Stories from Thursday, October 19, 2017

Conservative Republican Jim Baird of Greencastle Thursday announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination in Indiana's 4th Congressional District, highlighting his years of service in West Central Indiana as a small business leader, local volunteer, public servant and decorated Army veteran...

Robert Higgins Rooker, 84, of Bainbridge, died on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017 at home surrounded by his children. Born Dec. 14, 1932, he was the son of Joseph and Edna Higgins Rooker. He married Shirley Lukenbill on Aug. 2, 1952, and she preceded him in death on March 24, 2012...

DePauw had top-ranked Wittenberg on the ropes, but couldn’t deliver the knockout on four match points in the fourth set and the visiting Tigers won the last three points to take that set and then hung on in the deciding fifth set to win the match 3-2 (23-25, 25-14, 18-25, 29-27, 15-13)...

The only two undefeated football teams in the North Coast Athletic Conference will meet at 1 p.m. on Saturday at DePauw’s Blackstock Stadium, as the No. 25 Tigers host No. 13 Wittenberg. Both teams are 5-0 in league play and 6-0 overall entering the game, with DePauw coming off a 26-17 comeback win at Denison...

Mark Osmialowski has been around the gridiron since the age of two. There isn’t much he doesn’t like about football. “I enjoy being around the guys and seeing how, since I’ve been here, that this program has developed into a team of one,” he noted. “We’re a close-knit group on and off the field. It’s fun just being together and playing a game we all enjoy so much...

Greencastle junior Emma Wilson will be seeking her third straight state finals appearance on Saturday when she and five other Putnam County runners compete in the Shelbyville Semistate at Blue River Park. Wilson will be joined by Cloverdale’s Lily Monnett and South Putnam’s Chelsie Edwards and Lillie Stein in the girls’ race on Saturday, while Ben Gellman of Greencastle and Austin Rumley of South Putnam will be competing in the boys’ race...

Kickoff: 7 p.m. Media coverage: WREB-FM 94.3 will broadcast the game. The coaches: Randy Minniear is in his second year at Brown County with a record of 5-14. Mike Meyer is in his eighth year at Greencastle with a record of 34-47. The history: The teams last played on Oct. 16, 2015, in sectional action. Brown County won 27-17 in the only meeting between the teams in the past 30 years...

Teams like to go into the post-season on a high note, and winning the last game before tournament time is always preferable to the alternative. Greencastle’s Tiger Cubs felt in a good position entering the North Montgomery Sectional, possessing the only winning record among the six teams and drawing a first-round bye...

Tarn Travers, a professor of violin at the DePauw University School of Music, has been appointed concertmaster of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. The announcement follows a national search that began in May. “The appointment of Tarn Travers as concertmaster of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra is a critical step in the continued artistic growth of our wonderful orchestra,” Matthew Kraemer, the ICO’s music director, said. ...

INDIANAPOLIS – Innovators and leaders of tomorrow, FFA members make a difference by sharing their stories of agricultural education and FFA. This year, members will continue the tradition as they attend the 90th National FFA Convention & Expo in the Circle City Oct. 25-28...

INDIANAPOLIS – The City of Madison and the Town of Culver are the 2017 Designees of the Stellar Communities Designation Program (SCDP). Between May and October, representatives from the SCDP State Team visited all six finalist communities where they heard highlights from each local team as well as toured project locations from their local Strategic Investment Plans (SIP)...

On Saturday, Oct. 21 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Putnam County Museum, kids and parents alike can come out and have a fun time with leaves and apples as the group makes fall decorations and tastes different apples that are native to the area of Putnam County and Indiana...

Artist and author Mike DeCarlo will be in Greencastle for a conversation about his newly released book of portraits, “Sketchpad: The Pencil Art of Mike DeCarlo,” Tuesday, Oct. 24 at the Putnam County Public Library at 6 p.m. DeCarlo will talk about the genesis of the book itself, why he chose the people he sketched for the book, and discuss his approach to portraiture. He will have sketches for sale, and will sign and sell copies of his book...

Franklin Street Dental (formally 20/20 Dental), a member of the Hometown Dental Group, located at 819 E. Franklin St., Greencastle, will hold its Greater Greencastle Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting and an open house on Thursday, Oct. 26 from 4:30-6 p.m...

County Jail Six people were recently booked into the Putnam County Jail. Tuesday • At 7:44 a.m., Gunner C. Hay, 19, of Terre Haute, was lodged at the jail on charge of operating while intoxicated. • At 11:05 a.m., Daniel R. Hagan, 39, of Indianapolis, was booked into the jail on writ of body attachment...

The Greencastle Civic League is hosting A Night of Art at The Elms on Friday, Oct. 27. The 5:30 p.m. wine and canvas event will serve as a fundraiser for the nonprofit and support upcoming beautification projects in Greencastle. The event will begin with a tour of the artwork on display at The Elms from the DePauw University Permanent Art Collection with Alexandra Chamberlain, assistant curator of the Peeler Art Center...

BAINBRIDGE -- After approving the purchase of more than 1,400 Google Chromebooks in April, the North Putnam school board received confirmation on last week that the devices have arrived. With a timetable to put the personal computers into the hands of students by Christmas 2019, Superintendent Dan Noel and the seven-member board heard an update from Five-Star Technologies consultant Brad Fischer and North Putnam Middle School Principal Scott Miller, the latter of whom has spearheaded this technology initiative alongside fellow principals Jason Chew, Rodney Simpson and Beth Waterman.. ...

The City of Greencastle is gaining a utilities superintendent and losing a city planner. After more than a year and a half, the city has settled on a replacement for Rob Lovell as utilities superintendent, elevating Oscar King Jr. to that role, Mayor Bill Dory has announced...

CLOVERDALE -- Seventy-five pounds of marijuana, with an estimated street value of more than $300,000, was confiscated Wednesday after a traffic stop on Interstate 70 in southwestern Putnam County, Indiana State Police at Putnamville reported. At approximately 10:39 a.m. Wednesday, an Indiana State Police trooper from the Putnamville Post, stopped a 2017 Toyota Avalon for speeding on eastbound I-70 near the 35-mile marker, six miles west of Cloverdale...

Calmly leaving behind the virtual sure thing of victory in the ultra-Republican 44th Statehouse District, Jim Baird Thursday opted instead for a run at the GOP nomination in Indiana's 4th Congressional District. Last fall Baird easily won a fourth term representing west-central Indiana in the Statehouse -- and more than likely could have named the number of terms he wanted to serve before calling it quits in the General Assembly -- but instead announced he was tackling the bigger challenge of trying to succeed Todd Rokita in serving the 16-county 4th District in the U.S. ...