The Fishers Arts Council is on the lookout for people in the local community ready to help the nonprofit organization promote visual and performing arts around the city.  Those stepping forward would be asked to give 2-3 hours per month, be creative and not be hesitant to get your hands dirty.

You can apply online at this link.  You can also join council members at Pure Eatery Restaurant at 8235 E 116th Street on September 25th from 7pm-9pm.  Meet the current board members, ask questions and decide if you will be a part of shaping the future of art in Fishers.

Here is the Fishers Arts Council mission statement – “To support, advocate and cultivate visual and performing arts opportunities that educate, enhance and/or enrich the lives of those who live, work and visit Fishers.”

You have likely already read about how the ILEARN test did statewide, with results down substantially.  Overall, students in the  Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District saw their test results go down, but HSE students still far surpassed the state average.

In the 2019 ILEARN testing, 56.1% of HSE students taking the English Language Arts (ELA) and the Math test passed them both.  That compares with 73.5% passing both exams last year.  Last year’s test was the old ISTEP, with 2019 being the first year the state utilized ILEARN.

As far as how HSE students did on the individual Math and ELA tests – 64.3% passed the ELA ILEARN test this year, while 69.2% passed this year’s Math test.

Statewide, 37.1% of the students taking both the ELA & Math ILEARN exams passed both, compared to last year’s pass rate of 50.7% on ISTEP.  The statewide pass rate for just the ELA test was 47.9% and 47.8% for Math.

So, HSE saw a dip in test results compared to last year, but that has been the trend throughout Indiana.  However, HSE continues to score far above the state average.

LarryInFishers requested comments from HSE school administrators shortly after the results were announced Wednesday morning, but have yet to receive a response.  This story will be updated once comments are received from local school officials.

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton County and its eight cities and towns will soon vote on an ordinance that could increase the county’s local income tax (LIT) by 0.1 percentage point. Money raised from the tax increase would help fund the county’s 911 center.

Altman

“For years the county and its four largest cities have funded the county’s 911 services,” County Commissioner Christine Altman said. “The larger cities no longer want to absorb those costs, and while the smaller towns are willing to contribute something, they don’t have deep enough pockets to fund the full amount, so we need to find an alternative funding source.”

Hamilton County Public Safety Communications dispatches emergency calls for seven police departments, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, and nine fire and EMS departments. The agency took more than 300,000 emergency calls last year.

“Public safety is the most important service we provide to our residents,” Altman says. “I really don’t think this is a luxury.”

911’s current budget is just under $11 million a year. $3.6 million of that budget comes from a statewide user fee charged to telephone and mobile phone users. A new interlocal agreement renegotiated between the cities and the county this year requires the larger cities to fund $6.9 million dollars of the budget and the smaller cities to pick up $500,000.

At the current time however, the small towns are paying 10 percent of that price tag, while the county funds the rest, approximately $440,000. County officials hoped that the smaller towns could phase 911 costs into their budgets, but according to information provided by county officials, those towns say they don’t have the revenue to make that happen.

A press release provided by Hamilton County to The Reporter said, “That’s why the Arcadia Town Council adopted a Public Safety LIT Resolution for a potential 0.1 percentage point tax increase at its last meeting. The adoption of that resolution now triggers a meeting of the LIT council, which is made up of representatives from each city and town in Hamilton County as well as the Hamilton County Council. If the tax is approved by enough members to constitute 50 percent of the county’s population, it becomes law. It would generate $16 million a year.”

Schemmer

“The tax would not only cover countywide 911 costs, but it would also allow us to expand the communications center,” said Jeff Schemmer, Hamilton County’s Executive Director of Communications. “The call center is currently housed in the basement of the Sheriff’s Office and is busting at the seams. We need to build a stand-alone building to better accommodate our growing population and burgeoning call load.”

Hamilton County’s income tax rate is currently one percent, the lowest in the region according to the Indiana Department of Revenue. Hancock County approved a similar LIT increase last year to cover the costs of its 911 center. If approved, the new tax would go into effect Jan. 1, 2020.

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton County Reporter

State and local officials conducted a public dedication ceremony on Friday for an Indiana state historical marker commemorating Ryan White and his efforts to raise national AIDS awareness while battling the disease as a teenager. White attended Hamilton Heights High School at this location from Aug. 31, 1987 until his death on April 8, 1990.

State historical markers commemorate significant individuals, organizations, places and events in Indiana history. These markers help communities throughout the state promote, preserve and present their history for the education and enjoyment of residents and tourists of all ages.

For over 100 years, the Indiana Historical Bureau has been marking Indiana history. Since 1946, the marker format has been the large roadside marker, which has the familiar dark blue background with gold lettering and the outline of the state of Indiana at the top. Over 650 of these markers have been installed over the years.

When you look at the quiet, affluent suburban community of Fishers of today, it’s hard to envision the community then called Fishers Station in 1881.  It was known as the Mudsock, because the area was largely a swamp at that time and most people had mud on their socks.

Fishers Station, where the City of Fishers is located now, was known as a rough & tumble place.  The area lived up to its reputation in 1881, where a commotion, or riot (depending on how you look at it) happened and led to a trial.

In 2018, local arts aficionado Ashton Wolf put a number of people together to stage a play and musical of that great battle of the late 19th century in Fishers Station, which made news nation wide.

The production in 2018 was a big hit, so the Battle of Mudsock & the Trial of Hamp West will be brought to local audiences once again with two performances on Sunday, September 8th, 2:00pm & 4:30pm.

Actual public safety personnel from the Fishers Police & Fire Departments will provide some of the acting talent, as they did in 2018.

This will all happen at the historic Ambassador House here in Fishers (10598 Eller Rd, Fishers).  For more information, and ticket information, use this link.   Proceeds go to the Ambassador House and the Fishers Police Foundation.

I recorded a podcast with Ashton Wolf and local historian David Heighway in 2018 before that Mudsock production.  You can listen to that podcast below (just ignore the times and dates mentioned there, but the Web site address is still good)

Part of the festivities surrounding the annual Mudsock Game, featuring football rivals HSE High School and Fishers HS, is the Pasta Bowl.  This fundraiser centers on collecting pasta for local food banks and other charities providing food to those in need.

Collection boxes will be setup around Fishers and the HSE School District if you choose to donate boxes of pasta.  All the 22 schools in the HSE District will engage in a friendly competition to see which buildings can collect the most boxes of pasta.

I am in my 9th year of writing this news blog and my 4th year of producing local podcasts.  I started the podcasts to give local people 30 minutes or more to talk about what they are doing in the local Fishers community.

I plan on taking a brief time-out on posting podcasts in order to catch-up on other projects I am doing.  But, do not fear, I will be back with more podcasts in about 10 days.

I do plan to invite all candidates to appear on a podcast, if there is more than one person on the ballot for that office in the November Fishers city general election.  I believe there are about 10 candidates that would be invited under that definition.

I have had a number of podcasts posted lately on issues such as the Nickel Plate future (rail and/or trail), the HSE Schools Foundation, local publisher Tom Britt, Indianapolis Business Journal Statehouse reporter Lindsey Erdody, and Fishers Police Chief Ed Gebhart.  There are many more.

So, as I take a brief respite from podcasting, check out the many podcasts already posted during 2019.  You can check out all those podcasts at this link.

Hannah Baer, a senior at HSE High School, was honored by the Hamilton Southeastern School Board Wednesday night for being a Girl Scout Gold Award winner.  The project that gained her the award related to recruiting a team of volunteers to build an outdoor learning space for children in HSE Preschool of the Natural Sciences at Brooks School Elementary.

Hannah previously completed the Bronze and Silver Awards for Girl Scouts based on her work in the local community.

She plans on double college majors in education & psychology.

On August 16th, Fishers City officials told me Allisonville Road construction north 116th Street was expected to be completed, with all four lanes open, by the end of August.  It appears there have been some delays.  The city now says the construction there will continue into the week of Labor Day.

For more on that, see the listing below of road construction projects, as provided by the City of Fishers, for Labor Day week:

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