The Indiana Immunization Coalition will be holding a community immunization clinic in Bartholomew County next month.

The clinic will be from 9 to 11 a.m. in the morning on Saturday, August 6th at Clifty Creek Elementary School in the cafeteria

You should bring your insurance card as the coalition will accept and bill all insurance carriers.

Everyone who takes part will be vaccinated with all of the CDC recommended vaccines. The clinic will consult the state immunization registry to see what vaccines you are missing.

You can register online at patients.vaxcare.com/registration and use the enrollment code IN 65942.

A heat advisory remains in effect for our area until 9 p.m. this evening, with heat index values of more than 110 in some parts of south central Indiana.

The National Weather Service in Indianapolis is forecasting temperatures in the mid 90s and high humidity combining for heat index values of up to 105 in Shelbyville and Greensburg, 108 in Seymour, 110 in Bloomington and 113 in Bedford.

Forecasters say the dangerous heat could continue into Thursday.

There is also a chance for severe thunderstorms today and tomorrow. The weather service has most of central and southern Indiana under a slight risk of severe weather, with the possibility of damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain.

Columbus City Council has approved plans to make Columbus a second-class city.

The council gave its final approval last night for the measure which would change some of the ways the city is governed. Under the second class designation, the city would add two members to the City Council, the elected clerk-treasurer would become an elected clerk, while the city would appoint a comptroller to assume oversight of the city finances.

Columbus has been eligible for the higher classification for more than 20 years, but had opted to remain the largest third class city in the state.

A resident questioned the plan last night, saying that the city would dilute residents’ representation by expanding the council and would add more than $100,000 a year of extra expenses, without any direct benefit to the taxpayers. That comes on top of already high costs for residents such as for gasoline, he said. And residents would not be able to vote for the comptroller, as they now vote for the clerk-treasurer, he said.

Council voted 5-1 to approve the plan, with Frank Miller opposing the measure.

Following the City Council’s approval, the change won’t go into effect until January of 2024.

A fire on Cherry Street yesterday evening left a family homeless.

According to Columbus Fire Department reports, firefighters were called to the rental home at about 6:49 p.m. yesterday evening after neighbors reported the fire. When firefighters arrived, the single story home showed heavy fire along with a nearby vehicle. Neighbors told firefighters that children might be inside the home. Firefighters moved inside to search for victims and to fight the fire, but no one was at home.

Firefighters were hampered by the extreme heat of the day, and extra units were called in so firefighters could rest and rehydrate.

The resident was alerted by neighbors and he told firefighters that he and his two children had left the home about 30 minutes before the fire started.

Damages to the home and contents are estimated at $50,000. No one was injured. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Photo courtesy of Columbus Fire Department.

Columbus police are canceling their annual Blue Line motorcycle ride. The ride was scheduled for this Saturday with proceeds to benefit the Columbus/Bartholomew County DARE Program.

Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the police department, said the ride was canceled for a lack of manpower. He said the department has several officers in training, with officers stretch to cover shifts on the street, and not enough to safely escort the ride.

This would have been the sixth annual ride, with a planned 85-mile route starting in Edinburgh and ending in Columbus. The ride was previously canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Police thanked the public for supporting the DARE program. Each year, the department spends between $15 and $20,000 dollars from donations and fundraisers for the drug abuse education program, according to police.

The DARE Charity Golf Tournament at Otter Creek Golf Course is coming up on August 5th. To register a team or sponsor a tee sign, you can contact the department at 812-376-2600.

A Columbus driver was arrested, accused of running from a crash site on Saturday afternoon.

According to reports from the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, deputies were called to the crash in the 4200 block of South U.S. 31 at about 3:38 p.m. Saturday afternoon. They said the driver, 39-year-old Derick S. Harris, appeared to be impaired. But as they spoke to him, Harris ran into nearby woods.

Deputies and police dogs secured the perimeter of the area and Harris was found walking in a nearby field. They also found several pills scattered in the area.

After being taken to Columbus Regional Hospital to be checked out, he was arrested on preliminary charges of:

• Leaving the scene of an accident
• Resisting law enforcement
• Public intoxication – drugs
• Obstructing traffic
• Possession of a controlled substance
• Obstruction of justice
• Maintaining a common nuisance.

He was also found to be on parole.

Photos courtesy of Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department.

Drought conditions have spread into our area with abnormally dry weather through June.

Last week, the National Drought Mitigation Center declared most of eastern and central Indiana as being under the D0 drought condition, the lowest level of drought intensity. Meteorologist Alexander McGinnis with the National Weather Service explains:

McGinnis says that drought conditions can range from D0 to D4, with far western and southern Indiana under the D1 category.

McGinnis says that some parts of Indiana have only received 1-2 inches of rain through late June, while Columbus received almost 3 and a half inches of rain in June and North Vernon received just under three inches. However that is still more than 2-3 inches lower than normal.

It was drier here in 2016 and 2020 and he said we are still not seeing the levels of drought last seen in 2012. That year was one of the five worst drought years on record.

Four people were rescued from the Muscatatuck River Saturday after an incident while kayaking.

According to Vernon Fire Rescue reports, firefighters along with Jennings County Sheriff’s deputies and Jennings County medics were called to the river at about 10 p.m. Saturday night on report of kayakers lost somewhere between County Roads 150W and 225W.

Rescue workers went downstream on an airboat where they found three people on a sandbar who were waving a light in the air for help. The stranded kayakers and their kayaks were loaded into the airboat and rescuers continued downstream until they found the fourth person near the bridge at County Road 225W.

No one was injured.

Columbus officials say that Taylor Road will be closing today while contractors work on an improvement project.

The work will be between 25th Street and Rocky Ford Road. The road will be closed to thru traffic and only available for resident and emergency vehicle access.

Also starting today, the roundabout on 31st Street will close for at least 10 days. The Fairlawn Drive roundabout will remain open during the work, but after the 31st street improvements are finished, that roundabout will close.

Columbus police are looking for information on a shooting over the weekend.

According to Columbus Police Department reports, officers were called to the 2800 block of Streamside Drive at about 12:30 a.m. early Saturday morning on a report of shots fired. They found a woman who had a gunshot wound to her foot. She was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital.

Police say that they believe there was a disturbance involving several people before the shooting. If you have any information on the incident, you can contact detectives at 812-376-2600.

Tips and information can be submitted anonymously.