Stories from Saturday, February 7, 2009

The Cougar Softball league will be holding signups on two days at two separate locations. The first day is Saturday at Bainbridge Elementary at 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and at Roachdale Elementary from 9 a.m. until noon. The second opportunity for signups will be on Saturday Feb. 21 at Bainbridge Elementary from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. and at Roachdale Elementary from 9 a.m. until noon...

The Greencastle eighth grade boys team defeated South Putnam 43-39 Wednesday to claim the Putnam County championship. "It was definitely a special night for the kids on our basketball team," GMS head coach Jarrod Duff. "Being down by 14 points with four minutes left to go in the game and coming back to win doesn't happen very often. It will be one of those games that these kids talk about w/each other many years from now."...

MONROVIA--Greencastle's girls struggled to score in the second half against Monrovia and it send them down to a 43-31 defeat in a West Central Conference basketball game at Branch McCracken Memorial Gym. The Tiger Cubs (8-10, 4-2 WCC) were in control at halftime, leading 24-10, but had only seven points in the second half. They made 2-of-22 shots from the field including 0-of-6 on 3-pointers and were 3-of-15 at the free throw line in the third and four quarters...

CLOVERDALE -- The Speedway Sparkplugs boys may remain undefeated in the WCC, but on Friday night the Cloverdale Clovers almost stalled them. The game went into overtime and featured a sparkling display by Brandon Moon, who topped the scoring for both teams with 26 points...

CLOVERDALE -- If the Speedway Sparkplugs thought their regular season would come to an easy end Friday when they visited Cloverdale, they received a bit of a shock. The Sparkplugs gained the win 59-42, but Cloverdale (3-17, 1-5 WCC) proved they could play at an elevated level as the tournament approaches...

One quarter. That's all it takes for something to go wrong. And the second quarter was the quarter that did the Lady Cougars in Friday night as they lost 47-35 to the Lady Eagles of South Putnam. After trialing 15-10 after the first quarter, North Putnam scored only four points to the Lady Eagles' 17 in the second quarter to trail 32-14 at the half...

MONROVIA -- The Greencastle Tiger Cubs boys' basketball team traveled to Monrovia Friday night to play the always tough Bulldogs in a West Central Conference game. The Tiger Cubs knew they would have their hands full, as the Bulldogs entered the game with only one loss in the conference, and were celebrating senior night...

INDIANAPOLIS -- The first week of February has been another good week of discussion and debate. As Washington, D.C., creates a federal stimulus package that will jump start our economy, lawmakers at the Statehouse are working through plans to support education and job creation and retention...

BLOOMINGTON -- Bloomington, Greencastle and surrounding communities are joining together to welcome home soldiers who were deployed overseas during 2008. The celebration will be held in the Bloomington North High School gymnasium beginning at 2 p.m. Sunday. The event is open to the public, and thousands of small U.S. flags will be handed out free to those attending...

Nancy F. Metzger Johnson, 75, of Greencastle died on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009. She was born to Oren Metzger and Lara Fern Sheets in Frankfort on Dec. 15, 1933. Mrs. Johnson was a 1951 graduate of Frankfort High School. She married Oase S. Johnson on April 5, 1953, and he survives...

If you are a thrill seeker who enjoys a good chase you may want to attend a storm chasers training session hosted by the National Weather Service Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. at the Putnam County Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The meeting is open to the public and pre-registration is not needed...

National non-profit consultant Vernetta Walker of BoardSource will come to Greencastle on Feb. 16 to present a workshop titled "The Twelve Principles of Effective Governance." This workshop is a part of the Putnam County Community Foundation's Non-Profit Learning Series, which is geared toward community members who staff or volunteer with non-profit organizations and wish to build capacity in areas of fundraising, governance, marketing and more...

Tax season is here and Free File Alliance will save 70 percent of Americans money when filing taxes. Free File Alliance has begun its seventh tax season providing millions of Americans with the opportunity to file taxes electronically at no charge. Taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of $56,000 or less are eligible for the program...

A Cloverdale man has been sentenced to prison time for a 2008 battery. Judge Matthew Headley handed down an eight-year sentence for Samuel J. Weekly, 30 on a Class C felony conviction of battery. Under the terms of a plea agreement, the charge Weekly pled guilty to was reduced from a Class B felony aggravated battery charge and a Class D felony charge of operating a vehicle after being adjudged a habitual traffic violator was dismissed...

DANVILLE -- Brandi Groves is in the midst of one of the most painful things any parent can experience: Her 5-year-old son is battling cancer. "You go through so many emotions so quickly when you find out your child is ill," she said. Brandi didn't think anything was terribly amiss when Dylan became ill last year. He complained of a sore throat and his glands were swollen, but Brandi had no reason to believe her son was suffering from anything more severe than a common cold or flu bug...

For South Putnam, the rally came three-quarters too late. After getting struggling for the first three quarters, the Eagles came back and lit up the scoreboard against the visiting Cougars, outscoring them 27-18, but in the end it wasn't enough, as North Putnam handed the Eagles another loss...