Most counties in Indiana have 3 county commissioners that act much like mayors of cities…commissioners run the county and the county council generally has jurisdiction over the budget. Hamilton County Commissioners Mark Heirbrandt and Christine Altman fully expected to be in the audience watching fellow Commissioner Steve Dillinger deliver the 2022 annual State of the County address.

Then it became known that Dillinger had tested positive for COVID-19.  That caused some scrambling, with Commissioners Heirbrandt and Altman working on a tight deadline to rework the presentation for the two of them Wednesday at the 4-H Fairgrounds.

The Noblesville Chamber of Commerce, sponsor of the event, announced at the outset that they had booked a full house for the lunch and address.

Heirbrandt and Altman did a tag team on presenting the update on Hamilton County government.  The duo led the speech with an update on State Road 37.  As reported earlier on this blog, the planned interchange at 141st Street and State Road 37 will be rebid.  High construction costs and some other issues will delay that project, possibly into 2024, because the bids were far too high at this time.

The commissioners then turned to the planned rebuilding of the intersection at 146th Street & Allisonville Road.  “We knew we needed to address this sooner than later,” said Heirbrandt.  “You can see during rush hour this thing is backed up for miles.”  There will be an overpass on 146th Street and a roundabout on ground level.  Construction is to start in the spring of 2023 with completion set for the fall of 2024.  The cost to the county will be $35.8 million, with $9.5 million in federal funds.

Altman did have some bad news for motorists on Allisonville Road.  During the construction period, it will be necessary to close Allisonville Road for 90 days.  County officials will announce the exact dates once that is determined.

The commissioners cited a number of other items the county is handling, including other road projects and a major upgrade to the county fairgrounds.

It was also announced that the county has 16,000 job positions open, the most on record.

The county has purchased land in the Noblesville area for a Women’s Shelter, in the area of State Road 38 & River Road.  County officials are working with the nonprofit group Prevail on details of that planned facility.

Finally, the Noblesville Chamber cited Beth Niedermeyer for her service as Noblesville Schools Superintendent.  Dr. Niedermeyer is retiring and her last day on the job is June 30.  I got to know her during her time as an assistant superintendent for Hamilton Southeastern Schools.  I wish Beth Niedermeyer all the best in her well-earned retirement years.

Fishers was settled 150 years ago today, and the city is ready to look back on our history to recognize the birthday – the Fishers Sesquicentennial.  Mayor Scott Fadness and Public Relations Director for the city, Ashley Elrod, join Larry to talk about plans to celebrate.

Every time I am asked to be a moderator for a candidate event, I do it, then swear I will never do that again.  Perhaps it is just the passage of time that softens my determination.

The Democratic Party of Hamilton County asked me to moderate a candidate event Tuesday evening at the Fishers Hamilton East Library.  This is part of a state-wide series of such events sponsored by Democrats.

I was torn about whether to accept the invitation.  Democrats did invite Republicans to join in the conversation, but I am told they all declined.  It is not a surprise that Republicans declined to attend a series of events sponsored by Democrats.

But Libertarian Party candidates were also invited and made an appearance at the Fishers event.

So, I accepted the invitation to be the moderator, on the condition that I am doing so as an independent journalist.  Democrats honored that and did not do anything except hand over questions for the candidates submitted by members of the audience.  I decided what questions to ask and how to word each question.

There were times that Libertarian candidates agreed with the Democrats on the stage on an issue like abortion, but there were some sharp differences on the issue of guns.

Other issues discussed included the economy and issues over voting.

It was good to see a large crowd, which indicates there is interest in the upcoming election.

Here are the candidates taking the stage Tuesday night:

United States Senate   

Tom McDermott  –  Democrat

James Sceniak  –  Libertarian

United States Congress District 5

Jeannine Lee Lake   –  Democrat

Indiana House District 32

Vivtoria Garia Wilburn  –  Democrat

Indiana Senate  District 31

Jocelyn Vare  –  Democrat

Indiana Secretary of State

Destiny Wells  – Democrat

Jeff Maurer  –  Libertarian

Anyone with a telephone, cell or wired, know that phone scammers always seem to find you.  There are a variety of ways thieves pry upon unsuspecting people.

The Fishers Police Department wants to alert local residents of a new angle on this scam – saying there is an arrest warrant out for you and instructing you to buy a gift card.  Sadly, some local people have been victimized.

Below is the full text of the Fishers Police message:

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Over the past several weeks the Fishers Police Department has responded to several different types of telephone scams. One of the most recent scams involved a suspect accusing the victim of having an outstanding arrest warrant and demanding they send gift cards to clear their name.

Many of these telephone scammers instruct the victim to stay on the phone, not tell anyone of the conversation, and travel to a store and purchase gift cards or green dot cards for a certain amount. Unfortunately, there have been a few Fishers residents that have been taken advantage of and have lost thousands of dollars. Here are a few safety tips you should follow if you are contacted by a possible telephone scammer:

• Immediately hang up the phone if you do not recognize or know the caller
• Never give out personal information. If you feel the call might be legitimate, you can ask the person to mail you information
• Never provide gift card numbers to anyone over the telephone
• No legitimate company or organization requires payment via gift cards or green dot cards
• No law enforcement agency threatens to arrest people over the phone
• If something does not sound or feel right, hang up the phone
• You are welcome to contact your local law enforcement agency, however most of these telephone scams originate from overseas and are very difficult if not impossible to trace.

Hamilton County Commissioner Steve Dillinger has tested positive for COVID-19, so that means there will be some changes to the State of the County address Wednesday at the 4-H Fairgrounds.

According to a county new release, the other two commissioners, Mark Heirbrandt and Christine Altman, will share the duties of delivering the annual speech.

“The pair are expected to discuss a myriad of infrastructure projects as well as designs for a new domestic violence shelter and two new county parks, as well as the county’s finances,” according to the county announcement.

The State of the County is hosted by the Noblesville Chamber of Commerce.

The 2022 summer version of Shop Fishers is back for year number three, and the city-sponsored series is set for July 16-23.

This is an effort to promote local businesses.

“With deals ranging from 20% off your purchase, to buy one get one free, to discounted gift cards, you can soak up the summer’s best deals with back-to-school bargains and end-of-summer fun,” according to a city news release.

More than 50 establishments are participating this year.

Here is a full listing:

Continue reading Shop Fishers, summer edition, back for 2022 →

As I have previously written, the 2022 Spark Fishers Festival dodged a bullet from the weather.  The street fair, parade & fireworks all went off without a hitch.  Now, local attention turns to an important anniversary.

Fishers will honor its place on the map as a municipality this year, with its 150 year birthday, meaning it will be a sesquicentennial celebration.  The city is spearheading a number of activities.

Fishers is searching for its oldest living resident.  If you know of someone that might meet that criteria, use this link to contact the city.

In a few days, I will be working with the City of Fishers to produce a series of podcasts about Fishers’ sesquicentennial and the history of our local community.  I am scheduled to record the first in that series of podcasts later this week.

Also, local publisher Tom Britt of Fishers Magazine mentioned a time capsule his organization plans to put together for the future.  He talked about that while serving as the announcer for the Spark Fishers Festival parade Saturday.

I have a feeling this is going to be great for our city, going all the way back to the start of Fishers in 1872.  I am looking forward to playing a small part of it.

Fishers had a summer festival from 1989 through 2017 named the Fishers Freedom Festival and dissolved the nonprofit group running that event, so the city took over the celebration in 2018 as the Spark Fishers Festival.  This summer event has seen all kinds of weather for this time of year, but the weather gave Fishers a break in 2022.

No rain had been forecast for the street fair, parade and fireworks set for Saturday.  But a line of showers formed to the northwest of our fair city and menaced the festival, particularly the parade.

We all kept a close eye on the forecast and weather radar, which did not look good around 5pm.  Then, the rain appeared to dissipate before arriving over the festival grounds.  Other than a few small drops of rain, the conditions were perfect for the festival – no rain, overcast with pleasant temperatures.

So, the street fair went on, the parade started and ended with no weather issues and the fireworks were performed without any rain.

It was a good day, with a very large crowd for the parade (at least that’s the way it looked from my vantage point just west of Municipal Drive on 116th Street).

I took plenty of photos Saturday, so here is the product of my work, plus a video of the Fishers Tigers Marching Band:

Continue reading Weather was Spark Fishers Festival’s friend in 2022 →

It has been quite a week for American jurisprudence.  The United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) handed down major opinions on taxpayer support of religious schools and gun rights, but nothing compares with the reaction to the ruling on abortion.

If you are looking for me to weigh-in on my views about all these SCOTUS rulings, you won’t find that here.  What I will explore is something related but different – the public’s view of one of the most important institutions in our nation – our highest court.

The Gallup polling organization has been measuring public confidence on SCOTUS since May of 1973.   The court’s standing with those polled has been close to 60% in parts of the 1980s.  Now, Gallup’s recent polling shows a 25% confidence rate, the lowest ever measured by Gallup.

Even among Republicans, the court has only a 39% confidence rate.  Among Democrats, it is only 13%.  It is the confidence rate among independents that is the most concerning, a lowly 25%.  Since 2006, confidence has averaged 35% and has not exceeded 40% in any survey, according to Gallup.

This poll was conducted June 1-20 this year, before the abortion decision was published.

Why has America soured on confidence in the nation’s highest judicial institution?  After reading many experts, there is a consensus building that Americans now see the court as just another political institution rather than a group of judges looking at the law impartially.

A lot of news organizations have replayed the confirmation hearings of the three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump (Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett).  When asked about the Roe vs. Wade decision of 1973 establishing a constitutional right to abortion, all worded their responses very carefully, but tried to leave the impression the Roe decision was a settled precedent over nearly 50 years and would likely not be overturned.

In addition, several senators voting on these three justices appointed by Trump claim to have been assured by the recent nominees privately that Roe would not be overturned.

Washington Post reporter Amy Wang wrote that Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins believed Trump nominees Gorsuch and Kavanaugh would not vote to overturn Roe.

“This decision is inconsistent with what Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh said in their testimony and their meetings with me, where they both were insistent on the importance of supporting long-standing precedents that the country has relied upon,” Collins was quoted in the Post story.

Then there is Democrat Joe Manchin, who issued this statement –  “I trusted Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh when they testified under oath that they also believed Roe v. Wade was settled legal precedent and I am alarmed they chose to reject the stability the ruling has provided for two generations of Americans.”

When senators voting on confirming Supreme Court justices feel deceived in the process, that is not good for the reputation of the institution.

Many American institutions have been under attack in recent years, and the United States Supreme Court is a major pillar among those institutions.  When SCOTUS is not held in high regard, bad things happen.

In 1832, SCOTUS issued a ruling in the Worcester v. Georgia case, affirming the legal rights of Native American tribes.  President Andrew Jackson chose to ignore the ruling, allowing one of the blackest marks in American history, the Trail of Tears, when American Indians were forced from their lands.

Jackson chose to ignore the Supreme Court ruling because he thought he could get away with it, and he did.  The public did not hold SCOTUS in such high regard at that time in American history.

The public must have respect for important institutions, and those institutions must act in a way consistent with the authority & responsibilities bestowed upon those institutions.  When an institution like the United States Supreme Court no longer has the confidence of a large part of the public, very bad things can happen.

A closure of 126th Street over I-69 and traffic changes for Spark Fishers.  That, plus the ongoing construction and neighborhood street resurfacing, are part of this week’s road construction update.

Here is the latest, as provided by the City of Fishers:

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STATE ROAD 37 AND 146TH STREET
All left-turn lanes are currently restricted on SR 37 and on 146th Street with traffic moved to the interior lanes. Thru traffic and right turns on SR 37 and 146th Street will remain open. Drivers are encouraged to seek alternate routes for all left turn access. View an alternate route map here.  

STATE ROAD 37 AND 131ST/135TH STREET
135th Street, east of SR 37, is currently closed as work progresses on the project. This closure will be in place until early July. SR 37 will remain open both northbound and southbound and allow right in/right out access at 131st Street. View the detour map here.

Please drive with caution through this area. To learn more about the State Road 37 Improvement Project and sign up to receive text updates, visit 37Thrives.com.

The inside lane of the Technology Drive is currently closed to traffic to allow for construction of new pavement in the inside lane.  One-way traffic will be in place in the outside lane as shown here.  Access to all businesses will be maintained during the construction.

The intersection at Southeastern Pky. & Cyntheanne Road is currently closed for roundabout construction and is anticipated to reopen by the end of July. View the detour map here. Schoolhouse 7 Café will remain open for business during construction. View how to access their business here.  

Beginning at 9 p.m. on Sunday, June 26, 126th Street, between Hoosier Road and Promise Road, will be closed in both directions for bridge repairs being completed by INDOT and is anticipated to reopen by Noon on Friday, July 1, weather permitting. View detour map here. 

On Friday, July 1, there will be lane restrictions on Brooks School Road between Aldenham Blvd. and Club Point Drive, weather permitting, to allow for utility work behind the asphalt path. Flaggers will be in place to help direct traffic. 

On Monday, June 27, the outside westbound lane of 116th Street, just before the Nickel Plate Trail bridge will be restricted between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. for sidewalk work. Arrow boards will be in place.

Road closures and parking restrictions will be in effect around the Municipal Complex during the Spark! Fishers festival through Saturday, June 25. A full list of restrictions and closures can be found here. 
 

ADA ramp and curb reconstruction has started taking place in Charleston Crossing, Eller Trails, Lantern Overlook, and Sunblest as part of the 2022 Resurfacing Project. Homeowners will be notified via door hangers prior to any curb reconstruction near their home. After ADA ramp and curb reconstruction is completed, those areas will be restored with topsoil and seed. It is the responsibility of the homeowner to water the seed for the seed to germinate. Prior to road resurfacing, residents will be notified via street signage for street parking restrictions.