Medora Community School Corp. recently announced plans to participate in the Summer Food Service Program that provides free meals to all children 18 or younger.

Free meals also will be made available to anyone older than 18 who is enrolled in a state-approved educational program for the mentally or physically disabled.

The meals will be provided on a first-come, first-serve basis from June 6 to Aug. 5 at Medora Junior-Senior High School, 82 George St., and Rivervale Chapel, 10935 W. County Road 675S, Medora.

Information: Rebecca Starr, 812-966-2210

The Indiana State Police would like to remind citizens that the farm planting season is upon us and often requires large farm machinery to be on the road.

This requires drivers in rural areas to be alert to the possibility of encountering slow moving farm machines. Motorists should be prepared to slow or stop to avoid a collision with a farm machine turning into a field or driveway.

Tips for Farmers and Rural Drivers:

• Farm machinery can unexpectedly turn onto a public road from a field or driveway. It is important for everyone to have patience and share the road.
• Farm machinery travels slower than normal traffic, often at speeds of 25 miles per hour or less. Automobile drivers must quickly identify farm equipment and slow down immediately to avoid rear end crashes.
• Slow moving farm machinery, traveling at less than 25 miles per hour, are required to display a slow moving vehicle emblem on the back of the equipment. This is a quickly identifiable sign to other motorists. All lighting should be working properly and be highly visible.
• Slow moving vehicles are required to pull off to the right when three or more vehicles are blocked and cannot pass on the left.
• Machinery that is half on the road and half on the shoulder may suddenly move completely onto the road. Machinery may take up more than one lane to avoid obstacles such as road signs.

Before passing farm machinery:

• Check to be sure that machinery is not turning left. Look for left turn lights or hand signals. If the machinery slows and pulls toward the right side of the road, the operator is likely preparing to make a wide left turn. Likewise, sometimes to make a right turn with wide equipment, the driver must fade to the left.
• Determine if the road is wide enough for you and the machinery to safely share.
• Look for roadside obstacles such as mailboxes, bridges, or road signs that may cause the machinery to move to the center of the road.
• Be sure there is adequate distance for you to safely pass.

Extra patience, careful driving habits, and the use of highly visible markings, and lighting will help prevent crashes involving farm machines and automobiles.

Every spring the Indiana State Police Meth Suppression Section warns the public to watch for unattended backpacks and gym bags; piles of trash with drink bottles filled with liquid or white residue, used coffee filters, Sudafed blister packs and stripped batteries.

The Meth Suppression Team is responding to Meth labs and Meth trash being found every day in alleys, ditch lines, field pull offs, vacant lots and along streams and rivers.

Part of the reason is that Meth cooks know that making Meth can contaminate their houses, and that ISP now publishes a list of those houses contaminated by Meth at http://www.in.gov/meth/2371.htm

Indiana Police want to remind the public to be vigilant while participating in outdoor activities.

Residents out mushroom hunting or fishing, or if your civic group is out cleaning up a roadside, beware.

Troopers say things to look for are discarded backpacks or gym bags; liquid filled plastic drink bottles with white residue; a large amount of discarded coffee filters or discarded liquid drain opener bottles.

If you encounter any of these items, don’t disturb them call police.

Anyone with information about illegal drug use is encouraged to call the Indiana State Police Post in your area, or the Indiana State Police Drug Tip Line at 1-800-453-4756. Tips can be made and kept anonymous. The Indiana Meth Investigation System or IMIS, can also take tips on meth labs. Just go to www.meth.in.gov and click on the “Report Suspected Meth Activity” Link.

The Indiana State Department of Health is assisting the Scott County Health Department in offering extended hours for HIV testing and other services Friday, April 29, at the One-Stop Shop in Austin.

The outreach center located at 825 N. Hwy 31 in Austin will be open from noon to 7 p.m. on Friday in addition to its normal hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays. The extended hours are part of a periodic retesting effort designed to ensure that Scott County residents know their HIV status and can receive appropriate medical care.

Since early 2015, 191 people have tested positive for HIV in an outbreak traced to injection drug users who shared needles. Of those individuals, 93 percent are co-infected with hepatitis C.

“I urge anyone who is engaging in high-risk behaviors but hasn’t been tested recently to take advantage of the extended hours this week to ensure that they know their HIV status,” said State Health Commissioner Jerome Adams, M.D., M.P.H. “While the rate of new HIV infections in Scott County has slowed dramatically, it’s important to remain vigilant and ensure that those at risk are taking the steps necessary to protect themselves and their community.”

HIV can take up to three months to diagnose, depending on the test that is used and how long it takes the virus to multiply in a person’s body.Individuals who have engaged in high-risk behavior such as needle sharing and unprotected sex are advised to get tested and then retested every two to three months as long as they are engaging in those behaviors.

Anyone who is tested for HIV will receive education about the disease and information about where to obtain preventive treatment. In addition to testing, the One-Stop Shop offers assistance to residents who need state-issued ID cards and birth certificates, want to enroll in the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) 2.0, are seeking immunizations or are in need of referrals for substance abuse treatment.

To prevent HIV infection, avoid injection drug use, sharing or re-using needles or works, engaging in unprotected sex and engaging in sex with commercial sex workers.

Individuals seeking help with substance abuse should call the national 24-hour addiction hotline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). This hotline provides confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year information service, in English and Spanish, for individuals and family members facing mentalhealth and/or substance use disorders. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups and community-based organizations. Callers can also order free publications and other information.

To learn more about the link between HIV infection and drug abuse, visit the National Institute on Drug Abuse at http://hiv.drugabuse.gov/index.html.

Visit the Indiana State Department of Health at www.StateHealth.in.gov for important health and safety information, or follow us on Twitter at @StateHealthIN and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/isdh1. Hoosiers who do not have health care coverage or access to a doctor are encouraged to check availability for the new Healthy Indiana Plan–HIP 2.0–by visiting www.HIP.IN.gov or calling 1-877-GET-HIP-9.