A Seymour man is facing 10 counts of child molesting, after assaulting a child over the course of eight years, police say.

According to Seymour Police Department reports, the Indiana Department of Child Services alerted investigators in February that a man was allegedly having ongoing sexual relations with a girl. Police interviewed the suspect who initially denied the accusations.

But as police continued their investigation, they discovered that the incidents allegedly started in 2014 when the girl was five, and went on until she was 13.

Police investigators also learned that the suspect, 60-year-old Charles D. Heatherly, was a convicted sex offender.

On Thursday, Heatherly was arrested. He declined to be interviewed and was taken to the Jackson County Jail. Today, prosecutors charged him with 10 felony counts of child molesting along with an enhancement for being a repeat sex offender, police say.

Legal Aid is holding a Free Legal Aid Phone Clinic from 3 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Legal Aid offers the clinics for low-income residents of its eight-county district. That includes Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings, Johnson, Rush, and Shelby Counties.

If you take part you will have a brief consultation with a volunteer attorney to answer general questions, to offer legal information or to receive other advice over the phone.

To take part, you must first register between noon and 2 p.m. Tuesday by calling 812-378-0358.

The town of Hope is starting a program to check in on seniors in the community.

According to the Hope Police Department, police will reach out to the ill, elderly or shut-ins living alone throughout the town. Those in the program will be contacted each week by a police officer or dispatcher by phone to check on their well-being.

The program is a free service meant to allow seniors who are living alone to feel more secure. The program will also give seniors living alone a chance to interact with someone.

For those who can’t be reached by phone, officers, relatives or neighbors will check in on them.

If you know someone who might benefit from this program, you can contact Hope Town Marshall Matt Tallent at 812-546-4015 or by email at [email protected]

You can expect to see traffic tie-ups on Interstate 65 between the Columbus and Walesboro exits, starting again next week. INDOT says contractors will soon be back to work widening the highway.

Monday through Friday nights next week, there will be lanes closed between the two exits to move and to place temporary concrete barrier walls.

On Monday, March 28th, southbound lanes will be closed as the traffic is shifted to the northbound lanes. That new configuration will be in place until July. March 29th through April 1st, crews will be closing northbound and southbound lanes as they begin preliminary resurfacing work.

All of the work will be done between 9 p.m. in the evening and 6 a.m. in the morning. In addition to the lanes closing, you will see reduced speed limits of 55 mph in the work zone, with 45 mph flashing signs when workers are present.

Work began last year on the $65 million project to add travel lanes, with Force Construction chosen as the contractor for the project. The new travel lanes and resurfacing is expected to be finished this fall, with additional work going on through the summer of 2023.

INDOT remind you to use extra caution, to drive without distractions, and to keep an eye out for workers in active construction zones. The work schedule is dependent on the weather.

A theft investigation in Country Squire Lakes led to the arrest of four people.

According to Jennings County Sheriff’s Department reports, the investigation started on Friday with a victim saying that a man the victim knew had stolen a video game console, cell phone, Apple watch and keys to the victim’s car.

On Saturday, deputies talked to the suspect, 20-year-old Nicholas Payne and discovered that he had an outstanding Jennings County warrant for failing to appear in court for a sentencing on a charge of armed robbery. He was taken into custody. Payne is facing charges of theft as well as the outstanding warrant.

On Monday, deputies served a search warrant at a home in Country Squire Lakes and found the stolen X-box, but they also discovered three quarters of a pound of methamphetamine, oxycodone tablets, drug paraphernalia and about $6,000 in cash.

29-year-old Brian Loos was arrested on preliminary charges of dealing methamphetamine, possession of a narcotic drug, maintaining a common nuisance and receiving stolen property.

Also arrested were 31-year-old John Blount, accused of possessing methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, as well as visiting a common nuisance. 21-year-old Ezra Engle is being charged with maintaining a common nuisance and also had an outstanding Indiana parole warrant.

As Severe Weather Preparedness Week winds down, the Bartholomew County Emergency Management department is reminding you that you can sign up for the Everbridge Alert System to receive important weather and emergency information by phone, text or e-mail.

The county has been using Everbridge for nine years. Alerts may include public safety threats, dangerous weather, Amber alerts and traffic advisories. Users can customize their own settings so they only receive the alerts they are interested in.

Everbridge will alert you by the methods you have selected and you must acknowledge receipt of a message or it will roll over to the next method. On the phone, you can acknowledge you have received the alert by hitting “1.” On text messages or emails, you can respond by typing “Yes”

You can sign up to receive Everbridge alerts from Bartholomew County Emergency Management by calling 812-379-1500, emailing [email protected] or through the county’s website at bartholomew.in.gov.

Three people were arrested after the vehicle they were in was stopped for a traffic violation early Thursday morning in downtown Columbus.

According to Columbus Police Department reports, officers stopped a vehicle at about 12:50 a.m. yesterday morning near 7th and California Streets for a minor traffic violation. Police said the driver at first gave a fake identity, but turned out to be 41-year-old Michael R. Jorgensen of Fountaintown. He was wanted on two outstanding warrants from Henry and Decatur counties.

As he was taken into custody, a search revealed methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in his clothes.

A passenger also gave a fake name and turned out to be 30-year-old Shara M. Turnbloom, of Edinburgh, who was wanted on a Decatur County warrant.

Jorgensen was arrested for possessing the drugs and paraphernalia, false informing and the outstanding warrants. Turnbloom is facing a charge of false informing in addition to the warrant.

A juvenile was also in the car who turned out to be a runaway and was also taken into custody.

Columbus firefighters are reminding you that portable space heaters need to be used with safety in mind.

That comes in the wake of a fire Tuesday morning in a storage shed where a propane space heater was being used, along with a long extension cord to a nearby home.

Although the cause of that fire is still undetermined, firefighters say you should not use a propane or gas heating device inside of a building or home. In addition to the fire danger, those devices also produce deadly carbon monoxide gas, which is odorless and colorless. Space heating devices require space. Any combustibles should be kept at least three feet away from any heating device to prevent an accidental fire.

Using extension cords, especially with a portable space heater device, can also create a fire hazard.

Columbus City Council has given its approval for an up to $11.5 million dollar parks bond that would allow the city to turn parts of the former Fair Oaks Mall into offices and public spaces for parks and recreation department.

At the council meeting this week, members voted to approve the second and final reading of the ordinance for the bond. Councilwoman Elaine Hilber brought up a situation in Westfield, where the city is selling off a sports complex because it can’t make the payments on the bonds.

Pam Harrell with the parks department said that the Westfield sports complex is much larger, and is an inside-outside facility. And Westfield’s complex is put to larger uses outside of the scope of government operations, such as hosting the Colts, she said.

The bond would be repaid through property taxes in the city. The city’s financial advisor, Andrew Lanam with Stifel Financial Corp, previously explained that Columbus has one other general obligation bond outstanding, taken out for The Commons, which would be retired in 2028. The Nexus Park bond if approved, would raise the tax rate for bonds from two cents now to about three cents, he said. The bonds would be paid off in 2041.

The council voted 6-1 to approve the bonds with Hilber voting against the ordinance. Hilber has been opposed to the NexusPark plans in prior votes, expressing concerns about the existing Donner Center facility and tying up so much of the income tax revenue for so long for the fieldhouse portion of the project.

To build the fieldhouse portion of the project, the city has also approved a $1.8 million annual lease payment from the city’s economic development income taxes. That would take about half of the city’s annual economic development income tax revenue for the 25-year length of the lease.

The city envisions a roughly 150,000 square foot fieldhouse on the north side of the former mall. The fieldhouse itself would cost about $25 million, financed through the city’s Columbus Municipal Facilities Building Corporation.

Former President Trump says that Mike Pence will not be his running mate in 2024.

In an interview with “The Washington Examiner,” Trump said he doesn’t think people would accept Pence, a Columbus native, as his running mate again. He went on to say he and Pence had a great relationship “except for the very important factor that took place at the end.”

Pence refused to overturn the results of the 2020 election and has said he didn’t have the authority to do so when Trump falsely claimed he won the 2020 race. Pence himself is said to be considering a presidential bid in 2024.

Story courtesy of TTWN Media Networks Inc.