Bartholomew County is expected to record an annual decline in drug overdose deaths for the third consecutive year, with local officials expressing “cautious optimism” that the community will continue to make progress in reducing deaths.

A total of 21 overdose deaths were reported in Bartholomew County in 2025, according to preliminary data from the Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office. That would be a decline from 22 deaths in 2024, 25 deaths in 2023 and a record 39 deaths in 2022.

The coroner’s office cautioned that the data is preliminary at this point and may be adjusted later as officials validate records for the office’s annual report, which is expected to be released by the end of this month.

“Three consecutive years of decreases is good news and cause for cautious optimism,” said Bartholomew County Deputy Coroner Jay Frederick. “It’s also noteworthy that we did not have any apparent overdose deaths in the fourth quarter of 2025.”

Dr. Kevin Terrell, medical director at Columbus Regional Health’s Treatment and Support Center, or TASC, also welcomed the third consecutive annual decline in overdose deaths. TASC, 2630 22nd St., provides a range of outpatient treatments for substance use disorder.

“The decline in overdose death rates in 2025 is great news for our community,” Terrell said. “I am thrilled that the trend continues. I was very concerned that the decrease we saw in 2023 was a fluke, but the reductions in death rates have continued for an additional two years. This makes me more optimistic that we will continue to make progress on the opioid epidemic.”

Terrell said last month that TASC had been consistently seeing over 400 active patients. The most common drug that people have been seeking help with is methamphetamine, followed closely by fentanyl.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is more potent than heroin but is cheaper to produce and distribute. Officials have said fentanyl is increasingly being cut with other drugs, including counterfeit pills.

At the same time, TASC has continued to see a “large and growing number of patients” seeking help for alcohol problems, Terrell said.

Many experts attribute the growing numbers of people struggling with alcohol abuse to the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were stuck at home and isolated from others, Terrell said. Many people turned to alcohol to cope with the loneliness and despair people experienced during the pandemic.

“I am pleased that so many people who are struggling with alcohol are coming in for help,” Terrell said.

The preliminary annual figures from the coroner’s office come a few months after the federal government reported that there were 30,000 fewer U.S. drug overdose deaths in 2024 than the year before — the largest one-year decline ever recorded, The Associated Press reported.

An estimated 80,000 people died from overdoses last year, according to provisional Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released Wednesday, according to wire reports. That’s down 27% from the 110,000 in 2023.

The CDC has been collecting comparable data for 45 years. The previous largest one-year drop was 4% in 2018, according to the agency’s National Center for Health Statistics.

All but two states saw declines last year, with Nevada and South Dakota experiencing small increases, according to wire reports. Some of the biggest drops were in Ohio, West Virginia and other states that have been hard-hit in the nation’s decades-long overdose epidemic, according to wire reports.

There were 1,695 overdose deaths in Indiana during the 12-month period that ended in December 2024, down from 2,193 during the same period in 2023 — a 23% decline — according to the provisional CDC data.

Bartholomew County has seen declines in overdose deaths in each of the previous three years after surging to records highs in 2020, 2021 and 2022, according to county records. Overdose deaths in the county declined 36% in 2023, 12% in 2024 and 5% in 2025.

Before 2020, annual overdose deaths in the county had eclipsed 20 two times within the previous five years. Since the pandemic struck, annual overdose deaths have been higher than 20 for six straight years, including three years above 30.

A total of 260 people in Bartholomew County died from an overdose from 2015 to 2025, according to county records.

“We have a long way to go to return to pre-epidemic levels,” Frederick said.

Experts say more research needs to be done to understand what drove the reduction, but they mention several possible factors, including, among other things, increased availability of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, expanded addiction treatment, shifts in how people use drugs, the impact of opioid lawsuit settlement money, according to wire reports.

Frederick said it would take in-depth research to determine what factors may have contributed to the local decline in overdose deaths, but the coroner’s office “would prefer to believe” that the reduction was driven by increased public awareness about the fatal risks of street drugs, the increased availability of naloxone and steady law enforcement targeting drug dealers.

“Our office publicly presents drug overdose deaths in terms of statistics to respect the privacy of individuals and their families,” Frederick said. “But it is important to recognize that each case involves an individual story. Too often, it’s the story of a young person who otherwise had plenty of life ahead. Many families choose to share their painful story on social media or in other news features, hoping it can prevent similar deaths. It’s possible that individual stories and photos of young faces have helped drive the overall numbers down.”

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Bartholomew County’s first baby of 2026 arrived at Columbus Regional Hospital just a short time after the arrival of the new year.

The county’s first baby is Lola Kay-Marie, born at 1:08 a.m. Thursday, the first child for Blake and Grace James, Columbus. Her original due date was Jan. 9.

Lola weighed in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces, 21-inches long, and joins several “grandsons” and just one other “granddaughter” in the extended family.

Blake is a wastewater plant operator for the city of Columbus and Grace is a kindergarten teacher at CSA Fodrea in the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.

Extended family also played a role in Lola’s arrival, the new parents said. CRH registered nurse Sarah Hudson, older sister of Grace, helped in the delivery at the birthing center.

Aunt Sarah has been at the center for more than 12 years and is currently studying to be a midwife.

Grace said she and her husband were told that she needed to be induced Wednesday morning due to some medical issues.

“We didn’t know how long it would take,” she said in an interview from the hospital Friday. Surprisingly, the CRH birthing center wasn’t very busy over New Year’s, with the couple saying that “basically, it’s really just been us” except for perhaps one other family.

Grace said it was very emotional to have her sister assist in Lola’s birth as the couple did not know they were going to have the baby on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

“It was a very happy surprise,” she said.

Hudson described assisting in Lola’s arrival as a “huge blessing,” to get to be with her baby sister and to help her deliver her first baby on the holiday. “For her (Lola) to be the first baby of the year was just a lot of fun,” she said.

When asked what it was like to enter the exclusive “Girl Dad” club, Blake James said, “I wanted a girl, so I’m over the moon.”

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Bartholomew County voters will soon get their first look at who plans to run for a range of federal, state and local offices that will be up for grabs during the 2026 midterm elections.

Candidate filings for the 2026 primary open Wednesday and continue until Feb. 6, marking the start of the primary campaign season. The primary in Indiana is May 5.

Primary elections are held to nominate candidates from each party to appear on the general election ballot in the fall.

This year, several federal, state and local offices will be on the ballot in Bartholomew County — including four Indiana General Assembly seats, two U.S. House seats, Columbus Township Trustee and several county offices, among other races.

One race that is expected to draw some attention is the Republican primary for Indiana Senate District 41.

The seat is currently held by five-term incumbent Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, who said last month that he is “beginning to reconsider” retiring from the Senate after announcing in August that he would not seek re-election.

Walker’s potential decision to reverse course and seek a sixth term comes after he became a vocal critic of President Donald Trump’s demands to redraw Indiana’s congressional map ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

The Indiana Senate voted 31-19 last month to reject a proposed congressional map that would have redrawn congressional districts in ways that could flip two Democratic-held seats as part of a broader national push to help preserve the GOP’s narrow majority in the U.S. House.

Walker said he declined two invitations to visit the White House, including an offer to visit the Oval Office, while the Trump administration officials pushed for Indiana lawmakers to redraw the map.

In a 20-minute address to the Senate Committee on Elections last month, Walker suggested the push to redraw Indiana’s congressional map mid-decade may lead him to seek re-election after all.

“And you’re thinking, ‘Oh, it’s easy. You already said you’re not coming back. You can’t be primaried,’” Walker said during the address. “Well, some little seed in the back of my head says, ‘Go ahead and file.’ I think it’d be the dumbest thing I ever did in my life, but that’s what my wife thought when I ran 20 years ago.”

After Walker initially said he did not plan to seek re-election, former U.S. Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., said he had conversations about the seat becoming vacant with leaders and others who may be interested in running in the GOP primary but had not made a decision about whether he would run.

Pence, who is the older brother of former Vice President Mike Pence, represented Indiana’s Sixth Congressional District for three terms from 2019 to 2025.

Former Indiana Rep. Milo Smith, R-Columbus, who represented Indiana House District 59 from 2006 to 2018, said in August that he plans to run for Walker’s seat.

Following the Senate vote on redistricting last month, Gov. Mike Braun issued a statement that seemed to indicated that was pledging to work with Trump against members of his own party in Indiana to oppose state senators who voted against the proposed congressional map.

At the federal level, Indiana’s Sixth and Ninth Congressional Districts are up for re-election this year. Those two seats are currently held by Rep. Jefferson Shreve, R-Ind., and Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind.

Indiana House Districts 59, 69 and 73 will also be up for grabs this year. Rep. Ryan Lauer, R-Columbus; Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour; and Rep. Jennifer Meltzer, R-Shelbyville, currently hold those seats.

Locally, the 2026 primary will be the first election since former Columbus Township Trustee Ben Jackson pleaded guilty to stealing and misusing $1.12 million in township funds to cover personal expenses over an eight-year period.

Jackson, a Republican, resigned in November 2024 amid an investigation into his use of the township’s credit card.

Several county-level races will also be on the ballot this year, including Bartholomew County Council seats, Bartholomew County Prosecutor, Bartholomew County Sheriff, Bartholomew Superior Court 2 judge and Bartholomew County Clerk.

Bartholomew County Prosecutor Lindsey Holden-Kay, Bartholomew Superior Court 2 Judge Jonathan “Jon” Rohde and Bartholomew County Sheriff Chris Lane, all Republicans, have already announced plans to seek re-election this year.

The deadline to register to vote for the 2026 primary is April 6, according to the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office.

It can be difficult and extremely frustrating to try and help someone with mental illness who is adamant that they do not need help. Attempts to do so may even backfire and cause the person to move further away from getting help.

There’s a term for that, called anosognosia, which is a neurological condition that prevents awareness of one’s mental illness, according to psychologist Dr. Xavier Amador. His book, “I Am Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help,” discusses just that and his evidence-based LEAP, or “listen, empathize, agree and partner,” method.

Community members, whether they are family members of someone needing help or are just curious to learn more, can talk about the the book together in a series of discussion groups organized by Mental Health Matters and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, of South Central Indiana starting on Jan. 9 and continuing until Feb. 4.

Several community leaders have also been invited to lead discussions on the book. The first session, to be held from from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at Columbus City Hall in the Cal Brand Meeting Room, will have discussions facilitated by First Presbyterian Church pastor Felipe Martinez and Bartholomew Circuit Court Judge Kelly Benjamin.

“I Am Not Sick, I Don’t Need Help” can be purchased at Viewpoint Books or on Amazon. The accompanying book guide can be obtained from Viewpoint Books, the Bartholomew County Public Library or Mental Health Matters. For a full list of dates and locations for book discussion groups, visit mhmbc.org.

Amador’s LEAP method, as explained in the book, can help build trust with someone even if they refuse to acknowledge their illness, communicate effectively without confrontation or power struggles and recognize the signs of anosognosia, according to Mental Health Matters’ website.

Mental Health Matters Action Team Specialist Julie Orben said it provides good examples and tools for how to have a conversation with someone who may be adamant they don’t need help and the frustration that can arise from those conversations.

“Dr. Amador, his own brother, he talks about how this whole process changed their relationship in that he went from, ‘you’re frustrating me, you need to take your medication. If you don’t do this, it’s going to be bad,’ and move from that type of combative conversation to more of having a calm conversation and… a conversation back and forth to acknowledge and show empathy, that you’re listening to the person and not being confrontational with them,” Orben said.

While the primary focus of the class is on mental health, individuals who struggle with substance issues are welcome to attend as well. Even if they haven’t read the book or do not wish to participate in the discussions, community members are still invited to listen in.

“You can still listen, you can still learn something by coming and just listening to the discussion of the individuals that are going to lead the discussion and then there’s a study guide that… a couple other individuals within NAMI that developed this study guide that will have different questions that you can go to and individuals can talk about,” Orben said.

Martinez said he plans to discuss how the book relates to his work as a pastor and Benjamin as a judge in their respective lines of work and how they can be partners to families experiencing mental health issues. Benjamin said she has already changed the way she frames questions and talks to people who may have mental health issues in the courtroom because of the book.

“I’ve noticed that if I change the way I ask or how I have my tone with people with mental illness really changes how they respond,” Benjamin said.

Because it’s a difficult subject, Martinez feels that churches sometimes aren’t well equipped to discuss mental health issues, but he said they are trying to de-stigmatize it, even in his own church. They have partnered with NAMI in the past and, in 2025, started a yearlong mental health initiative with workshops, special speakers and support groups.

Martinez believes these discussions are a good opportunity to further de-stigmatize mental health issues. He said he looks forward to having a conversation with Benjamin as well as the community at large.

“I’m so grateful that we as a church have an opportunity to be supportive of the community, and so I invite other churches and other houses of worship to consider ways in which they can collaborate with NAMI and with CRH and Mental Health Matters,” Martinez said. “Our members in our community will benefit.”

Benjamin hopes the community takes the time and effort to learn more about mental health issues and the LEAP method. She believes it to be a new outlook on how to approach people who may be suffering from a severe mental illness and give them the encouragement they need to seek out help.

“It’s really an important and interesting issue that the more you learn about it and the better we understand it, I think the better we can help people,” Benjamin said.

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