Roadway to be renamed for officers

NORTH VERNON — Efforts to rename a Jennings County highway in honor of two fallen police officers are making progress.

“It’s a done deal. It’s going to happen,” said Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, who sponsored House Concurrent Resolution 14 through the Indiana House of Representatives. Lucas represents House District 69 which includes portions of Bartholomew, Jackson, Jennings and Jefferson counties.

The stretch of road which runs on the west side of North Vernon to just off the old U.S 50 on the east side near the Muscatatuck River will be officially renamed the “Officer Anthony Burton and Reserve Officer Lonnie Howard Memorial Highway.”

House Concurrent Resolution 14 requests that the Indiana Department of Transportation rename a section of U.S. 50 and County Road 150 North in honor of Burton and Howard.

The officers were killed in a line-of-duty tragedy March 24, 1993, when their police car was rammed by a suspect near U.S. 50.

House Concurrent Resolution 14 has passed the House and the Senate and has been returned to the House and then will proceed to the Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office for a final signature.

“It has gone through the process now,” Lucas said.

“I was hoping to see this done long before I was elected and I am so happy to see that it is finally happening,” said North Vernon Mayor Mike Ochs. “We will have a very nice ceremony in the spring when the weather turns warm but it is just so nice to know now that it really is going to happen,” he said.

The public will be invited to the ceremony, Ochs said. The time and date of the ceremony will be announced at a later date.