Due to a staff error, the address of The Original Party Mart was listed incorrectly in the January issue of She magazine’s “Women in Charge” article. The store’s correct address is 1640 Home Ave.

HAYDEN — Jennings County youth football player Calvin Clark could head home from an Indianapolis hospital Thursday, the next step in his recovery from a serious head injury he suffered in a game Nov. 1.

Clark’s classmates and staff members at Hayden Elementary School, who have been raising money to help the Clark family, continue to wear #calvinstrong T-shirts and bracelets daily.

In his classroom, Calvin’s desk has been left untouched during his absence, except for the addition of Indiana University gear, posters and other gifts that students wanted to give him during his recovery.

And word that Calvin could be coming home this week has the school abuzz, Principal Brent Comer said.

“We are going to be so excited, so thrilled, when he can come through that doorway,” Comer said.

The Jennings County community has united behind Calvin and the Clark family since the football player collapsed during a Police Athletic Activities League tournament in Columbus, where he was competing as a fullback for the Jennings County Panthers Youth Football team.

He initially was listed in critical condition at Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health after undergoing surgery to control bleeding in his brain. Since then he has made slow, gradual but remarkable improvements.

Late last year, he was moved into a rehabilitation wing and has been working hard to grow strong enough to be released.

Comer said Calvin is conscious and working to relearn many things that people take for granted, such as how to eat and talk, and having to learn many things at many levels.

“But we’re seeing continued small steps of improvement,” Comer said.

Milestones have included smiling at his parents, learning to swallow and eat and even fist-bumping, according to the family’s “#calvinstrong” Facebook page.

Photos of vehicles painted with “#calvinstrong” on the windows and the back of a pickup truck have been shared on the Facebook page.

The school doesn’t know officially when Calvin could return to the school for a visit after he returns home, the principal said.

School officials are being cautious with the Hayden students because there have been what Comer calls “bumps in the road” that delayed earlier dates that Calvin could have been released from the hospital.

“We’ve just kind of learned to be cautiously excited,” he said.

School officials plan to meet with the family and Calvin’s health care providers to make sure they can provide whatever is needed for Calvin to continue his recovery at home, Combs said.

After that meeting, they will consider when Calvin might be able to visit the school to reconnect with his classmates.

“We’ll be way overboard on that,” Combs said.

There will be no doubt that Calvin will know how much the school and his classmates have been supporting him, based on how students continue to wear their #calvinstrong gear every day, Combs said.

“I’ve got mine on right now,” Combs said of his bracelet.

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Fundraising efforts to help pay the medical expenses of injured 11-year-old Jennings County football player Calvin Clark are being coordinated through Hayden Elementary School. Call the school at 812-346-2813 for more information.

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Police are investigating a phone scam incident in which an elderly Columbus resident lost a significant amount of money.

The resident was called and, believing the caller was a family member, agreed to purchase two prepaid debit cards and load them with a large amount of money.

The resident was then instructed to call back someone who was allegedly an attorney and give the individual access numbers to the cards.

The Columbus Police Department warns this is a scam, and legitimate attorneys do not operate in this fashion, said Sgt. Matt Harris, police spokesman.

Harris asked residents to call the police if you receive such a call asking you to wire money or use prepaid debit cards to pay money to an unknown individual.

This is just one of many similar types of phone scams going around, Harris said.

Tuesday afternoon, the police department received five reports of someone saying they were from the Internal Revenue Service and were demanding payment of back taxes by phone.

This, too, is a scam, Harris said. The IRS doesn’t threaten people on the phone or ask for payment by phone, he said. These calls also should be reported to the police department, he said.

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If you are contacted by a person claiming to be a family member or someone else needing financial help, have the Columbus Police Department check it. Call the police at 376-2600 to report the incident or other phone scams.

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The Columbus Police Department credits an observant local resident with helping officers catch an individual they say burglarized Harold’s Car Wash.

Police were called about 4:20 a.m. Sunday to the car wash in the 2700 block of Brentwood Drive by an observer who reported a suspicious vehicle in one of the wash bays, said Sgt. Matt Harris, police department spokesman.

As Lt. Jeff Williams approached, a man wearing dark clothing left the building and refused to stop when Williams ordered him to do so.

Williams pursued him on foot across the Rural King parking lot and onto Middle Road, where he caught the man near U.S. 31, Harris said.

The man was identified as Arnold Wesley Harrison, 50, 311 Hege Ave., who is being held on preliminary charges of burglary and resisting law enforcement, Harris said.

He is being held in the Bartholomew County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bond, jail officials said.

Staff Reports

A 12-year-old girl and a 19-year old man were arrested in Bartholomew County after a carjacking and vehicle and foot pursuits by police.

Bartholo-mew County Sheriff’s deputies later learned that the girl was reported as a runaway from Jacksonville, Florida.

At approximately 4:20 a.m. Saturday, deputies were informed the Columbus Police Department was investigating a crash near the 66-mile marker on Interstate 65 North. During the investigation, a driver stopped to see if the occupants of the crashed vehicle needed assistance.

The girl and Rodolfo Gonzales Ramirez, of West Palm Beach, Florida, stole the driver’s gold Buick Rendezvous, according to a news release from the sheriff’s department.

The sport-utility vehicle was observed heading north on I-65. Ramirez then exited I-65 and traveled south on U.S. 31. Deputies Gary Knoef and Nick Martoccia initiated a felony stop near the Red Roof Inn. Knoef yelled verbal commands to the driver, but Ramirez quickly drove away. Several police units pursued, the release stated.

Stop sticks were requested, and Columbus Police Department officers placed them in the area of U.S. 31 and Lowell Road. Deputies believe the vehicle struck the stop sticks, although Ramirez continued southbound on Indianapolis Road, according to the release.

Approaching the curve, just north of the roundabout, at a high rate of speed, Ramirez drove over the curb and wrecked the SUV just off the south side of the roadway.

Ramirez and the juvenile girl fled on foot running through the parking lot of Mill Race Center. Deputies Knoef and Martoccia gave chase on foot. Edinburgh Police Department Officer Junior Little, who assisted in the chase, stopped the girl, the sheriff’s department said.

Ramirez stopped running and turned to face Knoef and Martoccia. Ramirez said he did not have any weapons, but he would not follow the deputies’ directions. Ramirez eventually laid face-down on the ground and was arrested.

Columbus police took the girl and Ramirez into custody. According to Bartholomew County Jail officials, he was booked on preliminary charges of:

Auto theft, a Level 6 felony.

Contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a Level 6 felony.

Resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, a Level 6 felony.

Criminal recklessness, a Class A misdemeanor.

Resisting law enforcement, a Class A misdemeanor.

Leaving the scene of an accident, a Class C misdemeanor.

Ramirez was being held on a $7,500 surety bond.

The girl was arrested on a preliminary charge of auto theft and is being held at the Bartholomew County Youth Services Center, according to the sheriff’s department.

A local automotive equipment distributor has received a tax abatement to expand its warehouse in the Woodside Industrial Park.

TechTop Realty LLC, which leases the 55,000-square-foot warehouse to LHP Technologies, plans to spend $2 million to add 60,000 square feet of space.

It received an abatement Tuesday night from the Columbus City Council for additional taxes that come about as a result of the investment.

Once the warehouse is complete, the company will see gradual increases in its tax bills during the next 10 years, rather than paying taxes on the improvements immediately. The company also received an abatement in 2008.

Ryan Hou, CEO of both companies, said the expansion is necessary because the existing warehouse is full, mostly with products from all sections of the automotive industry waiting to be distributed to area customers.

It also will mean adding at least two jobs, a conservative estimate for the additional hands needed to work in the larger space, by August 2016, he said. Those jobs will bring the total number of workers at LHP Technologies to 12.

Mayor Kristen Brown and city council members congratulated Hou and LHP Technologies general manager Steve Gilley on the growth and thanked them for providing more local jobs.

Even though LHP Technologies is small, it is growing, and the expanded facility will enable the company to attract more customers and partners to the city and to the state, Hou said.

It’s also part of a greater family of companies, including LHP Software and LHP Solutions, both at 305 Franklin St., headquartered at LHP Corp., at 1888 Poshard Drive near the city’s municipal airport. Overall, the companies employ upward of 200 employees, according to the Columbus Economic Development Board.

A result of the first Chinese investment in Columbus, the company’s original commitment and expansion demonstrate the importance of the Columbus Economic Development Board’s annual delegations to Asia, Hou said. He and his wife, Jean, a former Cummins Inc. executive, regularly join the board on those trips.

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LHP Technologies LLC warehouses and distributes automotive equipment for and to various local and regional manufacturers. Organized in 2006, it and TechTop LHP Realty are both at 6889 S. International Drive in the Woodside Industrial Park.

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Last weekend’s “Dancing with the Stars … Columbus Style” drew a combined crowd of about 900 people for two shows and nearly $60,000 in receipts.

Fundraising totals fell short of $100,000 brought in last year, when a bigger field of dancers generated more donations. Members of the audience vote for their favorites, making a $1 donation for each vote cast.

Children Inc. and Family School Partners will receive about $25,000 each after event expenses are paid, said Brenda Flanagan, executive director of Children Inc.

While they hoped to raise more, Flanagan said organizers were nonetheless pleased with the outcome.

“$60,000 really is in line with what we did in the previous years,” she said.

The funds will go toward Children Inc.’s child care program and early childhood education programs at Family School Partners.

Flanagan said the money Children Inc. receives will pay for anything from costs of operations to school supplies.

“If we have children who are on our waiting list and are needing scholarships, we will use some of those dollars,” she said.

Stacy Findley, program coordinator at Family School Partners, said the funds make up about 25 percent of the organization’s annual budget. Getting the money means more families will have the opportunity to use the group’s services.

Those opportunities are available to families with children who are infants and up to 5 years old. The program is free, Findley said, and wouldn’t be possible without the dancing event.

“Dancing with the Stars is very important for our organizations because we actually rely on the funding,” Findley said. “Where it is just a great event for the community, essentially it is an event that funds our programs.”

Flanagan said the success from last year’s dancing contest could be attributed to a variety of circumstances:

There were eight dancing groups compared with five this year.

There were more voters involved last year.

Early voting was successful last year.

All seats for last year’s matinee and nighttime performance sold out.

Organizers said they were appreciative of the community support and the commitment from dancers and event volunteers.

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Here’s a list of the couples who danced who finished in the top three at the “Dancing with the Stars … Columbus Style” competition, ranked by amount of donations:

1. April Williams and Brent Byers

2. Christopher Bartels and Jana Bartels

3. Brett Vanderkolk and Charlotte Battin

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Columbus City Council member Ryan Brand has filed for the GOP nomination for a second term in District 2.

Brand, 41, has represented the District since defeating Democrat candidate Max Lemley in the Nov. 8, 2011, municipal election.

He also serves as a member of the Columbus Area Arts Council board and The Commons board, something he plans to continue if re-elected.

Brand said he still has a lot of work to do for district constituents and is seeking a second term to represent their concerns.

Attracting new economic development, jobs and businesses to Columbus is something Brand plans to pursue, specifically with the help of the city’s accumulating tax-increment financing funds, he said.

He also would like to continue working toward enhancing services offered to residents, whether it be to city employees or users of the city’s public facilities.

Brand said one of his greatest strengths as a councilman is his ability to moderate conversations between the council and the boards he serves on.

[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About Ryan Brand” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]

Age: 41

Address: 422 Ninth St.

Employment: Business development manager at Elwood Staffing Services Inc. Tradesman division.

Current office held: Columbus City Council, District 2, 2011-present

Past office held: None

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