D-3 Cat. 01

Car crashes into office

Unlicensed driver slams CPS building

TABITHA WAGGONER

Princeton Daily Clarion

One woman was taken to the hospital and a couple was arrested by authorities after an

unlicensed driver crashed into the roof of the Indiana Department of Child Protection Services in

Princeton Wednesday afternoon.

“We heard a big noise,” said Jan Dotson, director of the local CPS office in Princeton. They

didn’t know what it was at first, she said.

There was just one cubicle and one staff member working next to where the crash occurred,

she said. About 20 people work in the building, Dotson said.

Indiana State Police, Gibson County Sheriff’s Office, Princeton Police Department and the

Princeton Fire Department were on the scene.

It’s the first time an accident of these proportions has occurred in town, Fire Chief Mike Pflug

said.

“I’ve never seen something like this,” Princeton Police Chief W.W. George said

“Not an airborne assault, no,” Chief Pflug reiterated.

The woman taken to the hospital was brushed by some debris but appeared to be okay, George

confirmed.

Marc Bozikis and Angela Bozikis of Princeton were arrested and are being held in the Gibson

County Jail, George said. Angela Bozikis was arrested for operating without a license and both

were arrested for false informing, George said. Police said the couple lied about just who was

driving the vehicle when it was crashed.

On the scene, the Ford Taurus was wedged like a bridge between the concrete ledge of a

parking lot and had smashed through the wall (including part of the roof) of the local Child

Protection Services building.

“What it looks like is she was just going a little too fast,” George said. She came around the

curve and “went airborne and went into the building,” he said.

The accident occurred around 1:45 p.m. A towing service was called to the scene. They

removed the car from its lodging in the building within 10 minutes.

Princeton Fire Department turned off electricity temporarily as a precaution.

CPS employee Annie Moore said after they heard the noise they saw the Ford Taurus smash

through the wall.

“Whenever we stood up and our desk was blowing in our face, absolutely,” Moore said.

One woman sitting by the window was taken to the hospital to be checked out, she said.

“She seemed to be okay,” Moore said.

It seemed to be an unbelievable scenario.

“Yes,” Moore said, laughing, “that’s what we thought.”

D3 – Cat. 02

Shooting began ‘like any other call’

Aubrey Woods

The Tribune (Seymour)

The May 8 incident that left an officer and an 18-year-old man wounded in Tampico could

have, and likely should have, had a much different outcome, one of the participants said. “I was

just thinking it was a couple of juveniles, maybe out fishing ... and just being kids,” Officer Rick

Meyer said of the incident that left him with gunshot wounds in both shoulders.

Meyer, 44, returned fire and shot 18-yearold Isiah Tyler Roger of Brownstown above his left

elbow on a bridge that carries State Road 39 over Grassy Fork south of Tampico.

Roger remains in the Jackson County Jail facing charges of attempted murder, aggravated

battery and carrying a handgun without a license after a felony conviction. Police say he fired the

shots that wounded Meyer.

A second man, Alexandrew Mullikin, 21, of Vernon, was with Roger that evening. Mullikin

was arrested on a warrant out of Jennings County but is not being charged in connection with

Meyer being shot.

Meyer said a couple of things were in his favor that evening as he answered a call – received

by county dispatchers at 7:06 p.m. – about suspicious people with a gasoline can and a trash bag

walking along State Road 39.

“I guess I was lucky because it was still daylight,” Meyer said. “If it had been dark, I might

have walked under that bridge with a flashlight not knowing if anyone was there or not. A couple

of months ago, it would have been dark.”

Meyer said that when he arrived in the area he spotted two people. Both ducked under the

bridge as he eased his 2014 Chevy Caprice police cruiser toward the span.

“I wasn’t sure if they had seen me,” he said.

Meyer stopped his car near the bridge, got out and walked about halfway across it.

“That’s when I decided to get another unit to help so two of us could look for them,” Meyer

said. “I wasn’t sure of what I had.”

While waiting for backup, one of the men, later identified as Mullikin, crawled out from

beneath the bridge, Meyer said. He told the man to come up onto the bridge.

Meyer talked with Mullikin, whose shirt was wet from water from the creek, for just a couple

of minutes before determining the name he had given didn’t match the name on his

identification.

“I put him in handcuffs,” Meyer said. He later found Mullikin was wanted on a Jennings

County warrant for auto theft and false informing.

Meyer said Mullikin would have been better off not lying about his name, adding the situation

might have been different – especially if Roger had thrown his gun away and just came out and

talked with him.

“Other than the gun, he wasn’t doing anything illegal,” Meyer said of Roger, who has been on

parole since Feb. 15 after serving part of a sentence on a sexual assault conviction in Jennings

County.

Instead, police said, Roger came out from under the bridge, stood up and began firing at Meyer

with a .38-caliber handgun from about 15 feet away.

As the shots rang out that evening with a burst of “pop, pop, pop,” life didn’t suddenly move in

slow motion or speed up, Meyer said.

“My first thought was to get on the radio and call for backup, get some help there and deal with

the situation,” Meyer said. “I never got excited. It was like any other call. This is the situation I

was thrown into and now I’ve just got to deal with it.”

Meyer attributes that reaction to his training.

“When we have training, especially firearms training, it’s serious,” he said. “It’s not a joke. We

know we’re not wasting our time there.”

Meyer said he’s always assumed the worst when responding to calls, preparing him to deal

with anything that might arise when he arrives on the scene. He suspects that helped him deal

with the gunfire that erupted May 8.

Meyer said it’s not uncommon for county officers to investigate reports of suspicious people.

Most such calls turn out to be nothing, he said.

Those calls come from all over the county, Meyer said, and he’s never really seen too many

problems in the community of Tampico, which has about two dozen homes in a mostly

agricultural area.

This particular call, however, already had gained a little more importance because of

Mullikin’s unwillingness to identify himself, Meyer said.

The first shot tore into the right shoulder, lodging under Meyer’s collarbone.

“It felt like someone punched me really hard,” Meyer said.

That slug remains in his right shoulder, and it will be up to Meyer to decide if and when he

wants it removed, he said. The staff at IU Health Methodist Hospital told him they leave bullets

in people all the time.

“I’ll probably have it taken out,” Meyer said. “It’s between the muscle and the bone. You can

actually see and feel it.”

Meyer has a little trouble with that injury, especially when he tries to raise his arm up over his

shoulder.

The second shot hit him in the left shoulder as he turned to move away from Roger. That bullet

entered the lower part of his left shoulder and traveled up and out through the top of his shoulder.

“That one didn’t feel the same,” he said. The second shot didn’t pack quite the punch as the

first since it passed through his body, Meyer said.

At that point, Meyer said his sole intent was to put some distance between himself and Roger

and find cover while radioing for help to let others know he had been shot.

As he fell back, Meyer said he started firing at Roger and eventually struck him above the left

elbow. He also managed to tell dispatchers he had been shot.

As Meyer moved away from Roger, he said he had been radioing dispatch but wasn’t sure he

was getting the button on his radio pushed enough to ensure that his call for help was reaching

dispatchers and other officers. Slowing down allowed him to make sure his call was heard,

Meyer said.

After being shot, Meyer said Roger walked south over the bridge and then east off State Road

39 and lay down in the grass. Meyer said he also saw Roger flip something toward the creek.

Investigating officers later found the gun they say Roger used to shoot Meyer.

Roger was 60 to 70 yards from Meyer and little was said between the two. Even Mullikin was

quiet.

“He actually made a call on his phone,” Meyer said of Roger.

At about that time, a nearby resident drove down to the scene with his shotgun.

“I didn’t know him, but it seemed like he knew me and my name,” Meyer said of Jay

Newberry of Tampico.

Newberry asked Meyer how he could help, and Meyer said he told him to watch both Roger

and Mullikin until backup arrived.

Meyer said since he had never been shot before, he was worried he might pass out. Newberry’s

arrival was a big help, he said.

Neither of Meyer’s injuries bled much, but Roger’s wound did, he said.

“It must have something to do with where you are shot,” Meyer said.

County officers Dustin Steward and Jeff Walters along with Crothersville Officer Kelly Barger

arrived a short time later, Meyer said. The next few minutes were spent handcuffing Roger and

checking beneath the bridge for any other people.

“We didn’t talk about me being shot much,” Meyer said.

Meyer and Roger were rushed to Schneck Medical Center and arrived just as medical

helicopters were landing to fly them to Methodist for treatment. Meyer was released later the

same night from the hospital. Roger was returned to Jackson County on Sunday.

Meyer’s wife, Jennifer, and their three children met Meyer at the heliport at Schneck.

“She probably spent about 30 minutes not knowing what was going on,” Meyer said of his

wife. “All she knew was I had been shot. I knew I had been shot, too, but I knew how I felt. She

didn’t.”

Jennifer Meyer, however, works with Steward’s wife, who shared some information about the

incident.

“I was alright with that,” Meyer said.

There’s been little talk around the Meyer house about the incident since that day, he said.

He said his kids have always been bugging him about not being a police officer because he

often must miss their activities when he’s on the night shift or it’s his weekend to work.

Meyer said the incident seems to have been as much of an eye-opener for other officers and

their spouses as it was for him and his wife.

“People don’t realize what spouses go through,” he said. Meyer said it’s fortunate that Jackson

County has not been a real violent place over the years.

He may be the first county officer shot in the history of the department, which was formed in

1816 with the formation of the county, Sheriff Michael Carothers said. Wickliffe Kitchell was

the county’s first sheriff.

Carothers said he has no recollection and can find no records of a county officer ever being

shot in Jackson County.

Meyer, who was a member of the Seymour High School baseball team that won the state

tournament in 1988, played third base for four years with the Philadelphia Phillies organization,

spending two years with a rookie league team in Martinsville, Virginia, and a year each with

farm teams Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Clearwater, Florida. Meyer also played a year of

basketball at Indiana University- Southeast after the end of his baseball career.

After baseball, he worked at several different occupations over the years before deciding he

wanted to become a police officer seven years ago. He had volunteered as a reserve officer for

seven years before hiring on with the department.

Meyer remains on medical leave for now. He could be placed on administrative leave until the

shooting incident is investigated by the shooting review board.

That’s not on Meyer’s mind right now. He said he remains sore and is focused on getting

better.

“I’m just going day by day,” he said.

His wife isn’t thinking that far ahead yet, either, she said.

She was at an area ballpark with the couple’s son when she received a telephone call that

something was wrong that night.

“When I got the phone call, I thought that there was a car accident, but when the next sentence

was that he had been shot, I was stunned,” she said. “It’s something that you know could happen

but you don’t expect it to happen.”

She said the call seems surreal.

“When you think about the possibility of getting that call (as the spouse of a police officer),

you don’t see yourself just living your normal life as it happens,” she said. “I was at the ballpark

with my son when I got that call, and it’s hard to imagine something going so horribly wrong

with your husband when you’re having a great day at the ballpark with your son and his friends.”

So far, the couple’s children have said little about the incident and their father’s future.

“I don’t know that they grasp the reality of it yet,” their mother said. “They’ve not said much.”

D3 – Cat. 03

Heart-felt help for Caleb

DONNA CRONK

Courier Times (New Castle)

The days give way to weeks, then months for the family members of Caleb Kinnaird, 2, as they

remain camped out with Caleb at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis where little Caleb

awaits a heart transplant.

The New Castle family, which includes dad Daniel, mom Katie and brother Jonah, 4, are

leaning on their faith in God and each other. They have been waiting on a heart for six months

and know that at any moment, it could come.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, April 27, family, friends and the community at large can show their

support for the family at the Pray for Caleb Ride at Montgomery’s Steakhouse. Registration is

10-11:30 a.m. and cost is $15. Ride stops include Bobby’s South end in Shirley; Zippers in

Knightstown; Flatlanders in Hagerstown; Scooters in New Castle and a return to Montgomery’s.

In addition to the ride, there will be a car wash from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Montgomery’s, with

donations accepted. There will be a bake sale from 10-11:30 a.m. and 5-7 p.m. and a live auction

from 5 p.m. until all items are sold. T-shirts will be available for $15 each and orders will be

taken. Bracelets are $4 each. There will be drawings at each stop on the ride with a 50/50 cash

drawing at the end of the ride. The band 3 Card Monte will play after the auction and BJ Gorman

will be the disc jockey.

Event coordinator Sam Goodwin credits the community with pulling the event together. “Some

call it paying it forward, doing a good deed or whatever,” Goodwin says. “I call it doing what is

right and want no recognition for doing things the way they should be done.”

He says that in the midst of terrible things going on in the world around us, “we have an

innocent little boy fighting so hard for his life and his parents and family struggling to keep a

positive attitude.”

Mom Katie Kinnaird says the family is grateful for all of the fundraisers that have been done

for them and she expresses gratitude to Goodwin and those who are helping on Saturday. “These

events show us just how much love and support we have here in our community and not only are

we deeply thankful, it also makes us very proud to live in Henry County where people still have

a heart to help others.”

She thanks everyone who has supported them and adds “you will never know how much it

impacts our family and makes this difficult time much more bearable.”

The Long Haul

Caleb was born with without a tricuspid valve, which meant that half of his heart did not

function. His first open-heart surgery was when he was just 8 days old. Currently, he is

experiencing congestive heart failure which Katie describes as “always dealing with ups and

downs, good weeks and bad weeks.” The last couple of weeks have been stable for Caleb and he

continues to grow, expand his vocabulary and in most ways, live as a normal little boy who

spends his days playing with his brother Jonah, 4, while living at the hospital.

“While we still have no idea how much longer we will have to wait for Caleb to get a new

heart, we are hopeful that we’re getting close,” Katie says. “Fortunately, Caleb continues to

respond well to medicine and he’s in great shape leading up to the big event.”

Caleb has disability coverage and his transplant is covered financially. However, his mother

explains that coverage is only guaranteed for one year after the transplant. The family is saving

the money given to them for future medical bills in anticipation of what Katie calls the “massive”

amount of medical care he will require for the rest of his life.

Daniel works part time now and Katie resigned entirely from her job in order to care for Caleb.

The family is currently living on one-third of their previous income and still has to pay regular

bills. “Without the help of others, we would have been in trouble by now,” Katie says. “Plus it is

expensive to live in a hospital and have to pay for meals (since we have to pay for the cafeteria

or eat out all the time).”

‘Never Asked for Anything’

Says Goodwin, “I just wanted to help a family that has always done so much for others and has

never asked for anything for themselves.”

Katie wrote in an article about Caleb earlier this year, “Our future and Caleb’s future are

unknown, but we don’t look forward with fear or dread. We look forward with hope and a rock-

solid belief that we will handle whatever life brings us with God’s love and grace.”

The public is welcome to follow the family’s blog about Caleb at www.thekinnairds.

blogspot.com.

D3 – Cat. 04

Attendant showed perfect kindness

JACK RONALD

The Commercial Review

The plane was late arriving.

And passengers were starting to get grouchy. That was understandable. The flight was just a

puddle-jumper, one of those little commuter flights that connects Point A to Point B when most

of the passengers are flying on to Points C through Z.

A delay on the first leg of a holiday weekend journey could turn the trip into a nightmare.

But the crew acted quickly to turn things around, and within a few minutes after arrival, the

plane was ready to take off to Point B.

That helped improve the mood of the passengers.

The flight attendant helped even more. A kind of pudgy guy with glasses, he made this trip

dozens of times a week, yet he still managed to stay upbeat.

And he was funny, turning the routine patter required for airline safety into an amusing, self-

deprecating spiel worthy of open mic night at a comedy club.

As he walked down the aisle, counting passengers, he stopped whenever he encountered a

child.

“How old are you?” he would ask.

“Seven,” might be the answer. Or “10” or “5.”

No matter, his response was always the same: “Holy cow! Really! Now, are you driving yet?

Do you have your license? How about college? Are in you college already?”

And soon the kids were giggling and the adults around them were smiling, no longer worried

quite so much about making the next flight connection.

It didn’t matter that two rows later, encountering another kid, the flight attendant would launch

into the same routine. It still worked. The kids still giggled, and the adults still smiled.

But there was one adult who wasn’t smiling at all.

Two rows ahead of us, an older woman was miserable. Her hands gripped the armrests firmly.

She looked out the window nervously. She was clearly fretting.

The flight attendant spotted her right away, and as soon as the safety routine was taken care of

and the flight had taken off, he made the older woman his focus.

Whenever he passed by, he stopped and chatted.

She hated flying, she told him. And this was just the first flight of the holiday weekend.

Another flight was to follow, and she was filled with dread.

It didn’t help at all that the weather was rocky and turbulence tossed the plane about now and

then.

The flight attendant offered reassurances, mixed with a bit of silliness, then changed the

subject.

So where are you having Thanksgiving? he asked. Turkey or ham? Or both? Oh, your son’s

house, that’s nice. Have any grandchildren?

Distracted by the conversation, the older woman settled down. Then the flight attendant

returned to his other duties for a bit, returning just when the anxiety had begun to return to this

frightened passenger.

She’d started fussing about the next flight, a longer one, getting wound up well in advance.

Oh that will be fine, he assured her. You’ll be able to watch a movie on one of those little TV

sets on the back of the seat in front of you, he said. And you could have a drink, maybe a glass of

wine. Would you like that?

Distracted again, she began to focus on relaxing rather than fretting.

But the fretting began in earnest when the flight started its descent.

The turbulence had returned with a vengeance, tossing the little plane around the sky as it tried

to make its way to Point B.

That’s when the flight attendant forgot about the rest of us.

He knelt down on one knee in the aisle and put his hand on the hand of the older woman. And

he kept talking and talking and kidding and asking questions, all in a calm, jocular voice that

could not have been more reassuring.

The seat belt sign had been on the entire flight, but now the pilot was urging everyone to

prepare for landing.

And still, the flight attendant stayed at his post, on bent knee in the aisle at the side of a

frightened passenger trying to go home for the holiday.

And that’s where he stayed, all the way through a rocky descent, all the way to landing.

Chances are, that was in violation of airline policy. Chances are, the Federal Aviation

Administration wouldn’t have approved.

But for all who witnessed it, that moment of kindness was the perfect way to begin the holiday

season, giving us all one more thing to be thankful for.

D3 – Cat. 05

Board members need to show up

Jack Ronald

The Commercial Review (Portland)

If Woody Allen was right, what does that say about the Jay County Regional Sewer District

board?

Allen’s been quoted for years as saying that “80 percent of life is showing up.”

The comedian and film director has also said that represents his greatest life lesson.

His point was that if you say you want to be a great novelist or composer or whatever, you first

have to “do the thing.” You can’t be a great novelist if you’ve never written a novel. You can’t

be a great composer if you’ve never composed anything.

And you can’t be the board governing a regional sewer district if you can’t put together a

quorum to take basic action.

Once again this week, the board came up short.

Three members – Don Denney, Ralph Frazee, and Joe Sommers – were present. And a

prospective board member – Phil Ford, who was appointed by Dunkirk Mayor Dan Watson –

was also on hand.

But board members Dwane Ford and Roy Bunch were absent, and there’s another seat on the

board that needs to be filled. The board’s attorney, John Brooke, was also absent.

Public service is, admittedly, time consuming and headache inducing.

And the regional sewer district is venturing out into controversial territory that’s relatively new

to local government. Bringing rural homes into local sewer systems is complicated and fraught

with tough issues.

Those whose properties are affected can feel disenfranchised and resentful since they haven’t

had much voice in the process. And a case can be made that the rate structures established so far

need thorough study and – probably – revision.

But this isn’t rocket science. It’s wastewater treatment, environmental protection and rate

fairness.

It’s particularly frustrating that the can’t-get-a-quorum problem has surfaced since Phil Ford’s

appointment by Mayor Watson.

As a homeowner directly affected by the sewer district, Phil Ford brings an important

perspective to the discussion. He has a distinct point of view, and it’s one that deserves to be

heard.

But to do that, the board needs to have a quorum, get its act together, and fill the other

remaining vacancy.

That shouldn’t be too hard.

As Woody Allen would point out, it’s only a matter of showing up.

D3-Cat. 6

Tax proposal pits local against state

Boris Ladwig

Greensburg Daily News

Proposed state legislation that would cut about $1 million dollars in tax revenues from Decatur

County schools, cities and towns, has angered local officials, who worry that the cuts will

hamper popular services, such as snow removal and busing students to school.

Gov. Mike Pence proposed late last year to completely eliminate the tax that businesses pay

annually on their personal property, such as metal stamping machines, plastic injection molding

machines, cars and other equipment.

The tax is assessed essentially on everything that a business owns that would fall out of a

building if you turned it upside down. Bills in the Indiana Senate and Indiana House tackle the

tax in different ways, but both would eliminate just some of the tax.

Proponents of the elimination of the tax say the tax hinders economic growth because it

essentially punishes businesses when they invest in new machinery – and in each subsequent

year so long as they own the equipment.

Most other states either have eliminated the tax or assess it at a lower rate than Indiana.

However, the tax brings in about $1 billion annually into the coffers of the state’s local

governmental units – including counties, cities, towns, townships, sanitation districts and

libraries – and city and school officials say that if the state legislature does not find a way to

replace the $1 billion, popular local services, on which residents rely daily, will suffer.

The proposal has pitted the governor, some state legislators and the Indiana Chamber of

Commerce against small Indiana cities, towns and even libraries, whose officials said that state

legislators, only a few years after taking a big bite out of their revenues by capping real estate

property taxes for homeowners, farmers and businesses, are once again cutting revenues in rural

Indiana while the state is flush with cash.

The size of the potential tax revenue losses varies greatly among Indiana cities, counties, towns

and libraries and depends on how heavily the counties rely on equipment- heavy jobs such as

manufacturing. Potential losses for the city of Greensburg would reach about $425,000, for

Greensburg Community Schools would exceed $300,000 and for Decatur County government

would be near $170,000, according to a report from the Legislative Services Agency, which

helps legislators and residents understand the impact of proposed legislation.

Some of Decatur County’s neighbors would be hit hard by the elimination of the tax: The city

of Columbus in manufacturing heavy Bartholomew County would have to do without about $2.6

million annually in property tax revenues. Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. would lose

$1.3 million. The city of Shelbyville would have to plug a $1.5 million hole.

The Shelbyville Central School Corp. would lose $1.1 million. The city of North Vernon and

Jennings County School Corp. would lose about $900,000 combined. In more rural areas, the

losses would be small to negligible: Brookeville, the seat in Franklin County, would face a loss

of $40,000 in property tax revenues. Versailles, in Ripley County, would lose only $149.

Nashville, in tourism- heavy Brown County, would be out a mere $12. Indiana’s complex

taxing system further complicates the matter, because the elimination of the business personal

property tax also would raise taxes for some other taxpayers, including some businesses, farmers

and homeowners.

Taxpayer’s bills are determined by local tax rates, and those tax rates for local taxing units,

including cities and counties, are calculated anew every year.

The process works like this: The state approves for those units a levy, or the maximum they are

allowed to collect from taxpayers. Assessors annually determine a county’s assessed valuation,

or the value of all land and property in a county.

The levy is divided by the assessed valuation to generate the tax rate, which, in turn,

determines the taxes that home- and business owners pay.

If the state eliminated taxation on business personal property, the value of all business personal

property – all machinery, vehicles, computers, etc. – would be removed from the assessed

valuation. And that means the tax rate would go up for everything else that remains to be taxed,

including business real estate, apartments, farmland and homes.

Higher taxes on those properties is expected to allow the state’s local governmental units to

recover about one third of the $1 billion they are expected to lose through the elimination of the

business personal property tax, said Larry DeBoer an agricultural economist at Purdue

University and one of the state’s foremost experts on taxation.

But, DeBoer said, the recovery rate for individual counties could be far less or far more. The

impact would depend on a county’s reliance on business personal property taxes. Spencer

County, a rural area with a large utility, could see its tax rate increase by 33 percent if the utility

were no longer required to pay taxes on its personal property, DeBoer said.

Brown County, on the other hand, would see an increase of just 2 percent. Whether individual

homeowners’ tax bills would increase would depend on whether they already have hit their

constitutional tax caps.

A homeowner in Indiana cannot pay more in property taxes than 1 percent of the assessed

value of the home. For example, the owner of a home assessed at $100,000 cannot pay more than

$1,000 annually in property taxes. The owner of a home assessed at $250,000 would pay no

more than $2,500.

If the business personal property tax was eliminated, and your tax bill has not reached the cap,

your property tax bill would be virtually guaranteed to go up.

D3 – Cat. 08

I love you bro’

Lindsay Owens

Times Herald

Zane Leake, 11, and Jacob Miller, 10, are best friends who share a special bond. Last year,

Jacob was diagnosed with cancer, news that was devastating to Zane, who was still dealing with

the loss of his cousin and other best friend, Memphis Riker. Memphis lost his battle after fighting

cancer just over two years ago.

“The first thing Zane asked was if Jacob was going to die like Memphis,” said Tommi

Hamilton, Zane’s grandmother. “He really struggles with the loss of Memphis and now dealing

with the thought Jacob going through this is so much for him.”

The Tuesday after Easter, both boys were outside playing when Jacob asked Zane to go get his

mother. But instead of running back to the house, Zane did something very heroic. He told

Jacob,” I ain’t going to leave you,” and picked up his friend who had collapsed in a seizure then

carried him back to the house. When they got to the house, Jacob was repeatedly saying, “I love

you bro,” to Zane.

Hamilton said that at first, Tangie Miller, Jacob’s mother, thought the boys were just playing.

“Zane just sat there by his side weeping,” said Hamilton, who works at the Daviess County

Security Center. “I shared this story with Sheriff (Jerry) Harbstreit and he thought it would be

nice to do something for Zane.”

And do something he did. Harbstreit was so inspired by Zane’s bravery, he honored Zane with

a plaque in recognition of friendship and leading to the finest act of bravery.

“These little kids are heroes,” said Harbstreit, speaking to standing-room only audience, his

voice raw with emotion. “I love these little boys like they are my own family.”

Normally, the outgoing one of the two boys, Zane was stricken with emotion as Harbstreit told

those in attendance what the fifth grader had done for his friend.

“Zane isn’t usually shy,” said Hamilton, as Zane sat covering his face with his hands. “He

really loves his friend. They have an amazing friendship.”

In fact, Zane cares so deeply about his friend, that just the other day Hamilton said he came

from school with “Jacob Miller” written all over his arms in marker. But Thursday night, it was

Jacob’s turn to take care of his friend. As Harbstreit continued his talk about bond the two boys

have and the courage they’ve shown, Jacob sat turned toward his friend, encouraging Zane to

come out of his shell.

Eventually, Jacob’s perseverance paid off, and Zane, still overcome with emotion, accepted the

plaque Harbstreit made to honor their friendship.

The plague features a photo of Zane and Jacob along with a fitting quote, “Friends are angels

that carry us when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.”

D3 – Cat. 09

Rinehart still cutting hair at 90

Jenny Peter

Vincennes Sun-Commercial

With a steady head – even at 90 years old – Ruel Rinehart can still give one of the best haircuts

in town.

Especially when you consider it’s only $6.

“A lot of people are having a tough time out there,” Rinehart said over the hum of his clippers,

the late morning sun beaming in through the windows of his small barber shop off the alley

behind his house at 826 Seminary St. “A lot of people live off Social Security or disability or

something like that. I feel sorry for them.

“And I don’t do this to make money,” he said, his eyes focused on cutting the short, dark hair

of one of his few female clients. “I just like the people.”

Rinehart is a vanishing breed. He still gives cheap haircuts to loyal clients who never need to

bother with making appointments.

A small red and white barber’s pole marks the spot for two small parking places. If they’re

both full, come back another time, he says.

Rinehart rises each morning, dresses, puts a pot of something delicious on the stove, and heads

out to unlock the door to his shop, ready and waiting for whomever might come by in need of a

trim and a shave.

“The conversation is great, but it always smells wonderful in here,” said his client as she

rushed out the door. “He’s always cooking up something delicious.”

“It’s goulash today,” he said with a smile and a sweep of his broom.

Rinehart, a Vincennes native, entered barber school in Indianapolis upon returning from

service in the U.S. Air

Force during World War II: he’d served three years in England and another six months in

Germany after D-Day.

The son of a painter, Rinehart desired another trade, something else to occupy his time and

provide for his wife, Betty Lou Robinson, and their two daughters.

“I’m not sure why I chose to be a barber,” he said matter-of-factly. “I guess I just thought it

would be fun.

“I thought about enrolling in beauty school, too. It was on another floor of the building I went

to barber school in.

But it was more expensive, took more time, and I had a wife and baby to get home and take

care of.”

His first job as a barber was at the Grand Hotel at the corner of Third and Busseron streets

where Old National Bank now stands. Giving 50-cent haircuts in late 1940s, he had a front-row

seat to what many call Vincennes’ most glorious years.

“Downtown back then was booming,” he said giving the word extra emphasis. “And the Grand

Hotel was the place to be – doctors, lawyers, all kinds of important people in and out. It was a lot

different then than it is now.

“I go down there now and it makes me a little sad.”

P.R. Sweeney, a local retired banker, watched Rinehart cut his father’s hair at the Grand Hotel

shop for years. And when he was 8 years old, a young P.R. got to go to the Grand Hotel for his

very own turn in the barber’s chair.

“He was always so funny,” Sweeney said with a chuckle. “He had a great sense of humor. He

was always pulling practical jokes, things like that. As a young kid in his chair, he would always

get you to laugh.

“Back then the barber shops were what beauty shops are today,” Sweeney said. “That was

where you heard all the stories. And I think Ruel was the one who kept most of them going.”

Sweeney would go on to be a loyal client of Rinehart’s for more than 20 years.

“I’m bald-headed now,” he said with a laugh. “But you can bet that if I wasn’t, Ruel would still

be cutting my hair.”

Maurice Holscher, 68, has been a client of Rinehart’s for years as well. And like so many

others, the cheap haircut is only half the reason he keeps going back.

“He’s such a nice gentleman,” Holscher said. “And I love the conversation, hearing his stories.

He remembers so much about downtown Vincennes, the war, just all kinds of stuff.

“Plus, it’s a $6 haircut.”

The Grand Hotel was eventually sold in the 1960s to Security Bank, of which Sweeney’s father

was president at the time. The building was torn down to make way for the one there now, so

Rinehart went on the hunt for another barber shop.

But his close friend and long-time client Dr. Isaac K. Beckes, former president of Vincennes

University, came to the rescue and gave him space in a building at Second and College owned by

the university.

“Dr. Beckes made that happen for me,” Rinehart said with emotion. “He was a fine man, a very

fine man. I wish he was still here.

“Well, I wish all the old-timers were still here.”

For the next several years, he bounced between being a barber and a painter, never quite able to

choose between the different trades – one his own, one his father’s legacy. He would eventually

move his shop to where it is now, in the garage of his home so he could care for his ailing wife.

And when she developed Alzheimer’s disease eight years ago, he gave up everything to devote

all his time to her.

“She died four years ago,” he said leaning back in his own barber’s chair. “I was anxious to get

back to barbering.

“I figured I was too old to climb ladders anymore,” he said with a smile.

And as long as he can keep operating a set of clippers, Rinehart said he isn’t going anywhere

anytime soon. The stories, well, he only collects more with every snip of the scissors.

“I just like cutting a head of hair, making people feel good about themselves,” he said, gazing

out the window waiting for his next client to pull up. “And I figure I’ll keep doing it until I can’t

stand anymore.

“Nobody likes to get old and die,” he said after a pause. “But I believe I’ve lived the best part

of this country.”

D3 – Cat. 10

Marking the end of a remarkable era

Mark Miller

The News-Banner (Bluffton)

We dined with some out-of-town friends last weekend. There was the usual question: “What’s

new in Bluffton?”

And the usual response: “Oh, not much.”

But I got to thinking and in short order said, “Well, hold on.”

While the wind farm debates and discussions have certainly been in the news, there’s lots

more. Several industries are hiring and a couple are expanding their facilities, we’ve long been

blessed with some very steady snack-food plants, there are any number of people that I could

talk about and besides all that there will be another significant event this summer but it’s been a

bit under the radar.

“What’s that?” our friend asked.

“Franklin Electric’s headquarters will be moving to their new facilities in July,” I replied.

Of course, I was aware of all this because we are a) working on our annual “Who We Are”

edition which makes you unusually aware of the usual and b) I decided a couple of months ago

that we could not let the Franklin era come to an end without some recognition.

The initial plan was to do a series of four articles focused on Franklin’s history – the products,

the people and their very significant role in local history. It became one of those projects that

takes on a life of its own.

Each person I talked with gave me names of at least two others that I needed to talk to. Digging

into our archives uncovered additional angles. There were people and events that could not be

ignored. The more I learned, the more I wanted to tell.

And it remains a work still in progress.

But June is getting along. If I’m going to get all of this in by mid-July (Franklin’s anticipated

move completion) we need to get going.

So, today on our front page we begin a series of articles marking “The End of an Era” as I have

chosen to name it. There will not be an article every day as we move along, but most days for the

rest of the month and into July.

Franklin’s move, formally announced in early August 2011 but pretty much a conceded fact as

early as 2007, is somewhat akin to taking your child to college for the first time. “Bittersweet”

does not do it justice. As you are with your child leaving the nest, Bluffton has to feel a huge

amount of pride in being an integral part of the birth and maturation of such a remarkable

company.

But the apprehension of that departure is, of course, understandable.

I was not able to talk to all of those people I was referred to, but I believe I’ve talked to enough

– well, not quite, I still need to talk with one or two more key players – to be able to paint the

narrative of Bluffton being the nurturers of a new company, and how that company grew to help

nurture its hometown as well.

While it is a remarkable story, it is, above all else, a success story.

And thus we begin.

D3 – Cat. 11

RHS tops NM in controversial shootout

Val Tsoutsouris

The Rochester Sentinel

The Rochester and North Miami girls soccer teams played in the championship game of the

North Miami tournament Saturday.

The game ended in controversy. Actually, it ended in multiple controversies.

Ultimately, RHS won 4- 3 on Lexy Holland’s goal in sudden death penalty kicks.

But it ended with hard feelings. North Miami thought they had won. They briefly celebrated.

The officials convened and decided they hadn’t won.

The fans were confused. The scoreboard operator might have been confused. The coaches were

confused.

“There was so much convoluted in this ending PK shootout, but honestly I don’t know what

was right or wrong,” RHS coach Tricia Sederholm said. “I think they have an argument. I agree

that they had an argument on it.”

The game was tied 3-3 after regulation. Per tournament rules, the game would be decided on

penalty kicks, five for each side. Each team made three of five penalty kicks.

That led to another round of five kicks.

Each team made one of their first three kicks in the next round. North Miami’s Bella Borse

then scored, and RHS’ Jenna Schlarf was apparently stopped.

North Miami’s Adrianna Faine then missed with RHS goalkeeper Chloe Richard making the

stop.

Richard then took the final kick for RHS. North Miami goalkeeper Alisha Towner appeared to

stop her shot just before it reached the goal line.

At that point, North Miami thought they had won and briefly celebrated. But the officials got

together and after discussing the matter for a few minutes, they determined that Towner had

thrown the ball backwards into her net after the apparent save.

Richard’s goal counted. North Miami hadn’t won. The game was tied and headed into sudden

death penalty kicks.

At that point, Richard stopped Aubrey West. Holland then scored the game-winner. RHS went

home with the trophy.

A comment from Sederholm to Weisend during the postgame handshake line triggered the

second controversy.

Sederholm believed she was being gracious.

“I said to her, ‘I think you have a reason, and I’m glad you went up and talked to them,’”

Sederholm said. “I think you’re right. And she went off on me. ‘You should tell the refs. You

have to live with yourself,’ (Weisend said). I’m like, ‘I don’t call the game. The game is called

by those men in the middle.’ And if they didn’t want to call it that way, then they’re not going to

call it that way. I don’t agree with them most of the time. ... I thought I was making her feel a

little better that there was, yeah, questionable stuff on that. Maybe we need to question these refs

a little bit. I didn’t do the right thing.”

Sederholm then sent The Sentinel an email later Saturday night. She said that Richard kept in

contact with the referee keeping score, who said the score was tied. She also praised her players.

“My players are very excited about the win and worked very hard for it so I don’t want any of

my comments to take away from their hard fought victory,” Sederholm said. “I am extremely

proud of their effort, sportsmanship, and grace even in the most difficult situations. And I am

proud of their victory today.”

Weisend felt insulted and said the whole team started to cry after hearing what Sederholm said.

“She reached out, she knew I was upset, and she reached out to shake my hand,” Weisend said.

“Like a good coach, I shake her hand and say, ‘Good job.’ And she goes to say, ‘You were right.

Your score was right. You guys were up. But what happens? The ref calls everything. It’s over.

They called it. It’s what the ref calls.’ And just to do that right in front of my girls just shows

what kind of team they are.

“The principle of it ... We don’t need a trophy to show how wonderful my girls are and how far

they came. We don’t need that trophy. It’s just the principle of what she did in front of my team.

How she did it was wrong. It was not in an adult-like way. I just don’t know what else to say.

And I’m not here to bad mouth anybody, but if she said that to me off to the side, it wouldn’t

have bothered me as bad. It would have still bothered me, but right in front of my girls, she

pushed it in their face. Pushed it in their face.”

In another email to The Sentinel Sunday night, Sederholm said the officials’ mistake was in

ordering the second round of five penalty kicks. In fact, that’s when sudden death penalty kicks

should have begun and referred to a section on the IHSAA website.

Under point (D)(1) under “Tournament Tie-break Procedure,” the rule states, “Each coach will

select five different players than the first five who already have kicked to take the kicks in a

sudden victory situation, wherein if one team scores and the other team does not score, the game

is ended without more kicks being taken.”

Therefore, Sederholm argues, the game should have been over after penalty kick No. 7, when

North Miami’s Adrianna Richie had her shot stopped by Richard while RHS’ Alexa Holland

scored.

North Miami reached the final with a 9-1 win over Peru in the first round earlier Saturday.

RHS beat Maconaquah 4-1 behind two goals and two assists from Traci Burch. Alexa Holland

scored her first career varsity goal, and Lexy Holland also scored.

North Miami and RHS meet again at the Brent Blacketor Memorial Sports Complex on Sept.

25.

 

D3 – Cat. 12

A work ethic to envy

Hunt’s heart, determination turn into a starting role

RAY COONEY

The Commercial Review

Erin Hunt was never the star of her team.

She didn’t put up gaudy point totals.

She wasn’t on any all-state lists.

But Hunt was and has continued to be outstanding in one key aspect that has allowed her to

become a key contributor in a college program.

“I think Erin’s work ethic … made her a college player,” said Bethel College coach Jody Mar-

tinez of the 2011 Jay County High School graduate who spends hours each summer shooting at

Jay Community Center. “She’s one of those players that comes in on her own. … She does her

own shooting. Once in a while we’ll do workouts together.

“She just has a heart. She wants to be a college basketball player. And her work ethic is why

she plays.”

Her hard work has changed her from a bit player to a starter, from a defensive specialist into a

double-digit scoring threat.

Hunt barely saw the court in her first year with the Pilots. She played only in blowouts, getting

into just nine games. She attempted two field goals, missing both, and made one free throw.

Her role grew somewhat as a sophomore as she played in every game. But her minutes were

still slim as she served mostly as a defensive energy player in short spurts.

“The first year my role was to be an encourager off the bench,” said Hunt on Thursday

following her team’s game against Huntington University. “And then last year I had a role (to

play) aggressive defense, which was only limited minutes when we needed a stop, which was

good for me. I learned a lot in the few minutes I played.”

She learned enough to become a leader on this season’s team.

Hunt has started 18 of the Pilots’ 20 games this season and has become a scoring threat. It took

her just two games this season to surpass her scoring total from the first two years – 21 points –

and she has gone on to hit 33 3-pointers in 20 games.

A player who averaged just 4.7 points during her senior season with the Patriots, her 12-point

effort in Saturday’s 81-75 loss to Mount Vernon Nazarene marked the ninth time she has reached

double figures this year. With an average of 7.8 points per game while shooting 37 percent from

long distance, she has made the most of her opportunity this season.

“At the college level, it’s just so much a different ball game than the high school level,” said

Chris Krieg, who coached Hunt during her final season at JCHS. “For Erin to have an

opportunity to do that is great for her.”

Martinez noted that it was Hunt’s outside shooting and defensive ability that led him to believe

she could be a contributor for Bethel.

And while her offensive game has come along, her defense is what guarantees her place on the

court. She has 17 steals and six blocks this year, and it’s her job to try to lock down the

opposition’s leading scorer.

On Thursday, that meant a match-up with her former Patriot teammate Pazia Speed.

“She’s doing an amazing job at college,” said Speed, a 2010 JCHS graduate who has scored

more than 1,000 points in her collegiate career. “She’s stepped up. … She’s one of the hardest

working people I know. I’m really proud of her.”

Times have been difficult for the Pilots over the last month as they have lost eight of nine after

a 6-5 start. But Hunt has remained positive in her leadership role.

She’s looking forward to a strong finish to her junior season and the chance to put together a

winning senior year.

Hunt was no sure thing to become a college success. She wasn’t sure if she could become a

college starter, but she’s made herself into an example of what can be accomplished with the

combination of self-confidence and a lot of hard work.

“I always hoped that I could, and I knew that I needed a coach that believed in me and would

push me hard,” Hunt said. “Coach Martinez is that. He believes in me and I believe in our team.

It’s been fun.”

 

D3 – Cat. 13

Friday a time to show our support

RAY COONEY

The Commercial Review

It was one of those gut-punch moments.

We’ve all had them. They are those times in life when you feel as if the wind has been knocked

out of you. Sometimes they bring you to your knees.

These moments come at the most difficult times: the loss of a job, the breakup of a relationship

or, at worst, the death of a loved one.

For me, one of those moments was learning Jay County High School athletics secretary Joni

Penrod had breast cancer.

Unfortunately, cancer has probably given a gut punch to most who are reading this column.

It’s hit my family. Last year, my grandma died of complications from cancer. My mom went

through a battle of her own a few years earlier and is now a cancer survivor.

It’s also hit the Jay County athletics community. In the months after Patriot boys basketball

coach Craig Teagle led his team to the 2006 state championship game, his wife, Shelley, was

diagnosed with cancer. She is also a survivor.

Joni will be too.

I have no doubt Joni will win her fight against cancer. She’s got a fighting spirit, a

stubbornness that will serve her well. And she’s met the challenge with strength.

I stopped in to her office last week to wish her a speedy recovery saying, “Good luck with your

surgery. I hope everything goes well.”

Her response was a confident, “It will.”

Joni had her surgery Thursday in Indianapolis. She was back home a day later. And on

Monday she said, “I feel great.”

She had walked a mile, and taken no pain medication. She said if not for the need for a few

uncomfortable medical devices, she would have been ready to return to work.

“There has never been any doubt,” said Joni of her expectation of a full recovery. “God’s been

taking care of me all along, and all the people that have been praying. That’s the only thing that

has gotten me through.

“This is a bump in the road. It happens for a reason. … It’s going to be OK. It’s going to be

fine.”

Joni, like her mom, Jeannie Habegger, before her, is the backbone of Jay County athletics.

If I ever have a question about anything at the high school, I call Joni. She either knows the

answer, or she’ll find it.

A member of the second graduating class from JCHS, she has been a Patriot from day one. She

truly loves her school, her teams and her job.

And I know it’s driving her crazy every minute she has to be away.

(Joni’s doctor told her she would need to be off of work for four-to-five weeks. Her response

was a defiant, “no.” Expect to see her back soon.) But so much more important to me than her

skill and dedication to her job is her friendship.

I know I can walk into Joni’s office any time, any day and talk to her about anything. I’ve told

her happy stories about my niece and sad stories about family trials and tribulations. And we’ve

shared far too many laughs to count them all.

It’s truly an honor to know her.

And now it’s time to show it.

The Patriot boys soccer team dedicated its game to Joni on the day of her surgery. The pictures

from the event brought tears to her eyes.

“It makes me feel very honored and humble,” said Joni, again unable to keep from crying. “I

wouldn’t want to live any place else.

“And I definitely wouldn’t want to work any place else.

“I’ve always loved Jay County High School.”

Joni wasn’t able to attend at the soccer game played in her honor. But she plans to be at Harold

E. Schutz Memorial Stadium in three days, which will give us all the chance to show, in person,

how much we love her.

Jay County fans are normally urged to fill the stands with Patriotic red, white and blue. But for

this week’s game against Heritage the stands should be a sea of a different color, not only for

Joni but for all of those in our lives who have battled against this terrible disease.

On Friday night, think of them, think of Joni and think pink.