Stories from Friday, January 13, 2017

MORTON -- A 35-year-old man was shot twice in the torso late Thursday evening as he was allegedly brandishing a firearm at a Putnam County Sheriff's Department special deputy. The suspect, Adam B. Wagner, was airlifted to Methodist Hosptial in Indianapolis. Indiana State Police Sgt. Joe Watts reported late Friday morning that Wagner was undergoing extensive treatment and was in stable but critical condition...

Ralph R. Kirton, 74, of Jasonville, passed away on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017 at his home. Born Dec. 28, 1942 to Harry H. Kirton and Audra P. Duncan (Morgan). Ralph retired from being a truck driver for 50 plus years. He is survived by his children, Sandra Sue and husband Vernon David Willison, Sara Jean Burns, Ralph Roger Kirton, Robert Roy Kirton and Frannie Dalton; siblings Jeanette and husband Mike Summitt, Pam and husband Terry Kendall and James Kirton; and Linda Morgan, his cousin, caregiver for last 13 years and lifelong friend; 10 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.. ...

Sheriff’s Department Putnam County sheriff’s deputies responded to a pair of recent property-damage crashes. • At 8:08 a.m. on Thursday, William R. Campbell, 68, Gravenhurst, Ont., was parked in the Cloverdale Travel Plaza, facing east in a 2007 Mack Vision semi tractor-trailer...

The following cases were filed in Putnam County courts recently. Natasha M. Jackson, 26, Indianapolis, Class A misdemeanor driving with a suspended license David Lee Messer and Jesse Danielle Krejckant, both of Greencastle James J. Simkins, Martinsville, and Laura Kay Shoffner, Fillmore...

Putnam County Public Library Library will be closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. -- Community Help Desk, 4-7 p.m. PCPL has a computer technician available to diagnose and help repair computers and electronics. Most problems can be repaired in 20 minutes but if your computer problem is severe enough, or would take longer than 30 minutes to fix, it is recommended you take it to a professional...

If your New Year’s resolution is to pay it forward, the DePauw University School of Music is with you. Thanks to funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the school is sharing the wealth with free tickets this weekend to the premiere of Music Unwound’s “Change the World, It needs it! A Weill/Brecht/Blitzstein Cabaret” conceived by Joseph Horowitz and Kim Kowalke and starring guest vocalists Lisa Vroman and William Sharp...

CLOVERDALE — A high-speed chase that crossed four counties ended in Putnam County late Friday afternoon. Shortly before 5 p.m. Indiana State Troopers from the Indianapolis and Putnamville Posts were assisting the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) in pursuing a vehicle westbound on Interstate 70 from the Indianapolis area...

BRAZIL — Police say the Brazil man who claimed to have a bomb in a backpack inside the Brazil post office Friday reported that threat to authorities. That man, Carl Whitehead, 49, allegedly called the Clay County Dispatch Center at 3:44 p.m., telling dispatchers he was at the branch at 227 W. National Ave. with a homemade bomb in a backpack. He was later arrested without incident, and no explosives were found...

A monument born in Greencastle and a Parke County covered bridge have earned spots on the list of National Historic Landmarks. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel has announced that two Indiana landmarks -- the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Indianapolis (the idea for which was conceived in Greencastle) and the West Union Covered Bridge in Parke County -- have been added to the list...

Graduation rates at all four Putnam County high schools exceeded the statewide average in 2016, according to an Indiana Department of Education report released this week. With the state graduation rate at 89.1 percent in 2015-16 and the non-waiver rate at 82.4 percent, local schools exceeded the mark in all four categories...

Epsilon Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma is looking for qualified applicants for its Recruitment Grant-in-Aid. Putnam County high school female graduates, who will be university juniors or seniors next fall, who are enrolled in an university teacher education program for elementary for secondary education, are encouraged to apply for the grant...

CLOVERDALE -- Executive Secretary Lynn Lotz delivered the oath of office to three new and one returning member of the Cloverdale School Board. Returning member and former Vice President Donna Fidler was sworn in along with JaceAnn Troutt, Katrina Lewis and Joe Mann...