A Columbus resident is making his way down the road to this year’s Pokemon World Championships.

Jared Weiss recently won a Pokemon City Champion title and a trophy in the Masters Division at the city championship competition in Ann Arbor, Michigan. That win also put Weiss’ points for the season at around 175, giving him more than half the total needed to make it to the world championships, he said.

Like most kids born in the ’90s, the 21-year-old grew up watching the popular television show and trading cards with his friends. Weiss is originally from Ann Arbor but moved to Columbus late last year because his father works for Cummins Inc.

Weiss also had an aunt who was a university professor in Japan, and she would buy toys and other Pokemon gear and bring them back to the states on visits, he said.

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But he didn’t start participating in competitions until three years ago, when he went with a friend from his figure skating training to get some decks at a card shop. Some people at the shop were involved in a league, and his interest built from there, he said.

This season of competition is the first time Weiss has buckled down to shoot for a spot at the world competition, he said. He’s been doing well because of the Donphan deck, which he used to win the city competition.

In the Pokemon Trading Card Game, players win matches by taking all of their six prize cards, which lay face down during the round, before their opponent can do so. Prize cards are won one or two at a time by knocking out your opponent’s Pokemon.

Weiss, and most players, do well with the Donphan deck because it has cards that help in blocking opponents from getting their prize cards, he said.

Doing well and being fully prepared for competitions comes down to building the right decks and practicing with them, he said.

Weiss compared playing the game to a chess game, where you have to know the right moves for each situation.

There’s also some luck of the draw involved, and lots of close calls during matches, he said. During one round toward the end of the daylong city championship competition, Weiss and an opponent went into sudden death, when players start a new game with only one prize card each in play.

Though he does get nervous about hoping to do his best and not mess up, Weiss has learned to deal with that feeling over the past three years competing, he said.

And with his competitive nature, he really enjoys the matches and seeing how well he can do in competitions, he said.

It’s also good to take road trips to events with friends and hang out with the people at the competitions, who are generally friendly and accepting, Weiss said.

Weiss encouraged anyone with an interest in the competitions to get involved in a league close to home. The two closest to Columbus are in Bloomington and Greenwood, he said, though he wishes there were one closer, those still present the best opportunity to get involved.

Organized Play events are sanctioned by The Pokemon Co. International and locally managed tournament organizers who run hundreds of Pokemon TCG and video game tournaments every year throughout the United States, according to Kersa Leichner, who handles public relations for the tournament series. Thousands of Pokeman competitors train and compete at various local league events and sanctioned tournaments in an attempt to become a Pokemon world champion, she said.

People also can go online to learn the game and play for free on pokemon.com, he said.

“Just play and have fun with it,” Weiss said. “That’s what it’s all about.”

Weiss now is looking forward to the regional competition in St. Louis this spring. If he earns a top ranking at that competition, he’ll move on to the national competition, which takes place this summer in Indianapolis.

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Jared Weiss is preparing to head to the regional competition this spring in St. Louis. If he earns enough points there, he’ll receive an invitation to the U.S. national competition this summer in Indianapolis.

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Huebel graduates from Evansville

Rebecca Huebel of Columbus graduated from University of Evansville during winter commencement ceremonies Dec. 17.

She received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.

Students named to dean’s list

The following students were named to dean’s lists at their respective colleges:

Hope College in Holland, Michigan: Austin Huffer

University of Evansville: Mary Adelin Presto, Molly Mowrer, Kellie Garrison, Kacie Garrison, Rebecca Huebel, Nicholas Jones, all of Columbus; Samantha Knoy, Brownstown; Anna Rhoads, Nashville; and Sarah Stuckwisch, Seymour.

Parkland College in Champaign, Illinois: James D. McKain, Paris Crossing.

Ivy Tech Community College-Columbus wants to build a greenhouse on the northwest side of Columbus near the county landfill to teach students about alternative farming.

The Bartholomew County Solid Waste Management District is partnering with Ivy Tech on the project.

The greenhouse will be used for college and high school students to study hydroponics, aquaponics and to grow greenhouse crops. It will be no bigger than 40 feet by 120 feet.

A nearby pond to the northeast of the proposed greenhouse location could be used to raise fish and shrimp in the warmer months.

Ivy Tech received a conditional use permit and a variance from the Columbus Board of Zoning Appeals on Jan. 27 to allow the structure to be built next to the Bartholomew County Landfill, using the landfill’s methane gas emissions as energy for the greenhouse.

The greenhouse is proposed for a property off of 25th Street about 2,500 feet east of County Road 500E in Clay Township.

The land is owned by the Bartholomew County Solid Waste District and would be leased by Ivy Tech for the greenhouse, said Matt John, agriculture program chair with Ivy Tech.

John said the idea for a greenhouse stemmed from a Cummins Inc. feasibility study of the landfill that found its gas emissions could be used for other purposes, including fueling an electric generator or produc-ing heat.

The Cummins report estimated the cost of pumping the gas out of the landfill to the west of the property where the proposed greenhouse would be built would cost about $45,000.

John said that study made it seem possible and feasible to move forward with the greenhouse.

“There’s been an increasing interest in offseason vegetable production. Indiana is pretty far behind the rest of the country in that concept,” he said. “This could become a valuable teaching tool.”

Classes of about 20 Ivy Tech students would be using the greenhouse, John said.

He’s also been in contact with several Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. teachers who are interested in bringing students to the greenhouse.

While John and Bartholomew County Solid Waste District manager Heather Siesel think the plan could take shape, several nearby residents said they had concerns.

George Hege, 10622 E. 25th St., said he liked the idea of a greenhouse but wasn’t sold on its proposed location which would be at the northwest end of his property.

Hege said he someday might want to build a house on the northwest side of his property and would not like to have to look at the greenhouse from his own backyard.

He also was worried that students who became familiar with the property would trespass there.

“I’m on board with them being able to do something there. I call it tainted ground. I think it’s a great idea, I just don’t think I want it right there,” he said.

Alice Brown, who lives north of the proposed site at 10433 E. County Road 200N, said she’s also worried about trespassing when the greenhouse and pond aren’t being used for educational purposes.

“There definitely is an issue with people wanting to use the pond for fishing,” she said.

“Some kids skipped school, came out on their four-wheelers and their pickup trucks.”

John said he plans to work with the concerned residents to make sure it doesn’t affect any of their properties.

He said Ivy Tech won’t be paying for the structure and that he plans to have an idea about the cost of the project in about a month.

Once he knows how much the project will cost, he will begin seeking grant money and donations to fund the greenhouse.

“I would love to see construction start by summer time,” he said.

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Ivy Tech Community College-Columbus is planning to build a greenhouse on property owned by the Bartholomew County Solid Waste District.

The property is located on 25th Street, about 2,500 feet east of County Road 500E in Clay Township.

The cost of the project and start date for construction have not been determined yet.

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A Columbus North basketball player was seriously injured in an accident Sunday night near Taylorsville.

A Honda driven by Josh Speidel, 18, of Columbus, collided with another vehicle at U.S. 31 and Bear Lane about 7:04 p.m. Sunday. The Honda was struck in the driver’s side, and Speidel had to be extricated from the vehicle by German Township firefighters using the Jaws of Life, authorities said.

A passenger in Speidel’s car, Kaylee McCracken, 18, of Greenwood, was transported to Columbus Regional Hospital where she is being treated for minor injuries, according to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department.

Speidel was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital and then transferred to Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis. Sheriff deputies said Speidel suffered head and internal injuries.

The door and the roof of the Honda had to be cut off to extricate Speidel, according to sheriff deputies.

Deputies T.A. Smith and Leah Burton said the accident happened in front of Speedway at Bear lane.

Preliminary investigation indicates the southbound Chevy, driven by Janell Foley, 42, of Columbus, had just exited Interstate 65 and was traveling southbound when a Honda entered the roadway from a perimeter road on the west side of U.S. 31. Foley was treated and released at the scene, and her two sons, ages 9 and 14, were not injured.

Columbus North coach Jason Speer said he was on the way to the Indianapolis hospital to support Speidel’s family. Speidel, who has been recruited by Vermont, is averaging 25.6 points and 9.3 rebounds for Columbus North this season.

Mayoral candidate Jim Lienhoop is using a phone survey for his campaign intended to gauge how some Columbus residents are likely to vote.

Lienhoop said his campaign initiated the telephone poll on advice from Mark It Red, a conservative consulting firm from Lebanon, Indiana, that it hired based on advice from local state legislators and Indiana Republican Party Chairman Tim Berry.

The firm encouraged Lienhoop to take a poll seeing where he stands with people likely to vote in the May 5 Republican primary, a tool that was instrumental in helping the GOP gain supermajorities in the Indiana General Assembly, Lienhoop said.

Mark It Red then recommended using a Washington, D.C., area polling firm — referring to it as the best-qualified telephone polling vendor it had found — to conduct the Columbus phone survey, Lienhoop said.

Calls were made only to city residents who have voted Republican in the past two primary elections, he said.

Mayor Kristen Brown took to Facebook to criticize her challenger, saying the survey is “testing attack ads” against her and asking questions that make “unfair, negative insinuations.”

She said Thursday afternoon that she “absolutely won’t be doing any telemarketing surveying” as part of her campaign.

“I know what issues are important to the people of Columbus,” she said.“I’m very actively engaged. I have a good understanding of the people I serve.”

But while Brown took objection to the questions about her Facebook posts, she said Thursday the nature of the poll wasn’t her primary concern.

“My biggest concern is the lack of disclosure,” she said of the calls. “It’s confusing.”

Lienhoop said the telephone survey is geared at finding which issues that have arisen during the past three years are of greatest concern to likely voters, in addition to gathering data to gauge public opinion.

“We have been listening to people across the community who have indicated a lot of support,” he said.

“We’re trying to understand whether that translates into actual votes.”

The poll questions — which Lienhoop declined to divulge — aren’t intended to make any accusations, he said.

“I don’t think we asked anything that was unfair or untrue,” Lienhoop said. “It’s all fact-based.”

He said the campaign also specifically instructed the calling company to make sure it didn’t make repeated phone calls, as did a telephone poll conducted last year on behalf of Zack Ellison, a Democrat who unsuccessfully ran for House District 59.

After talking to campaign consultants, Lienhoop said it’s possible some households could have been called more than once if more than one Republican voter lived there.

But from talking to people who have been called and having received a call at home himself, it doesn’t appear the company is pestering people, he said.

Lienhoop offered his apologies to residents who feel they have been bombarded with calls.

Brown said she has received complaints from city residents, many of whom have been confused and upset because they think it’s the city conducting the survey.

Lienhoop has received at least one complaint as of Thursday afternoon, when a local resident and businesswoman of 47 years sent him an email after receiving a call from the polling company.

Christine Lemley, also known for being a co-founder of Interfaith Forum Columbus, criticized Lienhoop for conducting the “intrusive, divisive, underhanded” survey rather than attending to council matters.

Lemley, who described herself as a registered Democrat, said she voted for Mayor Brown in 2011 and is supporting her again.

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Mayoral candidate Jim Lienhoop’s campaign will use the information collected through a telephone survey to figure out “how to take our message to likely voters,” the at-large city councilman said.

Poll responses will be used to gauge public opinion and judge how people who have voted Republican in the past two primary elections are likely to vote May 5.

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Public officials running for office can vote on matters that benefit their campaign donors, according to the city’s ethics code.

City Attorney Jeff Logston said officials are not legally required to recuse themselves from votes that affect people who have contributed to their campaign.

That means Republican mayoral candidate and city council member Jim Lienhoop did not violate the city’s ethics policy when he voted Jan. 20 to support a recent tax abatement request for a company co-owned by a campaign contributor.

Lienhoop and the other five council members at the meeting unanimously passed an abatement for TechTop Realty LLC.

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The company is planning to invest $2 million to expand its warehouse in the Woodside Industrial Park.

It leases the 55,000-square foot warehouse to LHP Technologies and plans to add another 60,000 square feet of space.

The CEO of both companies is Columbus resident Ryan Hou, who donated $5,000 to Lienhoop’s campaign in November. Lienhoop is challenging Republican Mayor Kristen Brown for the Republican nomination for mayor in the May 5 primary.

Brown cited the Lienhoop donation when explaining why she is careful in what donations she accepts for her political campaign. With large donations, candidates run the risk of people thinking those donors are buying influence or favors, the mayor said.

She also mentioned it Thursday night on her personal Facebook page, writing that Lienhoop both motioned for and recommended the abatement, which she said saves TechTop $250,000 in taxes during a 10 year period.

Lienhoop said he voted on the requested abatement, which adds two jobs to a long-standing company, solely on its own merits. He led the motion and made the recommendation as a member of the Incentive Review Committee, which met just before the council meeting to discuss the requested abatement.

He said the request was just like any other abatement the council has approved, and that the company’s application contained nothing unusual or questionable.

Columbus is a small city in which candidates find supporters in a lot of different places — and people who want to donate to a campaign should be welcomed to, he said.

“I think the way this whole thing is supposed to work is through disclosure,” he said.

“The documents that are associated (with the abatement) are, I believe, open for inspection. And the campaign finance report that we file is also a public document.”

Political contributions are a form of free speech that shouldn’t be limited, Lienhoop said.

The city’s Code of Ethics was approved by the City Council in 2013. It is similar to the state’s code of ethics, but the Indiana State Ethics Commission, a five-member board that issues advisories based on state regulations, has no jurisdiction in Columbus, Indiana Inspector General Cynthia Carrasco said.

Under the city’s ethics code, officials cannot accept gifts or participate in discussions and votes on topics that may financially help or harm themselves, their employer or their family members, Logston said.

But campaign committees, which receive contributions from donors through a treasurer, are legally separate entities, Logston said.

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According to the code of ethics passed by Columbus city officials in 2013, councilmen should not knowingly solicit, accept or receive gifts or favors from people who have a business relationship with the council or who are seeking to influence their vote on any matter.

But political contributions that are legally reported are excluded from that restriction.

Councilmen are directed to recuse themselves from discussions and votes on any matter that would financially benefit themselves, an immediate family member, their company or any company with which they are seeking employment.

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