Seymour is receiving a half million dollar federal grant to start cleaning up some polluted sites around the community.

The city announced this week that the $500,000 in grant money from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would be used for the assessment and cleanup of brownfield sites. Brownfield sites are locations where property has been abandoned or underutilized because redevelopment is hampered due to real or perceived pollution on the property. According to the city, it will conduct up to 24 site assessments and develop 5 to 10 cleanup plans. The money will also be used to update a list of brownfield sites and conduct community engagement activities about the site.

The priority sites include former downtown industrial and commercial sites such as former tire shops, a former auto repair and body shop, a former gas station, and a former paper mill.

Seymour Mayor Matt Nicholson said the city recently saw the transformation of a former brownfield site into a $12.5 million apartment complex. This grant will help evaluate other properties to determine what needs to be done to make them marketable, he said.

South-central Indiana is under a marginal risk of severe thunderstorms this afternoon and evening.

The National Weather Service says that threat is highest south of a line from roughly Greensburg to Terre Haute. You could see damaging winds, isolated large hail and heavy rain which could lead to localized flooding with these storms.

The last public food distribution event for the Columbus East Food Pantry is set for Friday afternoon.

After Friday the pantry will go back to just serving the students in need at the school, as it was originally intended.

Friday’s drive-through food distribution will be from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Door 31 in the west parking lot behind Columbus East near the tennis courts. There will be enough food for about 200 families but due to strong demand, you can only pick up two collections of food per car. Columbus Animal Care Services will also be distributing limited amounts of pet food.

INDOT says that Hawcreek Boulevard will be closing overnight Thursday while crews make repairs to the approaches to National Road.

Contractors will be closing the street between 25th Street and U.S. 31 starting at about 6 p.m. Thursday through 8 a.m. Friday morning. You could also notice delays to the traffic signal if you are driving in the area.

INDOT says the work is part of a $5.7 million asphalt resurfacing project between Washington Street and Base Road that started last month. You will continue to see day and nighttime lane closures along this stretch of U.S. 31 as crews remove and replace curb ramps, in addition to patching, milling and paving.

The completion date for the project is October 30th. INDOT reminds you to slow down, to drive without distractions and to be alert to worker safety when driving through construction zones. The schedule is dependent on the weather.

The city of Columbus street overlay program is underway.

According to the city engineer’s office, crews from Dave O’Mara Contractors will be working from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays on the project. No on street parking is allowed while the work is going on in the neighborhood and any cars left on the street will be towed.

The work is a three step-process with patching, then milling and finally resurfacing.

The work is starting in McCullough’s Run with patching continuing today, milling starting on Thursday and resurfacing starting on Friday.

Work in Prairie Streams is scheduled to begin with patching on Thursday, milling on May 24th and surface work on May 25th.

Windsor Place and Oakbrook at Tipton Lakes are also scheduled in this first phase of the work.

You can get a complete list of affected streets on the city website at www.columbus.in.gov/engineering.

The Columbus Redevelopment Commission is agreeing to make improvements to the rental space occupied by Lucabe Coffee on Fourth Street.

The city agency operates as the landlord for the space, which is part of the city owned Fourth and Jackson Street parking garage. Commission attorney Stan Gamso said that the coffee shop owners, Tyler and Alissa Hodge want to renew the lease they have held since 2017, but would also like some improvements to the property.

Among the changes requested of the city agency is the relocation of an interior HVAC unit to the ceiling, replacing an awning, demolishing an interior closet wall, installing an energy efficient water heater, applying window glazing and updating the exterior wall sign to include energy efficient LED lights. The total cost of the improvements is estimated at about $42,000.

The city improvements would be the property of the city and would benefit the rental space, the commission concluded.

The owners also plan to perform about $19,500 in renovations themselves, including new cabinets, countertops, refurbishing the kids area, updating and adding equipment and expanding retail offerings.

The money for the project would come from the city’s Jackson Street Parking Garage accounts.

The Bill Monroe Music Park & Campground in Bean Blossom is planning its first ever Crawfish Festival, Friday and Saturday.

The two-day event will feature a crawfish boil, live music, crawfish races, crawfish eating contests, musician workshops and more.

Gates will open daily at 10 a.m. and events will last until 11 at night. You can bring coolers, lawn chairs, blankets and pets on a leash. Camping will be available and you can spend the entire weekend. The festival will be happening rain or shine.

Children 12 & under are free. Tickets are $100 for the weekend or $55 for one day. The crawfish boil is $30 per three pound order.

You can get more information at their website.

A Columbus teen was arrested Friday night on drug-related charges after police tried to stop him for speeding.

According to reports from the Columbus Police Department, officers noticed a car speeding on Goeller Boulevard at about 11:15 p.m. Friday night. But when officers tried to stop the vehicle, the driver refused to pull over. Instead, he ran several stop signs, crossed the centerline and turned off his headlights in efforts to shake the pursuing officers.

He eventually pulled over in the parking lot at Southside Middle School, where 18-year-old Jesse T. Williams was taken into custody. A search revealed two loaded handguns, marijuana, plastic baggies with drug residue, scales and a large amount of cash.

He was arrested on preliminary charges of resisting Law Enforcement with a Vehicle, dealing in and possessing marijuana and reckless driving.

The city of Columbus is facing a new obstacle toward construction of a riverfront improvement project and extension of the People Trail system.

Heather Pope, director of the city redevelopment department, said that the Army Corps of Engineers is requesting more information about possible anthropological significance of two areas of the riverfront project. The agency wants to know whether the areas warrant a more in depth look into whether there could be artifacts in the area.

Specifically, the agency is concerned about the area around First Street where the current DNR boat ramp is, and an area across East Fork White River from the pump house brewery. Pope said that the city has been working with historic preservation officials since the start of the project planning and this is the first time the concern has been raised.

The city will now consider hiring an archaeology firm to provide more information.

To the positive, the state announced last month that the trail expansion portion of the project received a $1.7 million grant from the Next Level Trails program. Pope updated the redevelopment commission on the project Monday, saying the grant money could only be used for the trail extension, which would finish the loop around the city around the Second Street bridge. It could not be used for other parts of the project such as removing the dam from the river.

Illustration courtesy of Columbus Redevelopment Commission 2021 annual report

A Saturday night traffic stop led to arrest of a Tennessee man on drug possession charges after marijuana, heroin, biker gang motorcycle jackets, and a non-functional Tommy gun were discovered.

According to Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department reports, a deputy stopped a vehicle in the 11 000 block of North U.S. 31 at about 10:26 p.m. Saturday night for a traffic violation.

The driver, 32-year-old Reagan Fuller of Smithville, Tennessee said that he was driving a friend’s vehicle from Michigan to Tennessee. But Fuller also told the deputy that there was marijuana inside the vehicle and handed over a brown bag containing two marijuana cigarettes inside sealed containers.

A search of the vehicle recovered the motorcycle jackets, one with the word Nomad on the back, a bulletproof vest and the Tommy Gun and magazine, although the gun did not have a firing pin. Fuller told police that he was transporting the items for a friend.

Fuller was taken to the Bartholomew County Jail where he was found to be carrying nearly 5 grams of heroin and fentanyl packaged in eight smaller bags.

Fuller is facing preliminary charges of possession of a controlled substance.

Evidence photo courtesy of Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department.