Monday, February 26, 2024
‘In the Mood’ for Big Band
Kelby Graham, Bud Cooprider, Ed Morin, Mary Wagner, Gary Lauziere, Courtney Clark and Jeb Bass prepare to play in the Rush County Big Band concert Saturday, which drew a large crowd to Rushville High School’s Laughlin Center. The group consists of musicians of all ages from Rush County and Shelby County, and the program included young members of the Rushville High School’s early music program. Student Parker Wicker (below), who had just competed in a state contest, receiving a perfect score with his euphonium, stole the show by adding in a piano solo at the concert. The Big Band played favorites from the 1940s and 1950s (click here for a brief video). The band plays for applause but also accepts donations. | photos by JACK BOYCE
County Official Offers Tips for Eclipse
A fortuitous solar eclipse path on April 8 means Shelby County residents don’t have to go anywhere to see the rare event. In fact, they shouldn’t.
“This is no joke. If you do not have to go anywhere that night, do not leave your house,” Shelby County Emergency Management Director Denis Ratekin said at yesterday’s quarterly meeting of the Boggs Society in Boggstown. “If you do, make sure you have a full tank of gas because you will not be able to get through.”
He said county officials had encouraged gas stations to fill underground tanks in advance since deliveries will not likely get through traffic.
Faithful eclipse viewers will begin arriving a week early. Even with some local hotels charging up to $1,000 per night with a three-night minimum, every Shelby County hotel and online room is booked, Ratekin said.
Officials are expecting between 100,000 and 500,000 tourists on the day of the eclipse, and lessons from parts of Kentucky that experienced a total solar eclipse in 2017 indicate the problem will be when the event concludes.
“My biggest concern is the aftermath traffic,” Ratekin said. “In Kentucky, a trip that normally took two hours was taking 17 to 18 hours.”
Although all sheriff’s deputies will be working double shifts, that still leaves only approximately 35 county law enforcement to cover 490 square miles.
“I’ve got to strategically place (emergency services) throughout the county so that if somebody in Boggstown has a heart attack, I can get my people there,” Ratekin said.
The eclipse will begin at 1:50 p.m. and reach totality at 3:06 p.m., remaining there for just short of four minutes. The event will end by 4:24 p.m. Shelby County is part of the epicenter, meaning it will experience some of the longest time in totality, and attract tourists accordingly.
“We have confirmation that we have people from Italy and England coming in,” Ratekin said.
County officials have been planning for a year, which includes setting up public viewing areas and arranging trash removal. Residents can expect people to just pull off county roads during the eclipse.
“The majority of people who follow eclipses are very well mannered. It’s not like a Grateful Dead concert,” Ratekin said.
Tom Hession Drive, between CR 300 N and 400 N, will be closed to through-traffic, with parking allowed on a first-come-first-served basis. Food trucks and porta-potties will be onsite, Ratekin said.
A website lists Shelby County viewing areas. Several farms are renting out parking spaces as well.
“That’s all well and fine, but they’re going to have to police it themselves because public safety will be busy. You better have your own security,” Ratekin said. “We’ve told anybody who has said they want to have people pay to be on their property, the law says you have to have sanitation, and porta-potties are at a premium right now.”
The meeting also included an explanation of an eclipse from Ivy Tech Assistant Professor Cyrus Screwvala.
“It will be so much like nighttime that animals that are active at night are going to come out,” he said. “During totality, you will be able to notice a good 20 degree drop in temperature. It’s really spooky.”
Screwvala encouraged residents to obtain proper viewing glasses, which will be available to Shelby County residents free. Students throughout the county will receive a pair of glasses from their school in advance, since in-person classes will not be held due to transportation concerns.
“It’s a rare thing,” Screwvala said. “It’s going to be chaotic and there’s going to be a lot of people, but that should not stop you from enjoying it.”
NOTEBOOK:
NATIONAL NEWS: TV marathons are linked to nighttime pee breaks. That’s according to new research showing that adults who do more binge-watching are more likely to visit the bathroom at least twice after bed. Americans aged 20 and older who responded to national health surveys from 2011 to 2016 had a 48% higher risk of multiple late-night urinations (a condition called nocturia) if they watched television or other videos for at least five hours. The researchers say this could be explained by viewers having more refreshments or the fact that our legs retain fluid when we’re immobile for a while. Many of the people who reported nocturia, however, were older and less active, so that could also explain their bathroom habits. The study didn’t prove any causal relationships. (Morning Brew)
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Blue River Career Programs’ Health Science Capstone Offering Highlighted
Ruby Baatz, Waldron High School, and Haley Casey, Southwestern High School, practice phlebotomy as part of a Blue River Career Programs class. | submitted
Editor’s note: In recognition of National Career Technical Education Month, The Addison Times is publishing a series of informational articles on programs at Blue River Career Programs in Shelbyville, which serves all public county high schools. The articles were provided by BRCP staff.
The Health Science Capstone survived its inaugural year and has returned even stronger this year. The year started off with learning about Medical Law and Ethics (Ivy Tech Dual Credit class), followed by Electronic Health Records (Ivy Tech Dual Credit class), and we are in full swing of our Medical Assisting program. The students are working diligently in the lab and at clinical sites utilizing their skills learned. Students are greeting patients at the clinic front desk, rooming, charting, and providing care under the instruction and guidance of a Medical Assistant and/or a Provider.
The skills the students are developing started in their first year of Health Science: taking vitals, communicating with residents, and following orders. Now, the students advanced to drawing blood for lab tests, completing urinalysis screenings, and administering immunizations. These skills will help them be successful in any health career and are great stepping stones for those seeking to advance further with additional education. Furthermore, the numerous courses offered as dual credits are transferable to most universities within the state of Indiana.
The program opportunities wouldn’t be possible without the support of the clinical from American Health Network/Optum in Greenfield & Franklin, IU Health clinics in Indianapolis, Indiana Regional Foot & Ankle Centers in Indianapolis and Fast Pace Health in Shelbyville. All these facilities have provided exceptional preceptors for our students; and the hands-on opportunities are excellent, allowing the students to experience real-life clinical practice, which is far beyond what can be taught in the lab.
Finally, our HOSA Future Health Professionals has started off strong. Several students attended the Fall Leadership Conference in October 2023 to work on leadership development, and we almost doubled our numbers for Winter Rally in January. The students are revved up for the State Leadership Conference in April, where they will compete against other students from around the state. We would like to give a major shout out to Morristown Manor for their generous donation to assist in offsetting the cost for students to attend in the competition. Our HOSA members are already preparing for their competitive events; we will be competing in Medical Assisting, Medical Terminology, EMT, Forensic Science, and several other areas.
These are just a few insights into what’s going on in Health Science Capstone. If you have any questions, comments, concerns or would like to contribute to the program, please feel free to reach out to Tanya Abell, BSN, RN at 317-392-4191 x 1112 or tabell@brcp.k12.in.us
This Day in Shelby County History
2014: Head coach Jason Garrison’s team won the Triton Youth Athletic Association’s boys basketball grades 1-2 championship game. Members of the team were Jacob Reyer, Jake Garrison, Robert Heagy, Levi Dewey, Conner Evans and Jake Garrison.
2004: The home at 1620 S. Riley Highway was hit by runaway semi-truck, which came crashing through brickwork and stopping to rest in the master bedroom, leaving a gaping hole in the wall. The home’s yard had been torn up several times by cars leaving the road.
1994: Mayor Bob Williams, city attorney Mark McNeely and council members Nancy McNeely, R. Gene Sexton and Ernest W. Conrad Jr. announced plans to travel to Japan for a Sister City visit.
Construction started on the old junior high school to convert it to 49 apartments.
Despite McDonald’s announcements they would be banning smoking in all company-owned restaurants, the local McDonald’s owner said he wasn’t sure if he would eliminate smoking here. Both local Hardee’s Restaurants, S. Harrison St. and E. State Road 44, had designated no smoking areas. Don Jones, owner of the Hardee’s restaurants, said he planned to rearrange the floor plans to allow for better separation of smoking and nonsmoking customers. He planned to move the smoking area into the atrium and non-smoking into the main area of the Harrison Street restaurant so people waiting in line would not have to inhale cigarette smoke. Customers had complained about the smoke in line, Jones said.
1984: The worst snowstorm to hit Shelby County since the blizzard of ‘78 cancelled school and sent local residents rushing to grocery stores to stock up on necessities. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Department requested all county residents with four-wheel drive vehicles to contact police in case their vehicles were needed for emergency transportation.
1974: Spurlin Radio & TV, 28 Polk St., started selling the BSR Phone Butler 1000, which, the ad said, “automatically answers your calls and tapes your messages when you’re out…or in.” It was priced at $99.95.
1964: The Shelby County Plan Commission approved three additional sections to the Carmarla addition in Moral Township, one mile north of Triton Central High School. There were already about a dozen homes in the neighborhood, at the southwest corner of CR 700 N and 500 W.
John Snyder, eighth grade student, 619 W. Locust St., won the St. Joseph School spelling bee. Theresa Davis, 305 Sunset Dr., was the alternate.
1954: A Franklin mortician was shot and wounded seriously by a “mysterious assailant who police said apparently watched through a window as he dined with a widow,” The Shelbyville News reported. The mortician was shot with a shotgun from about 30 feet away when he left the house. (Note: The mortician survived and married the widow later in 1954.)
1944: The War Department informed Mr. and Mrs. Grover Henderson, 408 West Mechanic St., that their son, Sgt. Clifford Henderson, was missing in action in France since his 25th birthday, Jan. 27. Sgt. Henderson had served since 1942. (Although newspapers said Henderson was the county’s 17th “to fall” since Pearl Harbor, he actually survived, and lived until 1971.)
1934: Police arrested three teenagers, breaking up a rabbit theft operation. Most of the lost pets were recovered and returned to their owners.
Snow drifts were up to five feet high. Students who could walk attended morning classes. Those on buses were picked up to attend afternoon classes.
1924: The Pennsylvania passenger train would make a special trip to Richmond for the March 7 regional game if Shelbyville made it to that round, company officials said.
The Royal Peacock Orchestra, an 11-man, 30 instrument band directed by Myron Schultz, played six shows in three days at The Strand Theatre.
1914: A fight in the local Gray Saloon led to the arrest of a man who attacked William Davis, former stage manager at City Opera House and well-known employee of the local Bruce Bar.
The Shelbyville High School debate team debated whether Native Americans should be given the right to vote. “Indians should vote was the decision that was reached,” The Republican said. Lead debaters had been Dallas Newton, Myron Harding, Horatio Sexton and Everett Gatewood.
OBITUARIES
None today
That BIG BAND is awesome!!! Is there a schedule of where they will be performing?