With the end of the school year, Bartholomew Consolidated Schools Superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts is moving on.

Roberts has been with the Bartholomew Consolidated school district for eight years. He said his greatest accomplishment has been the connections he has made.

Roberts said among his proudest achievements was being able to increase teacher pay.

Roberts last day is technically at the end of June but he will be taking some personal days in the next few weeks. Roberts will be replaced by Dr. Chad Phillips, who has been with the district for 20 years.

Roberts is taking on a new role as vice president with the Community Education Coalition. Roberts will be working on enhancing equitable educational access, attainment, and success, creating seamless pathways to regional career opportunities, encouraging young people to stay and work locally and attracting more companies to grow and establish themselves in the region.

The local makerspace at the Columbus Municipal Airport is inviting you to an open house tonight.

The family friendly event will be from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. this evening at the facility at 4760 Ray Boll Boulevard. Organizers say that the event will include inventions, STEAM activities, crafts, a food truck and live music.

The Columbus Propeller facility is an initiative of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce. It is meant for entrepreneurs, tinkerers, hobbyists and others in the community to use shared equipment including a 3D printing lab, wood shop, metal shop and welding lab.

Tonight’s event is free and you are invited to attend. Some activities will have a cost associated with them.

You can more information at Columbuspropeller.com or on the Columbus Propeller Facebook page.

Some Eastern Bartholomew Water customers are under a boil water advisory through Friday afternoon.

According to the utility, the boil water advisory comes after a contractor cut into a water main. The affected area is on South County Road 650E from Base Road to State Road 46. That includes homes on County Road 100S, east of U.S. 31 and homes on Webbs Way.

The boil water advisory is in effect until 2 p.m. Friday afternoon.

Under a boil water advisory, you should bring water to a full boil for three to five minutes before drinking it or using it in food preparation.

If you have any questions you can call the utility at 812-526-9777.

Government offices will be closed Monday due to the Memorial Day holiday.

Trash and recycling collections will be running a day behind all next week in Columbus. Normal Monday collection routes will be run on Tuesday, while normal Friday routes will be on Saturday. You should have your Toters to the curb by 7 a.m. on your revised collection day.

The Columbus/Bartholomew County Recycling Center, Bartholomew County Solid Waste Management District Offices including the Commercial Cardboard Route, and the Bartholomew County Landfill will also be closed Monday.

Columbus City Utilities offices will also be closed. If you have a problem with your water or sewer service, you can call 812-372-8861.

A traffic stop early Tuesday morning led to the arrest of an Indianapolis man on drugs and weapon charges.

According to the Columbus Police Department, an officers stopped a truck after noticing the driver make a traffic violation at about 1:41 Tuesday morning on 10th Street and McClure Road. When the officer talked with the driver, police noticed a glass smoking pipe with white residue. The driver, 47 year old Erik Hall of Indianapolis was taken into custody and the pipe was found to contain methamphetamine.

A search uncovered a loaded gun, a packet containing fentanyl and methamphetamine, along with more smoking pipes and drug packaging materials in the truck bed. Hall was also found to be wanted on two outstanding Johnson County warrants.

In addition to the outstanding warrants, Hall is facing new charges including

• Possession of Methamphetamine with a Firearm
• Possession of a Narcotic Drug with a Firearm
• Unlawful Carrying of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon
• Possession of Paraphernalia
• and Driving While Suspended with a prior conviction.

Photos courtesy of Columbus Police Department.

Crews will be closing a five-block section of Second Street in Seymour next week, as work continues on a rehabilitation project there.

According to the city, the street will be closing from the east side of Bryant Avenue to the east side of Emerson Drive starting Tuesday. The work in this section is expected to take 3 to 4 weeks. The current closure at Community Drive will be reopened when this part of the project starts.

The new Seymour Fire Station 2 will maintain access during the work and you can access businesses through Maple Avenue and Elm Street.

Dave O’Mara is the contractor for the project and are moving the work from the west to the east. As work is completed they will reopen sections as they can, city officials say. The next phase of the project will be from Elm to Pine Streets.

Also, there will be flaggers in place Tuesday at Second Street and Airport Road as crews install a pipe at the intersection.

State Road 258 will be closing in Jackson County for more than two months, starting next week.

According to INDOT, the highway will be closing over Beatty Walker Ditch starting Tuesday as contractor crews resurface a bridge there. That’s about two miles west of Cortland between North Jackson County Roads 225 East and 100 East.

The work is expected to take up to nine weeks, dependiong on the weather.

INDOT says the detour will take State Road 11 to U.S. 50 to State Road 135 and then back to State Road 258.

Force Construction is the contractor for the project, which is part of a $4.5 million dollar contract.

INDOT urges you to slow down, to drive without distractions, to use extra caution and to be alert to worker safety in all work zones.

The United Way of Bartholomew County is making plans to holds its annual meeting next month.

The meeting will be June 18t from 4-5:30 p.m. at The Commons. The umbrella group for many local not-for-profit agencies will recognize businesses, non profit organizations and community members doing vital work in the community to lift others out of poverty and allow them to reach their full potential.

The event will start with light appetizers and a cash bar.

The event is open to the public and you are invited to attend. If you are planning to come, you should pre-register here: https://www.uwbarthco.org/get-involved/events.html/event/2024/06/18/annual-meeting/481179

The Columbus City Utilities annual water quality report was released yesterday, showing no violations of regulated contaminants, unregulated contaminants or other materials.

The report covers 2023 and according to the city-owned water utility, it met or exceeded all drinking water quality standards set out by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. The 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act requires that every public water systems prepare a water quality report which provides information on where water comes from and how it compares to current standards.

According to the utility, links to an online version of the report will be sent out with the June bills and available through electronic bills. There will also be copies distributed to apartment complexes, various public places and locations with multiple water accounts.

You can also request a physical copy by calling the utility office at 812-372-8861.

Columbus City Utilities also announced today that it has received a $200,000 grant from the Indiana Finance Authority to improve its inventory of service lines.

The grant will be used to identify the materials of water service lines using a modeling method, and allowing for testing of various areas to make sure the model is correct. According to the utility, all water service systems in the country must have an inventory of the material of every service line by the end of October of this year. That includes utility owned lines and customers’ lines.

The city says that an initial inventory was completed in part using a $55,000 grant, but existing records are incomplete and there are a significant number of unknown pipe materials.

For more information about Columbus City Utilities, visit columbusutilities.org.

White River Broadcasting’s Sam Simmermaker, the dean of Indiana sports broadcasters, is putting down his microphone after 64 years on the air in Columbus.

Sam’s last daily sports updates will be Friday.

Community members are talking about Sam’s legacy. Sam’s long-time sportscasting partner Jonathan Titus talks about what Sam means to the local sports scene.

Titus says that Sam leaves a legacy, both professionally and personally.

Titus recalls what it means for young athletes to be interviewed or even mentioned by Sam.

Titus says that it is hard to find communities who have sports covered the way Sam has done for so many years.

There will be a special AM Columbus broadcast Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to celebrate Sam’s career. You can check it out here on News Talk 1010 WCSI and 98.1 FM. We will also be streaming it live on video on Facebook and on our website.

Photo: Sam Simmermaker takes part in the Indiana bicentennial torch relay in 2016