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Jim Baugh Bridge again fails to gain traction in General Assembly
There is no doubt that the memory of Capt. Jim Baugh lives on 18 years after his death.
Widow Lauralee Baugh sees it every time she looks at their two sons and one granddaughter.
“Jason looks like him, Jerrod acts like him and Gayle has his kind heart,” Lauralee says lovingly.
But as for a more public memorial for the one-time sheriff who died in the line of duty on the icy morning of Jan. 2, 2004? The family is still waiting.
They’ll be waiting at least another year, based on recent inaction at the Indiana Statehouse.
For several years now, the Baughs have been petitioning state lawmakers to name the U.S. 231 bridge over Big Walnut Creek as the Capt. Jim Baugh Memorial Bridge.
It seems a fitting tribute, as the bridge was the place where Baugh passed away in a car crash while en route to another accident north of Greencastle.
Lauralee has been championing the effort with the Indiana General Assembly for several years, but will have to wait at least another year.
This news came recently after she had reached out to Sen. John Crane and Rep. Beau Baird about supporting a resolution in the 2022 General Assembly.
Following a generally positive response from Crane’s staff, Baugh received a less pleasing answer from Baird’s legislative assistant.
“The interns started last week so it has been very busy for everyone. Due to the short session and many deadlines, Representative Baird is unable to honor your request this year,” the staffer wrote. “He understands the importance of this resolution but will need more time. He will be in contact with you in the summer so that we can get the ball rolling on this resolution for 2023 and get ahead of the game.”
Baugh’s frustration, though, was that she believed the ball was already rolling for 2022 following a conversation between daughter-in-law Tara Baugh and Rep. Baird.
“Tara talked to Beau this past summer and he said, ‘I’ll take care of it,’” Baugh said. “Talking to him in the summer isn’t encouraging to me because my family already did that last summer.”
Though not going on the record for an interview with the Banner Graphic, Baird did say his recollection of the conversation was different.
The sticking point this year seems to be who can introduce such a resolution. After it was initially sponsored by former State Rep. Jim Baird (now a U.S. congressman) in its first year, it has since been sponsored by former Rep. Karlee Macer of Indianapolis and Rep. Tonya Pfaff of Terre Haute.
It was with Pfaff’s sponsorship, to which Baird’s name was later added, that the resolution passed out of the House of Representatives in 2021. It then died in committee in the State Senate Homeland Security and Transportation Committee Chairman Jon Crider’s assistant telling the Baughs that without the sponsorship of the senator of the district, Crane in this case, the resolution would never pass.
With that, it didn’t matter that senators from the Republican supermajority, including John Ford of Terre Haute, Putnam County native Jerry Torr of Carmel and even Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray of Martinsville (who happens to represent the other half of Putnam County) were in support.
Baugh is exasperated.
“It’s not a law — it’s just a resolution,” she said. “We had everything in line last year, and the assistant for Sen. Crider decided that we didn’t have the right people that had done the resolution.”
All of this was why the Baughs were focusing on working with Crane and Baird in 2022.
Longtime Republicans, the Baughs have picked up a staunch, if unlikely in today’s political climate, ally along the way in Kim Fidler, the Putnam County Democrat party chairman. Fidler’s support is how Macer and Pfaff came to sponsor the resolution in years past.
“They knew I had nearly 30 years working in the legislature and going to nearly every session,” Fidler said. “So even though we are very different parties, they reached out to me.”
For Fidler’s part, it seemed a no-brainer, as such resolutions pass every year with little trouble.
“There’s a vote, it’s unanimous, the gavel bangs and it’s done,” Fidler said. “It’s a very simple process.”
Fidler says she’s disappointed for the county that it has yet to happen.
“It’s just confusing to me that our county can’t get this done,” she said. “I will do whatever I can to get it drafted, submitted and passed, but we hit a roadblock when it isn’t the representatives and senators from this county.”
It’s a fight that has the Baughs weary, particularly when they recall the contributions that Jim Baugh made to the community.
Lauralee remembers her husband getting a call from a Reelsville family on Dec. 31, 2003, just three days before his death, to talk to their teenage son about some bad choices he had been making. It was the last of many such calls Jim Baugh completed with young people in the community.
“That young man came up to me at the visitation and he said to me, ‘I promise you I will amount to something,’” she said. “Every once in a while, I hear from that young man, and he’s doing great.”
Baird made one statement to the Banner Graphic expressing his appreciation for Baugh.
“I have always had the utmost respect for Jim Baugh, specifically for his contributions to our community as a sheriff and also to our country as a Vietnam veteran,” Baird said. “His death was truly a loss for his family, but also for our community.”
However, knowing what a loss it was only makes the continuing lack of a memorial more frustrating to Lauralee.
“We’re just tired of being disappointed every year,” she said. “It’s been 18 years.”
She contrasts this with the death of Terre Haute Police Department Detective Greg Ferency, who died in an ambush last July.
“There was an officer killed on July 7 of this past year. Before Christmas, they had named a street after him,” Baugh said. “It’s very common to rename roads and buildings and streets after people who have passed. I can’t believe there hasn’t been something for Jim.”
Of course, that was a City of Terre Haute matter, not the Indiana General Assembly, which is a much larger body. Baugh expressed her frustration with the difficulty in even reaching representatives and senators directly.
“You can’t get to them, and that’s disgraceful,” she said, later adding, “We’ve done everything they’ve asked us to do. Last year, I even testified. I was there when they voted and every single representative on the committee voted for it.”
This year, it didn’t even make that far. For now, the bridge at the base of Waterworks Hill will spend at least another year with the rather unceremonious moniker “Big Walnut U.S. 231 bridge,” or INNBI 016030 if you want to get technical.
While Lauralee and family wonder sometimes if it’s time to give up, Fidler keeps a brighter outlook in spite of the roadblocks.
“I’m frustrated year after year that we don’t get it done, but we are going to get it done,” Fidler said. “We’re going to keep trying. I do believe it will happen in our lifetime.”