There is still time to vote for your favorite Christmas lights display in the town of Hope. Main Street of Hope is sponsoring the third annual Deck the Town lights competition.

Photos have been taken of all the lighted homes in Hope and you can vote for your favorite on the Main Street of Hope Facebook page until 10 p.m. on Sunday night. You do not need to live in the town to vote.

The Christmas light display with the most “Likes” will be awarded a traveling Leg Lamp like the one in the movie “The Christmas Story.” Winners keep the trophy until mid-January and their names will be added to a commemorative plaque that will travel with the trophy

Town officials also encourage everyone to come tour the light displays in the town of Hope.

You can get more information and vote on the Main Street of Hope Facebook page.

Photo courtesy of Main Street of Hope from Dec. 2020.

Columbus Regional Health is warning that the current COVID-19 surge is nearing the levels of hospitalizations as last December’s peaks, despite the availability of vaccines and booster shots.

Kelsey DeClue, spokeswoman for the hospital, said that things are looking dire for the community and the health system in the current wave. She said the hospital has twice broken its previous records for total inpatient capacity in the last week. That is led by nearly a third of the patients being infected with COVID-19.

The high-water mark for COVID-19 was Dec. 2nd 2020, with 59 COVID patients, DeClue said. However in the past few days, there have been highs in the upper 50s with 58 on Dec. 10th. The numbers have hovered between the high 40s and 50s for about two weeks.

The disease remains one largely affecting the unvaccinated, with 8 out of every 10 COVID patients requiring hospitalization being unvaccinated DeClue said. Those who are vaccinated and require hospitalization are generally the very elderly and those who already have serious health issues. However, DeClue said there has not been a single hospitalization of anyone who was fully vaccinated and who had received a booster shot.

DeClue said that all the other health systems in the area are seeing similar trends.

Local and state police agencies are taking part in an enforcement effort cracking down on drunk and impaired drivers through New Year’s Day .

More than 200 agencies around Indiana are taking part in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over blitz, showing zero tolerance for anyone caught driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The high-visibility overtime patrols are being funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration through the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.

According to the institute, last December, 73 people lost their lives in fatal crashes in Indiana. Of those, 11 involved a drunk driver.

In Indiana, it is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol content level of .08 or greater. Drivers under the age of 21, can lose their license for three years if they are found with a blood alcohol content of .02 or greater.

If you think you have encountered a drunk or impaired driver on the road, call 911.

Area legislators are praising the $30 million grant the state is making to the South Central Indiana Talent Region as part of the state’s first round of Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative, or READI funding.

The region includes Bartholomew, Jennings and Jackson counties as well as parts of Johnson and Shelby counties. The grants were announced Tuesday afternoon by the governor and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation board.

State Rep. Ryan Lauer, a Columbus Republican, said south-central Indiana is recognized as a leader in innovation and advanced manufacturing. He said the investment positions the region “to spur development, create opportunities for affordable housing and increase our talent pipeline.”

State Rep. Jim Lucas, a Seymour Republican, said local population and workforce growth is outpacing the state as a whole, increasing the need for job growth and expansion here. He said Indiana is committed to lifting up communities, whether big, small, urban or rural, making Indiana “the ideal place to live, work and grow a business.”

First Financial Bank is announcing $27,500 in grants to two Columbus organizations — Foundation for Youth and Thrive Alliance.

First Financial’s annual grant campaign is benefitting more than 60 organizations in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois. This year’s campaign is focusing on low-income communities, with priorities in neighborhood development, workforce development and education, culture and the arts.

Mark Lindenlaub, executive director of Thrive Alliance, said that his organization’s grant would allow the group to house up to six people and support them on their path to addiction recovery. He said it is nearly impossible to recover from addictions if the person is in unstable housing or is homeless.

A Greensburg man died in a crash Tuesday night on U.S. 50 in Ripley County.

According to Indiana State Police reports, 54-year-old George Meadors of Greensburg was travelling east on U.S. 50, just east of Versailles at about 7:45 p.m., when, for unknown reasons, his vehicle left the road and struck a tree. The vehicle then caught fire. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the Ripley County Coroner’s Office.

The crash remains under investigation. U.S. 50 was closed for about three hours for the crash investigation and cleanup.

Photo courtesy of Indiana State Police

Six people were arrested Tuesday night after the Columbus Police Department SWAT team raided a home on Brooks Street.

According to police reports, the team served a search warrant on the home at about 10:30 Tuesday night as part of an ongoing investigation by the Bartholomew County Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team into illegal weapons and narcotics in the community.

Officers found several firearms at the home, including one with the serial numbers filed off. They also uncovered 73 grams of methamphetamine and a working meth lab.

40-year-old Joshua V. Dewey, of Columbus, was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital where he remains in police custody. Police say that he is facing preliminary charges of dealing, manufacturing and possessing methamphetamine, possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, possession of drug paraphernalia and maintaining a common nuisance.

Five others are facing charges including:

• Matthew J. Havidic, 58, Columbus: Maintaining a Common Nuisance, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
• Randall W. Garris, 50, Columbus: Visiting a Common Nuisance, Warrant
• Angel D. Sanders, 45, North Vernon: Visiting a Common Nuisance
• Darlene A. Jenkins, 56, Columbus: Visiting a Common Nuisance
• Jason L. Fields, 43, Columbus: Visiting a Common Nuisance

Bartholomew Consolidated School administrators are not ready to make a recommendation to relax the mask mandates in local schools. Since the start of the school year there have been nearly 900 positive test cases for COVID-19 and more than 600 students out of class during a single week.

Dr. Jim Roberts, BCSC’s superintendent, told the school board this week that with the continuing Indiana state of emergency, with the county’s “red” COVID-19 spread status and the still high number of students testing positive for the disease, that he is not ready to make a recommendation on ending the mask mandates.

As of this week’s school board meeting, there had been 382 positive test cases in the second quarter of the school year. That is on top of 514 positive cases in the first quarter. The highest week for positive cases was the week after fall break, Nov. 27th through Dec. 3rd.

Roberts said that based on state guidelines, if students are masked, the school district does not have to send children home who have had close contacts with those infected. Which means that despite the high numbers of infections, the district has been able to keep more children in class during the second quarter.

He said he cannot make a recommendation on masks until the district knows how that will affect the close-contact situation. He said if the county spread drops to an orange or even yellow level, without the state allowing close contact students to remain in school, then wearing a mask remains the minimum to keep them in class.

He said having children in class in person is the best for the students and for their families.

School board member Todd Grimes said that he believes the district should begin coming up with its own guidelines on when to end the mask mandates.

The Columbus Police Department is warning about the danger of package thefts in the community.

Police suggest that if you are expecting a package delivered to your front step or mailbox that you make plans to secure it as soon as possible. They say that if given the option, you should request a signature for delivery.

If you see suspicious people or activities in the neighborhood, you are urged to call the police department at 812-376-2600.

Indiana’s elite search and rescue team, Task Force One, is moving to a new location in Kentucky to search for victims of Friday night’s tornadoes.

A Columbus firefighter is among those deployed to Kentucky. The Columbus Fire Department announced that Firefighter Marcus Gruner is with the group.

On Monday, they were at the candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky. Right after the storm hit, there were fears that nearly 100 people were killed in the factory. But Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said yesterday that all of the victims have now been accounted for. He said there were eight fatalities at the plant.

Beshear says there are over 100 people across the state still unaccounted for in the aftermath of the severe storms.

Indiana’s Task Force One has now been reassigned to Dawson Springs, Kentucky — another town that took a direct hit from tornadoes Friday night — to continue to help with searches and cleanup.

Photo: Columbus Firefighter Marcus Gruner. Photo courtesy of Columbus Fire Department.