A confined feeding operation in the Hope area has been given the go-ahead by local officials. Melissa Begley, with city-county planning, says the Bartholomew County Board of Zoning Appeals gave its unanimous approval for a conditional use permit for the farm, which could handle up to 11,000 pigs, just off of County Road 700 North.

Begley says the next step for the project include zoning compliance and requests for any needed building permits. Begley says that she is unable to provide a possible timeline for when the process continues.

To fight local drug overdoses, there will be a free Naloxone training session at the Bartholomew County Public Library coming up on Wednesday.

Naloxone, better known as Narcan, is a drug that counteracts the effects of opiate overdoses.

The two- hour training course starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the Red Room at the library on Fifth Street and will be led by the Indiana Recovery Alliance. You will get a kit with doses of the life-saving drug to take home with you.

Two people were arrested last night on drug charges after a traffic stop at 11th and Pearl streets in downtown Columbus.

Police say that they stopped a vehicle for a minor traffic violation at about 11:40 p.m. last night. But when an officer noticed that the occupants seemed nervous, a police dog was called to the scene and alerted to the odor of narcotics inside the vehicle.

A search allegedly revealed methamphetamine, marijuana, and syringes inside the vehicle.

The driver, 54-year-old Troy L. Iverson of Reddington and a passenger, 38-year-old Amanda E. Whitten of Columbus were arrested, They are facing preliminary charges of:

• Iverson: Possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.
• Whitten: Possession of marijuana, methamphetamine and a legend drug injection device

The Indiana Department of Transportation plans to begin restricting traffic to a single lane on State Road 9 at Little Haw Creek north of Hope Tuesday as part of a $1.5 million, two-bridge rehabilitation project. Officials say that traffic restrictions will start next Tuesday, July 31st, at a second State Road 9 bridge site south of Hope.

This bridge is located a half-mile north of State Road 46. INDOT says that temporary signals at either ends of both State Road 9 bridges will control one-direction-at-a-time traffic flow while construction operations take place on half the structure at a time. Drivers should anticipate brief delays through late-fall.

It was a full day of meetings Monday as the city of Columbus worked to update its sign ordinance. The Bartholomew County Plan Commission, city plan commission, then city council met in separate meetings to discuss proposed changes. Melissa Begley, with city-county planning, explains that the ordinance is being addressed due to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Reed vs. Town of Gilbert.

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Begley explains that the court’s decision is based on the fact that government cannot limit non-commercial speech based on content.

Begley says those specific standards include the number of signs, their height and other aspects. She adds that this is the first step in taking a broader look at the city’s sign ordinance…

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City council members voted to suspend the rules and pass the ordinance changes on first reading. The vote was 5-0. Council members Laurie Booher and Tim Shuffett were not present for the vote.

Columbus police say a man was arrested after driving his car into a concrete median divider on 25th Street Saturday.

A witness called to report that a driver had narrowly missed her vehicle near 25th Street and Marr Road and then hit the median at about 4:45 a.m. that morning. Police found the driver, 56-year-old Jeffrey J. Sullivan, and he had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and failed several field sobriety tests.

Officers searched him as he was being arrested and he allegedly was carrying drug paraphernalia and marijuana in his pockets.

He is facing preliminary charges of operating a motor vehicle under the influence, along with possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

A Greensburg man is under arrest after running from Columbus police, who tased him Saturday morning.

38-year-old Andrew T. Kress is facing preliminary charges of driving while suspended, resisting law enforcement and false informing along with a Decatur County warrant.

Columbus police say that they were investigating a suspicious vehicle in the 2500 block of Jordan Drive at about 9:25 a.m. Saturday morning when the driver, identified as Kress, ran from the scene. Officers caught up to Kress in the 2600 block of Sandcrest Boulevard and he took off again. Police ordered him stop and when he refused, used the Taser.

Bartholomew County will be considering another confined feeding operation this evening, this time in the Hope area. If approved, the farm off of County Road 700N at County Road 1150E could have up to 11,000 pigs.

The county planning staff are recommending approval of the Templeton LLC farm proposal, saying it has met all of the criteria for approval. That includes minimum setbacks from neighboring homes, schools, churches and towns. The farmers are planning a berm to separate the operation from a nearby creek, which feeds into Clifty Creek.

The 132 acre site is in an Agriculture Preferred zoning area, meant for farms and their related uses but requires a special conditional approval for a confined feeding operation. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management has already signed off on operation.

The county board of zoning appeals is set to consider the farm at 7 p.m. tonight at Columbus City Hall.

A Bartholomew County man is under arrest on child molestation charges after a weekend incident at Ceraland’s campgrounds.

Indiana State Police are reporting that 72-year-old Larry L. Scott of Hope is facing preliminary charges of child molestation, child exploitation, vicarious sexual gratification, child solicitation, sexual battery and possession of paraphernalia.

Troopers responded to the reported molestation late Saturday evening at the campground and called in a detective from the Versailles state police post. Scott is an employee at the campground.

Few details have been released and the case remains under investigation.

A 13-year-old girl brought her father’s pickup truck to a safe stop after he had a medical emergency and died on State Road 11 in Jackson County yesterday.

Indiana State Police say that 38-year-old John Kidd of Martinsville was driving on State Road 11 about three miles south of Interstate 65 when he collapsed at about 6:25 p.m. last evening due to a medical emergency. His daughter, Kennedy Kidd, grabbed the wheel and steered the out-of-control truck for several miles before directing it off the road, into a thicket to stop the vehicle.

Efforts were made to revive her father, but he was pronounced dead at Schneck Medical Center. The girl was uninjured.