Stories from Tuesday, October 20, 2015

This Saturday, Oct. 24 will mark the first meeting of Putnam County Families in Nature. All families are invited to the DePauw University Nature Park at 2 p.m. for the occasion. The Natural Families Network engages thousands of parents and families from across the country and around the world in frequent, active time together in the natural world. ...

ROACHDALE -- The Roachdale Revitalization Cooperative Alliance (RRCA) will host its "Meet the Candidates 2015 Forum" on Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. at the North Side Meeting House in Roachdale, located at 5 E. Railroad St. "Please join us for this exciting event -- an event which will give voters the opportunity to learn of the candidates' credentials and understand their vision(s) for the future of our community," Joe Buser, president of the RRCA, said. ...

Steven Paul Stader, 61, of Monrovia, suddenly passed away on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2015. He was born April 25, 1954, in Greencastle, to the late Paul F. and Anna Marie (Shields) Stader. Steve graduated from Monrovia High School in 1973. An honest, hardworking and selfless man, Steve worked for many years with Morgan County. He began work with the County Highway Department and later became a Sheriff's Department deputy and also ran animal control for 10 years...

INDIANAPOLIS -- A Putnam County man is among a recent surge of winners in the Hoosier Lottery. Brian Shields of Greencastle emerged recently as one of a number of central Indiana lottery players to fare well in the first drawing of the Sizzlin' Hot Second-Chance Giveaway game...

CRAWFORDSVILLE -- The Crawfordsville History Mystery Tour, an approximate one-mile ghost walk around downtown Crawfordsville, is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 30. It is not a haunted house or fright field where people dressed in Halloween costumes jump out and scare people. ...

Area 30 Career Center Director Lora Bush updated the South Putnam School Board on student progress during the regular meeting Monday night. Bush told the board that in the 2013-14 school year, a pool of South Putnam juniors earned 45 dual college credits. In the 2014-15 school year, the group of South Putnam juniors and seniors accumulated an additional 240 college credits...

In a modern world where advertisement runs the gamut for things like politics, healthcare and transforming a company's future, it makes sense that a school corporation would also decide to tap into its potential. After reaching out to local businesses and offering advertising space on its athletic websites, Greencastle Schools decided Monday at its monthly board meeting to accept in response various donations from seven different organizations, including businesses, clubs and healthcare facilities.. ...

In a battle for sole possession of first place in the North Coast Athletic Conference, Ohio Wesleyan defeated DePauw 3-2 on Tuesday. The win keeps the Battling Bishops undefeated in the NCAC at 5-0-1, while the Tigers lose their first NCAC contest and drop to 4-1-1...

It'll be a Putnam County rematch Friday night when the Cloverdale football team (1-8, 1-4 WIC) takes on North Putnam (7-2, 4-1 WIC). The Cougars and Clovers played in the last week of the regular season with North Putnam coming out victorious 55-6. CHS scored 20 points in its most recent loss to South Vermillion, its second-most of the year...

LIZTON -- The effort was left on the floor in the Tri-West sectional Tuesday, when Greencastle's volleyball team took on Lebanon and despite the tough effort on the Tiger Cub side, Lebanon earned the win in straight sets 25-18, 25-23 and 25-15. "In the second set we had a lot of momentum and our offense was connecting," GHS coach Maggie Walters said. "In the other sets we struggled to have our setters connect with the hitters. That's what kind of took us out of it."...

Drawing new businesses, jobs and economic stimulus to downtown Greencastle is a chief task of Bruce Clute, who has joined DePauw University as director of collaborative community initiatives and auxiliary services. Well known in the Putnam County business and civic community, Clute brings a strong background of real estate development, management and marketing to his new role...

Law enforcement officers from two local departments spent Saturday undergoing additional training to continue keeping the communities they serve safe. Cloverdale and Roachdale police departments attended the Indiana Marshal's Association Fall Training session in Brownsburg to learn more about grant writing, take a refresher course on standard field sobriety testing (SFST) and take part in active shooter training...

Three years of saving will soon pay off for the Putnam County Highway Department. The department is set to purchase a pair of tandem axle trucks and state-of-the-art dump beds. The entire $344,000 purchase will be made without financing, as the Highway Department has not purchased a new truck since 2012...

The DePauw University School of Music recently partnered with the Greencastle Community School Corporation to provide a free violin and free string instruction to every fourth-grader in Greencastle. If the prototype is successful, it is hoped that it can spread to all of Putnam County, DePauw officials said...