The Washington County 4H Fair will be held at the Washington County Fairgrounds July 5-10 if Indiana’s truly “Back on Track” with Stage 5 by then, according to Megan Broughton, Extension Educator with the Washington County Extension Office. 

On Friday, May 15th, Purdue Extension announced that they would be allowing in-person events starting July 4th, based on the Governor’s Back on Track Plan.

In order for these events to occur, an extensive list of guidelines must be met, said Broughton in a press release this afternoon.

Broughton will be giving more details Friday morning on WSLM’s Coffee Club program, which airs Monday-Friday at 8a on WSLM 1220 AM and WSLM 97.9 FM. 

Washington County 4-H Livestock Superintendents and 4-H Council met to discuss these guidelines and whether or not an in-person fair for Washington County is feasible.

They decided to go ahead with the planning of an in-person 4-H only fair for July 5-10, 2020.

This will be a smaller than usual fair for the 4-H youth to exhibit their projects and animals.

Many restrictions and guidelines have been put in place that will be enforced during the 4-H Fair, Broughton said. 

Some of the guidelines are as follows:
 Employees and volunteers will be health screened daily. 
 Employees, volunteers, and youth will wear face masks while on the fairgrounds. 
 Everyone will be expected to observe a 6-foot social distance to anyone that is not in their household. 
 High-traffic areas will be cleaned and sanitized multiple times daily. 
 Everyone coming onto the fairgrounds will be tracked in case tracing is necessary. 
 Static projects will be judged in a closed setting. 
 Animals will not be on the fairgrounds overnight. 
 All shows will be live-streamed so that those at home can watch friends and family members. 
 All 4-H members will have the option to participate virtually

If at any time the Washington County 4-H Council deems it necessary, a totally virtual fair will replace the in-person fair.

This is also based on Indiana and Washington County being in Stage 5 of the Governor’s plan.

If Indiana does not reach Stage 5 by July 5th, the fair will be in a virtual format.

For further information, call Purdue Extension – Washington County at 812-8834601 or email mcbrough@purdue.edu.

The Salem Community School Board of Trustees has been given $7.4 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to build safe rooms at Salem High School and Salem Middle School – making it not only the only school in Indiana to receive this funding this year but the only school in Indiana to have safe rooms at all of its school buildings. 

However, as Architect John Hawkins explained to the board this evening, the board has yet to accept the money.

He said if they don’t take the money, it goes back to the federal government. 

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.

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

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

The board met in a 90-minute executive session followed by a 60-minute special public session. 

Board president Rodney Brough said more special meetings might be scheduled over the summer as needed. 

The meeting was open to the public and also streamed live on WSLM’s social media page and a live feed from the school. 

New Superintendent Jon Acton said there’s already been a victory just to get the award.

“This is for the community,” said Acton. “These rooms have the capacity not just to protect our children but to protect the residents of Salem.”

The Bradie M. Shrum safe room became the first of its kind in Indiana for a school district when it was applied for in 2013 and constructed and then opened in 2017. 

The safe room has hurricane-proof windows, thick walls and is able to handle an EF-5 tornado (as well as a missile strike) while still appearing to be a traditional classroom.

It’s able to withstand storms that traditional schools and buildings aren’t built for, despite being up to code.

“When we received the grant for the first safe room, we felt it should go to the elementary school because it was the building with the most students – but had always hoped we could add additional spaces in the future,” said board member Rebecca White. 

She said FEMA notified the school last summer they were among eight other entities that would receive over $17 million in grants.

“This is an incredible situation to be in where you have already received the first safe room in the whole state of Indiana,” said White. “Now you have been selected as the only school in the 2019-20 round of grants and we could potentially become the only school in Indiana to have them at all of our schools. When I was elected to the school board, my number one goal was to make sure our students received a quality education and were safe. These rooms would not only protect our students but their families as well.”

Hawkins said the rooms would be designed to meet FEMA standards but could be used for other things during the remainder of the day. 

The high school safe room was based on previous plans for a high school band and choir room. 

Those plans were abandoned by the board over a year ago. 

The middle school safe room would be designed as a multi-purpose room that could be used for additional events that the current auditorium cannot be used for. 

Hawkins said they initially designed it to include a small kitchen and restrooms and those could be open for sporting events, as well as other afterschool uses. 

Board member Ron Haendiges questioned why other schools do not receive these grants and Hawkins said they are not well known and they take a tremendous amount of time to complete.

Hawkins said he has spent hundreds of hours compiling the information to submit to FEMA, utilizing not only information from the school but from the city and county and from River Hills Economic Development District and from architect Larry Timperman. 

Haendiges also questioned Hawkins on when the absolute deadline would be for the board to accept the money without losing it. 

Hawkins said the project was estimated to be completed by May 2021 and the board would need to approve the project at the June board meeting. 

“We would be able to meet the timeline with approval at the June meeting, after June it would be getting iffy and past the July meeting, there’s no way,” said Hawkins. 

The board asked if there was any variation in the plans or if they were final.

“We gave them conceptual designs,” said Hawkins. “We have to meet with all the stakeholders and do a more thorough design. There will be some changes. You could probably change the location — if you decide that you can move the tennis courts in the future, we could put this down closer to Harrison Street. But you wouldn’t be able to move it to the other side of the high school.” 

Hawkins said the only restriction on the use of the building was that it had to be open to the public during a time of emergency.

Hawkins said the two buildings would be able to hold about 1200 people in each (he said about 5 square feet per person)  and would be open to anyone who lived within a five-minute radius of the schools. 

“The building code actually allows you to cram a higher capacity in there,” said Hawkins, because the number of people isn’t expected to be there for extended periods of time. 

White, who is also a member of the Washington County Emergency Management Agency, said when severe weather season began in mid-March, the Bradie Shrum safe room had been prepared to be utilized as a shelter in case of inclement weather. 

“Because the Washington County Detention Center has been closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that was being used as an emergency shelter during tornado warnings, the board approved using the safe room as the new tornado shelter. We had everything planned out – including being able to take temperatures of everyone who came in, following the CDC guidelines, etc all which was a very involved process for the local EMA.”

Haendiges said there was a tremendous amount of uncertainty regarding the coming school year and the economy. 

“I’m trying to get past this – does it make sense to [do this] if we have a potential decline in student population, does it make sense to add on additional fixed expenses,” Haendiges reasoned. 

LOCAL FUNDING

Tyler Lovenholtz of bakertilly, municipal advisors, let the board know that their current debts would be completely paid off in 2025, in five years. 

A bond for the safe room could be paid off by 2028 if it was initiated in 2021. 

This would require the school to generate an additional $235,831 with an increase in property tax of .00514.

A homeowner with a $100,000 home with an assessed valuation of $36,975 would have an increase of $1.58 per month or $19.01 for the year. 

One acre of agriculture land would see a five-cent increase per month or 66 cents per year. 

A 100-acre farm would have an additional $5.48 increase per month or $65.79 per year. 

A commercial or rental property valued at $100,000 would see a $4.28 per month increase or $51.40 per year. 

“The total annual payments don’t start to decline until 2024, any additional debt you issue will create an increase in your debt-service tax rate,” he said. 

Lovenholtz said they could structure the debt to have minimal impact over the first three years (2021-2023) and start making larger payments as the debt matures. 

He said the school had the ability to issue a $381,000 bond this year and a possible $5.3 million bond for the safe room project to be issued early 2021.

It would be paid back in seven annual payments, according to Lovenholtz.

The first three years would be reduced payments of interest only, with the principal starting to be paid in 2025. 

“You would see a drop in overall annual payments in 2025 and they would be paid off by 2028,” Lovenholtz said. 

He said the school had the option to lengthen the term of the bonds to make the last few years’ payments lower. 

Those with tax caps in the City of Salem would not see any increase. 

If the assessed values were raised, then there would be an increase in those property taxes. 

“They could see an impact based on that,” Lovenholtz said. 

Board member Mark Abbott said, “The residents of the city were just reassessed and those increased significantly due to projects done throughout the county – the jail project and the courthouse renovations. My concern, with those assessments going up and those taxes capped, do you think those assessments would go up again if a project of this magnitude was added to the current tax rate?”

“Well, as far as the caps and the circuit breaker protections, that really is a per-parcel assessment,” Lovenholtz said. “We haven’t done that here but we’d be willing to have a third party run some numbers and projections and we can see how that would impact the taxpayers in general.”

Lovenholtz said the interest rate would be one percent above the current interest rate at the time of issuance. 

“These are based on current rates plus one percent,” said Lovenholtz. “We would be looking at about 2.61 percent and for the larger project, we would be looking at 2.41 percent based on current rates.” 

There would need to be several school board meetings and hearings before the project is completed, all with public input. 

However, there would not be a referendum on the project if the total local match was kept below $5,350,000. 

CHANGES IN ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS

The board approved changes in administrative positions at the beginning of their special meeting. 

Jerry Hickey, who was moved last school year to the principal position of Bradie M. Shrum, has been returned to assistant principal at the high school. 

Kevin Albertson, who had been an assistant principal at the high school is being moved to principal at the middle school. 

Brent Miller will serve as assistant principal of the middle school. 

Jen Lawyer, who is currently the middle school principal, is being moved to the position of principal of the elementary school. 

Clinton Blankenbaker will be moved from the middle school to be an assistant principal at the elementary school. 

Nicole Coldwell will be an assistant principal at the elementary school.

Troy Albert will remain as principal at the high school.

Acton said the positions would change effective July 1. 

Brent Minton, former principal at the elementary school, will remain in an administrative role at the superintendent’s office. 

Over the past 19 years, Safe Night has been held on the second Saturday of June but due to COVID-19, the event has been rescheduled for September 12th.

The 20th anniversary of the event will take place at
the Lawrence County Fairgrounds from 6-10 PM.

Safe Night is a substance abuse prevention event that is a fun night for families and community members of all ages! This year’s event will include long-time favorites such as airbrush face
painting, t-shirt tie-dying, inflatable games and obstacle courses, fireworks, hot dogs and chips, ice cream, snow cones, popcorn, and much, much more. 

As always, admission, food, treats, and all activities are completely free.  This year will feature a teen area once again that will include life-size Jenga, teen inflatables, and corn-hole games. 

Hoosier Uplands thanks their sponsors: Lawrence County LCC, Lawrence County Fair Board, Wal-Mart, Celebrations of Southern Indiana, Bedford Federal Savings Bank, Johnny’s Signs Inc., Dawn Newby-AFLAC, Bedford Recycling, UAW Local #440, Duke Energy, Hoosier Uplands, Jones Oil, IU Health-Bedford and  WBIW/WQRK/WPHZ.

This event is entirely supported by community donations!

For those interested in having a booth at Safe Night or want to be involved in or support the event, contact the Safe Night Coordinator: Jessica Cox at jcox2@hoosieruplands.org. Booth
space at the event is completely free!

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Greater Mitchell Chamber of Commerce has canceled their Annual Chamber Dinner originally scheduled for April 2, 2020, after great deliberation. 

Protecting the health, safety, and well-being of their members, attendees, and ultimately the community is paramount and serves as the reason for the chamber’s decision to cancel the Annual Chamber Dinner Meeting for 2020.   

“Put simply, canceling the dinner is the right thing to do during this historic time,” wrote the Greater Mitchell Chamber Board of Directors in a news release. “We also have a professional responsibility to model social distancing and not contribute to the spread of the virus through a large public gathering.”

Next year’s Annual Chamber Dinner is scheduled for April 1, 2021 at Spring Mill Inn, Lakeview Room with social hour beginning at 6 p.m. and welcoming comments and dinner served at 6:30 p.m.

The Guest Speaker for the event will be Gary Varvel.  

To those who made a reservation and paid for dinner tickets in 2020, your reservation/payment will be good for 2021 dinner.   

Reminders will be sent closer to the 2021 dinner date. 

You may request to cancel your reservation for a full refund by contacting the Chamber office: mitchellchamber@frontier.com or call 812-849-4441 and leave a message, your call will be returned. 

A former congressman will challenge Attorney General Curtis Hill for the Republican nomination at Indiana’s June Republican State Convention.

Todd Rokita announced Wednesday that he is entering the race for Indiana’s attorney general.

“Running against a Republican officeholder is not something I ever would want to do, in just about any circumstance. But our incumbent is wounded. The unanimous Supreme Court ruling, by Republican-appointed and conservative Justices, comes after a significant investigation of the facts made this choice clear.”

The former fourth district congressman and Indiana secretary of state had previously sought the Republican nomination for Indiana’s U.S. Senate seat in 2018, losing to Sen. Mike Braun.

Indiana Democratic Party Executive Director Lauren Ganapini issued the following statement after former Congressman Todd Rokita entered the race to be the Republican nominee for Attorney General.

“Counting on perennial candidate Todd Rokita to buoy the AG’s race is like counting on gasoline to put out a house fire. Todd Rokita’s eleventh-hour entrance is poised to implode what was already an embarrassing effort from Indiana Republicans. Todd Rokita will all but ensure the GOP AG’s race devolves into a bare-knuckled brawl. Indiana Republicans’ meltdown continues to make the Attorney General’s race a prime pick-up opportunity for Hoosier Democrats.”

The Indiana Supreme Court announced a decision Monday to decline Gov. Eric Holcomb’s request to tell him whether state Attorney General Curtis Hill will lose his office following his law license suspension for groping a state legislator and three other women.

Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office asked the court for the ruling a day after it released a decision suspending Hill’s law license for 30 days effective May 18.

State law requires the attorney general to be “duly licensed to practice law in Indiana,” but it doesn’t specify whether the person can continue serving under a temporary suspension.

The court Monday said it would be “inappropriate” to intervene in this case.

“These issues were not litigated by the parties and are extraneous to our disciplinary opinion, making intervention inappropriate,” the order reads in part. “Moreover, courts generally should not issue advisory opinions…or decide issues if there is no case or controversy before them.”

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has released guidance for its 51 member state high school associations to consider in re-opening high school athletics and other activity programs across the nation.

The guidance document was developed by the NFHS Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC), a 15-member advisory committee composed of medical doctors, certified athletic trainers, high school coaches, and officials, research specialists and state high school association executives that regularly develops position statements related to medical aspects of conducting high school athletics.

In sharing this guidance document with state high school associations leaders on Monday, Michael Koester, M.D., chair of the NFHS SMAC, stressed that the guidance developed by the committee is intended as ideas for state associations to consider with their respective sports medicine committees and state health departments in designing return-to-activity plans that will be in accordance with state or local restrictions.

Similar to the manner in which different parts of the country have re-opened ahead of others due to containment levels of the virus, the guidance document was developed with the realization that there likely will be variation in what sports and activities are allowed to be played and held from one part of the country to another.

Along those same lines, the NFHS guidance document describes a staged approach to re-opening high school sports and other activities, similar to the phases of “opening up” outlined by the White House last month.

The committee suggests that state high school associations consult with their state and local health departments for determining the appropriate dates for implementing a phased-in approach within their respective states.

“We are greatly indebted to the NFHS Sports Medicine Advisory Committee for its work in formulating this guidance for re-opening high school athletics and activities,” said Dr. Karissa Niehoff, NFHS executive director.

“It is important to be clear that this is guidance for individual states to consider as they return to activities this fall. States will utilize the guidance in this document as it best fits their state after consulting with local and state health departments.”

The guidance developed for state associations suggests a possible sports breakdown for higher risk, moderate risk, and lower risk, with the basis for the breakdown tied to the potential exposure to respiratory droplets.

As an example, the interaction of participants in higher-risk sports such as football and wrestling present more of a concern for transmission of the virus than lower-risk sports like individual running events and golf.

“We believe this guidance document will be a tremendous resource for our member state associations as they determine the timetables for re-opening sports and activities,” Niehoff said.

“The NFHS Sports Medicine Advisory Committee utilized recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as some return-to-play considerations by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), in formulating this guidance document for re-opening athletics and other activities in our nation’s schools.” 

The NFHS guidance document also addresses a possible progression for returning to activities, hygiene practices, transportation to and from events, social-distancing suggestions during contests, and a tiered approach to who should be allowed to attend events.

The “Guidance for Opening Up High School Athletics and Activities” document can be accessed here – 2020-nfhs-guidance-for-opening-up-high-school-athletics-and-activities-nfhs-smac-may-15_2020-final

Garage sales are allowed to continue amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the Indiana State Department of Health has new guidelines in place to help ensure the safety of those both hosting and attending garage sales.

Under Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb’s “Back on Track” plan, garage sales are classified as retail locations.

Per the terms of the plan, which is in stage two, gatherings of a maximum of twenty-five people are allowed.

Those hosting yard and garage sales are asked to wipe down and sanitize products.

People attending garage sales are asked to practice social distancing and it is recommended for everyone to wear a mask. Indiana Health Commissioner, Dr. Kristina Box, said that those who are hosting garage sales should do their part to keep their shopping areas clean.

Those having yard and garage sales in the WSLM listening area may advertise them for free on the daily program, Swap Shop. 

The program airs between 1-2p Monday thru Friday on WSLM 97.9 FM and WSLM 1220 AM.

Callers should give their name, phone number, and mention a sponsor (they are announced frequently during the program). The program is live and no personal comments can be made (per the FCC) and only sponsors of the show can be mentioned. 

There is a limit of 5 items each day and callers can call in each day of the week. Handguns and real estate listed with a realtor may not be advertised. 

The studio line is 812.883.3401.

For more information regarding phase two of the retail section of the “Back on Track” plan, click here.