Hamilton Southeastern High School has a new wrestling coach, and his name is Courtney Duncan.  He comes to HSE from Frankton High School where he coached wrestling.  He won a state wrestling championship while a student at Frankton in 1995.

Duncabn will be a special education teacher at Fall Creek Junior High School, grades 7 & 8.

“I’m excited to be a Hamilton Southeastern Royal,” Duncan told the school board after his hiring was approved.  “I’m excited about the opportunity, where I can lead the direction of Hamilton Southeastern wrestling and special education department.”

(NOTE:  Earlier versions of this story had an incorrect name for the coach.  The story has been corrected)

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

The most striking aspect of Tuesday’s primary election was the fact that in a county with a third of a million residents, a mere 10,000 votes will choose a Superior Court judge and 12,000 can elect a sheriff. This is not a criticism of the winning candidates for these or other offices. They did all they could to encourage folks to vote.

The problem lies with our general public which does not seem to understand the importance of a primary election. There is almost no use in preaching to the choir on this because we can be reasonably certain that most readers of the Reporter voted. But, there are tens of thousands of our citizens who don’t get the message.

Hamilton County votes reasonably well in the November election. But, if folks want to help choose their elected officials, they must vote in the primary. That is where the choices are made. In this county, most local primary winners will be elected without opposition in November.

The most overarching issue of the recent election was attention given to the spreading opioid epidemic which is both a local and national crisis. Most candidates for prosecutor, sheriff, judge and even county council promised that if elected they would attack the problem with renewed energy and new ideas.

County Coroner John Chalfin said Tuesday night during election returns that 18 county citizens are likely fatal victims of the drug so far this year. The coroner’s grim news, as a coroner’s news usually is, was that deaths are running well ahead of this time last year.

On the lighter side, one candidate on Tuesday’s ballot made the unusual request that he not be elected. That was Mike McConnell who was on the ballot for Cicero Town Council. He had told his friends and neighbors that due to recent personal issues, he would rather not win. They heard him. He got 122 votes of the 1,651 cast in the Cicero voting.

The closest election was in Sheridan where only three votes separated Bill Curl from Steve Fisher; however, both earned at-large seats on the town council. Another close vote saw Paul Hensel, a member of a longtime political family, defeat incumbent Paul Bolin for a seat on the Clay Township Board by 26 votes in a four-way race where 23,322 votes were cast.

And, if you think the campaign for the U.S. Senate nomination was nasty, apparently 2,452 of our voters thought it was nasty enough that they chose not to cast a ballot for any of the candidates. Since 43,021 voters went to the polls, but only 40,569 ballots were cast at the top of the ticket where the greatest number is usually found, we can assume that the 2,452 did not want to vote for anyone of the three candidates.

The Sunday before election day, I wrote a piece on my blog, once again making the case that I believe every vote is precious in every election, but low voter turnout elections present a special opportunity for those heading to the polls.  With fewer votes cast, each vote tallied has even more significance.

The 2018 Delaware Township Board Republican primary election provides a specific case in point.

Township government is the most local, the smallest form of government under Indiana law.  Townships have several responsibilities – among the major ones are providing fire and emergency services, supporting poor relief and managing some cemeteries.

Township trustees are the administrators, with the township boards providing oversight, including budget decisions.

The City of Fishers straddles two townships, Delaware to the west and Fall Creek to the east.

In the Republican primary election for Delaware Township Board, David Giffel defeated incumbent board member Rich Fain by 3 votes.  Giffel received 1,173 votes, Fain 1,170.  If you voted in that election, the ballot you cast had a huge impact on who will represent you on this township board.

Speaking of the Delaware Township board election, Democrats had a primary contest, a rare local occurrence.  There were four Democrats seeking 3 slots to run in November.  The one Democratic candidate that failed to make the cut was Kent Nelson.

One Hamilton County Council race that was very close came in District 1, which takes in part of Fishers’ west end.  Incumbent Councilman Fred Glynn defeated Sue Maki by 139 votes out of 7,995 votes cast in that race, meaning Glynn won by just over 1% of the vote.  The final count showed Glynn with a total of 4,067, Maki with 3,928.

My congratulations go to all the winners and a great deal of appreciation goes to all candidates, even the losers.  Not everyone can win in competitive elections, but it is the competitive elections that continue to keep our democracy thriving.

Just under 19% of all registered voters chose to cast ballots in this primary election.  If you use the eligible voters pool the percentage is even smaller.

The next time a primary election comes around, consider voting.  There are close contests, and you can make the difference.

Another Hamilton County primary election is in the books, so let’s look at what we know about what the voting tabulations tell us…

–Christine Altman has won a fifth term as Hamilton County Commissioner, defeating challenger Matt Milam.

–Dennis Quakenbush has won the GOP Primary election for Hamilton County Sheriff.

–Fred Glynn defeated Sue Maki in their County Council race…Glynn won by 139 votes, less than one per cent of the votes cast.

–Ken Alexander gets the nod from voters in County Council District 4.

–Steve Schwarz won re-election to his county council seat over challenger Mark Hall.

There is a lot more to report, but I will have more to say later.  In the meantime, get a good night’s sleep!

Firefighters were called to the Indiana Gun Club, located on 113th Street in the Geist area of Fishers.  Authorities received a report of an explosion and fire at the gun club around 6:40pm Tuesday.

Fishers Fire personnel found a substantial amount of fire which was quickly extinguished. An enclosed trailer, storage sheds and garage were involved.

Fire Investigators say the cause of the fire/explosion was a self-ignition of the smokeless powder inside the trailer.  Fire officials believe the interior temperature of the trailer reached an ignition temperature, causing the rapid ignition of materials.  The investigation will continue.

The club appeared to be closed at the time the incident was reported.

As of 7:37pm Tuesday, 113th Steet remained closed until fire hose equipment could be removed from the scene.

There is a new e-mail scam circulating locally and Fishers Police want you to know about it.  The message claims it is coming from a Fishers, Indiana court.

This e-mail provides links to contest an alleged citation or pay the fine. The message also threatens additional consequences if the fine is not paid within 72 hours.

The message was recognized by the Fishers resident receiving it, thought is looked to be bogus, and contacted city court. The court confirmed that they do not send such e-mails.

Fishers Police want all local citizens to remember this – if you receive a suspicious e-mail,  NEVER click on the links and delete it immediately.

We have a primary election on May 8th, so I have a couple of thoughts about what we all need to keep in mind.

First, we are electing the people to run on the Republican and Democratic Party tickets in the November general election.  It is critical for you to vote…here’s why.

Because the turnout is so low, your vote holds more value than ever.  I believe a vote is precious no matter how many are cast, but it is a statistical fact that a vote cast in a low-turnout election has more impact on the results.  We have had some very close primary elections in Hamilton County, and a few votes here and there could have changed the results.

Keep that in mind when you are deciding whether or not to head out to the polls Tuesday.

My second thought brings me to the Republican State Senate primary in District 31, where Jim Merritt is the incumbent.  District 31 takes in Lawrence Township and a part of Fishers, Fall Creek Township to be precise.

This past Friday WISH-TV aired a story about Merritt’s primary opponent, Crystal LaMotte, leveling charges that the address shown on his voting record is not his actual residence.  She claims to have hired a private investigation firm to watch the residence listed as Senator Merritt’s and asserts he is not living there.

Jim Merritt responded that he does live there and sleeps there.  He categorically told WISH-TV that he does live within District 31.

My experience covering and watching political campaigns tells me we should all be wary of any charge like this made so close to election day, when it is difficult for the media to sort out such charges.

I do not know Senator Merritt well, but we have talked on a few occasions and he has been a guest on one of my LarryInFishers.com Podcasts.

I would tell GOP primary voters to take all this with a grain of salt.  If Senator Merritt says categorically he does live in District 31, I take him at his word.

I do expect election night to be quite interesting.  With all the state and local offices up for grabs, we will have a better idea where are party politics stand on Wednesday morning.

(photo from Fishers Fire Department)

Fishers firefighters were bring a house fire under control as of 7:15 Sunday evening on Hillsborough Dr in Hillsborough addition.  The single occupant of the home was not injured, according to the fire department.

Fire personnel say they were hampered by a large amount of personal belongings in the home.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

A one-year delay in construction of the planned major addition to the Hamilton County Government and Judicial Center is quite likely. A decision is not yet official, pending a joint meeting of county commissioners and county council on Wednesday, May 9, The Reporter has learned.

The reasons for postponing the 100,000 square foot expansion include the fact that bids are slightly higher than a proposed budget permits, plus a planned contingency fund is proposed at only two percent of construction costs which may not be sufficient and, most of all, the bid prices do not include finishing any part of the interior of the new addition.

For these reasons, County Commissioner Steve Dillinger said it is his personal opinion that a delay is reasonable. Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt did not disagree, and said re-bidding in November or December may be financially advantageous. Bidding again at that time will allow the county to bond up to $15 million toward the project without a countywide referendum, thanks to a new state law that increased public bonding limits.

Construction could then begin in early 2019, hopefully with at least the main floor interior complete for use.

In the coming months work could be done on moving and extending certain utilities to get that process out of the way of construction. Commissioners made it clear that it is still their intention to do the expansion project to provide space for growing needs of the courts and other offices.

The joint meeting of commissioners and council will be held the day after the primary election when the coming year’s make-up of both bodies will likely be known. Four council members and one commissioner are up for election this year.

The Government and Judicial Center is 26 years old, and at the time of construction officials said expansion might well be needed in about 20 years. The cost of the new addition is estimated at around $23 million and can be completed without a property tax increase because existing bonds will have matured by next year, and new ones may be sold without any increase in the debt retirement levy, officials say.

The expansion will increase the size of the building by about 50 percent with the new construction to the west of the present structure and will include a new, more attractive west front facing White River.