Seymour
Mrs. Beulah Luckey, of Seymour, died Sunday, November 6, 2016, at Schneck Medical Center.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Voss and Sons Funeral Service, Seymour.
Ritchey Clark
Seymour
Mr. Ritchey Lee Clark, 56, of Seymour, died Sunday, November 6, 2016, in Seymour.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete at the Voss and Sons Funeral Service and will be announced later.
Sigrid Deaton
Brownstown
Mrs. Sigrid Deaton, 56, of Brownstown, died at 11:51 p.m. Saturday, November 5, 2016, with her family by her side at St. Vincent Hospital, Indianapolis.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete at Voss and Sons Funeral Service in Seymour.
Bruin takes over directing Bartholomew Consolidated School Foundation
The new leader of the Bartholomew Consolidated School Foundation is taking over with a strong vision for the nonprofit organization.
Suzi Bruin, who started Oct. 24 as the new foundation executive director, said one of her first priorities is the organization’s annual campaign, along with spending some time out in the community raising more awareness about what the foundation does and its impact on Columbus.
Bruin said she was interested in leading the foundation because she has a passion for helping others.
“It’s a way for me to impact the whole district,” Bruin said, pointing out the foundation not only helps students, but also the Columbus community as a whole.
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The school foundation, founded in 1955 and the oldest in the state, provides teacher grants, administers scholarships and serves as the fiscal agent for programs including Book Buddies, Busy Bees Academy and Family School Partners.
Book Buddies, a volunteer tutoring program that helps second- and third-grade students improve reading skills through tutoring provided by volunteers.
Bruin is taking over the part-time leadership role formerly held by Ethan Crough, who left to take a position with Cummins, Inc.
She has been employed with Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. for four years, most recently as a nutritionist assistant coordinator for the district. She has also worked as a project manager at CSA Lincoln’s campus.
The Bartholomew Consolidated School Foundation supports student scholarships, along with different programs and initiatives within BCSC, which includes a focus on literacy through children’s programs offered by the Bartholomew Literacy Task Force.
As a nonprofit, the foundation relies on donations through an annual fundraising campaign, the support of local businesses and contributions from BCSC employees. The Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County, provides a modest endowment.
The foundation recently awarded more than $32,000 in grant funding toward 16 different teacher projects across the district. Earlier projects have included everything from buying stability balls for students to sit on in classrooms to funding research field trips for students to study different ecosystems.
The organization distributes funds during two grant cycles each year after its board of directors evaluates requests.
Without the foundation grant funding, many of the projects would struggle or teachers would be forced to use their own money to fund them, Bruin said. That’s why it’s so important to raise awareness about the foundation’s role in the community, she said.
The foundation is grounded in history and tradition, and is a way for community residents to make a difference, she said.
Crough said Bruin brings a great enthusiasm and passion for BCSC students and their education to her new role.
“The board of directors is lucky to have Suzi as their new director because she has great ideas for taking the organization to the next level for foundations in our community,” he said.
During his four years at the foundation, Crough said he is most proud of adding and enhancing the downtown architectural tours for BCSC third-graders provided through the Columbus Visitors Center.
The foundation has contributed funds for the Young Designers program, which allows every third-grade BCSC class to visit downtown Columbus and participate in a community education walking tour, he said. The program has been jointly funded by the foundation and the Heritage Fund.
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Age: 46
Education: Shelbyville High School, bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Indiana University, Bloomington.
Experience: Worked for the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. for four years, most recently has nutritionist assistant coordinator for the district. She also worked as a project manager for the CSA Lincoln campus.
Family: Married to Bret Bruin, with two children, Brooke, a freshman at Columbus North High School, and Will, a junior at Columbus East.
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Mission: To support the work of Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. by providing funding and promoting awareness and philanthropy for programs that help students achieve educational excellence.
Address: BCSC administration building, 1200 Central Ave., Columbus.
Phone: 812-378-4733
Email: bruins@bcsc.k12.in.us
Online: Visit bcsc.k12.in.us/schoolfoundation
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New early voting record in county
Bartholomew County has set a new early voting record and county officials are expecting a record turnout for today’s election.
When early voting ended at noon Monday, 16,109 Bartholomew County residents had cast early ballots, Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps said. The previous record was 6,413 ballots cast early for the 2012 presidential election.
http://www.therepublic.com/2016/11/07/dont-be-fooled-what-you-need-to-know-before-casting-your-ballot-no-you-cant-vote-by-text-or-email/
Arriving at the Bartholomew County Courthouse just before noon Monday, a Columbus couple found themselves as the final voters to cast early ballots locally.
Since Aaron Watson, 21, has Sundays and Mondays off work from his family owned business, he and his wife, Cheyanna Watson, 19, decided at the last minute to cast their votes early.
Both voting for the first time, each said they were motivated to join the 140-person line at the courthouse largely because of the presidential race.
“The future of this country is at a very big crossroads right now,” Aaron Watson said. “I’m really hoping that the American people come through, and make the right decision.”
When the couple left the Courthouse just before 2 p.m. Monday, county officials calculated that 29 percent of Bartholomew County’s 55,450 voters cast early ballots in this election.
Phelps said he expects this to be a record turnout in Bartholomew County.
In terms of total votes cast in the past two presidential elections:
- 29,755 Bartholomew County voters cast ballots (57.4 percent turnout) in the November 2012 general election.
- That was down from 31,570 votes cast (58.8 percent turnout) in the 2008 general election, which was the all-time high.
Bartholomew County isn’t the only geographic area where early voting was rampant.
Through Sunday, the state counted 711,337 absentee ballots cast in person and through other methods such as mail-in for today’s election, Secretary of State Connie Lawson said.
That’s nearly 49,000 ballots more than Indiana’s previous early voting record set in the 2008 general election.
While officials around the state say the large early voting numbers could help keep wait times down at Indiana polling places today, Phelps said there are no guarantees of that happening locally.
“But with what we’ve done, I would be shocked if we had two-hour lines (in Bartholomew County),” Phelps said.
The county’s top election official said he will utilize the simplest and most effective way of communicating with voters.
The clerk’s office will use its Facebook page to notify voters which voting centers have lines, which centers are not as busy, and any other information that could help voters avoid delays. The clerk’s office also has asked the media to take the information from the clerk’s office and share it on their websites.
“We will utilize our poll workers to find out which areas are getting hit the hardest,” Phelps said. “We will then ask our inspectors to let people (waiting to sign in) know where the lines are the shortest.”
But once a voter signs in at a vote center, the voter no longer has the option of going to another location, Phelps said.
Voters will receive a short explanation of how the voting machine works, as well as a reminder that straight-party voting will not allow a voter to automatically cast a vote in the at-large council races. Voters must scroll to that race and vote for it separately because there are multiple candidates being chosen for multiple seats.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Early voting wraps up at Bartholomew County courthouse
More than 130 local residents were waiting in line at about 11:30 a.m. today, among the final voters who were voting early for Tuesday’s election.
With the first voter arriving at 6:45 a.m. today, which was 90 minutes before the courthouse opened — a total of 785 people cast ballots between 8 and 11:30 a.m., according to the clerk’s office.
While no more people will be allowed to join the line after early voting ends at noon today, election officials say it will take until about 1:30 p.m. to allow each person already in line to vote.
Bartholomew County officials estimate 16,000 local residents have voted early for this election, about 30 percent of the registered voters in the county.
For more on this story, see Tuesday’s Republic.
Bigger Yellow Trail to be christened
HOPE — While taking a brief respite between harvest and holiday activities, residents of Hope have set aside one evening to place their Yellow Trail Museum back in the spotlight.
An open house at the newly expanded museum across from the Hope Town Square will be conducted from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday.
After acquiring part of what had been an adjacent accounting firm, the Yellow Trail Museum now has 33 percent more space for its exhibits and activities, longtime museum volunteer Barb Johnson said.
That allowed renovations to take place such as re-creating an archway connecting the two buildings, as well as restore hardwood floors and tin ceilings, Johnson said.
While the expansion was open to the public during the three-day Hope Heritage Days festival in September, Thursday’s official grand opening of the new area has a larger purpose.
“The main reason we’re having this event is to thank the Heritage Fund for a wonderful grant,” Johnson said.
She is referring to $25,000 from Heritage Fund — The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County, which allowed the museum to acquire the space.
The most popular exhibit in the expanded area is the wagon used by the now-prominent Clouse family when they moved from North Carolina in 1839 to what was then a 9-year-old Moravian settlement.
“I don’t think I’d use it to travel across the country again, but it’s remarkably in good shape for its age,” Johnson said of the renovated wagon.
Earlier, the wagon had been displayed in the former Rural Mail Carrier’s Museum on the Town Square.
In addition, a new military display has been placed in the expansion, which will include video interviews of Hope area veterans, she said.
Much of what is now vacant space in the addition later will be used to create a research area geared toward genealogy, Johnson said.
Those efforts recently received a boost with a new computer provided by the Hawcreek-Flat Rock Area Endowment, as well as a printer and scanner donated by the Bartholomew County Genealogical Society, Johnson said.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”If you go ” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
What: Open house and official grand opening of the expansion of the Yellow Trail Museum.
When: Thursday, 6 to 8 p.m.
Where: 644 Main St., at the southwest corner of Jackson and Main, across from the Hope Town Square.
Cost: Free
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Senior profile: Joseph Suverkrup
Age: 18
School: Columbus North School
Who are your parents and grandparents?
Parents: Mark and Juli Suverkrup
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Grandparents: Bud and Beverly Suverkrup, Bennie and Angie Primeaux
Which elementary and middle school/junior high did you attend?
Elementary: Columbus Christian School
Middle school: Northside Middle School
What’s your favorite class or part of the school day?
Accounting class because I understand the material and am excited to learn more.
In which extracurricular activities do you participate?
Football team, golf team, Republican Club, Sound Team at church, Youth Leadership of Bartholomew County, National Honor Society and Eagle Scout.
When you’re not in school, where’s your favorite place to be and why?
At home swimming and hanging out with friends and family.
What has been your greatest high school memory so far and why?
Winning the North-East football game this year. It was an awesome team effort.
What are you looking forward to after graduation?
College and living and working on my own, excited about the next phase of life.
Who in your life has inspired you or whom do you look up to and why?
My parents, Mark and Juli Suverkrup, my grandparents, also Dr. David Gallagher, Mark and Myra Foster, Pete and Cathy King, Steve Stanton and my coaches, Tim Bless, Shane Teague and Doug Bieker. All of these great people have inspired me to work hard and make something of myself, as well as given me the tools to do so.
What is the most important thing you’ve learned during, or from, high school?
All hard work comes to a profit.
School News – November 7
Honor Flight Network event set
Columbus East student Lydia Doughty will be raising money for the Honor Flight Network, with the help of Chevrolet of Columbus, for her senior project.
Chevrolet of Columbus, 2825 Merchant Mile, will serve a hot dog lunch for donations from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Online donations can be made by going to GoFundMe.com and searching Indy Honor Flight // Lydia Doughty.
The Honor Flight Network is a non-profit organization that honors American veterans by taking them to Washington to visit their memorials.
Columbus North senior donates to veterans
Columbus North High School senior Austin Gassaway presented a check for $1,000 to American Legion Post 24 in Columbus on Tuesday.
The money, which was raised for Gassaway’s senior project, will be donated by the Legion to the South Central Indiana Military Support Network to help local veterans and their families.
Borrow, read, enjoy
The mini lending library outside of the America and Roby Anderson Community Center is providing more than free books. It is lending a place for children and adults alike to share the joy of reading and promote literacy without the worry of a closing time.
The books, for both children and adults, are stored in a barn-shaped red box under the front porch awning at the center, 421 McClure Road in Columbus.
They are available any time and for anyone in Columbus. The hope is that more children and adults become more interested in reading, said Julie Bilz, president of the State Street Area Association and an associate professor at Ivy Tech.
“My job is teaching students who want to be teachers, and I think it is essential that people know how to read, whether its for pleasure or business or any other reason you can think of,” Bilz said.
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Studies have shown that reading for just 20 minutes a day can be beneficial to children, said Brandy Walters, secretary of the Future Teachers Club at Ivy Tech.
“I believe every child should have access to books, whether they can afford them or not, because of the benefits,” Walters said.
Walters added that she hopes the library, which opened Oct. 28, gets a lot of use. Walters said she thinks that the library is so new that few people are aware of it, but from what she has seen so far excitement seems to be the most common reaction from those who learn about it.
No time limit on returning the books has been discussed currently. Center staff simply encourage borrowers to read the books at their own pace and return them upon completion, Walters said.
Most of the mini lending library’s books were donated during a recent book drive, Bilz said.
Members of the Future Teachers Club noticed that the mini library had sat empty after the center — formerly the Eastside Community Center — closed in October 2015. The club decided to have a book drive to restock the lending library.
The drive brought in about 150 books as of Oct. 31. The donations are mostly children’s fiction, but some adult fiction such as mysteries have been included. Bilz said a second book drive is a possibility next year.
However, residents can add gently used books to the library whenever they want, she added.
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What: Mini lending library
Where: Outside the America and Roby Anderson Community Center, 421 McClure Road, Columbus.
How it works: Residents can visit the library to select a book or donate a book. Borrowers can return the books once they have finished reading them and are welcome to then pick out another.
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