You will soon see construction begin north of Fishers City Hall all the way to the Amphitheater.  The Board of Public Works and Safety has approved a contract with Ratio Architects to make major improvements in that area of the municipal complex.

The contract with Ratio Architects to design the project will pay the firm $615,000.  The cost of the entire upgrade will be $6 million.

The details of the contract with Ratio are available at this link.

This is turning out to be a week of firsts for Fishers.  I also had a first today….my first time at Portillo’s.

To be honest, when people started to get hyper-excited about the mere possibility Portillo’s might be coming to Fishers, I wondered what all the fuss was about.  It’s just a hot dog place, right?

I just took my wife Jane and daughter Mary to Portillo’s for dinner today (Monday).  The eatery had been open for a while and it’s Monday night so it won’t be that busy, right?  Wrong.

The place wasn’t packed, but it was very busy.  Watching all the workers take every order from beginning to end was quite a spectacle.  It is a well-oiled food delivery machine.

Jane and Mary tried a hot dog, I ordered Italian Beef.  Did I mention Mary & I tried a cake shake (hope my doctor isn’t reading this)?  All three of us agreed that we now understand what all the uproar was about leading up to this.  Portillo’s has its own way of doing things.

The whole concept of having pieces of cake embedded into a milk shake seemed odd to me at first.  Once I tried it, I got it.

Bottom line, Portillo’s is something special.  I now understand.

But, we have more coming this week.  The lines are forming at the Fishers IKEA, preparing for the Wednesday morning opening.  This is another long-anticipated event that is finally going to happen.  I knew from the beginning why this is a big deal.

I still don’t understand why so many people are willing to wait so long to be at or near the front of the opening day line.  I know there are attractive give-aways for those first few people entering IKEA Wednesday – but waiting in line two days?

I have every reason to believe the IKEA grand opening will be very grand…everything I have seen this company do so far has been first class.  IKEA knows what its doing.

Then, we have the final word on the opening of Top Golf…it will be this coming Friday.  In this case, I did not know why so many people were so excited by Top Golf coming here.

I presume that relates to the fact I am not a golfer.  Those into golf will now be able to play year-round.  Top Golf is a high-tech operation which I still do not fully understand.  What I do understand is that the serious golfer cannot wait to use Top Golf.

I have also been told by experts in the field that Top Golf will be as much a crowd generator as IKEA.  That says a lot.

Don’t forget that the homes in the old Spring Dale Estates are being demolished to make way for The Yard development of restaurants and entertainment venues.  We are still waiting for specifically what eating establishments plan to locate in that complex.

So, here is the upshot.  Portillo’s has recently opened, IKEA opens Wednesday and Top Golf opens Friday.  When has Fishers seen a week like this?

It was 50 years ago,  October 13th, 1967, when Fishers Assistant Fire Chief Raymond “Bud” Moulder was called to assist the Noblesville Fire Department  with a commercial fire in downtown Noblesville.  There was an explosion that collapsed a wall.  Chief Moulder pushed another firefighter from Westfield out of the way, saving the life of that firefighter at the cost of his own.

The Fishers Fire Department and Fishers Fire Foundation are planning a Celebration of Life and fundraiser in remembrance of the 50th Anniversary of Assistant Chief Raymond “Bud” Moulder’s death, on Saturday, October 14, 2017 from 12 noon to 3pm at Station 91, located near City Hall.

City officials will name the department’s Medal of Valor after Chief Moulder, as well as erecting the “Moulder Boulder” memorial outside Fishers Fire Headquarters.  The Fishers Fire Foundation  will be creating a scholarship fund in Chief Moulder’s name.  The Moulder family will be at the event.

The public is invited to be a part of this celebration.  City  Barbecue will cater the food.  Tickets are $10, or $40 per family.  Those under 3 years of age are free.  You can buy tickets in advance at this link, but you can also buy them at the event.

I have written about how WTHR removing its station on the AT&T U-Verse TV service is a sign that the government will need to step in and end the consumers being victimized by a game of chicken between two for-profit corporations.  Trust me, even once this is settled, it will happen again unless federal authorities put rules into place to settle these disputes.

The two parties are at odds about the amount of money AT&T is to pay WTHR for the right to re-transmit their signal on the AT&T U-verse service.

But now that this has been dragging on for weeks, I have a word of warning to WTHR – this fracas is hurting you much more that AT&T at this point…..Channel 13 needs to settle now.

Why?  Let’s use my wife Jane & I.  We always tended to watch local news on WTHR.  They have good, experienced reporters that know the local scene very well.  You generally get a little extra from their news operation.  They also have the best TV investigative team in town.

But Jane & I have now started to watch other local news stations.  Guess what?  Those other stations are doing a good job of covering local news.  We are getting used to relying on other stations to get our local news.

That’s the danger WTHR faces.  Families such as ours, that have watched WTHR for years to get our local TV news, may never return.  WTHR’s ratings lead may well start to fade for a number of the AT&T U-Verse subscribers such as ourselves.

As I have written before, neither WTHR nor AT&T will discuss the details of what is causing this dispute, they just point the finger at each other and say it’s the other party’s fault.

My message to WTHR is that you have the most to lose at this point.  I can use an antenna to watch Notre Dame football.  Now that we have lived without your local newscasts for several weeks, we could well do without if from now on.  WTHR, you had best settle now.

Blade Runner 2049 has been a much-anticipated film and is finally in the theaters.  Adam Asse, IMAX theater manager Craig Mince and I all review the new science fiction sequel of the original 1982 movie.

The guest this week is Richard Propes, who talks about overcoming life obstacles to get to where he is today.  Richard also talks about films.

Hamilton County Reporter

When Friday evening began, Fishers was tied with Avon and Brownsburg for the lead
in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference.

Once the games were settled…nothing had changed.

The Tigers beat Westfield 27-17 at Riverview Health Stadium, doing their part to stay
in the hunt for the HCC championship. So did the two Hendricks County teams: The
Orioles blanked Zionsville 40-0 and the Bulldogs beat Noblesville 41-10.

All three teams now have 4-1 conference records going into the final week of the
regular season. Fishers will host Zionsville, Avon welcomes the Millers and Brownsburg
will host Hamilton Southeastern.

Westfield gave the Tigers a battle, leading 7-6 at halftime. The Shamrocks scored on
a seven-yard run by Cameron Nance and Alex Bales made the extra-point kick. That
answered a Fishers touchdown from earlier in the period: Matt Wolff connected on a 27-
yard pass to Collin Statz. The Tigers went for two, but the attempt didn’t go.

Fishers got those points back after scoring the first of two touchdowns in the third
quarter. Wolff tossed a two-yard TD throw to Jack Freeh, then made the conversion
throw to Bryce Gee. With 20 seconds left in the quarter, Wolff made another short pass
to the end zone, this one into the hands of Isaiah Dunnuck.

The Tigers then went to the foot of Ben Norton in the fourth quarter, and he made two
field goals to extend Fishers’ lead to 27-10. Westfield did get one more touchdown, this a
12-yard pass from Nance to Kaleb Pettijohn. Bales kicked the extra point; he also booted
a 47-yard field goal in the third period.

Wolff had an outstanding game, completing 13 of 18 passes for 187 yards and the
three scores. Statz and Will Syrus each had four catches. Nance also had a good game,
going 9 for 17 and totaling 142 yards and one touchdown.

The Shamrocks finished HCC play 2-4 and will travel to Brebeuf Jesuit next week.
Tigers beat Westfield, still in HCC chase

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern dropped a 30-0 game to Brebeuf Jesuit
Friday at Reynolds Royals Stadium.

The Braves scored in each period, leading 13-0 at halftime and
27-0 after three quarters.

Jackson Sweeney led HSE on the ground with 57 yards in 14
carries. Cody Huppenthal and Kody Sparks shared quarterback
duties, with Huppenthal going 4-for-10 and Sparks completing 7 of
17 throws. Nick Mutchner made six receptions, with Zach Boyle and
Ben Boysen both getting two catches.

The Royals are now 3-5 for the season. Southeastern will finish
the regular season at Brownsburg in a game that will also be HSE’s
Hoosier Crossroads Conference finale.

The Fishers Police Department has released funeral arrangements for Officer Ron Shepard.  The details are below:

There will be a flag ceremony at the Fishers Police headquarters Thursday, October 12th, at 4pm.  This is for public safety workers only.

Officer Shepard’s Celebration of Life will take place at the Wellington Banquet and Conference Center, 9775 North by Northeast in Fishers, on Friday, October 13th, 4pm to 9pm.  This is open to the public.

The funeral ceremony will be private.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to the Fishers Police Department Foundation.

This is a super-busy time for Fishers, especially along 116th Street east of the I-69 interchange.  The city of Fishers is offering some help.

For a quick guide to the grand openings, use this link to the Fishers City Web site.

For a guide to the openings of IKEA, Top Golf & Portillo’s, check this link 

Every year at this time, parents are planning Halloween activities, so the question is asked, when will Trick or Treat hours be this year?  Fishers Police Chief Mitch Thompson has provided the 2017 answer.

The hours will be 6:00pm to 8:00pm, Tuesday, October 31st.  Chief Thompson offers these tips to local residents for Halloween:

·         Give and accept wrapped or packaged candy only.

·         Only go to houses that you know the owner.

·         Have children bring treats home for adult inspection before they are eaten.

·         A parent or adult should accompany children when they are trick-or-treating.

·         Carry a flashlight.

·         Stay within your neighborhood; only visit homes you know.

·         Use make-up or face paint instead of masks.  If masks are used, make sure the child has good visibility.

·         Choose costumes that are flame retardant.

·         Wear light-colored clothing, short enough to prevent tripping.  Add reflective tape to dark colored costumes.

·         Watch for vehicle traffic and use caution when crossing the street.

Fishers will be on patrol the evening of October 31.  Chief Thompson asks residents to call 911 immendiately if you observe anything suspicious.