The annual Orleans Fall Fun Fest in the Park will be  Sat., October 8, 2016 in Historic Congress Square (Town Park).

A host of fun fall family type activities and special events are planned for downtown Orleans on this Saturday including the following:

PHOTO EXHIBIT @ Chamber Welcome Center (north side of square)

• *Special Exhibit featuring the works of local photographers Katlin Percifield and Cindy Cornett Seigle. Come see the heart and soul of Indiana’s past and present as seen through the camera lenses of these two talented artists.
• 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. OC HomeGrown Orleans Farmers Market

Congress Square Appreciation Day

• Fresh produce, hand crafted items, Buck a Book, Fall décor, Doodles the Clown Face Painting. (West side of Square)

OC Homegrown 5K run/walk

• Registration begins at 9 a.m. with race starting at 10 a.m. Event begins from Orleans Jr.-Sr. High School

9 a.m. First Ever Pet Photo Scavenger Hunt. 

Sponsored by Kirk Veterinary Service

• Contestants operate as individual groups with their pet and go around town taking
• pictures of themselves (including their pet) with various items.  The groups will meet at Kirk Veterinary (located on the S. Side of Town Square) at 9 am to pick up the information packets and pay the registration fee.  There will be a $2.00 fee for each group to participate.  Groups will have 2 hours to complete their task and return to our office.  We will ask that all pictures be e-mailed to us and we will pick a winner out of the groups.  The prize will be a thermal tote full of goodies for them and their pet.

9:30 a.m. Great Chamber Chili Cook-off @ Town Hall (Community Room)

• (Bring your best chili recipe, 1 quart of hot soup in crock pot)
• Entries accepted from 9:00 to 9:15 a.m. Judging @ 9:30 a.m.

10 a.m.-? Tri Kappa Harvest Corner (Town Park)

• Pecans, Carmel Apples, Cupcakes, Sugar Cookies

Children activities, Decorate your own Pumpkin.

11:00 a.m. Free Lunchtime Concert in the Park-Lick Creek Band (Bicentennial Stage near basketball court)

11:00 a.m.-? Food served (north side of square)

• Orange Co Cattlemen’s Assoc Steak Sandwiches, drinks & more
• OHS Jr. After Prom Parents will be serving up
• Creek Bank Potatoes. (While they last)
• Orleans Municipal Fire Burger Burn (near ball court)
• Hamburgers, hot dogs, drinks
• Indiana Trailblazers 12U Team Fundraiser
• Sloppy Joes, Coneys, Hot Dogs, Chips & Drinks

12 Noon to? Corn Hole Tourney sponsored by

• Orleans Municipal Fire Department (Ball Court)
• Please register by 11:30 a.m. $10 per team
• Arts & Crafts in the Park

Phi Beta Psi Autumn Sweet Table

• Homemade baked goods, hot mulled cider, prize drawings
• Paint in the Park Demonstration
• Mum & Pumpkin Sale by Pat’s Plants @ Bandstand

Here is a different view of the square when former President Benjamin Harrison visited Salem, in 1896, campaigning for presidential elect, William McKinley.

This photo comes from Washington County Historian Jeremy Elliott.

St. Vincent Salem Hospital’s United Way fundraising team will host a Chili Supper on Friday, October 7 from 5 – 7 p.m. in the hospital’s associate parking lot before the last home Salem football game against Corydon Central.

All money raised will go toward Dare to Care Food Bank’s Backpack Buddy program at East Washington Elementary, Bradie Shrum Elementary and West Washington Elementary schools.

Chili, peanut butter sandwiches, toppings, drinks and desserts will be available for a donation.

For more information, contact Melissa Richardson at 812-883- 5881 ext. 1366.

The Indiana State Police Post at Bloomington held its annual inspection and audit of personnel and equipment. Commanders inspected the uniform appearance, cruiser and equipment of all Troopers and Detectives from the Bloomington Post, as well as some officers from outside the district. The inspection/audits are held annually at all 14 Indiana State Police Districts.

During the audit, each officer is personally inspected for proper grooming and uniform appearance. The officer’s firearms are then examined for cleanliness and serviceability. Their police car is next and inspected for cleanliness both inside and out. Finally, all equipment issued to the officer is accounted for and examined. Those items include such things as clothing, shoes, radar, computer, camera, taser, baton, mace and any other miscellaneous equipment issued to the officer.

At the conclusion of the individual Trooper’s inspection, the results of the inspection/audit are noted by the Trooper’s immediate supervisor in the monthly observation guide and later in the employee’s yearly evaluation.

The Indiana State Police Department has a rich history in providing the best law enforcement service possible to the citizens of Indiana. To do this, the department purchases state of the art equipment for each officer and then expects him or her to take the utmost care of all issued equipment.

A warrant was issued out of Jennings County Circuit Court for Kevin Bell, age 39, Dover, Pennsylvania on charges related to a crash that occurred on September 17, 2016 that resulted in the death of Nikki Reed, age 37, Seymour, Indiana.

During the investigation, troopers with the Indiana State Police-Versailles learned that Bell was driving a vehicle that crashed in rural Jennings County near the Ripley County Line, killing Reed who was the front seat passenger.

On Tuesday, September 20, 2016, Bell left the vehicle and was located by a passerby along US 50 in Jennings County with injuries sustained in the crash.

Trooper Rick Hewitt arrived on scene and spoke with Bell.

Bell lied to Trp. Hewitt about how he sustained his injuries and did not initially tell officers that he had been in a crash or that Reed was deceased inside the vehicle.

After determining that Bell had been reported to be a missing person along with Reed, Trp. Hewitt soon located the vehicle and Reed.

During the course of the investigation, it was determined that Bell was driving on a suspended driver’s license at the time of the crash.

Bell was hospitalized in an Indianapolis area hospital for treatment of his injuries after the incident until being released earlier this week.

Earlier this week, the investigation was turned over to the Jennings County Prosecutor’s Office for review.  As a result, a warrant was issued for Bell on charges of:

• Driving While Suspended Causing Death, Level 5 Felony
• Leaving the Scene of a Fatal Crash, Level 5 Felony
• Failure to Report a Dead Body, Class A Misdemeanor
• Driving While Suspended, Class A Misdemeanor
• False Informing, Class B Misdemeanor

Bell has not been re-located or arrested at this time.

An autopsy was completed on Reed last week.  The results preliminarily confirmed that Reed’s fatal injuries were sustained in the initial collision.  No foul play is suspected in her death at this time.

The investigation is ongoing.

One teenager is in jail after making threats on a fake Instagram account against Silver Creek Middle School.

His arrest comes within 12 hours of the original social media postings.

Police say the teen admitted he was behind the threat and did it as a joke.

“I’m coming for you Silver Creek, I can’t wait, I’m tired of your ****,” Sellersburg Police Chief Russ Whelan said of the threat. “It had some pictures of guns and bullets and things of that nature.”The 14-year-old is being held at the juvenile detention center in Clark County.

“He said he thought it’d be funny and it was a joke,” said Whelan. “I’m sure that he doesn’t think it’s funny now. We don’t believe this is connected to other incidents.”

The teen is charged with intimidation and identity theft and deception, for using another student’s name on the post.

Whelan said the suspect used a picture and name of a classmate at Silver Creek Middle School to throw everyone off.

“He actually created a dummy account,” noted Whelan. “He just happened to have …they were friends at one time…so he happened to have photos of the other boy. He decided to create it and thought others will get their kicks out of it.”

Officers worked quickly to track down the actual 14-year-old boy who made the post. “He came clean and said, you know, I did it,” said Whelan.

“Investigators are still doing a few more interviews,” Whelan said. “We want to make sure there are no others involved. We had a little bit of luck and lot of lot of good investigative work from my guys. We get a threat last night at 8p and get an arrest about 12 hours later. Makes me feel good from our side.”

It has been a frightening week, with some JCPS as well as Jeffersonville schools and Salem Community Schools all on heightened alert after threatening clown posts which turned out to be a hoax.

Now that a teen is in jail, police hope it sends a clear message. “You’re gonna go to jail. We’re going to catch you, you’re gonna go to jail, and there’s going to be some severe and harsh punishment to go with this,” said Whelan.

Police do not believe he is linked to any of the other social media threats.