City to close Durham Street, restrict parking for Carrico funeral

Pat Carrico

With a overwhelming response and a long procession expected to accompany the funeral of Greencastle firefighter Pat Carrico, the City of Greencastle has announced a street closure and some parking restrictions on Friday morning.

Every fire department in Putnam County and some other nearby departments are expected to take part in the procession.

With this in mind, the city will close Durham Street between Washington and Franklin streets for staging fire apparatus.

Overflow parking for this equipment will prompt the temporary placement of "no parking" signs on the north (westbound) side of Washington Street between Durham and Arlington streets. These will be placed on either Thursday evening or Friday morning.

The funeral procession will begin at Bittles and Hurt Funeral Home, 602 E. Washington St., traveling west on Washington to Indiana Street.

To ensure room for the fire trucks to turn southbound onto Indiana Street, there will also be no parking on either side of Indiana Street between Washington and the alley on the block.

From Indiana, the procession will proceed east on Hanna Street. From Hanna, the procession will travel south on Bloomington Street, then westbound on Veterans Memorial Highway, then south on Cemetery Road to Forest Hill Cemetery for burial.

Greencastle Police Chief Tom Sutherlin requested patience from motorists during the procession, which will likely occur between 11 and 11:30 a.m.

"This is going to be a long procession," Sutherlin said. "We need to ask our community, in laying a hero like this to rest, to please be patient. It could be a slow process on Washington St."

Forest Hill Superintendent Ernie Phillips is confident that all fire apparatus will fit in the cemetery, so a closure of cemetery road is unlikely.

Sutherlin expressed his appreciation for the Putnam County Sheriff's Department and an Indiana State Trooper, who are planning to assist GPD with traffic control.

Besides addressing possible traffic delays, Sutherlin asked for public support of a longtime servant along the procession route.

"It would also be nice to see our community come out and line the street to support this family and the firefighter as we lay him to rest," Sutherlin said.

Funeral services will take place at 10 a.m. at Bittles & Hurt with Chaplain Donnie Watson officiating. Elks Lodge walk through will immediately precede the service.

The family will receive friends on Thursday from 2-8 p.m. at the funeral home.