Candidates for the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board do not start filing their petitions until July 25th, but two people have let it be known they will run for HSE Board seats.

Michell Fullhart, the incumbent school board member in District 3, has announced officially she will be seeking another 4-year term

Frank Whelan, an unsuccessful candidate two years ago, will try again, this time running in District 2, currently represented by John DeLucia.  Board member Delucia has  made it clear he will not be a candidate for re-election.

With Matt Burke leaning toward not running for another term, there could be as many as 3 open seats in this year’s school board balloting.

If you are considering becoming a school board candidate, below is some general information from the Indiana School Boards Association.

Continue reading Two Candidates Announce Early for HSE School Board →

Hereditary is most definitely a horror film…..but is it worth seeing?  Here is my review…

As the Spark!Fishers Festival gears up for its first celebration, June 29 & 30, City Councilman John Weingardt says the city’s financial and in-kind contribution to this festival will be “very minimal.”

During a podcast interview with LarryInFishers on June 20th, Weingardt explained what he means by “very minimal.”

He points to the sponsorship money that, Weingardt says, “…provided substantially all the funding for this event.”

Weingardt told LarryInFishers that the city will provide services to the festival such as  public safety and support from the Department of Public Works.

“I don’t see us (the city)  having to come up with a tremendous  amount of money, nowhere near what we (the city) gave the Freedom Festival,” Weindgardt said.  “That’s from what I understand, I haven’t seen the numbers yet, but I think what you’re going to see is a better value proposition for our taxpayers and an event that’s going to be an event that will stand the test of time and be another tradition that will continue year after year.”

In 2016, The City of Fishers contributed $85,000 in cash to the Freedom Festival, and $45,000 in “in-kind” support.  In 2017, the city made the same in-kind contribution but cut the cash support to $45,000.

During the podcast, Councilman Weingardt told LarryInFishers he plans to run for re-election to his council seat in next year’s local election.

You can listen to the podcast with John Weingardt at this link.

Editor’s Note: Earlier versions of this story reported that the City of Fishers made cash contributions to the Fishers Freedom Festival of $85,000 in 2016 & 2017.  In fact, the city cut the cash support to $45,000 in 2017.  The story was corrected at 1:40pm Friday.   LarryInFishers regrets the error.  

When the historic Morris-Flanagan-Kincaid House was moved to its current location near the Navient complex, I asked the people at Nickel Plate Arts what plans they have for the building and one asked me what I thought.  They wanted to preserve the historic structure, but once it was moved, it has been at its home along I-69 and no one had come up with a plan on what to do with the structure.

According to a story by Samm Quinn of the Indianapolis Business Journal, the house will become the centerpiece of a new roundabout in the area near Portillo’s.

You can read Samm’s story at this link.

Fishers City Councilman John Weingardt has been a Fishers elected official for many years.  In this podcast, we talk about the Nickel Plate Trail planning, the new Spark!Fishers Festival and how it is being financed, along with a number of other issues in this podcast.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

The Fishers City Council will likely give final consideration to the cycling ordinance in July, which spells out the rights and responsibilities of cyclists and motorists.

Councilman Pete Peterson said the ordinance is an overreach.  He questioned the need for such a measure.

“It’s going to be virtually impossible to enforce,” Peterson said.  “I don’t really see what the overall problem is in the community, other than a couple of people got honked off at some bike riders because they were going down the road.”

Police Chief Mitch Thompson responded that local bicyclists want a 3-foot passing rule, and that is one reason the ordinance is being proposed.  The Chief says enforcement is not easy now, but new technologies on the horizon will likely change that.

Thompson said the goal was a balance  to spell out the rights and responsibilities of both motorists and cyclists.

The latest revision of the ordinance would not require bicyclists to wear a helmet on residential streets, but would require a helmet on all other city roadways.

The council passed the ordinance on 2nd reading, meaning the full council will make a final decision on the wording at next month’s council session, possibly with more revisions.

Here is the text of the ordinance passed on second reading Monday night, available at this link.

Fishers Police made five arrests in the Berkley Groves Neighborhood, located in the area of 106th Street and Hague Road.  All are accused of stealing property.

Shortly before 5am on Saturday, a Fishers police officer was patrolling in the 10600 block of Tarragon Court. The officer says he found four individuals dressed entirely in black. The four people saw the officer and fled. The officer gave chase. Additional officers quickly established a perimeter and began searching for the suspects.

 Within a few minutes, another officer observed a dark SUV exiting the neighborhood. A traffic stop was initiated. The SUV continued for a short distance before stopping. As the officer approached the driver’s side he could see four passengers laying in the car attempting to hide. All five occupants were ordered to exit the SUV. The suspects complied and were immediately detained.

Police say once Inside the SUV, they located several items belonging to various individuals in Fishers, Edgewood, and Anderson. Fishers police contacted the Anderson and Edgewood Police Departments and confirmed multiple thefts from vehicles had taken place earlier, that evening, in their jurisdictions. The victims were notified, and their property was returned. All five suspects were arrested without incident.

Under arrest are:

Aquille Miles, 18, from Anderson

Are Tez Johnson, 18, from Anderson

Two juvenile males, each 17, both from Anderson

One juvenile female, 17, from Anderson

George Kehl essentially created the Police Department we have in Fishers.  Once he retired as Police Chief, he never missed a step, moving to work on inventory at the Department of Public Works (DPW).  Eric Pethtel, Director of Public Works, joked that Kehl has “a PHD in curmudgeon,” but also praised the former chief for his long service in law enforcement and his work at DPW.

Pethtel awarded George Kehl his 40-year Service Award with the City of Fishers.  Mr. Kehl didn’t say much when it was his turn to speak, just talking about the challenges of moving inventory to the new DPW building in the coming months.

There were other service awards handed out during Monday’s City Council session.  Scott Kehl (George Kehl’s nephew) and Mike Johnson from the Fishers Police Department received 25-year service awards.  Barb Hathaway, a civilian employee of the Fishers Fire Department, received a 20-year service award.

Police Chief Mitch Thompson swore-in new Officer Ryan McKalip.

Eight years ago, Fishers High School Baseball Coach Matthew Cherry had his team measure exactly how many miles it is to travel from their school to Victory Field in downtown Indianapolis.  From then on, the goal has been to get into the state championship game and win it.  The team accomplished that goal in 2018, defeating perennial baseball power Cathedral in the state title contest.

Coach Cherry told that story as he stood before the Fishers City Council Monday night as local officials honored his team, to a round of applause from the audience in the council chambers