Sunday, July 3, 2022
‘Pets, Planes and Pancakes’
Shelbyville Lions Club members Mike Babbitt, Larry Ricketts, Scott Mullen, Dan Ivie, Ezra Keiffer and Dick Kiefer serve all-you-can-eat pancakes and sausage at yesterday’s Fly-In event at the Shelbyville Municipal Airport. Representatives from the Shelby County Animal Shelter were also at the terminal. | photo by JACK BOYCE
BELOW: New Palestine plane owner David Gardea taxis out to the main runway at the Shelbyville Municipal Airport. This experimental plane is a kit from Zenith Aircraft Co. Approximately 20 fixed wing aircraft were on display at the event. | photo by JACK BOYCE
BRINGIN’ THE THUNDER
A caravan of trailers transport fireworks to Waldron yesterday morning in preparation for the evening display. | photo by KRISTIAAN RAWLINGS
Above: Future ladies of the DAR, left to right, Pearl, June, and Rose Meltzer, granddaughters of columnist Kris Meltzer, enjoyed participating in the Waldron parade yesterday.
Dear readers,
It was great seeing so many of you in Waldron yesterday. I have been celebrating Independence Day in Waldron since I was a young boy. Most years I was in the parade. It was not only fun to be in the parade but there was a payoff. All kids in the parade received tickets for a free bag of popcorn, Coke, and chance at the fishpond.
As I walked around Waldron, many of you asked me the same question, “Why weren’t you and the ‘View From My Schwinn' Precision Drill team in the parade?” I can answer that question with a single word: procrastination.
Maybe Waldron’s favorite son, Jack Yeend, and I have been spending too much time promoting “The Helbing.” I thought about getting the team together to practice, but just never got around to getting the job done. I do feel bad about not getting the team ready for the parade this year, especially since my former law partner, Denny Harrold, has his Schwinn Phantom polished and parade ready.
Procrastinating isn’t always bad. From what I remember from Mr. Hinshaw’s U.S. history class, we have a procrastinating lawyer to thank for the timing of Independence Day. If Thomas Jefferson would have written the Declaration of Independence in a timelier manner, we wouldn’t be celebrating on the 4th of July. The Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775. It took Jefferson more than a year to get the paperwork done.
Jefferson did finally produce a magnificently drafted document. The fact that Thomas Jefferson and I are both procrastinating lawyers is all we have in common. Even with the 21st century advantages of spell check and grammar check, I admit that I couldn’t have written the Declaration of Independence.
Jefferson was such a smart fellow that I’ll bet he waited until about midnight on July 3rd before he even sharpened his quill pen to begin writing. I always figured the reason the document is handwritten is because he finished it just in time for the signing and his secretary didn’t have time to get it typed.
If you missed the festivities in Waldron yesterday, you should put it on your “to do” list for next year. From the American flags on the way into town to the firework display at night, Waldron is Americana.
The parade featured patriots of all ages. Some were walking. Some were riding in old cars. Some were on floats. Some were riding in trucks, and some were doing tricks on motorcycles.
It isn’t a parade without horses. Briley Fix and Megan Geise brought their horses from Southwestern, Briley riding Spunky and Megan riding Mya. Waldron horses included Frisco ridden by Emily Tyree and Scooby ridden by Stacey Tyree.
There were a couple of Farmall antique tractors in the parade. Sonny Shugert drove his 1943 Farmall H and Roy Routier drove his 1952 Farmall M.
Twelve soldiers of the Revolutionary War are buried in Shelby County. There is a tablet in the Shelby County Library that was donated by the ladies of the DAR in 1923 in memory of those veterans. I am a direct descendent of one of those soldiers, Joshua Ensminger.
I’ll bet many of the people who were present in Waldron yesterday for the celebration are descendants of a soldier from the Revolutionary War. What is more amazing is that those California kids, Archie and Lilibet, are direct descendants of King George III.
I look forward to seeing all of you at the Indiana Derby next Saturday.
Below: This tablet listing the soldiers of the Revolutionary War buried in Shelby County is on display in the local library.
NOTEBOOK:
Sophie Hudnall and Colin Kistler were the female and male winners, respectively, of yesterday’s Mohawk Trail Run/Walk, part of Waldron’s Freedom Fest. Top women finishers behind Hudnall were Victoria Stier, Chloe Wentzel, Jenna Mitchell, Kelsey Wentzel, Olivia Tomplinson and Rita Linville. Top male finishers behind Kistler were Will Larrison, Jared Crosby, Nathaniel Evans, Caden Sheaffer, Jackson Bentz, Spencer Armstrong, DJ Higdon, Mark Shadiow, Tony McClain, Ethan Richardson, Steve Gosnell and Mike Wallace.
HOOSIER NEWS: A North Carolina steel company is planning to take over a Yorktown steel structure site built in 2020, but never used. And, it’s planning to hire 40 workers. Northedge Steel has purchased All-Steel Carports for $5.5 million. The company, headquartered in northern North Carolina, says it will manufacture and sell carports and steel buildings in Yorktown that will be destined for Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky. The 11-acre manufacturing facility and sales center was supposed to be the new home of All-Steel Carports, which began business in Muncie in 2001. But before moving, owner Ignacio Chavez-Castillo was arrested on federal immigration-related charges. The government claimed the company was hiring and harboring “illegal aliens” and paying them “grossly reduced wages.” Castillo entered into a federal plea agreement and forfeited his business last September. Northedge Steel has begun advertising for inside sales representatives on the job site Indeed. The position’s salary is listed as beginning at $45,000, with commission. It plans to begin operating in August. (Indiana Public Radio)
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: 2002
The Shelbyville Board of Public Works and Safety voted to purchase 1332 Jefferson Avenue from Steve Siscoe so that the intersection of Evans Street and Jefferson Avenue could be straightened. Drivers had complained for years about not being able to see around the corner when turning onto Jefferson from Evans St.
The St. Paul Town Council approved plans to expand the fire station. The council also discussed ways to update the fire department’s 28-year-old fire engine, which constantly malfunctioned.
30 YEARS AGO: 1992
Shelbyville Board of Aviation Commissioners stopped negotiations for purchasing a tract of land belonging to John Hansen. The acquisition was part of the runway expansion effort. They said a money shortage and disagreement on the purchase price were halting the sale. Hansen reportedly wanted $265,00 for the 23 acres and wanted to live in the house rent-free until the board could get a new access road to the proposed project. But the board couldn’t build the road until they purchased land belonging to Ansel and Norma Schmalhausen. Board President John Kelly Jr. expected that to be a battle. “He’s going to hold out and cause as much trouble as he can,” Kelly said. “He’s a good businessman.”
40 YEARS AGO: 1982
An 18-year-old was arrested and charged with stabbing a man in the arm on S. Noble Street.
50 YEARS AGO: 1972
A newspaper photo showed Tenderfoot Scout Tom Lux and Eagle Scout John Stadtmiller, both of St. Joseph Church Troop 203, selling Shelby County “United in Friendship” Sesquicentennial souvenir stock shares to Mr. and Mrs. James R. Law, 213 W. Washington Street.
60 YEARS AGO: 1962
Five sheep were killed and two others injured by a pack of dogs at the Wray Orem farm.
70 YEARS AGO: 1952
Judge Pro Tem Raymond Knoll accepted a $300 check from a man who had pleaded not guilty to drunk driving. City Judge Bob Good was later informed by a local bank that the check had bounced. Good issued a warrant to re-arrest the man.
The Shelbyville News published a black-bordered white space on the front page, to be used “by those who plan to drive recklessly on highways during the July Fourth holiday, including motorists who drink and then attempt to drive,” the paper said below the box. “We suggest that those who have such plans print their names, addresses, names of relatives, favorite hospital and funeral director in this space. After filling the space with this information, clip it out and keep it pinned on your clothing at all times. It may be of help to police, ambulance attendants and newspaper reporters.”
80 YEARS AGO: 1942
Local men born between Jan. 1, 1922, and June 30, 1924, were required to register for the draft. A total of 530 registered in what was the fifth selective service sign-up for Shelby County.
A 65-year-old Indianapolis roofing salesman visited Shelbyville on his bicycle, an effort to conserve car tires for the war effort. The man said he averaged about 75 miles of riding each day for his sales rounds.
90 YEARS AGO: 1932
About 1,000 people attended an “Old Fiddlers’ Contest” at the South End Market, on Harrison Ave., on the old Pennsylvania station platform. Frank Carson and Freeman Conover won top honors. George Theobald also won a prize. Judges were George Kelly, Enoch Hobbs and Ernest Finney.
100 YEARS AGO: 1922
Parthenia Jones, who lived with her daughter, Dora Turner, at 831 Meridian St., was named the oldest person living in Shelbyville. Mrs. Jones was known to be sharp-witted at 93 years of age. When she first moved to Shelbyville from her parents’ home in Union Township, she had lived with her sister and brother-in-law, Herman and Mandy Ashley, in a two-room frame house located on E. Franklin Street where a school was being built in 1922. It was the only house on the street when Jones moved in. Mrs. Jones spoke to a newspaper reporter about the log jail that stood “on the corner where Conrad Schroeder used to have a saloon, and it was kept by Smith Wingate, father of the Wingate men who used to live here,” she said. “One day I was at Wingate’s playing with their daughter, Martha, who was near my age. There was no one in the jail and the door being open I went in. Martha shut the door and I want to tell you it scared me almost to death.” She also recalled Thomas Fleming’s store in a log building on the corner where the Louis Todd clothing store was later located. She was eight years old when the county was organized.
OBITUARIES
None today
2022 Shelby County Fair Open Class Results, Part IV
QUILTS DEPARTMENT
Grand Champion: Bonnie Steffey, Quilted Articles, Wall Hanging, Non-Holiday, pieced; Reserve Grand Champion: Bonnie Steffey, Commercially Quilted, Machine Pieced, Lap
Machine Stitched, Machine Quilted
Professional, Blue: Holly Daniels, Red: Holly Daniels
Commercially Machine Quilted
Reserve Champion: Carol Stohry, Machine pieced, Full Size Applique, Full Size Carol Stohry 5, Machine Pieced, Lap; Honorable Mention: Terri Moore, Machine Pieced, Full Size, Honorable Mention: Terri Moore
Quilted Articles
Wall Hanging, Non-Holiday, Pieced, Red: Terri Moore; Honorable Mention: Terri Meal; Wall Hanging, Non-Holiday, Whole Cloth; Thelma Cooper; Table Runner, Non-Holiday, Pieced; Terri Moore, Carol Stohry; Professional Non-Holiday, Pieced, Blue: Holly Daniels, Heather Wilson
NURSING HOME DEPARTMENT
Champion: Lois Davids, Fine Arts, Watercolor; Reserve Champion: Edra Scheidt, Crafts, Any Other
Fine Arts
Oil or Acrylic Blue: Edra Scheidt, Bob Huff, Rosemary Martin, Pat Woolin; Watercolor, Blue: Rosemary Marlin
PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
Grand Champion: Kathy Dunaway, Natural Color Prints, Nature, 8x10
Monochrome Adults, 8x10, Red: Kathy Dunaway, Children & Adults, 8x10, Blue: Katie Fix
Natural Color Prints: Reserve Champion: Deidra Reed, Human Interest, 8x10, Child 12 years and under, 8x10, Blue: Beverly Carson, Red: Laura Taylor, White: Laura Taylor, Adults, 8x10, Blue: Laura Taylor, Red: Bill Taylor, Laura Taylor, Adults, 4x6, Red: Laura Taylor, Nature-Landscape, 8x10, Blue: Sharon Snyder, Laura Taylor, Janet Riggs, Susan Brewer, Red: Diane Lemmons, Tatum Hodge, White: Susan Brewer, Nature-Landscape, 4x6, Red: Linda Martin, Nature-People & Animals, 8x10, Blue: Katie Fix, Red: Susan Brewer, Bill Taylor, Linda Martin; Honorable Mention: Laura Taylor, Flowers, 8x10, Blue: Tracey Blesdoe, Jeff Curtiss, Deidra Reed, Tatum Hodge, Flowers, 4x6, Blue: Kathy Dunaway, Human Interest, 8x10, Blue: Deidra Reed, Red: Kathy Dunaway, Deidra Reed, Human Interest, 4x6, Blue: Linda Martin, Animals Only, 8x10, Blue: Jeff Curtiss, Deidra Reed, Tatum Hodge, Red: Deidra Reed, White: Carol Stohry, Animals Only, 4x6, Blue: Linda Martin, Red: Lucy Furiak, Architectural, 8x10, Blue: Diane Lemmons, Red: Susan Brewer, White: Janet Riggs, Susan Brewer, Sport, 8x10, Red: Diane Lemmons