Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Dec 17, 2024

PEP TALK

Shelbyville High School girls basketball coach Rebecca Hoefler speaks with starters before a game last week. The Golden Bears are back in action tonight, with girls JV at 6 p.m. and varsity at 7:30 p.m. versus Greenfield Central. The boys are on the road at Greenwood Community. | photo by KRISTIAAN RAWLINGS

NOTEBOOK:

Shelby County Commissioners yesterday approved taking steps toward a deck preservation project on the North Harrison Street bridge over Big Blue River. The city, which set aside $300,000 to maintain the bridge when Shelbyville took over maintenance of the former portion of State Road 9, is wanting the thin deck overlay and replacement of expansion joints to be part of upgrading the road connecting I-74 to downtown. Mike Obergfell, with USI Consultants, said maintaining the bridge was a good idea. “A new bridge there would be $5 million, off the top of my head, so spending a few hundred thousand now will give it another 15 to 20 years of life,” he said. The city had obtained a $190,000 bid on the project, but that did not include controlling the traffic during construction. “The biggest issue will be traffic maintenance,” Obergfell said, noting that bridge will likely need to be one-way during roadwork due to the lack of another nearby access point. The project work will likely occur next summer.
Rachael Ackley, Executive Director for Shelby County Tourism & Visitors Bureau (SCTVB), told County Commissioners that local hotel occupancy in 2023 was 70.3 percent, up from 66.7 percent in 2022. Numbers for this year will be available around March 2025. There are 19 local VRBOs, she said. SCTVB is funded through a 5 percent innkeeper’s tax. “We are wanting to potentially up that 5 percent and use that for some tourism improvement district work,” she said.
County Commissioners also approved an interlocal ambulance agreement to pay the City of Shelbyville $1.1 million to provide ambulance services for the county, with a 3 percent annual increase moving forward. Commissioner Don Parker lauded the service, and noted that private services had never panned out. Commissioner Kevin Nigh joined him in approving the agreement, with Commissioner Jason Abel abstaining.
In other business, Commissioners tabled an interlocal agreement with the City of Shelbyville regarding the animal shelter to have time to better understand the proposed costs.
Elias Slaven was named recipient of the 2025 Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship (LECS) for Shelby County yesterday. The scholarship provides full tuition, fees and a special allocation of up to $900 per year for required books and equipment for eight semesters of undergraduate study on a full-time basis leading to a baccalaureate degree at any eligible Indiana public or private nonprofit college or university. Elias resides in Shelbyville with his parents, Chadwick and Cynthia Slaven. He will graduate in May from Shelbyville High School, and starting in fall 2025, he plans to major in earth sciences at Purdue University. At the time of application, Elias ranked fourth in his graduating class with a GPA of 4.34 on a 4.0 scale. He has demonstrated a commitment to academics and extracurriculars throughout high school, excelling in track & field and soccer, earning HHC and IHSAA All-Academic honors for multiple years. Elias is also a member of the National Honor Society, where he serves on the Executive Board, and has been actively involved in Earth Club, FFA (where he was a Borlaug Scholar and World Food Prize Representative), and the newly formed Pickleball Club.
In addition to Slaven, the following students were named LECS finalists and interviewed for the scholarship: Karina Calderon (Shelbyville High School), Addison Hartman (Shelbyville High School), Jacob Hawk (Morristown High School), Emory Higgins (Shelbyville High School), and Tucker Hutchinson (Triton Central High School). Due to their impressive personal and academic accomplishments, each of these five students will receive a four-year renewable scholarship from one of the 112 scholarship funds administered by BRCF.
Two Shelbyville High School FFA teams finished in the Top 10 in state competition: SHS Team 1, comprised of Kolbie Kehm-Welty, Ella Holmes and Lucy Ramer, finished fourth; Team 2, comprised of Layne McMillen, Lilly Conners and Cora Flynn, placed 10th.
A driver turning left onto Amos Road from Highpointe Blvd. struck an AT&T utility pole. The vehicle’s air bags were deployed, and the pole sustained minor damage.
A driver cutting through the Kroger parking lot collided with the concrete base of a light pole, damaging the vehicle’s fender.
Thank you to Mark & Nancy McNeely for your $500+ donation, and 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

Donate to The Addison Times

HOOSIER NEWS: From 2015 to 2024, Indiana created 16 new jobs for college graduates for every new job for a high school graduate. From January 2015 to March 2024 (the most recent data), the net number of jobs for high school graduates increased by only 4,652 positions in Indiana. During that time, about 330,000 people graduated from high school without pursuing more education and remained in Indiana. For college graduates, Indiana added 74,421 jobs, while about 168,000 completed college and stayed in state. While college attendance rates in Indiana have collapsed to levels not seen in decades, the number of Hoosier kids who are attending school outside the state is higher than ever before. So, it isn’t just that young people are choosing to skip college; it’s that more are specifically choosing to leave Indiana for school. Indiana also has among the lowest rate of college students staying in our state after they graduate. (Michael Hicks, Ph.D.)
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!

SHS Courier Archive Highlights:

Dec. 18, 1930, Part I

“Making 60 pairs of bookends for Mrs. Tindall’s junior high students for only a nickel a pair was Mr. Roy Ray’s, shop instructor, way of helping the school children give practical Christmas gifts.” Mr. Ray had performed the work after school hours.
Faculty members had various plans for the Christmas break. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Sims were going to see relatives in London. Mr. and Mrs. Breck were spending the break with his mother, Bertha Breck. Miss Newton was visiting her brother in Connecticut, and Miss Billman was going to Florida to see her brother. Mr. Thompson was staying home in Waldron. Mrs. Tindall would remain at home in Shelbyville.
Students in Mr. Earl Gifford’s junior high civics classes had written various famous people asking their opinion on the subject. Gladys Babb received a reply from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Coach McCullough gave the basketball team a break for the holidays, but asked them to act responsibility. Gunning said that meant going to all the dances he could, but not eating anything that would be “an injury” to his body.
Flora High School (northwest Indiana) officials consulted with SHS officials about the Paul Cross Award in preparation to give their own Kenneth Beckner Award. Beckner had been a popular referee with Shelbyville fans prior to his death in February 1930.
Letters to Santa were printed. Paul Freeland, who lived next to the First M.E. Church, wanted a pop gun so he could go “Indian hunting with Richard Ewing,” and “a new cornet, cause mine won’t play good, and I know it’s not the boy.” Harold Meloy wrote, “Mother says that you won’t come to see me if I write notes to ‘Betty’, so I’m going to quit writing her notes.” Virginia Wright said she had “tried awfully hard to be a good little girl, and outside of fighting with a certain boyfriend, I haven’t been angry since last week.”

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: The Marietta Volunteer Fire Department received a $7,500 grant from the TransCanada Corporation to help pay for a backup generator. Fire Chief Shane Scott oversaw the process of purchasing the needed equipment.

2004: Although the Shelbyville Elks Club had sold all of its assets, including the Blue River Golf Club, the proceeds of the sale had not given the organization enough money to pay off all its creditors in full or to purchase a new clubhouse. The golf course had sold for no more than 70 percent of its appraisal.

1994: Knauf employee Walter Sexton won $50,000 in the Hoosier Lottery’s Lucky 5 game. Walter split his winnings with his brother, Ottis.

1984: A newspaper photo showed Gary Turner and Bret Sturgill interacting with members of the Lighthouse Christian Fellowship Center outside Hunter’s Video Shop. The two men carried signs supporting the right of video shop owners to rent triple X-rated movies to customers.

1974: Winners in the county-wide Elks National “Hoop Shot” free throw contest were announced by James Brown, the local committee chairman. The contest had been held at William L. Garrett Gymnasium. The Shelby County winners, who would move onto the district contest, were Mark Gould, Jeff Bate, Mike Blackburn, Susan Tolloh, Tina Denton and Kim Ayers.

1964: Staff put up a white Christmas tree in the Major Hospital waiting room. Mrs. McCracken, a nurse’s aide, decorated the tree, which featured white styrofoam angels outlined with silver and white bells edged with tiny blue balls, pale blue net bows, huge snowflakes covered with glitter and small arrangements of tinsel garlands and many other ornaments.

Lester Mullins, 58, 1121 Meridian St., well-known principal of Shelbyville’s Charles Major School, died suddenly of a heart attack. He and his wife, Gail, were parents of one daughter, Judith Mullins, a junior at Shelbyville High School.

1954: Registration for membership in the new Boys Club, 16 W. Broadway, opened. Among the first to register were Lennie Lawrence, Steve McGraw, Bart Kaufman, Dick Carney, Steve Mohler, Richrad Schoelch, Darrell Schwendendmann, Don Carr, Jim Briggs and Steve Nading.

A local man was fined $1 and court costs after breaking his wife’s jaw and arm in a quarrel. The couple had three children. The Justice of Peace said the low fine was “for the little children’s sake.”

1944: The only induction group from Shelby County left for Indianapolis. They were Robert Parish, James Toll, Bobby Ash and Herbert Siefert.

“From all indications, Shelbyville is experiencing a Christmas buying rush that is hampered only by limited supplies of many types of merchandise which have been blacked out by the first priority of war,” The Republican said.

1934: Rehearsals were underway for a Christmas operetta, to be given by Shelbyville junior high school students at First Methodist Church.

The Shelbyville Fire Department ordered a new fire truck to replace their 16-year-old truck, which only went 25 miles per hour. Fire Chief William Briggs was proud of how “the boys” had kept the old truck clean, but added, “You can keep an egg looking fine on the outside although it’s rotten on the inside.”

1924: The Fairland church closed a two-week revival with a special service featuring 75 members of the Ku Klux Klan, all wearing their robes. The visiting minister, from Indianapolis, preached on “The Place of the Cross.”

Plans were underway for the annual Christmas morning observance at City Hall. A large Christmas tree, donated to the city by Jacob Girton, county highway superintendent, was set in place in the northeast corner of Public Square. It was the seventh year in which Girton had donated a tree. Interstate Public Service Co. employees provided electricity for Christmas lights on the tree, and Otto House, City Hall custodian, placed the lights. City officials placed an order for 550 pounds of candy, 500 pounds of nuts, 900 oranges, 900 bananas and 13 bushels of apples for the event.

1914: A plan was enacted to improve mail service in Shelbyville. Previously, mail had arrived from Indianapolis early in the morning and was delivered locally. Mail from the next train, at 3:44 p.m., was delivered the following day. The new plan moved up the second train to 12:45 p.m., and the mail would be delivered in the carriers’ second round of the day, in the afternoons.

ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: Freeman Family Funeral Homes & Crematory

OBITUARIES

Annette (Haviland) Hitchcock, 81, of Shelbyville, passed away Sunday, December 15, 2024 at Greenfield Health Care. She was born April 2, 1943, in Gulfport, Miss., to Chester B. Haviland and Rita Haviland.

Ann was a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) for 30 years. She and her husband lived together in Phoenix, Ariz., for over 30 years before moving to Shelbyville in 2008 after her retirement. She had a love for traveling, especially with her husband. She had a big heart and enjoyed spending time in her garden.

She married Richard Hitchcock on June 27, 1973, and he survives. They cherished 51 loving years of marriage.

She is also survived by her daughter, Carrie A. Hitchcock; her granddaughters, Ashley (husband, James) Lowe, Erica Alexander and Camyrn Alexander; her great-grandsons, J.W. Lowe and Christopher Lowe; her sister, Susan Sieble; her brother, Michael Haviland and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; her son, Christopher Richard Hitchcock; her twin sister, Jannette Findora and sister, Judy Cook.

Funeral Directors Greg Parks, Sheila Parks and Stuart Parks are honored to serve Ann’s family. Online condolences may be shared at www.murphyparks.com.

Ruth Agnes Pennycuff, 84, of Shelbyville, passed away Monday December 16, 2024 at Ashford Place Health Campus. She was born May 15, 1940, in Indianapolis, Ind., to Nicholas A. Augustin and Loretta A. (Nauert) Augustin.

Ruth graduated from Franklin Central High School. She went onto work at Marion County Health Care Center for over 15 years. She was a former member of Nativity Catholic Church in Indianapolis, where she was a Eucharistic Minister and very active with the choir. Ruth was also a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Shelbyville. When she was younger, she enjoyed riding her horse, Betsy. More recently she enjoyed working puzzles and playing euchre. Ruth’s greatest joy came from spending time with her family, especially her grandkids. She was a kind woman who always had a smile and positive outlook on life.

She married Obie Elbert Pennycuff on February 15, 1964 and he preceded her in death on May 14, 2007. She is survived by her son, Paul (wife, Melinda) Pennycuff; her daughter, Mary Kay Hildebrand; her grandchildren, Melissa Forbes, Jamey Summers, Kaylee Hildebrand and Dylan Hildebrand; her great-grandchildren, Ada Spears, Layne Summers, Jazlyn McVay and Ryleigh Cook. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; her daughter, Connie Sue Pennycuff; her brother, Charles Anthony; her sister, Velma Ann Strahl; her son-in-law, Rickie Hildebrand and her beloved pug, “Zorro”.

A Rosary will be recited Thursday, December 19, 2024, at 3:30 p.m. at Murphy-Parks Funeral Service, 703 S. Harrison Street, Shelbyville, IN visitation will follow from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 a.m. at St. Joseph Catholic Church with Father Mike Keucher officiating. Burial will be in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Indianapolis. Funeral Directors Greg Parks, Sheila Parks and Stuart Parks are honored to serve Ruth’s family. Memorial contributions may be given to St. Joseph Catholic Church, 125 E. Broadway St., Shelbyville, IN 46176. Online condolences may be shared at www.murphyparks.com.

The Addison Times