April is Child Abuse Prevention month

County Commissioners Kristina Warren, Gene Beck and Jim Baird, along with Greencastle Mayor Sue Murray, signed a proclamation declaring April 2010 as Child Abuse Prevention Month in Putnam County. Looking on are Director of Family Support Service Cari Cox, Judge Matthew Headley, United Way Director David English, Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter, Putnam County Sheriff Steve Fenwick, Shelley Chadd with DCS, Greencastle Police Chief Tom Sutherlin, Elizabeth Butts with Family Support Services and Judge Denny Bridges.

GREENCASTLE -- Putnam County Commissioners and Greencastle Mayor Sue Murray signed a proclamation at Monday night's meeting declaring the month of April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.

By doing so, they have called upon all citizens, community agencies, religious organizations, medical facilities and businesses to increase their participation in the county's efforts to prevent child abuse by strengthening the community.

The proclamation states that all citizens have a moral obligation to ensure the well being of children and that the effects of child abuse are felt by the whole community and need to be addressed as such.

It also states "effective child abuse prevention programs succeed because of partnerships created among social service agencies, schools, religious and civic organizations, families, law enforcement and the business community."

Those mentioned as participants in the proclamation include the county and city, Putnam County Family Support Services, Putnam County Youth Development Commission-C.A.S.A, Department of Child Services, Mental Health America, Community Partners for Child Safety, United Way of Putnam County, Head Start and Johnson Nichols Health Clinic.

A number of events are scheduled to take place during April and include placing pinwheels on the courthouse lawn and a candlelight vigil at Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church.

Commissioners also agreed to a request from Greencastle Christian Church Minister Mark Miller for a National Day of Prayer event to be held inside the Putnam County Courthouse at 7 p.m. on May 6.

Miller told commissioners a group of ministers got together and determined having a community event where everyone could take some time to pray for people and issues would be a good thing.

"We don't have any idea how many people to expect, but we will keep it to about an hour with myself and several other ministers praying and some songs at the end," said Miller.

Commissioners agreed to let the group use the ground floor of the courthouse for the event celebrating the National Day of Prayer.

A discussion concerning the payment of the county's ambulance service out of the hazardous waste fun took place at the meeting.

A 2008 audit by the State Board of Accounts objected to the service being paid out of this fund.

All three commissioners stated they did not see it being an issue since the amount is less than 3 percent of the fund and is allowable.

Commissioner Kristina Warren agreed to contact the State and see if the audit is still in dispute. If so, the county's attorneys will have to be involved.

The county pays the sum of $6,700 a month to Putnam County Operation Life for services.

"We know we have to pay them one way or the other," said Commissioner Gene Beck.

Another issue came up over paying for the county Web site. Funds were originally raised to sponsor the site, with a small amount coming out of the county's war chest.

The account only has $26 left, and a bill for the annual fee of $120 is due. An issue over how departments were being billed by H.O.P., which set up the site for contractors Johnson and Johnson, was also discussed.

Commissioners tabled the bill until more research into the billing breakouts could be obtained.

Highway Department supervisor Jim Smith informed the board that any entities that wished to purchase Durapatch for road repairs could buy it from the County Highway Department.