Bartholomew County officials say that Lake Road, between State Road 58 and the Brown County line, will be closed to through traffic from about 8 a.m. this morning through 5 p.m. for culvert pipe replacements.

You should avoid the area if you can.

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools will begin holding open houses for the upcoming school year starting next week.

On Aug. 2nd, there will be open houses for Bright Beginnings and Busy bees as well as Clifty Creek, Mt. Healthy, Schmitt, Southside and Talorsville elementary schools and Northside Middle School. On Aug. 3rd, open houses are scheduled for CSA Fodrea, CSA Lincoln, Parkside, Richards, Rockcreek and Schmitt elementary schools as well as Central Middle School.

The elementary open houses will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the afternoon, while the middle schools will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the evening.

Columbus East will hold its open house on Aug. 10th, Columbus North will have a virtual open house on Aug. 22nd and CSA New Tech on Sept. 14th. You can check the school district website for dates and times for the Columbus Virtual Pathway open house.

You can get more information at bcscschools.org.

According to the National Weather Service in Indianapolis:

A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southeastern Brown, southwestern Bartholomew, Jackson and southwestern Jennings Counties through 915 PM EDT…

At 822 PM EDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 11 miles south of Nashville, or 17 miles west of Seymour, moving southeast at 20 mph.

HAZARD…Wind gusts up to 50 mph and half inch hail.

SOURCE…Radar indicated.

IMPACT…Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is possible.

Locations impacted include…
Seymour, Brownstown, Crothersville, Hayden, Waymansville, Freetown, Vallonia, Spurgeons Corner, Elkinsville, Kurtz, Cortland, Stone Head and Story.

This includes Interstate 65 between mile markers 37 and 58.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

Torrential rainfall is also occurring with this storm and may lead to
localized flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm. Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe shelter inside a building or vehicle.

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until midnight EDT for central, south central and southeastern Indiana.

County health officials are asking you to take measures again to protect yourself and your family from COVID-19.

According to the COVID-19 Community Task Force, Bartholomew County has been moved into the red category for high transmission of the disease by the Centers for Disease Control.

The task force says that the CDC spread level is determined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital admissions, and the total number of new COVID-19 cases in an area.

The task force is urging you to again use masks when indoors, to stay up-to-date on vaccinations and boosters, and to get tested if you are showing symptoms of COVID-19.

Kelsey DeClue, spokeswoman for Columbus Regional Health, explains

DeClue says that you should also start again to consider what events you attend.

According to the most recent figures from the task force, Bartholomew County had 30 new positive cases as of July 19th and 10 people hospitalized for the disease. The hospitalizations have ranged from a low of 8 on several days in July to a high of 13 on July 13th.

In surrounding counties, Shelby and Jackson counties are rated as high transmission areas by the CDC. Johnson, Decatur and Jennings County are showing medium transmission and Brown County is having low transmission of the disease.

You can get more information at  covid19communitytaskforce.org

The Hope Volunteer Fire Department has received a donation of canned drinking water to support efforts to respond to wildfires.

The fire department is announcing that 98 cases of canned drinking water was donated by Bartholomew County Beverage, a local Anheuser-Busch wholesaler. The donation is part of a partnership with the National Volunteer Fire Council. According to the department, maintaining firefighters’ hydration during long incidents or disasters such as wildfires is a major safety concern for departments.

Assistant Chief, Christopher Allen said that thanks to the donation, the department has resources to keep firefighters hydrated and ready to respond.

The department has 32 members serving Hope and Hawcreek Township in northeastern Bartholomew County.

According to the company, Anheuser-Busch has a longstanding tradition of providing emergency drinking water and supplies for disaster relief efforts. The company periodically pauses beer production each year to can clean, safe drinking water that is ready to distribute when disaster strikes.

Photo courtesy of Hope Volunteer Fire Department.

You can find out more here.

INDOT’s contractors will be closing lanes on U.S. 31 in Columbus this week as part of an asphalt resurfacing project.

According to the agency, Milestone Contractors will be closing lanes on National Road starting Wednesday between County Road 300E and Market Street for milling work. The milling will then be followed by asphalt paving. You can expect lanes to close between 6 p.m. at night and 6 a.m. in the morning Mondays through Fridays, through September.

You can expect intermittent flagging and restrictions on intersecting side streets during the project. You should also be aware of rough pavement and changes to signal timings due to the operations.

The work schedule is dependent on the weather.

This is part of a $5.7 million project that began earlier this year and has included improved curb cuts along the road.

INDOT asks you to slow down, to drive without distractions and to be alert for worker safety in all construction zones.

A Muncie man has been charged in a fatal Interstate 65 accident in Bartholomew County on New Year’s Day.

According to reports from the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, 26-year-old Marcus Abram was recently indicted by the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death and operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a previous conviction.

Deputies say that Abram was driving more than 100 mph in the northbound lanes on Interstate 65 in southern Bartholomew County, when he struck a vehicle that had stopped in the median at just before 1:30 a.m. in the morning. 40-year-old Heather A. Wallace of Indianapolis was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. Several other people were injured and it took about five and a half hours to reopen the interstate.

Blood tests showed that Abram had a blood alcohol content of more than three times the legal limit, according to police reports. However, Abram was not arrested that morning.

He was officially charged on July 11th and a warrant issued for his arrest. According to the sheriff’s department, the Intelligence Led Policing Unit asked Noblesville police for assistance finding Abram. They made contact with family members and he turned himself in last Friday.

Former Vice President Mike Pence’s security detail made phone calls to say goodbye to loved ones during the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.

An unidentified White House security official said that the threat brought by rioters was so severe, security began to fear for their lives when the crowd got close to Pence, a Columbus native.

D.C. Metropolitan Police Sgt. Mark Robinson testified to the January 6th House committee that he heard units saying there were some rioters who were armed. The security official went on to say that they were apparently preparing to use lethal force to defend themselves.

Rioters were heard saying that they wanted to find and hang the vice president.

The House committee investigating the attacks says that it took former President Trump around three hours to take any action to try and put an end to what was going on. The committee presented evidence and testimony from witnesses with firsthand knowledge that he watched the events on TV, waiting hours before trying to quell the violence.

The former President’s one-time deputy national security adviser, Matthew Pottinger, said he was disturbed that day by a tweet sent by Trump saying Pence, didn’t have the “courage” to overturn the election. Pottinger testified to the House committee investigating the attacks:

Pottinger submitted his resignation later the same day.

Story courtesy of our news-gathering partners at TTWN Media Networks Inc.

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools have approved a new multi-cultural coordinator and director of wellness for the school district.

Angie Kirkham will serve as the multi-cultural coordinator and Kristin Beck as the director of wellness.

Kirkham has taught for 13 years including nine years at Clifty Creek Elementary. In 2018, she was chosen as the ARC Teacher of the Year and in 2021, she was Clifty Creek’s Teacher of the Year. She served for two years as the chair of the Indiana State Teachers Association’s Minorities Affairs Committee.

Beck worked for nine years as a special education teacher and seven years as a school counselor in the Franklin Community Schools system. She came to BCSC in 2013 as a counselor at Columbus East High School and became director of counseling at East in 2016.

The director of wellness is a new position for BCSC.

The school board approved the personnel moves at its meeting this week.

Legal Aid will be holding an in-person walk-in clinic in Bartholomew County on Tuesday. The clinic allows residents to get help and advice from a volunteer attorney.

Legal Aid offers the clinics for low-income residents of its eight-county district.

If you take part you will have up to a 10-minute consultation with a volunteer attorney to answer general questions, to offer legal information or to receive other advice.

Legal Aid is hosting the walk-in legal clinic on from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Legal Aid offices in the Doug Otto United Way Center on 13th Street in Columbus.

Legal Aid will also continue to hold phone clinics for the region, with the next scheduled on Tuesday, Aug. 9th.