Sunday, February 19, 2023
LIFE DOWNTOWN
Street parking is at a premium on Shelbyville’s Public Square early last evening. | photo by KRISTIAAN RAWLINGS
Editor’s note: Since columnist Kris Meltzer moved over to The Shelby County Post, we are republishing one of his previous articles here each Sunday until our closure at the end of February. Below is a piece from April 29, 1994.
Dear Readers,
Ever since I named my column "A View From My Schwinn" people have assumed that I know something about Schwinn bicycles. I have received several calls from people trying to locate parts for old Schwinns or wanting information about a specific Schwinn model.
I always explain that I really do ride an old Schwinn around town to get ideas for my column, but I really don't know anything about Schwinn bicycles. I also drive a 1977 Chevy on trips that are too far for my bicycle, but I don't know anything about Chevrolet automobiles either.
Last week I received a call from Rusty Pettit. I figured that one of my friends had called the junkyard and requested that my '77 Chevy get towed. I have often been the target of such pranks. When Jeff Linder was city attorney, he had the police put a sticker on my car giving me 24 hours to move it since it appeared to be an abandoned vehicle. I was pleasantly surprised to learn upon returning the call that Rusty just wanted some "I Brake For Schwinns" bumper stickers.
Rusty is a Schwinn collector and, unlike myself, he is very knowledgeable about Schwinn bicycles. We talked about Schwinn, and he invited me to come look at his collection. I realized from our conversation that I needed to bring my camera.
I was in grade school in the 1960s. The most popular bicycle of that time was the Schwinn Sting Ray. In fact, the first bicycle I purchased was a gold Sting Ray. It was 1966 and I bought it with money that I earned from my Shelbyville News paper route. Schwinn made several different models of Sting Rays. The top of the line were the Krates. These bicycles had a spring on the front fork, shock absorbers on the banana seat, drum brakes on the front wheel and five speeds. Some of the later models had a disc brake on the rear wheel.
Rusty has every color of Krate that Schwinn made in his collection. These were Lemon Peeler, Pea Picker, Cotton Picker and Grey Ghost. They are all in very good condition, but his Apple Krate actually looked brand new. By coincidence, I also have an Apple Krate, and I thought that mine was in fairly good condition until I saw Rusty's.
One problem with owning old Schwinns is that parts are not always easy to find. I discovered this myself last year when I needed a tire for my Sting Ray. Schwinn no longer makes the tires, and it wasn't easy finding a used one. Rusty has already anticipated this problem and he has a Schwinn parts collection that is as impressive as his bicycle collection.
Rusty is a member of the Hoosier Antique/Classic Bicycle Club. He is planning to have the members of the club ride their bicycles in the Bears of Blue River parade this year and have a bicycle show after the parade. All of you who are children of the '60s can look the bikes over and dream once again of those wonder years.
NOTEBOOK:
Shelbyville High School swimmer Will Rife set a new school record in the 100 butterfly yesterday with a time of 53.46 seconds in sectional action. Other boy swimmers setting personal records over the past week include Elijah von Werder, Beau Kenkel, Andrew Duffy, Blake Hughes, Trey Carrell, Gaige Harker, and Tristin Maloney.
HOOSIER NEWS: The Indiana House on Tuesday passed a bill providing state funding to train teachers who carry guns in classrooms after an emotional debate. School districts can already authorize the arming of teachers, but there isn’t a specific training curriculum — or much money — to go with it. “This is just a standardized [training] format that the state will pay for,” author Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, said on the floor. School corporations can get one matching grant annually from the Indiana Secured School Fund for their security programs. House Bill 1177 would allow an additional grant for specialized firearms instruction. The measure also would authorize state dollars for counseling services for students, teachers, school staff and employees in the event of a school shooting. Lucas emphasized that participation would be voluntary for both school districts and individual staff members, and that districts could go above and beyond the proposed state program — as long as they paid for it. The program would involve 40 hours of training for firearm safety and use, based on the training law enforcement officials currently use. House members passed the bill 71-24. All the no votes came from Democrats. The measure now goes to the Senate for consideration.
NATIONAL NEWS: Grocery store Kroger has an in-house data operation called 84.51, which sells information to 1,400 companies — including many grocery store staples — about sales and the people things are sold to. More consequentially for shoppers, the company claims to have over 2,000 variables on customers including 18 years of data from the Kroger Plus card program, including 2 billion annual transactions from 60 million households. The company claims it’s got over 35 petabytes of customer data, which is important because Kroger is trying to merge with Albertson’s and a competitive advantage that unique is drawing regulator attention. (The Markup)
SHELBY COUNTY PEOPLE & PLACES: JESSE PETTIBONE
Editor’s note: In the mid- to late 1940s, The Shelbyville Republican published a series of articles by Ave Lewis and Hortense Montgomery covering community people and places. Below is one of those features.
Without splitting more than a few million hairs it can be said that Jesse Pettibone of the Coers barber shop has snipped away enough of the stuff that caused Sampson's downfall to fill 19,875 mattresses. Mr. Pettibone marked his 61st year in the barber business on May 7, 1948, and while he wouldn't hazard a guess about the mattresses, he did volunteer that he averages 70 haircuts a week. That would figure something like 212,040 shearings in the 61 years. And since we "borrowed" the results of one haircut (a full-fledged one that is, not one from the shiny-pated row) and found it weighed three-fourths of an ounce - well, if anyone is reading this, they can take it from there - but figure on 50-pound mattresses.
Anyway, Mr. Pettibone has been in the barbering business since he was 15 years old. But he's a frustrated newspaperman at heart. "I always wanted to be in your business," he said, "but my parents didn't like the idea. They thought the barber business would be nice, clean work," he continued with a grimace, "and once I got into it, I was afraid to try anything else because it was all I knew.”
So his only venture into the newspaper game was a brief stint as a printer's devil with the old Republican office on the corner of Franklin and Harrison Streets. He started lathering faces and using clippers at the same shop where he now is employed. It was operated then by Henry Friday, and the work apparently hasn't been too distasteful because during the years he's built up a large clientele and his friends are legion. As he talked, he clipped the hair of Dr. R.F. Barnard, and they decided that "Doc" is one of the oldest customers. He's been waiting for Jesse's chair for 35 years.
Mr. Pettibone was born in Indianapolis but came here when he was seven years of age. He remembers when cows, pigs and other livestock roamed at large in the Public Square and his description of a cow getting his horns fastened in a barrel in front of the DePrez store is worth hearing. After working in the Friday shop, he was employed at the Big Six shop for 23 years and also operated seven establishments of his own. One of these was on South Harrison Street where the Bogemann hat store now is located and others were on East Washington Street where J.C. Penney store and the Ford Company now stand. He's been working at the Coers shop for the past six years.
Mr. Pettibone and his wife, Augusta, live at 483 West Hendricks Street and that's been Jesse's home for 63 years. A quiet bit of fishing is his favorite recreation.
This Week in Shelby County" works by George L. Stubbs Sr. are owned by the Shelby County Historical Society (Grover Center) and used with permission.
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.
20 YEARS AGO: 2003
In observance of Black History Month, the Shelbyville Common Council honored the family of the late Cassius Bennett, the first black council member in Shelbyville. Bennett, a Democrat, had served the 4th Ward from 1972 through 1975 and on the Shelbyville Plan Commission from 1975 until his death in 1984.
30 YEARS AGO: 1993
The Blackburn family, which included 28 Haitian-born children, had their lease in Jennings County extended to June 4. A Columbus church had collected $10,000 to buy the 5-acre property which included the old Hendricks Township school. The church that owned the property had agreed to lower the price to $32,500.
40 YEARS AGO: 1983
A barrier was installed at Sunset Park by parks department employees Harold Simmonds and Russell Kuhn to prevent four-wheel drive vehicles from continuing to tear up the grounds.
50 YEARS AGO: 1973
Members of the May Court chosen to preside at the 1973 May Festival at Shelbyville High School were announced. They were Debbie Hasecuster, escorted by John Westermann; Debbie Linne, with Kent Laird; Debbie Hilderbrand, with Greg Wickizer; Cathay Thomas, with Scott Lummis; Joan Matney, with Kim Branam; Danni Junken, who drew the bye; and Sherri Lawrence, escorted by Dan Calkins. Garth Klepfer was Lord Mayor.
60 YEARS AGO: 1963
Paul E. Daniels, 19, 634 Hoover St., had trouble with his car while driving on McKay Road. He pulled into the yard of A.E. Small, where he left the car for the time being. Small, though, impounded the car and said he would not return it until Daniels paid $10 for ruts left in the yard.
70 YEARS AGO: 1953
Glidden Company Building Materials, 53 Fourth St. near the Pennsylvania Railroad, was opened by Robert Glidden, a 1946 Shelbyville High School graduate and Army veteran who served in the Pacific theater.
80 YEARS AGO: 1943
The Junior Red Cross started a book drive for those in the armed forces. The committee requested newer books, including adventure, Western, humor and cartoon and technical books.
90 YEARS AGO: 1933
One hundred White Rock and White Wyandottes chickens were stolen from the Smithland farm of Charles Bray.
100 YEARS AGO: 1923
In spite of a bitter cold spell, work continued at the site of the Major property on West Washington Street, tearing away parts of the residence and of the garage. Several loads of St. Paul stone, to be used for construction of the new hospital, had been taken to the site. The stone would match the Major residence, which would become part of the hospital.
OBITUARIES
None today