to Seymour. Last year the company merged with the Jackson-Jennings Co-op and the meged company is building a new headquarters in Seymour. Commisisoners expect to take possession of the buildings in September.

The city of Columbus crews will begin collecting discarded Christmas trees on Tuesday, Dec. 27th.

You should have the tree out on the same day as your regular trash collections. Trees should be free of ornaments, hooks, stands and nails. They should be out of any bag and you should place them curbside.

Tree collections will end on Friday, Jan. 20th.

Columbus police are searching for a suspect in an armed robbery over the weekend of a hotel on the west side of town.

Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the police department, said officers were called to the La Quinta Inn on Carrie Lane at about 9 p.m. Saturday night. According to witnesses, a man entered the hotel, displayed a handgun and demanded money. He then fled the area. Police say the suspect is a black man, 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall with a slender build. He was last seen wearing a red and black sweatshirt with blue jeans.

If you have any information, you are asked to contact the Columbus Police Department’s Detective Ryan Linneweber at 812-376-2624. Tips and information can be submitted anonymously.

The Bartholomew County Emergency Operations Center is asking residents not to call the dispatch center for road conditions or weather updates.

You should only call the dispatch center if you have a need for police, fire or emergency medical services.

Instead, they suggest calling 800-261-7623.

Decatur County emergency management officials have issued a yellow travel advisory for the county due to the weather conditions expected tonight.

According to the county’s emergency management office, as of about 5 p.m. roads still remained ice covered in some areas, and wet in others. They are expecting a flash freeze as temperatures dip to near 5 degrees overnight.

Greensburg and Decatur County schools have delayed schools for two hours on Monday.

You can get a complete list of school closings here.

Updated: Family clothing sizes are now available.

Seymour police are hoping for some help for one of their own officers. The police department reports that an early Sunday morning fire destroyed the home of Officer Gilbert Carpenter, the city’s DARE officer.

Police report that the family got out safely but the home is a total loss.

The department has set up a Go Fund Me page for donations, or you can drop donations off to the Seymour Police Department headquarters and they will be delivered safely to the family.

The Carpenter family has two high school age children. The eldest is a boy who is a senior and the younger a sophomore girl.

Family clothing sizes:

• Mother — X-large sh‏irt, 14-16 women’s pants, 8.5 women’s shoes
• Father — X-large to 2x shirt, 38/32 pants, 10.5 or 11 men’s shoes
• Daughter — Medium shirt, 7 women’s pants, 8.5 women’s shoes.
• Son — Medium or large shirt, 32/33 pants, 12 men’s shoe.

You can find the Go Fund Me page by clicking here. As of Monday afternoon it had raised $6,590.