Stories from Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The Honorable Mike Pence, Governor of the State of Indiana: Senate Bill 560 (Utility Transmission) will likely be headed to your desk in the near future. As a representative of over 40,000 residential ratepayers in our great State, Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana respectfully requests that you protect Hoosier ratepayers with the same vigor with which you are fighting to protect Hoosier taxpayers. ...

When you sit through numerous court hearings and listen to the feeble excuses and the sheer stupidity that accompany many local defendants to the jail and into our courts, it's easy to become more than a little jaded. You endure little sympathy for someone like the snarky 33-year-old defendant who told Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges the details of his most recent drunk-driving charge sound "like every other charge I've ever had."...

REELSVILLE -- A Longaberger basket and 31 Bag bingo benefit is planned for Sunday, April 7 to benefit the International Scholar Laureate Program. Proceeds from the event at the Reelsville Firehouse will go to the nursing delegation for training in Australia in May...

McCloud Nature Park will be hosting a free walking stick workshop on Saturday, April 6. The workshop will provide instructions and assistance for those interested in making their own walking stick. Participants will learn basic stripping techniques and be able to decorate their hiking stick in the most natural style...

County Jail Several people were booked into the Putnam County Jail recently. At 3:03 a.m. on Saturday, Ian Edward Nelson, 33, Greencastle, was arrested for operating while intoxicated, possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia. At 3:15 a.m. Sunday, Mark Anthony Sadler, 33, Fillmore, was held at the jail for operating while intoxicated with a prior conviction and as a habitual traffic violator...

The South Putnam Babe Ruth league is having sign-ups on Saturday, April 6 and Saturday, April 13 from 9 a.m.-noon at South Putnam High School. For more information, call Grant McAllister at 301-0741.

Cloverdale senior Austin Mannan hit a three-run home run to help lift the Clovers to a win at South Putnam on Tuesday, 7-4. The Clovers (4-0) were held scoreless for the game's first four innings and trailed 2-0 entering the fifth before the offense got going...

ROACHDALE -- North Putnam sophomore Sabrina Surber continued her strong early-season statement on Tuesday, recording 12 strikeouts to help the Cougars softball team beat visiting Greencastle 11-1. Surber's two-day total is now 30 after her win on Monday against the Tiger Cubs...

Class 2A No. 1 South Putnam's defense of its back-to-back softball titles got off to about as good a start as anyone in red and blue could have hoped for. The Eagles moved to 2-0 on the season Tuesday night after defeating county rivals Cloverdale 15-0 in five innings of play...

ROACHDALE -- In honor of the weather feeling more like football season, the North Putnam has won a pair of baseball games by football scores. The host Cougars beat Greencastle for the second straight day on Tuesday, 14-9. NPHS beat Greencastle on Monday night 22-14...

The Putnam County Museum has announced the opening of the Relay for Life exhibit honoring the past 16 years of Relay for Life in Putnam County The exhibit will open this Saturday, April 6 with a special Relay for Life fundraiser open house from noon to 2 p.m...

If you've thought about going to college but just aren't sure if it's for you or where to begin, come "test drive" Ivy Tech Community College, 915 S. Zinc Mill Rd. in Greencastle, on Saturday, April 6. The program is scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to noon...

A 24-year-old Greencastle man, already facing charges he killed his girlfriend's puppy for chewing on his Air Jordan sneakers, has now been charged with striking a four-year-old child. Kenneth J. Collins, 402 Howard St., had a not-guilty plea entered on his behalf Monday afternoon in Putnam Superior Court in the new case. The latest charge against Collins is battery resulting in bodily injury, a Class D felony because it allegedly involved a person younger than 14...

After more than 18 months of discussion and planning, the project to repave roads and address drainage issues in the Edgelea subdivision may soon commence, the Putnam County attorney said Monday. County Attorney Jim Ensley told the Putnam County Commissioners that a few lingering issues regarding the project appear close to resolution...

Even as they turn gracefully under the clear sky of an early April day, the blue and silver pinwheels on the southwest corner of the Putnam County Courthouse lawn serve as a reminder of the ongoing problem of child abuse. They were placed there Monday in memory of the Indiana children who have died from abuse or neglect. ...