Friday, November 15, 2024
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: STEPHENSON RIFE ATTORNEYS
‘TIS THE SEASON
Dick Wasson, Ryan Klein, Kyle Richardson, Craig Richardson, Jeremiah Clouse and Zach Rupert prepare Joseph Fountain yesterday for the holidays. | photo by JACK BOYCE
Shelby County Players in Home Stretch as Building Nears Completion
Rose McNeely provides a Shelby County Players financial update to approximately 50 in attendance at Wednesday’s gathering, held at the theatre building under renovations on Miller Ave. | photo by KRISTIAAN RAWLINGS
It seems reasonable to think of the incoming Wortman Family Civic Theatre as another entertainment option. But it’s much more than that, according to Tim Barrick.
“It’s really about economic development,” Barrick said to over 50 attendees at this week’s Shelby County Players Annual Gathering, held in the auditorium of the west side theatre, undergoing extensive renovations. He pointed out most people think of economic development merely as utilities and infrastructure. “This theatre is as much about economic development as any of those things. It’s about quality of place.”
Shelbyville is not alone. Plainfield just opened a new theatre. One is under construction in Greenwood. And Gas City, Ind. this year finished a $20 million Performing Arts Center. It’s all part of an effort to attract and retain people, Barrick said.
“What you need are cultural events and artistic endeavors. And this (theatre) checks those boxes, plus many more.”
With the first performance, a Douglas and Mary Carter Young Audiences Show directed by Debbie Stafford, set for February 2025, Runnebohm Construction continues work on the facility.
“A lot is going on behind the scenes,” SCP board president David Sheets said, adding, “Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place.”
A grand opening will be held in the Spring.
Several board members and staff provided updates. Rose McNeely announced the organization is at $4.5 million of the $5 million Phase One goal, and an anonymous donor has offered to match up to $225,000 between now and January 1.
“There are still naming opportunities, starting at $25,000, available,” she said.
Board member Beth Browning led an activity in which attendees helped assemble an SCP-themed puzzle, which will be framed in the new location.
“(The puzzle) speaks to the importance of all of us coming together as a community, and everyone bringing their skills and talents and everything they have to offer so that we can thrive as Shelby County Players,” she said.
Barrick agreed. “This brings people together, and it also provides a venue for young people to engage in this process, and hopefully, what this will do over time will put Shelbyville and Shelby County on the map.”
Addison Times Update
Thank you to those who generously donated yesterday toward our 2025 fundraising goal of $44,500. In addition to those previously listed, the following also have contributed $500 or more, and will be recognized in the upcoming Winter magazine: Tim & Diane Barrick; Amy Bertheoux, Lisa Bridges; Dana & Audra Caldwell; DePrez, Johnson, Brant & Eads, P.A.; John & Mary DePrez; Philip & Nancy Haehl; Sara & Amara Lewis; and Lee & Rose McNeely.
Giving can be facilitated either online or via a check to The Addison Times, 54 W. Broadway, #13, Shelbyville, Ind., 46176. Thank you for your continued support of daily local news and history! - Kristiaan Rawlings, Editor
NOTEBOOK:
“Elf: The Musical” is set for tonight and tomorrow, November 15 and 16, 7 p.m., in Shelbyville High School’s Breck Auditorium. Tickets, available at the door, are $8 for students and $10 for adults.
NATIONAL NEWS: Many of the most dangerous roads in America have something in common: They’re state-managed roads in municipalities. When municipalities are responsible for roads, they can be proactive and responsive to the desires of the community, so dangerous intersections get addressed and speed limits get toggled until a better ideal is found. When states operate roads, on the other hand, they’re dealing with lots of different stakeholders and inherently don’t want to handle any one road fundamentally differently than the entire portfolio. Jam one of these unsupervised highways into a densely populated area and you’ve got a recipe for disaster; while only 14 percent of urban road miles nationwide are under state control, 66 percent of traffic deaths in the 101 largest metro areas happen there. (Vox/Numlock)
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SHS Courier Archive Highlights:
May 4, 1954, Part I
Roger Willis, Ana Lou Willis and Bill Latshaw were all selected to be speakers at commencement. Bill planned to talk about scientific developments, Ana Lou would focus on the role of education in the future, and Roger said he would speak on “Faith in Tomorrow Through Humanity.”
The annual DeMolay Commencement Dance was set to be held at the local Elks Club Ballroom, 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tickets could be purchased from Phil Breedlove, Jim Spindler, Tom Robins, Tom Pearson, Don Schiesz, Dick Weakley, Jerry Moore and Jim Ash.
Although there were 26 rows of seats in the gym, the letter Q had been skipped in the identification system because it looked too much like the letter O. The top row was ZZ.
Mary Louise Rahe, Wilma Yoder and Roberta Davis were all selected for Prom Court.
Nine SHS graduates enrolled at Indiana University were among those honored at Indiana University’s Founders Day exercises for their high achievements. They were Maurice Hart, Jim Lawrence, Don Polakoff, Lois Latshaw, Bev Robinson, Bill Deupree, Dottie St. John, Mary Ann Schrader and Richard Siefert.
This Day in Shelby County History
News around Shelbyville and the surrounding area as reported on or about this date in history. Selections are curated by The Addison Times from Shelby County Public Library Genealogy Department materials.
2014: Triton Central announced plans to use e-learning days when school was closed due to harsh weather. After school had been closed multiple times in 2013, Superintendent Dr. Shane Robbins said e-learning would help avoid tacking days on at the end of the year.
2004: A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the expansion of St. George’s Lutheran Church. Participating in the ceremony were Rosie Warder, John Gentle, Sharon Gentle, Rev. Jerry Curry, Jeff Pruitt, Carl Sanders, Larry Mohr and Jim Stuck.
Preliminary work was underway for renovations at Shelbyville High School, which included a new location for computer labs and combining and relocating the distance-learning lab and large-group instruction room to the new media center. When the project was complete, students would have four new corridors, instead of two, to navigate the building.
1994: Renovations were underway at the post office to open the lobby 24 hours a day and move the three drive-through drop-off boxes in front of the building, creating seven additional parking spaces. The boxes would be moved to the east side of the building. Postmaster Robert McGill said he hoped the mailbox removal would stop illegal U-turns in front of the post office. “Every day, you hear horns honking, people screaming and brakes screeching,” he said.
1984: Waldron High School students who pre-ordered received White Castle hamburgers for lunch, 28 cents each.
1974: With the first snow already past, the Retail Council of Downtown Shelbyville announced plans for the annual Christmas lighting event, Santa’s arrival, holiday store hours and the start of the Christmas shopping season, set for Nov. 22-23. Christmas lights would be turned on downtown at 6 p.m. on Friday, with stores remaining open until 9 p.m. The Community Band played on Public Square before Santa arrived on a fire truck. “Wonderland,” a new free fantasy land for all ages, was open in the Methodist Building basement. Cortese Studio took photos of children with Santa in “Wonderland.” Also, as part of the Christmas season promotion, “Cowboy Bob” of TV Channel 4 was downtown on Saturday.
1964: The County Plan Commission filed an injunction against Louis Karnowsky, operator of Shelby Wrecking Co. on Old Road 421 at the north edge of Shelbyville. Karnowsky had been ordered to clean up a tract of land just north of the junk yard site, which he had refused to do.
Gov. Matthew Welsh granted clemency to William Price, 34, who had killed well-known State Trooper Herbert Smith, of Shelbyville, on Dec. 5, 1946. Smith had stopped a stolen car on North State Road 9 near U.S. 52 in which Price, William V. Johnson and two teenage girls were riding. The car was stopped due to an improper turn, and Smith had ordered the four to follow him into Shelbyville. But the teenagers stopped the car about three miles north of Shelbyville on SR 9. When Trooper Smith got out to check, Price fired a gun at him, killing Smith. Clemency commuted Price’s life sentence to 20 years to life, making him eligible for parole consideration in 1967. Johnson had been convicted on manslaughter charges and served a short sentence.
1954: The J.G. DePrez Co. announced a new food freezer plan, in which $100 worth of food was given free to each customer who purchased an 18-cubic foot freezer at the store. The $79 Kelvinator freezer was offered as low as $15 down and as long as 36 months to pay.
Vaughn Hutchens, a Shelbyville man who confessed to robbing the Paragon bank of more than $10,000 the prior week, visited the bank three days after the robbery to apologize to employees. “He seemed to genuinely regret what he did,” bookkeeper Ralph Wilson said. “It took more courage for him to walk in here the second time than the first. Hutchens said he held no grudge against Maurice Pruett, a hardware merchant who had noted the license number of Hutchens’ truck and notified police.
1944: Melvil Cecil’s parents, of Fountaintown, were notified that he had been wounded in action in the South Pacific.
After city council voted down remonstrances from adjacent property owners just off Franklin Road, the state approved Shelbyville to build a sewage disposal plant as one of its post-war projects.
1934: SHS senior put on a play directed by Miss Georgia Moore. Characters were Sarah Nees, Richard Pell, Betty Bennett, Jay Deitzer and Crystal Linville. Virginia Richardson sang a solo before the production.
1924: Using a special lifting apparatus, Shelby Motor & Tractor Co. employees lifted part of a Ford car frame from Blue River, beneath the bridge on the Franklin pike. The employees had accidentally struck the submerged car, rupturing its gasoline tank. The car was stuck in mud, and the employees were pessimistic about getting the entire vehicle out.
A letter sent from Denver, Colo., reached Shelbyville in 25 hours thanks to the new air mail service.
1914: School No. 1, on Franklin Street, was dismissed for the day due to lack of heat.
Several school children and a dog contributed flour to a fund set up to aid people in Belgium. The children made the donation and asked that “Dusty Clark,” the dog, be listed as a contributor. (“The dog’s Christian name is ‘Dusty’ and his other name is Clark,” The Republican explained.) The dog was owned by Frank Clark. The other children donating were Mary Elizabeth Staples, William Kennedy, Richard Jones, Jack Lewis, Marian McFadden, Helen Swain, Marjorie Swain, Mary Louise Metzger, Ruth Robins, Bob Lewis, Edmond Kenney, Arthur Blackburn, Pauline Blair, Mildred Mahan, Paul Messick, James Kennedy, John DePrez Jr., Mary Lee Davis and Martha McFadden.
OBITUARIES
None today.