Camp Atterbury officials released more details this week on the operations at the base to shelter more than 6,600 Afghan refugees during Operation Allies Welcome.

Mark Howell, spokesman for the operation, said that there have been an additional 1,312 military members brought in, 69 government employees and 83 non government volunteers.

Howell said the refugees are being housed in six neighborhoods with 82 lodging buildings. There are three community centers available, and two guest dining facilities with four additional locations for grab-and-go food.

The refugees will be going through a process to vet them and then to release them into permanent communities. He said that involves a medical phase, then biometrics and finally a phase of finding homes, sponsor families and employment for the refugees.

So far there have been just over 14 hundred fingerprint and photograph sessions and more than 1360 intake interviews.

Hoosiers can now donate needed items to the evacuees at Camp Atterbury.

Gov. Eric Holcomb has announced a regional collection system to receive, sort, and deliver the donations. You can drop off new items for the evacuees at the nine Indiana National Guard armories across the state.

Men’s and women’s unbranded, modest clothing, children’s clothing, socks and shoes, and powdered baby formula are the most needed. Items in original packaging will be accepted Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. starting next week.

Bartholomew County Road 1020 East, between Stafford Road and the county line, will be closing to traffic today from 8 to 5 while crews perform an asphalt overlay.

You should avoid the area if you can. The work schedule is dependent on the weather.

Ivy Tech Community College will be hosting express enrollment days from Monday Sept. 27th through Friday Oct. 1st.

Prospective students will be able to complete their enrollment steps and sign up for classes that start on October 20th. Walk-in’s are welcome and no appointment is needed.

Hundreds of classes are available in multiple formats, including in-person and online. Ivy Tech does require the use of a mask or face covering inside its buildings for everyone, vaccinated or unvaccinated.

The sessions will run from 9 to 6 daily.

For more information, you can visit www.ivytech.edu/eeday.

Cutting edge technology will be bringing the past to life next week on Fourth Street in Columbus. In celebration of the Columbus and Bartholomew County bicentennial, the “200 Years Together” audio-visual experience will be showing on the Ulrich Building from 8 to 10 at night on Sept. 23rd and 24th.

Organizers say there will be historical photos, videos and scenes shown on the building, set to choreographed to music. The goal is to remind us of things forgotten, to revisit important shared experiences and to leave us thinking about a bright future.

The show is 10 minutes long and will be shown on a loop each night. You can bring a chair. Food and drink will be available to purchase at the Fourth Street Bar and Grill.

There will also be a scavenger hunt, bicentennial-related booths and a family game area.

Organizers caution that the show does include flashing lights and strobe effects.

You can get more details here.

Story courtesy of Network Indiana

Fourteen Indiana colleges will waive application fees during Indiana’s College Application Week, from Sept. 20 – 24. And another 25 colleges already have no application fees, according to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.

Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education, Teresa Lubbers, says she hopes Hoosier high school seniors will take advantage of College Application Week.

Schools offering free applications for high school seniors include:

• Huntington University
• Indiana State University
• Indiana University East (Use code EACOLLGO)
• Indiana University Fort Wayne (Use code FWCOLLGO)
• Indiana University Kokomo (Use code KOCOLLGO)
• Indiana University Northwest (Use code NWCOLGO)
• Indiana University South Bend (Use code SBCOLLGO)
• Indiana University Southeast (Use code SECOLLGO)
• IU-Purdue University Columbus (Use code COCOLLGO)
• Martin University
• Purdue University Fort Wayne (Use code COLLEGEGO22)
• Purdue University Northwest
• University of Southern Indiana (Use code collegego21)
• Vincennes University
• The following colleges report having free applications year-round:
• Anderson University
• Bethel University
• Butler University
• DePauw University
• Earlham College
• Franklin College
• Grace College
• Goshen College
• Hanover College
• Holy Cross College
• Indiana Tech
• Indiana Wesleyan
• Ivy Tech Community College
• Manchester University
• Marian University
• Oakland City University
• Saint Mary’s College
• Saint Mary-of-the-Woods
• Taylor University
• Trine University
• University of Evansville
• University of Indianapolis
• University of Saint Francis
• Valparaiso University
• Wabash University

Story courtesy of Network Indiana.

Thirty-four people have been rounded up in Johnson County, accused of dealing drugs in Operation United Front.

Jackson County authorities announced the arrests yesterday.

Prosecutor Joe Villanueva said there is an opioid epidemic, but methamphetamine is still king in Johnson County.  He said the majority of people who were arrested were dealing meth. But, he also had a long list of other drugs that police found in the round-up, to include Xanax, morphine, heroin, fentanyl, ecstasy, hydrocodone, oxycodone, and suboxone, which is used to ween people off of opioids.

Franklin Police Chief Kirby Cochran said the busts are necessary to save lives in his city. There have been 38 overdose calls in the last seven and a half months, he said.

“We’re not going to allow these drugs to take over our neighborhoods,” Cochran said. “As long as I’m chief of police, narcotics enforcement will be a priority.”

Villanueva said there were some unusual arrests in the operation.

“We had somebody sell us some fake heroin and one guy was even charged with theft for giving the buy money to the narcotics officer and then never producing the drugs. He just stole the money.”

He said there were also two mother-daughter duos arrested.

“It’s not often that we see family members get caught or charged with dealing drugs together.”

Villanueva said the people arrested came from all over the county and ranged in age from 24 to 60.

The Friends of the Muscatatuck River Society will be having their 18th Annual Fall River cleanup sweep on Saturday, Oct. 2nd.

Called the “Shady” Sweep, it is named in memory of founder, Dan Shade.

Volunteers can either canoe or walk along a section of the Muscatatuck River collecting trash. Participants should dress in appropriate clothing for outdoor work and arrive at 8 a.m. at Vernon Commons via Brown Street. Registration will be a drive-thru-style similar to the Spring Cleanup.

At noon, the river crews will gather at the shopping center parking lot next to Country Chevrolet where Jennings County Highway Department trucks will collect the trash. Groups can also drop off their trash directly at the highway garage and recycling center.

If you have questions you can contact Troy Jackson at 812-592-0481.

Photo courtesy of Jennings County Parks.

The Columbus Police Department SWAT Team took part for the first time in the Indiana SWAT Challenge in Muncie last week. The challenge tests the teams skill and teamwork in several aspects throughout the event, which ran Wednesday through Saturday.

According to police reports, the SWAT team, made up of Columbus officers and Bartholomew County deputies, was split into two 6-man teams for the competion. Team No. 1 finished in third place, and Team No. 2 finished in sixth place. Columbus SWAT officers won the Glock longshot competition and the obstacle course.

Sheriff Matt Myers praised the continued collaboration between the two Bartholomew County agencies.

Photo courtesy of Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department