Fishers fire investigators continue work on the scene of the Tuesday fire at Sunblest Apartments that rendered residents of 8 units, 32 people in all, temporarily homeless.  No cause has yet been determined.

Many have reached out to Fishers Fire Department officials wanting to help these families. Sunblest staff is working to relocate those without a home after the blaze, and is taking donations. If you are wanting to help, call 317-842-2111.

Several local government officials and nonprofit groups are also helping the displaced  families.  They include the office of Delaware Township Trustee Debbie Driskell and the Hamilton County Chapter of the American Red Cross.

The Fishers Fire Department reminds those renting homes that renter’s insurance is very important, as this fire illustrates.

You may have seen plumes of smoke near the downtown area of Fishers Tuesday afternoon.  Fishers firefighters were there in 2 minutes to battle the blaze at Sunblest apartments, near Lantern and Regency drives. There were no injuries and two pets were rescued by fire department personnel.

A total of 8 units were damaged by water and/or fire before the blaze was put under control.

The blaze was reported at 3pm.

The local Red Cross, the Delaware Township Trustees Office and the Sunblest Apartment staff are working together to find housing for the impacted residents.

No word yet on what may have caused the fire.

As Fishers city officials continue work on the 2021 budget, they received a piece of very good news.  It was announced Tuesday the bond rating agency of Standard & Poor’s has given the City of Fishers a AAA bond rating.

What does that mean?  Essentially, the city can borrow money at lower interest rates and pay less for some insurance premiums.

“This rating affirms the direction of our city, intentionally growing at a rate that ensures long term fiscal sustainability,” Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness said in a city news release. “By achieving this year-over-year, we are able to pass along that savings to the taxpayer and better leverage those dollars to provide the quality of life we pride ourselves for in Fishers.”

According to the city, S&P evaluated the overall economic vitality of Fishers and took into consideration the fiscal practices of city government.

S&P also took into account the city’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in providing the AAA rating, the highest rating a city can have.

The 2021 Fishers City Budget will be presented to the City Council on September 21, with a public hearing to follow. The Council will vote on a final budget during the October City Council meeting. For more information, visit www.fishers.in.us/Budget.

All too often, school board elections get short shrift in a presidential election year.  There are also county offices up for grabs, as well as congressional and state legislative offices.

But school boards preside over large budgets.  The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District, based on student population, is the 4th-largest in Indiana.

This year, the HSE Schools will have an at-large election with three seats up for grabs.  All eligible voters within the district have the opportunity to cast ballots for board members.  That includes all of Fall Creek, Delaware and Wayne Townships.  That means the entire City of Fishers is included in the HSE District.

Although all eligible voters may cast their ballots on all three races, candidates must reside within the township in which they are running.

Sylvia Shepler did not file for re-election, so for the first tine since the year 2000, someone else will be filling that board seat.  Clint Wilson was selected by the board to serve the remainder of Mike Bottorff’s term….Bottorff was elected to the board in 2016 but resigned his seat in 2019.  Amanda Shera is seeking another 4-year term on the board after her election in 2016.

The Fishers community and the surrounding area served by HSE Schools have had a major debate over when and how school should be resumed in-person or online for health reasons in the middle of this pandemic.  This debate has become bitter and heated at times.

When evaluating school board candidates, I believe their positions on issues should be a consideration.  But consider this – I never asked a school board candidate how to handle a major pandemic.  No one knew over the past two election cycles that would be a big issue to handle.  It is now.

Consider how each candidate might be best equipped to handle the issue no one can foresee at this time.  One’s judgment and ability to make good decisions may be more important today than ever before.

I will not tell you whom to vote for…..but take time to consider your choice.

I previously announced that there would be no candidate podcasts from me, due to the massive amount of time it takes.  However, I have been contacted by a high school student trying to organize podcasts with the candidates.  If that happens, I will let you know and link to those podcasts, supporting these high school students.

Here is the full list of local school board candidates:

FALL CREEK TOWNSHIP

Clint Wilson

Chauna Leigh Holder

Suzanne Thomas

Matt Stolle

Jason Arnold

DELAWARE TOWNSHIP

Amanda J. Shera

Tony Bagato

Sarah Donsbach

WAYNE TOWNSHIP

Sarah E Parks-Reese

Tiffany Pascoe

Ron Thieme

Left turns from 146th Street to State Road 37 will be restricted starting September 10th.  That’s according to the weekly road construction update.

Below is the complete road work listing, as provided by the City of Fishers:

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When the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board voted Thursday night to bring grade 5-12 students back into the classrooms September 17, that was good news for food service workers, who will not miss any pay as a result.

You may recall that the school corporation said on August 27th that food service workers in grade 5-12 buildings would be furloughed.

“There is no lapse in pay,” HSE spokesperson Emily Abbotts tells LarryInFishers. “Some are still working and all will be back to prep on the 14^th for students.”

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern fought to the finish for a 39-28 victory at Avon Friday in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference opener for both teams.

The Royals were in the driver’s seat during the first half, at one point leading 25-0. The Orioles, as expected, made a furious comeback to take the lead in the fourth quarter. But Southeastern held firm, scoring two touchdowns to get the lead back, then its defense sealed the game by making an interception.

“They came back in the third quarter,” said HSE coach Michael Kelly. “We were able to battle back and regain the lead.”

Southeastern led 5-0 after the first quarter. Alex Geroulis got the Royals on the board with a 23-yard field goal, then Southeastern’s defense made a safety.

That was the prelude to a big second period for the Royals. John McCall punched the ball into the end zone from the one-yard line, then connected with Martice Taylor on an eight-yard pass play touchdown. Jace Alexander ran the ball in to score from the eight-yard line. Avon scored late in the second quarter, but still, HSE led 25-7 at the break.

The Orioles came blasting back in the third quarter, cutting the Royals’ lead to 25-20. Avon then took the lead, scoring a touchdown and making a two-point conversion to jump ahead 28-25 with 7:34 left.

It took Southeastern a few minutes to get the lead back, but it did. Blaine Wertz scored on an 18-yard run, and Geroulis’ kick put the Royals up 32-28. Southeastern made a defensive stop to get the ball back, and that resulted in a six-yard TD run by McCall. Avon had one more try, but Gio Ragland intercepted the ball to end the game.

Kelly said he was “very proud” of the way his team fought, noting that some teams fold when that happens. But the Royals never gave up.

“We’re going to come back and fight, and fight we did,” said Kelly.

Wertz finished the game with 126 yards rushing, while McCall completed 9 of 15 pass attempts for 75 yards. Taylor had five receptions.

On defense, Nate Haas had eight tackles, with Jackson Constantine making six. Evan Sherrill helped out with two sacks.

Kelly also said Evan Charles “had a heck of a game.”

“I think our defense is just playing unreal defense right now,” said Kelly.

The Royals are 2-1 and will host Fishers next Friday in the Mudsock game.

by

Richie Hall

Sports Editor

Hamilton County Reporter

FISHERS – Fishers made some big plays on Friday night, and that led to a big win.

The Tigers beat county rival Noblesville 21-0 at Reynolds Tiger Stadium in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference opener for both teams. It was the first win of the season for Fishers, which makes it the first victory for Curt Funk as the Tigers’ coach.

For the most part, the two teams were matched up well against each other, and both played solid football. The difference was two big plays that the Tigers made in the second and third quarter, and then Fishers let its defense do the rest.

“I thought our defense did an outstanding job tonight,” said Funk. The coach credited Fishers’ defensive coaches with having “a great game plan, and our kids executed and they believed in it, and we were able to come out victorious tonight.”

Neither team scored in the first quarter. The Tigers scored 49 seconds into the second period when Grady Stanley forced a fumble, sending the ball bouncing towards the end zone. Fishers’ Caleb VanDer Kamp got the ball as it rolled into the end zone, and the Tigers had their first touchdown of the game.

“That’s something we talked about all week is how we haven’t had a takeaway all year, we haven’t had one takeaway,” said Funk. “So we tried to amp that up in practice this week, really preaching and emphasize takeaways, and our defense responded tonight with a takeaway.”

That would be the only score of the second half, as both teams’ defenses stiffened, resulting in four consecutive punts. Noblesville made a promising drive at the end of the half, but came away empty after getting down to the Tigers’ seven-yard line.

Fishers scored early in the third quarter on another big play. Lucas Prewitt hit Landon Morris with a pass, and Morris took it in 83 yards for the touchdown. It was part of a big night for Morris, who made six catches for 171 yards.

The Tigers got their third touchdown midway through the fourth period, when Carson Dunn punched the ball in from the one-yard line. Dunn also had a productive night, leading the rush with 113 yards in 14 carries. Prewitt made 14 of 24 passes, totaling 243 yards.

“I think we have good balance with our pass-to-run ratio,” said Funk. “Again, we moved the ball and our receivers did a good job of catching. Lucas did a nice job of putting the ball on
them.”

On defense, Billy Reiter totaled 12 tackles, with Curtis Kearshner making eight. Shane Cole and Seth Dunnuck each had seven tackles. Stanley and David Dilley both made one sack.

Trey Speek led the way for Noblesville on offense with 85 yards of rushing on 17 carries. Quarterback Conner Meinerding completed 3 of 5 pass attempts for 52 yards. That included two catches for Chance Yeager and a 32-yard reception for Dylan Ray.

Mason Bohland had 9.5 tackles for the Millers and one sack. Blaine McNabb also had a good defensive game with 7.5 tackles.

“I thought it was a pretty evenly matched game, but the big plays, the sack fumble early and us getting into the 10 and not being able to convert later in the half, and of course the 80-yard pass,” said Noblesville coach Dave Sharpe.

“We worked so hard to get into positions to get inside the 10 and we don’t convert,” said Sharpe. “We work so hard to get them in positions where they’re 3rd and 8 and we let them off the hook. We’re close, we told the kids we’re very close. Didn’t quite click tonight and then they had the huge plays. We didn’t have any huge plays.”

Fishers is 1-2 and will travel to Hamilton Southeastern next Friday for the
Mudsock game. The Millers are also 1-2 and host Westfield next Friday.

Allow me to introduce a new podcast – Grade A Movies.  The Grade A Movies podcast is a joint effort by Adam Aasen, Alec Toombs and myself.

In our first episode, we review the long-awaited Christopher Nolan film Tenet.  Was it worth the wait?  All three of us weigh-in on that.

Mayor Scott Fadness announced September 3rd the Interrupting Racism seminar would be available free of charge for up to 500 residents of Fishers.  Just a day later, Fadness says 70 people have already registered for the program.

Mayor Fadness and the consultant instructing the Interrupting Racism program, Dustin Washington, talked about race relations and the seminar, in this podcast.

Sign-up for the Interrupting Racism seminar at this link.