The Columbus Sunrise Rotary Club will meet at 7 a.m. Friday at Donner Center, 739 22nd St., Columbus.
Jerry Pagac, recently retired director of Indiana State Parks, will talk about the the parks’ centennial celebration.
A hot breakfast will be available for $7. The general public is invited to attend.
The Republic is looking for nominations of great Christmas light displays.
If you know of one in Columbus or the surrounding area, please email the location and name of the homeowner to editorial@therepublic.com. If you are self-nominating, please include your telephone number so we can contact you about the lighting design.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Wednesday’s result
Columbus East 57, Silver Creek 43
Columbus East;11;10;19;17;—;57
Silver Creek;10;10;7;16;—;43
Columbus East (5-2): Addy Galarno 1 3-4 5, Britney Ballard 4 1-2 9, Kristen Lyons 3 1-2 7, Karli Reynolds 6 7-11 19, Claire Cunningham 3 2-3 8, Lauren Meade 0 0-0 0, Kary Horner 1 2-2 4, Korin Humes 0 0-0 0, Sarah Park 1 1-2 3, Riley Meade 0 0-2 0, Whitley Rankin 1 0-1 2, Kaitlyn Dougherty 0 0-0 0. Totals: 20 17-29 57.
Silver Creek (2-8): Haley Baxter 5 4-4 14, Abby May 1 0-2 2, Lauren Polston 3 0-0 8, Grace Holland 4 3-4 11, Jordan Balz 0 2-2 2, Alyssa Wright 0 0-0 0, Lauren Hall 2 0-0 6, Savannah O’Neil 0 0-0 0, Katie Emly 0 0-0 0, Kylie Wilkinson 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 9-12 43.
3-point goals: Columbus East 0; Silver Creek 4 (Polston 2, Hall 2).
Tuesday’s result
Brown County 63, Eastern Greene 60 (OT)
Eastern Greene;11;9;20;12;8;—;60
Brown County;14;14;16;8;11;—;63
Eastern Greene (3-7): Hatfield 3 5-6 11, Skinner 3 1-3 8, Rogers 4 1-9 9, Lucas 7 7-13 21, Cramer 1 1-2 3, Flynn 0 1-2 1, Sparks 2 3-6 7. Totals: 20 19-41 60.
Brown County (3-6): Ryanne Smith 3 0-0 8, Savannah Lovins 3 1-2 7, Azhia Morgan 6 5-13 17, Aubrey Hollander 2 4-7 8, Gracie Matlock 0 0-1 0, Dasia Wilkerson 1 3-6 5, Maddy Edds 2 0-3 4, Skylar Fleischman 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 13-32 63.
3-point goals: Eastern Greene 1 (Skinner); Brown County 2 (Smith 2).
SELLERSBURG — Columbus East senior Karli Reynolds has been battling a cold recently. However, during Wednesday’s girls basketball contest at Silver Creek, she didn’t let her illness slow her down.
Reynolds scored 12 of her game-high 19 points in the third quarter to help lift the Olympians to a 57-43 victory.
The third quarter was huge for East, which outscored the Dragons 19-7 to give it the cushion needed to finish the game.
“We kind of started slow in the first half. We knew we wanted to run, but we were not running it,” Reynolds said. “Our coach (Danny Brown) got on us at halftime that we need to run our plays, and we did.”
The Olympians (5-2) are known to have good shooting from the perimeter, but instead, they focused their attention inside early in the game. Claire Cunningham and Kristen Lyons received a lot of touches, which resulted in Cunningham putting up all of her eight points in the first half.
“It helped move the ball around and create space for people on the outside and inside and also spread the defense,” Cunningham said.
East could have put the game away by halftime, but in the second quarter, it committed a lot of sloppy passes and had a few turnovers to keep Silver Creek (2-8) within striking distance. The Olympians led 21-20 at the half.
In the third quarter, East got aggressive on the defensive end. The Olympians forced several Dragons turnovers that resulted in easy baskets at the other end. East opened the third quarter on a 12-2 run and finished out the quarter by scoring the final seven points.
“We played some careless basketball the first half and we let them do whatever they wanted. There was not much effort defensively,” Brown said. “In the second half, we made our adjustments, and the kids got after it. We have to respect every team we play and have to come out and play hard.”
East did the job on the glass in the fourth quarter. Britney Ballard had a couple putbacks off of the team’s missed free throws. Ballard finished with nine points.
“We have been working really hard in practice, and everyone came out in the second half and gave a really great effort,” Reynolds said.
The Olympians will play their toughest two games on the schedule next. They have a huge Hoosier Hills Conference game Saturday at Jeffersonville and a Dec. 15 home matchup against crosstown rival Columbus North.
“We have to work hard and get our minds focused on the next competition,” Cunningham said.
Brown agreed
“We have to put 32 minutes together because we are going to struggle to win if we do not play hard for 32 minutes,” Brown said.
NASHVILLE — Brown County scored seven of its 11 points in overtime from the free-throw line in pulling out a 63-60 win Tuesday against Eastern Greene.
The Eagles led 28-20 at halftime. But the Thunderbirds rallied to tie the game on a free-throw with 2.8 seconds left in regulation.
Azhia Morgan led Brown County with 17 points. Ryanne Smith and Aubrey Hollander each added eight.
Two years ago, Columbus East volleyball player Tayler Chandler put together a 5K run/walk for her senior project to raise money for Inheritance of Hope.
Now, her younger sister McKenna is doing the same thing for her senior project. She will host the Walk It Out for IOH 5K run/walk at 10 a.m. Saturday at Mill Race Park.
Inheritance of Hope is an organization that sends families with a terminally ill parent on a trip to Disney World or New York City. The Chandlers’ mother, Chena, died of bone and lung cancer in 2014, and IOH sent the family to Disney during McKenna’s eighth-grade year in May 2013.
Like Tayler did with her senior project, McKenna, who also played volleyball for the Olympians, is hoping to raise money to help Inheritance of Hope send more families with a terminally ill parent on a vacation. She has set a goal of $10,000.
“She had a lot of people show up, and it raised a ton of money, so I wanted to continue on,” McKenna Chandler said.
The cost to enter is $25 and includes a T-shirt, Subway gift card, prizes, snacks and hot chocolate. Registration and a video are available at inheritanceofhope.org/walkitout
Two Columbus North players have been selected to the Associated Press Class 6A All-State football team, and three members of the state runner-up Columbus East squad are on the 5A team.
North running back Mitchell Burton and offensive tackle David Redding made the 6A first team. Kicker Mark Salle-Tabor, defensive tackle Coleman Tennyson and defensive backs J.D. Harris and Harley Huser are honorable mention selections.
East running back Jamon Hogan, center Harry Crider and defensive back Ethan Summa are on the 5A first team. Quarterback Josh Major, offensive tackle Jared Clark and linebacker T.C. O’Neal made honorable mention.
South Decatur running back Damon Allen is on the Class A first team. Jennings County wide receiver Tucker Marsh made honorable mention in 4A.
Meanwhile, Crider and Redding have been named to the Indiana Football Coaches Association Top 50 team, which consists of the state’s top 50 players regardless of class.
Burton and Tennyson are on the Class 6A Senior All-State team. Harris made the 6A Junior All-State squad.
Clark is on the 5A Senior All-State team. Major, Hogan and Summa made the 5A Junior All-State squad.
Allen landed on the Class A Senior All-State team.
Hauser senior Hailey Lange signed a national letter-of-intent Monday to play softball at Evangel University.
Lange found out about Evangel after the coach of an All-American travel team for which she played (Jay Halbrook) took the coaching job at Evangel, an NAIA school in Springfield, Missouri.
“The coach there is awesome, the team is awesome, the campus is awesome and most importantly, they have the major (physical therapy) I want,” Lange said.
Lange is a three-sport who is currently playing basketball for the Jets. She has played on two regional championship teams in both volleyball and softball and was the starting catcher on Hauser’s 2015 Class A state championship softball team.
With four wins in the Hoosier Hills Conference Duals on Friday and Saturday, Jennings County wrestling coach Howard Jones eclipsed the 500 mark for his career and moved into the top-five all-time in Indiana.
Jones, who is in his 30th year, now ranks fifth in state history with 502 wins to go along with 200 losses and a tie. He has won nine Hoosier Hills Conference and 13 sectional titles and has led the Panthers to regional championships the past two years.
Jones sits only six wins behind former South Bend Clay coach Al Hartman for fourth place. Lafayette Jeff coach Tom Miller is the all-time leader with 599 wins.
Columbus North’s boys and girls basketball teams are welcoming back alumni of the programs for upcoming games.
The Bull Dog boys will host Alumni Night at Friday’s game against Franklin Central. The girls will host Alumni Day at their Dec. 17 game against Terre Haute North.
All former Columbus High School and Columbus North players are invited and will be recognized at halftime of the boys or girls games. A postgame reception is planned for each.
No RSVP is necessary.
This year’s gymnastics regional, which had been moved to Connersville, has been moved back to Columbus East.
The Olympians originally thought they might be hosting the boys basketball sectional that weekend. But that sectional will be played at Bloomington North.
East is in line to host the boys basketball sectional in 2018.
BY RYAN TRARES
For The Republic
Among country music aficionados and fans, Mel Tillis is a name synonymous with the upper echelon of music royalty along with Hank Williams, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash.
But for all of the pride in her famous moniker, Pam Tillis didn’t want to coast on her father’s accomplishments.
As she tried to make her own way in the music industry, it could be very hard for people to get past the Tillis name and see her own talents.
“It was very difficult, especially at the beginning. I had to really make it a point that I wasn’t just Mel Tillis’ little girl,” she said.
Even with her famous last name and a family tradition reaching to the roots of country music, Pam Tillis has forged her own successful legacy over the past 30 years. Her three platinum and one gold albums have yielded six No. 1 songs, including classics such as “Mi Vida Loca,” “When You Walk In The Room” and “Maybe It Was Memphis.”
Pam Tillis will perform a special concert Dec. 16 at the Franklin Performing Arts Center, bringing her versatile brand of country music spanning her entire career mixed with a selection of Christmas favorites.
“We’re going to do some of the things that people come out to see us for, the hits. But it’s a chance for me to do something a little different,” she said. “In the context of Christmas music, we really get to stretch out in different ways. It’s fun.”
Mel Tillis is a country music legend, one of the genre’s greatest songwriters and a Country Music Hall of Fame talent. He recorded more than 60 albums and had 36 Top 10 singles.
That nebula of creativity is all Pam Tillis has known since she was born.
“He set the bar very high. That’s the biggest thing I can say: He reached such a level of talent, accomplishment, integrity, humility and humor,” she said.
Pam Tillis was active in band, chorus, talent shows, church and other groups around Nashville. She was in everything from jazz and alternative country to pop bands.
But when she decided to seriously pursue a career in music, she was careful not to leverage her father’s reputation to help herself.
“I had to steer the conversation a little bit away from dad, just so people would realize that I was my own artist and that I wasn’t trying to ride on any coattails,” she said.
“I was very careful about that in the beginning. Now that I’ve had my own accomplishments, I’m more relaxed talking about dad, and I’m proud to talk him.”
To create her own pathway, Pam Tillis worked writing music for labels such as Electra Asylum Publishing and Warner Brothers Publishing. Her songs were recorded by artists such as Chaka Khan, Conway Twitty and Highway 101.
Though Pam Tillis had dabbled in pop and made different efforts to find success in the industry, it didn’t happen until she committed to making what she calls an “honest country album.” “Put Yourself in My Place” resulted in two No. 1 singles, two other Top 5 singles and sold more than 500,000 copies.
From that point, her career took off.
“A hit record solves a lot of problems,” she said. “Once I got launched, I had to pursue it.”
Throughout her career, Pam Tillis has amassed 10 studio albums that have yielded more than 30 singles on the Billboard charts. She is a three-time Country Music Association award winner, including taking the 1994 Female Vocalist of the Year award. She has also won a pair of Grammy awards.
But nothing compares to going out on the road, approaching fans and connecting with them through her music.
“Being up on stage, that’s an amazing feeling. Whatever you’re giving, you’re getting back amplified,” she said. “That can be very addictive in a good way.”
When Pam Tillis comes to Franklin, she’ll be mixing her deep catalog of hits with selections from her holiday album, “Just in Time for Christmas.”
“If you believe it and you feel it with all of your heart, generally that’s kind of contagious. It’s hard to be around that and not feel it too,” she said.
The show will also be a unique way to reach new fans and help ring in the spirit of the holidays, truly inspiring people to get in the Christmas spirit, she said.
“Sometimes people almost feel like Christmas is forced on them. That’s the person in the audience I’m going after,” Pam Tillis said.
Her last show this year will be in Franklin, before she takes a break for the holidays. Though she’s looking forward to spending time with family and friends, she has a plan for the downtime — finishing the new album she’s been working on this year.
The hope is it will be finished in early 2017.
“I think my Christmas present to myself is, after I meet all of my family commitments and am with them as much as they need me, I’m going to hunker down in the studio,” she said. “That’s a gift to me, to finish this record.”
“Country music is kind of like jazz — it’s an American art form,” she said. “Country music is a big umbrella; there’s a type of country music for everybody.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”If you go” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Christmas with Pam Tillis
What: A special concert of Christmas songs and hits by Pam Tillis, award-winning country music star and daughter of the legendary Mel Tillis.
When: 7 p.m. Dec. 16
Where: Franklin Performing Arts Center, 2600 Cumberland Drive
Tickets: $20 to $40 on the main floor, $50 in the orchestra pit
Where to buy them: franklinschools.org or call 317- 346-8109
[sc:pullout-text-end]
BY CHRISTINE SCHAEFER
For The Republic
GREENFIELD — Cathleen Huffman circulated through Twenty North Gallery surveying her work, a collection of watercolor paintings of small town Indiana’s grain elevators.
She gave a status update on each one as she passed it.
“That one is gone. That one is still standing. This one, I’m not sure,” she reported.
She paused in front of a painting of the Fairland grain elevator and related a recent telephone call from a friend living in that area.
“He said it’s a good thing I documented this because it’s being torn down as we speak,” she said.
Artist Cathleen Huffman has made it her mission to chronicle a disappearing relic of Indiana’s agricultural heritage: the local grain elevator. Grain elevators, found near the railroad tracks, have long been a feature of the small town Indiana skyline but are falling into disuse with the progression of time and technology.
A reception will be conducted in her honor from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 9 at the Twenty North Gallery, 20 N. State St. Huffman will be on hand to talk about the project and the individual grain elevators pictured in her artwork.
The 28 watercolors hanging in the gallery represent only half of Huffman’s body of work. She painted her first grain elevator — the Greenfield grain elevator located on West Osage Street — in 2004.
As president of Greenfield Historic Landmarks, historic preservation was already a cause dear to her heart; photographing and painting these disappearing structures quickly became a calling.
“There is a character to historic architecture that needs to be documented and preserved,” Huffman said. “Grain elevators are representative of the importance of agriculture in our state.”
In June of 2015, an opportunity arose for Huffman to bring more public awareness to her cause. After 11 years of photographing and painting grain elevators, Huffman applied for Bicentennial Legacy Project status for her work.
Bicentennial Legacy Projects are those that have received official designation by the state of Indiana as projects which promote and highlight the best of Indiana’s heritage. With Indiana’s 200th birthday of statehood being celebrated on Dec. 11, more than 1,368 programs, events and activities have received Legacy Project status.
Huffman submitted her application and then received a phone message from Perry Hammock, executive director of the Indiana Bicentennial Commission. She was worried that her project idea had been rejected, but nothing could have been further from the truth.
Hammock was calling to help her through some of the fine points of filling out the Legacy Project paperwork — to praise her work.
“He was so nice and encouraging, optimistic and motivational,” Huffman recalls. “I wanted to go out and start painting grain elevators right then.”
Word of Huffman’s project got around. The article in the Greenfield Daily Reporter (“Elevated Art,” July 9, 2015, p. A4) was reprinted in the “Indiana Economic Digest” the following month, which caught the eye of Bruce Selyem, chairman of the Country Grain Historical Society. He, too, commended her on her work.
Huffman understands that grain elevators have outlived their usefulness and is now an advocate for repurposing the old buildings before they are beyond rescue. She cites the Elevator Brewing Company, located in the abandoned grain elevator in Marysville, Ohio.
“The need for their original use is past,” she said, “but for many, adaptive reuse is possible.”
The exhibit will be on display at Twenty North Gallery until the end of December. The next stop for the collection of grain elevator paintings is the Rapp Gallery at the Indiana Landmarks Center at 1201 Central Ave. in Indianapolis.
Huffman plans to continue her work of documenting Indiana grain elevators. She recognizes that there are still parts of the state she hasn’t been to see if the elevators are still standing or if they have been demolished. She is discouraged when she arrives at a location only to find remnants — a foundation, a structure so badly neglected that it is beyond restoration, or, as in one case, an elevator found mostly in pieces in four dumpsters.
“There is definitely a sense of immediacy,” Huffman said. “I have to hurry.”
The following editorial appeared in The Mercury News on Dec. 1:
President-elect Donald Trump and his vice president, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, pulled off a great little coup by persuading Carrier to keep about 1,000 jobs in Indianapolis after the company had announced it was moving 1,700 jobs to Mexico.
It was a political and public relations triumph: Trump said he’d bring back manufacturing, he’s saving 1,000 jobs and he’s not even president yet. And of course it’s wonderful for the workers, who can keep their $25-per-hour jobs for at least awhile longer.
But a model for manufacturing job recovery it is not.
Carrier stayed because of government incentives and tax breaks. If Indianapolis and the state offered the same breaks to lots of other companies, they’d have to find other ways to raise revenue to pave streets and provide public safety. It is not scalable. As economist Paul Krugman noted in the New York Times, Trump would have to do a deal like this once a week for 30 years to save as many jobs as Obama’s auto bailout.
The Carrier deal is what states and communities do case by case to attract a new factory or keep one going. California, for example, helped Tesla make its Fremont, Calif., plant pencil out — although the competition for Tesla was other states, not other countries.
The Obama administration took a lot of flak for helping some green industries when one failed spectacularly, but most of the companies in the program thrived and created thousands of jobs. Through a venture capital lens, it was a good investment.
We hope the Carrier investment is a good deal for the long term. But saving an existing plant is different from persuading companies to build new ones here, let alone bringing back jobs from overseas.
Send comments to editorial@therepublic.com.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following information was summarized from the records of city, county and state police, and fire and hospital agencies.
Sunday
Anthony W. Thompson, 28, Indianapolis, two Bartholomew County warrants, possession of heroin, legend drug injection devices and false informing, 7:20 p.m., by the Columbus Police Department, held in lieu of $27,500 bond.
Edward A. McAllister, 42, 2656 Central Ave., Columbus, probation violation, 7:50 p.m., by Community Corrections, held with no bond.
Jerry D. Dillingham, 49, 1535 Pearl St., Columbus, domestic battery in presence of minor or with previous convictions, 9:15 p.m., by the Columbus Police Department, held in lieu of $7,500 bond.
Rodney D. Shephard, 43, 3445 W. Jonathan Moore Pike, Columbus, Bartholomew County warrant, 9:30 p.m., by the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, released on $10,000 bond.
Kari A. Kinser, 39, 3420 25th St., Columbus, Bartholomew County warrant, 9:53 p.m., by the Columbus Police Department, held in lieu of $5,000 bond.
Jacob M. Noble, 24, 8130 E. County Road 750S, Elizabethtown, Bartholomew County warrant, 11:52 p.m., by the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, held with no bond.
Monday
Cyle E. Vaughn, 33, Franklin, body attachment, 9:14 a.m., by the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, held in lieu of $350 cash bond.
Rosaberta Mendez-Garcia, 36, Seymour, Bartholomew County warrant, 10:58 a.m., by the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, held in lieu of $2,500 bond.
Mandeep Singh, 24, 405 10th St., Columbus, Bartholomew County warrant, 11:56 a.m., by the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, held in lieu of $5,000 bond.
Auston T. Priddy, 18, 9375 N. State Highway 7, Elizabethtown, intimidation, 1:05 p.m., by the Columbus Police Department, released on $7,500 bond.
Monday
3:51 a.m. — Injury in the 8200 block of South International Road.
10:43 a.m. — Hazardous materials spill at the intersection of 10th Street and Central Avenue.
11:31 a.m. — Structure fire in the 1300 block of U.S. 31 South.
12:08 p.m. — Injury in the 3600 block of Ironwood Drive.
4:40 p.m. — Structure fire at the intersection of 19th Street and Lafayette Avenue.
7:22 p.m. — Injury in the 700 block of Ninth Street.
11:24 p.m. — Injury in the 500 block of East County Road 650S.
Monday
12:09 a.m. — Battery in the 4600 block of Springbrook Drive.
12:40 a.m. — Shoplifting in the 2000 block of Merchants Mile.
1:02 a.m. — Theft reported in the 3600 block of Sandy Hook Drive.
7:39 a.m. — Theft reported in the 1500 block of 17th Street.
9:58 a.m. — Residential burglary in the 1300 block of Sycamore Street.
6:33 a.m. — Property-damage accident in the 11000 block of U.S. 31 South.
10:35 a.m. — Theft reported in the 3400 block of U.S. 31 South.
10:39 a.m. — Subject refusing to leave in the 2400 block of West Jonathan Moore Pike.
10:40 a.m. — Property-damage accident at the intersection of 10th Street and Central Avenue.
11:37 a.m. — Theft reported in the 2000 block of Lincoln Park Drive.
11:50 a.m. — Property-damage accident at the intersection of 25th Street and North National Road.
12:04 p.m. — Theft reported in the 1000 block of Repp Drive.
12:39 p.m. — Property-damage accident in the 1900 block of 25th Street.
12:57 p.m. — Theft reported in the 2400 block of North National Road.
1:38 p.m. — Shoplifting in the 2100 block of 25th Street.
1:47 p.m. — Property damage in the 1400 block of 25th Street.
2:01 p.m. — Property-damage accident in the 14000 block of South Jonesville Road.
2:57 p.m. — Theft reported in the 1100 block of California Street.
3:30 p.m. — Theft reported in the 1900 block of Seventh Street.
4:48 p.m. — Leaving the scene of an accident in the 6200 block of South International Drive.
5:20 p.m. — Theft reported in the 100 block of Carrie Lane.
5:26 p.m. — Property-damage accident in the 400 block of Hope Avenue.
6:39 p.m. — Theft reported in the 3500 block of 10th Street.
7:11 p.m. — Battery in the 700 block of Ninth Street.
8:43 p.m. — Theft reported in the 3200 block of Country Brook Street.
