The United Way of Bartholomew County is kicking off a community wide food drive later this month to help ensure children have enough to eat this summer.

According to the agency the food drive is being organized by the United Way and the Bartholomew County Food Insecurity Coalition and will be going on from April 29th through May 31st. The goal is to give local food pantries enough donations to stock their shelves for the summer break, without having to dip into their regular budgets to meet the need.

All the food and donations collected will be split between Love Chapel, Salvation Army, and Community Center of Hope.

This is the second year for the community-wide food drive and last year’s efforts were the largest single fundraiser/donation ever to Love Chapel.

Churches and businesses throughout the community are holding their own food collection efforts but you can also drop off food donations at United Way’s firehouse building at 13th Street and Hutchins Avenue in Columbus.

Organizers request that food donations be non-perishable, nutritious foods that are low-sodium and low-sugar, when possible.

An opportunity yesterday for the public to give their thoughts on the proposed contract for the next Bartholomew Consolidated Schools superintendent led to no being concerns raised.

The school board held a required meeting yesterday afternoon to get public input on the proposed contract with their choice for superintendent, Dr. Chad Phillips.

Current Superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts is stepping down at the end of June to take on a new role with the Community Education Coalition. Phillips has been serving as the school district’s assistant superintendent of financial services for the past 7 years and has been with the school district for 20 years.

The contract with Phillips would give him a base salary of $204,671  with an initial contract lasting until the end of June of 2027. It also would provide a $30,000 annual contribution to the retirement plan, 20 paid vacation days, 14 days for sick time and four personal leave days. And there would be a car allowance of $12,000 annually.

The school board was required to hold the public comment session yesterday, but no one signed up to comment or offered thoughts when the opportunity was given. The meeting was over in a matter of minutes.

Next up will be a consideration for approval of the contract at the school board’s April 29th meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Columbus North High School.

Advocates for Children say that their weekend SING! karaoke fundraiser generated more than $75,000 for the organization’s efforts to protect the interests of children in the court system.

Advocates for Children provides advocates for abused and neglected children. Last year, the organization served 498 of our community’s most vulnerable children. Nearly half of those children were younger than 5 and 76 percent were younger than 12.

About 300 people turned out for the rethemed event’s second year on Saturday and enjoyed live karaoke performances from five groups. The Carla and the T-Birds team were the winners after performing “Summer Nights” from the musical Grease. Carla was Carla Janikowski along with friends from Century 21 Breeden Realtors

Photo: Carla and the T-Birds. Photo courtesy of Advocates for Children.

Signups are underway for this summer’s classes for young babysitters in the area of Schneck Medical Center in Seymour.

The free Safe Sitters classes keep the babysitters up to date on how to keep their charges safe with lessons from specially trained team members from Schneck Medical Center. The sitters will learn life and safety skills to give them the tools to handle emergencies when caring for younger children.

The one-day class is for sitters entering sixth through eighth grades. Each class is limited to 12 students will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at a variety of locations and they fill up quickly.

Class schedule:

• Seymour, Schneck Professional Building, Classroom 300: June 7,8, 14, 21, 22, 28 and July 12, 13, 20
• Scottsburg, Scott County YMCA, Multipurpose Room: June 15
• North Vernon, Jennings County Public Library, Conference Room 1: June 1 and July 19
• Salem, Washington County Community Foundation, Classroom A: June 29

You can register online at SchneckMed.org.

The Bartholomew County Public Library has an agreement in place to take possession of the former North Christian Church off of National Road. The library board approved the acquisition yesterday.

According to the library, the board voted yesterday to accept the donation of the church building and the campus at 850 Tipton Lane. The campus includes the building itself, designed by renowned architect Eero Saarinen before his death in 1961 and built in 1964. The landscape was designed by Dan Kiley. The church is part of the city’s National Historic Landmark status for modern architecture.

The library board thanked the church’s former congregation for the donation and the Columbus Capital Foundation which has acted in a caretaker role, owning the property during the process of the donation to the library system.

According to a recent strategic study ,the library is at capacity in its current spaces, without the ability to add more programs or services, . The library anticipates renovation costs will be needed, but those are expected to be less than the cost of a new building construction. The library will work to have fundraising and seek grants to upgrade the building, but Jason Hatton, the library director, also said it is possible that a bond could be needed for capital projects in the future.

Hatton estimated that the former church will not be fully operational for library use for about five years. But the outdoor spaces could be used more quickly including a summer reading program, with some of the building being used for small programs and performances.

The library is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year and it already has two architecturally significant buildings, including the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library designed by I.M. Pei and the Hope branch library designed by Deborah Burke.

Photo courtesy of Hadley Fruits for Landmark Columbus Foundation.

A meeting will be held this afternoon for the public to comment on the proposed contract with Dr. Chad Phillips to be the next superintendent of Bartholomew Consolidated Schools.

The school district announced last week that Phillips had been chosen for the role. Phillips has been serving as the school district’s assistant superintendent of financial services for the past 7 years and has been with the school district for 20 years.

Current Superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts is stepping down at the end of June to take on a new role with the Community Education Coalition.

The school board will hold a public meeting at 5 p.m. this afternoon at the administrative offices on Central Avenue to hear public comments on the proposed contract with Phillips. The school board is scheduled to consider a vote on the appointment at the board meeting on April 29th at 6:30 p.m. at Columbus North High School.

A flood warning for East Fork White River at Seymour has been extended through Wednesday morning.

The National Weather Service in Indianapolis says minor flooding is ongoing and is expected to continue. East Fork White River appears to have crested in Seymour yesterday afternoon at just over 16 and a half feet, which is about six inches shy of moderate flooding. Since then it has dropped about half a foot. According to weather service predictions, the river should drop back below flood level by Tuesday afternoon.

East Fork White River at Columbus crested at at 9.19 feet on Saturday. That is just above the nine foot minor flood level.

The weather service warns that you should not attempt to drive around barricades or drive
cars through flooded areas. They say turn around and don’t drown.

Make Seymour Shine is underway this week with the city collecting large piles of household trash throughout the week.

You need to have the extra items curbside by 7 a.m. on your regular trash day. Organizers say that you should keep your piles clear of fire hydrants, utility lines, and water meters. And you should not lean materials against buildings, fences, mailboxes, poles, or trees

The city will not take asbestos items, nor Household Hazardous Waste such as antifreeze, cleaners, herbicides, motor oil, liquid or oil-based paint or pesticides.

Large appliances will be taken away during the event, including those with freon.

Electronics must be taken to the Department of Public Works at the airport. Devices with screens such as laptops, computer monitors or televisions will cost $20 each to drop off.

You can get more information on the Seymour Department of Public Works Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/SeymourINDPW

Photo courtesy of Seymour Department of Public Works

It is a week out from the total solar eclipse that passed overhead on April 8th. And you might be wondering what to do with all the eclipse viewing glasses you have sitting around your home or office.

The city of Columbus is collecting new or gently used glasses between now and the end of the month. The goal is to collect the glasses so they can be distributed to places around the globe that will be experiencing upcoming solar phenomena. The lenses should be free of punctures, scratches and bends and the frames need to be in good shape.

You can drop them up at the Columbus Area Visitors Center, Columbus Department of Public Works, Columbus Municipal Airport or any Columbus Fire Department station.

The next solar eclipse is coming up on October 2nd, but it will be an annular eclipse, meaning the moon will almost, but not quite completely cover the sun. That eclipse will pass over the southern tip of South America.

A driver was arrested in Seymour last night, accused of fleeing from police at more than 100 mph on U.S. 50.

According to the Seymour Police Department, the chase started on Interstate 65 with state troopers trying to stop a speeding driver before he got off at the Seymour exit at about 10:36 p.m. and headed west into the city. Police say the Dodge Challenger raced down Tipton Street at 108 mph crashing into one vehicle in the 1800 block, before making an abrupt turn south onto Chestnut Street. That’s where the driver hit another car and landed on the sidewalk in the 200 block.

Police arrested the driver 20-year-old Cooper C. Collier of Palm Harbor, Florida. He is facing charges of resisting law enforcement in a vehicle, reckless driving, criminal recklessness, and leaving the scene of a property damage crash.