Some people in the Fishers area commuting home found something you don’t see everyday – a single-engine aircraft on 96th Street, near Covington Boulevard.  According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) the aircraft lost power and was forced to make an emergency landing.

Local first responders report no injuries to the pilot or anyone on the ground.

The FAA described the aircraft as an Acro Sport II.  The landing happened just before 6:30pm Wednesday.   The plane came to rest on a sidewalk after landing on the street and striking two street signs. The pilot was the only person on board.

FAA records show the owner of the aircraft as Brian R. Harless of Fishers.  The federal agency says it will conduct a full investigation.

HSE Schools shared some data on how many students are under COVID quarantine each day since the start of schools.  At Wednesday night’s board meeting, Superintendent Yvonne Stokes says since the mask mandate was implemented on August 16th in HSE Schools, the number of quarantined students is beginning to trend downward.

The school district reached a peak of roughly 1,100 students quarantined on August 19, but the numbers began to go down each day after that.  As of 3pm on August 25th, 636 students were under quarantine.

A student is quarantined for a positive test, being symptomatic or having a close contact with someone testing positive.

Dr. Stokes said the aim of the mask mandate is to keep students in the classrooms. She says her conversations with students show the students want to remain in the classrooms.

“We’re doing this to support keeping our students in class,” Dr. Stokes said at the school board meeting.  “Keeping the main thing the main thing…teaching and learning.”

In other items before the HSE School Board:

–An updated school policy will call for four board members to be in-person at a meeting to establish a quorum.  State law now allows 3 in-person and 1 virtual board member to have a quorum, but board members were concerned about about losing a virtual connection during the board meeting, which would end the meeting due to a lack of a quorum.

–The board will need to redistrict school building lines once Deer Creek Elementary is up and running, and Cooperative Strategies, a firm that has supported past redistricting plans for HSE Schools in the past, has offered to be the consultant again.  This was information only and more firms may wish to submit proposals.  There was one public comment from a woman frustrated with her children being impacted by 3 elementary school redistricting plans over 9 years.  She also criticized the board for a lack of transparency by not being specific with the description of the agenda item.

–The board was updated on changes in the fees charged for students using the J Everett Light Career Center in Washington Township, near North Central High School.  Some fees increased, others went down.

–The board honored two swimmers in the Snapshots of Success.

16-year-old Jojo Ramey was the youngest swimmer to make the Olympic semifinals and finished 7^th in the 200 backstroke. Ramey, a sophomore at FHS, has her eyes on the 2024 Olympic Games.

17-year-old Kyle Ponsler also competed for a spot on the Olympic team. He qualified for Wave 1 of the Trials and placed 2^nd in the 400 Individual Medley, which secured him a spot in Wave 2. Kyle placed 36^th, however, his time qualified him as the 2^nd fastest “18 & Under” for international competition.

When USA Swimming selected the Top 2 for the World Cup Jr. Team (18 & Under), both Ponsler and Ramey (she was the fastest 18 & Under in the 100 and 200 Backstroke) were chosen to represent USA in the FINA Swimming World Cup in Budapest, Hungary on September 28 then the following week, they will be in Berlin, Germany competing against the fastest 18 & Under athletes in the World. They leave Berlin on October 10 for their return home.

Ponsler has committed to NC State to continue his academic and athletic pursuits. Fishers Head Swim Coach Joseph Keller says, “many of the athletes that experience these International Competitions qualify for future Olympic Games. So, 2024 and 2028 is a goal for both of these athletes and preparations are being made accordingly.”

Dr. Holly Miller says she applied for the Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship at hte urging of others and just to see what happened.  That application led to a one-year assignment to work with a United States Senator on education policy.

I spoke with Dr. Miller on August 18th for this podcast and she talked about the early stages of her new job for the coming year.

If you are looking for good news in the  weekly Fishers Health Department COVID report, you can get an appointment at the Fishers COVID testing site the same day or the following day, and a couple of measures have not become worse over the previous week.  There has been a decrease in the Fishers COVID testing site positivity rate, now at 5.23.  That’s about it for the good news.

In his weekly video update, Epidemiologist Joshua Robinson  says the Hamilton County unique individual positivity rate is at 12.0, red, the highest rating.  The case incidence rate up to 33.53, also red.

The community risk rating level remains at Level 3, with  being the highest risk rating .

According to Robinson, there continues to be a high demand for testing at the Fishers site located in the municipal complex near City Hall.

There is an increase testing demand locally, so Fishers is increasing testing hours.  This week, on Wednesday and Friday, testing hours will be 9am-3pm.  Thursday this week, testing hours will be  1pm-7pm.  Starting next week, the Fishers COVID testing site will be available Monday, Wednesday and Friday,  9am-4pm…then, next week, hours  on Tuesday and Thursday will be  noon-7pm.

Hospital & health care system capacity in our local Fishers area has seen a decrease in hospital capacity and an increase in daily hospitalizations, mainly among those unvaccinated.  “With the trend it is likely that those individual metrics, while they are in yellow (Level 2 on a scale of 4) this week, may move up to orange (Level 3) next week,” Robinson said.

Robinson estimates roughly 17,300 individuals in the Fishers community that are eligible for the vaccine based on their age but have not initiated the vaccine process.  Also, children under 12 are not eligible “likely will not be eligible for a few months.”

Robinson said the current data show case specific rates per 1,000 people are 11 times higher in the unvaccinated resident group compared to the those fully vaccinated.   August 13-19, the rate of new cases in vaccinated people per 1,000 was a 0.7…the unvaccinated rate was at 7.37.

“We are starting to see cases continue to increase and concentrate in unvaccinated individuals and in children,” Robinson said in his video message.  “The best way to protect individuals who are immunocompromised or who are not eligible for the vaccine is we all come together and do our part and receive the vaccine itself.”

In most situations, Robinson recommends wearing a mask in a public place where one is unsure how many people are unvaccinated.

“Cases are continuing to increase week over week here, locally within Hamilton County, all across the state, and there is no indication that the rate of increase has peaked or is even flattening,” according to Robinson.  “We should anticipate that we will continue to see an increase in cases, and our best path forward to mitigate the number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths that we see is if we all do our part coming together to receive the vaccine.”

You can view Joshua Robinson’s entire video message, posted late in the day August 24th, at the link below.

The construction work on the 131st Street overpass bridge over State Road 37 is moving along nicely, per the 37 Thrives Facebook account.  The project will eventually construct a roundabout on 131st Street in a bridge over State Road 37.

In this first phase of construction, the east side of 131st Street has been open to right-in, right-out traffic, and right turns can be made onto 131st from State Road 37 northbound.  According to 37 Thrives, beginning in late September, the east side of 131st & SR 37 will be blocked for construction.

The entire project is projected to be done by the end of 2021.

37 Thrives is a marketing campaign to  assist businesses impacted by the construction project along State Road 37.

After a pandemic hiatus in 2020, the Hamilton Southeastern Education Foundation (HSEF) will once again provide a VIP section for the annual Mudsock football game between the Fishers Tigers and HSE Royals, Friday, September 10.  This year, the game is played at Fishers High School.

If you want to be a Mudsock Game VIP, the cost is $55, with the proceeds going to the foundation.  The VIP section normally sells out every year, so do not delay.

Here is what your $55 ticket will buy:

–A game VIP ticket/credential pass to exclusive, adult-only, end zone seating along with a HSEF Seat Cushion

–An entry into the Best Seat in the House and the  VIP Parking Spot contests (for tickets purchased through 9/3/21)

–Food and beverages inside the Hospitality Tent

–Celebrating the HSE Schools Teachers of the Year during halftime.

HSE Schools faculty and staff receive discount rates.

For tickets, use this link.

I like to tell the story of how the Town of Fishers had its Town Hall on 116th Street in what is now an art gallery when I first moved to Fishers in 1991.  It wasn’t long before the new, shiny town hall opened for business.

That town hall (currently city hall), now nearly 30 years old, appears to be ready for the demolition crew in the not-too-distant-future.  What will replace it, and how Fishers goes about constructing a community center, will be just another set of public projects that will likely have a major impact on all of us living in the City of Fishers.

The city has released a request for proposals (RFP) recently and Indianapolis Star reporter John Tuohy filed two stories about what those documents contain.  It provides more details about what the city wants in the proposals from the private sector.

One idea I have reported before is to construct a new City Hall with a performance center in the new building.  The RFP proposes a first-floor 400-seat facility with city offices on the upper two floors.

There is also a proposal for a new community center, or recreation center, at another unnamed location in Fishers.  This will require a fairly large swath of land.

There are some preliminary projected budget numbers attached to these proposals, $20 million for the new City Hall with a performance center and $40 million for the community center.

It should be noted that the city is in the early stages of these projects.  Any cost figures are estimates until RFPs are evaluated and bids are submitted later in the process.

It should also be noted that Mayor Scott Fadness never considered a new City Hall to be a priority for his administration, but City Hall is sinking and the cost of maintaining the current building has been increasing, with every indication that the bills to keep the current City Hall functional will continue to increase in the future if the structure is not replaced.

In a May City Council retreat, Fadness said the current City Hall has “flimsy construction” and is a wood structure, when most public buildings of its size are built with steel.

“When you walk in (City Hall), it does not feel like an institutional building,” the mayor said back in May.

Mayor Fadness, in a Sunday evening interview with LarryInFishers, says the RFP incorporates the vision expressed by the City Councilman Todd Zimmerman’s committee, and begins some of the hard lifting to take the ideas to the next phase.

“What’s occurred over the last 2-3 months is less of the exciting, upfront stuff and more, frankly, the how are you going to pay for it, how are you going to procure it?” the mayor said Sunday night.

According to the mayor, the RFP calls for an agreement to put together a team consisting of a design group, construction team and financing team, working together.

“We’ve made some good progress, it will be really interesting to see,” said Fadness.  “Do we get a wide variety of people to submit? Do we get them from out of state?  It will be really interesting to see who decides to put their hat in the ring.”

Once the teams are established, the vision from Councilman Zimmerman’s committee and the mayor’s staff will take the ideas for these facilities and bring them down to the cost and logistics of making the vision a reality.

I asked the mayor if he continues to be confident this can all be accomplished without an increase in the city’s tax rate.  His answer was yes.  “We’ve been heads-down and we are continuing to look through everything.  I believe we’re going to be able to do that,” Fadness said.

“This is not a Holland Park community building or Billericay Park community building, this is a significant facility that should have some pretty world class amenities with the budget that we are looking at,” the mayor added. “It is quite an undertaking.  We still do not have the location identified yet as to where we are going to put it.  Some of that will be part of the discussion with the design team – What is the footprint?  What’s the ideal setting for it?”

It appears we will know more when the RFPs are all submitted in October.

Fishers has had a lot of development since I called it my home in 1991, mostly private sector projects.

Many Fishers citizens have expressed an interest in an indoor performing arts center, and a community center (or recreation center).  Councilman Zimmerman has a group continuing work on this project.  We will be watching what comes next.

Saturday night was a lovely August evening, with a light breeze to cool off the crowd at the Nickel Plate Amphitheater.  Normally, this is a venue for entertainment, such as music concerts and Shakespeare plays.

But this Saturday night was different.  A large contingent of Fishers residents gathered to show support for two families in grief.

Elle Gaddis, and Belle Gaddis, twin sisters, and Brianna Foster, all died in a tragic vehicle crash early Monday morning.  All three were on a trip to the beach and driving on the highway in South Carolina.

There were some references to the woman facing charges in the crash, but not many.  The focus was on the three girls and how they had impacted so many lives.  The Gaddis twins were students at HSE High School and Brianna Foster was a recent HSE High School graduate.

It was difficult for family members to talk before the large crowd, still grieving over their loss.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness cited a Go Fund Me site established locally that has raised at least $150,000 for the families of the three girls.

“Let’s focus on who these wonderful girls were, what they meant to each and every one of you, the laughter, the good times, the memories,” said Fadness as he opened the ceremony.

The size of the crowd is a message from the local community to the families of the three crash victims – we care and we want to support you.

24 students at Hamilton Southeastern High School and 29 students at Fishers High School have earned the AP Capstone Diploma.  In addition, 12 HHS students and two FHS students have earned the AP Seminar and Research Certificate during the 2020-21 school year. The AP Capstone Diploma program helps students to develop critical thinking, research, collaboration, and presentation skills that are critical to academic success.

“We proudly recognize the achievements of students who participated in the AP Capstone Diploma program,” said Superintendent Dr. Yvonne Stokes in a College Board news release. “Our AP Capstone students and teachers showed extraordinary commitment while facing historic challenges. This is a meaningful college readiness program that will serve our students well after high school.”

Here are listings of the students, as provided by the College Board:

Continue reading Local students awarded Capstone Diplomas →

Many Fishers residents know that three local teenagers died this week in a tragic car crash early Monday morning in South Carolina.

The families of Brianna Foster, Elle Gaddis, and Belle Gaddis have partnered with the City of Fishers to host a Celebration of Life in remembrance of the teens on Saturday, August 21 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Nickel Plate District Amphitheater (6 Municipal Drive, Fishers).

The celebration is open to the public.  Those coming are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs and wear bright colors in honor of the teens’ “radiant and vibrant spirits.”

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness will give remarks at 7:30 p.m. followed by reflections from the teens’ families and friends. The event will be livestreamed on the Fishers Magazine Facebook page beginning at 7:30 p.m.

In addition, Hamilton Southeastern High School’s student-led Blue Crew plans to honor the victims at Friday night’s football game at Hamilton Southeastern High School (HSE), where Elle and Belle were enrolled in their senior year. Foster is a 2020 HSE graduate.

A candlelight vigil is planned for 6:15 p.m. at Tailgate Town, and the teens’ parents will serve as honorary coin flip guests. A moment of silence is also planned before kickoff.