Stories from Friday, August 23, 2013

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale Town Council conducted a special meeting Wednesday evening to discuss the upcoming budget as well as hiring a financial adviser. The council spent a significant amount of time going through each line item of the budget. In the past, the clerk-treasurer has worked up a budget for the amount that was spent in the previous year and came before the council with a new projection for the next year...

Two people were booked into the Putnam County Jail on Wednesday. At 10:05 a.m. William Jesse Hood, 28, Crawfordsville, was arrested on warrants for failure to register as a sex or violent offender and failure to appear. At 3:20 p.m. Rufus A. Gaston, 26, Greencastle, was arrested on two counts of bond revocation...

ROACHDALE -- The North Putnam volleyball team entered Thursday's home game against the Covenant Christian Knights vying for a shot to be 2-0. The prospect of that start might have been too much, as the Cougars seemed to not be all in it as they lost 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 15-25, 22-25)...

The DePauw football team bounced between a pair a starting quarterbacks during the 2012 season, but with a new head coach and a new system starting to take shape, the Tigers are hoping to single one out for this year. They just aren't sure yet who it'll be...

CLAYTON -- Cloverdale's volleyball squad has found Cascade to be one of the toughest opponents on the schedule. Beating the Cadets twice last season led the Clovers to a WCC and their first finish above Cascade since 2007. The hosts did not intend for the pattern to last with a 25-15, 25-23 and 25-20 win over Cloverdale...

The Greencastle boys' soccer team came out exactly how it hoped against Lebanon on Thursday, spacing the field and finding open lanes to attack. The progress stalled, however, and the host Tiger Cubs lost 1-0. Austin Strange scored the only goal, heading in a corner kick by Darrell Crowe less than four minutes into the second half...

The South Putnam and Greencastle took part in a three-team girls' golf match at Twin Bridges on Thursday. Greencastle won the event with a score of 291, followed by South Putnam's 222 and host Danville's 244. Greencastle's low-scorer was Liz Johnson with a 49...

ROACHDALE -- While most rivalry games get a chance to heat up over the season, the battle for the Golden Boot was decided after the Greencastle and North Putnam girls' soccer teams had played just a single game each. The Tiger Cubs retained the coveted trophy, actually a size-three soccer cleat painted gold, with a 1-0 win at the Cougars' home field...

People Pathways will be hosting a bike ride, Pedal the Pathways, to introduce and celebrate the Vandalia Trail on Saturday, Sept. 21. The ride will take place on a segment of the developing 12-mile multi-use Vandalia Trail, which connects Putnam County to Hendricks County...

Justin Evans (right) is one of the lucky children getting to touch an alligator during a free Putnam County Public Library children's program featuring Larry "The Animal Guy" Battson of Wildlife Educational Services Inc.

One of the iconic monuments marking the Putnam County Courthouse Square may soon need a facelift. Or perhaps in this case -- a leglift. A crack was recently located in one of the legs of the "Doughboy" World War I memorial statue on the southeast corner of the courthouse lawn...

INDIANAPOLIS -- More than 500 Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) staff members, including a Putnamville Correctional Facility team, participated in the 2013 FedEx Plane Pull Challenge on Saturday, Aug. 17 at the former Indianapolis International Airport...

Despite the drama of a ruptured gas line providing a few anxious moments earlier this week, a construction project upgrading Washington Street is progressing quite nicely, city officials assure. The target date for completion of the construction work between downtown and Bloomington Street remains Sept. 20, as stipulated in the contract between the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) and the general contractor, OLCO of Batesville...

Betty Jean Jones, 87, of Greenwood, formerly of Cloverdale, passed away Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2013. The daughter of Hosie D. and Clessie M. Law Boyd, Betty was born Jan. 13, 1926 in Scottsville, Ky. A retired realtor, Betty and Marlin owned and operated Red's Grille in Indianapolis from 1958 to 1967...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Putnam County teenager Nick Scott, of Cloverdale, recently captured the Senior Ag Tractor Contest at the 2013 Indiana State Fair. He is the 19-year-old son of Bryan Scott and Karen Clifford and the older brother of Dalton Scott. A 10-year 4-H member, Nick placed second last year at the State Fair, winning a trip to Washington, D.C...