Sunday, June 29, 2025
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: STEPHENSON RIFE ATTORNEYS
SHELBY SUNSET
This Jack Boyce photo shows Friday’s view to the east from Miller Ave., as the setting sun reflects off the clouds.
1975: Teaching Teenagers How to Drive
Editor’s note: The following typed, uncredited article transcript appeared in a 1975-76 SHS Courier folder.
Steep curves, quiet patience, lightning reflexes and complete concentration—that’s what it takes.
To jump Snake River Canyon? No. To teach teenagers how to drive.
Despite stories of students driving on the wrong side of the street, picking off mailboxes along country roads, running stop signs or cruising on the sidewalk, Tom Gould has been teaching driver’s education for 10 years and plans to continue.
He was one of 12 instructors for about 40 students enrolled in the course at Shelbyville High School over the summer.
“Really,” he said, “the driver’s ed student driving a car is probably safer than the normal driver in a car.” Another instructor, Blake Ress, a veteran of seven years, agreed.
But they did have a few chuckles exchanging stories.
“We almost chased everyone out of the Harrison Cafe one day,” said Ress, remembering a ride when the student almost lost control of the car. “All the people were getting out of their seats.”
Gould recounted a time when one of his students made a left turn from the right-hand lane at Harrison and Broadway in front of four full lanes of traffic. All he had done, Gould said, was tell the boy to turn on his left turn signal so he could change lanes. Both indicated that almost hitting a parked car was almost ho-hum.
“Two things bother me,” said Gould, who also is golf coach and assistant basketball coach at the high school. “One is any time the student stops when he shouldn’t, because then the instructor has no control. So long as the car is moving, the teacher can grab the wheel or apply his brake, the only control that is dual. The second is that it takes a student too long to put a car into motion.”
“They spend half the time at the stop sign,” said Ress, nodding his head in agreement. “They look left, then right, then left again,” he said. “And then they look to see if their foot is on the accelerator.” By then, the way that once was clear may have a semi rolling into the intersection.
And then there is the student who, when told to turn left, turns right. “That scares me about as much as anything,” said Gould, explaining that he would have already checked the intersection for a left turn but not a right.
Ress, who also is Shelbyville High’s athletic director, hates angle parking. “It’s the only thing you do where you could hit two cars at one time,” he said.
Another teacher, they said, had a student who, through some mystical maneuver, landed the car on the curbing between two parking meters. And several students have managed to park the car—instead of parallel—perpendicular to the street.
Still another instructor’s driver’s ed car went through the same fence twice—in the same semester. Two different student drivers were responsible, however.
One poor girl who had already failed the course once spent the summer driving on the fairgrounds and in a cemetery. Her instructor, Gould, wouldn’t trust her any place near another automobile. The day of her test, he said, she drove out of the school parking lot, almost hit a telephone pole, hit the curb (and fortunately only the curb) on tree-lined Miller Street and accelerated instead of braking when she saw a truck coming.
“It’s over,” he told her. “Pull into the Boys’ Club.” She did—right up on the sidewalk.
Other students know who the bad drivers in their groups are, the instructors said. One of the teachers does not require his students to wear their seat belts, but when one certain student would take his turn behind the wheel, they said, you could hear the seat belts in the back seat go “click.”
Rookie Roger Palmer has taught chemistry 10 years but is in only his third week of teaching driving. He was really apprehensive at first but has found his students “doing better than I thought they would.”
His funniest story was on himself. Eager to impress his students but a little unfamiliar with the driver’s education cars at the first session, he struggled and struggled and struggled to get the hood open.
“Isn’t there a hood release inside the car?” asked one of the students, who happened to be right.
Teaching the controls of the car, Palmer asked one of the students what the “P” on the gear shift meant.
“Park,” answered the student.
The “R” was next. The boy responded, “Race?”
People passing the loudly labeled driver’s ed cars, he said, “look at the kids like they’re in a zoo.”
Ress and Gould had some stories about people and their awareness of student drivers. They said many drivers “get in their cars and get out when they see their cars being used as the borders in a parallel-parking lesson.”
Two cars, for several days, were conveniently parked a little more than a car length apart—perfect for parallel parking practice. One day the instructors saw one of the owners come out of his home and place a “No Parking” sign between the cars.
People will speed, cut in and out of lanes—make all kinds of driving errors—to get away from a driver’s ed car, said Ress, but he’s glad the signs are on the cars.
Training students in the physical skills of driving is “no big deal,” according to Gould. The real challenge, he said, is to develop an attitude toward a safe way to drive. Young people tend to be reckless; they’re not scared, he continued.
Shocking films of auto accidents issued by the Ohio State Police and the National Safety Council help the local instructors shape the attitudes of their young drivers. Gould also cited several Shelbyville car dealers for supplying the 10 cars and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the American Automobile Association for their cooperation with the driver’s education program.
Several insurance companies give price breaks to students who successfully complete a driver’s education course. And some companies give still another break for students with a high overall scholastic average because studies have shown a correlation between academic achievement and driving skill.
The Bureau of Motor Vehicles has given driver’s education instructors the right to recommend that certain students be issued a driver’s license without taking the driving test. Gould said he makes this determination by asking himself of each of his students, “Would I let that kid drive my car downtown by himself?”
One teaching key, all three instructors agreed, is to get the students to relax. Some instructors allow the other students to talk among themselves or even to the driver; others keep the radio on. All the cars are air-conditioned, and that helps relieve some pressure.
Safety and defensive driving are emphasized in the course, Gould said, “and we try to teach the kids to be courteous drivers.”
Skills such as parking, passing, and interstate and city driving are included in the course. The classes go out in the car no matter the weather and, therefore, gain experience in driving under adverse conditions, the instructors said. Ress added that about the only experience they don’t get is driving at night.
“It’s one of the most important usable courses taught in high school,” stated Gould.
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: FULL CANOPY REAL ESTATE
NOTEBOOK:
HOOSIER NEWS: Carmel is “Built for Big Dreams” — at least according to the city’s new tagline. The affluent Hamilton County community spent $125,000 to collect feedback and generate a new tagline, logo and comprehensive strategic plan, fulfilling a campaign promise from Mayor Sue Finkam. People come to Carmel, or stay in the city, with dreams of putting their children in the best school system possible and living in a neighborhood surrounded by incredible community, the mayor said. (Indiana Public Radio)
NATIONAL NEWS: The world of professional golf has been swept into a tizzy thanks to a new putter dominating the greens: the L.A.B. brand. The putters were designed to reduce or eliminate torque, that twisting force that makes the head of the putter rotate in a non-ideal fashion. The new brand starts at $399 and can go for well over $1,00 after modification. Last year, the company sold 130,000 units, and this year it’s on pace to triple that. (Wall Street Journal/Numlock)
The Addison Times is pleased to offer free milestone announcements. Forms are available here: Engagement Announcement, Wedding Announcement and Anniversary Announcement.
Want the daily edition read to you? Struggling with your email provider filtering out your local news? The Addison Times Substack app will solve those challenges!
Thank you to every donor for your continued support of The Addison Times. Donors of $75 or more receive the three remaining 2025 quarterly print publications in the mail. 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
SHS Courier Archive Highlights
May 21, 1952, Part III
Custodian Mrs. Berauer had struggled to remove a pigeon from the third floor corridor. “Taking a cue from the raven made famous by Edgar Allen Poe, the bird perched above the Squib room door and had to be persuaded to fly out the window.”
Squibs were delivered. “Coming out in the latest thing in book covers, the green and silver Squibs excited ‘Oh’s’ and ‘Ah’s’ of admiration before the recipients started turning pages in search of their own pictures.”
Walter Winton Jr., class of 1948 and former basketball player, won the Atlantic Fleet Wrestling championship in Norfolk, Va. He was due to be discharged soon from the Marines.
Donna Krebs, top ranking SHS senior, received the annual award of The Readers’ Digest Association. She received an honorary subscription to The Readers’ Digest for one year and an engraved certificate from the Editors.
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: MAJOR HEALTH PARTNERS
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: The original Frisch’s building, more recently a car lot, was demolished at the intersection of Vine and Broadway streets as part of a road project.
1995: Major Hospital announced plans to convert 156 W. Washington St. for use as its home health care office. The hospital had purchased the house in 1987 and used it for storage. Major Home Care had 30 clients.
1985: The library bookmobile was out of service for two weeks to be repainted medium blue. The facelift would also include some graphics reminding people to read.
1975: Escorted by police from the Belaire Center, 35 young bicycle riders completed their final leg of an 11-day, 750-mile trip from Virginia to the nation’s capital and back to Shelbyville. The trip was sponsored by the Spokesmen, who had six experienced riders accompanying the 12- to 15-year-old central Indiana students.
1965: Police continued to investigate vandalism of local business, with several windows broken. Eight windows had been shot through at the Major T. Jester store. Paul Todd, manager of the store, said it would cost more than $1,000 to have all the windows replaced.
1955: Kessler Homes purchased the airport land at the southeast edge of Shelbyville to develop the 45 acres for housing, which could include about 135 homes. City officials were making plans to extend sanitary sewer lines from the Sunrise Addition. The airport had been operated by Richard Hobbs. Previously, Robert Cover operated the airport.
1945: War rations meant limited food for the annual Shelby County Bar Association picnic, but that didn’t stop more than 30 attorneys from gathering at the Flat Rock River cottage of Oscar Williams, The Republican reported. Judges from nearby areas also attended.
1935: Children under 15 would be given a free day at Porter Pool on July 2, with boys allowed to swim in the morning and girls in the afternoon. Mr. Porter noted that July 2 was the birthday anniversary of his son, the late William Porter, who had served in the World War. The day was sponsored by Central States Elevator on North Harrison St.
1925: Postmaster George E. Young announced the new air mail service would begin July 1. Letters mailed from Shelbyville by 10:30 am. would leave on the 11:04 a.m. train to Chicago, where they would leave at 8:30 p.m. on a flight to New York, and then to other cities. Emergency landing fields had been established every 10 to 15 miles for the planes.
1915: Local newspapers issued editorials supporting local police after a Saturday night brawl between a group of local men and police. “Order and peace are going to rule in Shelbyville regardless of price. Laws will be enforced regardless of the wishes of the few,” the papers said. “The guilt or the innocence of the men under arrest is not taken into consideration. The courts will take care of that.”
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: Freeman Family Funeral Homes & Crematory
OBITUARIES
None today.