Heathe L. Barnes, age 23, was arrested Wednesday, November 9th, 2016, by authorities with the Indiana State Police and the Scott County Sheriff’s Office.

Prior to the arrest of Barnes, authorities with the Indiana State Police and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office had conducted an investigation which resulted in an arrest warrant being issued for Barnes for two level 1 felony counts of child molesting and one level 4 felony count of child molesting.

On Wednesday, November 9th, 2016, Detectives from the Indiana State Police and the Scott County Sheriff’s Office followed up on an anonymous tip received through the Scott County Sheriff’s Office Website regarding the possible location of Barnes. The tip led authorities to 2638 N. Jeffery Street in Scottsburg, Indiana.

Upon investigating, authorities learned that it was likely Barnes was hiding inside of the residence. After learning this, additional officers from the Scott County Sheriff’s Office and the Indiana State Police were called to the scene to assist.

Barnes was located hiding in the attic of the residence and was talked down by authorities without further incident. Barnes was taken into custody and transported to the Scott County Jail.

Sheriff Dan McClain would like to remind and encourage the citizens of Scott County to report any suspicious activity, including drug activity and the suspected locations of individuals with arrest warrants, to the Scott County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff McClain reminds the citizens that the Sheriff’s Office maintains several options for reporting criminal activity anonymously including the department’s website, facebook page, and a tip line. The links to these options are listed below.

The Indiana Department of Transportation plans to close State Road 335 in southern Washington County this Thursday (NOVEMBER 11) beginning at 8:30 a.m.   

INDOT maintenance crews from the Salem Unit will replace several drainage pipes—weather permitting—between Dutch Creek Road and Bush Road where the pipes cross under S.R. 335 at a location just north of Martinsburg.  

Three 49-inch X 33-inch pipes measuring 40 feet in length will be installed to satisfy drainage requirements.   

Operations should be completed by Thursday evening.  Motorists are advised to consider U.S. Highway 150, S.R. 135 and S.R. 60 as alternate routes.

Motorists can learn about highway work zones and other traffic alerts at indot.carsprogram.org, 1-800-261-ROAD (7623) or 511 from a mobile phone. For highway information, monitor social media sites: www.Facebook.com/INDOTSoutheast and Twitter @INDOTSoutheast.  Subscribe to receive text and email alerts at https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/INDOT/subscriber/new. 

County residents are reminded fall property taxes are due today.

Hours for today will be from 8:00 A.M. TIL 5:00 P.M.

CURRENT TAX PAYMENTS CAN BE MADE AT FIRST HARRSON BANK OR LEFT IN THE TREASURER’S DROP BOX LOCATED AT THE SOUTHSIDE COURTHOUSE WINDOW.

For additional information, contact County Treasurer Robert Woodward at 812-883-3307

Salem High School FFA and NHS will be hosting the 6th annual Randy Johnson Memorial Soup Dinner on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 prior to and during the Salem vs. West Washington boys’ basketball game.

The supper will begin at 5:30 pm and end at approximately 7:30 pm.

This is a free-will donation event for all you can eat soup and dessert event.

There will also be a 50/50 raffle; all money raised throughout the night will be donated to the Randy Johnson Memorial Scholarship fund. 

Randy Johnson was instrumental in the development of facilities and programs here at Salem Community Schools while serving as the SHS athletic director for over 11 years.

“We hope to continue to remember the legacy Mr. Johnson left behind for our school corporation through a scholarship in his memory,” said Ag Teacher Seth Purlee.  “Thanks to the generous donations of patrons the last five years, this soup dinner benefit has raised over $7770 for the Randy Johnson Memorial Scholarship fund.”

For the last two years, the Washington County Community Foundation and Lilly Endowment Fund donated 50 cents for every dollar raised at the dinner which has added around $1470.

This raised the total amount donation amount to over $9240.

If you have any questions or would like to make a donation to this fund and can’t attend the soup dinner, please contact Seth or Nicole Purlee. spurlee@salemschools.com or npurlee@salemschools.com  

Please come and join Salem FFA and NHS in remembering Mr. Johnson by helping to raise money for the scholarship fund in his memory.Thank you for your support, and we hope to see you at the soup dinner!

Here is a photo of the north block of South Main Street in Salem, circa 1914.  

Washington County Historian Jeremy Elliott notes, “Notice what is now Bud’s Jewelry is a burned out old restaurant.  The old Henry Streaker – Fine Boots and Shoes advertisement is still visible in today’s photo!”

Elliott said the building was constructed in 1859 and here, Henry opened his shoe shop. 

The building is still known as the Streaker Building.  There is an upcoming story over Henry Streaker in the next edition of the Historian, which is for members of the Washington County Historical Society.

Join today so you can be sure to get it!