Monday, February 24, 2025
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FIRING UP THE CROWD
Shelbyville High School cheerleader Sydney Haehl receives loading help from her mom, Jenni Haehl, as she prepares to launch t-shirts to fans at Friday’s basketball game. | photo by KRISTIAAN RAWLINGS
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NOTEBOOK:
The Shelby County Recycling District collected 44 tons last month, including 12,861 pounds of electronic scrap, 1,565 pounds of Styrofoam, 221 pounds of car seats and 117 pounds of alkaline batteries. The District recently received an IDEM grant for waste tires. District officials hope to hold a tire collection event this spring, pending finalization of IDEM paperwork. Last year’s event resulted in netting over 4,000 tires locally. Also, Shelbyville Auto Parts is now accepting the District’s used motor oil at no charge and using it in an oil-burning furnace. The District previously paid to dispose of the oil. The Recycling District will once again host Recycle Bowl, a school competition, to coincide with Earth Day activities in April.
Mayor Scott Furgeson and the Recycling District Board discussed, but took no action on, the possibility of the District picking up some of the city’s recycling costs. The District currently pays for containers throughout the county. The city pays approximately $168,000 annually to collect and haul recycling, including curbside service. Some at the meeting discussed being open to the idea, with further discussions to occur.
According to the Indiana State Board of Animal Health, one non-commercial bird flu detection location has been reported in Shelby County, now listed as depopulated.
Boys’ basketball sectional draws were held yesterday. Class 3A Shelbyville (17-5) will open against Roncalli (13-7) at home. Class 2A Triton Central (12-9) will play Heritage Christian (7-13) at Christel House. Class A Southwestern (9-11) and Waldron (11-10) face off and Morristown (8-12) takes on South Decatur (5-16) in Edinburgh.
Shelby Senior Services will have a Travel Show highlighting the 2026 trips on Thursday, May 1, 2025, at the center, 2120 Intelliplex Drive, at 6:30 p.m. Please call the office at 317-398-0127 to register for the free show. Also, there are openings for a May 12-15, 2025, trip to the Biltmore in Asheville, N.C. Those interested in going on the motorcoach trip can call the office or Carol McDaniel at 317-701-5984. Deadline to sign up for the trip is April 12, 2025. Cost is $639 due upon signup.
Shelby County’s Buck Rogers Jr. and the La Louisianne Band will perform on a livestream Lundi Gras/Mardi Gras concert with New Orleans covers, Louisiana covers and original music. (Lundi Gras is the day before Fat Tuesday, the traditional Mardi Gras day.) The online/no-live-audience show is Monday, March 3, 8 - 9 p.m. Tickets available here.
HOOSIER NEWS: The state Senate approved and sent over to the House a bill that would force school board races to become partisan. Sen. Jean Leising opposed the bill. Sen Mike Crider was excused from the vote. The House had its own version of a partisan school boards bill that failed to advance by the session’s first half deadline. (Rep. Jenny Meltzer opposed.) That measure’s author, Rep. J.D. Prescott (R-Union City), said he’ll work with the Senate version going forward. (Indiana Public Media)
INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Wild fish can recognize people by the color of their clothing, researchers discovered, after teaching two species of seabream to identify their human trainer over 12 days. Out in the Mediterranean Sea, a researcher trained fish to follow her by rewarding them with food. Then, when a second researcher who also had food was present, the fish still followed their original trainer more often than the second one when the researchers wore different diving gear. The fish tended to lose track of who was who when the divers wore the same outfit. Some seabream even got better at following the correct leader as the study progressed, which suggests that the fish were actively learning. (Morning Brew)
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Shelbyville Schools Timeline: School No. 3
by GEORGE YOUNG
School #3, located on Miller Street, was built between 1870 and 1881 and was originally known as the “Hill Building” school. In 1922, it was renamed Thomas A. Hendricks Elementary School in honor of Shelbyville’s distinguished U.S. Vice President.
Thomas Andrews Hendricks (September 7, 1819 – November 25, 1885) was an American politician and lawyer from Indiana. He served as Indiana’s 16th governor (1873–1877) and later as the 21st vice president of the United States, holding office from March until his death in November 1885. Throughout his career, Hendricks represented Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives (1851–1855) and the U.S. Senate (1863–1869). He also served Shelby County in the Indiana General Assembly (1848–1850) and participated as a delegate in the 1851 Indiana Constitutional Convention.
By 1893, overcrowding at Building #3 prompted the school board to add another teacher, as one grade had reached an astonishing 112 students. That same year, the school transitioned from gas heating to coal. In 1912, Mrs. Milleson took on the role of principal, and by 1914, enrollment had climbed to 317 students.
In 1929, newspaper reports detailed renovations to the school, initially budgeted at $75,000 through a bond issue for remodeling and expansion. However, as construction progressed, the scope of the project grew, leading to what some reports described as a complete reconstruction. The newly built Thomas A. Hendricks school, located at 415 West Taylor Street, was dedicated on St. Patrick’s Day in 1930 by Dr. Homer P. Rainey, president of Franklin College. The final cost of the project rose to $120,000.
In 1955, the school board allocated $60,000 for land acquisition and the construction of two additional classrooms.
By 2000, after decades of serving the community, the original Hill Building/Thomas A. Hendricks School was replaced by a new elementary school on a nearby site, which opened in the fall of that year. During the construction, the school board deliberated over potential names, narrowing the choices to Lora B. Pearson and Charles Major before ultimately selecting Thomas A. Hendricks as the final name.
In 2002, a seven-foot-by-four-foot life-size painting of Thomas Hendricks, which once hung in the old Hendricks school’s main hallway, David Craig, the school custodian and Shelbyville historian, told the Indianapolis Star painting was without a permanent home in the new building. Eventually, they found a new spot for it in the office conference room, where it still hangs today.
After closing in 2000, the school was transformed into Hendricks Pointe Apartments, a 37-unit low-income housing community that opened in 2013.
SHS Courier Archive Highlights
Oct. 27, 1999
A chapter of FCA was started at SHS, with Holly Barlow one of the leaders. Mike Hudson was the sponsor.
SHS had opened a Distance Learning Center, supervised by Mrs. Regina Kerns. The program was possible through fiber optics. The system contained a 54” monitor, six overhead microphones, one remote control, one computer, one VCR, an overhead camera and two television cameras. The system allowed students to interact with three other schools and one presenter.
Courier staff were Nicole Preston, Sara Gonzalez, Candice Tinsley, Laura Duerstock, Josh Winkler, Brandon Cristifori, Brianna Cole, Ashley Barnard, Jill Foster, Michelle Kaltenbach, Courtney Long, Jenny Brown, Minta Dolph, Danielle Dagley, Kim Knopp and Katie Knutson. Ms. Jones was the advisor.
Boys’ soccer season was underway. David Miller and Adam Woodall were co-captains.
Kyoko Saito was an exchange student from Japan. She said she was looking forward to participating in prom, since her school did not have a similar event.
Students were asked about their most embarrassing Halloween outfit or funniest prank ever pulled. Kira Frazee remembered how someone had once stolen the pumpkin off her family’s porch. “We found the pumpkin later on some else’s porch and stole it back,” she said. Danielle Knopp remembered dressing up as the Spice Girls with friends and singing door-to-door. Danielle Goforth recalled going to a Halloween party with Jenni Ross dressed up as babies with pacifiers, baby bottles and diapers.
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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.
2005: Knauf Insulation broke ground on a $150 million expansion of its Shelbyville manufacturing operations at the corner of Noble and John streets. The project would add 400,000 square feet of production and warehousing space to the company’s existing Shelby County facilities. Participants included Knauf owner Thies Knauf, President and CEO Bob Britton and Shelbyville Mayor Scott Furgeson.
1995: A train hit a car owned by Garnet Smith, 42, who fled the vehicle just before the impact at the John Street crossing. Smith said his car had stalled on the tracks.
Mayor Bob Williams was appointed to a crime-prevention panel with the National League of Cities. He would attend meetings in Washington D.C. as part of his duties.
1985: Harold Meloy and Jack Warble of the Shelby County Historical Society and Compton’s Cow Palace owner Dan Compton installed a marker on the Compton’s building at 318 N. Harrison St. marking the original homesite of author Charles Major.
1975: More than three inches of rain fell over the weekend, flooding the yards and homes of many in Freeport.
Loper Elementary captured the sixth-grade city championship played at Garrett Gymnasium. Cheerleaders were Kim Haulk, Lauri McCormick, Denise Best, Dawn Martin, Kelly Yeager, Jane Askey, Michelle Mays, Beth Higgins, Pam Kocher and Kim Kuhn. The players were Will Graebe, Craig Murphy, Randy Moorhead, Scott Babb, Chris McNew, John Laughlin, Brian Pitcock, Tony Alford, Rick Gill, Kris Leming, Jeff Bowers, Scott Jones, Mark Kuhn and David Oakes. David Wimmer was the coach of the team, which went 13-1 on the season. Ron Ault, Lions Club representative, presented the award.
1965: Robert Zimny stepped down from his role as SHS head football coach. He would stay on the staff as a teacher and as track coach.
The Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Shelbyville began bottling king-size TAB.
All 7,002 tickets for the Columbus sectional had been sold. Shelbyville had been allotted 1,310 tickets.
1955: More than 2,000 Shelbyville school children saw the film version of the Passion Play, based on the life of Christ, at Paul Cross Gym. The event was sponsored by the Fraternal Order of Police.
A Shelby Mason lodge “first” was logged when Wilmer McNeely Sr. raised three of his sons on the same evening to the Master Mason degree. The sons were Russell, Wilmer Jr. and Harold. Another son, Carl, had previously attained the Master Mason degree.
The Alcazar restaurant business, 223 1/2 S. Harrison St. (the third floor was used for dance instruction), changed hands. Harold Zeller sold the business to Beverly Dixon. Zeller would continue operating the Harrison Cafeteria at 19 N. Harrison St.
1945: Shelby County’s annual polio drive, headed by Harold Meloy, had netted nearly $4,000, nearly double the previous year. Meloy said the extra funds were needed due to a sharp increase in local polio cases.
1935: A public library with 100 books was opened in Morristown in the Delta Chi room of First Christian Church. The library was open two evenings each week, Wednesday and Friday, 7 - 9 p.m., and on Sundays, 2 - 4 p.m. Rev. H.M. Reed, Louise Trimble and Helen Wilson had organized the library.
1925: “Rosalie”, a romance set in Canada written by Shelbyville’s Charles Major shortly before his death, was picked up for publication by the McMillan Co. of New York. Only Mrs. Major and a few close friends had known of Major’s work on “Rosalie”.
1915: Sam Linville, conductor on the I & C traction line found a wallet containing $510 (approximately $16,000 in today’s money). He notified the company. A man from Indianapolis later phoned to identify the pocketbook.
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OBITUARIES
Edna “Marie” Sweet, 91, of Greensburg, passed away on Saturday, February 22, 2025, at her home. She was born April 22, 1933, in Fairland, the daughter of Catherine Anderson. On April 21, 1950, she married Ray Glen Sweet Sr., and he preceded her in death on November 11, 2009. Marie is survived by her children, Glenda Sweet and Jackie Ruble, both of Greensburg; Ray “Butch” Sweet and wife, Joni, of Westport, Barb Hatfield and husband, Verna, of Jabez, Kentucky, Oren “Rocky” Sweet and wife, Melissa, of Adams, and Carol Shepherd of Waldron; brother, Russell Roan and wife, Kathy, of Shelbyville; 24 grandchildren; 68 great-grandchildren; 32 great-great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. In addition to Ray, Marie was preceded in death by her parents; son, Earl “Buster” Sweet; infant daughter, Carol “Annie” Sweet; grandson, Christopher Sweet; brothers, Roy Plymate and Verlie Plymate; great-grandchildren, Levi Wilson, Devin Dollinger and Neal Tracy Jr.; and son-in-law, Chris Shepherd.
Marie retired after working at TRW Cinch for 20 years and ICS (Industrial Cleaning Service) for five years, in 1995.
She enjoyed raising her children. Marie also enjoyed raising maltese puppies, going to the casino and playing bingo. Marie also leaves behind her dogs, Ava and Diesel; and cat, Tiggers.
Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at Freeman Family Funeral Homes and Crematory, Carmony-Ewing Chapel, 819 S. Harrison St. in Shelbyville. Funeral services will be at 1 p.m., Thursday, February 27, 2025, at the funeral home, with her grandson Pastor Ray Sweet III officiating. Interment will be at Forest Hill Cemetery in Shelbyville. Memorial contributions may be made to Our Hospice of South Central Indiana, 2626 S. 17th St., Columbus, Ind., 47201. Online condolences may be shared with Marie’s family at www.freemanfamilyfuneralhomes.com.