Silver alert issued for Hope woman

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February 14, 2020

HOPE — The Hope Police Department is investigating the disappearance of Donna Mitchell, 57, Hope.

She is 57-years-old, 5 feet 3 inches tall, 115 pounds, brown hair with brown eyes, last seen wearing glasses, a tan Carhartt jacket and blue jeans with a flower decal on the pant leg.

She is believed to be driving a maroon 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer and front bumper is hanging by a coat hanger with Indiana license plate 902QAK.

She was last seen at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and is believed to be in danger and may require medical assistance.

Anyone with information on Mitchell should contact the Hope Police Department at 812-546-4015 or call 911.

Local student to compete in Poetry Out Loud

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Staff Reports

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February 14, 2020

Columbus Signature Academy New Tech High School student Piper Parks will compete in Saturday’s Poetry Out Loud in Indianapolis.

The poetry recitation contest begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Indiana State Library, 315 Ohio St. in downtown Indianapolis. Fourteen students from around the state are competing.

The state champion receives a $200 cash prize and an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C. to compete in the Poetry Out Loud National Finals in April. The state champion’s school receives a $500 stipend to purchase poetry books.

Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a recitation competition in high schools across the United States. The program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn about literary history and contemporary life. The program is a partnership of the National Endowment of the Arts, Poetry Foundation, Indiana Arts Commission and the Indiana State Library.

New mother-in-law wants DIL to love her

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Staff Reports

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February 14, 2020

Dear Amy: I am a first-time mother-in- law.

We are a close family. We have always kept in touch with one another on a regular basis, even after the kids left home.

My son and new daughter-in-law live about 90 minutes away.

My daughter-in-law seems content to keep contact to a minimum.

For example, I am going through a difficult separation from my husband. I have told my daughter-in-law that it would mean a lot to me to hear from her, to know that she is concerned about me.

When I expressed my feelings to her, she claimed I was telling her “how” to love me.

I was not allowed a mother/son dance at their wedding because she lost her father and I was told it would be too difficult for her to watch us dance.

They are now expecting their first child, and my son called to tell me the baby will be born with a heart defect and will need surgery at some point.

He asked me to wait a day before calling her.

I called her and left a message. She didn’t return the call or text me.

I don’t understand why she keeps me at arm’s length.

How can I bring her closer to me?

— Heartbroken Mom

Dear Heartbroken: You need to figure out how to be less heartbroken, and more patient and understanding toward a young woman who might not know how to be intimate in the way that you are intimate.

It is inappropriate for you to share details of your separation from your husband with this new family member, and to ask for (or expect) her emotional support. Presumably, the husband you are separated from is her new father-in-law. Your emotional needs feel like a demand; this puts a lot of pressure on her.

She has no father and a distant relationship with her mother.

You should not tell her how to love you. Instead, you should show her how a patient, compassionate, loving and good-humored mother behaves.

You should not expect a call back from an anxious, pregnant daughter-in-law with a frightening diagnosis who has already admitted that she doesn’t always know how to behave.

Approach her with the goal to build a friendship. Don’t pressure her to be a daughter to you. She’s not ready!

Your DIL needs to be able to trust that you won’t overreact or transfigure her dramas into yours. This requires that you both learn to behave differently.

Dear Amy: Is there an acceptable way to ask people on the plane or in a waiting room if they are contagious?

I’m not sure what I’d do if they said “yes,” but perhaps they would make more of an effort to cover up their coughs — or use cough drops!

— Rather Not Get Sick

Dear Rather Not: As of this writing, the coronavirus, which originated in China, is spreading.

Children are (quite appropriately) taught to cough and sneeze into their elbows. This technique is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc.gov). The CDC also recommends coughing into a tissue and then throwing the tissue away.

If you are in a physician’s waiting room, you should assume that someone near you who is coughing is contagious.

This is from the CDC website: “Cough etiquette is especially important for infection control measures in healthcare settings, such as emergency departments, doctor’s offices, and clinics.”

A polite way to remind someone to cover their cough would be to say, “It seems that you are sick. Would you mind covering your cough?”

Dear Amy: In a previous column, you recommended “relocating” a trio of squirrels that were tormenting a new homeowner.

In many states, it is illegal to relocate wild animals. The squirrels were there before the homeowner. They get first dibs.

— Squirrel Lover

Dear Lover: Thank you. These squirrels were being fed by a neighbor. The U.S. Department of Agriculture strongly discourages feeding wild animals.

If these neighbors didn’t feed the squirrels, they might relocate themselves.

Time to shake up the nominating process?

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Staff Reports

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February 14, 2020

Perhaps it was unlucky 13.

The ill-fated 2020 Iowa caucuses represented the 13th time in a row that voters in the Hawkeye State had the first shot at picking a presidential nominee.

And if critics have anything to say about it, it’ll be the last.

Some suggest jettisoning not only the Iowa caucuses but the New Hampshire primary as well.

“With each passing election, the privileged place of Iowa and New Hampshire becomes harder to defend,” the Boston Globe said in an editorial. “The vote-counting snafu in Iowa this week seems to have unleashed years of pent-up frustration about a system that is unfair to Americans in the 48 other states and continues to distort American politics.”

This isn’t the first time Iowa has struggled to pick a winner.

In 2012, Iowa Republicans initially gave the nod to Mitt Romney, only to correct themselves 16 days later and announce that Rick Santorum had actually won.

Now, Iowa Democrats are taking their turn in the hall of shame.

None of this should be seen as a reflection on the voters.

Even from a distance, you can see that those who turn out for the Iowa caucuses take their role seriously, and you can make an effective argument that they perform a service for the rest of us.

The process is fascinating to watch.

Voters in towns across the state gather in high school gymnasiums or other large meeting places, and they split up into clusters.

Those supporting one candidate gather in this area. Those supporting other candidates gather in another.

And they count heads.

The candidates who reach a certain threshold remain in the running for delegates. Those who don’t either lure support from other candidates or they fall by the wayside.

There’s something to be said for the sort of one-on-one interaction that you see in these early states. For months on end, the candidates show up for ice cream socials or fish fries and hold town halls where they meet voters face to face.

In its editorial, the Globe acknowledged that it had seen its own influence grow as a result of New Hampshire’s position in the selection process, but it announced that it was withholding its endorsement of a Democratic presidential candidate until after the New Hampshire primary.

“Sometimes, it’s more important to stand up for what’s right than what’s in one’s own interests,” the editorial said. “More important than wielding our influence on a single small state’s primary, we believe, is to call for the end of an antiquated system that gives outsized influence in choosing presidents to two states that, demographically, more resemble 19th-century America than they do the America of today.”

The Globe suggested the two parties consider a lineup of states whose populations were more representative of the country as a whole.

“Take, for example, Illinois, whose population by age, race, and certain economic factors very much resembles the makeup of the nation,” it said.

Others have suggested Georgia and New Mexico. Or maybe Texas. All of those states have far more diversity in their populations than Iowa and New Hampshire.

And then there’s the idea of a single national primary, where all states would cast their ballots at the same time.

Of course, that wouldn’t help Indiana, one of the states that often finds itself irrelevant in the nominating process.

Instead of a situation where voters in Iowa and New Hampshire were getting all of the attention, candidates in a nationwide primary would be forced to focus their energy on population centers. They’d be campaigning in New York and Chicago and Los Angeles. Maybe Cleveland and Miami and Atlanta.

They wouldn’t be turning out for chili suppers at small towns in the Midwest.

Letter: The danger of blindly following

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Staff Reports

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February 14, 2020

STOCK - Typing, Keyboard, Letter, Letter to Editor — Businessman using laptop computer

From: Tom Lane

Columbus

Whenever we follow anything without question, we set ourselves up for disaster.

I don’t care if it is a religion, a politician/party, or simply a belief that you adopted wholeheartedly.

Following without question is acquiescing to going unconscious to life.

The only thing that keeps us alive in this world is the ability to ask questions, to doubt, to wonder if this is really the right way.

Of course, there is no right way, but you won’t find that unless you constantly question.

When we blindly follow, we go into a deeper sleep.

No one going into this kind of followership ever thinks that they are blindly doing this.

We deny our blindness all the time. How do you know you are not “blindly following?”

Remember all of Hitler’s followers truly believed all the stuff he was selling until after the whole thing collapsed, and then they all backtracked.

You are blindly following (“BFing) when you get information from a narrow set of inputs.

You are “BFing” when you do not ask questions about the validity of and the sense of what you are hearing and seeing.
You are “BFing” when you explain contradictions to prior info, as just a way someone interpreted that.
You are “BFing” when you seek only sources of information that agree with you.
You are “BFing” when immediately dismiss critics and info that contradicts what you think of who you are following.
You are “BFing” when find yourself compromising your values and beliefs when they are contradicting who you are following.
You are “BFing” when you lose friends and colleagues who disagree with you based only on your unflinching “BFing.”

For the more sophisticated followers, they can develop elaborate rationales and logic that defend their positions.

And who am I to say these are incorrect?

The true test of these is when they are not compared to prior views, not looked at in terms are larger systems, and are not open to sincere critique.

All blind followers are very good at creating a reality that supports the “good” reasons to be blind.

They may be about a sense of personal power, a sense of being dismissed, a sense of not being okay in this world, a sense of or simply unclear anger to the system they live in.

Someone comes along and we feel like he/she gets our angst. We don’t really understand why, and we certainly cannot explain it, but it simply “feels right”.

They become blind followers and true believers. They are ones that have caused the greatest pain in human living.

I would imagine you are putting your favorite enemy in this.

But, remember, all those others are a creation of your own believing.

They think you are so wrong for the same reasons you think they are so wrong. Not the same content, but the same process of claiming to have the “truth” and claiming the other wrong.

And we all lose.

Glitch serves as a reminder of cyber vulnerability

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Staff Reports

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February 14, 2020

There’s no perfect way to protect our personal data, but when we willfully confide it with an institution there’s an expectation of high-level cybersecurity.

Last week, Indiana University officials said that a tool on the university’s website may have inadvertently granted unauthorized users access to the grades and other academic records of any student who took at least one course at any IU campus during the past five years, including IUPUC. Across the state, Indiana University has two core campuses and seven regional campuses.

The tool, intended to allow students to view their own grade history, calculated their grade-point averages and allowed authorized university staff to view grades and calculate GPAs. It was removed from the university’s website on Tuesday after being alerted of a "misconfiguration."

Among the information that potentially could have been accessed included class names, the semesters the classes were taken, grades for those classes and the students’ overall GPA, university spokesman Chuck Carney said.

“Nobody in the general public without an IU login could access that (tool),” Carney said.

Officials at IU said that they are working to identify all potentially impacted individuals, but there hasn’t been an update since Feb. 7.

While the information won’t likely be used for nefarious reasons, it’s worrisome that explicit personal information could be so easily accessed by masses of students.

The public is already being stalked around the clock by the devices used to binge watch our favorite TV shows, connect with friends, track our runs, listen to music, and order our overnight packages.

Facebook data on a single person who uses a computer and social media a moderate amount can exceed 600 megabytes, which is 400,000 Word documents, for example.

There’s no linear method to protect our information in our data-driven world as technology advances with each "Like" of a post, but rarely do we think of organizations like colleges having cybersecurity errors.

May the recent slip-up caught by the university serve as a reminder that much of our private information is intended to be available to a few, but can often be accessed by many.

Columbus/Bartholomew Recycling Center limits plastic recycling

By

Mark Webber

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February 14, 2020

Those who take their plastic recycling to the Columbus/Bartholomew Recycling Center will have to become more selective on what they bring.

The center, at 720 S. Mapleton St., is significantly limiting the types of plastics it will accept, according to the Bartholomew County Solid Waste Management District.

Plastic items no longer being accepted should have a recycling triangle on the bottom with the numbers 3,4,5,6 or 7, district education coordinator Jessica Norcross said.

Generally speaking, the plastics no longer being accepted are:

Cooking oil and shampoo bottles
Cleaner spray bottles
Squeezable condiment bottles
Plastic films or shrink wrap
Grocery, bread, frozen food and produce bags
Syrup, ketchup and medicine bottles
Packing peanuts, egg cartons, take-out containers, disposable plates, party cups and cutlery

Up until now, district vendors accepted most types of these household plastic items because they could find a market for them, Norcross said.

“But it has gotten to the point that none of our vendors are taking (these types of plastics), because there is no market for them,” Norcross said. “I hope it’s a temporary problem, but I really have no idea what the market is going to do.”

For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.

Vacant factory may get new use

By

Mark Webber

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February 14, 2020

A small part of the former Vernco building at 1804 22nd St. has been demolished on the west side of the structure. However, a local developer is proposing that most of the long-shuttered manufacturing facility be renovated into commercial tenant spaces. Mark Webber | The Republic

Tentative plans are in the works to renovate a former manufacturing facility that has been sitting empty for the past 17 years.

If the city gives its blessing, the former Vernco/Ventra building at 1804 22nd St. will be converted into commercial tenant spaces, according to an application submitted Jan. 13 by Clinton Mann of Mann Properties in Columbus.

Potential uses for the property listed by Mann include retail stores and a worship facility. He also said in the application that there is currently interest from a soccer club to locate in one of the spaces.

But specific occupants will not be recruited until the city approves plans to renovate a dilapidated parking lot west of the building on the other side of Cottage Avenue, according to Clinton Mann’s son, Justin Mann.

The matter was postponed by the Columbus Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) in January to allow Mann Properties the opportunity to comply with unresolved issues, such as submitting a phasing plan for street improvements to Cottage Avenue, as well as to both 22nd and 23rd streets. City planners are also asking for building elevations for review and approval.

The two key issues for city planners is whether safe pedestrian access can be provided across Cottage Avenue to the newly renovated parking lot Mann Properties wants to construct, according to the application. The extent that the developer should go to fulfill rezoning commitments made earlier on the property are also being considered by planners.

In his Jan. 13 application, Mann stated he wanted to ask the Board of Zoning Appeals for parking lot variances regarding setbacks from Cottage Avenue, landscaping and buffers.

After the January hearing on the zoning was continued, Justin Mann said he’s not sure when the matter will be brought back for consideration by the Board of Zoning Appeals.

The board’s next meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Feb. 25 in the FairOaks Mall. City meetings have been moved to the mall property while maintenance work is completed on the Columbus City Hall elevator.

Although the former Vernco/Ventra building may be largely unnoticed today, the manufacturing facility employed a substantial number of Bartholomew County residents during the last century.

Built in 1935, the industrial facility originally housed the V.E. Sprouse Co., an Indianapolis-based firm that made humidifiers, fans, electric motors and auto parts. It wasn’t until 1953 that the business changed its name to Vernco Corp.

A few milestones were reached by Vernco during the following decade. One includes a $90,000 office addition completed in 1962 that, if adjusted for inflation, would be about $762,000 today. The other milestone was employment growth that reached 325 workers in 1968.

After the business was purchased by Emerson Electric in 1977, the company kept the Vernco name. But three years later, company officials announced they were considering closing their Columbus plant and transferring all manufacturing to other facilities.

When purchased again in 1985, the manufacturing facility adopted its parent company’s name: Ventra Corp. The company made air tanks for truck braking systems.

Gradually, the number of Ventra employees fell to 120 in 1999 — and then to 86 in 2001 — and then to 52 during their final year of operation.

A short time after being acquired by the Flex-N-Gate Corp., city officials made the announcement that Ventra Corp. would close the Columbus facility no later than January 2003.

During the company’s final year of operation, the land and improvements for the 71,610-square-foot manufacturing facility was assessed at $948,600. But after being vacant for so many years, the 2019 building and property assessment was listed at $340,100.

While an older section of the factory on the building’s west side has already been demolished, Justin Mann says no renovation has yet taken place on the remainder of the building..

Beside the parking lot that Mann Properties wants to improve, the block west of the former manufacturing building also includes Carpet Mania on the north side. Clinton Mann, who also owns that business, moved the retail outlet to 2258 Cottage Avenue after a devastating fire destroyed the former location near 10th and Michigan streets in January 2018.

How do I love thee? Say it with vows, songs or even burgers

By

Brian Blair

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February 14, 2020

Decorations of flowers and candles are set up for a wedding vow renewal ceremony at First United Methodist Church in Columbus, Ind., Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020. The ceremony will take place on Valentine's Day. Mike Wolanin | The Republic

Maybe you struggle to say those three little words in a big and different way on this make-or-break kind of day.

And, with all due respect, maybe you’re hardly the type for expensive jewelry or flowers.

So, as Fleetwood Mac might say, “go your own way.”

You can make your Valentine’s Day special with a few creative options today.

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Renew your vows

Married couples can celebrate love and commitment by revisiting the pledges they made to one another — ‘til death do us part. First United Methodist Church at 618 Eighth St. in downtown Columbus is offering five-minute, no-appointment vow renewals between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. and again from 5 to 6:30 p.m. today. The individual time slots will include a brief liturgy, blessing of rings, and a short prayer in the chapel adorned with floral arrangements and candelabras — and an artsy marriage banner.

Couples will be free to make donations of any amount to the church’s Love-A-Child Preschool Scholarship fund.

John and Jeannie Piatt will be among those revisiting their promises made 38 years ago. Jeannie Piatt, who works at the church’s preschool, mentioned that she couldn’t pass up the chance to help that program. She also mentioned that they have renewed their vows in the midst of a larger church service elsewhere. But she is uncertain that the renewal idea is any more romantic for her because it’s Feb. 14.

“I’m not a really mushy person,” she said.

Husband John Piatt, though, certainly seems to have romantic tendencies. With very little prodding, he talked of meeting his future spouse while she was with female friends during happy hour at Columbus’ The Cozy Lounge in 1980. He laughed when asked if she was drawn to him immediately.

“I’d like to think so,” he said.

He paused when asked if the renewal time could be extremely sentimental or maybe slightly emotional for him.

“Ask me when it’s over,” he said with a laugh.

Dedicate a song

Columbus resident Rich Gold already planned a dedication for his and wife Alice’s special wedding song from 39 years ago as part of WRZQ Radio’s “Love Songs for Love Chapel” fundraiser. For $10 per song, donors can request a tune to be played and dedicated to a person or group of people from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. today. Love Chapel is the local outreach supporting everything from a food pantry to the Brighter Days emergency shelter.

Bill Withers’ “Just the Two of Us” from 1980 is the Golds’ tune. And besides love for his wife, Rich will extend love to the Christian ministry today.

“I really love the work that (executive director) Kelly (Daugherty) and all of them do (at Love Chapel),” Gold said. “So, if you can find a simple way to make your wife happy and also help the community at the same time, that’s certainly not a hard call.”

He chuckled when asked about buying flowers for his spouse on this calendar date.

“A wise friend once told me that you’re much better off sending flowers when they least expect it,” he said.

For the love songs, Gold donated $300, actually — basically enough for about an hour of music, allowing the station to select what they liked for his other songs.

Similar to Gold, Columbus resident Keith Luken and his coworkers at Ruoff Mortgage donated their share of bucks to the love songs event to allow the station to select a few tunes for them. In the past, Luken has donated individually and dedicated songs to his wife and also his two daughters while they were high schoolers.

“It makes it such a fun day, and I love to listen to it all,” Luken said.

And then there’s fast food

For those concerned about listening only to their stomach growl, even fast food outlets are learning to slow their pace and soften their atmosphere for a bit of romantic flair. Tina Hill, local White Castle assistant general manager, figures the fast food restaurant’s annual Valentine’s Day dinner segment, featuring elegant tablecloths and decor such as flowers or candles as centerpieces, will come close to filling its 4 to 10 p.m. time slot today.

Plus, wait staff will take orders at the tables with printed menus even for the most basic craving of sliders.

And it’s popular enough that 30,000 diners in 13 states loved the experience last year, according to the chain’s figures. Locally, as of Thursday afternoon, the restaurant’s reservation slots still were available in the earlier hours at OpenTable.com

Meaning that couples caught in a pickle about their plans still have options.

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Vow renewal: Between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. and 5 and 6:30 p.m. today in the decorated chapel of First United Methodist Church at 618 Eighth St. in downtown Columbus. No appointment needed.
Love Songs for Love Chapel: Donate $10 or more and dedicate a song to someone special on WRZQ Radio, known as QMIX 107.3 FM. Information: qmix.com
Valentine’s dinner at White Castle: Noteworthy to see the drive-through, fast-food culture slow itself for a sit down meal between 4 and 10 p.m. today at the restaurant at 1686 S. National Road in Columbus. Reservations can be made at OpenTable.com

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Empty Bowls’ comeback draws 500, raises $17K

By

Brian Blair

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February 14, 2020

Cinde Wirth serves Jerone Wood during the Empty Bowls fundraiser at Central Middle School. Photo by Shannon Malanoski

The reborn Empty Bowls, the food pantry, soup-and-chili fundraiser that nearly died last fall, returned with gusto Feb. 1 to attract 500 people — about 200 more than last year — and raise $17,000 for the cause, according to organizers.

And they confirmed that it will continue.

“Already looking forward to the 23rd year — Empty Bowls 2021,” said Richard Boyce, a part of the organizing committee.

Some of the new organizers were somewhat concerned three months ago about having enough time to get the event sufficiently together. But the gathering at the Central Middle School cafeteria ended up with the support of about a dozen local churches while benefiting six local food pantries and shelters, which is one more than before: Horizon House, Thrive Alliance, Turning Point Domestic Violence Services, The Salvation Army, Community Center of Hope food pantry and the Love Chapel food pantry and Brighter Days emergency shelter.

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“This was great,” said Denise Engel, another member of the organizing committee who was part of the previous set of organizers. “I am very impressed (with the result).”

Kelly Daugherty, executive director of Love Chapel, was among the first to publicly step up and help save the fundraiser when, within days of the cancellation of the event, he organized a meeting of people willing to try to save it. Many of the previous organizers, who had given large segments of volunteer time over the years to put it together, announced in October that they were involved in other activities and could not coordinate another Empty Bowls.

“I’m tickled to death,” Daugherty said. “It looked like the event was going away. And I knew the previous organizers had worked very hard over the years to do it.

“And I just thought this event was way too important to the community to see it go. Plus, it always has been a positive way to highlight the needs of the hungry.”

Daugherty referred to everything from the event’s artsy, creative handmade bowls by some of the area’s finest artisans and student potters to live music — this year by local band Black Tie Optional — that has made Empty Bowls something of a recurring celebration of compassion and love for the struggling.

Last year’s gathering raised more than $18,000 for pantries at Love Chapel, Horizon House homeless shelter, Community Center of Hope, Turning Point Domestic Violence Services, and Thrive Alliance.

Through the years, Empty Bowls has raised more than $200,000 total, according to organizers. Local artist Robert Pulley launched the event, a spinoff of a national push to fight hunger, via the Columbus Peace Fellowship. Some years, such as in 2011, more than 1,000 people have attended.