A burning trash can ignited the outside of the westside CVS Pharmacy in Columbus Wednesday afternoon.

According to reports from Columbus Fire Department, they were called to the store on West Jonathan Moore Pike at about 3:19 p.m. after a customer saw the flames from the parking lot. The customer alerted store employees who evacuated the customers before firefighters arrived. Employees tried to extinguish the blaze with chemical fire extinguishers but could not get it under control.

Columbus firefighters knocked the fire down quickly with water hoses. They used a ladder truck to check to ensure that the fire had not extended to the rooftop or through the building’s parapet wall.

Damages were confined to the exterior wall and estimated at $5,000 to $10,000. No injuries were reported and the fire remains under investigation.

Columbus Police Department and CenterPoint Energy assisted at the scene.

Photos courtesy of Columbus Fire Department.

A law-enforcement camera system led to man’s arrest in Columbus, after the system recognized a stolen car.

According to Columbus Police Department reports, officers received a notification at about 2:10 p.m. Tuesday afternoon that the camera system recognized a stolen car heading into the city. Police found the vehicle shortly afterwards abandoned near State Road 11 and Kenmill Drive. A man was found running near a mobile home park and after a short foot chase, he was taken into custody.

While searching the stolen vehicle, police discovered methamphetamine and fentanyl inside. 44-year-old Anthony B. Smith of Columbus was arrested on preliminary charges of possession of the drugs and drug paraphernalia, theft of a vehicle and resisting law enforcement.

The camera system, known as FLOCK, was purchased by Bartholomew County last year. The cameras have the ability to read license plates and quickly process those against a database to alert police with various pieces of information, such as the plate of a stolen vehicle, or a vehicle suspected in a child abduction or missing persons case. That information would be processed within moments and then forwarded to on-duty deputies via a computer program in their vehicle, authorities said at the time.

The Indiana State Department of Health COVID Strike Team will be having a testing and vaccination clinic next week at the former Fair Oaks Mall.

The clinic will be held Wednesday, Feb. 16th through Saturday Feb. 19th at NexusPark from noon to 8 p.m. in the former J.C. Penny location in the mall.

Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be available as well as PCR COVID-19 testing.

No appointment is necessary.

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools are recognizing Dr. Linda DeClue as this year’s Education Hall of Fame inductee.

She was honored at this week’s school board meeting for her work in the district ranging from a Clifty Creek Elementary School principal in the early 1990s to the district’s associate superintendent for human resources.

Larry Perkinson, former BCSC student services director, praised DeClue for making the school district a better place through her work, saying “our kids are better off because of you and you made teachers better.”

For her part, DeClue said she loved her job as head of human resources for the school district and all of her highlights were made possible by the people she worked with.

DeClue said she hoped her legacy was in part her working on behalf of teachers, administrators and students. But also how she treated others.

DeClue said she believes that it was her duty to hire talented people and then to support and nurture them.

A Columbus native, DeClue earned an elementary education degree at St. Mary of the Woods College in Terre Haute and her doctorate at Indiana University. She began her career as an elementary school principal in Lebanon before returning to Columbus.

DeClue retired from the school district in 2015.

Dr. Linda DeClue photo courtesy of Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.

February 27th is College Goal Sunday for college-bound students at Indiana schools. And there will be locations in Columbus and Franklin to get help filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

The FAFSA is required for students to be considered for financial aid including grants, scholarships, and student loans. It must be filed by April 15 to be eligible for Indiana financial aid.

College Goal Sunday will be held at 2 p.m. Feb. 27th  in Columbus at IUPUC on Central Avenue and in Franklin at Ivy Tech Community College on McClain Drive. Financial aid professionals will be on hand to walk participants through the filing process.

Students and their parents or guardians should bring their 2020 completed 1040 tax returns, plus other income and benefits information from 2020. If the student worked, they should also bring tax and income information. Students older than 24 may attend alone.

Students who attend College Goal Sunday and submit a completed evaluation form will be entered in a drawing for one of five $1,000 scholarships.

You can get more information or find other sites at CollegeGoalSunday.org.

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools are announcing that the district’s multi-cultural coordinator Kimberly Easton has died suddenly.

A graduate of Columbus North High School, Easton was a Columbus native who had a more than 20-year- career in TV journalism. That included stints as a reporter or anchor in Virginia, Michigan, California, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

When she was appointed to the BCSC position in August 2019, she said that she decided to seek the job as a way to reconnect to the community where she grew up and to give back.

Bill Jensen, director of secondary education for the district said that Easton “clearly moved the district forward in diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. She cared for all of our students, and especially our marginalized students.”

Bartholomew County COVID-19 numbers continue to be far below the recent highs, even as the state passes a grim new milestone of more than 21,000 deaths.

According to numbers released yesterday by the Bartholomew County Community COVID-19 Task Force, there were 49 new positive cases of COVID-19 in the county and 26 people hospitalized with the disease as of Feb. 6th. Those are both down from recent record highs of 70 COVID-19 patients on January 17th and 326 positive test results on Jan. 27th, according to Indiana State Department of Health records.

Indiana reported 95 new deaths as of Monday, which pushes the statewide death toll from the disease to 21,079 people. Bartholomew County has had 228 deaths since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

Every county in Indiana is still showing severe spread of the disease according to the state health department.

Bartholomew and most of its surrounding counties remain under a yellow travel advisory this morning.

Under a yellow advisory level, routine travel or activities may be restricted in areas because of a hazardous situation, and individuals should use caution or avoid those areas.

Shelby and Decatur counties have returned to a normal status, while Brown, Jackson, Jennings and Johnson counties remain yellow, according to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

Indiana Department of Homeland Security travel restrictions map

There is a new location in Columbus to get tested for COVID-19. As of Monday, Gravity Diagnostics is operating the clinic at 2675 Fox Pointe Drive in the former Bartholomew County Health Department offices.

PCR and Rapid Testing will be available.

Amanda Organist, with the county health department, updated the county commissioners at their Monday meeting. She said she is excited to have the company operating because the health department can use the help.

County Commissioner Tony London pointed out that because Gravity Diagnostics is using the county-owned facility, there is no cost to the county for the clinic.

The clinic will be open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

There is no cost and no appointment required. Organist said that you can pre-register at mobile.gravitydiagnostics.com

There will be a few contested races in the May 3rd primary election in Bartholomew County, after candidate filing wrapped up yesterday.

Candidates who wanted to file received an extension until Monday at noon, after last week’s storm closed the county clerk’s office on Friday, the original deadline.

In the Indiana House District 59 race, incumbent Republican Ryan Lauer will face a primary challenge from long-time Bartholomew County Prosecutor Bill Nash. Three Republicans will be running for the Indiana House District 73 race covering northwestern Bartholomew County — Jennifer Meltzer, Bob Carmony and Edward K. Comstock II.

The Bartholomew County prosecutors office will have a Republican primary with Lindsey Holden-Kay and Joshua K. Scherschel running for the seat Nash is vacating. And there will be a primary for Bartholomew County Assessor with incumbent Republican Ginny Whipple running against Laura DeDomenic.

Three of the four seats on Bartholomew County Council will have contested Republican primaries. In District 1, incumbent Scott Bonnell will face Dave London and Greg Patterson. In District 2, appointed incumbent Greg Duke is running for the first time against Leah Beyer. And in District 3, incumbent and former sheriff Mark Gorbett will face Derick Olson.

In Hope, voters will have a three-way Republican primary for the two at-large seats on the Town Council, with incumbent Clyde Compton facing Stephanie Long and Shanon Pittman.

There will be a four-way Republican primary for the two at-large seats on the Edinburgh Town Council with Ryan Blaker, Maryann Gallagher-Little, Marshall Ryan Piercefield and Debra K. Buck running.

And in Elizabethtown there is a five way Republican primary for three at-large seats on the Town Council. Candidates there include Levi Brown, Mike Philipps, Rick Mullins, Marsha A. McBee and Henry C. Hoover.

At the top of the ticket there will be contested races for both parties for U.S. Senate, and Congressional Districts 6 and 9.