According to Seymour officials, today is not a holiday for trash collection and Tuesday routes are being collected as normal today.
City offices will be closed on Wednesday for the holiday and normal Wednesday trash, recycling and yard waste will be picked up on Thursday along with normal Thursday routes.
You should have your trash to the curb by 7 a.m. in the morning.
Jennings County authorities have arrested a man accused of stealing medications from a home.
According to the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department, deputies were called to a home in Country Squire Lakes on December 23rd about a burglary where prescription pills were stolen. During the investigation, deputies recovered security camera footage from a neighbor which showed a white car pull up to the home, a man get out and head toward the back of the home and then run back to the car to leave the scene.
The vehicle’s license plate was linked to an address in Seymour and as deputies headed to that location, they noticed the empty vehicle in a field in Jackson County. After having the vehicle towed, they continued to the Seymour residence where they spoke with 22-year-old Elijah Hubbard.
Hubbard was arrested on a preliminary felony charge of burglary.
Several area organizations are receiving funds raised during Centra Credit Union’s 2024 holiday giving campaign.
According to the credit union, Centra raised more than $70,000 from donations by members, team members and community members for the annual giving program. The goal was to help children in need receive Christmas gifts. The donations were distributed to organizations in communities Centra serves.
Organizations receiving funds locally included:
Centra President and CEO Rick Silvers thanked the donors in the community saying the donations “not only bring joy to children in need, but also inspire hope and kindness throughout our community. “
This unseasonably warm weather will last through today but in the New Year temperatures will drop back down to normal January levels. And according to forecasters, by next week it could be bitterly cold .
According to the National Weather Service in Indianapolis, it should drop down into the 30s on New Years Day with light snow possible Thursday evening. Lows in the teens are likely by this weekend.
But they say that a front of bitterly cold air is set to high central Indiana by next week that will last until mid January. We could see highs in the teens and lows below zero several days. Wind chills are going to make it feel even worse.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness of South Central Indiana will be offering a free, two month long education program in the new year to help families and friends of those with mental health conditions.
The NAMI Family-to-Family program will have eight sessions held on Mondays starting on January 13th.
The program is meant for those close to adults with conditions such as anxiety, depressive disorders, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Topics will include communication, problem solving, treatment and recovery.
The sessions will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in the evenings in the Xenia Miller Conference Room in the Commons. To register or to request more information you can call or text: (812) 390-9023 or (812) 350-0609.
A reminder that due to the New Year’s holiday, local government offices will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday. There will be no trash or recycling pickup in Columbus on Wednesday and routes will be running a day late for the rest of this week. Normal Wednesday routes will be picked up on Thursday and normal Friday routes will be picked up on Saturday.
Columbus City Utilities offices will also be closed both days. If you have a problem with your water or sewer service, you can call 812-372-8861.
The Columbus and Bartholomew County Recycling Center and the Bartholomew County Landfill will be closing for the upcoming holiday.
According to the Bartholomew County Solid Waste Management District, the district offices as well as the recycling center will be closing New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
The Bartholomew County Landfill will also be closed on New Year’s Day.
If you want more information you can go to bcswmd.com
The Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress in Bartholomew County is hoping to help residents make healthy choices when it comes to alcohol in the new year.
The agency is promoting a community-wide “Dry January” challenge. Organizers say the goal is to enhance community wellness by helping participants explore how shifting their relationship with alcohol can positively impact overall mental and physical wellbeing.
ASAP is partnering with Skye Nicholson of Soul’s Truth Coaching to offer free coaching to participants during the challenge. The coaching will be based on the book “The Alcohol Experiment” by Annie Grace. If you sign up you will receive emails, videos, social media posts and links to Facebook live events from Nicholson corresponding to themes in the book.
Nicholson said participants will be able to identify triggers, manage cravings, and examine their beliefs around alcohol.
Viewpoint Books will be offering discounted copies of the book.
The challenge is being offered under ASAP’s Rethinking Wellness initiative which aims to prevent substance misuse in Bartholomew County
You can register for the Dry January Challenge here: https://asapbc.org/dryjanuary
New restrictions on visitors go into effect today at Columbus Regional Health.
According to the hospital, both hospital inpatients and the community at large are seeing in increase in viral respiratory infections including RSV, COVID and influenza.
Under the new restrictions, visitors must be 18 or older and only two visitors at a time will be allowed to visit patients.
Visitors with signs of respiratory illness should not visit and will be respectfully asked to leave for the safety of patients and staff. Visitors also may be asked to wear a mask in patient rooms.
In the birthing center and pediatrics, patients will be allowed one person to be present during labor and no more than four other people will be allowed to visit. In the Level 2 nursery, only the two individuals with an ID band matching the infant’s band will be permitted to visit.
Visitation hours will remain unchanged.
A Columbus man was arrested on domestic violence related charges after a standoff with the SWAT team last week.
According to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, deputies were called to Columbus Regional Hospital at about 9:20 p.m. Thursday evening after a domestic battery victim arrived there with injuries to her head, arms and neck.
A suspect was identified as 42-year-old Derick Harris and deputies went to his home in the 2900 block of South Lake Drive to talk with him. He briefly spoke with deputies through the door, however he refused to leave the home or allow deputies to enter. He then cut off communications and disappeared into the home. Although deputies could see him walking inside the home, he wouldn’t respond. Deputies had also received information that there were several firearms inside the home.
After blockading off the area, the Columbus SWAT team was called in. After a search warrant was issued, drones located Harris inside the home and the team entered the home and took him into custody.
He is facing preliminary charges of domestic battery with serious bodily injury, strangulation and resisting law enforcement.
Columbus is being listed as the safest small town in America, according to a study by the Money Geek website.
The study, linked to on social media by Bartholomew County Sheriff Chris Lane over the weekend, compared FBI crime statistics from 2023, the most recent year available, and determined crime rates per 100 thousand people. It then ranked the more than 1,000 communities of between 30,000 and 100,000 people by the amount that crime costs residents per capita.
The study calculated that Columbus had a crime cost per capita of $22. The second safest city in the calculation, Wallingford, Connecticut had a cost of $40 and the 10thon the list, Upper Arlington, Ohio had a cost of $74 per capita. The average of all the cities was just over $1,100 per capita.
According to the study, the violent crime rate in Columbus ranked 19th and the property crime rate ranked 112th.
The study also concluded that small cities have 48 percent lower crime costs than larger cities.
You can find information on the study here: https://www.moneygeek.com/living/safest-cities/small-cities-and-towns-in-america/#safest-small-cities-and-towns