Sunday, May 26, 2024
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
Tomorrow’s Memorial Day service will be held on the courthouse lawn at 10 a.m., starting with music by the Shelby Community Band and Blue River Community Choir. | photo by JACK BOYCE
Street Namesake Visits His Sign
ABOVE: Yuchan and Michiko Ichikawa visit Yuchan Court in Shelbyville earlier this month. | submitted
Although the strength of a Sister City relationship depends on the elected mayors, core groups on both sides have remained committed to the cause for decades. For Shelbyville, that includes members of the Shelby County International Relations Council (SCIRC) such as Linda Sanders, Becky Bishopp, Rob and Jill Nolley and Justin Stenger. For Shizuoka, Japan, it’s Yuchan “Yuichiro” Ichikawa, who has helped organize student travel and Sister City trips for the past 30 years, almost the entire duration of the 36-year connection. Last year, Mayor Tom DeBaun and city officials designated the street leading to Clearwick Park “Yuchan Court.” Earlier this month, Yuchan and his wife Michiko returned to Shelbyville and stopped to see the sign.
The Ichikawas and Nolleys have hosted each other countless times over the past 20 years, but Yuchan’s first hosts three decades ago were Gene and Helen Sexton on West Broadway. Although Shelbyville took a hiatus from sending students for a few years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Yuchan continued to organize a group of Japanese students to visit Shelbyville each August. Several local trips have occurred over the past 20 years.
“It’s really a life-changing experience for any student who’s ever gone,” Rob Nolley said.
The Sister City relationship began during Mayor Dan Theobald’s tenure when Ryobi came to town. Although Ryobi had a couple of plants in larger Japanese cities, Kanbara (now part of Shizuoka) was chosen because it was similar in size to Shelbyville. Mayor Bob Williams carried the Sister City baton after Theobald’s terms in office.
“The main reason for the program is cultural exchange,” Nolley said.
When a Shelbyville delegation visited last October to commemorate the 35th Sister City anniversary, they were invited to visit with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, akin to the U.S. Secretary of State, in Tokyo.
“From their view, this is the strongest Sister City program that Japan has,” Nolley said. “The reason it's so strong is because of the friendships, the deep relationships, and Yuchan has really been a driving force behind that.”
With the relationship as strong as ever, evidenced by the 15 Japanese companies now in Shelbyville, members of SCIRC last year discussed doing something special for Yuchan and landed on a street namesake. One sign was installed, another was saved as a gift for Yuchan.
“We wanted to show appreciation for him keeping things strong all these years, because it can easily just fall apart,” Nolley said. “This was just our way of saying thank you.”
NOTEBOOK:
HOOSIER NEWS: Enrollment in Indiana’s private-school voucher program surged to 70,095 students in 2023-24. That’s a 31 percent increase compared to the previous year, the largest ever jump in a single year. The state paid $439 million in tuition grants to private parochial or non-religious schools — 40 percent more than the previous year, according to a new state report. The jump in voucher use comes after nearly every Indiana family became eligible to receive a voucher. A 2023 law repealed most requirements for students, such as previous enrollment in a public school, and it allows upper-income families to use public money to help pay for a private-school education. Now, a family of four making $222,000 per year can qualify for the Choice Scholarship Program. (Indiana Public Media)
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This Day in Shelby County History
2014: Southwestern behavior teacher Rita Miller passed away following an automobile crash on State Road 9.
Shelbyville won the tennis sectional behind the wins of Cassady Skipton, Alivia Chenoweth, Christina Douglass, Bri Ayers and Maddie Clark.
2004: Jerry Bennett, 65, who had retired after 12 years of service as Shelbyville Street Commissioner, returned to work part-time as an assistant in the engineer’s office, helping full-time engineer Tim Lawson. “Jerry has a lot of knowledge in his head, and we are trying to get that knowledge,” Mayor Scott Furgeson said. “We had talked about it before he left. He sure will be a big help to us.” Bennett said he would “have to ease into this retirement thing.”
1994: Shelby County schools reported 122 students did not pass ISTEP and would have to attend summer school, which consisted of 80 hours of sessions. About 92 percent of county students passed the test.
1984: The recent closing of Browse About and Speedy’s Sport Shop were only the latest downtown store closures. Over the previous few years, Major’s 5-10, Jesters, Paul’s Shoes, West’s Mens Wear, Robinson Sale and Service and WaterBed Works Factory Outlet had also closed.
1974: School dismissed for the summer and four county schools closed for good. At Union Middle School, Principal Neal Hagen presented certificates of appreciation to all staff. Custodian Herb Meek got a standing ovation from the entire student body. The Union Township School, which had been in operation for 39 years and served as the district middle school for three years, would become the administration office. Noble School, Shelby and Fountaintown schools would be sold. James Stafford, principal at Shelby School, would move over to teach at Waldron Elementary. Claude Smith, principal at Noble, would become principal at Waldron Elementary. Hagen planned to join the Morristown Junior-Senior High School staff. Richard Reed, principal at Fountaintown, would teach at Morristown Elementary.
1964: Excavation began for the new Belaire Center, which planned to open in spring 1965.
James Skinner, 29, was promoted from teller to assistant cashier at Farmers National Bank.
1954: Nancy Stine was presented with the Curved Bar pin, the highest award given in Girl Scouting.
Despite Indianapolis media saying a huge new manufacturing plant would be built soon in or near Shelbyville, The Shelbyville News said a definitive announcement was premature. An unnamed firm had, however, obtained two tracts of land starting one-half mile east of city limits in an area just east of the Skyline drive-in theater.
The first of 500,000 gallons of city water was rushed into Porter Pool in preparation for the annual opening day. The pool had already received its yearly coat of plastic paint, of a slightly lighter shade of blue than in 1953. Over 500 had attended daily the previous year.
1944: Two local men - Lt. Robert L. McCracken and Lt. Robert G. Williams - received commissions as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army Air Forces at a base in Texas.
1934: A 23-year-old man collapsed on the sidewalk at the corner of Miller and Broadway. Doctors said the man suffered exhaustion and permanent throat injuries, caused from being poisoned when he was a child.
1924: The Gideons placed Bibles in local hotel rooms, as well as in about one-quarter of hotel rooms nationwide.
1914: Mayor Schoelch and Dr. Moris Drake declared it “Clean-up Week” in the city in an effort to avoid fire risks and reduce flies and mosquitos. Any rubbish put in boxes or bags and left on the curb would be picked up by the Street Department. “Shelbyville is known as the ‘City of Homes,’ and we should endeavor to make it such,” The Republican said.
OBITUARIES
None today