The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department is welcoming its newest deputy, J.D. Myers.

Myers previously served with the Columbus Regional Hospital Police Department and as a corrections officer at both the Jackson County and Brown County sheriff’s departments.

Myers is the son of former Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers.

Photo of Sheriff Chris Lane, new deputy J.D. Myers and former Sheriff Matt Myers courtesy of Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department.

An Indianapolis woman has been killed in a crash on Interstate 65 in Johnson County early yesterday morning.

According to Indiana State Police, troopers were called to the crash about 3 miles north of the Franklin exit at about 4:22 a.m. Sunday morning and found a vehicle underneath a semi and fully engulfed in flames. The driver, 23-year-old Destiny Johnson of Indianapolis, was pulled from the burning wreckage and pronounced dead at the scene.

Troopers say Johnson drove off the highway, onto the shoulder, and struck the back end of the parked semi. Troopers don’t know what caused Johnson to drive off the road, or why the semi was parked there.

The southbound lanes of I-65 were restricted for over 4 hours while the crash was investigated and the wreckage was cleaned up.

The accident remains under investigation.

A food and beverage producer will be asking Bartholomew County officials for some permissions this evening to construct a more than half million square foot facility in the northwestern corner of the county.

In documents filed with the county, the developer outlines plans for a 380,000 square foot plant with future phases to include a cold storage facility and a possible second plant on the site. The developer explained that the plant will produce bakery products and beverages.

The developer of the Project Whiteboard production facility is asking the Bartholomew County Board of Zoning Appeals for several accommodations including allowing portions of its facility to be 100 feet tall — 50 feet taller than allowed under the current zoning. The development would be built on an 88-acre parcel on North County Road 200W near Taylorsville, just off Interstate 65.

The request to allow the 100 foot height would apply to about 78,000 square feet of a cold storage facility and about 34,000 square feet of silos, but the district already allows 100-foot tall silos. The department staff is recommends approving that request.

The planning department staff is recommending delaying decisions on two parts of the request including a wellfield protection concern, and a request to allow larger than normal signage. Eastern Bartholomew Water Corp operates a wellfield just to the southeast of the proposed facility and county ordinances require safeguarding clean drinking water by those who want to build within a wellfield protection area. The staff recommends continuing that part of the request while the water company studies the project and any affect on the drinking water supply.

The Bartholomew County Board of Zoning Appeals meets at 7 p.m. tonight at Columbus City Hall.

Lincoln Central Neighborhood Family Center will be celebrating  the 50th home constructed in the community through the Bartholomew Consolidated Schools C4 program.

Lincoln Central operates a homebuyer’s program, which seeks to place families in brand-new homes in the downtown area. With help from the city’s condemnation process, the program has seen the removal of dilapidated homes in the area and replaced with them with new homes built by the C4 program students.

The center’s homebuyers program is a partnership between the center, city of Columbus, Southern Indiana Housing and Community Development Corporation, BCSC, and Apprisen. Additional help comes form Union Savings Bank, First Financial Bank, RE/MAX Real Estate Professionals, Heritage Fund, Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority, United Way of Bartholomew County, Administrative Resources association, and Burt’s Termite and Pest Control.

There will be a ribbon cutting and celebration from noon to 2 p.m. Friday at the site of the newest home at 1317 Ninth Street.

You can get more information by calling the center at 812-379-1630

Saturday is the annual Reeves Festival at the Historic Breeding Farm near Edinburgh.

The event is organized by the Bartholomew County Historical Society. Diane Robbins with the group explains.

There will also be rides on Reeves steam engines and the rarely seen IU Steam Calliope will be on display.

The event celebrates the Reeves family and the role the Reeves Companies played in Columbus.

Tickets are $10 per car and are available at the Bartholomew County Historical Society Museum on Third Street, at Viewpoint Books or at the gate on Aug. 26th. Historical Society members will get in for free.

You can get more information at bartholomewhistory.org

Photo of Breeding Farm courtesy of Bartholomew County Historical Society.

Historic fraternal lodges in Jennings County and Shelbyville are some of the most endangered historic places in the state, according to a preservation group.

Indiana Landmarks released its top 10 list of endangered sites this week. The preservation group prepares the list each year, saying that the sites feature a combination of problems. Those can be abandonment and neglect, or simply owners who don’t have the funds to make repairs to the aging structures. The efforts have led to 101 of the 153 buildings on the list since it started in 1991 being rehabilitated.

At the top of this year’s list is a batch of historic lodges around the state, including ones in Vernon, North Vernon and Shelbyville. The fraternal organizations are seeing steep declines in membership, frequently leading the groups to disband, leaving behind their former lodges.

The 1860 Masonic Building in Vernon is on the northwest corner of the town square. Its first floor is occupied by the U.S. Post Office but the upper floors remain vacant. The International Order of Odd Fellows lodge on Pike Street is also abandoned and has been condemned. In North Vernon, the lodge of the Improved Order of Red Men is in an 1899 building suffering from long-delayed maintenance.

The group also noted the Knights of Pythias Lodge on the Shelbyville Town Square as being mostly vacant and in need of rehabilitation.

You can find out more about these sites at https://www.indianalandmarks.org/endangered-property/historic-fraternal-lodges/

Photo of Historic IOOF Lodge in Vernon courtesy of Indiana Landmarks.

Jennings County authorities are recognizing what they are calling a heroic 7-year-old girl whose actions helped save her grandmother’s life.

According to the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department, the grandmother, Mary Evelyn Speer fell down the stairs in June. The granddaughter, Maklynn Speer called 9-1-1 and calmly gave crucial information to the first responders, who were able to quickly arrive and provide medical assistance.

The department praised the girl this week, saying the incident shows the importance of preparing children for emergencies and teaching them how to react under pressure.

Jennings County Sheriff Kenny Freeman presented the girl with a certificate of achievement this week.

Photo courtesy of Jennings County Sheriff’s Department

It doesn’t look like we are going to see any break today in this week of extremely hot weather.

The National Weather Service is extending its extreme heat warning through 8 tonight. Forecasters say that portions of Indiana could see heat index values of 116 today.

The weather service warns that the high heat and humidity can quickly cause heat-related illnesses. You should drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned places and stay out of the sun. You should check in on relatives and neighbors who might be vulnerable. And you should not leave pets or children unattended in vehicles during this heat wave.

Tonight should turn partly cloudy with a chance of isolated thunderstorms and Saturday should drop back down to 85 during the day.

The Exhibit Columbus installations in downtown Columbus will be officially unveiled to the public on Saturday. And there will be whole day’s worth of events to explore and celebrate the designs.

The installations will be celebrated with a sold-out event Friday night and are set to open to the public at 13 landmarks Saturday.

Saturday’s free events will include a tour of the exhibits with the creators, followed by community conversations. And there will be a block party and dance show at Fourth and Washington Streets under the InterOculus canopy installation at that intersection.

The tours of the exhibitions start at 9:30 and last through 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning, setting out from Hotel Indigo. The community conversations will be from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon at First Christian Church. And the Rock the Block party will be from 7 to 10 p.m. downtown.

There will also be activities throughout the day at the installations to help bring them to life.

The Landmark Columbus Foundation oversees the annual Exhibit Columbus events in the city. Exhibit Columbus, launched in 2016, has two-year cycles with a symposium hosted one year, and the installation of exhibits at landmarks around the city the next year. The theme for this year’s installations is Public by Design.

You can find out more about the installations and events at https://www.exhibitcolumbus.org

Today is expected to be the hottest day of the year so far.

The National Weather Service is keeping its extreme heat warning in place through midnight tonight. The heat index is expected to make it feel like 113 in some places in southwestern Indiana.

The heat indexes in our area are expected to reach between 106 and 109 according to forecasters.

But a cold front coming through on Friday, should bring some relief, they say.

Officials say that these hot temperatures are a serious threat to health and safety, expecially among vulnerable populations.

The city of Columbus will be offering a cooling station today at Donner Center. A cooling station allows those who do not have air conditioning to cool down before getting on their way.

Food, showers and sleep areas are not available.

The cooling station will be open from 1 to 6 p.m. this afternoon at Donner Center on 22nd Street. Emergency officials will evaluate the weather to determine whether to offer the cooling station later in the week.