Early this morning, the driver of a black 2018 Nissan passenger car that collided with a train in southern Jackson County, Indiana yesterday passed away as a result of injuries he sustained in the collision.

Dawson A. Vest, age 21, Austin, Indiana was driving the car that entered a railroad crossing in the path of a CSX train on County Road 775 South just west of US 31 near the Jackson/Scott County Line at approximately 6:30 pm yesterday. 

The collision with the train caused Vest’s car to overturn, ejecting him from the vehicle. 

Vest was airlifted from the scene to a Louisville, Kentucky hospital. 

Shortly after 1:00 am this morning, Vest passed away as a result of injuries he sustained in the crash.

He was pronounced deceased by the Jefferson County, Kentucky Coroner’s Office.

Vest’s family has been notified.

The investigation is ongoing.

The Washington County Health Department currently has a limited number of Pfizer vaccines for children, which have now been approved for children 12 and older. 

This will be first come, first served until we are out of vaccine.

Please register your child at ourshot.in.gov.

Scheduling will open up on Thursday, May 13th at 8am.

According to health nurse Alician Thompson, the clinic for teens is dependent upon receiving the vaccine. 

“We haven’t gotten the vaccine yet so everything is pending on receipt of the vaccine,” said Thompson. “As long as we receive it we will do our best to get all 60 doses out to children. If it is something that the community seems to want, we will attempt to order more doses and continue to keep vaccinating until our clinic closes on July 2.”

All minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian when receiving their vaccine. All individuals are required to wait 15 minutes after receiving their vaccine.

There must be 14 days prior and 14 days post receiving the Covid 19 vaccine and any other vaccines.

Please keep this in mind when scheduling your child for their 6th grade, 12th grade, and college vaccines and/or if your child is behind on their vaccines.

The FDA has approved an Emergency Use Authorization for children aged 12 and older to now receive their Covid vaccine with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Pfizer’s Covid vaccine is currently approved for children aged 12 and older. It is a 2-dose series, and the second dose is due 21 days (or more) after the initial dose.

This vaccine is contraindicated for anyone with an allergy to polyethylene glycol or polysorbate, any ingredient of this vaccine, or has ever had an anaphylactic reaction to a previous dose of this vaccine.

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine includes the following ingredients: mRNA, lipids ((4-hydroxybutyl)azanediyl)bis(hexane-6,1-diyl)bis(2-hexyldecanoate), 2 [(polyethylene glycol)- 2000]-N,N-ditetradecylacetamide, 1,2-Distearoyl-sn-glycero-3- phosphocholine, and cholesterol), potassium chloride, monobasic potassium phosphate, sodium chloride, dibasic sodium phosphate dihydrate, and sucrose.

More details can be found at www.cvdvaccine.com/

An Austin man is in the hospital with life-threatening injuries after his vehicle was struck by a CSX train Monday evening. 

Dawson A. Vest, age 21, Austin, Indiana was traveling westbound on County Road 775 South, just west of US 31 when his car entered the railroad crossing in the path of a northbound CSX train. 

County Road 775 South was closed for approximately three hours for crash cleanup and investigation.  US 31 was briefly closed during the investigation.

The train collided with the driver’s side of the Black 2018 Nissan he was driving.

After the collision, the car rolled, ejecting Vest from the vehicle. 

The Indiana State Police began investigating a car versus train collision that occurred near the Jackson/Scott County Line that resulted in the driver of the car being airlifted to a Louisville hospital.

Vest sustained life-threatening injuries in the crash.  He was airlifted from the scene to a Louisville, KY hospital.

The crossing included railroad crossing signs as well as stop signs for traffic on County Road 775 South. 

The Indiana State Police was assisted by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, Crothersville Police Department, Jackson County EMS, Scott County EMS, PHI Medical Helicopter, Westside Towing, CSX Railroad, and Louisville & Indiana Railroad.

Coming in over $120,000 underbid, Koetter Construction was awarded the bid to build Salem Community Schools two safe room projects – almost $1 million under the high bidder. 

Construction will begin this summer at Salem Middle School and Salem High School – making this not only the first school corporation in Indiana with three safe rooms, but the first in the United States. 

A groundbreaking ceremony will take place sometime in June. 

Bids were also received from Hagerman for $9,728,000 and $9,990,800 from AML. 

Koetter’s base bid was $8,900,000 plus nearly $500,000 in alternate bids for 8 additional items. 

No bids were received for an alternate generator option. 

The school corporation received a $7.4 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for the project. 

The money amounts to a 75 percent match of federal dollars to build two safe rooms with a total size of just under 20,000 square feet.

The board would have to issue a bond to generate the remaining 25 percent – which totals $2,609,994.06 as a local match for an 11,072 square foot addition to the high school.

This project will house the band and choir groups, as well as provide for other activities. 

The 7,100 square foot addition to the middle school would require a local match of $2,403.587.88. 

This project will include a STEAM center, which will be unique among many schools in Indiana. 

The project could cost the average homeowner less than $20 a year for seven years and a farmer with 100 acres of agricultural land approximately $65.79 per year.

On the evening of Friday, April 30, 2021, Dubois County Community Corrections contacted the Martin County Sheriff’s Department for assistance at 13499 Mt. Calvary Road.

While doing a home check on Timothy L. Guy, age 73, of rural Loogootee, who was on home detention for a previous possession of child pornography conviction, the community corrections officers had located more child pornography.

Chief Deputy Josh Greene arrived on the scene and quickly realized that Guy was in possession of an extensive amount of suspected child pornography.

Chief Deputy Greene requested the assistance of the Indiana State Police. ISP Detective Jarrod Lents, CSI Sgt. Mark Green, Trooper Steve Nolan, and Indiana Conservation Officer Tony Mann arrived on the scene.

During the course of several hours, numerous printed child porn photos were located, as were a large number of electronic storage devices suspected of containing child pornography images. Timothy Guy was arrested and transported to the Martin County Jail.

Troopers and Sheriff’s officers located over 800 DVDS, at least 80 thumb drives, hard drives, and other electronic devices that are suspected of containing child pornography.

During an interview with Guy, he admitted that he possessed possibly a quarter-million images of child pornography on these devices. Guy also admitted to possession of ammunition that he had stolen from Crane naval base during his previous employment as an ammunition and explosive handler.

Guy was also found to be in possession of numerous pieces of ivory, some of which were suspected by the DNR to be illegal to possess.

On 5/5/2021, Troopers and ICOs, along with NCIS and EOD personnel from Crane Naval base, served a search warrant on Guy’s property. A large amount of suspected stolen government ammunition was seized, as were more pieces of ivory and electronic storage devices.

Timothy Guy is currently being charged with three counts of level 5 felony Possession of Child Pornography.

More charges are possible as the case is still under investigation.