The town of Hope will be looking for a new town manager.

The Town Council last night agreed to search for a new town manager, and will be accepting applications through the end of February. The town has been without a manager since December of 2018 when the council opted not to renew the contract of then-manager J.T. Doane.

Council president Jerry Bragg said that he believes the town needs a manager because it takes pressure off of the town marshal and clerk-treasurer for day-to-day decisions about town operations. And it sets the direction of the town, allowing improvements to be made and attracting new businesses.

Council member Ed Johnson said he was concerned about the effect on town finances with uncertainty in future revenues and Council member Ohmer Miller said he would prefer to see those duties go to an administrative assistant at less cost. Johnson also said that the town manager would need to work for the council and keep the council informed of the manager’s activities.

The council voted 3-2 to seek applications through February 28th, with Miller and Johnson voting against the proposal. The council will also look to revise the job description before posting the announcement.

A Seymour man is being accused of attempted murder after allegedly stabbing a victim with a spear last week.

Seymour police are reporting that they were called to the 900 block of North O’Brien Street at about 10:26 p.m. on Thursday evening on a report of a stabbing. They found a 30-year-old man who had been stabbed in the stomach. He was first taken to Schneck Medical Center and then on to IU Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for treatment.

A search warrant was issued and during a search of the home, deputies found drugs, drug paraphernalia and the spear.

21-year-old Matthew C. Smith of Seymour was arrested on preliminary charges of attempted murder, possession of fentanyl, violation of the legend drug act, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

As of Monday, the victim was in stable condition, police say.

Bartholomew County will be contracting with an outside vendor to manage the scheduling of off-duty deputies for security at community functions and businesses.

The Bartholomew County Commissioners approved the contract at their Monday meeting with a company called Off Duty Management to provide the scheduling service. Capt. Dave Steinkoenig with the department said that it has been a sheriff’s department staff member making those arrangements, which require a significant amount of staff time.

But the biggest benefit for the county will be that the outside company will provide insurance to the event organizers covering the deputies and pick up the cost of workman’s comp insurance for the deputies that are working at events or businesses, Steinkoenig said. County attorney Grant Tucker explained that there has been no workman’s comp insurance for those deputies who might be injured working during their off hours. The organizations using the deputies services have traditionally had contracts indemnifying the county while using deputies for security.

There will be no costs to the county for the two-year contract. All the costs will be passed on to those seeking the deputies’ presence at their events and businesses.

Two Columbus men are being accused of breaking into storage units over the weekend.

Bartholomew County deputies were called to a storage business on East State Street at 11:07 p.m. Saturday night on a report of two men on the property who had not entered through the front gate. A witness said one of the suspects was breaking into storage units while the other appeared to be on the lookout. When deputies arrived they found two men attempting to hide inside a storage unit. A backpack was found nearby with burglary-related items and two storage units had their locks cut off.

Deputies arrested 31-year-old Joseph Hiten and 37-year-old Joshua Breeden, both of Columbus, on charges of burglary.

Nearly half of the inmates in the Bartholomew County Jail have been infected with COVID-19. The sheriff’s department is reporting that of the 211 inmates in the jail, 91 tested positive since Saturday, along with 4 jail employees.

Sheriff Matt Myers says that the jail is now on lockdown through at least the end of February. No one from the outside is allowed in, even attorneys for inmates.

Just last week, the sheriff’s department said that only 11 inmates had tested positive through all of 2020, and seven inmates were showing symptoms as of Jan. 19th, with five positive tests.

A strike team from the Indiana State Department of Health came to the jail over the weekend to test all the inmates and employees, revealing the outbreak. Four inmates refused the tests. They are being held in quarantine also.

The sheriff says sanitation in the jail stepped up when COVID-19 hit last March. Inmates and employees are required to wear masks, inmates are screened prior to entering the jail, as are employees. And employees must wear protective equipment when entering cell blocks. The jail staff is currently moving cell blocks to quarantine inmates who have tested positive and to keep those who have tested negative safe.

Despite the outbreak, the sheriff stressed that COVID-19 will not lead to most inmates’ early release. Only those who have less than 30 days left on their sentence and who are judged to be no threat to the community will be released early.

Myers said that jail staff have been in contact with local and federal officials about vaccines for the inmates, but so far that does not seem to be a priority.

The United Way of Bartholomew County is announcing that Canstruction has been set for the week of Feb. 20th at Fair Oaks Mall.

The event, now in its 12th year, has design teams use colorful cans of food to build large structures in the mall. After judging, all of the cans are then donated to local food pantries including Love Chapel, the Community Center of Hope and the Salvation Army.

Magen Pillar with the United Way says that the competition is more important than ever as food pantries are seeing an increase in need because of the economic effects of Covid-19.

People are invited to vote online by donating money toward their favorites for the People’s Choice Award. Other awards, including Best Meal, Best Use of Labels, Best Original Design, Most Cans, and Structural Ingenuity, will be chosen by a panel of judges. Photos of each structure will be posted online soon after they are complete Feb. 20.

The link where you can vote will be found at uwbarthco.org and by clicking “2021 CANstruction Voting.”

United Way’s Volunteer Action Center is also working with area companies to run internal canned food drives to help supplement the non-perishable goods from CANstruction.

Bartholomew County deputies say that a driver fled from law enforcement after being found stopped in the middle of the road last week.

The incident happened at about 10:17 p.m. in the evening Thursday when a deputy found the stopped vehicle in the 6000 block of East County Road 600N. When the deputy turned on his emergency lights, the driver began moving again and then took off when the deputy tried to pull the vehicle over.

Eventually the driver stopped near East County Road 600N and Marr Road. The driver, 50-year-old of Columbus, was arrested on preliminary charge of resisting law enforcement. He has since been released from the jail.

The daughter of Jennings County Sheriff Kenny Freeman was seriously injured in a crash last week.

Indiana State Police say that 24-year-old Corey Freeman of Hayden was driving south on County Road 580W approaching U.S. 50, when she ran through the stop sign and into the intersection at about 4:15 p.m. Thursday afternoon. She pulled into the path of a pickup pulling a trailer, driven by 21-year-old Cody St. John of North Vernon.

Freeman had to be rescued from the wreckage, before being flown to an Indianapolis hospital. St. John was taken to Schneck Medical Center in Seymour for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

U.S. 50 was closed for nearly two hours while the crash was investigated and cleaned up.

On social media over the weekend, Sheriff Freeman thanked the community for its outpouring of support and prayers for Corey.

Photo courtesy of Indiana State Police

A special prosecutor and special judge have been appointed in a case against a Columbus police officer.

The Republic newspaper is reporting that Decatur County Judge Timothy Day will serve as special judge and Dave Thomas of Vigo County will serve as special prosecutor in the case against Columbus officer John Velten.

Velten is facing charges of battery and official misconduct after the investigation by state police detectives. The charges came after an incident in June where a suspect in the back of Velten’s patrol car began hitting his head against the inside of the vehicle. In response, Velten allegedly punched the suspect, causing moderate injuries.

You can get more information at therepublic.com