Hamilton County Reporter 

The Fishers girls basketball team got a big Wednesday road win, sailing past Delta 54-20.

The Tigers led 15-4 after the first quarter and were ahead 29-11 at halftime. Fishers
then outscored the Eagles 18-4 in the fourth period. The 20 points the Tigers
allowed ties a school record for fewest points allowed an opponent. Fishers also
allowed just 20 points in a game on Dec. 27, 2011.

Toni Grace made three 3-pointers on her way to 10 points. After that, Fishers had
three more players (Skylar Fulton, Tamia Perryman and Katie Burton) all scored eight
points. Lydia Stullken had an outstanding game, with eight rebounds, seven blocks and
four steals. Perryman and Cierra Tolbert both grabbed five rebounds.
The Tigers are now 8-6 for the season.

Fishers is back home tonight for a big game: The Tigers welcome Class 4A No. 1 North
Central for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.

by

Richie Hall

Hamilton County Reporter Sports Editor

Here’s a nice way to celebrate the last day of school before Christmas Break: A
basketball win.

Hamilton Southeastern finished up its first semester on Wednesday, and the Royals
were out of the classroom and on to the court that night to play old rival Pendleton
Heights. Southeastern, now ranked No. 2 in the Class 4A Associated Press rankings,
used a series of runs to build, maintain, and eventually beat the Arabians 61-46.

The Royals are now 7-0 for the season, their best start since the 2013-14 school year.

“The thing I’m probably most proud of is the way we played defense tonight,” said
HSE coach Brian Satterfield. “They are so efficient with what they do and how they run
their offense. I was a little worried with us trying to prepare on a short week, and with
finals going on, we didn’t quite go as long as we normally do. But our guys had focus
this week in practice and I thought that carried over in the game tonight.”

The Arabians scored the first basket of the game on a 3-pointer, but the Royals
answered that with a 9-0 run. Mabor Majak scored four points on two nice-looking
baskets – the first on an elegant hook shot, the second an immediate tipback of one of
his own shots.

After that initial run, Southeastern went through the game unbothered for the most
part. The Royals made at least one big run in each period to extend their lead. In the
second quarter, HSE scored eight unanswered points.

Aaron Etherington started the run with a free throw, then made a 3-pointer. Nick
Bowman followed that with a dunk, and Etherington capped the run with a dunk – not
the only one the Royals would make on Wednesday.

Southeastern made its biggest run in the third quarter, pouring in 13 straight points.
Majak started things with a putback, then the Royals threw in three straight 3-pointers.
Bowman drained the first two 3s, then Chris Grubbs made the third downtown shot. Grubbs, who was starting in place of Noah Smith (out in a precautionary measure), then finished the run with a jump shot. That gave HSE a 42-20 lead, the largest advantage of the game.

“With Noah not being here, you just didn’t know how the guys would respond,”
said Satterfield. The coach said that his players jumping into different roles was
huge, especially Grubbs getting his chance in the starting lineup.

“He had a tremendous night tonight as well,” said Satterfield.

Pendleton did make things interesting in the fourth quarter, going on an 8-0 run to
trim Southeastern’s 50-29 lead to 50-37. Luke Drye hit a 3, then Eli Pancol added five
points on a dunk and a 3-pointer.

But the momentum switched in a flash. The Arabians missed a 3, the Royals
grabbed the rebound, and the ball got in the hands of Bowman, who dunked it. Grubbs
then made a traditional three-point play to get HSE ahead 55-37.

Pancol threw in a 3-pointer to cut the Royals’ lead to 55-40, but Southeastern
answered with six straight points. Chaz Birchfield made a layin, then Etherington
scored four more points, on two free throws and a second slam dunk.

Etherington finished the game with 19 points, while Bowman totaled three 3-pointers
on his way to 13 points. Grubbs added 12 points.

Birchfield made his presence known on the boards with eight rebounds, followed by
Majak with six and Etherington with five. Etherington also handed out six assists, with
Birchfield dishing out four. Majak blocked two shots.

Southeastern is off for a week, then will play at the Columbia City/Huntington
Holiday Hoops Tournament on Dec. 28 and 29. The Royals play two pool games on Dec.
28, against Norwell at 10 a.m. and Scecina at 6 p.m. Both games will take place at
Huntington North.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

(The County Line commentaries by Fred Swift are posted here as part of a newsgathering partnership between The Hamilton County Reporter and LarryInFishers.com.  This list is being sent to Santa for our good boys and girls laboring in public service to our great community. It’s meant to add a bit of humor for the season and more meaningful for Reporter readers who’ve kept up with the local news.)

For Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness: Tickets on the next Fair Train.

For Noblesville Deputy Mayor Steve Cooke: A guided Preservation Alliance tour of beautiful, unspoiled Seminary Park.

For Carmel School Superintendent Nick Wahl: full reinstatement to his lucrative position.

For George Kristo: A case of alcohol-free champagne for his next New Year’s Eve party.

For Sheriff Mark Bowen: A new year free of crime and jail overcrowding.

For Democratic County Chairman Joe Weingarten: More brave candidates coming forward to run for office.

For County Commissioner Christine Altman: A lifetime pass on the commuter rail line . . . valid upon its arrival in Hamilton County.

For Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard: A merry-go-round play set for his office to show visitors what it might have been.

For the folks at the Indiana Transportation Museum: Permission to put the Polar Bear Express back on the tracks.

For Noblesville Mayor John Ditslear: The new edition of “How to Build a Roundabout in 90 Days” written by Carmel City Engineer Jeremy Kashman.

For Elections Chief Kathy Richardson: An extra supply of electronic notebooks for better election reporting courtesy of her friends on the County Council.

For County Commissioners: A 99-year warranty covering hail damage on their new solar panels.

For Noblesville ice skaters: A two-month extension of the Jan. 8 scheduled closing of the Federal Hill Commons ice rink.

For Home Place residents: Invitations to the Welcome to Carmel annexation dinner party at the Home Place Tavern.

For all our loyal Reporter readers: A Very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.

The Fishers City Council honored two firefighters for twenty years of service, and The Advisory Council on Disability, which received an award from the Governor’s Council For People Wit Disabilities.

Mayor Scott Fadness mentioned awarding a Key To The City at Lynda Carlino’s retirement event.  Ms. Carlino has led the local nonprofit, S.P.O.R.T.S, through many years of massive growth.

In late June of this year, the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District agreed to hire the private firms of MilesHerndon and BitWise to work on branding the school system and updating the district’s Web presence.  Nearly six months later, MilesHerndon is presenting some concepts to the school board.  BitWise is not quite ready to preview Web site concepts until the branding decisions are made.

School board members grappled with the choices of logos for the entire school district and individual schools at a Tuesday morning work session.  After a lengthy discussion, MilesHerndon was given an idea of how to come up with a final version of the logo and phrases to brand the local school system.

The next step is for school administrators to work with the private firms and finalize the logo and phrases to identify the Hamilton Southeastern Schools.

MilesHerndon told board members it had conducted a number of “discovery group” sessions to get some idea how to design the logo and phrasing.  The firm also conducted phone interviews with community members within the school district.

BitWise told board members they are not ready to present a new Web site design until Miles Herndon completes its work on the logo and phrasing.

Two of the phrasing options proposed by MilesHerndon are:

Community of Thoughts – and Actions

Inspiring Learning    

At the June 28th session, the board approved contracts with MilesHerndon and BitWise.  $50,000 goes to MilesHerndon for the branding and $98,599 to BitWise for the Web site redesign, for a total of $148,599.

The Fishers City Council voted to allow special zoning for empty grocery stores, including two vacant Marsh stores and a Kroger to be vacated.  The zoning provision means these vacant spaces may only be used as groceries.

Deputy Mayor Leah McGrath said this provision will allow development other than a grocery on a case-by-case basis.  She said residents in the impacted areas favor this action, while the property owners of the vacant spaces do not.

The vote was 8-1, with Councilman Rich Block casting the no vote out of concern for the property owners.

Thyssenkrupp Presta is coming to Fishers, bringing 86 existing jobs and expecting to create 64 more positions by 2020.  The firm will spend $7 million to renovate 47,000 square feet of space once occupied by Comcast.

The Fishers City Council approved a 5-year tax abatement for the thyssenkrupp Presta as part of the Economic Development Agreement, along with a $50,000 commercial grant, conditioned on the jobs promised.  The State of Indiana is also providing incentives, $950,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $200,000 in training grants.

Company officials say all these jobs coming to Fishers will be engineering positions. The Fishers facility will be aimed at high-tech steering systems and other technologies tied to the automotive industry.

Thyssenkrupp Presta has about 500 employees in the Central Indiana area, and is an international firm operating in 79 countries throughout the world.

For many years, one of the most dangerous intersections in Fishers has been 126th Street and Hoosier Road, particularly since 126th Street was widened to four lanes.  As of this Wednesday, motorists will find a much easier way to navigate that intersection.

Mayor Scott Fadness told the City Council Monday night that the traffic signal being installed at that location is scheduled to be operational on Wednesday of this week.

Members of the Fishers City Council received an update on plans for the renovation of the area between City Hall and the Amphitheater, including an upgrade to the Amphitheater itself.  Sean O’Grady, Assistant Director of the Fishers City Department of Public Works, told council members at the Monday work session that the current schedule calls for the renovated Amphitheater to be completed June 1st.

The design calls for a pavilion between the stage and City Hall, which is set for completion in Mid-June, 2018.  The pavilion will provide more rest rooms and will be a space for community meetings.

City officials say the bids will determine how extensive the renovation will be.  After the Amphitheater upgrade, which expands the stage by 25 feet, the next priorities for Mayor Scott Fadness will be expanding sidewalks in the area and sloping the ground to allow better sight lines for the Amphitheater.  The mayor said the third priority for him will be a fountain area and ice skating rink.  Fadness says if the budget does not allow the third option, that could be added later when money is available.

The budget for this renovation is $6 million.  Over $1.4 million has already been spent on the project, leaving just over $4.5 million remaining.  How much renovation that will buy will not be known until bids are opened in January.

When an area is growing as much as Fishers and the Hamilton Southeastern School District, it takes many leaders to handle the influx of people and students.  Our local area is losing two people important to managing that growth.  They both richly deserve retirement.

First, there is Jim White.  He has handled transportation for Hamilton Southeastern Schools for many years.  He was the captain of the ship that scheduled all the bus routes in a community that managed massive student growth during his tenure.  Imagine dealing with that growth and also maneuvering around all the road and street construction we have seen around Fishers.  With all that, the buses almost always ran on time.  Jim will point to his staff, but members of his staff point to Jim as being the leader they always could depend upon.  Jim is traveling to Florida next month, but his main home will remain in the Fishers area.  I wish him well.

Then there is Lynda Carlino.  She is the long-time executive director of the Southeastern Program Of Recreational Team Sports (S.P.O.R.T.S.).  This is a nonprofit organization that has run youth sports programs throughout Fishers and the area encompassing the Hamilton Southeastern School District for many years.  Once again, Lynda presided over this organization during a massive influx of young people wanting to play sports.  It has been Lynda’s job to hold together all the volunteers that have made S.P.O.R.T.S. possible all these years.  Many cities administer youth sports programs through the their local parks & recreation department.  Fishers never had to do that because Lynda Carlino and S.P.O.R.T.S., through private donations, volunteers and some help from local government, has professionally handled youth sports programs.  We all owe Lynda a debt of gratitude for all she has done.  She deserves some time in the warm sun next month.

Zach McKinney is taking over the HSE Schools Transportation Department in a transition that began in July of this year.  Scott Spillman is entering his new job as executive director with S.P.O.R.T.S.

I am sure Zach & Scott will do an outstanding job in handling their new duties.  But we will miss Jim and Lynda.  They have been properly recognized for their long service to the community.  I have had the honor to get to know them a little.  They are both fine people.  I wish them well in retirement.