Fishers Police have arrested an Indianapolis man in connection with an early Monday morning robbery at the 116th Street and Cumberland Road Kroger Store.

Corey D. Hooten, 47, is in the Hamilton County Jail facing felony counts of Theft and Robbery, plus misdemeanor charges of Resisting Law Enforcement and Possession of Paraphernalia.

Police say they responded to a report of a store employee being threatened by a man suspected of stealing merchandise, in the early morning hours of July 2nd.  The employee described the suspect for officers as a black male wearing an orange shirt and black pants. The suspect fled in a green Honda passenger car.

A Fishers officer observed a green Honda traveling on Brooks School Road and pulled the car over.  A man in the vehicle matched the description of the robbery suspect, and ran from the car.  A search involving multiple police agencies resulted in an apprehension of the suspect several hours later.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

In a surprise last minute move, County Democratic Chairman Joe Weingarten announced the filing of candidates for County Clerk and County Coroner in this year’s upcoming election.

Earlier the chairman had indicated it looked as though there would be no Democratic candidates for the two county offices.

Filing for clerk is Cathy Sutton, Noblesville resident and employee of Zionsville Community Schools. She will be opposing Kathy Richardson, the Republican candidate and retiring member of the Indiana House of Representatives.

Running for coroner is Karin Anderson, a Fishers resident and an anthropologist. She will challenge incumbent Coroner John Chalfin in the November general election.

With the passing of today’s noon deadline, the stage is now set for the general election with Democrats having more local candidates than they have fielded in many years.

I think I was about ten years old when my brother and I opened a Kool-Aid stand in front of our house.  Looking back, we didn’t have much of a business plan.  We lived on a not-very-busy side street and just a few neighbors came by.  We didn’t make much money.

But young people are much more serious about their business endeavors today.  They are into much more than liquid refreshment.

This Saturday’s Fishers Farmers Market near City Hall will feature more than 40 booths with young business people ranging in age from five to 17.  Items up for sale will include handmade crafts, hand-grown produce and much more.  There will be young people with booths featuring photography, art kits and handmade decor.  Those are just of few of the offerings you will see Saturday.

Once again, that’s the Biz Kidz Day at the Fishers Farmers Market,  Saturday, July 14 from 8 AM – Noon.

I have never tried to create a summer festival from scratch.  I have covered others charged with doing such a task, but never have I been part of the effort myself.  I got a small taste of that as the work was going on during the first Spark!Fishers Festival Saturday.

Summer festivals are not new to Fishers.  We had the Fishers Freedom Festival from 1989 through 2017.  I won’t go into what happened with the Freedom Festival, all I can say is that I enjoyed that festival each year as a Fishers resident since 1991, and we as a community should thank all the dedicated volunteers that made the Freedom Festival a summer tradition locally.

But when it became clear the Freedom Festival would not host an event in 2018, the city announced January 30th this year that a new Spark!Fishers Festival would be held at roughly the same time of year as the Freedom Fest of the past.  Let me put that into some perspective for you.  Putting together a festival such as Spark!Fishers for the first time normally takes 2-3 years.  The city had a few months to do this.

There is one variable festival planners cannot control – the weather.  You don’t want rain and you don’t want oppressive heat.  This year, Spark!Fishers dealt with the heat. I was not able to arrive at the festival until about 4pm Saturday, the hottest time of the day.

There was a crowd there but it wasn’t large, and the heat had something to do with that.  People started showing up around 6pm in anticipation of the parade.

Let me say at this point that I was a volunteer at the Freedom Festival, serving as a judge for the contest involving decorated bikes and wagons.  I loved every second of that.

At the Spark!Fishers Festival, I was asked to host a public address system setup at 116th Street and Municipal Drive.  I had been involved in parade’s before, and every parade has an order of the units and every parade gets out of order and some units don’t make it.  It doesn’t matter how large or small you parade may be, this happens.

I was very fortunate to have two outstanding Fishers High School incoming seniors to work with me…Joey Cerone and Max Keithley.  It helped that these two young men had experience as announcers for the Fishers Sports Network.  Calling sports on a live event requires that you think on your feet.  Both these young men did that, and we all worked together very well.

I have been reading the comments on social media about the festival.  There are some that are disappointed that this festival doesn’t measure up to what they remember from the Freedom Festival.  Others have praised the Spark!Fishers celebration.

In my view, it will take about two more Spark!Fishers Festivals to reach a final verdict on this.  I do know tons of city staff members, along was an army of volunteers, worked very hard on this inaugural summer event. I was at the City Hall volunteer nerve center for about an hour working on my part of the volunteer effort and found it a very busy place, with volunteers and city staff going in and out, working to keep the festival going.

I will address one rumor I found on social media.  Mayor Scott Fadness was in the parade, but he and his family were in the back seat of a closed vehicle.  The mayor’s wife is expecting their second child in late August and she needed to be cared for while handling the parade route.

As I tried to do at past Fishers Freedom Festivals, I took a ton of pictures at Spark!Fishers.  Because I was tied-up on the public address system, I was only able to snap one photo of the parade, but I have many others,

Here are my photos from the inaugural Spark!Fishers Festival:

Continue reading Inaugural Spark!Fishers Festival Is History →

by 

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton County Democrats have discarded the names of Jefferson and Jackson for their annual county dinner and rally. This year the event will be called the Triple J Dinner. The name comes from the first name initials of the party’s state ticket: Jim Harper, candidate for Secretary of State; John Aguilera, running for state treasurer and Joselyn Whittaker, for auditor.

The three will all be speaking at the dinner July 21 at the Carmel American Legion Post 155. They will oppose Republican incumbents who currently hold the three Statehouse offices.

The name of the dinner party is being changed because party leaders believe political correctness dictates the names of former presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson should no longer be used because both men were slave owners. Next year another more permanent name will be chosen for the event.

Meanwhile, as the deadline arrived for filing Democratic candidates, County Chairman Joe Weingarten reported the names of four township candidates added to the party ticket. The political party has the right to appoint candidates when none filed for an office in the primary election.

David Russ will be running against incumbent Republican Douglas Callahan for Clay Township Trustee. Marie DeMore was named a candidate for Noblesville Township Board, Rachna Greulach will run for the Fall Creek Township Board and Janet Scearce is a candidate for the Jackson Township Board.

In countywide races, most Republican candidates will be elected without opposition in November. Democrats are running Jason Straw for sheriff against Republican nominee Dennis Quakenbush, and Rosemary Dunkle for county commissioner against incumbent Christine Altman. Weingarten candidly noted his party has a very tough time getting candidates to run for major office in Hamilton County due to the well-known Republican political tradition.

by

Richie Hall

Sports Editor 

Hamilton County Reporter

When the 2018 high school football season begins in mid-August, fans of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference teams will see a new opponent on the schedules.

Franklin Central joins the HCC this fall, making the league an eight-team conference once more. With the addition of the Flashes, a conference that has become one of the tougher leagues in Indiana will get even tougher.

While Franklin Central had several years of struggles, the Flashes have turned things around, compiling an 8-2 record last season and winning the championship in their finale of participating in Conference Indiana.

The addition of Franklin Central means changes for the other HCC schools’ schedules, although none of those changes will be dramatic. In fact, the conference lineup for the four Hamilton County football teams will remain the same as last season.

Fishers will play at the Flashes’ field in Week 7, but otherwise the Tigers’ schedule stays the same. Fishers had hosted different opponents that week in the past two seasons, welcoming Arsenal Tech in 2014, Cathedral in 2015-16 and Roncalli last year.

Hamilton Southeastern has a trip to Franklin Central scheduled for Week 8. The Royals have a change for the season’s first game: Southeastern will open its season at Lucas Oil Stadium, taking on Lawrence Central. The Royals played Kokomo in their opener last year, and Carmel in the previous three years.

Noblesville will play the Flashes in Week 6, replacing Hamilton Heights. The Millers will also be opening their season at Lucas Oil, taking on Cathedral. This ends a four-season series with Lawrence North.

Westfield will finish its season with Franklin Central, hosting the Flashes at Riverview Health Stadium. The Shamrocks will thus end a three-season series with Brebeuf Jesuit. Also ending is a four-season series with Southport in Week 2. This year, Westfield will host Decatur Central that week.

As for the other Hamilton County schools…
Hamilton Heights, has by far the most changes of any school. The only game on its schedule that is the same for the Huskies is its opener: Mount Vernon.

Kokomo is out from Heights’ Week 2 slot, replaced with North Montgomery. The Huskies also replaced Noblesville with West Lafayette, and moved that non-conference opening from Week 6 to Week 3. After that, it’s all Hoosier Conference East Division games for Heights.

Northwestern moves up a week to Week 4, while Western goes from Week 8 to Week 5. Twin Lakes is pushed up a week to Week 6, and Tipton and Western both move back three weeks to Week 7 and Week 8, respectively. The Huskies will play a team from the conference’s West Division in Week 9 to determine placing in the league.

Guerin Catholic will have a few changes this season. The Golden Eagles replaced Martinsville with McCutcheon in Week 1. Guerin will now play Columbus North in Week 5, ending a four-year series with now-closed Broad Ripple.

The Golden Eagles’ game with Brebeuf Jesuit has been moved back a week, from Week 7 to Week 8 and replaces Bowman Academy. Guerin Catholic will travel to Pontiac, Mich. in Week 7 this year to play Pontiac Notre Dame.

Sheridan’s schedule is mostly the same, with two late-season changes. The Blackhawks replaced Tipton with Seeger in Week 7, and South Decatur with Heritage Christian in Week 9.

Carmel will keep its schedule exactly the same as last year. The Greyhounds will host Louisville Trinity in their opener, then play at Noblesville in Week 2 before diving into Metropolitan Conference play.

Here’s a list of the 2018 HSE & Fishers football schedules, courtesy John Harrell’s website:

FISHERS
Aug. 17: at North Central
Aug. 24: Pike
Aug. 31: Noblesville
Sept. 7: at Hamilton Southeastern
Sept. 14: Brownsburg
Sept. 21: at Avon
Sept. 28: at Franklin Central
Oct. 5: Westfield
Oct. 12: at Zionsville

HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN
Aug. 17: Lawrence Central at Lucas Oil Stadium
Aug. 24: North Central
Aug. 31: at Avon
Sept. 7: Fishers
Sept. 14: at Westfield
Sept. 21: Zionsville
Sept. 28: at Noblesville
Oct. 5: at Franklin Central
Oct. 12: Brownsburg