Stories from Wednesday, February 23, 2011

FILLMORE -- The body of a Fillmore man missing since Sunday afternoon has been located near his home. James Brandon Barnett, 32, was found at the bottom of a Ravine at 231 Westwood Rd. Putnam County Sheriff's Department chief deputy Doug Nally said the mower Barnett was riding when he was last seen overturned on him and was the likely cause of death...

LIZTON -- The Greencastle eighth grade girls' A-team fell to Tri-West Tuesday 28-26. Callan Taylor led the way for GMS with eight points. Jessica Lenihan followed by six points, with Delanie Stoltey, Sydney Stuckwisch and Sydney Smiley adding four points each...

ZIONSVILLE -- Sometimes it's just about the ride. That's the stance Greencastle's Matt Sims and South Putnam's Sam Gould took entering Tuesday's Zionsville Diving Regional. With 20 divers from five sectionals, there was some pretty stiff competition at the event...

ROACHDALE -- Some big shoes will be left to fill at North Putnam next season. Following a 14-1 season and a run to the IHSAA State Finals in 2010, Cougar coach Greg Barrett will be leaving Putnam County to take an assistant coaching job with Indiana State University. ISU head coach Trent Miles announced Barrett's hiring Tuesday. Barrett will work with the Sycamores' special teams, running backs and tight ends...

GREENCASTLE -- A make-up contest between Greencastle's boys' basketball team and Owen Valley was not only a chance for the Tiger Cubs to get a look at one of the squads in their sectional but a chance to build off the momentum created by holding off Southmont last Friday...

GREENCASTLE -- Tuesday night's outcome of a make-up contest between boys' basketball team from South Putnam and North Putnam was a far cry from their first meeting. The two tangled in the Putnam County tournament with the Cougars strolling away with a 61-33 win...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Indiana House Democrats took a page from the playbook of their counterparts in Wisconsin on Tuesday, refusing to show up and at least temporarily blocking a Republican-backed labor bill. Nearly all stayed away from the Statehouse completely and headed more than a 100 miles west to neighboring Illinois. ...

To the Editor: "Putting Students First." This is the catch phrase Gov. Daniels and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett are using to promote their expansive legislation that will all but destroy public education. For weeks now, I have listened to the governor and his supporters accuse teachers of being greedy and refusing to improve their schools. The money being taken from public schools is per student money, not money to be used for teacher raises...

To the Editor: The Indiana House of Representatives is signaling their intent to follow Governor Mitch Daniels' lead by making large cuts to state conservation funding by slashing the Clean Water Indiana (CWI) budget by $500,000 annually. This literally doesn't make "cents" when you consider that Indiana's 92 Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) used Clean Water Indiana funds to match and generate $96.8 million in federal, state and local dollars for conservation in 2009. ...

GREENCASTLE -- In 2009, New York residents Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq came up with what some would consider an insane notion. During the season of Ramadan, the Islamic holiday where followers fast for 30 days from sunrise to sunset, the two men would pray at a different mosque for each day. They were encouraged to blog about it, and the two became a viral sensation...

Putnam County Sheriff's Department Towed by Jerry's. Damage $2,501-$5,000. Stapert called for help and left the scene without calling dispatch. He said he didn't know he was supposed to call 911 after a property damage accident. Towed by Steele's. Damage $25,001-$50,000...

ROACHDALE- When used as a way to teach kindergarteners to not be bullies, Aretha Franklin's "Respect" takes on a whole new meaning. This week is the Olweus Program Anti-Bullying week at all North Putnam School Corporation schools, and Roachdale Elementary was the first class to kick off the event with a video, choir performances and a guest appearance from North Putnam's mascot, Charlie Cougar...

FILLMORE -- Tuesday marked the third anniversary of an event that changed forever the lives of a Fillmore family. On the evening of Feb. 22, 2008, Drew Christy, a 2006 South Putnam graduate, struck a patch of ice on U.S. 40 east of Manhattan Road as he was driving home after completing a semester at Rose-Hulman institute of Technology in Terre Haute...

A Fillmore man has gone missing and the Putnam County Sheriff's Department is looking for information regarding his whereabouts. James Brandon Barnett, 32, was last seen near his Fillmore home Sunday around 4 p.m., according to Putnam County chief deputy Doug Nally...

Kenneth Duane Hubbard, 46, Bloomington, passed away Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011 at The Heart Center in Indianapolis. He was born Oct. 20, 1964 in Indianapolis to Kenneth N. Hubbard and Freddie L. (Brummett) Hubbard. Duane graduated from Cloverdale High School in 1983. While in high school he was a member of the wrestling, football and track and field teams. Following high school he attended Marian College and received a B.S. in radiology and business...

Ralph "Wayne" Kelly, 79, of Roachdale passed away on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011. He was born on Jan. 25, 1932 in Russellville to Lawrence Kelly and Elizabeth Whitson Kelly. Mr. Kelly served his country in the U.S. Army. Wayne had been employed at Farm Bureau Co-Op in Greencastle, Bainbridge Marathon and Whitesville Elevator. He retired in 1988...

As the baby of the family by 10 years, I wasn't often called upon at home to fix things. If a car was broken down, my brother assisted my dad. The story was the same for any amateur carpentry, plumbing or heating and cooling issues. And don't even think about electricity. I'm colorblind, so that's a disaster waiting to happen...