Thursday, December 12, 2024
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: STEPHENSON RIFE ATTORNEYS
BZA Approves Height Variance for Cold Storage Facility
An aerial (above) and site plan (below) show the proposed Simplot Global Food LLC company facility, to be located at Tom Hession Dr. and Walser Road. | submitted
The Shelbyville Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday unanimously approved a variance regarding an incoming cold storage warehouse distribution facility, to be located off a new phase of Tom Hession Drive at the northwest edge of the city.
Simplot Global Food LLC, headquartered in Idaho, has 92 acres near Walser Road under contract with plans for an automated facility that will mostly store frozen potato products.
“Nobody has to work inside the freezer unless there’s a maintenance issue,” Simplot representative Kent Anderson said.
The facility, which will run 24 hours a day and virtually year-round, will employ approximately 90. The most efficient way to build and maintain the enclosed automated cranes is up rather than out, Anderson said, so the company requested a variance to make the building 157 feet tall, higher than the nearby POET facility. The ordinance allows a height of 100 feet plus 10 more for rooftop mechanical equipment. The building would be located over 1,000 feet off the road and already has FAA approval to be 154 feet high, Anderson said.
Company officials said sales of frozen potatoes and vegetables are expected to increase, particularly along the coasts, over the next decade, and the local facility would help them consolidate several third-party distribution sites currently in use. Plans call for shipping product into the facility mostly via rail, using 12 to 15 railcars a day, and outbound on trucks. Even the process of moving product from the tracks to the facility is mostly automated, requiring only forklift drivers.
In other business, the BZA approved a variance for a new home at 31 McKenzie Street to use gravel/crushed stone for a parking pad instead of concrete or asphalt. The lot has been vacant for several years, and Tyler Hankins; TH Property Group LLC, has pulled a permit to build a single-family home. A majority of the parking areas on the block currently use gravel, city officials noted. A short concrete buffer area between the alley and gravel pad is intended to minimize gravel run-off into the alley.
NOTEBOOK:
A contractor will be doing vertical test borings in the roadway on CR 750 N, between 50 E and State Road 9, between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 18 and 19, in preparation for upcoming work on Bridge 22 over Brandywine Creek. The road will be closed to through-traffic.
Rupert’s Kids’ recent annual Tuxes & Tennies Gala raised $65,000 to support program initiatives, approximately 15 percent of total operational expenses.
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: Wildfires have become common in Italy, particularly in the south of the country, and a new study published in Criminology & Criminal Justice argues that the Sicilian Mafia is to blame. The 8,000 wildfires per year in Sicily can consistently be traced to arsons related to vendettas, land disputes, and the mafia, the paper argues, with 70 percent of them caused by arson. The wildfires in question have burned 120,000 acres of vegetation, and wildfires have been found to consistently occur in places with a more significant mafia presence. (UC-Berkeley/Numlock)
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SHS Courier Archive Highlights:
April 24, 1970, Part II
Arch dancers for May Festival were chosen by Mrs. Becky Truman. They were Carmella Valastek, Brooke Benefiel, Mel DeLaurentis, Bonnie Gibson, Ruth Martin, Cindy Rickleffs, Debbie McVey, Robin Worland, Sue Ashley, Ruth Richmond, Paula LeClerc, Angie Snowden, Debby Jones, Connie Williams, Lynn LeClerc, Nancy Owens, Marsha Rash, Ann File, Rita Chancy, Pam Leffler, Beth Lewis, Mary Bailey, Chris Hertz, Becky Bell, Beth Miller, Debbie Talbert, Cheryl Kuhn, Kathy Cover, Phyllis Miller, Norita Hirschauer, Millie King, Susan Gushwa, Lynda Lamee, Sondra Finkel, Ginger Neal, Mary Bramwell and Pat Landwerlen. There would be 10 rehearsals before the event.
SHS grad Susan Lynn Holtel had been first runner-up in the Miss Ball State Pageant.
Navy Airman Gary Andrews, an SHS graduate, had served aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, which was part of the Apollo 13 recovery force.
The baseball team opened the season with a 6-5 win over Rushville. Terry Moore and Jeff Phares each had two hits for the Bears. Bruce Rogers doubled and Jack Scott reached base on an error, and both then scored on a Phares’ single early in the game.
The cheerleading squad for 1970-71 was chosen. Cheerleaders would be Mary Baily, Vicki Lux, Debbie McKey, Nancy Owens and Debbie Talbert. Reserve team members were Sara Bennett, Sherri Lawrence, Judy McNeely and Carol Willey. Freshmen were Gina Alvis, Terri Plymate, Linda Frank and Peggy Porter.
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.
2014: Local education officials expressed concern about the continual decline in students entering the field of education. County superintendents said there was not yet a teacher shortage, but continual declines would eventually create issues.
2004: The Colts had won the Shelbyville Boys Club Elementary Football Senior League title with a 6-0 record. Members of the team were Taylor Eads, Patrick Ellis, Nick Law, Dakota Houston, Cole Minnick, Justin Alford, Robbie Dagley, Cody Hurley, Tyler Goodwin, Austin Pendergraft, Mike Warfield and Ryan Winkler. Joe Alford and Hank Varner were the coaches.
1994: The new North Harrison Street bridge was finished. It was only the third in Shelbyville’s history at the location over Big Blue River. The first bridge - called the wagon bridge - had the longevity record. It was built in 1867. A concrete bridge was installed in 1937, and was torn down to make room for the new bridge.
Subway Sandwich & Salads announced plans to open a 24-hours-a-day store and drive-through window at the Crystal Flash convenience store on North Riley Highway. There was also a Subway at the Rivergate Shopping Center on E. State Road 44.
1984: An Elizabeth St. woman was charged with neglecting her daughter’s education. The woman’s daughter had missed 46 days of fall semester in 6th grade. The mother blamed the absences on her daughter’s repeated illnesses. But Shelby County Deputy Prosecutor Bob Yeager said, “The investigation shows there is little evidence to support the mother’s contenion, and even the doctor told us he thought most of the girl’s problem with her illness was all in her head.” A similar charge against another parent in the community had resulted in the child being taken out of the home and sent to an institution.
William Leffler submitted his notice to retire from his high school teaching position. Leffler was the first teacher to retire under the new early-retirement incentive program, under which he would substitute teach 40 days a year and be paid $4,000 yearly until he reached regular retirement age.
1974: Overhead Door began operations in the former Gen Pro-Tokheim facility on St. Joe Street. Charles Cole would be the manager. Employment started at 20, with plans to expand to 85 by early 1975. The company would make electric door opening devices for Overhead’s 23 plants throughout the nation and world.
1964: Officials with The Stanley Works Company, maker of building materials and tools, announced plans to establish a new plant in Shelbyville, to occupy the former furniture building at 1406 S. Meridian St. The location was next to the SHS athletic fields and formerly was the plant site of the J.L. Chase Division of the Schnadig Corp. The plant would employ approximately 50.
1954: The new fire station in Marietta was completed. A siren alarm on a tower had also been installed. The department had 25 volunteers.
1944: The federal government’s Department of Commerce released a plan regarding intentions to construct two airports in Shelbyville following the war.
John Wingo, 67, operator of Five Points Cafe on South Miller St., died.
1934: Maurice Russell, 22, of Pleasant View, was indicted by a Shelby County grand jury on charges he murdered his wife, Dorothy Russell, who had been found unconscious and “mortally wounded” in a ditch beside the New Palestine Road off State Road 29, about 12 miles northwest of Shelbyville. Maurice had confessed to the crime. In a separate incident, the grand jury returned an indictment for a Johnson County man regarding the death of a Shelbyville woman, which had occurred several weeks’ prior in an automobile crash on Boggstown Road. The man, who had been driving, was charged with leaving the scene of the accident.
1924: Membership in the Kiowa Tribe Red Men’s Lodge had grown exponentially over the previous year, club officials said. Fifteen had been added in the previous month.
All Shelbyville High School freshmen were given a diagnostic English test. The results would determine class placement. “For some years there has been general criticism that boys and girls of high school age are not well trained in English,” The Republican said. “Much fault has been found with their writing, punctuation, spelling and grammar in general by some persons.” College professors were also complaining about students’ academic proficiencies. Several students said English was not relevant to their chosen careers. SHS Principal Warren Peters called local students’ knowledge of English “fair.”
1914: Galvy Whaley purchased an auto delivery wagon for his grocery business.
A curtain in the Marsh home on West Taylor Street caught fire. Mrs. Marsh attempted to get water, but the faucet was frozen, so she grabbed a rug from the floor and smothered the flames.
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: Freeman Family Funeral Homes & Crematory
OBITUARIES
Allen Jerry Rodgers, 50, of Shelbyville, passed away Wednesday December 4, 2024. He was born August 31, 1974, in Terre Haute, Ind., to Jerry Allen Rodgers and Linda Diana Rodgers.
He worked at IDI Composites International in Noblesville, Ind. He was a member of the Shelbyville Eagles and Eagle Lodge Riders #766 and Greensburg Lodge #927.
Allen enjoyed doing all outdoors activities, riding motorcycles, and spending time in his garden. Otherwise, was always ready for a good game of pool. He was always ready to help others who needed help, but most of all, spending time with his family and friends was very important to him.
He married Amber (Burton) Rodgers on April 27, 2018, and she survives. He is also survived by his parents, Jerry and Donna Rodgers; his sons, Trae (wife, Kameron) Rodgers and Chandler Rodgers; his daughters, Destiny (husband, Joel) Harrison and Haley Rodgers; his step-children, Logan Vandergrift and Madison Burton; several grandchildren; his brother, Will Rodgers; his sisters, Gena (husband, Jim) Lacey and Jeanette (husband, Phil) Clark. He was preceded in death by his mother, Linda Fleenor; and his brothers, Terry Boatner and Jess Powell.
A Celebration of Life will be Saturday, December 21, 2024, for 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Eagles Lodge #766, 20 E. Franklin St., Shelbyville, Ind., 46176. Funeral Directors Greg Parks, Sheila Parks and Stuart Parks are honored to serve Jerry’s family. Online condolences may be shared at www.murphyparks.com.
They should have built it next door to the Krone farm equipment HQ. Or maybe across from the Greenleaf plant. Or maybe this one is more than a pipe dream?