Saturday, March 8, 2025

Mar 08, 2025

Parks Five-Year Plan Update Nears Completion

The Shelbyville Parks Department held a public input meeting Thursday as it nears the conclusion of an update to the five-year master plan. Caleb Rothenberger, with HWC Engineering, reviewed the steps taken so far, including the formation of a steering committee, a public survey, and staff interviews, which led to the point of a final input session.

The Shelbyville Parks Department oversees 248 acres of land, 11 parks, and 12 miles of pedestrian trails. Strengths of the department, identified through the public survey that netted 310 responses, included the trails, the bike share program, the aquatic center and various parks amenities, such as the splash pad. Areas for growth included the desire for more trail connections, increased visuals of the river, accessible playground equipment and increased indoor recreation.

“Mainly, what we heard was that trails are popular,” Rothenberger said. “The community loves the trails. They would like to see that expanded with bike lanes, internal loop trails within parks, more connectivity to other destinations between other parks or within the city and downtown, hiking trails and more greenway trails.”

There is also a desire for more nature-based recreation. “I think this is something that the community is lacking right now. There's a lot of park land, but not actually immersive nature experiences,” Rothenberger said. Additional priority projects included adding in kayak and canoe launches, updating playground equipment and adding lighting to the parks. He also spoke about potential upgrades to Morrison Park.

Those in attendance were asked to provide additional feedback on posters, which will be integrated into a final draft of the plan and submitted to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

Indy 500 Visits Local Elementary Schools

submitted

Loper Elementary and Hendricks Elementary fourth-graders received a 500 Festival Mobile Field Trip this week. For two hours, students learned about careers, math, equipment, and more as they experienced a field trip that was brought directly to them.

Six stations (Many Careers of IndyCar, Indianapolis Motor Speedway History and Traditions, Numbers of the 500, Science of the IndyCar, Driver Equipment and Flags) were created, and students moved through each one, participating through simulations, hands-on experiences, and more. With fourth grade being the year that Indiana History is introduced, the history of the Indy 500 and this mobile field trip fit perfectly into the curriculum.

Students learned the science of speed and aerodynamics as they explored an Indy car. They also had the opportunity to learn about the flag colors and their meanings and then had a chance to wave a flag. Retired Shelbyville Central Schools teachers Phil and Linda Howell were two of the 500 Festival volunteers who taught the Indy 500 flags session.

Students also processed the math related to owning a race car by working in teams with parent volunteers through a simulated team owner experience, making financial decisions like deciding to hire a rookie or experienced driver and how that impacted their bottom line, and as the session wrapped up, a winning team was declared.

Students learned about Indy Car career opportunities related to their strengths, as well as history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and how drivers stay safe.

Schools are chosen by random draw. At Loper, Mrs. Teresa Meredith had entered the drawing several times, but this was the first year her school was chosen.

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NOTEBOOK:

Blue River Community Foundation has nearly met their goal to raise matching funds through Lilly Endowment Inc. to provide more public art in Shelby County through GIFT VIII. The Foundation is within $7,000 of the $155,000 goal. Donations of any size will be matched one-to-one and will help to beautify our community and celebrate our stories. The direct link is here. Blue River Community Foundation is a designated 501(c)3.
HOOSIER NEWS: "Build-to-rent" housing developments, common in more expensive markets like the Northeast and the South, are coming to Central Indiana as home prices have soared in recent years, experts say. New projects like a 165-unit build-to-rent development in Brownsburg offer renters detached single-family homes and neighborhood amenities without the commitments of long-term mortgages and home maintenance. Such communities fill a gap in the market for affluent residents who want more space but prefer the flexibility of renting, developers say. At Mural Brownsburg, a community of three- and four-bedroom rental homes to be built by Indianapolis-based Onyx+East and managed by Buckingham Companies, residents will have a shared clubhouse, a pool and walking paths. Marea, a 144-home single-family rental community in Noblesville, offers residents two-car garages and fenced-in yards for $2,275 to $2,750 a month. Although final numbers are unclear, average rents for homes at Mural Brownsburg could near $3,000 a month, company officials said. The median age of first-time homebuyers is now 38 years old, according to the National Association of Realtors. (IndyStar)
NATIONAL NEWS: The number of subprime auto borrowers at least 60 days past due on their loans has hit 6.56 percent, the highest level in the history of data collection from Fitch, going back to 1994. It’s a sign that a couple of concerning trends — inflation pinching consumers, a slowing economy, but mostly high costs for cars and trucks in general — have converged. This comes as the Fed Bank of New York found that the percentage of all auto loans in serious delinquency is up to 3 percent. (Bloomberg/Numlock)
Thank you to every donor for your continued support of The Addison Times. Donors of $100 or more receive a quarterly print publication in the mail. Please consider a one-time or monthly donation to The Addison Times, 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. I appreciate each of you. - Kristiaan Rawlings, Editor

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SHS Courier Archive Highlights

December 3, 1954, Part I

Beth Mount was named DAR Citizenship Award winner.
Girls of the Junior Sunshine Society conducted a Fall Festival in the high school basement. Booths decorated in fall colors along the hallway offered homemade candy, baked goods, crackerjacks, popcorn and candied apples. The girls’ gym included attractions such as a fish pond, darts, basketball, weight guessing and a cake walk. A fun house in the girls’ dressing room was a highlight. A movie starring Amos and Andy was offered in the bookkeeping room. The west stairway featured a variety show, starring Jim McKeand, Sandra Oldham, Willa Jo Barricklow and Rebecca Moore.
Jon Bass, SHS 10B and son of JHS Principal J.H. Bass, received the rank of Eagle Scout. Other SHS students who were Eagle Scouts were Jim McMichael, Mike Silbert and Pat Kehoe.
All band and music classes at SHS offered only one-fourth of a credit per semester.
Bill Thompson, described as “a red-haired 11A boy,” set the record by selling 68 inches of Courier advertising, breaking the previous record of 63 inches, which he had set the prior year.
Miss Kinsley had been “a bit shocked while grading senior test papers to find one of her senior girl students defining ‘picketing’ as ‘When the owner of a factory builds a fence around it.’”
Freshmen English students had been “amazed” to find that Bartlett’s Quotations quoted Shakespeare more than the Bible, with Bartlett devoting 121 pages to Shakespeare and only 39 to the Bible.
Dr. Frank Scott, class of 1930, was hired to be a surgeon at the South Bend Clinic. He previously worked at the Inlow Clinic in Shelbyville and Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

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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: Two courthouse workers on break called police to report that a male with a handgun was hanging from a second story window at a nearby residence. Police surrounded 319 S. Tompkins St. with guns drawn and made contact with the owner of the residence. Turned out, the owner’s juvenile grandson and his friend were on the roof with water balloons and a toy pistol.

The Junior ACC team from Thomas Gymnastics won their division at a championship event in Chicago. The gymnasts were Morgan Atwood, Kaylin Smiley, Annie Thomas, Hanna Arthur, Anna Phares, Lauren Suiter, Melanie Lewis, Andrel Bridgers, Jasmine Stephens, Kyrsten Lux, Mykenzie Dodd, Megan Smith, Taylor Clemmons, Tierra Ervin, Madison Freeman, Anastasia Lux, Abby Law, Phebe Drake and Darrian Barger.

1995: Citizens attending an event featuring Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Suellen Reed at Shelbyville High School asked for clarification on the new IPASS test, which offered more open-ended questions instead of the multiple choice format predominant on ISTEP. Many Republican legislators said the test was ill-conceived and too expensive. Gov. Evan Bayh had requested $100 million for IPASS, which included funding to re-teach students who failed the test.

1985: A 20-year-old report released by the government said employees working at the old PPG plant had been exposed to fibrous glass particles in the air, making them susceptible to respiratory disease.

1975: Sandy Allen of Shelbyville, tallest woman in the world, visited Flora, Ill., for “Sandy Allen Day” activities and a key to the city. Flora was the hometown of Danny Gerber, 22, a “mere” 7-foot-2-inches, who had gone on a date with Sandy. “Every restaurant in town - I believe there’s eight of them - has offered us a free meal,” Gerber told local news. Sandy was a clerk-stenographer with the Indiana Board of Animal Health in Indianapolis. (Editor’s note: It was said of Sandy that “her character and compassion were much bigger than any Guinness book measurement.” Encouraging children was a personal mission of hers. Upon her passing, Sandy left a gift to Blue River Community Foundation to create the Sandy Allen Fund. The fund pays out to Girl Inc. to provide support for underprivileged girls to be able to participate in their programming. To date, the fund has provided $4,496 in to support Shelby County girls at Girls Inc. To honor Sandy for all of the ways she measured up, the Blue River Community Foundation is having a mural of the “Giantess of Shelbyville High” installed in downtown Shelbyville later in 2025.)

1965: Roselyn Bakery at Harrison and Colescott offered a yeast donut sale: 6 donuts for 29 cents.

1955: Raymond Lackey of Shelbyville, a well-known Indiana and Big Ten official, was scheduled to work the first-round of the NCAA tourney in Lexington, Ky. Lackey was a former star at SHS and Ball State and had been city-clerk in Shelbyville.

1945: The local Salvation Army asked for used clothes donations to be sent to flood refugees in southern Indiana.

1935: Approximately 40 coal dealers in the region met at the Strand Alcazar. Mayor L.E. Webb gave an address at the chicken dinner.

“Music Hour” was adopted to be used for grades 1 - 12 in Shelby County music classes. It was the first uniform music curriculum used in the county.

1925: Several Shelbyville boys had thrown fruit and bricks off a traction car while passing through Greensburg, breaking a plate glass window in a nearby business. Local police met the traction car when it arrived in Shelbyville, but were unable to determine the culprits.

1915: Roy Worland, one of the first men from the jail assigned to work duty on Public Square, escaped. Police were “not working very hard to locate Worland,” The Republican said. They believed he would be back in trouble soon, and next time, they planned to attach a ball and chain to him.

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OBITUARIES

Nicole Renee Craig, 45, passed away on Friday, March 7, 2025. She was born September 11, 1979, in San Antonio, Texas, the daughter of Jeffrey and Elizabeth A. (Hastey) Smith. Nicole is survived by her parents of Manilla; daughters, Shelby Hudson and Sara Augustine, both of Shelbyville; brother, Jeffrey Smith Jr., of Manilla; and nephew, Liam Smith of Manilla.

In 1997, Nicole graduated from Morristown High School. Nicole owned a home cleaning service.

Services have been entrusted to Freeman Family Funeral Homes and Crematory, 819 S. Harrison St. in Shelbyville. Online condolences may be shared with Nicole’s family at www.freemanfamilyfuneralhomes.com.

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