Local organizations helping tackle the drug epidemic and mental health crisis are receiving shares of more than $76 million dollars through the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration to provide crisis response and other services.

The agency announced yesterday that its Division of Mental Health and Addiction ­is providing the new funding to help build and support projects across Indiana to improve mental health and recovery services. The funding comes through the federal American Rescue Plan Act and the National Opioid Settlement.

Bartholomew County organizations will receive more than $718 thousand dollars in grants. That includes $324 thousand to Bridge to Dove to purchase and furnish a women’s recovery house, $262 thousand dollars to Centerstone of Indiana to start up and furnish a transitional housing facility and more than $132 thousand to Volunteers of America to expand a women’s recovery facility into a Level III facility along with case management.

Shelbyville is receiving nearly $407 thousand dollars, Jennings County nearly $85 thousand and Jackson $600 thousand.

Those grants include:

• City of Shelbyville to provide funding for uninsured mothers and first responders to
  access treatment for substance use and mental health needs. Funding will also support programming in transition services from the jail into the community.
• Jennings County government to employ a program coordinator to connect individuals to services across the care continuum.
• Schneck Medical Center in Jackson County to support recovery and harm reduction services, and to provide resources for incarcerated individuals.

The agency also announced that Centerstone will be receiving more than $3 million for the Stride Centers in Columbus and Bloomington, to help adults experiencing mental health crisis. That is part of $57 million in statewide grants going to 15 community health centers across the state.

Authorities are warning about a scam that tries to get you to pay money to a fake deputy to avoid going to jail.

According to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department, deputies received reports over the weekend of multiple phone calls to residents that appear to be coming from the sheriff’s department with the caller claiming to be a deputy. The fake deputy says that you have a warrant because you did not show up for jury duty and threatens that you will be arrested if you don’t pay a $1,000 fine immediately. They then try to make the victim go to a store to buy gift cards to cover the fine.

Sheriff Duane Burgess says that deputies will never call and demand a payment. If you are wanted on a warrant you will be arrested and booked into the county jail. Any bonds are paid in cash and in person at the sheriff’s department. No legitimate agency will demand you pay in phone apps, gift cards, crypto currency or a money card system.

Authorities caution that phone scammers are persuasive, convincing, and technically savvy. They will play on your emotions and fears in order to get access to your personal information and their hands on your money.

Contractors will be working on pavement repairs on Interstate 65 through several area counties starting next week.

INDOT says that contractors will begin asphalt and concrete repairs starting on Monday at locations in Johnson, Jackson and Scott counties.

In Johnson County, the asphalt work will start on Monday and will take place overnights from about 9 at night to 6 in the morning, Sundays through Mondays. You will see lane closures between State Road 252 at Edinburgh and the Franklin exit. Concrete patching will start on weekends in late June and last through early August.

Crews will begin pavement patching betweeen Scottsburg and Uniontown starting overnights Monday and lasting through the fall.

The work schedule is dependent on the weather.

INDOT asks that you slow down, use extra caution for workers and drive without distractions in all construction zones.

Ivy Tech Community College in Columbus has recognized the long-time leader of the Community Education Coalition with an honorary associates of science degree in community service.

The school announced that John Burnett received the honor at the college’s recent commencement ceremony for providing leadership across the region in developing high-quality learning systems that support learners of all ages. Burnett previously served as the president and CEO of the Community Education Coalition for more than two decades and is now executive vice chairman. He also served on the Ivy Tech Columbus Campus Board of Trustees in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s.

According to the school, Burnett helped shape the region’s community learning system and its alignment with economic growth and improved quality of life.

Under Burnett’s leadership, the coalition secured millions of dollars in grants to drive innovation and to support programming, equipment, and other needs for Ivy Tech and other schools.

Photo courtesy of Ivy Tech. Dr. Stephen Combs presents an honorary associates of science degree in community service to John Burnett at the school’s recent commencement ceremonies.

Three Columbus teens are under arrest, accused of luring a victim to a barn and beating the young man earlier this month.

According to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, the incident happened early in the morning on June 3rd. Deputies were called to Columbus Regional Hospital at about 2:50 a.m. that morning about a victim of a violent crime being treated at the hospital. The 19-year-old said that a female acquaintance offered to give him a ride to pick up food. But instead took the man to an abandoned barn in the eastern part of the county.

That’s where masked men pulled him from the vehicle into the barn. The victim was then beaten and possibly cut with a knife. After the attack, they left the victim in the barn, where he was eventually able to walk to a nearby neighborhood for help.

Deputies say the side of the victim’s face was covered in dried blood and he had several injuries including cuts to his right face and cheek, cuts and scrapes to his neck and face and a swollen and bleeding lip.

On Saturday, deputies arrested 18-year-lds Charles Breedlove, Emily Franklin and Ashton Fields, all of Columbus. They are facing felony charges including kidnapping, robbery, criminal confinement and aggravated battery.

The incident is still under investigation and if you have any information, you are urged to call Detective Kevin Abner at 812-565-5930.

Columbus police arrested four people for drunk driving over less than four hours over the weekend.

According to the Columbus Police Department, the arrests started at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday night near 5th and Lindsey streets when police saw a driver strike the curb. The driver, 63-year-old Karl I. Lutes of failed several field sobriety tests and a breath test showed a blood alcohol content of .143 percent. He is facing charges of operating a motor vehicle while Intoxicated.

Police next stopped a speeding vehicle at about 12:55 a.m Sunday morning on Central Avenue near 25th Street. The driver, 39-year-old Magnolia B. Cruz of Scipio was arrested on a preliminary charge of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated after testing at a .173 percent blood alcohol content.

About two minutes later, officers stopped another speeding vehicle near Fifth and Brown streets. The driver 28-year-old Gabriel F. Irizarry, of Columbus was arrested on preliminary charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and driving while suspended with a prior conviction.

At about 2 a.m. Sunday morning, police stopped a vehicle for an equipment violation near State and Cherry Streets. 29-year-old Gerson S. Alvarado, of Columbus was accused of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and without ever receiving a license. He was also wanted on an outstanding Bartholomew County warrant.

Government offices will be closed Monday in observance of Juneteenth.

In Columbus, city trash, recycling and yard waste routes will still be running on their normal schedule. You should have your trash to the curb by the normal 7 a.m. in the morning.

Columbus City Utilities offices are also closed. If you have a problem with your water or sewer service, you can call 812-372-8861 and follow the prompts.

Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, the first new federal holiday created by Congress in nearly four decades. It celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S., marking the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas, more than two and a half years after it was issued by President Abraham Lincoln.

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

Legal Aid offers the clinics for low-income residents of its eight-county district including Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings and Johnson 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. today by calling 812-378-0358.

A Jennings County man was arrested after two passengers were seriously injured in a crash Friday morning.

According to the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department, deputies were called to the scene of a crash in the 4000 block of Jennings County Road 300N at 12:14 a.m. Friday morning. They found that two back seat passengers had been ejected from the vehicle and suffered serious injuries. They were both flown by medical helicopter to Indianapolis area hospitals for treatment. Neither had been wearing a seat belt.

The two front seat passengers were buckled in and only suffered minor injuries.

Deputies say that the car was speeding westbound when it went airborne off the top of a hill. The driver, 20-year-old Tyler Parker of North Vernon, lost control and the vehicle rolled several times. Parker was arrested on preliminary charges including operating a vehicle while intoxicated, causing serious injury.

Deputies say that the investigation showed that excessive speed and alcohol were factors in the crash.

Other agencies assisting at the scene included Scipio-Geneva Fire Department, Rescue 20, North Vernon Police Department and Indiana State Police Crash Reconstruction Team.

The deadline is coming up to make a nomination for this year’s Jack Cramer Ideals of Athletic Competition Awards.

According to the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department, the deadline to enter is Friday.

The awards are presented annually to a local male and a female athlete, coach or sports organizer. All nominees must live or work in Bartholomew County and be a senior in high school or older.

The award is in honor of Cramer, a former local athlete who died in 1978 at the age of 33.

You can find information and nomination forms at Donner Center or at www.columbusparksandrec.com.