A proposed new contract between the Columbus Educators Association and Bartholomew Consolidated Schools would see teachers gaining an average 6 percent pay increase in each of the next two school years.

Under the proposed pay plan, starting teachers would see their pay rise from the current $39,065 to $44,600 in the contract’s second year. The top of the pay scale for teachers would be $83,600, with a $90,000 salary including referendum increases.

Amy London with the CEA said that the top salary would be comparable to other area professions that require a similar level of education.

Teachers would be paid $30 an hour for extra-curricular duties.

The BCSC school board held a special meeting Monday afternoon to hear the proposal. CEA members will vote on the contract Thursday and Friday and the proposal will return to the school board on Monday for its approval.

Photo: Chad Phillips and Amy London present details of the new teachers union contract. WRB screenshot photo

Mail to inmates in the Bartholomew County Jail will be going digital.

The sheriff’s department announced yesterday that it is making the change in December. Inmates will have one month to contact their family and friends explaining the new system, then all mail will be sent digitally by January.

The jail is contracting with a company called Earth Class Mail to make the change. After Dec. 6th, physical mail must be sent to an address in San Antonio, Texas, where it will be scanned in and then sent electronically to the inmate.

The service will not scan books, magazines, catalogs, advertising mailers or junk mail. Those will be considered trash and will not be electronically shipped.

Legal mail from attorneys will remain the same.

The new mail address:

Facility Name (Bartholomew County Jail)
Inmate Name – Inmate System ID Number
PO Box 1042 PMB #39193
San Antonio, TX 78294-1042
*NOTE: Do NOT place preceding zeros in the booking number.

The Indiana State Department of Health COVID-19 Strike Team will be holding a testing and vaccine clinic today through Saturday at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fairgrounds.

You can receive either the Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson vaccines from noon to 8 in the midway area off of County Road 200S.

No appointment is necessary.

Columbus firefighters are being recognized for their efforts to save a girl trapped in a laundry chute last month.

Fire Chief Andy Lay presented the department’s Medal of Courage to five firefighters from Station No. 2, who responded to the call on Sept. 22nd on Forest Drive. They found a girl at the home tightly wedged into a laundry chute that stretched from the second floor to basement. Firefighters had to remove a floor joist to free the girl.

The medals were presented to Capt. Josh Allman, Lt. Leroy Armstrong and firefighters Marcus Gruner, Josh Carney and Norvin Williams.

The Medal of Courage is awarded to firefighters who show an act of bravery or initiative and capability.

Photo courtesy of Columbus Fire Department, from left to right, Deputy Chief Mark Ziegler, Deputy Chief Mike Kutsko, Fire Chief Andy Lay, Capt. Josh Allman, Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop, Firefighter Marcus Gruner, Firefighter Josh Carney, and Firefighter Norvin Williams and Lt. Leroy Armstrong

Seymour will be celebrating the opening of its new Burkhart Boulevard Bypass over the Louisville and Indiana railroad tracks with a car-free street event on Oct. 31st.

You can walk or ride a bike on the bypass from noon to 3 p.m. that Sunday, with the trek starting on the O’Brien Street end of the bypass. Participants will be able to travel the whole two-mile route, then return for festivities. Those will include candy/treats provided by Milestone Contractors and city officials will be grilling and serving hot dogs.

You can park along County Road 340N just off of O’Brien Street.

The bypass will open to vehicles on Nov. 1st.

Photo courtesy of City of Seymour.

The third and final suspect into a 2014 Jennings County gun store robbery and murder has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Southern Indiana reports that 30-year-old DeJuan A. Worthen has been sentenced to 30 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his role in the robbery and murder of Scott Maxie in September of 2014.

Worthen, Darryl Worthen and Darion Harris cased the Muscatatuck Outdoors Gun Shop the day before they returned to rob it. Darryl Worthen shot Maxie and then the three stole 45 guns, while Maxie lay dying. They then sold and distributed many of the firearms when they got back to Indy, but did keep several for themselves.

Worthen pled guilty to Aiding and Abetting the Use/Carrying/Discharge of a Firearm Resulting in Death. He was sentenced on Friday.

In 2015, 32-year-old Darryl Worthen was sentenced to 60 years in prison, while 28-year-old Harris was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2019.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Indiana State Police, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the Jennings County Sheriff’s Office, and the Jennings County Prosecutor’s Office.

A bone has been found in the SUV pulled from the Ohio River last week that belonged to an Ohio woman, missing for nearly 20 years.

According to state police reports, a search of the river using side sonar scan technology last week near Aurora, Indiana led divers to locate a vehicle at a depth of over 50 feet and about 300 feet from the bank of the river.

The registration plate matched a vehicle that was involved in a 2002 missing persons case out of Delphi Township in Ohio. 26-year-old Stephanie Van Nguyen and her two children, 4-year-old Kristina, and 3-year-old John have been missing since April 2002.

On Monday, anthropologists with the University of Indianapolis and Indiana State Police investigators examined the vehicle and discovered what they believe to be a human bone. The bone is being sent to a lab for testing in an attempt to determine the origin.

Information found during the initial investigation indicated that Nguyen planned to drive her 1997 Nissan Pathfinder into the river.

Last week, dive teams from the Hamilton County Police Association and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources with the assistance of Schaffer’s Towing worked to bring the vehicle to the surface.

Photo courtesy of Indiana State Police

Two Columbus residents wanted on warrants were arrested Monday night after police found them parked near Ninth Street Park.

According to Columbus police reports, officers noticed two people in a vehicle acting suspiciously at about 6:20 Monday evening. They identified the two as 27-year-old Kaylee D. Shuffitt and 44-year-old Jeffrey L. Watts, who were both wanted on warrants.

After taking them into custody, police found several baggies containing methamphetamine and marijuana, in Watts’ clothing, along with drug paraphernalia and several pills.

Shuffitt was arrested on an outstanding Bartholomew County warrant. Watts is facing new charges of dealing in methamphetamine, legend drug deception, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and giving a false identity statement, as well as the outstanding warrant.

The Bartholomew County Historical Society is looking for your family Christmas photos to help decorate the museum for the holidays.

In recognition of the historical society’s centennial, the museum is planning a Community Christmas Memory Tree. The tree will be decorated with photos from community Christmases past.

Diane Robbins, the society’s executive director, said the goal is to gather as many local photos as possible celebrating local holiday traditions from 1921 to 2020. They will be on display from November 30th through December 22nd.

You can email digital photos to Robbins at the Historical Society at [email protected]. Or you can bring them in to be scanned to the museum on Third Street. You should include the family name, dates and locations where the photo was taken. Images should be submitted by Oct. 31st.

The museum is open to the public Tuesday-Thursday; 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

For more information call 812-372-3541.

A motorcyclist was killed and a Good Samaritan seriously injured in the aftermath of a crash with a deer in southern Bartholomew County early Monday morning.

According to reports from Indiana State Police, 34-year-old Marcus Grayson of Indianapolis died in the accident on Interstate 65 south of the Walesboro exit shortly before 2 a.m. Grayson had been riding a motorcycle when he struck a deer and was seriously injured.

Several vehicles stopped to assist Grayson, including two in the driving lanes and one on the shoulder, driven by 37-year-old Adam K. Whyde of Beech Grove.

But while they tended to Grayson, a semi came on the scene driven by 45-year-old Lee H. Muller of Danville, Kentucky. Muller took evasive action, according to troopers, but still struck the two stopped vehicles in the roadway, the motorcycle, Grayson and Whyde.

Grayson was pronounced dead at the scene by the Bartholomew County coroner’s office. Whyde suffered serious injuries and was flown by medical helicopter to an Indianapolis hospital. Another of the stopped drivers suffered injuries after being struck by debris. He was treated.

The investigation into the accident is ongoing and toxicology results are pending. The northbound lanes of I-65 were closed for about four hours while the crash was investigated and the scene cleaned up.

Photo courtesy of Indiana State Police