Quick takes – February 24

Raising the bar

After Columbus East produced its first individual wrestling state champion last year, senior Graham Rooks and junior Nick South brought home the school’s second and third individual state titles after winning their weight classes Feb. 17 in the IHSAA Wrestling State Finals at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Rooks won the 132-pound class championship and finished the season 48-0. South, who finished with a 48-1 record, won the 160-pound title in his first trip to the state finals. Their efforts helped the Olympians, which had eight wrestlers qualify for the state meet, finish third in the team standings — two points out of second.

The titles are not only a point of pride for the individuals, but they speak well of the strong reputation that the East program has developed under coach Chris Cooper.

Kind gesture

The athletic and academic groups that sell concessions at Columbus East sporting events typically benefit by the profits supporting school programs. This year the funds are being used in another good way.

Groups have been donating their proceeds to Columbus East social studies teacher Tony Pottorf, also the school’s concessions manager, who is battling Stage 4 breast cancer. The money is being used to help pay his medical bills.

That collective rallying around Pottorff is kind and generous, and is a tremendous show of care and sense of family at the school.

Show of honesty

Columbus couple Andy Watkins and his fiancee Kimberly Redmon recently noticed an unexplained $10,000 deposit in their bank account, leaving them puzzled as to why.

They reported the matter to their bank, and eventually learned that the deposit had been made at one of the bank’s branches in Shelbyville by a woman with the same name as Redmon, but who had not used a deposit slip.

Their honesty resulted in the bank fixing the mistake and the money being returned to the account of the rightful owner. Watkins’ and Redmon’s story is a good lesson about why honesty is best, and is worth sharing with others.