A drunk driver is being accused of driving herself right to jail early yesterday morning.

According to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, a deputy had just booked a suspect into the jail at just after 3 a.m. Wednesday morning and was leaving the secure jail parking lot in his vehicle, when an SUV entered the secure lot while the gate was open. The driver then honked their horn at the deputy and got out of her vehicle.

The officer says that 58-year-old Stephanie Horn of Columbus told police that she was at the jail to bail someone out. She appeared intoxicated and refused sobriety tests. She then became verbally aggressive and tried to walk away. After being put in handcuffs, police say she began to fight, eventually kicking a deputy in the leg and punching an officer in the shoulder.

Horn was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital for a blood test. A later breath test showed a blood alcohol level of .165 percent, more than twice the legal limit.

She was arrested on preliminary charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, reckless driving, resisting law enforcement, battery on a law enforcement officer and public intoxication.

Elected officials will be sworn in this evening in Jackson County.

According to the city of Seymour, there will be a swearing in ceremony for elected officials from Seymour, Brownstown, Crothersville and Medora. The swearing in ceremony by Judge Amy Marie Travis will begin at 6 p.m. tonight at Seymour City Hall.

Seymour city department heads will be sworn in Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the morning in the Council Chambers at City Hall.

The deadline is coming up next week if you want to sign up for a job-readiness skills workshop in Bartholomew County.

Bartholomew County Works is a program committed to helping members improve their lives, gain full-time employment, and achieve economic self-sufficiency. A support team provides resources to those accepted into the program in a wide range of areas and those services continue for at least the first year on the job.

The workshop will be from Monday January 8th through Friday the 12th. The workshop runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Yes Cinema in downtown Columbus.

There will be an orientation session on January 4th from 10 to 11:30 a.m.

The deadline to register is 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 3rd

If you want to sign up or would like more information, you can call 812-378-2638 or email at [email protected].

A North Vernon woman was arrested Tuesday on drug-related charges after a traffic stop.

According to the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department, a deputy pulled over a vehicle in the area of North State Street Tuesday evening after a traffic violation.

The officer became suspicious of illegal activity and a police dog was brought to the scene. The dog alerted to the smell of narcotics in the vehicle. Police searched a passenger, 50-year-old Betty Johnson of North Vernon and found she was carrying 36 grams of methamphetamine.

Johnson was arrested on a preliminary charge for possession of the meth.

Update:

Camp Atterbury is announcing that a planned exercise with a giant close combat support aircraft has been canceled for the day.

According to the Indiana National Guard, due to inclement weather, the live-fire training event with a AC-130J Ghostrider plane over the skies of Camp Atterbury and southern Indiana has been canceled for the day.

Camp Atterbury remains closed to the public today.

Previous version of the story:

A reminder that Camp Atterbury ranges will be training with aerial artillery tomorrow, as an AC-130J Ghostrider plane is expected to be overhead in our area.

The Air Force platform is a modified C-130 Hercules cargo plane outfitted for ground support. It is armed with a 105mm howitzer and 30 mm minigun. The plane will firing its weapons while it makes a 45 degree bank around its targets.

Versions of the gunship have been in use by the Air Force since the Vietnam War.

The training is scheduled from noon to 6 p.m. on Thursday.

Photo courtesy of Camp Atterbury Facebook page

Local emergency officials are warning of a chance of snow tonight through Friday.

Bartholomew County Emergency Management says that the county has been included in a possible snow forecast issued by the National Weather Service. There is a low probably of up to a 10th of an inch of snow tonight for the entire county and a low probability for most of the county on Friday. However the western edge of Bartholomew County has a medium chance of snow, or 40 to 70 percent chance on Friday.

You can expect rain to begin later today. Starting on Thursday, snow is possible from 7 p.m. Thursday evening through 7 a.m. Friday morning.

The weather service is warning that even a small amount of snow can affect roads. You should use caution if you are driving, including allowing extra time for your trip and providing additional distance between you and vehicles ahead of you. You should also make sure to completely clear your car windows before traveling.

Seymour State Representative Jim Lucas is set to exit probation ahead of schedule.

Lucas  pleaded guilty in June to drunk driving charges. Early in the morning on May 31st, he drove his truck off the side of an entrance ramp to Interstate 65 and down the steep hill from State Road 11, hit a guardrail, then drove the wrong way back up the ramp and on into Seymour with flattened tires and heavy front end damage to his vehicle.

In July, Lucas received a 60-day jail sentence for operating while intoxicated and a 180-day sentence for leaving the scene of an accident, both of which were suspended.

Instead of jail time, he was placed on 365 days of probation and ordered to pay $3,929.62 in restitution fees to the Indiana Department of Transportation. The motion for the completion of his probation was filed in Jackson Superior Court on Dec. 11.

According to the state’s toxicology report, Lucas had 14 nanograms of THC per millimeter of blood, exceeding the typical impairment limit of 5 nanograms per millimeter of blood. Lucas has been a strong advocate for the legalizing of marijuana in Indiana.

Lucas’s district includes part of southern Bartholomew County as well as Jackson, Scott and Washington counties.

Network Indiana contributed to this report.

A swearing in ceremony is set for Monday at Columbus City Hall for the new mayor, the first city clerk and a larger city council.

Mary Ferdon will be sworn in as mayor as well as Luann Welmer, the current city clerk-treasurer who will take office as the first city clerk. Under the city’s new second class status with the state, the roles of clerk-treasurer will be split between Welmer as the elected clerk and an appointed comptroller for the city, .

There will also be a swearing in of the nine person council, expanded from the seven members the city had as a third class city.

Incumbent council members, Democrats Elaine Hilber, Jerone Wood, Tom Dell and Grace Kestler and Republican Frank Miller will return to the council. New council members Josh Burnett, Chris Bartels, Kent Anderson and Jay Foyst are also set to be sworn in.

The ceremony will be at 11 a.m. Monday morning in the Cal Brand Meeting Room at Columbus City Hall.

Edinburgh will begin collecting Christmas trees for recycling starting today.

According to town officials the tree collection program will run from Wednesday through January 19th. Trees must be free of ornaments, lights, garland and tinsel. They can not be in bags.

After they are collected, the trees will be chipped and disposed of at the yard waste facility.

Artificial trees will not be collected.

You can get more information on the town website at https://www.edinburgh.in.us

The Jennings County Sheriff’s Department’s police dog Creed has received a bulletproof and stab protecting vest, sponsored by a woman from South Carolina.

According to the department, Creed’s vest is sponsored by Jeanne Ryan of Greer, SC and isembroidered with the sentiment “This gift of protection provided by Vested Interest in K9s, Inc.”.

The not-for-profit Vested Interest in K9s group from Massachusets provides the vests to dogs working in police and other agencies. Vested Interest in K9s has provided over 5,300 vests to K9s in all 50 states.

The organization accepts donations and $985 will sponsor one vest.

You can get more information at https://www.vik9s.org

Photo courtesy of Jennings County Sheriff’s Department