Sunday, April 6, 2025
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Shelby County Under Water
Flooding and recent storm damage were evident throughout the county yesterday. (L to R, top: The back yards of homes on Coffey Lane, adjacent to Kennedy Park, were under water; Mayor Scott Furgeson surveys the scene at Kennedy Park; The Kennedy Park area is flooded; (center) A view of Little Blue River from where E. Franklin St. meets McLane; High water at the intersection of E. McKay Road and Progress Parkway; (lower) Storm damage behind Lewis Creek Baptist Church; a car is off State Road 9 near 600 S; conditions off Columbus Road. | photos by JACOB RAWLINGS
County BZA Preview
The Shelby County Board of Zoning Appeals will consider various requests at next Tuesday’s meeting, 7p.m., including the following:
In old business, Speedway Solar withdrew its request to eliminate the landscape buffer requirements for a portion of a commercial solar energy system facility at 6631 E. 700 N, Shelbyville.
Chad Muckerheide requested a special exception to allow him to use a recently constructed barn at 610 S 250 W, Shelbyville, for storage and office space for a fuel trailer sales business. The business averages four customers and four deliveries per month. The trailers and business items will all be stored within the barn.
Horvath Communications/Pyramid Network Services is requesting a variance to allow for a 155-foot monopole tower with a 10-foot rod/antennas cellular telecommunications facility at 8253 W 1150 W, Edinburgh, at the northwest corner of the property along I-65, to allow utilities outside of a security fence and permit the installation of motion sensor lighting. The tower would fill a service gap area in the southeast corner of Shelby County and surrounding areas for Verizon.
Kevin Rice has requested a variance to allow for replacement of a recently demolished barn at 5539 W 900 S, Edinburgh, with a 3,456 square foot pole parn that results in five accessory structures on the property (two are permitted) and the total area of all accessory structures to exceed two times the home’s footprint.
Melissa Fleek has requested a variance to allow for reconstruction of a home at 9276 N 400 W, Fountaintown, that encroaches into a front yard setback and proposed right-of-way of CR 400 W and has a front-loading garage greater than eight feet forward of the main living area of the home. A previous home on the property was destroyed by fire in 2022. The home would also lie within an Indiana Department of Natural Resources-designated floodway. IDNR does not permit new homes in a floodway, but does allow for reconstruction of homes destroyed by fire if constructed on the footprint of the previous home. The new home would sit in approximately the same location as the previous one, but the front-loading garage location is new.
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NOTEBOOK:
As of 6 p.m. last night, the Big Blue River was at 17.77 feet and rising, with a projected crest of 18.1 feet early this morning, placing the city into Major Flood Stage. The Little Blue River surpassed its previous record of 12.9 feet and was at 13.06 feet last night, also in Major Flood Stage. Evacuations took place in the following areas: Walkerville; South of the Big Blue River, near Indiana Avenue and Eastern Avenue; and Walnut Grove Campground off London Road. The Shelby County Fairgrounds, 500 Frank Street, Shelbyville, is the official emergency evacuation site. It remains dry, accessible, and fully staffed with assistance from the American Red Cross. Residents were strongly urged to evacuate early and stay clear of flooded areas. First responders, including fire, DNR, and state police, are engaged in high-volume water rescues and need clear access to work safely and efficiently, the City of Shelbyville noted in a media release. Sandbags are available outside the Shelbyville Street Department, 605 Hale Road, on a first-come, first-served basis until supplies run out.
The Shelbyville Water Resource Recovery Facility yesterday noted that the plant is receiving 20 million gallons of water per day, exceeding the 16 MGD the system is designed to treat at capacity. Facility staff said all WRRF pumps are working at full capacity. “Please be diligent and know that when this happens, your laterals are also affected, and, just like septic systems, this water from laundry or any excess use will create backups,” the post said. “This wastewater simply has nowhere to go as quickly as normal.”
HOOSIER NEWS: New Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries has signed a six-year deal worth $27 million, according to a memorandum of understanding the university provided to The Herald-Times. DeVries will earn a base salary of $550,000 through the length of the contract and earn an annual outside, marketing and promotional income (supplemental income) starting at $3.7 million. His supplemental income will increase $100,000 on an annual basis. His $4.25 million salary in the first year of the deal puts him among the top 20 paid coaches in the country, according to the USA Today salary database. Former IU coach Mike Woodson made $4.2 million in his final season as coach. DeVries made $2.9 million — ranked No. 48 in the USA Today salary database — in his lone season at West Virginia. (IndyStar)
NATIONAL NEWS: From 1990 to 1994, there were just 16 musical biopics produced, a number that increased to 68 musical biopics from 2020 to 2024. Part of this increase can be attributed to the catalogs of many musicians getting sold off to financial enterprises. When a faceless corporation decides whether or not to greenlight a jukebox biopic, it’s a lot easier to get the movie made than it is when it’s up to people such as artists or their heirs. (Can’t Get Much Higher/Numlock)
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ANNIVERSARY ANNOUNCEMENT
James and Barbara (Coffey) Johnson, Shelbyville, celebrate 56 years of marriage today. They were married April 6, 1969, in Shelbyville, by Rev. James Horner. They have three children, Bobby, Tanya and Brian; six grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. Mrs. Johnson is retired from Williams Industries after 20 years of service. Mr. Johnson served 37 years with the Shelby County Highway Department.
SHS Courier Archive Highlights
January 13, 1970
The basketball team had won the holiday tourney in Connersville. The players were Terry Moore, Doug Adams, Commodore Bradford, Ed Pritchard, Larry Browning, Harry Larrabee, Jeff Lowe, Todd Plymate, Dale Steffey, Garnett Beatty and Mike Kolls. Carl Hughes was the coach. Tom Gould was the reserve coach. Kent Baxter and Dan Hamilton were the managers. Brad Gould was the mascot. The yell leaders were Debbie Talbert, Nancy Owens, Mary Bailey, Betsy Warrick and Sue Shambach.
The Library Club’s Christmas party had included a play titled, “The Shelbyville Hillbillies,” written by member Valerie Bennet. The cast included Bonnie Chance, Janet Fuquay, Kristen Kendall, Cheryl Keppel, Robin Livingston, Janet Miner, Clarice Neeb and Marsha Neeb.
Spanish Club’s Christmas party had included piñatas made by the third year students. The two piñatas were broken by Dan Hamilton and Debbie Hatton.
The Home Ec Club sponsored a Christmas Tea for school faculty and administration. Debbie Walton presented Mrs. Goldie Craige a flower centerpiece and award for her many years of service in the high school’s offices, both in the old and new buildings.
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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: In addition to a reasonably priced recycling service offered by CGS Services after the city of Shelbyville discontinued its residential program, residents could also take paper to bins in the parking lots of Mickey’s T-Mart, Marsh Supermarket, Triton schools and the Fairland Volunteer Fire Department.
1995: A committee was formed by Shelby Eastern Schools to again review redistricting, a topic in the district for some 25 years. One committee member called the district “a really odd layout.” Stretching across Shelby County’s east flank, Shelby Eastern district was about 23 miles long. The district’s school locations in Morristown and Waldron were about 15 miles apart.
1985: ESPN ordered a large Daytona 500 race track backdrop from Foto Krafters in Shelbyville for use on Speed Week programming.
1975: The Shelbyville Knothole League diamonds and building facilities were undergoing a major facelift in preparation for the season. All three diamonds at Knothole Park were being graded and reworked by volunteer help, which included leaders Dallas Phillips, Jim Anderson, Jim Boling, Marvin McLane, Richard Moorhead and Mike Babbitt.
1965: The City of Shelbyville, though Off-Street Parking, purchased a lot at the northeast corner of Harrison and Hendricks streets for city parking.
James Edington, music director at Addison Township School, wrote and directed an operetta entitled “Balser” based on the book, “Bears of Blue River” by Charles Major. It was presented by fifth and sixth grade choirs at a PTA meeting. Members of the cast included Mike Goble, Debbie McKee, Bonnie Gibson, Mac Thurston, Larry Browning, Dana Bowling, Johnny Arthur, Lisa Bastin, John Hitchcock, Connie Hurst, Ronnie Lucas and David Goode.
1955: The Shelbyville Common Council adopted an ordinance that would allow for the sale of Morrison Park to the school district to provide a location for a new junior high school. The plan was to trade Morrison Park for a 10-acre tract in the southeastern section of the city to be developed as a park area.
Downtown stores announced plans to stay open until 9 p.m. over the weekend for the convenience of pre-Easter shoppers.
1945: The Shelbyville High School graduating class of 1945 would have 107 members.
1935: A thief “with an appetite” took 16 loaves of bread from the bread box in front of the W.A. Israel grocery at 901 South West Street, The Republican reported.
1925: A movement to prevent Sunday dancing at Porter’s Camp, on the banks of Flat Rock River, was underway, with numerous local residents signing a petition. The petition called the dances “a public nuisance.”
1915: A woman known as Molly Campbell, 78, was at the point of death, reportedly due to withdrawals from a morphine addiction. Dr. Charles Tindall, the physician, said he was unsure how to classify the woman’s race in paperwork. Although Dr. Tindall said she was “very light,” she had been presumed to be Black, and had long associated with Black residents in town. Among the woman’s belonging in her home on Railroad Ave. was a diploma issued to Mary Tommy Godridge from a “colored school” in Tennessee. Local Black residents who viewed the diploma said it was not likely hers, though, since it was dated 1875. Molly had made a living by washing clothes. A local eight-year-old boy, Albert Johnson, had been living with her. Locals said that decades ago, Molly had been married to a Black preacher, but it was discovered he had another wife. “The shame and humiliation thus revealed in her brought on a nervous breakdown, it is said,” The Republican reported. “She turned to drugs for her relief and gradually became addicted to the use of morphine.” An inspection of her home revealed enough morphine “to have killed all of the people in Shelbyville, with some to spare when the job had been completed,” the paper said. Dr. Tindall eventually determined his patient was “one-eighth” Black, although his methodology for the determination was not stated.
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OBITUARIES
None today.