Thursday, October 3, 2024
FUTURE PLANNING
Shelbyville High School students participate in a College & Career Fair yesterday in Garrett Gymnasium. Representatives from 36 colleges, five branches of the military, three community resources (21st Century Scholars program, Blue River Community Foundation and INvestEd), and 18 industry partners were hand at the event organized by the SHS Counseling Department. | photo by NINA ARIETTA
Public Notice: Polling Locations and General Election
Shelby County, Indiana; pursuant to IC 3-11-8-3.2, This serves as notice that the Shelby County Election Board will have the following polling locations for the General Election on November 5, 2024. All locations will be open from 6 a.m. - 6 p.m.
West Street Methodist Church, 629 S. West Street, Shelbyville, IN, 46176
Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, 3718 E. Blue Ridge Road, Shelbyville, IN, 46176
Intelliplex Conference Center, 2154 Intelliplex Drive, Shelbyville, IN, 46176
Fairland Town Hall, 105 S. Walnut Street, Fairland, IN, 46126
Morristown United Methodist Church, 221 S. Washington Street, Morristown, IN, 46161
St. George Lutheran Church, 10931 S. 600 W., Edinburgh, IN, 46124
Waldron Church of the Risen Christ, 202 W. Washington Street, Waldron, IN, 46182
Moral Township Fire Station, 8333 N. Frontage Road, Fairland, IN, 46126
Crossroad Community Church, 475 Progress Parkway, Shelbyville, IN, 46176
Shelby County Fairgrounds, Family Arts Building, 500 Frank Street, Shelbyville, IN, 46176
If you have any questions, or need further information, please contact the Election Board at 317-392-6324.
Absentee voting began in the lobby of the Shelby County Courthouse on Tuesday, October 8, 2024. Voting hours will be Monday through Friday starting October 8, 2024, to November 1, 2024, during the hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Courthouse will also be open for voting on Saturdays, October 26, 2024, and November 2, 2024, from 8: a.m. to 3 p.m., and Monday, November 4, 2024, from 8 a.m. to noon. Voters may also vote at Intelliplex Conference Center on Saturdays, October 26, 2024, and November 2, 2024, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Anyone wishing to vote at the Courthouse please use the west entrance of the parking lot. Absentee voting will be conducted on the first floor of the Courthouse.
October 24, 2024 is the deadline by 11:59 p.m. for the Circuit Court Clerk to receive an absentee ballot application from an applicant requesting delivery of an absentee ballot by mail. Applications may be submitted to the Circuit Court Clerk in person, by fax, by mail or by e-mail.
Any questions regarding the General Election to be held November 5, 2024, the public can call the Voter Registration Office at 317-392-6324.
The Beatys Put Their Money Where Their Mouth Is
submitted by JENNIFER JONES, Executive Director, Blue River Community Foundation
Synchronicity is a phenomenon we experience often in our office at Blue River Community Foundation (BRCF). We don’t know how to explain the high frequency in which it occurs, but the experience is quite prevalent. Oftentimes when we speak something, the universe listens and immediately answers. Frequently, a staff member will mention that we need to reach out to a particular donor or other contact, and that person will call the office within a day or two. Just a few years ago, I was setting a list of goals for myself at the beginning of the year, one of them being that I was going to finally get a hold of a past donor that we had been unsuccessful in contacting for several years despite numerous attempts. I wrote this down on my to-do list, and the next day, the donor called the office.
I preface with this bit of information as I share the synchronicity I experienced recently with the Beaty family. A few weeks ago, I called Jeff Beaty, a past BRCF board member, to ask him for some advice. I hesitated to call during the work day knowing how busy he is. Jeff is not only the VP of C-Tech Corporation, but he’s an active community volunteer currently serving as treasurer of the board of MHP and a board member of First Christian Church. Jeff took my call and spent 45 minutes speaking with me, sharing a wealth of information and advice. I hung the phone up and made myself a note to schedule a regular call with Jeff. He provided me with inspiration and guidance that can only come from years of community experience.
That Saturday, my sister and I were at the Shelby County Farmers Market looking for the Local Stems Farm booth. Local Stems is a flower farm located in Boggstown that was started by Jeff’s youngest sister, LeAnne (Beaty) Zentz. As we approached the booth, we were greeted by Dana (Beaty) Sherwood, LeAnne’s and Jeff’s sister, with a glowing smile on her face eager to share with us the beautiful flowers she had helped her sister plant, grow, and cut. Dana, a pollinator enthusiast, was the force behind the establishment of the Beaty/C-Tech pollinator garden located across the street from their businesses and near the Local Stems Farm. She shared with us the progress of her sister’s budding new business, and I walked away wondering, “When does Dana sleep?” Dana is the president of C-Tech Corporation, serves on the board of First Christian Church and SCUFFY, and recently ended a long tenure of serving on BRCF’s Grants Committee. She’s passionate about the health and welfare of her community and dedicates a great deal of her time to its betterment.
Just the next day, I logged into my LinkedIn account to see that Dan Beaty, another Beaty sibling, had just celebrated his 39th year at Beaty Construction. Dan serves as the president of the company that was established by their father, Leon, in 1965. As I scrolled through his page, his posts echoed Dana’s and Jeff’s spirit of community. Especially the community they have created within their businesses. Dan is consistently sharing the good work that their employees are achieving in Indiana and celebrating their individual accomplishments and milestones. I thought to myself, if I was looking for a job in the construction industry, Dan is the type of guy I would want to work for.
What was the meaning of all of this Beaty synchronicity? Our office staff has concluded that when these instances occur, it’s the universe providing guidance or confirming that we are on the right path in our community work. The answer arrived a few days later when Grants Director Jordan England walked into my office beaming with an announcement to share: the Beatys had just reached distributing over $2 million in philanthropic gifts through their donor advised fund at BRCF. $2 MILLION!! Starting in 1998, both family companies, Beaty Construction and C-Tech Corporation, have made an annual gift to their donor advised fund managed by BRCF. The businesses utilize the fund throughout the year to provide grants to nonprofit organizations. The fund has substantially supported Shelby County nonprofits as well as charitable organizations across the country. Locally, the Beaty/C-Tech teams have used the fund to make significant contributions to the Julia and Nicholas Runnebohm Early Learning Center, the Wortman Family Civic Theater, SCUFFY, and to charitable activities in Fairland and Triton Central Schools, the Beaty’s hometown and alma mater. The family not only uses the profits of their almost 60-year-old businesses to give locally, but several family members do so with personal donations as well. The gifts made by individual family members through Blue River Community Foundation totals over $500K.
Connecting my run-ins with the family members to Jordan’s discovery helped me to realize what the universe was trying to accomplish by bringing the Beatys to my attention over the course of that week. I could have simply shared with the community the significant amount of money that the family has distributed to Shelby County, a major milestone! However, there’s so much more to the family’s community contributions than their financial gifts. The Beatys truly put their money where their mouth is. If they feel strongly that something needs to be changed or improved, they make sure they are part of the force that makes it happen. Board work, advocacy, volunteerism, the Beatys do it all. My happenstances with Dana, Jeff, and Dan that week was a cosmic message to share their whole story, not just the numbers. The story of a family creating meaningful impact, understanding community needs, and advocating for social change. Theirs is also the story of a business providing their employees the opportunity to participate in local giving, continuing their philanthropic influence. The Beatys are truly a shining light in our community; a light that encourages others to discover their brightness.
NOTEBOOK:
First United Methodist Church, 34 West Washington St., is hosting its Chili Day event, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets, which include all-you-can-eat chili, crackers, veggies, choice of homemade dessert and drink (tea or lemonade) are $10 for adults and $5, children 10 and under. The annual event raising funds for the church’s missions in the community.
NATIONAL NEWS: Taco Bell has done it, coming in with the fastest average drive-thru service time at 194.16 seconds (3 minutes and 14 seconds), according to QSR’s annual survey. The average drive-thru experience came in at 244.86 seconds (4 minutes and 4 seconds), with some better (KFC, 206.41 seconds) and some worse (McDonalds, 271.81 seconds). The perennial outlier is Chick-Fil-A, which has a 298.27-second average service time and another 181.15-second average wait time on top of that, with customers waiting 479.42 seconds (about 8 minutes) in total to get from the end of the queue to food. (QSR Magazine/Numlock)
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SHS Courier Archive Highlights:
May 15, 2013
Mrs. Bennett, Mrs. Parmer and Mr. Schneider were all retiring. Mrs. Bennett had taught 37 years, 36 at SHS; Mrs. Parmer had taught 35 years, 30 at SHS; and Mr. Schneider for 15 total years.
Latin teacher Kris Schwickrath, biology teacher Nikki Wethington and Principal Tom Zobel were leaving at the end of the school year. Schwickrath said she would miss “all the students and the spontaneous philosophical conversations.” Wethington was heading to law school. Zobel had been named principal at Whiteland High School.
Kathleen Miltz had been named principal of Shelbyville High School. The Courier recalled her journey from Assistant Principal to Director of Secondary Curriculum at Central Office to Principal, calling her “definitely the go-to lady.”
An article looking back on the year recounted how the power had gone out on Halloween. The early dismissal was called “the Halloween miracle.” Also, there was a school-wide Harlem Shake, recorded from various angles in the gym by GBTV.
Synergy’s Spectacular was coming up. Junior Chelsea Johnson would perform a solo.
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.
2014: Shelbyville rapper Kid Quill performed a live show at the Strand Theatre.
2004: Gerald Scofield, 75, retired after six decades in the furniture business. His long-running battle with diabetes combined with a recent Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis had led to his decision, Ron Hamilton reported for The Shelbyville News. Although Scofield has left his long sales career at Conger’s Bradley Hall Furniture, his family name was rich in the business tradition. Gerald’s father, Ralph, had ran Scofield’s Furniture Store for 50 years, where Gerald helped out, starting when he was a student at Charles Major School. Scofield’s, opened in 1937, was originally located at the corner of N. Harrison and E. Franklin Streets, the current location of Fifth Third Bank. Ralph had gone to Hope and bought an entire lot of seven rooms for only $10, giving him enough inventory to fill his room. The Depression was a difficult time to start a business, but Kenneth Graham, who owned the Ford agency, told Scofield he could have a work truck and pay for it whenever he could. “My Dad bought Ford trucks ever since,” Gerald told Hamilton. Scofield later moved to 224 S. Harrison St., 113 N. Harrison St. and finally to the old J.C. Penney building at 42 E. Washington St.
1994: The public library’s 11,000-square-foot expansion project was nearly complete. The board also decided to repair and replaster the interior of the dome in the original Carnegie portion of the library.
1984: Candidates for Shelbyville High School Homecoming Queen were named: Lori Lay, Shannon Paul, Mimi Rubush, Lori Kennedy, Kristen Reiman, Kelly Zinman, Gail Douglas and Lisa Fullenkamp.
1974: A new Shelbyville ambulance - a 1974 Dodge 300 Tradesman - went into operation near the 20th anniversary of the Shelbyville and Shelby County Emergency unit. The first unit had been operated by Meredith Mann and Jack Reagan on a 24 hours on and 24 hours off schedule. By 1974, James Bogeman was the Chief Attendant.
1964: Bruce Haehl celebrated his 70th birthday by winning the annual senior golf tournament at Blue River Country Club. The senior tournament was open to those 50 years old and above.
A local 15-year-old was committed to Boys’ School until he was 21 years old for running away from home and not attending school.
1954: A local woman was arrested at home on Center St. for selling whisky out of her house without a license.
1944: Ralph Gates, GOP nominee for governor, and James Emmert, Republican candidate for re-election as Attorney General, held a rally at the Shelbyville Armory. Russell Parker and Russell Gross were in charge of the event.
1934: Sandman Brothers starting selling Philco radios. “Hear all the World Series games clearer and better with a Philco!” the ad said. “From the opening pitch to the final out, Philco will bring you the play-by-play broadcasts so realistically you’ll feel that you’re on the first base line.” The radio started at $49.95 (approximately $1,200 in today’s money).
1924: Given the cold weather, the Agricultural Agent’s community motion picture shows would be held inside, at the Green school house, Mount Auburn, Manilla and the Moral school house. The films covered how to raise sheep and market the wool.
1914: V.W. Shepple & Co. moved from 142 E. Washington St. to 7 Broadway, where they would continue to offer a full line of agricultural implements, wagons, buggies, harnesses, silos and fertilizer. They also had a 1915 Overland Automobile on display, priced at $1,075 ($33,800 in today’s money).
OBITUARIES
H. “Kent” Gordon, 89, a lifelong Morristown resident, passed away Tuesday, October 1, 2024, at his home. He was born October 21, 1934, in Fountaintown, the son of Henry L. and Eva (Nave) Gordon. On August 16, 2022, he was preceded in death by his longtime significant other, Marcia Perdue. Kent is survived by his son, Eric N. Gordon of Shelbyville; step-daughter, Mary Doherty and husband, Matt, and their family; nephews, Shane and Dylan Olson; and Marcia’s children, Rick and Mandy Perdue, and Ryan and Melissa Perdue, and their families. In addition to Marcia, Kent was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Rita Olson; and the mother of his children, Seiko Gordon.
In 1952, he graduated from Morristown High School. He was a lifelong farmer and cattleman, but performed many other jobs throughout the years. Kent was a U.S. Army veteran, serving in Korea. He was a member of and former Worshipful Master of the Morristown Masonic Lodge. He was also a member of the Scottish Rite and the Morristown Christian Church. Kent had an appreciation for nature and woodland animals. He loved fishing, gardening and being an outdoorsman. He also loved his cattle, barn cats, dogs, cooking and making candy. He enjoyed singing in many different choirs. Kent also enjoyed traveling. During his excursions, he visited 44 states, Europe, Japan, the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada.
Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m., Wednesday, October 9, 2024, at Hanover Cemetery in Shelby County, with Jim Coyle officiating. Friends and family may gather one-half hour prior to the service. Online condolences may be shared with Kent’s family at www.freemanfamilyfuneralhomes.com.