Olympians didn’t let early loss to North change season goals

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November 25, 2016

The Columbus East football team saw its 44-game regular-season winning streak come to an end Aug. 26 in a 30-13 loss at Columbus North.

Instead of getting discouraged, the Olympians went back to work.

Now, 13 weeks later, East is back in the state finals for the second time in four seasons. The Olympians will play Westfield on Saturday for the Class 5A state title at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“We came back on Saturday and got to work,” East coach Bob Gaddis said. “We did the same thing that we did every other Saturday. We prepare the same as every other week, and our goal still that Saturday morning was, ‘We’re going to keep getting better, and we’re going to get better by the tournament.'”

Since that Week 2 meeting with the Bull Dogs, East has won 12 consecutive games. All but one have come by at least 20 points.

Although this week’s destination didn’t seem all that likely after that North game, the East coaches and players didn’t waver.

“North is just a regular-season game,” Gaddis said. “They’re not in our conference. They’re not in our tournament. It’s a great environment to be in, but our goal was to be playing our best now.”

After winning all seven Hoosier Hills Conference contests by an average of more than 38 points a game, the 5A No. 4 Olympians faced a familiar foe in the first round of the sectional. They visited 5A No. 2 New Palestine, the team that had knocked them out of the playoffs the past two years.

This time, East dominated the Dragons in a 35-7 upset win.

“The measuring stick that we had at (the beginning of the season) was right in our sectional with New Pal,” Gaddis said. “We knew we were close to that caliber. We used that level of competition that we had to get to.”

The Olympians followed with lopsided home wins against Martinsville and Whiteland to claim the sectional title. East then went on the road and beat Zionsville 42-35 for the regional crown.

Last week, the Olympians won 35-15 at 5A No. 3 Bloomington South to earn a matchup with 5A No. 5 Westfield.

“We’ve had to go on the road and beat some good people, so it won’t hurt us to go on the road again,” Gaddis said.

East is led by the dual backfield threat of juniors Josh Major and Jamon Hogan. Major has completed 53-of-67 passes for 1,132 yards, with 10 touchdowns and only three interceptions and carried 144 times for 1,132 yards and 18 scores. Hogan has carried 240 times for 2,272 yards and 38 touchdowns.

The Olympians average 350 yards a game rushing. Last week, they threw the ball only one time, and that went for a touchdown.

“A coaching friend of mine (former Heritage Hills coach Bob Clayton), one thing I’ll always remember he said is, ‘Don’t get bored with running the ball off tackle. If you’re getting four yards, you’re getting four yards. It’s one of the best plays in football,'” Gaddis said. “We’ve been able to run the ball in the tournament, and I think you have to be able to do that.”

Gaddis thought going into the season, his team had a chance to be as good as anybody in 5A.

“That was our goal,” Gaddis said. “But potential only gives you the opportunity. There’s no guarantee with your potential. It’s what you do with it.”

[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

Columbus East (13-1)

Aug. 19;Bloomington North;W 62-7

Aug. 26;at Columbus North;L 30-13

Sept. 2;Seymour;W 56-30

Sept. 9;Jennings County;W 36-0

Sept. 16;at New Albany;W 56-15

Sept. 23;at Floyd Central;W 49-14

Sept. 30;Madison;W 49-0

Oct. 8;Jeffersonville (at Lucas Oil);W 56-14

Oct. 14;at Bedford North Lawrence;W 62-24

Sectional

Oct. 21;at New Palestine;W 35-7

Oct. 28;Martinsville;W 49-9

Nov. 4;Whiteland;W 56-31

Regional

Nov. 11;at Zionsville;W 42-35

Semistate

Nov. 28;at Bloomington South;W 35-15

[sc:pullout-text-end]

Larry Priddy Sr.

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Staff Reports

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November 25, 2016

HARTSVILLE

Larry D. Priddy Sr., 72, of Hartsville, died at 10:19 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016, at his home.

Arrangements are incomplete at Jewell-Rittman Family FuneralHome.

Around Town – November 25

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Staff Reports

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November 25, 2016

Orchids to …

• Sherry Grimes for her great letter to the editor, the best ever on the election. Great job. You have a lot of company.

• First Christian Church, Columbus Baptist Church and other groups that delivered meals to the homebound, the homeless and other individuals on Thanksgiving Day.

• the Volunteers in Medicine medication assistance program for paying for all my medicines after my release from the hospital. Thank you sincerely, Carol James.

• Sherry Grimes for her letter to the editor expressing how many of us feel.

Happy Birthday to …

• Harold Pruitt, from Bethel Baptist Church.

• Rebecca Kirsch, from your family, Donna and Kelly.

• Mary Jo Combs, from your family and Donna.

• Patti Hauck, from your family and Donna.

• Mike Bryant, from Pastor Lewis Burton and The Who So Ever Will Community Church.

• Mildred Cravens, from Pastor Lewis Burton and The Who So Ever Will Community Church.

• Janet Clouse, Tori Magner and Lisa McCartney, from friends at the Moravian Church.

• Marley Shepherd.

• Logan Hart.

• Natasha Cowan.

• Curt Aton, from Vicki and Chris.

• Ron Greathouse from Vera, Larry, Teresa, Janice, Retha, Becky, Dylan and the rest of your family.

• Phil Shively, from Mom and Bud.

Belated Wishes to …

• Taylor Christophel, from Gram.

• Willow, from G.G.

• Darrion Phillips, from Mom, Mamaw, Kimbriana, Olivia and Lily.

Happy Anniversary to …

• Jason Hopkins, on No. 10, from Amber Hopkins.

Looking Back – November 25

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Staff Reports

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November 25, 2016

2006

Thousands of die-hard bargain hunters created a literal Midnight Madness at Edinburgh Premium Outlets, with cars backed up for miles in both directions on Interstate 65 and an endless stream of cars filing into parking lots.

1991

Two 12-year-old boys were found unhurt after disappearing into Camp Atterbury for more than five hours while walking three dogs.

1966

Santa Claus paid his first visit of the holidays, setting up his Santaland headquarters in the former Gene’s Bakery on Washington Street after a Christmas parade.

Bean Blossom … nurtured roots of bluegrass

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Staff Reports

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November 25, 2016

Before New York had Woodstock, Indiana had Bean Blossom.

It’s just a notch in the road to motorists heading south from Indy on State Road 135 en route to the art colony at Nashville or Brown County State Park.

But to folks who know bluegrass, it’s Mecca — home to the nation’s oldest, continuously running bluegrass festival launched in 1967 by the legendary singer and mandolin-picker Bill Monroe. (Woodstock, a one-time three-day rock ‘n roll concert, came two years later.)

“Most Hoosiers have never heard of Bean Blossom, but all the bluegrass people in the world know where it is, and a lot of them come to it,” says Jim Peva, historian for Bill Monroe Music Park & Campground and a longtime friend of Monroe.

Acclaimed as the “father of bluegrass” in his New York Times obituary, Monroe was born in 1911 in Kentucky and spent most of his career in Tennessee, where he performed regularly on Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. But his story as a performer really began in Indiana.

At age 18, Monroe moved to Whiting to join two of his older brothers working at the Sinclair Oil Refinery. They formed a band that played publicly for the first time on radio stations in Hammond and Gary and performed in traveling country music shows.

The brothers went their separate ways in 1938, liberating Monroe to become “his own man,” as biographer Richard D. Smith put it. He put together a new band with a new sound: Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys, from which the genre took its name. The group featured Monroe on the mandolin, singing blues-like solos in high keys, with fiddle, guitar, banjo and bass accompaniment.

Sidemen came and went — more than 200 of them over the years — but one in particular contributed to their distinctive tone: banjoist Earl Scruggs with his unusual three-finger picking method.

It’s not certain when Monroe paid his first visit to Bean Blossom, site of the Brown County Jamboree Barn that had been entertaining locals since 1943. Peva suspects it was 1951 when the Blue Grass Boys were booked to play there. Monroe took an immediate liking to the place and bought it.

Under Monroe’s watchful eye and brother Birch’s management, Bean Blossom became a bluegrass cultural center, drawing crowds and Opry stars to spring and fall jamborees.

In June 1967, “a new era began at the old park with a modestly advertised but momentous event: Bill Monroe’s first bluegrass festival.” The event combined top talent, instructional workshops, a Sunday morning gospel service and a whole lot of jamming in the campground. The inaugural festival lasted two days, was attended by “a few hundred people” and netted Monroe $1,700, according to Thomas A. Adler, author of a 2011 book on Bean Blossom’s role in American music history. It grew into a weeklong event attracting thousands — a prototype for bluegrass festivals elsewhere.

Monroe died in 1996, and the facility was sold to businessman Dwight Dillman, who renovated it and dedicated it to Monroe’s memory. Campsites are available May through October; the park hosts a half dozen or so events a year, including the June festival, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016.

Adjacent to the campground, a museum displays memorabilia from Monroe’s life and from famous acquaintances including Jimmy Martin and Dolly Parton. The collection includes a piano played by Minnie Pearl and Del Wood in the old Brown County Jamboree Barn.

This is part a series of essays about Hoosier history that will lead up to the celebration of the state’s bicentennial in December. Andrea Neal is an adjunct scholar with the Indiana Policy Review Foundation. Send comments to editorial@therepublic.com.

Regional Hospital, Police – November 25

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Staff Reports

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November 25, 2016

JENNINGS COUNTY

Arrests

Tuesday

William Kinman, 49, Columbus, felony warrant for failure to appear, 10:20 a.m., by the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department, $2,605 bond.

Rodney Carroll, 41, New Albany, felony warrant for failure to appear, 1: 45 p.m., by the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department, $2,605 bond.

Incidents

Tuesday

8:20 a.m. — Threats reported in the area of 304 Norris Avenue.

12:07 p.m. — Theft in the 1800 block of North State Street.

12:18 p.m. — Theft in the 2300 block of North State Road 3.

Local Police, Fire – November 25

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Staff Reports

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November 25, 2016

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following information was summarized from the records of city, county and state police agencies.

Arrests

Monday

Troy A. Cowan, 26, 733 Pearl St., Columbus, Community Corrections violation, 6:21 p.m., by Community Corrections, held with no bond.

Christina L. Wilson, 25, 821 N. Knollwood Drive, Columbus, possession of paraphernalia, legend drug injection devices, 7:16 p.m., by the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, released on $10,000 bond.

William C. Fisher, 56, 2616 Triangle Court, Columbus, public intoxication, 8:43 p.m., by the Columbus Police Department, released on $2,500 bond.

Jeffery A. Coyle, 48, Franklin, Ohio, out-of-county warrant, 9:46 p.m., by the Columbus Police Department, held with no bond.

Arrests

Tuesday

Vincent Davis, 22, Greenwood, Bartholomew County warrant, 10:17 a.m., by the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, held with no bond.

Dana Jackson, 46, 743 Chestnut St., Columbus, driving while suspended with a prior conviction, 11:42 a.m., by the Columbus Police Department, released on $5,000 bond.

Jason L. Moore, 29, 8291 E. Rockwood St., Columbus, out-of-county warrant, 2:36 p.m., by the Columbus Police Department, held with no bond.

Fire, medic runs

Tuesday

3:11 a.m. — Difficulty breathing in the 2000 block of Charwood Drive.

3:41 a.m. — Person injured in the 2800 block of Scotland Drive.

8:30 a.m. — Unconscious person in the 8500 block of South State Road 58.

10:41 a.m. — Person injured in the 500 block of Robbins Street.

2:51 p.m. — Person injured in the 13000 block of South County Road 350W.

3:33 p.m. — Small hazardous materials spill at State Road 7 East and East Legal Tender Road.

3:48 p.m. — Rubbish fire in the 2100 block of Park Avenue.

3:56 p.m. — Vehicle fire in the 4700 block of East County Road 900N.

6:34 p.m. — Person injured in the 3600 block of Central Avenue.

Incidents

Tuesday

5:40 a.m. — Theft reported in the 3400 block of South U.S. 31.

6:11 a.m. — Personal-injury accident at mile marker 68 of Interstate 65.

8:23 a.m. — Property-damage accident in the 100 block of Second St.

9:09 a.m. — Leaving the scene of a property-damage accident in the 4300 block of Harrison Ridge Road.

10:16 a.m. — Personal-injury accident at East 25th Street and North County Road 650E.

10:38 a.m. — Theft in the 4600 block of West Randy Drive.

10:39 a.m. — Theft in the 700 block of East County Road 700N.

11:23 a.m. — Theft reported in the 2300 block of California Street.

11:23 a.m. — Property-damage accident reported at 10th Street and Central Avenue.

12:04 p.m. — Drug violations reported in the 700 block of Whitfield Drive.

12:51 p.m. — Property-damage accident at U.S. 31 North and West County Road 650N.

2:12 p.m. — Theft reported in the 700 block of Pearl Street.

2:25 p.m. — Property-damage accident at West Jonathan Moore Pike and West Goeller Boulevard.

3:22 p.m. — Property-damage accident in the 3000 block of North National Road.

3:25 p.m. — Theft reported in the 12000 block of East Oxford Road.

4:29 p.m. — Leaving the scene of a property-damage accident in the 3000 block of State Street.

5:04 p.m. — Leaving the scene of a property-damage accident in the 2900 block of North National Road.

5:07 p.m. — Property-damage accident in the 3700 block of Williamsburg Court.

5:59 p.m. — Property-damage accident in the 2800 block of Central Avenue.

7:28 p.m. — Drug violations in the 100 block of Washington Street.

8:31 p.m. — Fight reported in the 1400 block of Chestnut Street.

Wesley Lucas

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Staff Reports

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November 25, 2016

Shelbyville

Wesley H. Lucas, 66, of Shelbyville, passed away Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016, in Greensburg.

He was born Aug. 24, 1950, in Columbus, to Marshall Lucas and Maria (Kreinhagen) Lucas. He married Linda (Bartlett) Lucas on April 21, 1990, and she survives.

Other survivors include five children, Shad Lucas and wife, Arien, of Columbus, James Lucas and wife, Penny, of Columbus, Frances Adams and husband, Gerry, of Waldron, Valarie Wells and husband, Dempsey, of Lorena, Texas, and Jill Coots of Greensburg; 11 siblings, Jimmy Lucas of Columbus, Freddy Lucas and wife, Pam, of Nashville, Diane Mitchell and husband, Tom, of Taylorsville, Rosie Hatchett and husband, Dwight, of Indianapolis, Les Lucas and companion, Glynis Worley, of Columbus, Mike Lucas and wife, Teresa, of Franklin, Eddie Lucas and wife, Rhonda, of New Castle, Bertha Winn of Columbus, Donna Gillispe and husband, Charles, of Florida, Judy Comingore and husband, Joe, of Bloomington and Brenda Hamm and husband, James, of Texas; nine grandchildren, Caitlyn, Ashlan and Johnathan Lucas, David Decker, Jamie Marcum and husband, Danny, Hannah Schooley and husband, TJ, Katelynn Oliver and Tyler and Lyndsey Dunn; and four great-grandchildren, Tristan and Jordan Marcum, Brock Schooley and Riley Dunn.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Carlin Lucas; and two sisters, Pauletta Comingore and Betty Bruce.

Mr. Lucas had been a resident of the area for 30 years, after moving from Columbus.

He graduated from Columbus High School in 1970 and was a veteran of the U.S. Army.

Mr. Lucas was a journeyman meat cutter at Marsh Supermarket, Archer’s Meat Processing, Thomas Market and Thrif-T-Mart for over 40 years. He really loved his work.

He was a member of Faith Trinity Pentecostal Church.

Wes loved NASCAR, Indiana University basketball, the Indianapolis Colts and the Indiana Pacers. He enjoyed bowling in earlier years. He enjoyed watching his great-grandsons play ball at the park.

Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27, 2016, at Glenn E. George & Son Funeral Home, 437 Amos Road, Shelbyville, IN 46176.

Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 28, 2016, at Faith Trinity Pentecostal Church, 505 W. Pennsylvania St., Shelbyville.

Burial will be at Patterson Cemetery in Shelby County. Graveside military service will be provided by a local veterans organization.

Memorial contributions may be given to the American Heart Association or American Legion Post No. 70, in care of the funeral home.

Online condolences may be shared at www.glennegeorgeandson.net.

Linda Estes

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Staff Reports

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November 25, 2016

Edinburgh

Linda Kay Estes, 62, of Edinburgh, died Nov. 21, 2016, at her residence.

She was survived by her mother, LaVerne Michaels Williams Burton; a daughter, Rebecca (Lance) Cooper of Mooresville; a brother, David A. (Denise) Williams of Mount Auburn; a sister, Pat Weddle of Edinburgh; and three grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her father, Clay Williams.

Funeral service will be conducted at 2 p.m. Monday at Edinburgh Apostolic Tabernacle, with the Rev. Mark Myers officiating. Calling will be from noon until time of service Monday at the church. Burial will be at Nineveh Cemetery.

Arrangements were made by Eskew-Eaton Funeral Home in Edinburgh.

Catheran Davis

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Staff Reports

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November 25, 2016

North Vernon

Catheran Belle Davis, 96, of North Vernon, died at 4:50 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016, at Premier Healthcare in North Vernon.

Arrangements are incomplete at Dove-Sharp & Rudicel Funeral Home & Cremation Service in North Vernon.