The City of Fishers has always gone out of its way to honor military veterans and their families.  Liberty Plaza at the 116th Street entrance to City Hall and the municipal complex is just one example.

There is now an effort underway to build a monument to Gold Star Families on the Central Green, just south of City Hall.  Two men at the center of the drive to raise money for this memorial are El Ahlwardt and Brad DeReamer.  I spoke with them January 24th.  This is the podcast.

You can donate and receive more information on the plans for the Fishers Gold Star Memorial at this link.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton County is likely the only place in America where the number of covered wooden bridges is increasing. On Monday, county commissioners will accept $2.77 million in federal highway funds to largely pay for the restoration of the nation’s last known post truss combination bridge.

Known as the Bell Ford Bridge, it stood for 135 years over the East Fork of White River in Jackson County. When it virtually collapsed about 10 years ago, Jackson County officials said they could not afford to restore it.

Hamilton County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt worked with Jackson County Commissioners to take the bridge with the understanding it would be reconstructed over Fall Creek at Geist Park.

The bridge was disassembled and brought here. It has been in storage for several years awaiting funding under a federal alternative transportation program which grants 80 percent of such costs for trails and bridges.

Actual reconstruction will start late next year, according to County Highway Director Brad Davis, whose department will be the lead agency on the project. The bridge will be a link in the county trail system for pedestrians and bikers, but will not carry motor vehicles.

Hamilton County once had at least six covered bridges. After the loss of Eller Bridge in 1957, Potters Bridge was the only wooden span until Conner Prairie salvaged a covered bridge and placed it on its property several years ago.

Now, the third such historic bridge will be located here. The scenic bridges were numerous throughout the nation in the 19th century, but began disappearing with the advent of steel and concrete bridges in the early 20th century.

The world of Texas in 1870, five years following the end of the Civil War, was a tough world.  But Confederate veteran of the bloody conflict makes his living reading news articles before crowds paying ten cents each to hear his stories.  He runs across a ten-year-old girl and his adventure finding her remaining family is the story if the film News of the World, starring Tom Hanks.  Here is my review.

I was a college student in 1974 when I took a part-time job at WSMJ, a local FM radio station in Greenfield, Indiana.  Even though the station had 50,000 watts of power that beamed its signal to most of central Indiana, the broadcast outlet stayed mostly local to Greenfield in its programming.

The management was very nervous about a competing license being filed, so they wanted many hours of public service content.  In the 1070s, a late-night talk show, Night Action, was launched to bring those public service hours.  Hosts included the late Gary Lee and Art Murphy.  The station manager, a former Green Berets with service in Vietnam, was unhappy with the way the talk show was being handled after Murphy left.

The general manager met with me and laid out the options clearly…..he wanted me to take over Night Action.  If I turned the job down, he would simply cancel the program because he knew of no one else he would trust with that franchise.

I knew going to college and hosting an all-night radio talk program would be a challenge, but somehow I did that for almost four years.  Hosting an hours-long overnight talk show 5 nights a week was hard work, especially when I was trying to keep up with my classes at the same time.

Why do I bring this up?  Because these talk shows were always local, until 1978.  That was the year the Mutual Broadcasting system, a national radio network, began beaming the Larry King Show across the nation.  It was late night and was the first talk show of that ilk to go national and continue for a number of years.  It was a success because Larry King was a seasoned professional.  He knew what he was doing.

He began a 15-year television run on CNN in 1985 with a one-hour prime-time talk show.  King always told people he just used his radio show style and did it before TV cameras at CNN.

There are a handful of people that have hosted talk shows.  Preparing for these talkathons is very hard work.  It can wear you down.  You are constantly under attack from all sides and points of view.  Yet King did this regularly locally before his national career.  It had to wear on him.  Perhaps that is why he was married 8 times to seven different women (he married one wife twice).

Doing talk shows on radio has changed dramatically since the days I hosted such programs and when Mr. King was doing the same work.  Today, there are some talk shows done well, but many just aren’t that good.

That’s why I have appreciated the work done over the long career of Larry King.  His death was announced January 23rd.  Larry King was 87.  He left his mark on radio and television.  He will be remembered well for the work he accomplished and his ability to remain in a business that recycles humans on a regular basis.

Every now and then, something happens out of the blue reminding one of a long-ago important life event.  That just happened to me.

I received a message from a staff member of the IUPUI Speaker’s Lab.  Her message reminded me of a pivotal moment in my life.

I was never an outstanding student in high school.  I did well in some subjects, not so well in others.  I chose not to attend college when graduating high school in 1969 because I did not think I could handle the academics.

So I attended a broadcasting trade school, worked in radio for about four years when I awoke one morning and decided it was worth a try to enroll in college and see what I could do.

Starting in the fall semester of 1973, all new students were automatically enrolled in a speech class.  Even in 1973, a tradition had started at IUPUI for Speech Night.  We were told at the start of the semester that attendance at speech night was mandatory, so mark your calendar and plan to be there.

Speech Night is a competition.  First, each speech class elects someone as the best speaker.  I won that by one vote.  Then that winner moves to the semifinal speech competition before about 30 other students.  I won the semifinal by one vote.

That brought me to be one of the six finalists in the Speech Night contest.  It was a scary experience, speaking before a large, packed lecture hall.

As you can guess by now, I won Speech Night.  It was a turning point in my professional life because after leaving the broadcasting business in 1983, I spent a good amount of time in my second career doing public speaking.  Speech Night provided me the confidence to pursue the public speaking that became a part of my job in the civil service.

Just a few days ago, I received that message from an employee of the IUPUI Speaker’s Lab.  They were searching for the winner of the 1973 Speech Night and found my name in an old school newspaper.  An online check hooked us up.

IUPUI is about to celebrate its 100^th Speech night and invited me to speak.  Due to COVID restrictions, I’ll be sending them a video to play rather than attend in person, but it is an honor to be a part of such a milestone.

I haven’t thought about that Speech Night win for years, but this opportunity has provided me a chance to go back and think about that night and how it changed the direction of my life in so many ways.

The Fishers Arts Council has announced a new artistic showing in Fishers City Hall, on the building’s second floor.

Here is more from the news release from the Arts Council:

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The Fishers Arts Council will offer a three-month exhibit by noted artist Rebecca Robinson entitled, The Art of Bridging the Gap, in The Alcove on the second floor of The Art Gallery at City Hall beginning January 5th.

Rebecca says, “As long as I can remember art has moved me. Expressing myself with my artwork allows me to convey a thought, an emotion, a personal experience or an important message. As an artist, it is my duty to push the envelope and create artwork that sparks a dialog and remains timeless.”

Rebecca studied fashion design in Atlanta, GA, and continued her education at North Carolina Central University where she majored in Art/Visual Communications and graduated with high honors. In 2019, she began the initial states of forming her nonprofit organization called “ONE ARRT,” which will become the first black owned art supply brand that specifically supports all artists, art organizations, art education, museums/galleries and communities in need who would prosper with proper funding and resources.

Her exhibit of 11 paintings include the mediums of stained glass, acrylic on canvas and concrete, tar and white latex. The exhibit will run through March.

The Art Gallery at City Hall, One Municipal Drive is open daily Monday-Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm excluding holidays and Saturdays during Fishers Summer Farmers Market.

Republican members of the Fishers City Council voted down a proposal by Democrat Jocelyn Vare aimed at increasing diversity when the council makes appointments to boards and commissions.  When Vare’s proposal came to a vote, only Vare and fellow Democrat Sam DeLong voted in favor, with the seven GOP councilors voting no.

In a statement, Vare describes the language on the city Web site encouraging local citizens to apply for seats appointed by the council.

“In practice, however, an extremely unrepresentative group of people have the opportunity to participate on boards and commissions, while other groups within the community are routinely excluded,” said Vare. “The 95 available seats on boards and commissions include very few people of color, women, members of the LGBTQ community, and persons with disabilities.”

Vare cites data provided by the city showing 80% of appointees to city boards and commissions are white males.  Five recommendations Vare says would remedy the situation were voted down in the 7-2 party line vote.

No Republican member of the council commented during the public meeting as to why they opposed the Vare proposal.

You can read the entire statement from Councilwoman Vare at this link.

For a list of the appointments that did receive council approval Tuesday, use this link.

An Indianapolis juvenile faces a long list of charges following a Monday afternoon shooting near 104th Street and Olio Road.  Fishers Police say the 15-year-old is alleged to have been involved in the shooting incident that resulted in non-life-threatening injuries to the victim.  Authorities say this was not a random act.

Shortly before 4pm, on Monday, Fishers police responded to a report of a person shot.  Officers found the victim and rendered first aid until Paramedics from the Fishers Department of Fire and Emergency Services arrived. The victim suffered a non-life-threatening leg injury and was transported to an area hospital.

 Prior to being transported, the victim provided detailed information regarding the suspect.  Officers established a perimeter and deployed K9 and drone units to assist in the search for the suspect and evidence related to the incident. After an extensive search police determined the suspect was no longer in the immediate area.

 Detectives located the suspect Tuesday and took him into custody without incident. The suspect is currently being held at the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Center.

This case remains an active investigation. Anyone with information regarding this case should contact Detective LaShawn Tyler at 317-595-3313.

The suspect faces a long list of felony charges, including robbery, strangulation, criminal confinement, motor vehicle theft and firearms violations.

The Fishers City Council unanimously voted Tuesday night to have Selina Stoller serve as the council president for 2021.  David George will serve as council vice president.

Stoller replaces Cecilia Coble, who was forced to deal with the many COVID-related issues during 2020, not the least of which was conducting several council sessions via Zoom.  The Tuesday session was conducted in person with social distancing, with some city staff participating remotely.

It was August of 2018 when the announcement was made that the Gray Eagle Golf Course in Fishers would close.  Well, it did not close as was scheduled, but the future of the course has been uncertain.

Fishers city officials announced Tuesday the Gray Eagle Golf Course will remain open with an age-targeted 55-years-of-age-and-older multi-family development south of the Gray Eagle Clubhouse.  The plan includes upgrades to the Clubhouse, improvements to the Golf Course while also preserving the current greenspace.

The city says these improvements will not impact Gray Eagle Homeowners Association dues.

The agreement was reached by the city of Fishers, the Gray Eagle Homeowners Association, and JC Hart.

“We’ve been in discussions for over two years to ensure the long-term sustainability of this area, including preservation of the golf club, and I believe this is a viable solution to achieve that goal,” said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness in a city news release.

A land rezoning will be required and an economic development component will be a part of this planned development. The city said in the release only that the economic development part of the plan “is anticipated to be presented to the City Council in the near future.”