Stories from Thursday, April 6, 2017

CLOVERDALE — Police are investigating an early-morning Thursday armed robbery at a Cloverdale gas station. Shortly after midnight, Cloverdale Police, officers along with officers from the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department and Indiana State Police, responded to an armed robbery at Casey’s General Store, 355 N. Main St...

Richard (Dick) Paul Burkett, 90, passed away April 2, 2017 in Greencastle. He enlisted in the Navy at 17, trained as a signal man and served in the Pacific during World War II. He re-enlisted in the Army and served in Japan as part of the 11th Airborne Division as a code radio operator. ...

Evert Dale Gerhardt, 79, of Greencastle, died Tuesday, April 4, 2017. He was born on Oct. 19, 1937 in St. Elmo, Ill., to Herbert Gerhardt and Inez (Pease) Watson. He was raised in Effingham, Ill. He moved with wife Doris (Buchhorn) Gerhardt to Greencastle in 1964. They celebrated 55 years of marriage on Feb. 10, 2017...

Whether you read the tea leaves or count tree rings, there is little mystery to Greencastle's commitment to urban forestry. You might even say the City of Greencastle literally subscribes to that time-honored local slogan "Keep the green in Greencastle" -- especially when it comes to trees...

Wanda L. Gerber Wilson, 77, Frankfort, died Thursday, April 6, 2017 at Signature Healthcare in Lafayette. She was born on June 22, 1939 in Rockville to Ira Richard and Cordia Lee (Mitchell) Cox. She married Billy David Gerber on Oct. 28, 1960 in Manhattan, and he preceded her in death on June 9, 1997. Wanda then married Danny Wilson on Oct. 20, 2002, and he survives...

Larry Lee Kenyon, 47, of Franklin, Ky., entered into rest on Monday, April 3, 2017 at 5:32 p.m. at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. A native of Indianapolis, he was the son of Eldon Kenyon and Bonnie Welch Kenyon of Freemont, Ind., who survive him...

Clara Mae Dawes Sanders, 92, of Zionsville, passed away Wednesday, April 5, 2017 in the Meadows Nursing Facility. Born March 26, 1925 in Fillmore, she was the daughter of Carl Elliott and Hazel (Hunt) Elliott. She married Claude Dawes, and he preceded her in death. She remarried to Ed Sanders and he also preceded her in death...

Billy Gene Austin, 77, of Bainbridge, passed away on Wednesday, April 5, 2017. Born Dec. 3, 1939 in Indianapolis, he was the son of Avery and Mildred (Huffman) Austin. He was a 1958 graduate of Bainbridge High School. Bill was an airline captain with US Airways for 33 years, retiring in 1992...

DePauw University is one of 75 institutions from across the country selected to participate in the inaugural year of the Collections Assessment for Preservation (CAP) program. Administered by the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artist Works, CAP assists museums in improving the care of their collections by providing support for a conservation assessment of the museum’s collections and buildings...

SAN DIEGO – A 2011 Greencastle High School graduate and Greencastle native is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett. Petty Officer 3rd Class Mitchell Robinson is a gas turbine systems technician (electrical) aboard the Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer operating out of San Diego...

The following cases were filed in Putnam County courts recently. Criminal Cases Charles E. Henry, 51, Roachdale, Level 6 felony failure to register as a sex or violent offender Bill E. Craig, 75, Greencastle, Level 6 felony failure to register as a sex or violent offender...

County Jail Ten people were booked in the Putnam County Jail recently. Wednesday • At 10:42 p.m. Nicholas Lee Boswell, 25, Greencastle, was lodged at the jail on a pair of warrants. • At 3:47 p.m. Kayla Renee Spiker, 23, Reelsville, was taken into custody for possession of methamphetamine, possession of paraphernalia and on a local warrant...

Ever wonder about those Easter season candy marshmallow Peeps? Here’s a chance to find out. The Putnam County Public Library will unveil some of the magic with an afternoon of science experiments featuring marshmallow Peeps on Wednesday, April 19 from 4-5 p.m...

In a pair of upcoming public events, Autumn Glen senior living community in Greencastle will host an art therapist and the Easter Bunny. Art therapist Donna Harcourt of DJ Creations will be at Autumn Glenn, 98 N. 10 St. (Round Barn Road), at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 11 to do an activity with residents and interested persons in the community...

Formed just two weeks ago by members of the Putnam County Commissioners and Putnam County Council, a committee exploring the future of the Putnam County Courthouse Annex building is already taking action. During the March 20 meeting, David Berry asked his fellow commissioners to approve the formation of a committee to look into the future of the old Jones School/Courthouse Annex property...

Officially recognizing April as Child Abuse Prevention Month in Putnam County and Greencastle, county and city officials meet with leaders from local prevention organizations at the recent meeting of the Putnam County Commissioners. With Commissioner David Berry (seated center) and Mayor Bill Dory (standing, second from left) signing proclamations, others gathered include (seated from left) commissioners Rick Woodall and Don Walton and (standing) Sheriff Scott Stockton, Mental Health America Executive Director Karen Martoglio, Ann Newton of Transformers, Cari Cox and Daphne Rutenberg of Family Support Services, Shelly Chadd of Department of Child Services, Gretchen Wallace of Healthy Families and Kayla Hens of Community Partners for Child Safety. ...

A proposed tax abatement project in which Crown Equipment Corp. would expand into the 100,000-square-foot former TechnoTrim building at the corner of Fillmore Road and State Road 240 in Greencastle earned the support of the Greencastle Redevelopment Commission (RDC) in a special meeting Wednesday evening...

More than 135 Putnam County seniors received food from the Gleaners Mobile Food Pantry Thursday morning at the Greencastle Armory as (above) Food Pantry volunteer Judy Miller (left) and Indianapolis 500 Festival Princess Quinci Miller of Greencastle assist residents by passing out frozen meat during the monthly giveaway. ...

Banner Graphic: How long have you been running, and what do you like about it? Chad Stevens: “I started when I was in middle school, mostly because my friends did it. I didn’t start back up again until my sophomore year, which I regret. It’s kind of peaceful on a long run in cross country, and track kind of balances it out because it’s more intense. It helps to build character.”...

CLOVERDALE — Cloverdale swept a pair of softball games from visiting South Putnam on Tuesday night, winning the first game 17-7 in five innings and taking the nightcap 18-7. In the opener, Lauren Meek was the winning pitcher and also had a double, single and three RBI. Kiley Shedron added two singles, a double and four RBI, Mackenzie Allen and Tori Combs each had two singles and two RBI, Kelsey Helterbrand had two singles and Skylar Price had a single and a single...