If you want to know just where Fishers stands with the COVID-19 outbreak, check out the latest video from Monica Heltz of the city’s Health Department.  During 5 days in the past week-and-a-half, the city has registered 100 positive COVID tests on each of those 5 days.

The Fishers Health Department is forecasting positive COVID cases tripling locally before Christmas.  “That would mean possibly 2,500 to 6,500 new cases over the next month, which is pretty serious,” Heltz said.

Local hospitals are seeing a decrease in the number of Intensive Care Unit beds available, and more of those beds are taken by patients testing positive for COVID.

Bottom line, local Fishers COVID transmission continues to see a rapid increase, according to Heltz.

The demand for testing at the Fishers testing site has been on the rise.  As of Monday, November 23rd, it takes 2-4 days to get an appointment and 1-5 days to receive the results.

The state and county health departments have issued rules, but in Fishers, the public health order is generally more restrictive compared to the state and county.

All this leads the Fishers Health Department to encourage local residents to be careful during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern got its season off to a solid start on Tuesday, beating Muncie Central 78-49 at the Bearcats’ fieldhouse.

The Royals, ranked No. 11 in the IBCA one-class poll, were in control from the beginning, leading 20-5 after the first quarter and 38-17 at halftime.

Muncie Central played even with Southeastern in the third quarter, but the Royals
pulled even further away with a 21-point fourth quarter.

“We did a nice job of taking care of the basketball,” said Southeastern coach Brian Satterfield. “We only had nine turnovers for the game.” Satterfield also credited his team with taking care of the boards; the Royals had 34 rebounds for the game.

Vinny Buccilla led the HSE scoring with 16 points and also handed out four assists. Dalton Retzner earned a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, with Buccilla and John McCall both collecting five rebounds. Sam Jacobs added 14 points, while McCall scored 11.
Jason Stutz dished out five assists and Loudon Sundling had five steals.

Southeastern travels to Pike on Saturday to take on the No. 13-ranked Red
Devils.

by

Richie Hall

Sports Editor

Hamilton County Reporter

FISHERS – The Fishers boys basketball team already has its identity set for the 2020-21 season, and it can be boiled down to three things: Depth, balance and unselfishness.

The Tigers put all of those on display in its season-opening game Tuesday at the Tiger Den, when they overwhelmed Ben Davis 75-49. It was an impressive opener for Fishers, which is ranked No. 20 in the IBCA’s one-class pre-season poll.

The Tigers were playing their first game under new head coach Garrett Winegar, who was the head coach at Warren Central last season and had spent a few years there as an assistant. When discussing the game afterwards, Winegar brought up something then-head coach Criss Beyers said during the Warriors’ undefeated state championship season in 2017-18.

“When I was at Warren with Coach Byers the year we won state, we had six players averaging between 8 and 12 points a game,” said Winegar. “He always just preached to them, like, ‘We don’t care who gets the shot, we just want the best shot.’ And I think this group, I think we see that they’re playing unselfish, they’re willing to pass up a good shot to get a great shot, and that’s exciting.

That attitude was in effect for the Tigers on Tuesday. Fishers had four players reach double figures in scoring, chipping in between 11 and 17 points. Of the nine Tigers who took to the floor, eight of them scored at least one point.

“I think that’s our strength,” said Winegar. “We don’t have one guy who’s probably going to go get 30, but we have six guys who can probably go get 15. Our depth and our balance and our unselfishness has to be something that is our strength. We’re probably never going to be the most athletic or most talented team on the floor when we play, so we have to be the most unselfish and we have to be well-rounded.”

Fishers never trailed in the game, and the score was only tied twice, early in the game at 2-2, then 4-4. Junior Charlie Smith broke that second tie with a 3-pointer, then the Tigers finished the first quarter on a 6-0 run to lead 15-7. Junior Bryce Williams got the first five points (including a 3), then junior Matt Brewer made a free throw.

The run continued at the start of the second period, with sophomore Myles Stringer hitting a couple free throws to push Fishers ahead 17-7. The Giants cut that lead to 17-12 as KJ Windham, a talented freshman, made a 3-pointer and a layin.

But the Tigers darted ahead again with a 6-0 run; senior Lucas Prewitt, Smith and senior Drew Turner each made baskets. That made the score 23-12, and Fishers maintained that lead through halftime, where it led 31-23.

The Tigers took total control in the third quarter, outscoring Ben Davis 27-8. Fishers scored the first 15 points of the period, with Williams pouring in eight points (including another 3). Turner scored seven in the middle of the quarter (also including a 3), then junior Sean Millsaps hit two 3s on his way to eight third-period points. Fishers had eight total 3-pointers in the game.

“I think the third quarter, we showed how good we possibly could be on defense,” said Winegar.

The fourth period was a little more even, but Ben Davis was never able to make a dent into the Tigers’ lead. Prewitt and Millsaps each made a 3-pointer in the quarter.

Williams finished with 17 points, followed by Turner with 16, Millsaps with 13 and Smith with 11. Fishers was playing without Jeffrey Simmons, still recovering from an injury.

“We got a long way to go to be where we want to be, offensively and defensively, but if they play with the kind of effort and energy and togetherness that they’ve been playing with, this group has a chance to surprise some people,” said Winegar.

Fishers plays another home game next Tuesday, taking on Muncie Central.

Boombozz Pizza appears to have closed its Fishers location on 116th Street.  A post on the local Boombozz Facebook page says, “Hey Fishers- We Miss you already!” – then offers a discount at nearby Boobozz restaurants.

The City of Fishers says the zoning status of the property means a liquor store is allowed to occupy that building.  The Indianapolis Business Journal has reported a 21st Amendment Liquor Store will be taking over that space.

Ron Howard is the director.  Venessa Taylor, writer for The Shape of Water, wrote the screenplay.  Glenn Close and Amy Adams are cast members.  Does the film Hillbilly Elegy meet the high standards all these filmmakers have shown in the past?

Here is my review of the film Hillbilly Elegy.

It has been traditional for many years that the Tuesday following Thanksgiving is designated as Giving Tuesday.  It is a day when nonprofit organizations make a special appeal to spread holiday cheer their way.

The Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation is getting a head start with continuing their annual fund-raising campaign for Giving Tuesday.

Teachers in our local schools are toiling under some very tough working conditions during this pandemic and a gift to the foundation is a way of saying thanks.  The HSE Schools Foundation has been supporting teachers, students and the work they all do in classrooms (and, in this environment, also from home virtually).

This year’s campaign includes encouraging an “Sunselfie Sign” once you donate.

See below for the information from the foundation on how to participate Tuesday, December 1st:

STEP 1:  Make a donation online at www.hsefoundation.org

The Fishers Police Department expressed thanks to local residents willing to report suspicious activity in their neighborhoods quickly, because that led to three arrests connected to two burglary investigations.

The first occurred at The Hamilton Apartments (Hamilton Pass and Hoosier Road). A resident notified police after observing a suspicious car driving thru the apartment complex. While officers were searching the area, they observed a suspect inside a screened-in porch. The suspect refused commands from the officers and ran. Police chased the suspect and took him into custody. The suspect was later identified as Dwayne Chaney, 54, from Indianapolis.

The second incident occurred in the 9700 Block of April Rose Drive (96th Street and Cyntheanne Road). Like the prior incident, a resident immediately called 911 to report a suspicious person at their front door. As officers arrived, they observed the two suspects fleeing the area in a Honda passenger car. Officers pursued the suspects for a short distance before the Honda became disabled. The suspects were later identified as Gregory Gardner, 30, from North Vernon and Emily Parrish, 23, also from North Vernon.

The three suspects were taken into custody and transported to the Hamilton County Jail.  All three face several charges.

The Shop Fishers promotion for 2020 will start with Small Business Saturday on November 28, but will not end there.  About 65 local businesses will continue this promotion through the end of the year.  Stephanie Perry & Megan Baumgartner with the City of Fishers jointed me in this podcast.  Megan also talks about how local businesses are faring in general as part of her Economic Development job.

For more details on the 2020 Shop Fishers, use this link.   Listen to the podcast at the link below.

Whenever I start a conversation about COVID-19, I look to two sources – raw statistics and the analysis of public health & infectious disease experts that have devoted their lives to studying something like the novel coronavirus.  The numbers alone say a lot.

Let’s start with the numbers from the Fishers Health Department.  For those living within the city limits, 39 souls have died due to COVID.  Since the virus appeared on the scene last March – 3,490 in our city have tested positive.  Those numbers and many other metrics have placed our city in a red Level 4 status, the highest level of risk for COVID.

In the State of Indiana, more than 5,000 Hoosiers have died after contracting the virus.  The numbers state-wide are bad and getting worse.  Nationwide, more than a quarter of a million (250,00) Americans have died from COVID

I could cite lots of other numbers but it would just cause your head to spin.  However, here is one that I believe is important….more than 20,000 coronavirus tests have been conducted by the City of Fishers.  Another testing site is being opened aimed at students and staff at our local school district, Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools.

Mayor Scott Fadness absorbed a lot of criticism for creating a city health department, something only a handful of municipalities in Indiana have done.  It should be noted the City of Indianapolis extends its boundaries to the county line so the Marion County Health Department is essentially the City of Indianapolis health department.

A major reason Mayor Fadness created the department? –  there was no plan for testing and he felt at that time, and continues to believe, that availability of testing is key to the health of the population and to businesses located in Fishers.  Testing for residents of Fishers is offered for free and local businesses have access to testing for their staff for a fee.

To my knowledge, no local government in Indiana is offering a testing program as extensive as the Fishers program.  I do not agree with the critics of the mayor’s action.  I believe the testing program is an important ingredient in fighting this virus.

Now, let’s talk about the HSE Schools.  I recorded candidate podcasts for all 7 members of the current school board during their election campaigns.  I have not been able to attend school board meetings in person but have monitored all their meetings online since about April.

I know each member of that board wants to have every student back in their classrooms.  But each school board member also has a responsibility for the health and safety of students and staff.

The board voted last week to have all classes held virtually for all grade levels.  The reason this was necessary is that there are lots of teachers and other staff members either positive with COVID or have been exposed to someone testing positive and must quarantine for 14 days or more.

That has created a serious staffing problem for the local schools.  The number of available substitute teachers has dwindled dramatically since March.  Administrators at all levels had been handling classrooms left unstaffed.  Many teachers volunteered to staff a classroom during their preparation period.  In extreme cases, classes had to be combined, but that means students must be put closer together, bringing with that increased danger of spreading the virus.

This staffing issue is what caused HSE Schools to go all-virtual.  Classrooms must be staffed with an adult in charge.

Mayor Fadness sent out a blunt message soon after the school board meeting where all-virtual classes were approved.  In a podcast interview with me a few days later, he continued to stand by his statement but had regrets that not everyone interpreted his message in the way he claims it was intended.

As we enter the Thanksgiving holiday season, the public health experts are strongly recommending that families stay away from large gatherings as many have had in the past.  I am the oldest of six children and we traditionally have had a large celebration.  Adding up my brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, their children and some cousins sprinkled-in, we end up with quite a large party.  The Lannan family will not be doing that this year.  We will each have much smaller events, abiding by the experts’ advice.

I know we are not alone.  Contact tracing data from the Fishers Health Department show that in recent weeks, virus transmission has been happening mostly within homes & families, including events like weddings and birthday parties.

This is a case where we all must dig into our souls and determine the right thing to do under these extreme circumstance of a major pandemic.

Returning to the issue of schools, there is something leaders in this community can do.  This may already be happening but I have no inside information either way.

HSE Schools are in desperate need of substitute teachers in order to bring grades up to the 4th back into the classrooms, and bring back grades 5 & 6 back in-person 50% of the time.  Let’s start a program to encourage people in our community to become substitute teachers.

This is where the mayor can take a leadership position.  Perhaps the mayor could encourage those on the city payroll to volunteer a few days each month as a teaching sub.  Local employers could do the same.  Leaders in this community, service clubs and local nonprofit groups could be part of a campaign to recruit more substitute teachers.

I often hear local people ask what they can do to help the schools and here is a perfect example.  If you are not in a position to be a substitute teacher yourself, there is a good chance you know one or more people that would be in such a position.

As I have written before in this space, I contracted COVID-19.  I had symptoms.  That was not a pleasant experience, but I was lucky.  There were no hospital visits and even though I am in a high-risk group in more ways than one, at this point it appears I have made a full recovery.

My twin daughters are adults in their mid-20s now, but my wife Jane & I often talk about how hard it would be if our girls were in elementary school and we needed to support them in virtual learning.  I feel for all the parents dealing with that now.

I know the community is very divided on some of the COVID issues, particularly as it applies to the schools.  We have a major crisis.  I would argue we need to find enough common ground to come together as best we can to deal with the worst pandemic to hit the United States in 100 years.

I will be watching the Fishers community in the days and weeks to come.  Let’s agree to fight this virus and its local impact together.

Adam Aasen is away this weekend, so Alec Toombs & Larry Lannan handle the podcasting duties this week.