Monday, August 26, 2024
ART FROM THE AIR
Work on the Bill Garrett mural, created by Pamela Bliss, continues on the west exterior of Cagney’s Pizza King, E. Broadway. | drone photos by JOHN WALKER
They Got the Beat
The Shelbyville High School drumline practices outside after school last week. | photo by KRISTIAAN RAWLINGS
County Takes Next Step to Broadband Access
The Shelby County Council last week approved the first step in allocating up to $3.1 million in ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds and issuing a Request for Proposals for broadband services. The county has already received $10.8 million in commitments from potential broadband provider and state dollars.
“Based on the responses from the RFI (Request for Information), I think ($3.1 million) is a sweet spot of not committing too much, but committing enough to let the providers know the county is committed…that there is skin in the game on all sides,” County Commissioner Jason Abel told the council.
The commitment follows an RFI process that netted five quality responses.
“I think the market has shown there is an appetite for expansion within the county, that providers are interested,” Abel said.
Obtaining better broadband services throughout the county has been on the council’s mind all year. In January, the council approved working with consultants to begin the RFI process, and the latest approval gives the consultants the go-ahead for RFPs.
“We’ve always been in favor of the broadband program; it’s just figuring out the logistics,” council president Tony Titus said.
A task force featuring stakeholders from various areas, such as county government, healthcare, education, business and philanthropy, have worked on the initiative since last year. Despite the long ramp to this point, county officials said now is the right time to obtain federal BEAD (Broadband Equity Access and Deployment) funding, of which $868 million was allocated to Indiana.
“This is really designed to set Shelby County in rapid succession for providers to be interested in going after those BEAD dollars, knowing they’ve got county support, and the BEAD dollars are going to be the heavy lifting of expansion,” Abel said. “It’s always been our goal to have county dollars be the last dollar in.”
The proposed allocation will now go through the legal notice process. Responses to the RFP, once submitted, will be 30 to 45 days.
“This is a project that is not going to get any cheaper, and if we don’t do it, it will cost us economic opportunities, health care opportunities and educational opportunities moving forward,” Abel said.
NOTEBOOK:
The Shelby County Chamber of Commerce is hosting the Chamber Boo Bash on October 19 at Horseshoe Indianapolis Racing & Casino. This event, formerly known as the annual Cash Bash, will provide food, drinks, prizes, a costume contest and a reverse raffle with first place winning $10,000. The last Cash Bash event was in 2020, and the Chamber is happy to bring it back, Chamber Executive Director Courtney Chapella said. Tickets are $200 and are on sale now. To purchase a ticket, call the Chamber at (317) 398-6647 or visit their office, 157 West Washington Street, Shelbyville.
CORRECTION: Although “Elk: The Musical” - as posted in yesterday’s edition - conjures up an interesting visual, the Shelbyville High School play is actually “Elf: The Musical.” Yesterday’s headline was corrected to match the accurate text below the photo.
NATIONAL NEWS: In New York City, when you rack up over $350 in unpaid tickets within 100 days of issuance, you’re subject to get a boot put on your tire, which immobilizes the car until you pay up. For a few years there, enforcement slacked off on booting repeat offenders — 31,379 vehicles were booted in 2020 — but in 2023 there were 134,945 boots put on cars in the city. This year, things are on track to keep that pace, with 74,975 vehicles booted so far and an aggregate of $118 million in total fines. Interestingly, of the 2023 bootings, the city flagged 8,274 as “runaways,” which means that people managed somehow to get the boot off and drive away. (Gothamist/Numlock)
The Addison Times publishes essential news and historical content to build our Shelby County community, and is free thanks to the generosity of supporters. Those who donate a minimum of $5 a month (or $45 one-time) receive the three remaining quarterly Addison Times magazines for 2024 as an appreciation gift.
Want the daily edition read to you? Struggling with your email provider filtering out your local news? The Addison Times Substack app will solve those challenges!
580 West Taylor St.
Editor’s Note: The following is the next installment in a serialized version of “580 West Taylor Street,” by Joseph E. “Joed” Landwerlen.
by JOSEPH E. LANDWERLEN
Our first order of business was to have a family meeting to discuss how we boys were going to help pay for this trip. We older boys were tasked with cutting grass, shoveling snow, raking and burning leaves, picking up and stacking walnuts, cutting and cleaning dandelion greens, and obviously gathering and selling night-crawlers and Catalpa worms.
The whole family would load up after a rainstorm and go to Morrison Park, above the hill off of Miller Street, to hunt for night-crawlers (large earthworms). Each of us had a flashlight and a coffee can. The flashlights were powered by "D" batteries, as that was the only size that anyone used at that time. We found that if you used one new battery and one used battery in the military-style right-angle flashlight, it made the perfect soft light to use and sneak up on the worms that were just lying on the rain-soaked ground. We would fill several cans with night-crawlers and then take them home and put them in wooden boxes that we had previously built.
We added old wet newspaper and used coffee grounds and kept them in the garage out of direct sunlight. Hunting and gathering night-crawlers was easy, letting the fishermen and women know that we had them was hard. We'd spread the word through homemade signs that we placed everywhere.
Even Bob Griffey let us put a sign up at Griffey's Sporting Goods next door to the Strand Theatre in downtown Shelbyville. The signs said that we were open from 5 a.m. until 8 p.m. It was not unusual for fishermen to come early before our stated opening time and help themselves to the worms and leave money on the back step. We sold the night-crawlers for 10 cents a dozen. When we got low on crawlers we would make another trip to Morrison Park and continue the process all over again.
The Catalpa worms, which were a sought-after catfish bait, were the result of a particular type of moth (Sphinx) depositing eggs on the Catalpa Trees that primarily grew in the west end of Shelbyville, especially on Taylor and Montgomery streets. Those eggs grew into the larva of young moths, which for a period of time were green, and black worms, like caterpillars, about two-and-a-half to three inches long. During that stage, for about 20 to 30 days, they crawled all over the Catalpa tree leaves. We boys would take long bamboo fishing rods and knock them off the leaves to the ground, pick them up, and have them for sale. Before we gathered the caterpillars, we would acquire several glass jars with lids and punch holes in the lids to give air to the worms.
After we would gather a few hundred worms, we would put three dozen in a glass jar with some Catalpa leaves and a lid. Three dozen Catalpa worms were 50 cents, and we sold a lot of those jars.
To gather those dandelion greens, we would load up our wagon and a 17-gallon washtub or two and head for KCL land that we called the “commons.” The “commons” was some property of about 20 acres that was a big grassy expanse that KCL owned but was not yet being used by them. At that time, it was basically grassland. It was a field of yellow in the spring with the dandelions that bloomed. We would cut and dig the dandelions with our pocket knives and fill the wagon and tubs with greens. We would then take them home and clean the greens to remove the flower, the roots, and the center stalk from the leaves that we wanted. We would then wash the leaves in the tubs with the hose and lay them out to dry. After drying them, we would put them in used paper bags that Mom had saved and sold them to the women that worked for KCL. A great number of these women walked to work and several walked along Montgomery Street where Taylor intersected; we stood on the corner with eight or 10 bags to sell for 15 to 20 cents each, and usually sold all of them. The ladies would take these home, add some salt pork or jowl bacon, maybe a couple of potatoes, and have a nutritious meal with little effort. The word spread, and after the first time, we always sold all of them. Of course, we also had some for ourselves.
The money that we boys earned doing these different things, in addition to the shoveling of snow, cutting of grass, and raking and burning of leaves, was all put into a can in the kitchen, which Dad used periodically to buy travelers checks and put away for our trip. So in a way, we boys contributed and did our part; during all of this time we still had money to go to the show on Saturday, usually the Strand or the Ritz Theaters, where they had the shows we wanted to see.
SHS Courier Archive Highlights:
October 17, 1980, Part I
A total of 58 cast members would be in the fall play, “You Can’t Take It With You,” directed by Mrs. Barbara Douglas. Some of the lead roles went to David Willis, Kelly Gallagher, Kim Skinner, Robin Winzenread, Brian Montgomery, Karen Cox, Tito Abeleda, Mike Ault and Keith Barker. The performers were backed by student directors Amy Mohr and Chris Thomas.
Officers for the 1980-81 Student Council would be Drew Soshnick, Dee Dee Inlow, Sue Craft and Doug Strobel. Forum officers were Nancy Marshall, David Willis, Becky Pennington and Angelo Peduto. Future Teachers’ leaders were Lora Furgeson, Scott Olinger and Debbie Brewer.
Monte Elder wrote about upcoming TV shows. “After a long, hot summer of lukewarm reruns, you’re no doubt ready for a brand new season,” he said.
Julie Johnson wrote a feature about Meredith “Mert” Woodall, a 27-year-old junior at SHS. Mert had quit school in 8th grade due to family problems and decided to return. She was married and had a 10-year-old daughter. She said Mr. Ken Lowe had been her favorite teacher in her previous time at school.
Laura Stieneker wrote a feature about Mrs. Leanne Haggard, the new choreographer for the majorettes. Haggard had graduated from Ball State University in 1974 and taught and coached near Muncie before moving to Shelbyville.
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 from the Shelby County Public Library Genealogy Department.
2014: Ralph Fisher was chosen was one of 70 World War II veterans from central Indiana slated for the next Indy Honor Flight, a program that provided free flights to Washington D.C. for veterans. Fisher had joined the Navy right after graduating from Fairland High School in 1944. He served until 1946, working on an LST (Landing Ships Tanks), a vessel created to support amphibious operations.
2004: Thies Knauf said that Knauf Insulation’s North America operation would definitely expand. He just wasn’t sure whether it would be in Shelbyville or in Pennsylvania. Knauf had been founded by his father and uncle in Germany in 1932. His father and uncle couldn’t find jobs, so they created their own. They had a gypsum mine and began selling factories that made cement, which is about four percent gypsum. Knauf bought the old Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. in Shelbyville in 1978.
1994: A barn on the Herbert Burris farm, 3431 W. Willow Road, Flat Rock, burned down. Jeff Tennell, a member of the Flat Rock department, said firefighters could see the smoke, two-and-one-half miles away, the second they got the truck out on the road. A bulldozer, two tractors, a corn planter, a plow and other equipment were also destroyed in the fire.
1984: Local winners in the fifth annual Bears of Blue River Festival Gin Rummy Tournament, held at the Eagles Lodge, were Frank Wade, Bob Absher, Floyd DeMoss and Lowell Amos.
1974: A bridge over Big Blue River on U.S. 52 west of Morristown reopened to traffic on the first day of school. The bridge was supposed to reopen Sept. 1, but contractor Leon Beaty, Boggstown, worked with the state to speed the opening for the start of school.
Taxi service returned to Shelbyville after Yellow Cab had gone out of business three months’ prior. The franchise was awarded to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Coffey and Bill Clouse. The new firm would operate out of the former Yellow Cab location at 19 W. Jackson St.
The Shelbyville girls’ slow-pitch team named “Shelby’s Best” captured top honors in a regional tourney. Team members were Kathy Leffler, Lori Phares, Crystal Henry, Donna DeHart, Franny Miller, Debbie Pruett, Liz English, Kathy Gardner, Maryann Laughlin, Judy Pruett and Jan Hearne. Coaches were Randy Case and Jim Pruett.
1964: The Sheriff’s Department issued a notice that they would impound motor scooters belonging to teens caught riding without a valid operator’s license. They said most of the problems were in the Rays Crossing area.
The Shelby County Plan Commission rejected a petition by Buell Coffey to rezone land across from Shelbyville High School and fronting on McKay and Columbus Roads for use of the land for an ice cream parlor and restaurant. The commission believed the restaurant would create a traffic safety hazard at the high school.
1954: Grand opening was held at Crystal Flash. WIBC was on live remote broadcast from the location.
George R. Tolen Jr. was named the Democrat party candidate for prosecutor, filling the vacancy created when Donald Brunner, the incumbent, withdrew to devote his time to private practice.
Swan Cleaners opened at 156 E. Washington St., in a building located between the Tee Pee Drive-in and the newly established Shelby Home Outfitters furniture outlet. Swan was owned by C.E. Whitson and Victor Dobbs.
Pat Collyer, 57, Rushville, was named executive director of the local Boys’ Club and the Rec.
1944: Indiana Cash Drawer was hiring woodworkers and lathe operators for war work. “If in essential war work, do not apply,” the ad said.
1934: In an effort to lower the percentage of absenteeism from schools, Grace Ewing, health nurse, would conduct a “100 percent dental health program” in September, the school announced. Issues with teeth were the primary reason students were absent, the prior year’s data showed.
1924: The Shelby County Fair had created a price war between local taxi drivers. The trip typically cost 25 cents per passenger, but some drivers were offering the trip for 15 cents.
C.P. Sindlinger celebrated his 61st birthday in “the good old-fashioned manner” by passing cigars to all of his friends, The Republican said. “‘Cap’, as he is known to many, stated that he did not feel a day older than 16 and was as busy as ever in the packing plant,” the paper said.
The local owner of a concession at the Shelby County Fair was fined $5 for slapping Donald Fancher, a young employee who had just dropped a glass and broke it.
1914: City Council selected a lot on West Broadway, running through to Jackson St., for the desired site for a federal building to house the post office.
OBITUARIES
None today.