Sunday, December 29, 2024
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: STEPHENSON RIFE ATTORNEYS
SATURDAY IN THE PARK
Sophia, 4, Fernando, 6, and Danicia, 4, enjoy a mild winter day yesterday at Clearwick Park. | photo by JACK BOYCE
Smith Reflects on Two Decades-Plus of Service
by KRISTIAAN RAWLINGS
You may have agreed or disagreed with Terry Smith’s votes on the Shelby County Council and Plan Commission over the past 21-plus years, but you would be hard pressed to find someone who runs a meeting with such attention to detail.
“I want to conduct the meeting in a professional, polite manner; to be the referee,” Smith said of his most recent stint as Plan Commission president.
That meant plenty of opportunities for both petitioners and members of the public to share their perspectives.
“I’m a big fan of more discourse rather than less,” he said. “If you and I are on opposite sides, we both might learn something, and might even come to a consensus. But if we don’t have the conversation, we’ll never find out.”
That approach was on display at the October Plan Commission meeting, in which he did not tip his hand throughout the lengthy discussion that he would be the lone dissenting voice to a favorable recommendation vote regarding changes to the commercial solar energy systems ordinance.
In a later interview, Smith cited counsel at the September meeting given by county council attorney Jason Clark, who advised that limiting the size of solar projects by an arbitrary number could result in an indefensible takings case.
Such property rights issues are quite familiar to Smith, whose family has the sheepskin deed, dating to Andrew Jackson’s presidency, for their Morristown area property. Their 65 acres is next to the Morristown industrial park, and he recalls hearing the Detroit Steel exterior intercom speakers at all hours as a kid. What would be the sunset view from his mother’s land is blocked by an industrial building.
“But,” he points out, “I grew up a property rights guy. You have 100 percent of your property rights, and they end at your property line. You didn’t buy your view. You didn’t buy your sunset, and my mom’s property is the perfect example of that.”
Smith has spent much of his adult life discussing issues related to moving the community forward. He has served on numerous local boards, including the Bears of Blue River Festival, Mainstreet Shelbyville, SCUFFY and the Blue River Community Foundation.
In July 2003, he was caucused in to complete Bill Hopkins’ term on the county council. His first liaison assignment was to the Plan Commission, where he remained. He’s learned much over the years about how state regulations and county budgets work.
“I’m still learning,” he said.
The council’s job of overseeing the budget has given him a front row seat to challenges facing the county, such as the recession of 2008, which led to several difficult years. At one point, all county employees were invited to a meeting at The Strand Theatre.
“The council and commissioners sat up on the stage and said, ‘We’re looking for ideas. We’ve got to find ways to cut,’” Smith said.
Budget restrictions and hiring freezes ensued, but no jobs were eliminated.
The county is in a much better place now.
“The last five or six years have been the least challenging,” Smith said.
There is approximately $2 million in the insurance reserve fund, and about $750,000 in a rainy day fund.
“That’s not enough, but it’s a heck of a lot more than what we used to have. We used to not have a rainy day fund.”
All of this has been accomplished with Shelby County remaining in the lowest third of tax rates for Hoosier counties.
Smith said he has enjoyed seeing the county progress over the past two decades. He now looks forward to more time with family, including his wife Lisa and three adult daughters, one who works in human resources for an airline on the north side of Indianapolis, another who works for a nonprofit in Washington D.C. and one who is in a residency for a licensed optometrist north of New Orleans.
He also has confidence that the newly elected officials will meet future challenges.
“Everybody involved - the city (of Shelbyville), county, school corporations, SCDC (Shelby County Development Corporation), the Blue River Community Foundation - all of that has come a long way and will continue to do so to bring folks here,” he said.
NOTEBOOK:
The Shelbyville High School girls team came up short in three tournament games over the weekend. Maddy Jones was named to the Wings and Rings Winter Classic All-Tournament team, scoring 33 points throughout the tournament.
Editor’s Note: I want to express my appreciation to members of two local groups who pooled cash donations for The Addison Times at recent meetings. Thank you to the members of a local lunch group: Judy Apple, Gingi Crosby, Laura Heaton, Barb Ivie, Fredonna Martin, Sue Penrose, DeLane Ramsey, Earlene Rosenfeld, Carol Showers, Sylvia Spurling and Debbie Tobian. Also, members of PEO Chapter AL, who, as I was told by others, were led in this initiative by Debbie Ewing, did the same: Marsha Apsley, Ruth Baker, Amy Berthouex, Susan Blanner, Nancy Brown, Peggy Browne, Connie Browning, Margaret Cole, Kay Douglas, Ewing, Bev Gardner, Ann Haehl, Sherry Harding, Mary Ann Harrold, Mary Kay Hart, Laura Heaton, Karen Lane, Cindy Leahy, Sue McCammon, Nancy McNulty, Jill Meeke, Char Moeller, Diane Nuthak, Judy Pettit, Betsy Plymate, Susie Pouder, DeLane Ramsey, Earlene Rosenfeld, Sally Shadley, Linda Skillman, Bonnie Steffey, Betsy Stephen, Judy Stewart, Judy Stolmeier, Linda Thopy, Sally Vaught, Carol Ware, Linda Winkler, Pat Woollen and Pam Zimny. Thank you for your thoughtfulness, and thank you to every donor for your continued support as The Addison Times forges ahead to fund 2025 and beyond. We will once again provide a quarterly publication with extra news and photos in 2025 as a gift for your support of $100 or more. This past year, we’ve covered city and county meetings, our students, local business, primary and general elections, commercial and residential development, and, of course, daily local history. 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
NATIONAL NEWS: Damages from weather disasters hit $92.9 billion last year, according to NOAA, and years of increasingly damaging weather events have provoked a reaction in the insurance market, with costs up 13 percent from 2020 to 2023. Those are being driven by premium increases in some of the areas most prone to disasters, and a big driver in turn is the rising cost of reinsurance, which is the insurance bought by insurance companies which itself has increased in costs 100 percent between 2017 and 2023. It’s not like the home insurance companies are having a great time: for the fifth year in a row, insurers paid out more than they brought in with premiums, and in 2023 they paid out $1.11 in claims for every $1 they made. (Bloomberg/Numlock)
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SHS Courier Archive Highlights:
Jan. 15, 1931, Part II
The Junior High School hired an additional teacher for spring semester to teach penmanship and spelling. This would be taught in the auditorium, and give the other teachers a prep period while their students were taking the class.
An article surveyed opinions on European politics, citing one person who thought “the blustering of the Hitlerites is not to be taken too anxiously, and believes that Germany is far indeed from planning to gain her desired objects through alliances of a military character.”
Arthur Chaffee mailed a letter from Washington D.C. describing his experiences as a page on Capitol Hill. He went to school two hours in the mornings. He called his math teacher “as absent minded as the deuce.” His French teacher said “ah” every other word.
Donald Phipps, Shelbyville’s “giant” basketball player and winner of the 1930 Kiwanis football medal, had badly sprained his ankle and would be out several weeks. The “Mackmen” were 9-1, their only loss coming in the game Phipps left early due to injury.
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.
2004: Many local stores reported lackluster holiday sales, in part due to heavy snow leading up to Christmas, forcing some stores to close for a day or two. But with the forecast in the 50s for the coming days, stores were hoping to recoup some of their losses.
1994: A wanted man was pulled over for a traffic violation on N. Riley Highway by Indiana State Trooper Perry Hewitt. The U.S. Marshals got involved, and the man was transported to Marion County.
1984: With temperatures in the mid-60s, school students were spotted in short sleeves throughout town.
Bill Wheeler, a former employee of the Shelbyville Boys Club, was appointed to a nationwide task force to address child abuse problems in the U.S. Wheeler, a 1971 Shelbyville High School graduate, was executive director of the Boys Club and Girls Club in Frankfort.
1974: Walt Disney’s “Lt. Robin Crusoe” was on at the Cinema, followed at 10:45 p.m. by X-rated “Diary of a Stewardess”, which had the following label across the ad: “Don’t fly me if you are not over 18.”
1964: Ambulance driver Steve Maple delivered his first baby since becoming a driver 14 months’ prior. “It wasn’t as bad as I expected,” Maple said after helping Mrs. Potter, 217 N. Harrison St., who gave birth to a boy. Senior Attendant Meredith Mann had delivered or assisted in the delivery of more than a dozen infants since the ambulance went into operations in October 1954.
1954: A new foundation had been laid at 809 Morris Ave. by volunteers for a new home for Mrs. Artie Campbell, 83. The old house had been torn down, and more volunteer help was needed to complete the project.
A Louisville band was scheduled to play at the Armory’s New Year’s Day dance, scheduled to begin at 11:59 p.m., Dec. 31, and last until dawn on New Year’s Day.
1944: Over 100 people attended the Rotary Club’s holiday party at the Strand Alzcazar. The SHS Glee Club sang, and Norman Anderson gave humorous readings. Organizers were Russell Roth, Phillip Hoop Jr., Robert St. John, Glen Plymate and Don Wickizer.
1934: Local retail sales for the year were up 15 to 20 percent from 1933, managers reported.
1924: Temperatures dipped just below zero during the day and 11 below at night, making it the coldest day of the year and the second-coldest day since the weather bureau had been established 56 years’ prior.
1914: Railroad employees in Fountaintown found a baby girl dead in a boxcar at the depot. The child was believed to have been a premature birth. A brakeman had shined a flashlight inside the door of an opening and found the box. He took it to the conductor, telling him it was a Christmas present. The men opened the box to discover the body. The body was turned over to the Rushville coroner.
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OBITUARIES
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