People might have an image in their mind of who a heroin addict is. But the reality is that many addicts locally were originally prescribed pain medication for legitimate medical issues.

That’s from the research into the local drug problem being done by the Alliance FOR Substance Abuse Progress in Bartholomew County.

The group will present its six month report to the community tonight with a community forum at The Commons.

Julie Abedian with Columbus Regional Health has been heading up ASAP’s treatment team.

Abedian said that addicts to prescription medicine can find cheaper drugs more easily on the black market than dealing with the medical system.

She said that people get addicted to prescription medication prescribed by their physician and dentist after only a few days of use, and then turn to illegal drugs when their prescription goes away.

Those people need help to get off of those drugs, she said.

The forum is at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evening at The Commons.

The Yes Film Festival will be this weekend at Yes Cinema on Jackson Street in downtown Columbus.

For $35 you can get an all-access pass that allows you to see more than 20 films over the three-day festival starting Friday. There will also be question and answer sessions after some of the films with the directors and actors.

YES Cinema has three Jury Prizes already chosen for the festival. The winner for best narrative is “The Sounding,” best documentary is “The Freedom to Marry” and the best short is “Lucky Chicken.”

Attendees will be voting for the Audience Award during the festival.

Showtimes are available at www.yesfilmfestival.com, by visiting the festival’s Facebook page or by calling YES Cinema at 812-378-0377.

Columbus police arrested a motorist on drunk driving charges after he was seen going the wrong way up Lafayette Avenue Friday night.

37-year-old Jorge Chavez, of Columbus is facing charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a prior conviction and operating a vehicle without ever receiving a license.

A Columbus officer allegedly saw Chavez driving the wrong way up the street at about 11:15 p.m. near 12th Street. After he was stopped, police found an open bottle of alcohol in the vehicle and found out that Chavez had never received a license. Breath tests revealed a blood alcohol level of .228 percent.

Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers will be holding a neighborhood meeting Wednesday night at the Clay Township Volunteer Fire Station on 25th Street at Petersville. The sheriff says you don’t have to be a resident of Clay Township to attend.

The sheriff’s department hold the neighborhood meetings to talk to residents and hear their concerns as well as share information about the department’s efforts.

The meeting will be at 6 p.m.

An Elizabethtown man is facing drug charges after being stopped for speeding Saturday evening by Columbus police.

39-year-old Nicholas J. Johnson is facing a preliminary charge of possession of methamphetamine after the traffic stop near 13th Street and Central Avenue.

Police report that they stopped Johnson for speeding at about 6 p.m. Saturday and a sheriff’s department police dog alerted to the smell of narcotics in the vehicle. Police discovered 17 grams of methamphetamine under the driver’s seat, says Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus police.

Two Scipio children died Friday afternoon in a crash in Jennings County.

36-year-old Mary F. Bailey of Columbus was driving on State Road 7 at about 1:10 Friday afternoon and making a turn onto County Road 900N when her vehicle was struck from behind by a pickup pulling a horse trailer being driven by 24-year-old Nicholas A. Fischvogt of North Vernon, says Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, with the Indiana State Police.

Two backseat passengers in Bailey’s vehicle, 4-year-old Kaylee Creamer and 22-month-old Allison Creamer died. Bailey was flown by helicopter to St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis with serious injuries.

A passenger in Fischvogt’s vehicle, 63-year-old Nancy Palmer of Scipio, suffered serious injuries in the crash. She was first taken to Columbus Regional Hospital and then to IU Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

Indiana State Police were assisted b the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department, Scipio-Geneva Fire Department, Jennings County EMS, Stat Flight Medical Helicopter, the Jennings County Coroner’s Office, and the Indiana Department of Transportation.

The Columbus / Bartholomew County Planning Commission is hosting a three-day public workshop to help in the development of the Columbus Central Neighborhood Plan. Emilie Pinkston is a senior planner with the planning department.

Pinkston says that one area that will be discussed extensively is the site of the former Golden Castings Foundry.

Pinkston says these changes has resulted in a number of questions that need to be answered.

Workshops will be held inside the Doug Otto United Way Center Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night, beginning at 6 p.m.

For more information on these workshops, visit columbus.in.gov/planning.

Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop’s office has announced that he will be holding a joint press conference with Naoki Ito, the Consul-General of Japan in Chicago. The event is being held in conjunction with Ito’s first visit to Columbus. The main purposes of the Consulate are to serve Japanese nationals, to represent the Japanese government and to provide travel services and cultural information about Japan to non-Japanese residents.

Lienhoop’s office says that Ito’s visit to the city is an important one. He noted that there are over two-dozen local companies that have a Japanese parent company.

This press event is set for Tuesday at 11:15 a.m. in council chambers inside of city hall.

A former Columbus pastor has been sentenced to three-years in prison as part of guilty pleas on two felony counts of Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor.

Our news-gathering partners at “The Republic” are reporting that 38-year-old Justin White, who was the senior pastor at First Christian Church, received a three year prison sentence on one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and a four year sentence on the second count, which was suspended. The paper says that Judge Kelly Benjamin ruled that White would be on probation for that four-year sentence, to be served after he is released from prison. In addition, White is not allowed to have unsupervised contact with juveniles during that time.

The paper is reporting that White pleaded guilty in August to two counts of aiding or inducing a juvenile to commit an act that would be a felony if committed by an adult. He also reportedly admitted to aiding and inducing a juvenile to deal in narcotics.

For more on this story, visit therepublic.com.

The Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress in Bartholomew County has found that a critical component missing in our community’s fight against the opioid addiction epidemic is a good, reliable source of information.

When the group presents its six month report to the community on Tuesday, it plans to correct that shortfall. Jeff Jones is executive lead of the ASAP team:

The group plans to launch a website that will serve as a central clearinghouse for resources and information related to the drug epidemic.

Jones said that the information resource will be separate from the programs and facilities that will be discussed Tuesday.

The public forum and report to the community will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evening at The Commons.

The eventual website will be located at ASAPBC.org.