Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Christmas Spirit Marks Close to School Semester

Editor’s note: The following is a segment of our occasional series featuring daily life in Shelby County. Today we focus on Mrs. Carmen Fansler’s first-grade classroom at Hendricks Elementary. Fansler and her husband, Andrew, have two children, Anne Marie and Mollie. | photo by KRISTIAAN RAWLINGS

Those who think Christmas comes but one day a year haven’t spent the month of December in Mrs. Carmen Fansler’s class. It’s a few minutes before the Hendricks Elementary doors open and she is scanning the room for last-second details while explaining the day’s agenda to me.

“The first thing they do is look for Buddy.” 

The elf is just the beginning of the daily magic happening in elementary classrooms across the county. Fansler’s room is no exception. 

Ambient lighting blends the usual Disney theme with the temporary installation of a Christmas tree and multiple holiday touches. Student-created “links to Christmas” made of alternating red and green construction paper loops hang from the board. The kids remove a link every day after the “calendar math” lesson. Decorated boxes under the tree, “suitcases” (personalized paper bags) and tickets from “Winter Airlines” are also there for a reason.

“The boxes are full of countries,” she explains. “My kids are taking off today. They’re going to travel for Christmas Around the World.”

The all-day activity starts with opening a box containing a country, or at least information about a country.

“They read what happens at Christmas in their country and get a postcard from a person living there telling them all the things they do for the holiday season,” Fansler said while showing the box to reveal enough pieces to rival a board game.

After collecting a passport, students visit 13 countries - America is included, but students learn about Kwanzaa since most of them are familiar with the traditional experience - while completing reading challenges in small groups for exit stamps. 

“They figure out teamwork pretty fast,” she said.

Fansler, in her 16th year as an elementary teacher and second with first-graders, continues to revise the activity.

“Everybody gets to take a postcard and a craft home from each country,” Fansler said. 

Also among yesterday’s festivities was a “5 days to Christmas break” activity - ready on their desks - featuring reindeer “noses”: eight brown and one red, for Rudolph, of course.

It all builds to Thursday, the final school day before break, a “pajama day” featuring hot chocolate and watching “The Polar Express,” the fitting end to a festive month. “I think we do more than 500 activities; If we didn't cram it all in, I don’t know what we would do,” Fansler said, laughing.

BELOW: Students participate in Mrs. Fansler’s “Christmas Around the World” activity yesterday. (submitted photos)

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NOTEBOOK:

• The Shelbyville Utility Board yesterday approved three departmental budgets - the Public Utility office, Stormwater Utility and Water Resource Recovery Facility - for the coming year. Utility manager Beth Corley said there have been fewer shut-offs due to changes in procedures a few years ago in which the department began shutting off service for non-payment. That change led to an immediate decrease in liens filed to recoup unpaid bills. “It’s a lot of the same people; they’re not first-timers,” Corley said in response to questions from the board. She estimated her department averages 50 “shut-offs” per month out of approximately 7,300 customers. During a discussion about increasing energy costs, Mayor Tom DeBaun asked Water Resource Recovery Facility Superintendent Kevin Kredit if his department was able to track the benefit of the solar power the city is now generating through solar panels. Kredit said it is difficult to get accurate measurements because electricity use fluctuates widely at the lift station depending on rainfall, “but it has made a heck of a difference, especially during the summer months,” Kredit said, noting that his department has reviewed year-to-year costs. “We don’t see a whole lot of power consumption over there (in the summer).”

• Gina Bishop retired from the Shelby County Public Library Board of Directors last week after 13 years of service, the library announced in a media release. Bishop’s tenure included major renovations to the library compound, beginning with the Carnegie East Wing, home of the Genealogy & History Department, computer lab, Friends of the Library Used Book Store and community meeting rooms. The outdoor plaza, fountain, and stage were created between the library and annex, along with the renovation and updating of the main library. Creation and acquisition of the building for the Velma Wortman Morristown branch from 2012 to 2014 took place under Bishop’s watch, as well.

• Happy Birthday to loyal reader Mr. John Harding, a lifelong resident of Shelby County. His daughter, Sara Crafton, reached out last year and this year about making a donation of $43 to The Addison Times to commemorate Harding’s birth year. Thank you, Mr. Harding, for your long-time support!

• HOOSIER NEWS: A radio company is working on prototypes of stripped-down, hand-crank models with absolutely no modern amenities that could be used by the Amish during severe weather season. The plan is to deploy the radios by next spring. There is plenty of need. The Amish population in Indiana is more than 60,000, while Kentucky has an estimated 14,215, and another 7,500 live in Illinois. All three states endure severe weather on a regular basis. (Evansville Courier & Press)

• NATIONAL NEWS: The Cherokee Nation was promised a delegate in Congress as part of the Treaty of New Echota in 1835, the same treaty that led to the Trail of Tears. That has not been honored by the American government, and a renewed push from the Cherokee Nation wants to get a delegate into the House of Representatives soon. The effort was renewed following the 2020 Supreme Court case McGirt v. Oklahoma, which affirmed that a lapse in time in enforcement is not a valid reason to end Native American treaty rights. If successful, the nominated delegate, Kimberly Teehee, would be seated with delegates from Puerto Rico, Guam and the District of Columbia as nonvoting members. The Cherokee Nation is composed of 440,000 citizens, which is greater than the population of Guam. (High Country News/Numlock)

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This Week in Shelby County" works by George L. Stubbs Sr. are owned by the Shelby County Historical Society (Grover Center) and used with permission.

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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.

20 YEARS AGO: 2002
Compton’s Cow Palace Restaurant was sold by Janet Compton and her sister-in-law, Pat, to long-time manager Norma Zimmerman, who had been the restaurant manager for eight years, and worked there for 15. Norma had managed the Mac’s Steakhouse on East State Road 44 for 10 years before starting at the Cow Palace as a waitress. The Comptons were leaving the business after 66 years. Janet’s husband of 36 years, Dan, had passed away in April 2001. Dan had been running the business alone since his brother Jack died in 1994. Janet taught fifth grade at Waldron Elementary School and was active with the United Methodist Church. The business had started when Dan and Jack’s grandfather had a small dairy farm in Edinburgh. Then Claude Compton, their father, and Claude’s brother Roy started the two retail stores in Shelbyville in 1936, after purchasing Green’s Dairy here. The store and offices at 1424 and 1500 S. Harrison St. would close for the final time at 2 p.m. on December 31.

30 YEARS AGO: 1992
Magician Frank Dailey performed two sold-out shows at the Shelby Community Theater, 16 S. Tompkins St.

40 YEARS AGO: 1982
The career-high scoring total that Triton Central’s Mark Stephenson established on a Friday lasted only 24 hours as the senior center followed his 26-point point effort with a 32-point performance to lead the unbeaten Tigers over visiting Edinburgh. Stephenson was one of four Tigers in double figures. Starters Bill Emmert and Sean Curry added 14 and 12 points for the Tigers, and Kevin Sego chipped in 13.

Blue River Park, on Old Rushville Road, was sold to nine local businessmen: Don Asher, Rudy Thoman, Lew Browning, Joe Bradley, Speedy Cole, Luke Williams, Bill Collins, Cliff Runnebohm and Bob Yeager. The buyers formed Shelby Sports Inc. with Asher as chairman of the board and Thoman as president. Shelby Sports bought the entire park including two softball diamonds, maintenance and concession buildings, the land around the diamonds and the home on the land. The sellers were Jim and Eddie Sleeth and Shelby National Bank, which held and would continue to hold the mortgage. The Sleeths had built the park nearly three years before, and it had become a hub for area fast and slow-pitch softball. Thoman said planned improvements included seven new video games (there were previously three) to be installed in the concession area. Thoman was manager of the Shelbyville Sting and was a local insurance salesman. Asher, although well into his 40s, remained one of the nation’s premier fast-pitch pitchers.

50 YEARS AGO: 1972
Police warned two boys about hunting in the city. The police also responded to a report from Earl Willis, 628 Ninth St, regarding 25 light bulbs that were taken from Christmas decorations outside his home.

60 YEARS AGO: 1962
A Christmas party highlighted by a traditional turkey dinner, a program by the Shelbyville High School Show Group, and the presentation of a special gift to 26-year employee Carl Debaun were all part of the J.G. DePrez Co. event. Debaun was manager of the firm’s TV and radio service department. He was presented with a wristwatch by W.O. Scott, vice-president. Other employees with 25 or more years of service were D. Wray DePrez, Hattie Hendrickson, Perry Briley, Ora Mann, Paul Tillison, Richard Meltzer and Raymond Farrow. Approximately 70 attended the annual gathering.

A newspaper photo showed Major School sixth-grade chorus members Susan Lewis, Brenda Lee, Anna Zeller and Jimmy Horner preparing to perform for the Music Study Club meeting at the Chicken and Steak Inn. The chorus was under the direction of Mary Elizabeth Lyon.

70 YEARS AGO: 1952
Capt. and Mrs. Robert Eichelsdoerfer of 56 W. Mechanic St. received their fifth letter in two years from their son, First Lt. Howard Eichelsdoerfer, a prisoner of war in North Korea. Eichelsdoerfer had been captured by Communists in 1950.

80 YEARS AGO: 1942
Christmas gifts advertised at Bradley Hall Furniture included a cedar chest - “to store her treasures in ‘til Johnnie comes marching home” - for $19 ($350 in today’s money) or with a walnut veneer for $35 ($640 in today’s money).

90 YEARS AGO: 1932
The 500th subscription was received for the Shelbyville High School Squib yearbook. School officials said the book would not print unless 500 orders were received. Eleanor Jones was yearbook editor. John Ross, member of the 1932 graduating class and a freshman at Franklin College, bought the first 1933 Squib. Amelia Auxier, who edited the 1932 yearbook and was a student at Hanover College, purchased the 500th Squib. The 499th yearbook went to Louise Meloy, class of 1931. Wilbur Pell and Paul Freeland were business managers for the endeavor.

J.L. Wayne, of the Indiana Bell Telephone Company, addressed the Shelbyville Kiwanis Club about the invention of television. He called the possibilities “great” but said much of the device was still “impractical.” Wayne explained how photoelectric cells worked and the process of making televisions work.

100 YEARS AGO: 1922
A small fire occurred in John Sigler’s Jewelry Store, 103 S. Harrison St. The fire department put it out with a bucket of water. The fire was caused by a lit cigar thrown into a wastepaper basket.

James Sykes, who had been operating a jewelry store on Public Square, sold his stock of goods to a businessman from Chicago who planned to sell the items at auction.

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INCIDENTS

• Thefts were reported in the 1200 block of Central Park Dr., 7100 block of E 200 N, Shelbyville and 100 block of Progress Road, Shelbyville; the 7500 block of W 800 N, Fairland; and 7300 block of E 650 S, St. Paul.

• Burglary was reported in the 5700 block of N. Frontage Road, Fairland.

• JAIL BOOK-INS: Samuel T.G. Bultman, 29, possession of syringe; Steven T. Mannweiler, 38, OVWI-prior.

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OBITUARIES

Arthur R Mann, 73, of Shelbyville, passed away Tuesday, December 13, 2022 at Waldron Healthcare. He was born July 31, 1949 in Lebanon, Kentucky to Frank and Lizzy May (Lindsey) Mann.

Mr. Mann graduated from Shelbyville High School in 1969. He served in the Air Force. He was employed at KB Factory in Franklin, IN

Arthur is also survived by his sisters, Joyce Sipes (husband, Jerry) of St Paul, IN, and Janet Krise (husband Larry), of Shelbyville, IN, and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and several brothers and sisters.

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