Sunday, August 18, 2024
FIREFIGHTING TIME LAPSE
Shelbyville firefighting crews arrive in the 1900 block of South Riley Highway on Thursday evening in response to a detached garage fire. The crews connected to the nearest fire hydrant and put hand lines into service. | photos by JACK BOYCE
Seven minutes later, the flames were reduced to gray smoke and close residences were protected from harm. | photo by JACK BOYCE
Northwest County Town Hall Features Discussion on Hot Topics
A county town hall meeting on Tuesday featured discussion on a range of topics, from sewer infrastructure to carbon capturing. Hosted by the Northwest Shelby County Concerned Citizens Coalition, attendees in the Moral Township Volunteer Fire Department building first heard from Mike Bowman, who shared updates and explanations on public sewer service to the area, which has been delayed but is still in the works.
“With this type of project, we don’t have a lot of people, and it’s a large financial project, so the amount of grant money that we need to do this and still keep rates affordable is substantial,” Bowman said. “That’s been the hold-up of the project since Day One: the funding.”
The $22 million infrastructure project is still moving forward despite not getting state funds as early as hoped. Bowman said the eventual user fee will be between $65 and $85 monthly, and assistance will be available for low-income households.
The state will determine which homes will hook on, and some property owners between Fairland and Clover Village will have a choice. But Bowman said connecting to the main will have positive future ramifications. If a future homeowner wants the service, the cost then will be much higher to connect and tap into the main.
“It’s something you don’t want to just take lightly,” Bowman said of the decision. “It is some money to hook on, but it might be money well spent if you do this up front.”
County Commissioner Jason Abel said sewer expansion in northwest Shelby County is critical, and will ensure homes retain their value.
“A lot of the housing developments that were built 30, 40, 50 years ago were built in places that probably shouldn’t have had houses built on them, from a drainage perspective,” he said. “And now those housing developments are filled with septic systems that are on their last legs and failing.”
On another topic, Abel noted that low-maintenance landscaping and decorative lighting will soon be installed at the roundabout in Pleasant View.
“The objective was to not make it a concrete island,” he said.
There was also talk of broadband. The county received five “quality” responses to a Request for Information on the subject, and those five were “very complementary” of each other in that they were interested in different geographic areas, Abel said. A “one provider” solution is not possible, he added.
Shelby County received a substantial boost from Indiana Next Level (Connections) awards recently. With $2.2 million of state funding and $8.6 million of private investment pledged, the $10.8 million awarded to Shelby County’s broadband efforts placed the community fourth out of 50 projects throughout the state in funding committed. A Request for Proposals process is the next step, with responses due mid-September.
A final topic of discussion was POET’s proposed permanent underground carbon storage. The company’s website explains that CO2 is stored in corn kernels. “Capturing the pure, biogenic CO2 from bioethanol production will not only help us decarbonize bioethanol, but it will also build the market for using CO2 in other applications,” the site says.
POET already supplies customers nationwide with CO2, used for beverage carbonation, food processing, fire suppression and other applications. But that only accounts for about 20 percent of CO2 from the site, Abel said.
By drilling about a mile down, underground carbon storage will allow the company to “utilize bioprocessing to accelerate our path to net zero” by sending CO2 into deep geological formations such as sandstone and limestone rather than into the atmosphere, the site says. “The CO2 occupies the small pore spaces in the formations deep below multiple layers of solid cap rock, where it remains safely underground for millions of years.”
Abel said he asked “aquifer-related” questions about the proposal. “But, with them having a water intensive process, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, because it's not a good business model for them to screw up the aquifer that they rely on,” he said.
The project also will receive the highest level of Environmental Protection Agency approval, he added.
But the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana is opposed to the process, and CAC program organizer Bryce Gustafson was on hand to explain their position. He said at least nine carbon capturing projects are being developed in Indiana right now in various industries.
“We have concerns about how it will impact the aquifers,” Gustafson said. He also said some people are worried about whether the process can cause earthquakes, and noted that a similar project in Illinois happens to be the site of thousands of “microquakes.”
“We have some serious differences with the POET folks as far as how safe this is, how wonderful this is,” Gustafson said.
But the proposal is outside of county officials’ control, Lisa Wojihoski-Schaler, a meeting organizer said. “This is nothing the county commissioners have anything to do with. If you have concerns about this, please don’t call them. Call POET, call the EPA or the feds.”
The next northwest town hall meeting will be a candidates’ forum, held in October.
NOTEBOOK:
NATIONAL NEWS: The dissolution of the Pac-12 conference has scattered its constituent teams to the wind, sending Stanford to the ACC, Washington to the Big Ten, and so on. One issue? Some of these college football teams have difficult travel schedules. Of every power conference team’s season from 1993 to 2024, five of the top eight highest-mileage seasons will be this year, with UCLA (now in the Big Ten) set to travel 19,618 miles this season, California (in the ACC) traveling 19,226 miles, Stanford traveling 14,021 miles, Southern California 13,951 miles and Washington 13,725 miles. Still, that’s nothing like Hawaii, which is in the MWC, a non-power conference, but nevertheless is set to travel 29,777 miles this year. (Neil’s Substack/Numlock)
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580 West Taylor St.
Editor’s Note: The following is the next installment in a serialized version of “580 West Taylor Street,” by Joseph E. “Joed” Landwerlen.
by JOSEPH E. LANDWERLEN
Holidays, Part II
We anticipated Halloween almost as much as Christmas. We would begin trick-or-treating four or five days before the actual date. We quickly learned which houses to go to in order to receive the better handouts. We would exchange information with the other kids that we knew from other areas, so everyone could end up with a full sack at the end of the night. We did not really have costumes, only an old shirt and anything that would hide your features a little bit. It was discovered early on that you did not go to a house with a full bag of treats; rather, a slightly filled one got you even more treats. Apples and Hershey bars were advertised to the other kids, and that house would be targeted. Someone would run collected treats home periodically and everything would be divided later. We usually received enough candy and goodies to last us weeks.
And then there was Armistice Day which was celebrated in school. Public parades acknowledged the first and second World Wars. Thanksgiving was celebrated at school by studying the Pilgrims and history, and we would usually do something like cut out or color turkeys. I don't remember having turkey on Thanksgiving in the 1940s and early 50s, but we always got together and had a big meal.
Christmas was the holiday that we waited for all year.
We celebrated Christmas at Calvary Baptist Church with all of the spiritual lessons, plays, recitals, and sermons and, of course, at home. We had a live tree, because no artificial trees were available then.
The tree had ornaments and tinsel, but without electric lights. After the war, when you could start buying things and almost all items went off of rationing, I remember Dad coming home one day with wire, light sockets, and small bulbs. Using a soldering gun, he sat at the dining room table and soldered this whole mess together, and in '48 or ‘49, we had one string of red, yellow, blue, and green seven-and-a-half watt bulbs on our tree. The little round bulbs were dipped in poster paint to get the different colors, and they had to be re-dipped every year. We used that string for many, many years.
When Mom and Dad got their first Christmas tree, Mom bought an angel to top it off. At 580, we used that angel tree topper for at least 40 years. We kids would cut strips of colored paper and, using flour and water as a paste, glue them into chains and place them on our tree. We also strung popcorn on long pieces of strong thread and placed them on our live tree.
We spent a lot of hours on our stomachs and elbows on the floor, eyes poring through every page of the Sears and Roebuck catalog. It amazed us as to all of the wonderful things that were out there to be had if only we were rich. On Christmas morning, we always had plenty of things to unwrap. Wrapping paper was only tissue paper in white, red, or green, and was fastened with stickers that you needed to lick. Cellophane tape was not around, and there was no printed wrapping paper. Some of the things we received were pajamas, underclothes, socks, and outerwear, but they were presents from Santa who knew our every need. We also received many toys and games that magically appeared under the tree on Christmas morning. We had already enjoyed a big meal with tons of goodies shared with our aunts and uncles and cousins on Christmas Eve at Grandma Wiley's.
During the late 40s and early 50s, Mom and Dad could go to the second floor of J.G. DePrez and select toys and games to be put into the “layaway.” You would pick your selections, and DePrez would keep them at the store with your name on it, and you could pay a few dollars every week, and when it was paid in full, you could pick it up. At the same time, the banks in town started Christmas savings club, where you could go in every week and deposit a few dollars, and on December 15, the bank would write you a check for whatever you had put in it plus the interest it had accrued. You were able to start a savings plan for as low as $0.50 per week.
Everyone in our home received a party on their birthday, complete with cake and candles and ice cream, and, of course, presents. Mom always baked a cake, almost always from scratch until the 50s, and we got to pick what kind of cake we wanted. On about my 16th birthday, I decided that I wanted a pineapple upside down cake, and it was such a hit that when my siblings' birthdays came up, they also wanted that same cake. It became a tradition that you got a pineapple upside down cake and a cake of your choice each year for your day. Mom supplied these cakes until she could no longer do them, and my baby sister Teresa took the job over in the late 90s and continued until 2010. I estimated a rough count and guess that between the two of them, they baked about 400 pineapple upside down cakes over the years.
SHS Courier Archive Highlights:
November 13, 1957, Part II
Mr. Kuhn had given his fourth hour English class a list of “ideas” to write about, but the ideas only confused students. The list contained things such as “He who rides a tiger must not dismount,” “Insults and pills should not be chewed,” and “A living dog is better than a dead lion.” A few days later, Greg Fowl asked Mr. Kuhn, “How are we to find anything in the library about riding a tiger and chewing insults? You sure have to do some thinking before you would even know what to look for.” Mr. Kuhn replied, “That’s the idea, Greg.”
Elaine Long was named DAR Good Citizen of the Year.
Forum met in the school library. Subjects discussed were “U.S. development of satellites and missiles”; “Sputnik’s aid to communism”, and “Should changes be made in our nation’s scientific and military programs?” Leaders for the meeting were James Barger, Charles Barnett and Jerry Barlow. Newly elected Forum officers were George Stubbs, Barlow, Diana Page and Barbara Ewick. Other Forum members were Wilson Allen, Marge Bailey, Carol Ann Ballard, Jim Barger, Charles Barnett, John Brant, Richard Carron, Fred Clayton, Paul Allen DePrez, Jim Frank, Julie Gaines, Larry Gehr, Phyllis Jones, Lee McNeely, Steve Moberly, Frances Oltman, Evelyn Reece, Miles Richard, Ronnie Richardson, John Spiegel, Nancy Stine, Betsi Thurston, Joy Walts, Richard Wetnight, Pat Wilkins and Norma Williams.
Forum sponsored discussions featuring input from non-members. Those invited were Bob Adams, Larry Arnold, Betsy Burton, Kay Crafton, Carmen Coers, Bill Dellekamp, Bill Greenlee, Nancy Griffith, Judy Johns, Linda Kremer, Charles Kysar, Diane Lux, Tom Martin, Steve Mohler, Beckey Moore, Jerry Platt, Pat Patterson, Stewart Ryan, Hal Rohm, Rita Sandman, Langdon Scott, Nanettte Sirkus, Pat Smith, Mary Stuart, Linda Stevens and Ralph Rudd.
George Barger, class of 1955, was appointed as judge on the Men’s Residence Hall Council at Indiana University. His father, Harold Barger, was judge of the Shelby County Circuit Court. The Residence Hall Council held jurisdiction over all boys who were not pledged to fraternities.
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 from the Shelby County Public Library Genealogy Department.
2014: Another room was completed at the new Shelby County Public Library’s Carnegie East wing, which was ready to house two instructional/meeting rooms, a computer lab with 11 computers and the Genealogy and History services. There were still more rooms to complete in the former furniture store building, which the library had purchased in 2007.
2004: Ten Japanese students from Kambara, Shelbyville’s sister city, arrived for a visit. The cultural exchange program started in 1988.
Lots went on sale at Central Park, a planned 400-home addition to be built just south of Kroger.
1994: Jeff Mullen won a 1994 Dodge Dakota Sport Truck from the Flat Rock Volunteer Fire Department and Fletcher Chrysler Products, part of a drawing during the festival. Rick Isgrigg and Larry Drake represented the fire department at the key presentation program.
1984: Radio Shack held a computer sale. The popular 2-Disk TRS-80 Model 4 was on sale for $1,299. Regular price was $1,999. The computer had a built-in printer interface.
Shelbyville won its third Indiana Elks Club state swimming championship in four years. Hal Stewart, Susan Gottlieb and Steve Bartels all had first-place finishes. Jim Slater was coach of the state championship team.
Molly Robbins, Betsy Stephen and Evan Tingle appeared on WTTV’s Hoosier Hinterland to promote the upcoming Bears of Blue River Festival.
1974: Two sets of brothers representing the present and the past were on hand for Shelbyville’s annual Picture Day festivities. Kevin Zerr, who played on the 1972 Golden Bear team, spent time with Mark Zerr, linebacker prospect on Coach Tom Hession’s team. Also, Tim McKenney (shirtless in the photo) posed with brother Erin. Tim was a quarterback on the 1970 team.
1964: An 18-year-old man was arrested for stealing gas and melons from Compton Dairy.
A local man was arrested at the intersection of Broadway and Noble streets for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants and for public intoxication. The man said he was celebrating the birth of his first daughter.
1954: General Electric officially acquired two plots containing over 82 acres of farm land on the east edge of Shelbyville. Attorney Bob Good represented GE.
A news article said school children should have three pairs of shoes each, including a pair of galoshes “for really bad weather” and a dress-up pair.
1944: William Atwood, 68 years old, was severely injured when he was struck by an automobile while walking across Public Square. (He passed away a day later from the injuries.)
1934: Excavation for the foundation of a bandstand at Laura Morrison Park began. The structure would house a large room in the basement, suitable for banquets.
Thirty-five days of jail time was added to a man’s sentence after he burned two mattresses, broke tables and benches and damaged plumbing at the Shelby County Jail.
“Seldom, if ever, has the appearance of a couple at the clerk’s office in the Shelby County Courthouse caused such a stir as that which was observed Thursday, when two show people, accompanied by a friend connected with their show, came to apply for and received a marriage license,” The Republican reported. One of the contracting parties was billed as “Leo-May, the Double-Sex Wonder.” The other applicant was William Jerome Winters, who came in clown attire and worked as a “barker” for the “Leo-May” show. (His first wife had passed away in 1931.) “Leo-May’s” actual name was Gladys Irene Kirk. They were married by Justice of Peace Clifford Newton.
1924: Approximately 25 percent of women eligible to vote had voted in 1920, The Republican reported. Efforts were underway to increase turn-out.
About four feet was cut from Campbell Hill, and a fill was in the works between the Blue River Bridge and the hill before road construction would begin. The fill was brought from north of Shelbyville.
1914: A circus staged at the south end of Harrison St., in the DePrez addition, was attracting a large crowd. Trained animals in a steel cage was the highlight of the show, including a trainer placing his head in a lion’s mouth, The Republican reported.
OBITUARIES
None today.