Tuesday, May 20, 2025
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: STEPHENSON RIFE ATTORNEYS
Local Scout Leader Honored
photo and article by JACK BOYCE
Veteran scout leader Steve Lancaster (right) is always prepared—that’s the Scout motto, after all. But at last week’s awards ceremony, there was one thing he didn’t see coming: a surprise honor presented to him.
Now nearing 80 years old, Lancaster began earning merit badges at a young age, starting at the well-known Major School and continuing through the First Methodist Church.
The award he received recognizes more than a decade of dedicated service.
After a 28-year career in the Army, Lancaster returned home with his wife, Pauline, and together they helped revive the Scouting program at St. Joseph School, where it remains active today.
So maybe it’s all right to be unprepared—just this once. A surprise from the Boy Scouts isn’t such a bad thing.
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: FULL CANOPY REAL ESTATE
NOTEBOOK:
The topic of broadband, listed on yesterday’s Shelby County Commissioners’ agenda, will instead be on next week’s agenda. That meeting will occur Tuesday, 8 a.m., due to the holiday. On Monday, the annual Memorial Day service will be held on the courthouse lawn, with the community choir and band performing at 10 a.m. and the program at 11 a.m. This year’s special speaker is Col. Scott Oden, the Aviation Brigade Commander at the Indiana National Guard in Shelbyville.
The Shelbyville Common Council last night approved on first reading rezoning the gravel lot adjacent to the Old Hickory factory from Industrial to Institutional. The lot was recently purchased by St. Joseph Catholic Church. The matter will be remanded to the Plan Commission and then back to the Common Council for a second reading, Deputy Plan Director Mike Evans said.
The Council also approved on first reading a personal property tax abatement for Knauf Insulation. The company is expanding to a 10th line of its pipe insulation business and will add approximately 17 or 18 jobs with about $14 million in new equipment, attorney Jacob Brattain said.
Mayor Scott Furgeson reminded residents that the McKay Road and Miller St. intersection will be closing next Tuesday, May 27, for installation of a roundabout. The railroad tracks on N. Riley Highway will close then as well. “We’ll start working on the roundabout at Michigan Road and the Knauf entrance, and they will also start working on the landscaping in the medians at that time, which will be a safe time for people to get out there and work in the middle of road, because there won't be a whole lot of traffic.”
Shelbyville High School alumnus and New England Patriots Head Team Sports Dietician Ted Harper last week was named recipient of the American Sports and Performance Dietitians Association’s Excellence Award, recognizing his “highest quality of care to athletes and for extraordinary dedication to the profession and to ASPDA.” Harper, pictured below, accepted the award at the Association’s conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.
A purple Dodge Challenger left the traffic lane at the intersection of W. Broadway and S. West St. and struck an unattended parked Toyota Tundra. The owner of the Tundra, who was on his porch on W. Broadway, saw the collision and the driver of the Dodge drive away. The driver of the Dodge had suffered a seizure. His wife steered the vehicle until the driver became coherent and stopped the vehicle. The woman called dispatch to report the medical emergency and the collision. The driver later said he did not remember the collision or how he made it to the 1000 block of W. Washington St. Both vehicles were damaged.
The Shelbyville Common Council last night approved on second reading expanding the DORA (Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area) to the east, past Just Peachy Cafe to Pike Street. A DORA allows individuals who are at least 21 years old to purchase alcoholic beverages from approved vendors and retail establishments and carry them outside to be consumed within the DORA boundaries. A map of the current DORA boundary in Shelbyville is here.
The Council also approved on second reading a revision to the parking ordinance, allowing the city to enforce two-hour limits and update language. The parking schedule will apply from Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The city is investing in a parking software program that electronically marks cars since physical marking of tires is no longer permitted. There will still be no charge for parking, Mayor Scott Furgeson said.
The Fairland Historical Society will dedicate a new plaque this evening at 5:30 p.m. at the Fairland shelter house, honoring the former Fairland School that once stood on the site. The plaque was installed by John and Tammy Begley (below) and provided by the Historical Society. (Photo submitted by Jeb Bass.)
Editor’s Note: Yesterday’s photos of the Shelby County Diligent Diggers were taken by Jack Boyce. The email edition did not originally provide attribution.
HOOSIER NEWS: A Noblesville residential development of 354 homes proposed on the northeast side along State Road 32, with homes selling for as much as $800,000, sparked some questions about the project’s density. An attorney for Fishers-based Boomerang Development said the Parks Crossings homes would be of different styles and values and, therefore, “multigenerational.” The project, by home builder DR Horton, of Texas, would be on 124 acres between SR 32 and 181st Street east of where SR 32 and State Road 38 meet near Promise Road. (IndyStar)
NATIONAL NEWS: A new report from the National Restaurant Association found that 75 percent of restaurant traffic is now takeout orders — that is, delivery, pickup, and where relevant drive-through — a fundamental realignment of the dining industry. According to the NRA’s survey, 37 percent of adults in the U.S. order delivery and 47 percent order takeout at least once per week. (Food & Wine/Numlock)
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SHS Courier Archive Highlights
Jan. 17, 1956, Part I
Kenneth Abell, a 1946 SHS graduate, made his pianist debut at Town Hall, New York City. Kenneth had been Lord Mayor and attended Jordan Conservatory of Music in Indianapolis. He then went to Juilliard for his Master’s degree, and was teaching in New York, along with serving as organist of a church and a temple.
Several SHS faculty took trips over Christmas vacation. Mr. Bass and Mr. Kuhn drove to Florida, and Miss Moore went to Ames, Iowa. Miss Kinley, Miss Keith and Miss Chenoweth joined the Louisville to Broadway theater train, attending five stage plays, Radio City Music Hall and Cinerama Holiday. They also toured the United Nations building.
“A temporary bridge spanned the creek-sized puddle caused by melting snow in front of the Golden Bear Lunch on Dec. 2, thanks to the ingenuity of Tommy Gallagher. How did he construct said bridge? ‘Twas very simple. Tom merely parked his car parallel to the curb and opened the doors. Feminine Bear Lunch customers tripped merrily through the back of the car to alight on the opposite shore, where they were confronted by gallant Gallagher’s outstretched palm, and his plea for a dime as fare for using his bridge.”
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: MAJOR HEALTH PARTNERS
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.
2005: Courtney Grau and Curt Gendron were Triton Central High School’s prom queen and king. Prom was held at Valle Vista Country Club in Greenwood.
1995: A Connersville couple got stuck in the viaduct on McKay Road when they attempted to drive their car through three-foot-deep water. The car’s engine stalled on the flooded road about halfway through the viaduct. Kevin Kredit, a passing motorist, helped the couple and called police. A local wrecker service pulled the car out.
1985: James Anderson, 46, died. Mr. Anderson, who had been ill several years, had owned Jim Anderson Concrete Construction Company. He was a Central Indiana Bank board member and had served as vice president and member of the Shelby County Fair Board.
1975: The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a series of lawsuits stemming from the crash of an Allegheny jetliner and a private plane near London in Shelby County in 1969. The court’s action let stand a U.S. Circuit Court decision that required the private plane pilot’s survivors and the owners of the private plane to share in payments made by Allegheny and the federal government to survivors of nearly all victims of the crash. Eighty-three people had been killed when the Allegheny jet en route from Cincinnati to Indianapolis collided with a Piper Cherokee piloted by a student flyer. The crash occurred over the Shady Acres Trailer Court near London and the wreckage came down in a farm field east of the trailer court. There were no survivors.
1965: Shelbyville’s Standard Grocery at 514 N. Harrison St. announced plans for a large addition. The one-story addition would be built on the north or Big Blue River side of the existing store and would have an aluminum, glass and brick front.
Lana Carmony and Diane Gulley were named valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, of Manilla High School.
1955: A training school for people employed to work for the incoming General Electric plant was in operation in the old Sunlit building on the northwest corner of the Pike and Broadway intersection.
1945: The U.S. Army sent out a notice to local newspapers asking for donations of dogs. The national quota for May in Indiana was 100 dogs, which would be used for overseas duty as scouts.
1935: Monroe “Jiggs” Yeager, 33, manager of the Wayside Inn, was the first local person arrested for violating the new liquor law which prohibited providing dining customers with a liquor bottle, which they poured themselves.
1925: Furnaces had been installed in 14 local homes in recent weeks, which would use crude oil instead of coal.
Forty-four students at Shelbyville High School, nearly 10 percent of enrollment, had not been absent nor tardy the entire school year.
1915: Miss Rosamond Drake hosted the SHS senior class at her home on East Washington Street. All members of the class were present for the program, which included a picture show, gifts to teachers and a Masonic ring to Prof. Peters.
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: Freeman Family Funeral Homes & Crematory
OBITUARIES
John Edward McAnany, 94, of Shelbyville, passed away Saturday, May 17, 2025, at Waldron Health and Rehabilitation in Waldron. He was born August 18, 1930, in Indianapolis, the son of the late Thomas Edward and Hazel M. (Short) McAnany.
John was a US Army, serving during the Korean Conflict. He formerly worked at Cummins Mid-State Power and Southeastern Welding Supply.
Inurnment will be at Greenlawn Cemetery in Franklin. Services have been entrusted to Freeman Family Funeral Homes and Crematory, 819 S. Harrison St. in Shelbyville. Online condolences may be shared at www.freemanfamilyfuneralhomes.com.
Rosalie Jane “Rose” Smothers, 74, of Shelbyville, passed away Monday, May 19, 2025, at Franciscan Health in Indianapolis. She was born January 22, 1951, in Batesville, the daughter of Richard and Elizabth (Glaub) Hersley. On July 17, 1993, she married James “Alvin” Smothers, and he preceded her in death on October 25, 2024. Rose is survived by her children, Carolyn Johnson of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, Gary Helvey Jr. and wife, Teresa, Brenda Martin and husband, Jimmy Nicholson, Kimmy Jo Thompson and husband, Scott, Jason Helvey and wife, Diane Crafton and Kathy Caballero and husband, Micael, all of Shelbyville, and Ashley Smothers and wife, Lexi, of Terre Haute; sisters, Rebecka Lunsford of Osgood, Carolyn Jacobs of Versailles; brother, Thomas Hersley of Lawrenceburg, Indiana; 17 grandchildren; 32 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. In addition to Alvin, Rose was preceded in death by her parents; daughter, Melissa Martin; brothers, William Hersley and Richard Hersley Jr.; and sister, Alice White.
Rose worked for Office Pride for over 20 years, retiring in 2014. She loved to go to the casino and thrift stores. Rose also enjoyed playing bingo.
Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to noon, Friday, May 23, 2025, at Freeman Family Funeral Homes and Crematory, 819 S. Harrison St. in Shelbyville. Funeral services will follow at Noon, at the funeral home. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Lung Association, 115 W. Washington St., Suite 1180 South, Indianapolis, Ind., 46204, Online condolences may be shared with Rose’s family at www.freemanfamilyfuneralhomes.com.