WISH-TV/Hamilton County Reporter

It’s a sound we’re all familiar hearing: Outdoor warning sirens alerting us to severe weather.

It’s something we take for granted, assuming there’s a universal policy in place to keep us safe. But there are some areas in central Indiana where sirens will be sounded when there is no threat at all.

Outdoor warning sirens are for public safety, alerting those outside to get inside. They’re usually placed in highly populated areas near a park or sports complex.

“I think they still serve a purpose today,” said Hamilton County EMA Director Shane Booker.

Booker

Here in Hamilton County, while in storm operations mode, each of these stations serves a purpose, from monitoring storm spotters, watching the radar to sounding the sirens.

“We will sound the sirens in the event of a tornado warning that the NWS [National Weather Service] polygon is for a particular portion of the county and we will sound sirens where the siren sound covers that polygon,” Booker said.

While most counties in central Indiana follow the same protocol, there is no statewide policy and it’s up to local municipalities on when they sound sirens.

Monroe County, for example, has the capability to sound each siren separately but its policy is all or none. For example, when a tornado warning is issued for Stinesville in the northern part of the county, sirens in Harrodsburg some 20 miles away would be active, even though there is no severe weather threat there.

“We saw from early on that doesn’t work for us,” said Hamilton County EMA Deputy Director Carl Erickson. “We don’t want people to get content and see it’s sunny outside. So from early on we want the ability to set the sirens off we want to set off.”

Erickson

And while sometimes these sirens can be heard from inside your home, that’s not their main purpose. Outdoor warning sirens are for those who are outdoors and really shouldn’t be your only method for getting severe weather information. Weather radios will go off if there’s a warning in your area, or you can also download the Storm Track 8 app to get warnings, too.

For Erickson, it’s more than just pushing a button on a computer screen. He’s been sounding sirens for more than a decade and considers it a rewarding part of his job.

“It’s a really cool thing to do, to let the public know something bad is going to happen and knowing that this agency had a key role in … that is huge for me,” Erickson said.

by

Richie Hall

Sports Editor

Hamilton County Reporter

Carmel advanced to the Sectional 8 championship game with a 62-52 win over Fishers Friday at the Eric Clark Activity Center.

The Class 4A No. 1 Greyhounds got off to a great start, holding a double-digit lead late in the first quarter, then weathered a comeback by the Tigers in the fourth quarter. Carmel plays Hamilton Southeastern in tonight’s championship game.

“You know that teams are going to make a run,” said Greyhounds coach Ryan Osborn. “You try and prep the guys for it. You know everything’s not going to go exactly the way you want it to.”

Carmel skipped off to a 7-0 lead, with two John Michael Mulloy baskets sandwiching a 3-pointer from Andrew Owens. Luke Hernandez hit a jumper to get Fishers on the board, but the ‘Hounds used a 10-3 run to consume the remainder of the first quarter and lead 17-5. Luke Heady started the run with a 3.

Carmel then made an 8-2 run that lasted most of the second period and gave it a 25-7
lead. Mulloy scored five points, while Ben Frische added the other three points. Alex
Szilagyi ended the run by making a 3, but Robert Fry scored on a layin, then Peter
Suder got a basket off a steal to end the half, giving the Greyhounds a 29-10 lead.

“I thought we started the game well, and we executed and defended. We did everything we needed to do except make free throws in the first half to build a lead,” said
Osborn.

The game tightened up in the second half, but Carmel was able to keep a comfortable distance from Fishers in the third quarter. Mulloy scored six more points in
the third, with Owens hit another 3. Josiah Matthews got going for the Tigers, adding
seven points, then Willie Jackson made two free throws at the very end of the period.

“Playing hard is part of the expectation,” said Fishers coach Matt Moore. “We need
to continue to put four quarters together. If you’re going to try to beat a team like
Carmel, you’ve got to find a way to put an entire game together. And if you do that,
you got a chance. But you can’t turn the ball over the way that we did and dig that hole.
There’s a saying that you can’t win a game in the first half, but you can lose one. And
we did that.”

Hernandez opened the fourth quarter with a 3, keeping Fishers within 41-28, but
Karsten Windlan immediately got the lead back up to 44-28 with a three-point play.
Carmel later led 47-31, but Jackson singlehandedly took the Tigers on an 8-2 run,
making two free throws, draining a 3, then converting a traditional three-point play.
That cut the Greyhounds’ lead to 10, at 49-39.

Szilagyi got the lead under 10 by nailing a 3, putting Fishers within 53-46. Two Jackson free throws then cut the lead further, to 54-48. But Windlan answered by going 4 of 4 from the line during a 15-second period, and that got Carmel out of trouble.

“I’m proud of the seniors,” said Osborn. “I’m proud of their resolve, their ability to
get through stuff.”

Mulloy scored 19 points for the ‘Hounds, who are now 21-1 for the season, with Windlan adding 14 and Owens scoring 11. Owens and Mulloy each collected five rebounds.

Jackson, a senior, scored 18 points and made all 11 of his free throw attempts. Hernandez contributed 11 points, while Matthews, Szilagyi and Jeffrey Simmons all collected four rebounds. Fishers finished its season 17-8.

“Proud of our seniors,” said Moore. “I think our seniors really set the tone, not only
for the season, but for the program. They’ve done something, an uncharted territory in
terms of taking our team to the number of wins we had and the places that we’ve won.
That’s a credit to those guys. We’re going to
miss those guys dearly.”

by

Richie Hall

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern had to fight for it, but the Royals are in the Sectional 8 championship game.

Southeastern got past Noblesville 47-41 in Friday night’s first semi-final game at the Eric Clark Activity Center in Carmel. The Royals will take on the Class 4A No. 1 Greyhounds at 7:30 p.m. tonight for the title.

Southeastern (16-8) jumped out to an 8-2 first-quarter lead, with Noah Smith scoring five points. But the Millers cut the lead to 8-7 by the end of the period. Xavier Hines made a layin and Alex Hunt finished the quarter with a three-point play.

Sophomore Landon Morris hit back-to-back baskets to open the second quarter, and an Aaron Etherington 3-pointer got HSE up 15-7. Hines hit his own 3, which the Royals’
Vinny Buccilla answered with another Southeastern triple. The Royals led 18-11 at
halftime, but a got big scare when Noah Smith went down with an injury. He did not
return to the game and it is uncertain if he will play tonight.

“He’s the motor that makes us go,” said HSE coach Brian Satterfield. “He’s our best defender. He’s the guy that pushes the ball. He can create offense. You saw him hit the
3 to start the game. He was ready for that challenge.”

Hines opened the second half with another 3-pointer, then Jordan Schmidt got
hot, scoring nine points in the third quarter (two 3s and a traditional three-point play).

Southeastern was able to stay ahead, though, as Etherington scored eight points; he
drained two 3s and scored off a rebound.

“He stepped up big and hit some big shots for us,” said Satterfield. “But all the
guys did.”

Etherington’s second 3 of the quarter put the Royals up 31-25, but Zack Johnson cut
it to 31-29 with consecutive baskets. Mabor Majak hit a free throw to move HSE ahead
32-29; that would be the score at the end of the third.

Etherington opened the fourth by nailing back-to-back 3s, but the Millers answered that with a 10-3 to get within 41-39. Hines hit another 3, while Johnson scored four points.

Eagan Keever-Hill hit two foul shots with 1:10 left, and Noblesville was within two.

Chris Grubbs made two foul shots to push the Royals ahead by four, but Hines answered that with a pair of free throws. The Millers were now within 43-41 with 49.5 seconds left, but HSE would not let them score again, getting the game’s last four points.

“We’re one possession away with 49 seconds to go,” said Noblesville coach Brian McCauley. “Couldn’t be prouder of them and how they improved from the first time
we played them to the second time we played them.”

Etherington finished the game with 18 points, including five 3s. Morris added nine points and collected eight rebounds. Grubbs was all over the stat line, with eight rebounds, six points, four assists and two blocked shots.

“Landon’s just been coming on,” said Satterfield. “He’s been tremendous here, especially the second half of the season.”

Hines scored 15 points and pulled five rebounds, while Schmidt added 11 and made four steals. Zack Johnson scored eight, while Keever-Hill handed out five assists. All four are seniors, with another senior Alex Hancock, in the starting lineup as well.

“We went through a great stretch there,” said McCauley, whose team ended the season 13-11. “They finished the season really strong. We had one hiccup in our last home game, but other than that, we really finished the season strong. That’s the mark of a senior-laden team, a team that wants to win as opposed to a team that wants to get the season over with. That’s what senior leadership will do.”

The Council Chambers at Fishers City Hall were nearly full Friday morning as the city kicked off the month of March, Disability Awareness Month.  Cecilia Coble and Stacey Oldham, co-chairs of the Fishers Advisory Committee on Disability, handled the welcoming duties for the kick-off celebration.

There were two keynote speakers this year – Noah Malone and Jordan Dickey.

Noah is a junior at HSE High School and is a star runner on the track team.  He contracted a medical condition that has severely limited his eyesight.  That hasn’t stopped Noah from continuing his athletic career and he is still a standout performer on the track squad.

Jordan has a severe disability that confines him to a wheelchair, but that hasn’t stopped Jordan from being a wheelchair soccer player for 15 years.  Jordan received a college degree and an MBA.  He did an internship with a local marketing company Statwax.  Jordan illustrated for the company what he could do in crunching data and is now a valued full-time employee for Statwax.

Mayor Scott Fadness asked each of the keynote speakers what bothers them the most about how others deal with them, and both said they just want their fellow students and coworkers to treat them like anybody else in school or in the work place.

The Advisory Committee on Disability awarded the Life Without Limits Award to Conner Prairie for the nonprofit group’s work with the disability community.  The award was accepted by Conner Prairie’s Human Resources Director Shelby Slowik.

The bottom line message from the kickoff event was this – if given the proper tools and support, those with disabilities can be major contributors to society.

I recorded a podcast with Jordan Dickey, Stacey Oldham and Cecilia Coble about this year’s Disability Awareness Month activities during March in Fishers….you can listen to that podcast at this link.

Shelby Slowik accepts the Life Without Limits Award on behalf of Conner Prairie (standing at her left, Fishers City Councilwoman Cecilia Coble)