Teens arrested for bomb threat call at Mt. Vernon
FORTVILLE — The Fortville Police Department arrested three juveniles Wednesday evening in relation to a bomb threat called in at Mt. Vernon High School earlier this week.
Students and staff at Mt. Vernon High School were evacuated for more than an hour Tuesday afternoon after a school secretary received an anonymous bomb threat through a phone call.
Officers from the Indiana State Police swept the school with bomb-sniffing dogs before allowing students and staff to return to class. The officers and dogs found nothing, and classes resumed around 1:20 p.m., Mt. Vernon Superintendent Shane Robbins said.
Three teens now face charges of intimidation and false informing, both Level 6 felonies, after being arrested in Indianapolis, police said. They are being held at the Delaware County Juvenile Detention Center in Muncie.
Inaugural event highlights issues of substance abuse
GREENFIELD — More than 150 people gathered at the Hancock County Courthouse plaza Sept. 26 for the Hancock County Recovery Walk, hosted jointly by the Hancock County Probation Department and The Landing, a local counseling center for teens.
The event marked National Recovery Month, and those gathered heard from community officials about efforts to curb drug abuse in the county, as well as from several recovering addicts, who shared their personal struggles. Several area recovery groups dotted the plaza, handing out information to passers-by and answering questions about their programs.
County board waiting on nonprofit to crunch numbers
GREENFIELD — The Hancock County Board of Commissioners has yet to take action on a land lease for the proposed new fairgrounds nearly a month and a half after it was first introduced.
Members are waiting for the nonprofit board overseeing the project to crunch numbers and provide details about costs and funding for the project that’s estimated to exceed $30 million.
In August, the Hancock County Exposition Complex Corp., the group overseeing the project, presented the commissioners with a land lease for county-owned farmland along U.S. 40 and a strategic plan outlining the vision for the project and project phases.
It didn’t include details regarding construction costs or how the project would be paid for, commissioners said.
No traffic changes planned for busy intersection
GREENFIELD — Residents hoping to see a traffic signal installed at State Roads 9 and 234 likely won’t have their wish granted.
Recently, the Hancock County Board of Commissioners asked county highway engineer Gary Pool to work with the Indiana Department of Transportation to see if the intersection’s congestion at rush hour warranted installing a traffic signal.
On Tuesday, Pool told the commissioners that INDOT studied the intersection in March 2014 and didn’t see a significant need for a traffic signal or other traffic control mechanism.
