For many years, the 50,000 watt radio station out of Cincinnati, Ohio, WLW, had a slogan to encourage people to keep listing to their station – “You miss a day, you miss a lot.”
In other words, miss a day of radio from us if you dare, but you will miss too much in the process.
I feel that way about Fishers any more. My wife Jane & I traveled out of town for a few days, and upon my return, I found that there was a lot I had missed. So I spent about a week trying to catch-up. I am not certain I am up-to-date completely.
Bur, here are a few news tidbits I never had the chance to publish as I swam (sinking sometimes) in catch-up mode.
–Delaware Township in Hamilton County, which takes in a large part of Fishers, was honored recently at a state gathering. I have asked for more details, but have not received a response as of this writing.
–Leah McGrath, Deputy Mayor in Fishers, has written about the planned Nickel Plate Trail, in the Forefront opinion section of the Indianapolis Business Journal. She describes the city’s plans for the trail and how public input will be part of that process. She acknowledges the opposition to the trail from certain groups locally and presents the city’s side of how we got here. You can read the entire piece at this link.
–The City of Fishers was recognized at the recent Nickel Plate Arts Awards as the Emerging Arts Champion of the Year. This honor is awarded annually to an individual or entity that supports local arts and artists through collaboration, promotional efforts and creativity.
–Hamilton Southeastern Schools has received the 2018 Clean Air Award from the National Air Filtration Association (NAFA). Local school officials describe this as a very prestigious award. HSE Schools was one of only 32 recipients across the country to receive this honor.
–Sand Creek Elementary has been named Indiana Primary School of the Year and National Rookies of the Year by the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project. The school received this honor due, in part, to the work of Second Grade Teacher Katie Luck and her class for their Energy Action Plan project. Students had the opportunity to travel to the NEED Youth Energy Conference and Awards back in June, which is held in Washington, D.C.
A date of Oct. 22 has been set for a caucus of the Noblesville Republican precinct organization to choose a successor to Mary Sue Rowland, who recently resigned from the City Council. Mrs. Rowland, longtime council member and former mayor, resigned on Sept. 17 leaving an unexpired term of 15 months to be filled. Any legal resident of the city is eligible to run for the at-large position. Several citizens are expected to show interest.
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The Hamilton County League of Women Voters will hold a public forum for local state legislative candidates on Oct. 2 at the Noblesville City Hall. Republican and Democratic candidates for state senate and house will appear to present their positions on current issues and answer questions at 7 p.m. in the city council meeting room.
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County and municipal officials have been disappointed to learn that Local Income Tax distributions for next year will increase only about 2 percent from this year. The state collected a tax of 1 percent on individual incomes. The tax along with property taxes make up the lifeblood of local governments. In recent years, collections have increased by as much as 10 percent thanks to the number of new residents and higher incomes. Next year the county and its municipal governments will share about $156.5 million. The reason for the smaller than expected increase is unclear, but officials, feeling there might be something wrong in the calculations, are working to determine the reason for such a relatively small increase.
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In this fall’s election, voters in Atlanta will determine whether or not to reduce the number of members on its town council. Currently the town is able to have a five-member council. If a voter referendum passes, the number will be reduced to three. Apparently the lack of those willing to run for the council is the reason for the proposal to reduce membership.
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Carmel kicked off its high school homecoming activities Thursday evening with a tribute to widely-known former Carmel High School principal, the late Dale Graham. He was with the school system 36 years, serving as principal the last 25 years before retiring in 1989. The auditorium where the tribute was held is named for Graham. The Carmel Clay Historical Society sponsored the event.
Hamilton Southeastern’s Matt Harris (4) fights for yardage while Noblesville’s Skylar Tolliver (55) stands up on defense. (Reporter photo by Kent Graham)
It was Senior Night for Noblesville’s at Beaver Materials Field on Friday night and
that always has a special meeting for the players and the community. While it isn’t the
final home game of the season, Noblesville will be on fall break when they host Avon
in two weeks and the HSE game serves as the Senior Night game.
The Millers were in control from the start of the game and took advantage of
numerous HSE miscues on their way to a convincing 21-7 win over the Royals on
Friday night.
After trading punts the first few series of the game, Noblesville’s offense was able to
sustain a solid offensive drive that took over five minutes off of the clock. Grant Gremel
capped off the drive with a four-yard touchdown pass to Wyatt Blades for a 7-0 Miller
lead.
The Royals then put together a good series of their own and it came down to a
fourth down and three at the Miller 17.
Kicker Mitch Hebenstreit missed a 34-yard field goal attempt wide left.
HSE would get the ball back after a Noblesville punt and once again in the
second quarter, the Royals were in prime position to tie the game. Instead, junior QB
Kody Sparks threw on first and ten at the Miller 28 and was picked off in the end zone
by Zach Gruver, his sixth interception of the season.
“We work really hard in the film room. I think for us, we’ve kind of changed the way
we prepare for games,” stated Noblesville first-year head coach Justin Roden on his
team’s game preparation.
“Our kids tonight, especially on defense, there wasn’t anything tonight that they hadn’t
seen,” said Roden on the Miller defense and how they didn’t flinch at anything HSE
brought at them.
The Miller defense showed up early and often and set the tone from the opening
kickoff, limiting the Southeastern offense, but more importantly, keeping them off of
the scoreboard as long as they possibly could.
“If you give them credit, right, there’s a reason they’ve shut out multiple people this
year,” said first-year Hamilton Southeastern head coach Adam Morris on Noblesville’s
defense.
“They’re good. They came out and did stuff a little bit different than we thought and
I thought they schemed us pretty well,” said Morris on the Millers’ offensive effort
against his Royals’ D.
“I don’t think they really gashed us, but we gave up a couple long runs, but overall,
we just didn’t play well enough to win,” said Morris, who was disappointed, but complimented Noblesville’s efforts in beating his Royals.
Noblesville received the third quarter kickoff and didn’t waste any time to get their
second score of the night. First play from scrimmage from the 34, senior tailback Luke
Blevins had a highlight reel run on Senior Night that he’ll never forget. Blevins ran
right into the pile and bounced himself outside his left tackle and was all alone to
the end zone down the HSE sideline for a 66-yard touchdown run, putting the Millers
up 14-0 just 19 seconds into the second half.
After a couple more drives for each offense ending in punts, HSE found their
offense in a hole and forced to punt again.
This time, Noblesville’s special teams came up big.
Eddie Dziennik busted around the outside and blocked the punt by Mitch
Hebenstreit. Justin Johnson-Sparks picked up the ball at the 12 and raced into the end
zone for a touchdown and the Millers now stood tall at 21-0, late in the third.
It wasn’t until the middle of the fourth that Hamilton Southeastern was able to
finally put together a drive that resulted in points.
They marched confidently down the field, but it would wind up being too little,
too late. Kody Sparks tossed a touchdown pass to Jackson Lantz from six yards out that
would account for the final score of 21-7, a Senior Night victory for Noblesville.
“At the end there, we kind of mentally broke down, because we kind of got happy.
You know, it was 21-0. We haven’t been up on anybody like that and so we kind of felt
good about ourselves,” said Roden, who was disappointed his defense gave up a touchdown
Noblesville did what they had to do in limiting the yardage of a dangerous tailback
in Matt Harris, who came into the game averaging 5.7 yards per carry. The Millers
held Harris in check for the most part, allowing 118 yards on 30 carries.
They also forced HSE into passing the ball, which wasn’t able to produce like the
Royals had hoped. Sparks finished 15-of-29 for 87 yards with a TD and an INT.
There were also offensive improvements for Noblesville. It seemed like a much more
confident Grant Gremel, but that confidence is a direct result of winning.
Gremel went 8-for-14 for 54 yards and a TD on the night, but mainly was poised
and confident throughout in orchestrating the Millers to the win.
“We didn’t turn it over tonight. We’re a lot better than we were those first two
weeks,” said Roden, talking about how much his team has improved since opening
the season with consecutive losses to Cathedral and Carmel.
Noblesville improved their season overall with their fourth win in five HCC
games. On a historical note, this is the first season in Miller football history that the
team has defeated Fishers, Westfield and Hamilton Southeastern. That fact is courtesy
of Andrew Trisler of the Noblesville athletic department.
Hamilton Southeastern (3-4, 2-3 HCC) hits the road next week as they’ll try to keep
Franklin Central winless in HCC play. The Flashes dropped to 0-5 in the league, losing
at home to Fishers on Friday, 17-12.
Noblesville (4-3, 4-1 HCC) improved its season and will hit the road next week and
face conference leader Brownsburg (7-0, 5-0). The 6A No. 2 Bulldogs won in a
shootout with a basketball score at Zionsville, 70-52 on Friday.
Luke Blevins led the Millers with a game-high 135 yards on 22 rushes, highlighted
by his 66-yard jaunt in the third.
Fishers picked up its first Hoosier Crossroads Conference victory of the season on
Friday, as the Tigers beat new HCC opponent Franklin Central 17-12 at the Flashes’ field.
The Tigers got on the board first, when Jack Phillips hit a 25-yard field goal at the 7:30
mark of the first quarter. FC took the lead later in the period on a 3-yard touchdown run,
but Fishers took it back at the start of the second quarter when HL Lewis ran the ball in
from the 2-yard line. Lewis would lead the Tigers’ rushing with 90 yards in 21 carries.
The Flashes scored with 14 seconds left in the half on a short touchdown pass to lead
12-10 at halftime. But the Tigers got the lead back for good when Roman Molden
intercepted a Franklin Central pass and ran 79 yards for a touchdown. Phillips kicked the
extra point on both TDs.
Fishers’ defense took over in the fourth quarter, forcing an FC turnover after a drive
that lasted nearly six minutes. The Flashes had one more chance, but Josh Ibey and
Geoffrey Brown made sacks and Alex Lemaich made a quarterback-pressure play to force
a turnover on downs.
The Tigers are 2-5 overall and will host Westfield next Friday.
I continue my podcast series featuring candidates for Hamilton Southeastern School Board, In this episode, I talk with District 2 candidate Frank Whelan.
Fishers Police are alerting local residents, after receiving a report of a vehicle theft in the parking lot of Brooks School Elementary Thursday evening.
The owner of the car says she parked in the school lot at about 4:40pm and went inside the school building. When returning to the vehicle a short time later, she found the driver’s side window broken and her purse missing, along with other personal items.
Police provided a picture of a vehicle parked next to the victim’s vehicle, an older model Blue Chevy Tahoe or Suburban SUV parked next to the victim’s at 4:47pm. (See picture above)
The person reporting this theft discovered her credit car had been used in two Washington Square stores. Detectives are working to get security camera images from those establishments.
Anyone with information regarding this crime is asked to contact Fishers Police Department Detective Edgar Holmes at 317-595-3300
Fishers Police are taking this opportunity to remind local residents the following:
Lock it, Hide it, Keep it.
This habit will help ensure that you do not become a victim of this crime. Lock your car every time you exit. Hide valuables. Never leave items of value in plain sight. Keep personal property and items of value with you when you leave your vehicle.
It is also likely someone possibly observed the suspect(s) and/or the suspect vehicle. In addition to implementing simple, common sense safety precautions we also encourage residents to immediately call 911 whenever they see suspicious people, cars, and/or activity. People sitting in parked cars on public parking lots is an example of suspicious activity. The police department should be notified immediately.
Over 21,000 pounds of pasta is being donated to 7 local food banks. The 20,152 pounds shown in this picture does not include the last collection of pasta
The Pasta Bowl food drive is over, with a record-setting amount of pasta being donated to 7 different local food banks. HSE School Board member John DeLucia says more that 21,000 pounds of pasta have been collected throughout the local school district.
Last year’s total was just under 14,000 pounds of pasta.
HSE School Board member John DeLucia talks with the manager of the Meijer store on 96th Street
Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools will see a nearly 4% increase in the 2019 district budget, but the tax rate will decline slightly. HSE Chief Financial Officer Mike Reuter told board members increased assessed valuations of property within the district boundaries is allowing for the increased spending with little impact on the school corporation’s tax rate.
The $242.85 million 2019 budget will contain some big changes in the local school corporation’s accounting system. Capital projects, transportation and school bus replacement will now be lumped into one Operations Fund. Reuter says he favors the state law changes allowing more financial flexibility for school corporations.
A public hearing on the budget was held, but no one chose to speak.
The school board is expected to give final passage to the 2019 budget next month.
A body found near the docks of Geist Marina Tuesday morning has been identified. Fishers Police say there are no signs of foul play at this time.
According to my news-gathering partners at the Hamilton County Reporter, the body has been identified by the Hamilton county Coroner’s Office as Barry Ramage, 44, from Fishers.
A man contacted Fishers Police about 10am saying he saw what he believed to be a dead body floating in the lake. The Fishers Police & Fire Joint Rescue and Recovery Team responded and found a male body in the lake.
Fishers Police spokesman Tom Weger tells LarryInFishers the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office will perform an autopsy.
Although Weger says there are no signs of foul play at this time, this is still an active police investigation.
I’m no expert on translating dog years to human years, but I know enough to say 8 years of K9 service is a long time. According to my news-gathering partners at the Hamilton County Reporter, K9 Scout of the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department retired Monday after years of faithful service to the residents of Hamilton County.
Since entering active service in July 2010, Scout and handler Deputy Neal Hoard answered approximately 363 calls for K9 service resulting in 33 finds of criminals, missing persons, mental health and suicidal subjects.
Scout and Deputy Hoard also impacted thousands of lives through 149 demonstrations conducted over the years.
