Wednesday, February 26, 2025
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City Joint Plan Commission-BZA Meeting Includes 2024 Review
The Shelbyville Board of Zoning Appeals and Plan Commission met Monday to receive an annual update from Adam Rude, City Planning Director. Among the highlights shared in the report include:
There were 253 new housing units permitted in 2024, including a record 103 single-family homes.
There was over $76 million invested in new construction throughout the city last year.
The department followed up on 784 code enforcement cases, a 97.9 percent increase from 2023. Violations totaled 848, a 64 percent increase from the prior year.
The department’s goal is for residents to handle issues before they are referred to the Board of Public Works. In 2024, the number of cases needing intervention by the BOW was 126 of the 784 cases, equating to 16.1 percent, a significant decrease from 35.1 percent in 2023.
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NOTEBOOK:
Shelbyville High School basketball player Hannah Baker, a junior, was named to the HHC All-Conference team.
An ambulance backed into an unoccupied car at Willows of Shelbyville on S. Miller Street. There was no damage to the ambulance, but the vehicle sustained damage to the front fender.
HOOSIER NEWS: Utilities that want to build a new power plant on the site of an old one — or a former coal mine — could bypass local zoning and land use laws under an Indiana Senate bill that passed last Thursday. The author of Senate Bill 425, Sen. Eric Koch (R-Bedford), talked about the goals of the bill. “To encourage energy production to be built in areas where it already is," he said. That could help communities that host coal plants set to retire to retain jobs and tax revenue. Building power plants near things like electric lines can also save utility customers money. Koch said he modeled the bill after Indiana Michigan Power’s ordinance with Spencer County to locate a small modular nuclear reactor on the site of its Rockport coal plant. The bill specifically exempts wind and solar farms from bypassing local zoning laws. For years, renewable energy companies have said the patchwork of local ordinances has made it difficult for them to build in Indiana. The bill now moves to the House for consideration. (Indiana Public Media)
NATIONAL NEWS: The literary tradition of the United States runs through the mass-market paperback. Found at airports and big box stores, it is the purest indication that not only has a book broken through to the mainstream, but it has broken through, stuck around and started setting up a permanent residency in the mainstream. But the reality is that they are dying out. This is in no small part because the fans of mystery and romance that served as the bedrock of the mass market paperback have largely switched to e-readers. Last year, mass market paperback sales fell 19.3 percent to 21 million units. In what may be a death knell for the format, Readerlink — which accounted for 60 percent to 70 percent of the mass market paperback sales in the U.S. — announced that it will stop distributing them to its customers, including heavy hitters like Walmart, Kroger and Hudson News. (Publishers Weekly/Numlock)
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SHS Courier Archive Highlights
Feb. 19, 1931, Part II
Mr. Sims asked, “If the moon is two million miles away, how long will it take an aeroplane traveling at 100 miles an hour to reach it?” Jim Lee responded, “How much gasoline did it start with?” In response to Miss Kinsley’s question, “What wasn’t here 100 years ago?” William Spiegel answered, “Me.”
Shelbyville defeated Columbus, 21-20, with a late-game free throw from Leap and an overall great game by Richey. In the next game, the Mackmen defeated Shortridge, 24-23, with Gunning, Leap and Richey all hitting big shots late.
A nine-team intramural basketball league had formed at the junior high.
Nelson Hodges, 21, had returned to school. He had stayed home for four years due to illness. He had played on the basketball team, but the IHSAA ruled mid-season he could not participate due to his age.
The Courier predicted Greensburg would not play in the Columbus regional due to four “good reasons”: Lawrenceburg, North Vernon, Boonville and St. Paul.
SHS’s 65-member band led a parade of 100 automobiles throughout the city to advertise the Lions Club benefit basketball game held at Paul Cross Gym.
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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 by The Addison Times from Shelby County Public Library Genealogy Department materials.
2005: The Strand Theatre showed “Hoosiers”. Milan High School basketball players Gene White, Roger Schroder, Ray Craft and Glen Butte, who were on the 1954 state championship team, were on hand for the film.
St. Joseph Catholic School students Jake Laker, Melanie Lewis and Adam Price were winners of the school’s annual Brain Game competition.
After 12 years with Shelbyville Central Schools, Superintendent James Peck announced he would retire at the end of the year. His wife Janet Peck taught at Coulston, his daughter Jennifer Vassar taught kindergarten at Loper and his son Jim Peck was a junior at Shelbyville High School. (Upon Mr. Peck's passing in 2007, his wife, Janet, established the James Peck Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Blue River Community Foundation. To celebrate Jim's legacy of being a teacher, administrator, and a coach, the fund provides scholarship awards to SHS athletes who are seeking a degree in education and demonstrate hard work ethics. Since fund inception, $7,150 in scholarship awards have been administered to 14 individual students in memory of Mr. Peck.)
1995: Salvation Army officials asked that locals drop off more resalable clothing and no trash at their thrift store. Neighbors had been complaining about the large amount of trash bags left after-hours.
1985: The Shelbyville Board of Public Works hired Michael Neu and Roderick Dickmann as new firemen.
A malfunctioning temperature control on a vapor degreasing machine caused a fire at Brazeway on Lincoln Ave. It took local firemen over two hours to extinguish the fire. Kenneth Thomas, 72, a citizen who took coffee and water to the firemen, received a forehead laceration when he fell. He was treated at the scene.
1975: Chris Graebe (Shelbyville Junior High School) won the county spelling bee. Rounding out the top five were Nancy Marshall (Loper), Steve Rouse (Pearson), Steve Gosnell (Morristown) and Kelly Yeager (Loper).
Marion Elementary student Sherri Fogle won the SCUFFY poster contest and a new bike.
Jim Camp, 9, won his age group’s Pass, Dribble and Shoot contest at the state level in the Optimist Club-sponsored event, hosted at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Sharon (Coffey) Darling, a 1962 Shelbyville High School graduate who had released several songs, was returning to perform a concert at Breck Auditorium. Sharon had lived at the former Gordon Children’s Home between the ages of 6 and 13.
1965: Peter DePrez, who recently broke the Culver Military Academy single game scoring record, was named winner of the first annual Coach’s Trophy as the most valuable player on the team. The presentation was made by Coach Chester Marshall.
Heavy snowfall delayed the James Whitcomb Riley passenger train serving Shelbyville for several hours. Semi-trailer trucks were parked from Public Square to Pennsylvania St. as drivers waited out the storm.
Inductees into Southwestern High School’s National Honor Society were Jean Ann McCain, Roselyn Hill, Carol Basey, Melody Sweet, Nancy Main, Phyllis Branson, Sondra Eckstrand, Nancy Wimner, Tim Reeb, Dan South, Eddie Petro, Dwain Jones, Mike Ropp, Bob Cortelyou and Mike Jones.
1955: Richard Merrick, local lightweight who won a Golden Gloves trophy in Terre Haute, was coached by David Howard, Booker T. Washington Rec. boxing coach.
1945: Major Gordon Haggard, former Hope physician, was a prisoner of war in Germany. He had been listed as missing in action. Cpl. William Dodd, of Fairland, had been killed in Luxembourg, government officials notified his mother.
1935: Indiana University defeated rival Purdue. IU was led by three players: Willard Kehrt and Kenneth Gunning of Shelbyville and Fred Fechtman, Indianapolis, who had been coached by Morris “Bill” Neu, Shelbyville. Former Shelbyville coach H.T. McCullough, who was coaching in Crawfordsville, was at the game. It was Kehrt’s last game on the home court. Some 150 locals attended the game, including Lillian and Helen Pumphrey, Norman Thurston, John Leap, Glenn Plymate, Alfred “Peedad” Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Graham, Kermit Graham, Gerald Richey and Clyde Richey.
Additional playground equipment was installed at Hendricks school. The equipment consisted of two “giant strides” pieces built on the order of a maypole but provided with ladders for children to swing.
1925: Local high school boys canvassed the city to find every available barrel and box, which were used for a large bonfire following Shelbyville’s basketball victory over Tech of Indianapolis.
1915: Maple sap was flowing, but there were so few sugar trees left standing in the county that most of the farmers who had them on their farms made only small quantities of molasses for their own use, The Republican said.
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OBITUARIES
Cena Marthene Chapman, 101, of Morristown, and most recently of Ashford Place Health Campus in Shelbyville, went home to be with her Lord on Saturday, February 22, 2025. Born on February 21, 1924, in Van Buren Township, Shelby County, she was the youngest of five children born to Harry B. and Mary (Winton) Cole. She married Paul E. Chapman in Paris, Texas, on July 29, 1945, while he was stationed there for basic training at Camp Maxey with the U.S. Army. He preceded her in death on June 24, 2008.
Cena attended grade school at Jericho and then Morristown High School, graduating co-valedictorian in 1942. During the war, she worked at Kennedy Carliner (KCL) in Shelbyville and helped her parents on the farm. After the war, she and Paul moved to the Brown Farm on the Shelby/Hancock county line in the Morristown area, then in 1951 relocated to the farm that Paul’s family had homesteaded. She took an active part in the farming operation, especially the dairy. Cena was active in the Fountaintown Christian Church since her youth, baptized on Easter Sunday, April 13, 1941. She was a member of the Mite Society there and a longtime Sunday School teacher of the younger children. A charter member of the Van Buren Township Jolly Members 4-H Club, she later was a co-leader of the Hanover Handy Maids 4-H Club. She also was an active member of school organizations while her children were in school and attended their programs and events, as well as those of her grandchildren later on.
It was only natural Cena would join the Merry Mixers EH Club, since she was a talented, hard-working domestic engineer. She was a great cook and baker, often tweaking or concocting recipes to her liking and almost always cooking from scratch. She preserved produce from her garden and from fruit trees belonging to her or others, plus gave her surplus away to friends and neighbors. Nothing went to waste. She was also a skilled seamstress, even designing her own creations when a pattern was not available. Cena enjoyed her flower and vegetable gardens. At age 88, she downsized her gardens to smaller ones, which she maintained until age 92 and potted plants until age 98. She mowed her yard on the rider until May 2022. Hummingbirds were a great source of entertainment and interest in her later years.
Throughout much of her life, Cena had little time for sports on television. That changed when she retired. She enjoyed watching IU basketball and the Colts. However, neither of those teams could generate the zeal she had for the Pacers. She enjoyed roller skating in her younger years, took up bowling when she retired, and Carrom and euchre were favorite games throughout her life. Even until recently, players wanted Cena for their euchre partner, since more often than not, they would win the game. She played trumpet in the orchestra in high school, and occasionally in later years would play a tune, usually a hymn, on it or on the piano, the latter on which she had no formal lessons.
Cena was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, her brothers, Max Cole and Paul Cole, and her sisters, Alice Rush and Lucy Smith. The last of her generation on both sides of her family, Cena is survived by her children: Paula (Mark) Nigh of Shelbyville, and Kevin (Aimee) Chapman of Carthage; grandchildren: Carmen (Andrew) Hawk, Carey Nigh, Ryan (Kaitlin) Nigh, Jason (Christa) Chapman, Justin (Denelle) Chapman, Cole (Heather) Chapman; great-grandchildren: Jacob, Abigail, and Graham Hawk; Reagan, Josephine, Beau, and Hazel Nigh; Trinity and Gavin Chapman; Chase, Jameson, Hanna, and Carson Chapman; and Conner and Braxton Chapman.
Visitation will be at Freeman Family Funeral Home, Frazier Chapel 124 E. North St., Morristown, from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, March 1, with the funeral, officiated by Pastor Joshua Hahn, immediately following at noon. Interment will be at Asbury Cemetery, Morristown. Memorial contributions may be made to the Fountaintown Christian Church, P.O. Box 87, Fountaintown, Ind., 46130, or Hancock Regional Foundation for Suburban Hospice, 801 N. State St., Greenfield, Ind., 46140. Envelopes will be available at the mortuary.
Charles Joseph Lewis, 90, of St. Paul, passed away Sunday, February 23, 2025, at his residence. Born on August 31, 1934, in Shelby County, he was the son of Charles Lloyd Lewis and Mary Prudence (LaBarbera) Lewis. He married Shirley Joann (Jones) Lewis on January 2, 1956, and she survives. Other survivors include two children, Michael Todd (Katrina) Lewis of Cloverdale, Ind., and Anthony “Tony” Joseph Lewis of Decatur County; sister Sylvia Jeanne Lewis of Oregon; three grandchildren, Sarah (Clinton) Johnson, Jenna (Dakota) Lanham, Michael (Arlene) Young; and four great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Richard Anthony Lewis and John Francis Lewis; and sister, Mary Ann Lewis.
Charlie was a lifetime resident of St. Paul and graduated from St. Paul High School. He was owner/operator/mechanic for Charlie’s Corner for many years.
If you feel compelled to do so, in memory of Charlie please do something extra for someone in need or take your loved ones out for pizza. Charlie and Shirley had a date night every Friday night for many years at the Gas and Go in St. Paul. No services will be observed, per Charlie's wishes. Online condolences may be shared at glennegeorgeandson.com.
Rev. Linda S. Smallwood, 75, of Shelbyville, passed away Thursday, February 20, 2025, at Waldron Health & Rehab. Born April 6, 1949, in Indianapolis. she was the daughter of Edward L. Smallwood and Ruth E. (White) Wagner. Survivors include a brother, William Smallwood (Linda) of Indianapolis; a sister, Mary Stratton (Paul) of Indianapolis; five nieces; and numerous friends across the country, as well as hundreds of “children” and “grandchildren” and orphans in India and Nepal, where she served the Lord as a missionary for more than 10 years. She was preceded in death by her parents.
Ms. Smallwood had lived in this area for six years, after moving from Cleveland, Ohio. She graduated from Ben Davis High School in 1967 and was online pastor of My Redeemer's Life Church, a book author, as well as a missionary. She was a U.S. Army veteran, serving for seven years and attaining the rank of Sergeant. Linda loved her God, gardening, watching religious programs on TV, and dearly loved her cat, Chinnaw Peelee.
No services are planned at this time. Online condolences may be shared at glennegeorgeandson.com.
Janet Kay Riggs, 75, of Greenfield, passed away on Monday, February 24, 2025, at Franciscan St. Francis Health in Indianapolis. She was born September 26, 1949, in Shelbyville, the daughter of James E. and Jean (Huber) Jones. On December 14, 1968, she married James W. Riggs, and he preceded her in death on March 6, 2011. She married Stephen Plunkett on September 18, 2021, and he survives. In addition to Stephen, Janet is survived by her children, Regina Owens and husband, Scott, of Alexandria, Jennifer Tungate and husband, Brandon, of Franklin, and Jimmy Riggs of Shelbyville; step-children, Tim Plunkett and wife, Jenna, of Greenfield, and Amanda Yockey and husband, DeWayne, of Morristown; son-in-law, Mo Tatman of Indianapolis; brother, Jimmie Jones and wife, Rosanne of Shelbyville; sister, Carol (Jones) Graves of Alabama; grandchildren, Savannah Owens, Boston Owens, Noah Tatman, Ethan Tatman, Isabel Tatman, Silas Tungate, Foster Tungate, Walden Tungate, Witten Tungate, Adylynn Riggs, Samantha Riggs, Paige Riggs, Samantha Yockey, Madaline Yockey, Grayson Plunkett and Alyse Plunkett. She was also preceded in death by her parents; daughter, Rebecca Tatman; and granddaughter, Lillian Plunkett.
In 1967, she graduated from Shelbyville High School. She formerly worked for Jim Riggs Abstracting, in title research. Afterwards, Janet was an IRS enrolled agent for Liberty Tax Service. Janet was an accomplished artist and loved to paint. She enjoyed traveling, board games and trivia games. She also leaves behind her cats, Queen and Itty Bitty, aka Broken tail.
Visitation will be from 1 to 3 p.m., Sunday, March 2, 2025, at Freeman Family Funeral Homes and Crematory, Carmony-Ewing Chapel, 819 S. Harrison St. in Shelbyville. Funeral services will follow at 3 p.m., with Pastor Andy Lee officiating. Interment will be at Miller Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the Shelbyville-Shelby County Animal Shelter, 705 Hale Road, Shelbyville, Ind., 46176 or the American Heart Association, PO Box 840692, Dallas, Texas, 75284-0692. Online condolences may be shared with Janet’s family at www.freemanfamilyfuneralhomes.com.