by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

Noblesville lost a great one when Howard Kenley passed away Tuesday at the age of 99.

He was a member of what is aptly known as the Greatest Generation. He not only experienced the Great Depression and fought valiantly in World War II, but came home to build a thriving grocery business, persevere through the loss of his first wife, raise a family that eventually included eight children who became productive citizens, and contribute greatly to his community.

Howard was physically active from his days as a high school athlete to the age of 95 when he was still playing golf. All the while he maintained a steady, low key demeanor, assisting where he could without seeking the spotlight.

The community should not be unduly saddened, but rather grateful for Howard’s long and productive life here. He represented the best of what many local folks like to refer to as ‘the old Noblesville.’

by

Richie Hall

Sports Editor 

Hamilton County Reporter

Fishers’ football season came to an end on Friday, as the Tigers lost the Class 6A Sectional 5 championship game to North Central 42-7 at Reynolds Tigers Stadium.

The Panthers are ranked No. 4 in 6A, and they played like a top-level team in winning their first sectional title since 1993. North Central is now 9-2 for the season and hosts No. 1 Warren Central next week for the Regional championship.

“They’ve had a great year and they were a lot better than we were tonight,” said Fishers coach Rick Wimmer. “I was a little disappointed we didn’t play a little better, but you got to give them a lot of that credit.”

The Panthers wasted no time in getting on the board: Quarterback Liam Thompson threw a pass to Richard Hamilton on the second play of the game, and Hamilton took it in to the end zone for a 51-yard touchdown reception. That gave North Central a 7-0 lead just 59 seconds into the game.

The Tigers held NC to a three-and-out in its next possession, and then recovered a fumble late in the first quarter. That gave Fishers excellent field position, and they took the ball to the five-yard line. Fishers attempted a field goal, but the Panthers blocked the kick, and North Central’s Michael Brown scooped it up and took it 75 yards for a touchdown.

“They busted out a kickoff return on us, then got it going pretty quickly offensively,” said Wimmer. “Then we missed a scoring opportunity, had a chance to tie it up or at least get to 7-3, and they turn it around and make it a 14-point game pretty quick. That was a tough part right there.”

The Panthers led 28-0 at halftime, after Thompson made two more long touchdown passes in the second quarter. In the third period, Thompson ran in for an eight-yard TD with 5:08 left in the quarter, then Daniel Smith scored on a 20-yard touchdown run early in the fourth period. Scott Hoeg made all six extra point kicks.

Fishers got on the board midway through the fourth quarter, when Collin Statz caught a 22-yard touchdowns pass from Marcus Roux. Jack Phillips made the extra point kick. North Central took over and ran the ball and the clock out from there.

Roux finished the game completing 10 of 24 passes for 83 yards, with Statz collecting six receptions for 49 yards and the score. North Central’s defense held Fishers to 71 yards rushing; Roux had the most yardage, 24 in eight carries.

The Tigers finished the season 4-6, but still performed admirably despite dealing with injuries throughout the season.

“I was proud of the way our kids hung together,” said Wimmer.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness has entered Hamilton Southeastern School Board politics by announcing candidate endorsements Friday evening and adding one Sunday.  Fadness is endorsing four school board hopefuls in the 2018 general election.

Mayor Fadness endorsed the following four candidates:

District 1 – Josh Richardson

District 2 – Frank Whelan

District 3 – Michelle Fullhart

District 4 – Brad Banks

In this election cycle, voters choose from the candidates within their geographic district only based on where the voter lives within the Hamilton Southeastern School District.  There are 4 board seats up for election this year.

Fadness originally did not endorse any candidate in District 1, but added his backing of Josh Richardson Sunday.

The mayor made the announcement on social media posts.

I recorded podcasts with all ten candidates for school board.  For that and more, use this link.

One would think with November here, road construction in the Fishers area would slow down.  The length of the list may be a bit smaller, but many will have a major impact on local motorists.

131st Street and Allisonville Road is set to be closed to all traffic for 30 days.  All vehicles on Allisonville Road will be switched to the new pavement on the west side of the road.

Look for drainage work, particularly along Lantern Road, in preparation for the State Road 37 reconstruction.

For a full list, provided by the City of Fishers, so the items below:

==============

ALLISONVILLE ROAD
Beginning on the evening of November 2, 131st Street will be closed to all traffic at Allisonville Road for up to 30 days for utility and reconstruction work. Detour is south to 126th Street, where left turns will be permitted over to Lantern Road November 6 (weather permitting).

Weather permitting, on Tuesday, November 6, all traffic will be switched to the west of Allisonville Road onto new pavement from Fawnsbrook Drive to 131st Street. Work will begin on the east side of the road, and one lane will be open in each direction.  For more info on this project, view the Fact Sheet.

136TH STREET & SOUTHEASTERN PARKWAY
Final pavement work is scheduled for Saturday, November 3, weather permitting. Rolling lane closures and restrictions will be in place during this time.

FLORIDA ROAD
Florida Road between Luxhaven Road and Martha Street is now open.

FLORIDA ROAD & 113TH STREET
The new roundabout at 113th Street and Florida Road is now open.

106TH STREET 
106th Street from Hague Road to the Crosspoint Boulevard/Lantern Road roundabout is now open, with lane restrictions. This is still an active construction site, so please drive with caution. 106th Street from Eller Road to Allisonville Road and from Allisonville Road to Hague Road remains closed for the 106th Street Infrastructure Project. This project is still on schedule.

STATE ROAD 37
Drainage work for SR37 has begun. Construction vehicles will be using the construction entrance on Lantern Road, between 126th Street and 131st Street, and may cause some short delays. There are no scheduled lane restrictions or closures along SR37 at this time

Fishers High School grad Greg Murray earned a Spectrum Award from the Indiana Broadcasters Association this week.  He won the honor for his work in high school sports radio broadcasts.

Greg works for Indiana University, doing play-by-play for the IU baseball team, women’s basketball and other duties around the athletic department.

A smoking battery due to a possible student prank resulted in moving Fishers Junior High Schools students to move from one classroom to another Thursday due to the smoke.  There were no injuries.

Here is the message sent to Fishers Junior High School parents Friday afternoon:

We wanted to let you know about an incident that happened yesterday afternoon in a classroom. During 6^th period, a student put a thumbtack into a cell phone battery during instruction. The battery then started smoking. All students were moved out of the classroom, while administrators safely disposed of the battery. Thankfully no injuries were reported, and students continued learning in a neighboring classroom until dismissal.

by

Stu Clampitt

Hamilton County Reporter

The Festival of Trees is only a couple weeks away, but you can see and bid on some beautiful holiday creations right now at the Hamilton County Government and Judicial Center.

Saturday, Nov. 17 will be the fifth annual Hamilton County Festival of Trees, and it will be held at Bridgewater Country Club, 3535 E. 161st St., Westfield. The Festival of Trees is a dinner and Christmas tree auction to raise funds to help families in need during the holiday season.

All proceeds benefit the Good Samaritan Network of Hamilton County, Inc., for their signature holiday food and assistance program for county residents.

The Hamilton County Government and Judicial Center has five trees displayed for Good Samaritan Network of Hamilton County. This is the Festival of Trees Pre-Event Silent Auction that the public can view and bid on those trees.

Event Coordinator Kim Harden was in charge of finding the designers who decorated these themed Christmas trees, organizing the event, and helping promote it.

“For Thanksgiving and Christmas, people get food boxes,” Harden said. “At Christmas all the kids get three new gifts and clothes – whatever they need. Last year Good Samaritan helped 26,978 people who live in Hamilton County. I think people don’t realize we have lower income people who live in Hamilton County who work but are really struggling to make ends meet. Those are the people we want to help. “

Bidding on the trees at the judicial center started Monday and will end Nov. 16. Two days after the event, trees will be delivered to winning bidders by Two Men And A Truck moving company.

The Live Auction at Bridgewater with limited seating has sold out the past two years. You can purchase tickets for the live Festival of Trees Auction held at Bridgewater Club at gsnlive.org

Visit facebook.com/FestivalofTreesGSN for more information and pictures.

(NOTE: This is a commentary written by Fred Swift of the Hamilton County Reporter. The views expressed are those of Fred Swift and do not necessarily reflect the views of LarryInFishers.com.  This opinion piece is posted here as part of a partnership between the Reporter and LarryInFishers.com) 

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton County is a place where individual communities like to keep their separate agencies and organizations. Whereas many Hoosier counties go countywide on such things as planning commissions, library districts, historical societies and even school districts, in our county most communities keep their own systems and with this, their own identities.

Hamilton County has nine planning jurisdictions, nine fire departments, six school corporations, five library districts and five historical museums. This has been the case for years, leading some to say that’s too many organizations to be efficient, but at the rate the county is growing, it has probably proved wise to have multiples of such institutions and agencies.

But, it is painful sometimes. Right now county officials are trying to get all fire departments and police departments to agree on how to pay fairly for 911 emergency communications costs. Larger jurisdictions have been paying smaller departments’ costs and want to end that practice while still keeping a centralized communications system.

Our five public library systems have joined in resisting state administration efforts to have (with a few exceptions) only countywide library districts. Hamilton County libraries in recent years have adopted a reciprocal agreement so that any library patron can use any library in the county.

The number of planning and zoning jurisdictions pose problems when as many as three jurisdictions meet at one highway intersection. One planning board may zone one side of a road for one type of use while across the road zoning is not compatible. But, planners do meet with each other and usually find a workable solution.

With school districts there are few if any problems. And, with the tremendous growth in school enrollment, six school systems is probably none too many. If enrollments grow too large administration becomes more difficult.

Museums and historical societies in Hamilton County concentrate on their immediate community, so important in our growing county where many newer residents don’t have knowledge of their local history and culture.

So, while our county may be unique is some of these areas, we’re doing all right, and we just happen to be safest, best educated, and most attractive to new residents and businesses of any in the state.

Tomorrow’s commentary will be devoted to one of the county historical societies that is increasing its activity to enhance awareness of its community’s contributions.

by

Richie Hall

Sports Editor 

Hamilton County Reporter

This year’s Fishers girls basketball team will have familiar faces, yet there will also be a new look for the Tigers.

Fishers did graduate six seniors from last year’s 13-12 team, including Toni Grace, who is now playing at Davenport University. But the Tigers have four players returning who played all or almost all of the varsity games last year, along with a few others who got some playing time as well.

“While we graduated six seniors and a great deal of our scoring in point guard Toni Grace, we return several players with multiple years of varsity experience,” said Fishers coach Lauren Vail. “Juniors Lydia Stullken and Tamia Perryman and Seniors Skylar Fulton and Cierra Tolbert all contributed last year and I look for each one to have an increased role this season.”

Perryman was the second-leading scorer last year, averaging 7.2 points per game. She was also far and away the top rebounder for the Tigers, bringing in an impressive 7.8 boards per contest. Perryman also led the team with 1.7 assists.

Stullken was also a force on the boards, with 3.6 rebounds per game. She was also the blocks leader, with 1.2 per contest, and averaged 3.8 points. As for the seniors, Fulton brings back 6.9 points per game, while Tolbert averaged 2.4 rebounds.

After those four players, Vail has four additional players who will be factors for Fishers this season.

“We will add a couple of sophomores in Katie Burton and Audra Emmerson and juniors Regan Newman and Kaitlynn Feagan who were both part of a very successful JV squad and will be looking to make the jump to the varsity level and contribute,” said Vail.

As a freshman, Burton played 13 varsity games last season and had decent numbers, scoring 2.8 points per game. Emmerson got into four games, with Newman playing two games.

“As a team, this group will work well together and I look for consistent improvement as the season goes on as we implement a new style of play,” said Vail. “I am very excited to work this group.”

Fishers will begin its season on Saturday by playing two games at the Ben Davis Invitational. The Tigers take on Southport at 11:30 a.m., then play the host Giants at 4:30 p.m.

VARSITY ROSTER
Seniors: Skylar Fulton, Cierra Tolbert.
Juniors: Kaitlynn Feagan, Regan Newman, Tamia Perryman, Lydia Stullken.
Sophomores: Addison Arena, Katie Burton, Audra Emmerson, Katie Howard.

There were no classes held at Hoosier Road Elementary and Fall Creek Intermediate Schools Thursday and Friday because a teacher at each school died Wednesday night tragically.  Classes are set to resume Monday.

Late Friday afternoon, Fishers Police released the Hamilton County Coroner’s ruling that Kristal Sergi, a teacher at Hoosier Road Elementary School, died Wednesday night from a homicide with multiple gunshot wounds to the chest.  The death of Frank Sergi, an art teacher at Fall Creek Intermediate, was a suicide with a single gunshot to the head, per the coroner’s report.

This has been a very difficult time for the many people in the Fishers area that knew this couple.  Based on public records, it appears the couple was in the process of going through a divorce.

There were counselors and mental health professionals available at Hoosier Road & Fall Creek Thursday & Friday.

Now, it is time to return to classes.  Hamilton Southeastern Schools Superintendent Allen Bourff sent the following message Sunday:

Classes resume Monday, October 29 at Hoosier Road Elementary and Fall Creek Intermediate, and our sympathies go out to the Sergi family and especially to their sons. Our thanks go to the many patrons and neighbors who have extended themselves to support our staffs. Our admiration, confidence, and thanks go out to our staff for their resilience and determination to serve their students in the wake of such tragedy and their own personal grief. As I have said so many times throughout recent days, we have good people coming together to work through this challenge, and they will. To our families and to our students, rest assured that you are in capable, professional, and most of all, loving hands as school starts again. 

Yes, classes resume (Monday) at Hoosier Road Elementary and Fall Creek Intermediate, but throughout all of Hamilton Southeastern Schools, all schools open with a heightened awareness of the fragility of life and the significance of each individual. 

Together, we move forward.