Thursday, March 14, 2024
SCS Board Recognizes Students, Approves Retirements, Hears About Potential Facility Upgrades
Two top students were recognized at last night’s Shelbyville Central Schools board meeting for outstanding character, manifested in different ways.
Although unable to attend the meeting, Ariana Moss, an eighth-grader at Shelbyville Middle School, was lauded for her response to a student suffering a seizure on the bus. Moss notified the bus driver, Bill Theobald, and comforted the student while Theobald safely parked the bus and notified authorities.
“She went over and above what I would expect out of a student,” Theobald said. “She was truly an angel at the right place and the right time that day. It wouldn’t surprise me if she was a nurse someday or some kind of caregiver.”
Shelbyville High School senior Will Rife (pictured above along with coach Coen Weiler) was also recognized, not only for his swimming acumen but also success at school. Rife recently participated in the swimming state finals for the second time. He won two individual sectional titles during his high school career, broke the 100 butterfly record previously set in 2016 by Dylan Harker and is part of the school’s 200 medley relay record-holding team, set in 2022.
“But more than that, he is just an exceptional student, athlete and person,” swim coach Coen Weiler said. “He holds himself to an extremely high standard.”
The SCS board also approved the upcoming retirements of Diane Seals, Golden Bear Preschool Special Education teacher, and Patrick Parks, teacher at Shelbyville Middle School. SCS board member Curt Johnson, who played football under Parks at Shelbyville High School, thanked the retiring coach for his positive impact. “He’s one of the teachers who has had a big impact on a lot of kids,” Johnson said. “I just want to thank Mr. Parks for all he’s done for our kids over the years.”
In other personnel action, the board approved hiring Hannah Boyer to teach at Hendricks Elementary next school year and Jacob Shively as SHS head baseball coach, succeeding Royce Carlton, who stepped down to accept a pitching coach position with the Miami Marlins organization.
The board also heard a presentation regarding obtaining a maximum $35 million bond to update facilities. Projects under consideration at the high school include updating locker rooms, restrooms and athletic offices; gym doors; and the possibility of storage for athletics or band. Upgrades at the middle school could include installing LED lighting throughout the building, updates to floors and ceilings, and possible technology and other upgrades. A walk-in cooler freezer has been discussed for Hendricks Elementary and new boilers installed at Loper and Coulston. “This is not all-inclusive; this is still evolving,” business manager Michelle Babcock said of the project list.
Superintendent Dr. Matt Vance said that while the project list has been compiled, the process for determining costs will occur next. “We still have a long way to go before we can bring back to you a list of, ‘Here’s what we can do for the money,’” Vance told the board.
Jason Tangelle, with Indianapolis-based Baker Tilly, presented details on the financial impact of the proposed bond.
The meeting also included a public hearing on the matter, but no one approached the board.
“The board will continue to work with the administration and its professionals to look for efficiencies to conserve tax dollars while meeting our educational needs,” board president Troy Merrick said.
A second public hearing will be held in the SCS board room, April 3, 6 p.m.
NOTEBOOK:
NATIONAL NEWS: The government of Oklahoma is hit by cybercriminals 17 million times per day. The state’s 30,000-strong workforce began working from home in 2020, and as they called into work through a new VPN things began to get dicey. The state took IT seriously immediately, and rolled out a single software to 100 of the state’s 180 agencies, in doing so saving the state $875 million. (Route Fifty/Numlock)
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Blue River Career Programs’ Fire and Rescue Offering Highlighted
Student Hunter Biddle, acting as a patient, is “treated” by Ethan Wheeler, Wyatt Cavaletto, Joshua Hadler, Ethan Cales, Keegan Longwell and Noah Garthwaite at Blue River Career Programs. | submitted
The Blue River Career Programs Fire and Rescue course had a successful start into its 11th year. This program reaches many young high school juniors and seniors to further their interest and knowledge of what it takes to fulfill that childhood dream of becoming a firefighter. Today's ever growing changes in the career of firefighting do not limit students to just learning proper safety and techniques in Fire Suppression and Rescue Operations. The program continues to offer an EMT course in its successful second year. The curriculum follows both the Department of Education and Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
High school juniors and seniors have the opportunity to learn training in the field while working alongside many great firefighters and instructors of the Shelbyville Fire Department. Successful students can accomplish goals and standards of meeting the requirement at the state level to be Certified in CPR, Firefighter I, Firefighter II, Hazmat Awareness, Hazmat Operations, and Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT). Another added benefit is the potential to earn college credits through Ivy Tech’s dual credit program. By offering students this pathway, they can pursue the Advantage Shelby County program through Ivy Tech and earn a degree in Paramedicine.
The Blue River Career Programs has all the essential equipment needed to educate students in firefighting and emergency medicine, including a fully equipped fire engine. With partnership through the Shelbyville Fire Department, students are able to learn at the training facility, tour local fire stations, utilize EMS training equipment, and role play real-life scenarios on available ambulances.
These great opportunities offered through the Blue River Career Programs prepare youth for this high demand career. Students who complete the program finish with pride and excitement as they pursue an honorable profession as a career or volunteer firefighter. If you have any questions regarding our program, please contact Lieutenant Justin Beyer at 317-392-4191, x1118.
This Day in Shelby County History
2014: Major Hospital CEO Jack Horner shared tentative plans to build a new hospital at the Intelliplex. Horner noted that the hospital on W. Washington St. was built for inpatient services. In the 1970s, 70 percent of services at the hospital involved hospital stays. By 2014, it was down to 29 percent.
2004: A masked man robbed Pizza Hut at gunpoint. The man forced employees into a cooler and then fled. Police were investigating.
1994: The Shelbyville boys basketball team didn’t have much original to say at a late night pep rally after they won the regional over Columbus North. The rally was held late at night in Garrett Gymnasium. Given a turn to speak, the players mostly “thanked their supporters… and thanked their supporters, and thanked their supporters,” The Shelbyville News said. Senior Pat Hearne, the crowd favorite, was even booed by students - albeit jokingly - after taking the microphone to a standing ovation and simply saying, “Thanks for your support and see you Saturday.” The Bears would face No. 2-ranked Muncie Central in the next round. Senior center Danny Moore earned a round of applause when “super fan” Danny Greene, sitting in the stands at the pep rally, tossed him his doll of a referee and Moore pulled the head off of it. After the Shelbyville cheerleaders led the crowd in a chant of “H-I-N-K-L-E, Hinkle! Hinkle! Hinkle!” coach John Heaton gave more extended remarks.
1984: The Shelbyville Board of Zoning Appeals denied a zoning variance for Major Hospital that would have allowed a controversial storage building on hospital property to remain. But the matter was not really resolved. Attorney Phil Brown, who served as special counsel for the appeals board, said the case would likely go to court. The controversy stemmed from a storage shed built in 1982 by the hospital at the northwest edge of its property near West and Mechanic streets. Jacqueline Joseph, whose property adjoined the hospital’s, had been trying to get the hospital to remove the building for a year.
1974: Three juniors were chosen as queen candidates at Shelbyville High School for the upcoming prom: Ann Lawrence, Nan Lawrence and Shara Lummis.
Dick Conger, manager of the Bradley Hall Store, which moved from Public Square to the corner of Vine and E. Washington St., gave tapes, records, albums and stands to the Civic Center since the new Hall store would not stock those items.
1964: Harry Larrabee, 12, received the mental attitude award for his play in the grade school tourney. Larrabee was a student at Marion Township School.
Following complaints of illegal parking on Meridian St. near the junior high school, city police began issuing $1 parking fines. Officers reported that the area was posted as “No Parking This Side of Street,” but parents kept bringing children to school and picking them up after school, ignoring the regulations.
1954: Dr. H.E. Nave, 76, Fountaintown physician, died. Dr. Nave was survived by three children, Owen Nave, Eva Gordon and R.R. Nave. His wife, Maude (Shank), had died three weeks prior to his death.
1944: Thirty more local men left for military service, 11 to the Navy and 19 to the Army. Navy inductees included Harold Imel, James Andis, Gilbert Gunning, Eldon Rainey, Russell Blaich, Carlos Miller, John J. Pendleton, Clarence Crisp Jr., Abner Eden, H. Keith Conklin and Robert Grinstead. Army inductees were Paul Aulby, Earl Theobald, William Miller, Paul Fischer, Virgil Larkey, Riley Keaton, Charles Mays, Roscoe Rafferty, Kenneth Fisher, Ray Spurling, George Campbell, Kenneth Craig, Robert Amos, Russell Trimble, Charles Bennett, George McKinney, Carl Kramer, Ray David and Lester Alexander.
1934: The National Guard Armory in Morristown was repaired by CWA labor workers.
Raymond Fey opened New System Laundry at 419 West Mechanic Street. He had worked at Shelbyville Laundry & Dry Cleaning for 16 years.
1924: In support of the local basketball team, downtown stores displayed miniature camels in display windows.
The public was invited to an open house at the new Claude F. Fix & Son Funeral Home, 24 East Broadway.
1914: The J.G. DePrez Co. started selling Ajax tires, which they guaranteed for 5,000 miles.
OBITUARIES
Harry Neal Willoughby, 84, passed peacefully into the arms of Jesus on March 9, 2024. A longtime resident of Indianapolis and Boggstown, Indiana and Athens, Alabama, Harry died at Prisma Health Greer Memorial Hospital in Greer, South Carolina.
Harry was born on June 20, 1939 in Allen County, Kentucky, the son of Thelma York, a seamstress who also served as a machinist on the home front during WWII, and Clifford Willoughby. His parents divorced when Harry was very young, and his mother remarried when he was four to Theodore Roosevelt Conkrite, whom he considered his true father. He graduated from Reidland High School in 1958 and served from 1959 to 1962 in the United States Army as a keypunch operator with the rank of Specialist Fourth Class. He married Victoria Irene Buzanis on May 24, 1962, in Paducah, KY, and she survives. The couple, whose family grew to include three boys, moved Indianapolis and then to Boggstown.
Following his military service, Harry was briefly employed by Walgreens as an assistant manager. He spent the majority of his career as a tool buyer for the Chrysler Corporation in Indianapolis, where he also served as a negotiator for the United Auto Workers’ Union. He was transferred to Chrysler’s plant in Huntsville, AL, from which he retired in 2000.
A natural tinkerer, Harry was known for acquiring hopelessly broken appliances and objects, rebuilding them back to life, and giving them away to those in need. His projects filled a large outbuilding and occupied much of his time after his retirement from Chrysler. Family and neighbors who wanted to borrow a tool or had an object in need of repair would come to Harry, who would disappear into his workshop and emerge with exactly the right tool or the miraculously repaired object.
Harry’s Christian faith guided him all his life. He was a member of Windsor Village Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Beacon Baptist Church in Shelbyville and then First Baptist Church of Athens. He took many courses at Indiana Bible College and Boyce Bible College. He loved discussing the Bible and teaching Sunday school.
In addition to his wife of 62 years, Harry is survived by his sons Rodney (wife, Lee), Ron (wife, Barbara) and Tom (wife, Stacy); brother, Arnett Willoughby; sister, Creo Christian; 10 nieces and nephews; 14 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and one great-grandchild expected in August 2024. He also leaves behind his loving little dog Layla, who loved to sleep between his feet on the recliner and took great comfort in his arms during thunderstorms. Finally, he will be missed by numerous dear friends whose help was deeply appreciated throughout his later years. He was preceded in death by his parents, stepfather, sister Carole (Willoughby) Spears, two nieces, a nephew, and a grandson.
A graveside service with military honors will take place at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, March 18, 2024 at Beaufort National Cemetery in Beaufort, SC. Memorial contributions may be made to The Broken Wall Project (www.brokenwallproject.org). Arrangements have been entrusted to Thomas McAfee Funeral Homes of Greenville, SC.
Sandra Kay Phares, 82, of Shelbyville, passed away Tuesday March 12, 2024, at MHP Medical Center. She was born August 23, 1941, in Indianapolis, IN. to Harold W. Phares and C. Marie (Brandenburg) Phares.
She retired from RCA after 25 years of service. She then went on to work at Enbi for 8 years. Sandra enjoyed being outdoors. She loved to go on walks and tend to her garden. She also enjoyed bird watching and feeding the birds that came to visit. Sandra was an animal lover and enjoyed reading in her downtime. Playing games and shopping online were some of her favorite past times.
She married Philip Wray Phares on July 19, 1980, and he preceded her in death on January 3, 2017.
Sandra is survived by her daughter, Christina (husband, Mike) Haehl; her step-sons, Pat (wife, Debbie) Phares, Kenny (wife, Tammy) Phares, Ronald Phares and Arthur (wife, Tanya) Phares; her step-daughter, Mary Christina (husband, Jeff) Scott; her grandchildren, Seth, Nicholas, Jonathan, Justin, Jessica, Jennifer, Summer, Garrett, Matthew, Michael, Brady, Brandon, Dustin, Danielle, Joey and Brandon; several great grandchildren; her brother, Tom (wife, Michelle) Phares; her aunt, Theresa Phares and her best friends, Sharon and Ron Hardwick. She was preceded in death by her parents; stepson, Donald Phares and grandson, Jason Scott.
Visitation will be Saturday, March 16, 2024, from 10a.m. to noon at Murphy-Parks Funeral Service, 703 S. Harrison Street, Shelbyville, IN 46176. Funeral services will follow at noon with Ron Hardwick officiating. Burial will be in Forest Hill Cemetery. Funeral Directors Greg Parks, Sheila Parks, Stuart Parks, and Darin Schutt are honored to serve Sandra’s family. Online condolences may be shared at www.murphyparks.com.