The Bartholomew County Holiday Helpline for families opened this week.

The hotline, operated by the United Way of Bartholomew County is signing up children and families for programs including:

• Columbus Fireman’s Cheer Fund
• Toys for Tots
• Shop with a Cop
• Holiday Food Boxes from Love Chapel
• Angels of Love at Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center and St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
• The Giving Tree at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church
• The Community Center of Hope’s Angel Tree

If you need to sign up for holiday help you can call 812-375-2216 Monday through Friday 9-4.

Former Marine and Columbus congressman Greg Pence has introduced a resolution to remember the attack on the Marine Corps Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.

The anniversary of the 1983 attack, where an Iranian drove a truck bomb into the barracks, is Friday.

Pence served in the Marines from 1979 to 1984 and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines that was ordered to Beirut in 1983. But he shipped out only days before the attack, which killed 241 members of the military, including 220 Marines.

Pence says he was able to come home to his wife, who was expecting their first child. He said he promised he would never forget his fellow Marines who could never come home and the resolution is part of that promise.

Today is the deadline if you want to request a ballot to vote absentee by mail in the November election. All requests must be received by your county clerk’s office today. Mail-in ballots must be returned by noon on Election Day, Nov. 3rd.

You can request an absentee ballot or check the status of your ballot online at indianavoters.com. In Bartholomew County, you can call the county clerk’s voter registration office at 812-379-1604.

In Bartholomew County, early in-person voting continues from 8 to 5 Monday through Saturdays at the former Carson’s store in Fair Oaks Mall. Early in-person voting wraps up at noon on Monday Nov. 2nd.

Absentee voting is setting records across the state this year. Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps said yesterday afternoon that here have already been 5,613 mail-in absentee votes cast and 9,930 votes made locally. That total of 15,543 is more than three and half times the 4,279 votes cast by this point in the 2016 presidential election.

Two local men were arrested Tuesday night by Columbus police, accused of trying to steal a catalytic converter off of a van on the east side of Columbus.

Columbus police are reporting that they were called to the 100 block of S. Mapleton Street at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night on a report of the men working to remove the converter from the vehicle. As officers arrived, one ran away carrying a portable saw.

Police were assisted by a Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department police dog who tracked the fleeing man to a nearby home. 52-year-old Dandy J. Knight was arrested on preliminary charges of resisting law enforcement and theft.

The second man, 27-year-old Anthony K. Roberts was stopped by police and officers found the catalytic converter that had been removed from the van. Roberts is facing a preliminary charge of theft.

A Columbus man is facing charges of dealing methamphetamine after a traffic stop uncovered more than 100 grams of the drug in his vehicle Tuesday.

The Columbus Police Department’s intelligence led policing unit stopped a vehicle near 11th and Washington streets at about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday afternoon as part of an ongoing drug investigation.

Police say the driver, 45-year-old Charles A. Sims argued with officers and was reaching under his seat. A Bartholomew County Sheriff’s police dog alerted to the odor of drugs in the vehicle.

Police found a large amount of methamphetamine under the seat and also cocaine and prescription pills inside the car.

Sims was arrested on preliminary charges of dealing in methamphetamine and in a narcotic and possession of methamphetamine, a narcotic and cocaine.

The Bartholomew County Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team assisted with this ongoing investigation.

Update: The statewide Amber Alert has been canceled. The girl was found safe.

Earlier: A Statewide Amber Alert has been declared for a missing 5-year-old girl from Huntington.

Authorities announced the Amber Alert last night saying the girl, Neveah O’Neal, is believed to be extreme danger after being taken at about 8:15 last night in Huntington. The unknown suspects in her disappearance were last seen driving a gold Ford Ranger extended cab truck with a toolbox in the bed of the truck, and unknown plates.

The Huntington Police Department says Neveah O’Neal, is a 5-year-old white girl, 4 feet 5 inches tall, and 50 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. She was last seen wearing blue jeans, and Paw Patrol pink tennis shoes. Neveah was last seen in Huntington, which is 105 miles north of Indianapolis.

If you have any information on the disappearance of Neveah O’Neal, you should contact the Huntington Police Department at 260-356-7110 or call 911.