A wanted man was taken into custody in Jennings County and authorities are crediting a police dog with its first collar.

According to the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department, an officer from the North Vernon Police Department and a deputy noticed an SUV stop suddenly, partly blocking the road at Hoosier and 7th Streets Monday. The officer and deputy got out of their vehicles to investigate and a man ran from the vehicle.

Officers recognized the man as Joshua Lucas who was wanted on Jennings County felony warrants. After several attempts to get Lucas to stop running and a warning about releasing police dog Brock, the wanted man continued to flee. Deputy Michael Watts released the dog who quickly apprehended the suspect. Lucas was taken into custody after a brief struggle, police say.

A search uncovered 20 grams of methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia. After being treated at St. Vincent Jennings hospital, Lucas was arrested on new charges for possessing the drugs and for resisting law enforcement.

State highway officials say that U.S. 421 will be closing in Greensburg next week while crews work on a railroad crossing there.

According to INDOT, the highway will be closing between East Main Street and East Railroad Street. A detour will take State Road 46 to State Road 129 to State Road 350 and then back to U.S. 421.

Central Railroad Company will be doing the work starting on Tuesday and it is expected to reopen by Thursday. The work schedule is depending on the weather.

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

State Road 9 will be closing north of the Bartholomew County line later this month while crews work on a drainage structure there.

According to INDOT, the highway will close about five miles north of the Bartholomew/Shelby County line starting on March 24th through mid April. The work will be going on between Shelby County Roads 750S and 800S. The official detour will follow State Road 44, Interstate 65, and State Road 252.

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

Dorel Juvenile Group has sold its facilities on State Street in Columbus to an investor group including company officials.

The Quebec based company announced in February that the $30 million deal is meant to raise operating capital and reduce debt. According to the announcement, the transaction is a sale-leaseback arrangement for the facility which includes factory and warehousing functions. The company will pat $2.9 million in rent for the building on a 10-year- lease, with the option to renew for two five-year terms.

The company says that it will use $8 million of the sale to pay down debt, and use the rest to fund ongoing operations. The sale is meant to finance the growth of its Juvenile segment and the turnaround of its Home segment, an initiative announced earlier this year.

The company said that several directors and executive officers at Dorel have an ownership interest in the purchasing company.

Dorel announced that the furniture supplier industry is struggling “with supply chain uncertainty, inflation and higher interest costs” and consumers “have de-prioritized spending on home furnishings.”

In the company’s financial reports released yesterday, Dorel reported a fourth quarter loss of $73 million dollars on revenue of $326.8 million. The revenue was down 6.8 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

You can read Dorel’s Fourth Quarter 2024 report here: https://www.dorel.com/blogs/news/dorel-reports-fourth-quarter-and-2024-year-end-results

Dorel’s February announcement:

Dorel Announces Financing Transaction
Montreal, Quebec – February 21, 2025
Monetization of Company-owned factory in Columbus, Indiana
Montréal, February 21, 2025 — Dorel Industries Inc. (TSX: DII.B, DII.A) announced today that it has entered into a sale-leaseback transaction for its factory and warehousing facility in Columbus, Indiana. The gross proceeds to Dorel from the sale will be US$30 million, of which approximately US$8 million will be allocated to reduce existing debt, with the balance designated for funding the Company’s ongoing operations. The lease has an initial term of ten years and may be renewed at the Company’s option for two renewal terms of five years each. The initial annual rent is approximately US$2.9 million, subject to annual increases. The obligations of the lessee Dorel Juvenile Group, Inc. are not guaranteed by Dorel Industries Inc., its parent company. This transaction is part of the Company’s initiative to finance as announced on January 30, 2025. The Company is diligently exploring additional opportunities to further enhance its financial position.

Each of Martin Schwartz, Jeffrey Schwartz and Jeff Segel, directors and executive officers of Dorel, and Alan Schwartz, an executive officer of Dorel, has an ownership interest in the purchaser/lessor of the facility in Columbus, Indiana. As such, the sale-leaseback transaction constitutes a “related party transaction” for Dorel under Canadian Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions (“MI 61-101”). Dorel’s Board of Directors, for the purposes thereof comprised solely of Dorel’s four independent directors, approved the transaction and determined, acting in good faith, that (i) Dorel is in serious financial difficulty; (ii) the transaction is designed to improve Dorel’s financial position; (iii) the transaction is not subject to court approval and no court has ordered that the transaction be effected under bankruptcy or insolvency law or under applicable corporate law; (iv) Dorel has four independent directors in respect of the transaction; and (v) the Board of Directors, acting in good faith, determined, and all of Dorel’s four independent directors, acting in good faith, determined that clauses (i) and (ii) above apply to the transaction and that the terms of the transaction are reasonable in Dorel’s circumstances. As a result, the sale-leaseback transaction is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 which generally apply to a “related party transaction”. In making its determination, the Board of Directors relied in part on a report from a third party specialized in real estate. The Board of Directors also relied on advice from its independent legal advisors in making the foregoing determinations.

Since then, the industry has struggled with supply chain uncertainty, inflation and higher interest costs which means consumers have de-prioritized spending on home furnishings. This has in particular impacted traditional North American furniture suppliers and retailers, resulting in a number of significant industry bankruptcies. Although the market is smaller today than it was during the pandemic, the current industry dynamic presents an opportunity for Dorel to succeed by focusing on its core competencies and its long-term relationships with retailers that sell moderately priced furniture. This requires adjustments to the Dorel Home business model and a reduction in overall footprint to achieve profitability.

Dorel will file a material change report with respect to the transaction on SEDAR+. Dorel will not file the material change report at least 21 days before the closing date of the transaction as the terms and conditions of the transaction were only recently finalized. In Dorel’s view, the shorter period is necessary to permit Dorel to close the transaction on a timely basis in order to improve its financial position.

Jackson County authorities say that a traffic camera surveillance system helped find a missing person from southern Indiana Monday.

According to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, the department received an alert from the county’s FLOCK camera system Monday that a person reported missing from Clark County had driven into the county from Lawrence County. A FLOCK system use strategically placed cameras to automatically read license plates and quickly process those against a database to alert police with various pieces of information. For example, it could alert to the plates of a stolen vehicle, a vehicle suspected in an abduction or, as in this case, to a missing person’s vehicle.

A deputy and Brownstown police officer intercepted the vehicle as it entered Brownstown and spoke to the driver. He said he got lost while driving and was attempting to find his way home. After taking the missing person to the sheriff’s department, Clark County officials and a family member were able to arrive to take the driver home.

According to Sheriff Rick Meyer, “All parties were happy the subject was found safe and able to get back home.” He stressed the importance of the FLOCK camera system as a valuable tool.

The city of Columbus will begin brush and yard waste pickups for the season starting on Monday.

According to the city’s Department of Public Works, the sanitation department will begin the weekly yard waste Toter and brush pile pickups on your regular trash day. You should have the Toter to the curb by 7 a.m. on your collection day.

The yard waste Toters are meant for waste such as grass clippings, weeds, leaves, and flowers. They are not for other trash or debris, such as garden pots or soil bags, sticks, branches, wood, or tree trimmings, rocks or mulch or pet waste.

You can also stack piles of sticks and brush neatly at the curb on your trash day and the city’s chipper truck will take them away. If you have debris that is longer than 6 feet or amounts to more than a pickup truck load, you should submit a request for pickup through the city’s CurbCycle app or by calling the Department of Public Works at 812-376-2509.

The yard waste and brush pickups run through December 12th.

Local emergency officials say that now is a good time to prepare for bad weather.

According to Bartholomew County Emergency Management, there is the potential for a strong storm system to come through our area late this week and into the weekend. They say that there is a possibility of strong windy conditions and thunderstorms Friday and Saturday, some of which could turn severe. Heavy rain and localized flooding is also possible.

The exact timing of any storms have still not been determined, nor their severity.

However, state and local officials say that now is the time to prepare yourself. They say you should have multiple ways available to receive weather forecasts and alerts. They also warn that tornado sirens are meant to be heard outside and cannot be relied on if you are inside of a building.

According to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, you should have a location designated as your safe spot. A basement or storm shelter is best, but an interior room, stairway or hall without a window or door to the outside is also acceptable.

This is Severe Weather Preparedness Week in Indiana and a test of the tornado warning system was held statewide this morning.

Schneck Medical Center is being recognized by the Indiana Hospital Association and the State Health Commissioner for the Seymour hospital’s commitment to infant and maternal health.

According to the hospital, it received the recognition as part of the fifth annual INspire Hospital of Distinction recognition program. INspire was created to recognize hospitals for excellence in addressing key drivers of infant and maternal health. The program is funded by a Indiana Department of Health grant,

The Hospital of Distinction recognition is based on criteria including promotion of awareness of infant safe sleep, breastfeeding, perinatal substance use, social drivers of health, obstetric hemorrhage, and maternal hypertension.

Dr. Eric Fish, president and CEO of Schneck, said the recognition is due to the team’s commitment to “improve maternal and infant health outcomes in our communities.”

According to the state board of health, for the first time in the program’s history, 100 percent of Indiana’s birthing facilities earned one of two INspire recognitions.

Work on a pickleball complex at Dunn Stadium near the Bartholomew County 4-H Fairgrounds should be able to continue after county commissioners approved a change to the construction contract Monday.

The county is building a tournament quality, 12-court pickleball complex at the park, the only courts on the west side of Columbus. The goal was to finish the work by last fall at a cost of more than half a million dollars.

However, the project has been delayed while the city and county worked out agreement on drainage at the site, including input from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Charlie Day with DLZ engineering said that the overlapping jurisdictions caused some delays to work out the required details. Those details, including improvements to water quality from runoff at the site, means changes needed to be made to the construction plans that were approved more than a year ago with Case Construction. Some items had to be added, others deleted and others changed, with the end result being an increased cost of about $23,000, Day said.

However, Day said he had been in contact with Case Construction and they were eager to get started on the project. After the commissioners approval at Monday’s meeting, he estimated work could begin as soon as this weeks.

Last year, the county saved some money on the overall project, by having county workers perform some of the initial prep work at the site.

IU Columbus will be hosting visits to the campus later this month and in April for those who might want to become students there.

The visit days will be from 9 to 4 p.m. the week of March 17th through 21st and again March 31st to April 4th. Next week’s session is geared for students who have already have an associate’s degree or attended another school. The later session will be for those interested in applying to the school or who are already enrolled for the summer or fall sessions.

If you attend, you will be able to meet with an admissions counselor, get information about programs, be assisted with the application process and take a campus tour. There will also be information about filling out the Free Application For Federal Student Aid, as well as scholarships and work-study opportunities.

You can get more information at columbus.iu.edu/admissions.