Sunday, April 28, 2024
‘Healthy Kids Day’ Attracts Large Crowd
Harley, 3, and Hayle, 2, enjoy checking out the Shelbyville Police Department assault vehicle yesterday at Healthy Kids Day, held at the YMCA. The free event included numerous fun activities for children. | photo by JACK BOYCE
Indiana State Trooper Michael Risley, a Shelbyville High School graduate, interacted with numerous local children throughout yesterday’s event. | photo by JACK BOYCE
Shelbyville Fire Department’s new “tall building rig” delighted children and adults alike yesterday. Deputy Fire Chief Scott Grove explained the features of the new $1 million vehicle to onlookers.
Parking spots were at a premium throughout the event, with overflow lots employed. The event was sponsored by Shelby Materials, Knauf Insulation, Walmart, Bishopp’s Appliances, McNeely Law, Clark Orthodontics, Runnebohm Construction, Blue River Bouncers, Kroger, Shelbyville First Church of the Nazarene and Shelbyville U-Haul, with Peanuts as the national sponsor. | photo & reporting by JACK BOYCE
University Students Present Park Redesign Proposals
by ANNA TUNGATE
It took Ball State landscape architecture students only one roll down the Morrison Park hill to get it.
“I’m not touching your sled hill. That is super important,” one of the 26 students who proposed redesigns of the city’s first park said at Friday’s open house. The cohort spent this semester studying the park, listening to the public and developing recommendations.
The above noted design actually added an element to the hill: an ADA-accessible ramp connecting the parking lot to the park. Accessibility was a key factor in the many suggested improvements, which included a splash pad that turned into an ice skating rink in the winter, outdoor classrooms for the nearby Boys and Girls Club and Girls Inc., exercise equipment, moving the green interurban rail bench, an educational rain garden incorporating stormwater run-off, terraced seating built into the hill, and connections to the park’s history, such as a memorial tree to Laura Morrison, her husband and their 13 children, as well as remembering the 42 Shelby County soldiers lost in World War I, originally memorialized with 42 trees, some of which remain. There was even an overlook picnic area from the parking lot.
“It would be a great place to have lunch, to catch up and play games,” student designer Jonathan Lee said.
City Planning Director Adam Rude and Parks Director Trisha Tackett said they have enjoyed working with the program and the Grover Center, which provided historical background for the students. Members of the public at the open house, hosted at Girls Inc., were impressed.
“This is such a wonderful opportunity for Shelbyville,” John DePrez Jr. said. “These bright students really put a lot of effort and time into how we can better utilize and attract more people to Morrison Park.”
The immersive process was equally helpful to the students.
“Talking with the community members, we learned a lot about the park you can’t just find online, and we got to hear people’s personal experiences in the park,” Erin Haycox said in a program video. “We’re not just creating a park and throwing in some shrubs and trees, but we created a space that people can engage with.”
The proposals will now be turned over to the city for consideration.
NOTEBOOK:
NATIONAL NEWS: Pavement is dark-colored, which absorbs heat and contributes to urban areas being considerably warmer than areas with fewer blacktops. It stands to reason that if you want to fix this, you could potentially just paint the pavement a different color to reflect some of that light upward. Experiments have taken place to add white pigment to pavement, which certainly does the job, but then the issue is that pedestrians are getting hit with sun from both above as well as below, and so it can make people feel even hotter. A pilot project in Pacoima, California, in the San Fernando Valley installed 700,000 square feet of its version of pavement coating, which is an acrylic-based seal coat that reflects the near-infrared wavelengths of light. After a year of testing, the data is in, and on average ambient air temperatures were 3.5 degrees cooler during extreme heat events, the surface temperature was up to 10 degrees cooler, and Pacoima saw a 20 percent to 50 percent decrease in the urban heat island effect. (Route Fifty/Numlock)
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This Day in Shelby County History
2014: The Bluebird Restaurant re-opened, four months after a fire had damaged the restaurant and destroyed the adjacent Long Branch Saloon. Larry Tracy said the menu would expand to include waffles, as well as biscuits and gravy. Plans were in the works to rebuild the saloon, but a timetable hadn’t yet been set.
2004: Gov. Joe Kernan presented a $1.2 million check to city and county officials to help pay for construction at Intelliplex Park. Mayor Scott Furgeson, Rep. Luke Messer and County Commissioners Doug Warnecke and Kevin Nigh were on hand at the presentation.
1994: Robert Carlton, owner of Gwynneville Feed & Seed, was named Morristown’s Citizen of the Year at the Chamber of Commerce banquet. Carlton had served on the Shelby Eastern Board for 12 years. He and his wife, Tonya, had seven children and 18 grandchildren.
Members of the Morristown High School prom court were Geoffrey Appleby, Julie Henson, Andrea Geryak, Katy Carrico, Erin Wilson, Andi Pine, Jeff Marcum, Corey Brown, Aaron Fiefenderfer and Nathan Harder.
Al Brant bowled the first 300 game in the history of the annual Shelby County Men’s Bowling Association Tournament at Blue River Lanes. He had been bowling in the doubles portion of the tournament with partner Dave Starker, manager of the local bowling alley. Brant’s perfect game was the 10th known 300 game at Blue River Lanes since it opened in 1959 and was the first in about 18 months. It was Brant’s fourth perfect game.
1984: Plenty of tickets were still available for the Rick Nelson concert set for the following night at Garrett Gymnasium. The Kandells, with Mayor Dan Theobald on drums and four of the original members from the 1960s, would open the show. Tickets started at $7. About 3,000 had purchased tickets, with 2,300 remaining. The concert would benefit the Shelbyville High School band.
1974: David Zerr, of Shelbyville, was one of three Purdue University mechanical engineering students declared winners in an annual design contest. Zerr’s paper was titled, “Rapid Transit Vehicle Design.”
1964: Several women had been nominated for the honor of becoming Shelby County’s 1964 Mother of the Year, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. Nominees were Mae Rose Yarling, Lottie Beyers, Lillian Graham, Martha Spalding, Gladys McKenney, Jean Graves, Mildred Wagoner, Dotty Soller, Leona Sharp, Sara Ruschhaupt, Gladys Jones, Kathryn Asher, Betty Shaw, Marilyn Cox, Joan Sheaffer and Mildred Bowman.
Mike Yarling was elected president of the Jaycees. Other officers elected were Malcolm Buckley, Joe Haseman, Carlos Alexander, Dwain Alexander, Tony Conger, Tom Rudicel, Harold Bowers and Mel Miller.
1954: Shelbyville High School seniors Violet Strege and Larry Wilson received scholarships from the local Elks Lodge.
City Sanitarian Malcolm Beck announced a fly-spraying program would begin soon. First, however, he asked people to clear their yards of trash.
1944: Thrasher’s Drugstore, Shelbyville, began offering leg make-up that simulated hosiery. The make-up was advertised as “water resistant, covers blemishes and doesn’t rub off.”
1934: Rev. Mark Salmon, known as “the Christian Jew,” an orthodox Jew who converted to Christianity and had a ministry in Chicago, spoke at Trinity Methodist Church. He had spoken in Shelbyville about five years prior.
1924: Big Four company workers finished laying new rails between Shelbyville and Indianapolis. Two civil engineers remained in Shelbyville, studying the tracks in order to straighten the curves so that heavier engines could be used in local switching.
The income tax collector arrived in Shelbyville. He made his headquarters at the local post office for those ready to file their income reports.
1914: Elbert Wright, former Shelbyville resident, was shot while serving as a cook in the Navy on the battleship New Hampshire in Vera Cruz. The Secretary of the Navy notified his parents that Wright was in serious condition.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimated Shelbyville’s population at 10,493, an increase of about 1,000 since 1910. The population of New Castle was 12,017 and Columbus at 9,103.
OBITUARIES
None today