Stories from Wednesday, January 19, 2011

To the Editor: On Jan. 7 Krista Gordon, a member of the staff at Teacher's Credit Union, presented a check for $390.97 to Eileen Johnson, executive director of Mental Health America of Putnam County. These funds were raised to assist in the support of the MHAPC Clothe-a-Child fund...

William Faulkner wrote that the past isn't dead, it isn't even past. I'm a veteran of Arizona. As one of the state's leading peace advocates and organizers during the Vietnam War, I had more than my share of death threats, including one left on the accelerator of my car...

When I first came to town nearly three years ago, I set about learning all I could about Putnam County. Being the parent, at the time, of a first-grader, one of my big concerns was schools -- particularly Greencastle Community Schools, which was where my son would be a student...

GREENCASTLE -- Putnam County Auditor Stephanie Campbell presented the county council with a number of budget housekeeping items to tend to at Tuesday's monthly meeting. Several of the county's budget items for 2011 were only advertised once last summer, rather than the required two. Because of this, the budgets came back without the state's approval...

GREENCASTLE -- Putnam County Commissioners Gene Beck and Nancy Fogle voted Tuesday to offset the rising cost of health insurance for county employees in 2011. According to auditor Stephanie Campbell, rates are increasing by 14 percent in 2011. Beck and Fogle chose to offset the rising costs with money from the county's health insurance trust...

ROACHDALE -- Roachdale's first meeting of 2011 proved to be very eventful, with several items passing and many future issues discussed. The biggest order of business was an executive order. The order, which later passed by a 3-0 vote, approved a plan that would be sent to the state regarding the usage of the town's economic development income tax (EDIT). ...

GREENCASTLE -- South Putnam Community School Corp. Superintendent Bruce Bernhardt expects the current legislative session to bring about big changes in the educational climate of Indiana. "It'll be interesting," he told the South Putnam Community School Corp. Board Tuesday night at its monthly meeting. "We'll continue to watch what's going on and bring these items to your attention as we go forward."...

GREENCASTLE -- A woman accused of stealing at a funeral in Roachdale was in court Tuesday for an initial hearing. Heather Stewart-Lane, 32, of New Market has been charged with Class D felonies theft and attempted theft. She was arrested at Roachdale Christian Church, where she was attending a relative's funeral, on Saturday...

GREENCASTLE -- The Putnam County Public Library welcomed Cindy Lightle as its new program director this month. Lightle said she is used to some confusion between her position and a librarian, even from her own family. "My dad, in fact, still says 'so you're a librarian,'" she said. ...

GREENCASTLE -- The trial of a Greencastle man accused of shooting an assault rifle at a police officer began on Tuesday. Justin L. Hargrove, 25, faces charges of Class A felony attempted murder and Class D felonies resisting law enforcement, receiving stolen property and criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon. The charges stem from an April 6 incident in which Hargrove was allegedly one of five individuals that drove around Greencastle shooting out of the windows of a moving vehicle...

NEW MARKET -- The North Putnam girls basketball team lost a heartbreaker to Southmont Tuesday by the count of 62-61. The Cougars trailed by two with 15 seconds to go, but a three-pointer by Megan Robinson gave North Putnam the lead 61-60 with 6.4 second remaining...

CLOVERDALE -- It was another tough night for the Cloverdale girls basketball team, who lost 65-32 to Rockville in a nonconference game Tuesday on the Clovers' court. Winless Cloverdale suffered its 17th straight defeat this season. Cloverdale had 28 turnovers and shot 20.4 percent (10-of-49) from the field, 4-of-20 (20 percent) on 3-pointers...

CLOVERDALE -- Senior night at Cloverdale High School honored six Clover wrestlers Tuesday night. It did not, however, prevent the Clovers from taking one on the chin. Southmont presented the Clovers with their toughest test of the season and did not disappoint with a commanding 57-13 win...