Tuesday, October 1, 2024

ENDING ON A HIGH NOTE

The Shelbyville Middle School eighth grade volleyball team came from behind in the third last night set to take down Franklin Community in a grand finale to a strong season. Above, the team pauses for a photo after walking out with their families before the game. Front row: Jocelyn McFarland, Mia Robbins, Mya Horner and Myla Parks. Top: Coach Gracie Leffler, Zorah Shrader, Jenna Jersan, Lilly Jenkins, Abby Gwinnup, Chloe Caldwell, Annabelle Bringle, Khloe Bowers and Estrella Padilla. | photo by FATIMA TELLEZ for The Addison Times

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SHS Baseball Standout Commits to Kentucky

After fielding some 35 calls from major programs, Aiden Smith, a junior stand-out baseball player for Shelbyville High School, has committed to the University of Kentucky. The decision follows a whirlwind two-month college recruitment process and a recent campus visit to Lexington.

“It was everything I wanted to see,” Smith said yesterday. 

Encouragement from Wildcat head coach Nick Mingione, who received two national Coach of the Year awards this season, helped forge his decision.

“I talked to a lot of pitching coaches, but (Mingione) reached out directly,” Smith said of the process.

Smith’s dreams of playing at the Division I and professional levels go back to when he started in the local Babe Ruth program at age four. He knew his goals were realistic as he reached the high school level and joined the Indiana Bulls organization, a travel team that has produced over 170 Major League Baseball draft picks over its 30-year history.

Smith has also been a stand-out doubles tennis player for the Golden Bears, playing No. 1 doubles, this year with Wyatt Armstrong and previously with Karson Schaf.

“I’m a competitor, so I want to win, and tennis helps me learn a different way to compete,” Smith said.

Smith, the son of Bart and Jessica Smith, will graduate from SHS in 2026.

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NOTEBOOK:

• There were 79 recorded incidents of trees and/or lines down in roadways from Friday evening to Saturday morning, Shelby County Emergency Management Director Denis Ratekin said. The county received 2.64 inches of rain.

• Shelby County Commissioners yesterday formally approved a tax refund just shy of $130,000 to Shelby’s Crest, which had appealed their property tax assessment to the state. The state ruled in favor of Shelby’s Crest and lowered the assessment 25 percent, forcing the refund.

• The Shelby County Republican Fall Rally is set for Thursday, October 24, at Blessings Opera House, 18 Public Square, Suite 200, Shelbyville. Doors open at 5 p.m., dinner is at 6 p.m. and the program at 6:30 p.m. The program will feature local candidates David Lawson (County Commissioner Center District), Nathan Runnebohm, (County Commissioner South District), and Troy Merrick, Charity Mohr and Jeremy Ruble (County Council). Also attending will be State Representatives Jenny Meltzer, Robb Greene and Cory Criswell; State Senators Mike Crider and Jean Leising; and State Comptroller Elise Nieshalla. Headlining the event will be Jefferson Shreve, candidate for Congress (6th District), and Randy Head, Indiana Republican State Party Chairman. RSVP for a ticket ($30, including dinner) and sponsorship opportunities to Shelby County Republican Party Chair Chris King, cking@shelbycounty.gop.

• Shelbyville High School alumnus David Jones, class of 1978, walked nearly 30 miles through flood debris in Tennessee to walk his daughter down the aisle at her wedding last weekend, WJHL in Johnson City, Tenn., reported. After being diverted multiple times on what should have been a two-hour drive from South Carolina, Jones reached the literal end of the road. With nine hours until wedding time, he started to walk, at one point escaping danger after being trapped in mud. A motorist who knew Jones drove him the last eight miles to the wedding.

• A vehicle went off the paved road in the construction zone on North Riley Highway. When police arrived, both passenger-side tires of the vehicle were suspended above the recently-milled right lane, with an 18-inch drop off from the paved lane to the milled lane. The driver had been attempting to turn into the Shell station and had driven between construction barrels, believing it to be the entrance. A wrecker recovered the vehicle, popping a tire on the vehicle in the process.

• A hit-and-run accident occurred in the 100 block of W. Mechanic St. The suspect vehicle, which was totaled, was abandoned at the scene, with the driver apparently fleeing on foot. Police were unable to immediately locate the driver but are following up with the owner of the vehicle.

• Two unoccupied vehicles were struck in the 800 block of Elm St. overnight by an unknown vehicle.

• NATIONAL NEWS: There are 7,000 tigers living in private facilities in the U.S., including roadside zoos, ranches and your typical rich crackpot’s house. This is more than the 5,000 tigers estimated to still live in the wild. A new study looks at American tigers — mostly descended from captive animals brought into the U.S. for circuses and zoos in the early 1900s — to see what their genetic diversity situation is, to help determine potential suitability for rewilding. The study looked at 138 privately owned tigers and found that they don’t have a ton of unique variation, but nevertheless have genetic diversity on par with wild populations. (Science/Numlock)

• The Addison Times publishes essential news and historical content to build our Shelby County community, and is free thanks to the generosity of supporters. Those who donate a minimum of $5 a month (or $30 one-time) receive the two remaining quarterly Addison Times magazines for 2024 as an appreciation gift. Support The Addison Times here!

• 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!

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SHS Courier Archive Highlights:

April 18, 1952, Part I

• Two one-act plays would be presented by the Speech class in the near future. “Sugar and Spice” would feature cast members Pat Leonard, Pat Underwood, Bill Barnard, Dannie Wheeler and John Soller. Roles for “Fog in the Valley” were assigned to Pat Lawrence, Steve Davis, Norman Poe, Jim Plymate, Phyllis Crafton and Marlene Hungerford.

• Approximately 100 members of the SHS Hi-Y Club were hosts to their dads at the annual Father-Son banquet in the high school cafeteria. Rev. Guy Carpenter, pastor of First Methodist Church in Greensburg, was the guest speaker. He warned against “smugness.” Music was provided by the Singing Stars, and by Charlene Phares on the marimba. The Swiss steak dinner, prepared by the girls of the Home Economics department, went over well. “When you feed 200 boys and men and they say it’s good, it’s good,” Junior High School Principal Emerson Bass said.

• JHS students Dick Ivie and Sally Backous were ill. Dick was in Ward C at Riley Hospital undergoing a series of tests. He had been out of school nearly a month. Sally was at Major Hospital, and expressed her gratefulness for the many thoughtful notes she had received.

• Students were storing an abundance of items in their 58”x11” lockers. “The small but roomy lockers contain an assortment of books, notebooks, pencils, pens, inks and coats. Those are only the essentials. The more interesting contents are such as candy, cookies, cards, Coke bottles, paperback novels, newspapers, old Couriers, make-up, combs, pin-ups, mirrors and library books.

• The Journalism class toured The Shelbyville News plant, guided by Norman Thurston, general manager. They viewed the teletype machine, which took in messages and stories from other cities, and the linotype machine.

• The Courier staff thanked school board members Morris DePrez, Ralph Scofield and Lawrence Parker for extending the Easter vacation an extra day.

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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 Central Schools board incumbents Dr. James Rees, Mike Warble and David Finkel would run unopposed in the November election.

2004: The Shelbyville News published a national article with a local connection about BlackBerrys pushing the boundaries of multitasking. “Airline delays become office time. An elevator ride becomes a chance to dash off a reply. A companion’s restrooms trip at a restaurant provides just enough time to close a deal electronically.” But there were also complaints about people not giving undivided attention anymore with electronic email available. Richard Napier, assistant manager of Cellular Connection in Shelbyville, said there wasn’t much local demand for BlackBerrys ($200-$700). He said BlackBerrys shouldn’t be taken on vacation, but he did say they were safer than other available devices. “There is a national phenomenon going on with children being stalked by online predators and women and men cheating on their spouses, all though online chat programs. In my opinion, home computers are much more dangerous.”

1994: Shelbyville resident Jim Hall and his son Lincoln were featured on WFYI Channel 20. The Halls were part of a story done in conjunction with Ken Burns’ “Baseball” documentary. Jim and Lincoln were attending an Indianapolis Indians game when Jim was asked about the first baseball game he attended with his dad. (He was five years old - 1958 - when his dad took him to Crosley Field in Cincinnati.)

Former Waldron High School principal Ronald Mayes, 40, was named superintendent of Edinburgh Community School Corp.

1984: Several local Democrats went to Indianapolis to see Robert Redford, who was campaigning for the re-election of Congressman Phil Sharp.

1974: Snow fell and temperatures plunges into the icy 20s, shattering records that had stood for more than 100 years. Shelbyville had icy car windshields, breaking the all-time area record low of 32 for the day in history, set in 1886.

1964: Commercial Motor Freight, Inc. purchased three acres in Shelbyville’s Industrial Park, located at the east edge of the city on the south side of U.S. 421, as the site for a new motor freight terminal.

A 15-year-old Fairland boy was set to appear in juvenile court for throwing a pie from a moving car at a pedestrian in Shelbyville. The pie missed Matthew McQueary, who was walking on W. South St. when the incident occurred, but he got the license number and called police. Police located the car and its four occupants on a service station lot on E. Broadway.

1954: Carson Grocery, owned by Frank Carson at the corner of Pike and Pennsylvania, was robbed. Food and cigarettes had been stolen.

1944: In a move that surprised most observers, the Shelbyville Board of Public Works and Safety adopted a program for building a sewage treatment plant on a site one-half mile west of city limits. Many residents had objected to the plan, and one said he would file suit against the city. The city held an option on the land. An alternate site farther down the river near the Bausback Fertilizer Company would have cost more money, officials said.

1934: City officials leased the municipal airport to Fred Lucas for a year. The city would receive one-half of net receipts received by Lucas and from crops on the land. Lucas was working on plans for construction of a hangar. He had supervised construction of the airport building, completed by federal workers.

1924: Earl Gifford, who had been the official weather observer for the U.S. in Shelby County, stepped down and turned in the instruments furnished him by the weather bureau. The instruments were turned over to George Meltzer, who lived in the south part of the city. Gifford was a teacher in the junior high school, and Meltzer was a teacher in the local high school.

1914: The Republican newspaper began creating a daily list of men seeking work on a farm and farms looking for help. The list was available in the office. “This list can be seen by all wanting work or help so that their mutual wants may be supplied,” the paper said.

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OBITUARIES

Wilda Lee “Willie” McCleery Schaekel passed away Sept. 26, 2024, in Greenfield, Ind. She was 85. After graduating from Thomas Carr Howe High School on Indianapolis’ Eastside in 1957, Willie worked at Radio Corporation of America (RCA), in the accounting department at the Indiana University Medical Center, at Davis Homes, and finally as manager at Cedar Ridge Apartments, from where she retired.

Willie married the late Darl Schaekel on Oct. 25, 1991. Over the years, she doted on her bonus children and grandchildren, as well as her nephews and others.

Willie had a feisty sense of humor and a friendly spirit. She enjoyed traveling, reading, playing board games and card games, working puzzles, watching auto racing and following local pro sports teams. For years, Willie was a fixture at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and maintained close friendships with many professionals in the racing industry. She loved animals of all kinds and provided loving homes for many dogs and cats, including several beloved miniature schnauzers.

Besides her husband Darl, Willie was also preceded in death by her parents Lee and Jane McCleery. She is survived by stepchildren, Kathy (Guy) Titus, Greg (Diane) Schaekel and Rusty (Adrienne) Schaekel. She is also survived by grandchildren Erika (Facundo) Titus-Lay, Taylor Titus, Josiah Schaekel, Ivan Schaekel and Lenna Schaekel. She is further survived by brother Chuck (Betty) McCleery, sister Joyce (Steve) Smith and multiple nephews and nieces (including grands). Visitation is planned for 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, with funeral services at 11 a.m., at the Glenn E. George and Son Funeral Home, 437 Amos Road, Shelbyville, Ind. Interment is at Arlington East Hill Cemetery, 6350 US 52, Arlington, Indiana. Online condolences may be shared at glennegeorgeandson.com.