The Friends of the Muscatatuck River Society will be having their 18th Annual Fall River cleanup sweep on Saturday, Oct. 2nd.

Called the “Shady” Sweep, it is named in memory of founder, Dan Shade.

Volunteers can either canoe or walk along a section of the Muscatatuck River collecting trash. Participants should dress in appropriate clothing for outdoor work and arrive at 8 a.m. at Vernon Commons via Brown Street. Registration will be a drive-thru-style similar to the Spring Cleanup.

At noon, the river crews will gather at the shopping center parking lot next to Country Chevrolet where Jennings County Highway Department trucks will collect the trash. Groups can also drop off their trash directly at the highway garage and recycling center.

If you have questions you can contact Troy Jackson at 812-592-0481.

Photo courtesy of Jennings County Parks.

The Columbus Police Department SWAT Team took part for the first time in the Indiana SWAT Challenge in Muncie last week. The challenge tests the teams skill and teamwork in several aspects throughout the event, which ran Wednesday through Saturday.

According to police reports, the SWAT team, made up of Columbus officers and Bartholomew County deputies, was split into two 6-man teams for the competion. Team No. 1 finished in third place, and Team No. 2 finished in sixth place. Columbus SWAT officers won the Glock longshot competition and the obstacle course.

Sheriff Matt Myers praised the continued collaboration between the two Bartholomew County agencies.

Photo courtesy of Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department

Indiana State Police say a scammer is calling residents of southern Indiana, pretending to be an investigator with the state police and tried to trick victims into buying prepaid credit cards or gift cards.

According to reports from the Bloomington Post, the caller ID for the scammer purports to be from the Indiana State Police and appears to be coming from an 812 number. The scammer claims to be investigating a theft of the victim’s identity, and demands the proceeds from card purchases as a way to clear up the identity theft.

Troopers are reminding Hoosiers that the scammers are technically savvy and will play on your emotions and fears to get to your money.

Authorities say that you should ignore unsolicited or unknown callers, hang up if things don’t seem correct and never provide any information over the phone such as your identity, social security number, bank account or credit card numbers.

And experts say that any caller’s attempt to make you buy prepaid credit cards or gift cards is always a scam.

Camp Atterbury officials released more details yesterday on the Afghan refugees that have been arriving at the base, hoping to clear up misconceptions and provide a clearer picture of the processes on the base during Operation Allies Welcome.

Mark Howell, spokesman for the operation, said that there are just over 66 hundred refugees on the base, and so far about 25 have been released into the country. Those were American citizens, green-card holders or spouses of residents, Howell said. He said there have been no escapees from the base.

Howell said less than 1 percent of the refugees have arrived with medical problems that required treatment at local hospitals. There are zero confirmed cases of measles at Atterbury, which he said is due to aggressive efforts to give MMR vaccines to the refugees, with just over 11,600 vaccinations so far.

There have been 13 cases of COVID-19 among the refugees. Those patients were quarantined with their families during the outbreak.

Nearly half of the refugees are children, with just over 47 percent under the age of 18.

Photo by Sgt. Dylan Bailey, U.S. Army. A 1st Calvary Division Soldier and Afghan evacuee youth play soccer last week at Camp Atterbury. 

Two Scipio residents were arrested on drug-related charges on Friday after more than 35 grams of methamphetamine was found in their vehicle.

According to Seymour police reports released yesterday, narcotics investigators found out that a vehicle containing meth for sale was headed into the city. Police found and stopped the vehicle at about 3:47 p.m. Friday afternoon on West Tipton Street.

A passenger, 35-year-old Juanita White was wanted on several outstanding warrants and was taken into custody. Police say the driver, 57-year-old Steven Robbins, allegedly struggled with officers before he was Tazed.

A search of the vehicle uncovered the methamphetamine along with about three grams of fentanyl, syringes, an unknown powder and other drug paraphernalia.

In addition to the warrants, White is now facing charges of dealing in and possessing meth, plus possessing a controlled substance, a syringe and drug paraphernalia.

Robbins is facing the same charges plus resisting law enforcement.

Eastern Bartholomew Water Company has issued a boil water advisory for some of its customers due to water main maintenance.

The affected area include County Road 500E at State Road 46 to County Road 300S and 600E, along with County Road 200S to Burnsville.

Those customers should boil their water for five minutes before using it for drinking or food preparation. The boil advisory is in effect until 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

Bartholomew County Health Department and Windrose Health’s mobile unit will be offering a COVID-19 Pfizer vaccination clinic for the community today and Thursday at Foundation for Youth.

The vaccinations are for those 12 and older.

The clinics will be from 4 to 6 p.m. each day at FFY, which is at 405 Hope Avenue in Columbus.

Walk-ins are welcome or you can call Windrose at 317-680-9901 to register.

Also, the National Guard will be providing COVID vaccine and testing clinics at the Bartholomew County 4-H fairgrounds Friday and Saturday.

The site at the midway area off of County Road 200S will be open from noon to 8 p.m. both days. Rapid antigen and PCR tests will be available.

You can choose either the Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The testing and vaccine are free.

The Columbus East Food Pantry will be having a community food distribution from 4:30 to 6:30 on Friday at the school.

You can drive-up for pre-bagged collections of food. There will be enough for about 200 families.

The Columbus East Food Pantry is available to the entire community and is not limited to BCSC families.

The pickup point is at door 31 in the west parking lot behind the school near the tennis courts. Vehicles should not enter the west parking lot until after 4:00 to ensure student safety during bus and parent pick-up.

The Columbus East Food Pantry is a Gleaners school-based food pantry.

A Columbus Human Rights Commission series of virtual films, lectures and seminars on topics including diversity, inclusion, and belonging continues at noon today with a virtual seminar by Sheila Suess Kennedy on redistricting, gerrymandering and voter suppression laws.

Kennedy is a a professor emerita of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis’ Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Kennedy has previously served as the executive director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, a former Republican candidate for Indiana’s 11th Congressional District, and is founder of the Center for Civic Literacy at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. She is a graduate of Stephens College for Women, Indiana University, and Indiana University Mauer School of Law in Bloomington.

The lecture series will be via Zoom and is open to the public. Lectures start at noon and will be recorded for later viewing. For more information and to register, you can go to www.hrcsparks.community.

Our Hospice of South-Central Indiana says that despite having to cancel the Labor Day weekend concert at Mill Race Park, the non-profit group still set a new record for raffle ticket sales and almost topped the 2020 record for proceeds from the fundraiser.

The fundraiser netted more than $168,000, down slightly from the 2020 $169,000 dollars of net revenue. The hospice sold 5,082 raffle tickets — a new record passing 2020’s 5,026 tickets sold. The winner of this year’s $10,000 raffle was Chelsea Berkery of Bargersville.

The hospice credited Faurecia and Columbus Regional Health for sponsoring the cancelled concert, contributing funds for the patients and families served by the hospice.

A fish fry at the American Legion Post in Columbus raised a record $8,605. The fish fry was sponsored by the Legion and Silgas.

The funds raised will go directly to the care of patients and families. That includes those in hospice care and those in palliative care, a new service started in 2019.