Columbus Police Department (CPD) investigators are looking into the death of a 46-year-old Columbus man after the man’s vehicle dove into a pond.
Late Tuesday morning, CPD and other first responders were called to the area of N Indianapolis Road and Kenholt Drive for reports of a car in a nearby pond. When officers arrived, several people had gone into the water to attempt to pull the driver from the vehicle. CPD officers attempted to assist but were unable to reach the driver.
Members of the Bartholomew County Water rescue Team and the Columbus Fire Department arrived on the scene and deployed rescue boats and divers.
The driver and only occupant, Christopher Pool, was recovered from the vehicle.
Medical personnel attempted life saving measures, However, Mr. Pool died at the scene.
Initial reports indicate that Mr. Pool
was driving southbound on Indianapolis Road when for an unknown reason his vehicle veered off the roadway, through nearby bushes, and ultimately into the pond.

CPD detectives are working with the Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office
to determine the circumstances of Mr. Pool’s death.
Multiple people sustained minor injuries while attempting to rescue Mr. Pool. They were all treated and released.

Indiana State Police Press Release

Applications are now open for Indiana Sheriff’s Association scholarships for students pursuing a degree in Criminal justice studies.

Bartholomew County Sheriff Chris Lane says there will be about 40 $750 scholarships awarded across the state. To qualify you must be an Indiana resident, be a member of the association or be a child or grandchild of a current member, attending an Indiana college or university, majoring in a law enforcement field.

The deadline to apply is April 1st.

You can find applications through your high school guidance counselor or find a link here: https://indianasheriffs.org/programs/scholarship-program/

Columbus Police Department will be taking part in a Tip a Cop event in Columbus this week to benefit Special Olympics Indiana.

Officers will be on hand volunteering as celebrity servers at Texas Roadhouse on Merchant Mile in Columbus on Wednesday and donating their tips to Special Olympics. You are encouraged to donate what you can. Cash and credit cards will be accepted.

The event will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12th.

The National Weather Service will be hosting free weather spotter training at several area seminars.

The trainings last about two hours and you will learn how to interpret cloud structures and radar images associated with severe weather.

A virtual seminar will be held at 6 p.m. tomorrow, Feb. 11th, and you will need to register to attend that one to receive the link to log in.

The first seminar in our surrounding area will start at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, February 26th at the Jennings County Public Library on North State Road 3..

Other upcoming area trainings include at 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 6th in Greensburg and at 6 p.m. in the evening on Thursday, March 13th in Jackson County.

There will also be trainings to be scheduled this spring in Brown, Johnson and Shelby Counties.

The training is free and you do not have to attend the training in the community where you live. Registration is generally not required. You can find more information here: https://www.weather.gov/ind/spotter_talks

Columbus Regional Health is offering tips on how you can avoid one of the many respiratory illnesses circulating in the community, whether it is COVID, the flu or RSV.

According to the hospital, respiratory illnesses are caused by viruses or sometimes bacteria. They commonly affect the nasal passages, sinuses, and lungs, causing breathing issues, inflammation, congestion, fever, fatigue and other aches and pains.

They say that there are several steps to take to help protect yourself or your loved ones.

First is keeping up with annual fall and winter immunizations. All three of the major respiratory diseases now have vaccines available to help prevent the illness in the first place or help you fight it off if you do catch COVID, the flu or RSV.

If you do catch an illness, treatments are available for flu and COVID that can help reduce the chances of severe illness, hospitalization or even death.

You can also take quick and easily available tests that will reveal the presence of the respiratory diseases. This can help you get started on a treatment earlier to help your self and protect others.

You should also continue to use common sense methods to avoid these diseases such as washing your hands, keeping your distance, wearing an appropriate mask and even improving the airflow where people live and work.

Health officials say the rapid rise in cases is causing doctor visits for flu related symptoms to reach their highest in 15 years. The CDC estimates there have been 24 million cases of the flu this season causing more than 300-thousand hospitalizations and 13-thousand deaths.

If you have any questions you should contact your primary care provider. You can also get more information online at crh.org

A new mental health program called an Assisted Outpatient Treatment Court will be starting in April in Bartholomew County Judge Jon Rohde’s Superior Court 2 for civil cases, ensuring people get the treatment they need.

Rohde is announcing that the program is a partnership with Columbus Regional Health, Centerstone, Mental Health Matters, and the South Central National Alliance on Mental Illness. It will provide court-supervised treatment to those suffering from a mental health diagnosis.

Rohde said the goal is to decrease the number of repeat interactions between those suffering from mental illness and local medical facilities and with law enforcement. That will also reduce the current strain on inpatient services.

While programs like this are common in Kentucky and Ohio, this will only be the second in Indiana, Rohde said. Last year, Judge Jim Worton introduced a mental health court in Bartholomew Superior Court 1 for criminal cases.

Rohde said that the program will cause no additional cost to taxpayers because the partner agencies will be dedicating existing resources to the program.

“Our goal is to get people the help they need before their crisis results in them committing a crime, while at the same time maximizing the efficiency of our community’s emergency resources, all of which will result in us having a safer community,” Rohde said.

Downtown Columbus will be hosting a tasty chocolate event this weekend to help the Arc of Bartholomew County.

The Always Ready for Chocolate event will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at The Commons.

The event was previously known as a Taste of Chocolate and funds support the Arc’s mission of helping those with developmental and intellectual disabilities and their families.

In addition to desserts and treats from local bakeries, restaurants and organizations, there will also be live entertainment and an art show and sale.
Local service providers and agencies with resources will also be on hand to share information.

Tickets are $25 per adult or $15 per child and are available at the door or online here: https://thearcbc.networkforgood.com/events/79150-always-ready-for-chocolate-2025

The United Way of Bartholomew County is ready to help you in filling out your income taxes.

Magen Pillar with the agency says those with lower incomes can qualify for one on one assistance from the My Free Taxes program.

The tax assistance program is available to Bartholomew County residents who make $70,000 or less. Volunteers are certified by the IRS and they provide basic income tax return preparation with electronic filing to qualified individuals.

The tax filings will be offered through mid-April at the Doug Otto United Way Center on 13th Street in Columbus.

The United Way says that last year, the program put more than a million dollars back into the local economy by securing tax refunds and saving filing fees for residents.

Reservations are available on a first-come first-served basis. You can get more information by going online to www.uwbarthco.org/taxes. (You can sign up by calling 812-375-2216 between 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

An attempt to serve arrest warrants on a Butlerville man led to the callout of the Jennings County SWAT team and a standoff with police.

The Jennings County Sheriff’s Department says the incident started at about 1 p.m. yesterday afternoon when deputies went to an address in the 5300 block of North County Road 750E looking for Jason Daugherty. He was wanted on warrants out of Jennings and Ripley counties.

Deputies say that Daugherty refused to come to the door of the home and a standoff started that lasted two hours. The SWAT team eventually entered the residence and took him into custody.

In addition to the warrants, he is facing a new charge of resisting law enforcement.

The Indiana State Police and Indiana Department of Natural Resources conservation officers also assisted at the scene.