Monday, March 25, 2024
WORM MOON
Last night’s full moon, known as the Worm Moon, is visible over Tony Winkler’s farm just south of Shelbyville. | photo by JACK BOYCE
BACK IN THE SADDLE
The city’s free bike share program has returned, with docking stations just north of Public Square, the Knauf Greenway/trailhead near the North Harrison St. bridge and the Blue River Memorial Park splash pad. The free bicycle rentals can be obtained via the On Bike Share app. Bikes can be returned to any of the three docking stations.
The Parks Department program was created last year through a partnership with Blue River Community Foundation, Duke Energy, MHP Foundation and the Shelby County Tourism and Visitors Bureau.
NOTEBOOK:
With two weeks until the big day, options remain for see the April 8 solar eclipse at a public viewing area. One paid option is at New Life United Methodist Church, which will host the Cincinnati Observatory, which will set up viewing equipment. Event chair Pam Meyer said they offer the closest paved parking area to the epicenter of the eclipse.
NATIONAL NEWS: After experimenting with 60 recipes across 5,000 hours of development in the kitchen, Mondelēz will roll out a new recipe of the Chips Ahoy! brand of cookies. This tweak to the formula of a 61-year-old cookie recipe that makes $1 billion per year is obviously a risk, but the company is confident that higher cocoa levels and more vanilla extract will make a better cookie. The space is crowded, but Chips Ahoy! has a rare majority share of the market, owning 53 percent of the chocolate chip cookie business in America. (Food Drive/Numlock)
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Local History: Floods on Big Blue River
from the files of David Craig
Ancient Blue River has shown its wicked side many times. One of the best documented and remembered floods was, of course, in March 1913.
The Great Flood of 1913 was not the first time Blue River sent raging torrents of water into Shelby County businesses and homes. The first and worst recorded “Great Flood” was in 1840. The flood of 1840 was not equaled until the biblical flood of 1913. This was followed by tragic floods in 1866, 1883 and 1898.
The flood of 1866 inspired the movement for construction of a bridge over Big Blue. Until the erection of the old wagon bridge, “fording” was the only way to enter Shelbyville on the Michigan Road.
Sunday, February 2, 1883, saw Big Blue rising rapidly. During a one-hour period, the river rose over eight inches. The news reports of the day claim the current’s tremendous force carried trees, rails from fences and brush. The channel was bursting with 25 feet of raging water. The mighty river was within six inches of the top of the levee just north of the wagon bridge. Crews of volunteers worked feverishly that Sunday raising the height of the levees. Big Blue River was lapping at the steps of the old gas house that sat just west of the wagon bridge.
Farmers suffered loss of livestock during the flood. Frank and Dick Flaitz had 20 hogs drown. The sheep of John Tomlinson of Sugar Creek Township suffered a similar fate as the Flaitz’s hogs. Brandywine was a raging torrent also.
The Shelbyville Evening Democrat reported that a large section of the Brandywine and Sugar Creek turnpike was flooded. The owners of the turnpike were bringing a lawsuit against Dr. Green for diverting water onto the turnpike.
By Monday morning the river had fallen enough to no longer be a danger. Because of this flood, the levees along Big Blue were expanded and raised.
The next time Big Blue spread fear throughout Shelbyville was March 23, 1898, when a torrential rain fell. The Shelby Republican reported that even the older residents could not remember such a rain. Most of the streams in the county were running bank full when this downpour occurred.
By early Wednesday morning, Little Blue River had engulfed homes along Vine Street. Many families were evacuated and placed in shelters.
The levee on the west side of Shelbyville broke on Wednesday. This flooded a large portion of the west side of the city. Refugees from Conrey Street and Washington Avenue crowded into shelters.
There was tremendous damage in the county also. Flatrock River was running into the windows of the Cave Mills. A raging Flatrock River had swept away the mill in St. Paul. Transportation in and out of Shelbyville was severed. There were no trains running and the roads were impassable.
The event that saved Shelbyville from being washed away was the breaking of the levee at Freeport. This same scenario would be played out again in the flood of 1913.
What’s Happening at Your Library?
by DONNA DENNISON
It seems lately I have spent a lot of time waiting. Waiting in doctors’ offices and waiting rooms, waiting for meetings to begin, or just waiting. I usually have a book with me everywhere I go, but sometimes I forget to grab it as I’m running out the door, or I finish one and then I’m left…waiting. That is why I love the LIBBY app on my phone and tablet. Downloading the app, putting in my library card number, and I have access to over one million books, audio books and even my favorite monthly magazines. (So I save tons of money, too). This is a service that your Shelby County Public Library pays for that allows all our card members to use this app. Take a look at LIBBY today!
The library will close at 5 p.m. on Friday for Good Friday. I wish everyone a happy and safe Easter holiday!
Baby and Toddler Storytime: Friday, 10 a.m.; Children Storytime: Tuesday, 10 a.m.; Wednesday, 10:30 a.m.; Thursday, 1 p.m. This week’s theme: Ducks!
Teens - Taco Tuesday Movie Night: Goosebumps! Tuesday, 5 p.m.; Nintendo Club, Thursday, 6 p.m.
Adults - D & D Journey, Monday, 5:30 p.m. (in room C in Annex); Writers Group, Monday, 7 p.m.; Constellation String Art Crafts, Thursday, 6 p.m.
For more details and great things going on at our Morristown Branch check out our website.
This Day in Shelby County History
2014: Blue River Career Programs students fixed up a 14-year-old Dodge Ram 15-passenger van for the Parks Department. Edward Callico, the auto collision repair teacher, said that with the exception of some rust and peeling paint, the vehicle ‘s engine worked well. After removing all the glass, the class sanded down the van and took care of the rust issues. They then re-painted it.
2004: Eastgate Mall, a retail fixture in Indianapolis for nearly 50 years, would go out of business in June, the owner said. Eastgate had been built in 1957 as an open-air shopping center and attracted many from the suburbs, such as Shelbyville, to its anchor stores, J.C. Penney and Sears.
1994: Major Hospital obtained a digital gamma camera system that detected the distribution of radiation. Some common uses of the nuclear medicine included diagnosing coronary artery disease, detecting organ transplant rejections and identifying cancers and infections. Major Hospital President Anthony Lennen said the use of the advanced technology did not mean Major was abandoning its role as a primary care provider.
1984: State Senator Thomas Hession had a 98 percent voting record on roll-call votes taken during the 1984 legislative session, according to Robert Garton, Senate president pro tem, who called such attendance “outstanding.”
1974: Mike Evans, eight-year-old gymnast, son of Mr. and Mrs. Tony Evans of Flat Rock, won a national invitational meet age group championship in Illinois. Mike was a second-grader at Flat Rock Elementary School.
Dan Theobald, local Stanley Jones Agency insurance agent, had been the second highest sales producer for the company in Indiana in 1973, qualifying him for the company’s national convention to be held in Mexico City.
1964: A newspaper photo showed a dress rehearsal of Major school fifth graders preparing for an Easter Musicale. Children in the photo were Marsha Pursley, Robin Worland, Kathy Simmonds, Connie Crane, Rhonda Carroll, Christy Williams, Barbara McClelland, Melanie DeLaurentis, Sheila Brinson, Nancy Hauk, Brenda Mayo and Ginger Neal.
The new Mace’s Food Store opened at St. Joe St. and West State Road 44. The building was leased from H.E. “Gene” McColley. Ed Vandivier, 27, was manager. Ed Thieman was meat department manager and Richard Marks was assistant manager.
A Hope man who a month prior had threatened his wife and another man at gunpoint in the presence of 10 children was back in Shelby County jail after allegedly threatening his wife again and being chased away under gunfire. The man had pointed a gun at his wife from outside a window at the home where she was employed as a housekeeper, on State Road 252 near Edinburgh. The homeowner fired two shots through the window pane at the man, who fled on foot. The man was arrested on charges of violation of the 1935 firearms act requiring a permit to carry a gun.
1954: In light of Milan’s remarkable state championship win, The Shelbyville News noted that there had been 751 teams in the title chase, nearly five times the 155 in 1915, when Thorntown was the last small-town team to win the title. Milan was coached by Morristown native Marvin Wood. (The New York Times estimated that 90 percent of Indiana's residents were watching or listening to broadcasts of the championship contest against Muncie Central.)
1944: Lula Belle Wilkes, of Fountaintown, authored a published war song called “Out Yonder…Somewhere.” The words and melody came to her “as she contemplated sorrowfully the fact that she had not heard from her son in many weeks,” The Republican said. She was assisted with the arrangement by Elizabeth Ann Valentine.
1934: Gene Kenneth Junken, local boxer who had won the Indianapolis Golden Gloves title recently, traveled to Vincennes to compete in an inter-state meet.
Police warned local business owners of a coming crack-down on gambling. Chief Charles Goebel said card games had been permitted previously, but “the privilege has been abused.”
1924: A local man was charged with stealing a radiator from a Dodge touring car during a basketball game. The man had then attempted to sell the radiator at the game.
1914: The City Library, previously closed between 5 and 7 p.m., would remain open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. The board had determined that 5 to 7 p.m. were “two of the very best hours of the day for people, especially school children and workers of all kinds, either in the store or factory,” to visit the library.
OBITUARIES
Lewis C. “Jack” Hill, Jr., 66, of Shelbyville, passed away Friday, March 22, 2024, at Community Hospital South in Indianapolis. He was born on July 2, 1957, in Shelbyville, the son of Lewis C. Hill and Mildred Lucille (Sermersheim) Jones.
On October 10, 2002, he married Linda Dell, and she survives. In addition to Linda, Lewis is survived by his son, Erik Scott and wife, Jill, of Alexandria; grandchildren, Jenna Watters and Gabriel Scott; sisters, Vicki Meador of Ninevah, and Harlene Nurse of Las Vegas, Nevada; brother, Don Hill and wife, Debbie, of Memphis, Tennessee; step-sisters, Teresa Jones, Reba Taylor, Sheila Riggs and Angie Rooks; step-brothers, Duane Jones, Mike Jones, Greg Jones and Anthony Jones; sister-in-law, Sandy Toon and husband, Bobby; and numerous nieces and nephews including Tracy Bernard, Chris Quillen and Brandi Quillen-Moore. He was preceded in death by his parents; and sister-in-law, Sheryll Bernard.
In 1975, Lewis graduated from Southwestern High School. He was a U.S. Army veteran. Lewis was formerly a Police Officer for the City of Shelbyville. He also formerly worked as a Dispatcher for Shelby County, was a Deputy Reserve and Correctional Officer for Shelby County, retiring in 2022. After retirement, he drove a truck for SOS Hauling. He was a member of Farmers Masonic Lodge No. 147 F&AM, Murat Shrine, American Legion Post No. 70 and the Moose Lodge in Salem.
Lewis enjoyed riding motorcycles and was a member of the Widows Sons and Blue Knights Motorcycle Clubs. He also enjoyed riding horses and going hunting. Most of all he loved spending time with his friends and family.
Visitation will be from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Freeman Family Funeral Homes and Crematory, Carmony-Ewing Chapel, 819 S. Harrison St. in Shelbyville. The Masonic Service will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be followed by Military rites conducted by the local military committee. There will be a celebration of life at the Shelbyville American Legion Post on Saturday, March 30, 2024 from 1 - 4 p.m. Online condolences may be shared with Lewis' family at www.freemanfamilyfuneralhomes.com.