Each year the Shelby County Drug Free Coalition offers funding opportunities to
agencies seeking to reduce substance abuse in Shelby County. Grants will be
awarded to projects in three areas: Prevention / Education, Treatment / Intervention and Criminal Justice / Law Enforcement.

Proposal requests must be for Shelby County residents / businesses and must address one of the objectives contained in the Coalitions Comprehensive Community Plan.

Grants will be for a one-year period from April 2022 through March 2023.

Applicants are encouraged to submit an application. Applications will be available
on-line Monday December 13, 2021. Applications can be obtained on line at
www.shelbycountydrugfree.com .

Submit an emailed copy to scdfc.office@gmail.com no later than 4:00 p.m. Friday January 14, 2022.

ShelbyCounty Drug Free Coalition Community Fund dollars are comprised of alcohol and other drug offender fees collected by Shelby County.

Any questions about a grant proposal? Email Lori Springer - scdfc.lkspringer@gmail.com

Hoosiers seeking to learn about where to receive the monoclonal antibodies that have been used to prevent progression of COVID-19 disease can contact 211 for information.

Callers to 211 will be connected to Crush COVID, a support center managed by KPMG LLP that provides information about monoclonal antibody treatment on behalf of participating providers. The service will locate the nearest treatment site by ZIP code. Individuals can then contact the infusion center for more information about who can receive the treatment and how to schedule an appointment.

Nearly 100 sites across Indiana are serving as infusion centers.

Monoclonal antibody therapy is the first COVID-19 treatment granted emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for outpatient use. The therapy has been shown to help high-risk COVID-19 patients avoid hospitalization and recover at home. It is also authorized by the U.S. FDA to prevent COVID-19 following exposure to the virus in some cases.

Hoosiers who are interested in receiving the treatment can call 211 (866-211-9966) to learn more.

Today is the Great American Smokeout (GASO), a day to commit to being tobacco free. The American Cancer Society (ACS) designates the third Thursday of every year as the GASO, which encourages smokers to make a pledge to quit using tobacco products for just one day.

“The most important thing Hoosiers can do to improve their health is to quit using any tobacco products,” said State Health Commissioner Kris Box, M.D., FACOG. “The Indiana Department of Health supports those who take their first steps toward making a plan to quit for good.” The ACS emphasizes that those who use tobacco don’t have to quit in one day – they just have to start with “day one” of their quit journey. 

“During this year’s Great American Smokeout event, we hope Hoosiers will join us in committing, or recommitting, to living smoke-free lives and encourage their friends and family members to do the same,” Box said. “We know quitting is difficult, but Indiana has resources to help.”

More than 1 million Hoosier adults smoke, and more than 18 percent of Indiana high school students used e-cigarettes in 2018, double the figure from 2016. Smoking can increase the risk of severe respiratory illnesses, such as COVID-19 and influenza. It also contributes to preterm birth and higher infant mortality rates.

Indiana offers free programs to help Hoosiers quit tobacco use, such as Quit Now Indiana. It offers tobacco quit services for all Indiana residents ages 13 and older.

Quit Now Indiana has been working to make quitting easier through new and improved service offerings, including Text2Start, a new and easy way for Hoosiers to connect with a variety of quit services that include text, coaching, and medication support, which provides increased flexibility through a choice of tools to help individuals quit. While supplies last, Hoosiers can receive free medications when enrolling in services.

Hoosiers interested in starting their quit journey can visit QuitNowIndiana.com, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or text READY to 200-400 for assistance. Youth looking to quit vaping can also text INDIANA to 873373 to access the Live Vape Free text messaging program.

Indiana Water will be replacing water valves in Shelbyville in the 800 block of Elm Street. No parking will be in place on both sides of Elm Street starting at 816 Elm to the First Street intersection.

The street will remain open. 

No parking will be in place Tuesday, November 16 & Wednesday, November 17 from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm daily. 

As you likely know, each year we challenge local school kids (grades 5-8) to submit artwork addressing drugs and drug abuse.  Roughly 750 kids participated this year, and, since we began this program 21 year ago, over 13,250 kids have participated in the calendar project over the years. 

The winners are chosen by scanning the entries so that no judges will know who (or which school) submitted each entry.  They are then judged by employees of the Shelby County Prosecutor’s Office, as well as by local narcotics officers. 

The winners each receive gift cards purchased with funds forfeited from local drug dealers. 

We are also having 3,500 calendars featuring the art printed for distribution to local vendors, where the calendars will be free to the public (again – funded by funds taken from local drug dealers). 

According to the CDC, 93,331 Americans died directly from drug overdoses in 2020, and even more died from drug-related issues, such as impaired driving crashes, other accidental injuries attributed to drug impairment, other health problems directly resulting from drug abuse, and suicide (adding up to an estimated 570,000 deaths per year). 

A recent study found that tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs cost the United States over 700,000,000,000 per year in costs related to crime, lost work productivity, and health care (which equates to roughly $2,200 for each man, woman, and child in the U.S., and over $79.9 million per hour). 

The vast majority of all robberies, burglaries, and thefts are committed to support drug addictions, and the majority of all murders are drug-related. 

We do a number of things to address these issues in Shelby County.  We take an aggressive approach on the dealers who are slinging dope in Shelby County – working close with our narcotics investigators. 

We were the first Prosecutor’s Office in the state to initiate a Vivitrol Program (to help those addicted to opioids), and we also initiated a treatment program for lower-level offenders that begins in the jail (called the Jail Intervention Program).

The design of the program is to get local kids thinking critically about drugs and the cost of drugs to the individual and to society.  And the submissions show that the kids are getting the message – a message that we hope they will carry with them into adulthood and spread it to the next generation.

The winners of the Anti-Drug Calendar Contest are:

5^th Grade:

            1^st place – Nola White (Loper Elementary)

            2^nd Place – Chloe Tragesser (Morristown Elementary)

            3^rd Place – Elise Parker (Hendricks Elementary)

6^th Grade:

            1^st Place – Calen Faulconer (Southwestern)

            2^nd Place – Addison Wooten (Shelbyville Middle School)

            3^rd Place – Macey Robbins (Shelbyville Middle School)

7^th Grade:

            1^st Place – Alyna Castanon (Shelbyville Middle School)

            2^nd Place – Bradley Theobald (Morristown)

            3^rd Place – Emelyn Mota (Triton)

8^th Grade:

            1^st Place – Vanessa Garcia Julian (Shelbyville)

            2^nd Place – Anna Willis (Southwestern)

            3^rd Place – Olivia Lahey (Southwestern)

Cover: Chloe Boggs (5^th Grade) (Loper)

Grand Prize:  Addy Marshall (7^th Grade) (Shelbyville)

The submissions were great this year, and we had a number of honorable mentions:

Tristan McTarsney

Emmersyn Raley

Mia Robbins

Gabrielle Thomas

Lillian Cowen

Lucille Haacker

Brooklynn Morrell

Hannah Dow

Callie Boger

Mallory McInerny

Alexis Rogers

Abby Rood

Hannah Rouse

Traffic note as Shelby County Frontage Road project gets underway.

Beginning Wednesday, November 10, Frontage Road will be under a single lane closure for reconstruction from 850 West to Blue Star RediMix near the Pleasant View Interchange. 

There will be a temporary signal to allow single lane traffic until construction is complete.

It’s anticipated the road will be reopened to full traffic by December 20.

Judy Brown King appeared on The Morning Show to preview the Veterans Day Town Hall being hosted with area state legislators.

The event is 6:00 pm Thursday at VFW Post 2695 in Shelbyville.

It’s time to fall back as daylight saving time ends this Sunday, Nov. 7 at 2 a.m.

As people turn their clocks back one hour, the American Red Cross reminds everyone to test their smoke alarms.

This weekend is also a good time for everyone to take these lifesaving steps to help prepare households for home fires, the nation’s most frequent disaster:

• Check smoke alarms and replace batteries if needed. Working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in a home fire by half. Test smoke alarms once a month. Change the batteries at least once a year if your model requires it. Place smoke alarms on every level of your home, including inside and outside bedrooms, and sleeping areas.

• Create and practice your home fire escape plan. Fire experts agree that people may have as little as two minutes to escape a burning home before it’s too late. This weekend, create a home fire escape plan with your household and practice it until everyone can escape in less than two minutes. Escape plans should include at least two ways to escape from every room and a meeting spot at a safe distance away from your home, such as your neighbor’s home or landmark like a specific tree in your front yard, where everyone knows where to meet.

Home Fire Campaign Saving Lives

Each year, the Red Cross responds to more than 62,000 disasters—the vast majority of which are home fires. Every day, seven people die in home fires, and most tragedies occur in homes without working smoke alarms. That’s why the Red Cross launched the Home Fire Campaign with community partners in 2014 to reduce needless deaths and injuries.

So far, the Home Fire Campaign has reached more than 1.7 million people and is credited with saving more than 1,000 lives across the country. The Indiana Region has installed more than 400 smoke alarms and made over 220 homes safer so far this year as part of the national Red Cross Home Fire Campaign. Since the campaign’s inception, volunteers and partners have also:

• Installed more than 2.2 million free smoke alarms
• Reached more than 1.6 million children through youth preparedness programs
• Made more than 948,000 households safer from the threat of home fires

People can visit redcross.org/homefires for free resources and to learn more about how to protect themselves and their loved homes from fire, or contact their local Red Cross to find out about smoke alarm installation events in their community.

Indiana Department of Transportation contractor MAC Construction plans to resume patching operations next week on I-65 in Shelby and Johnson Counties.

Work began in early October between Exit 80 (S.R. 252) and Exit 90 (S.R. 44).

Daily lane closures will be in place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday (Nov. 8, 11 & 13). 

All work is expected to be complete by the end of the week, but may be extended if needed due to weather.

The Indiana Department of Health announced today that COVID-19 vaccination appointments for Hoosiers ages 5-11 can now be scheduled by visiting www.ourshot.in.gov or calling 211 or (866) 211-9966.

Appointments and pre-registration are strongly recommended to help minimize wait times and ensure that sufficient vaccine is available.

The Pfizer vaccine is the only COVID-19 vaccine authorized for use in individuals under age 18. The pediatric dose is lower than the dosage for ages 12 and older; locations carrying the pediatric dose for children ages 5 to 11 are designated by a pin on the map at www.ourshot.in.gov.

Pediatric vaccine supplies may be limited initially as shipments arrive on a staggered basis, so appointments may be spread out over several days. Additional sites will be added to the map as vaccine arrives.

A parent or guardian must provide consent for the vaccine, and children under 16 must be accompanied to the vaccination appointment by an adult.

All veterans and active-duty military personnel, and everyone in their vehicle, will be admitted free to DNR state parks, reservoir properties, state forest recreation areas and state off-road vehicle riding areas on Veterans Day, Thursday, Nov. 11.

This includes admission to Falls of the Ohio State Park’s Interpretive Center.

“We appreciate the sacrifices and service of our veterans and active-duty military and look forward to recognizing them with a day to explore some of the best outdoor places in our state,” said Terry Coleman, director of Indiana State Parks.

Veterans and military personnel should present ID or evidence of military service where entrance gates are in operation. For proof of military status, gate attendants will accept:

—Discharge papers (veteran’s DD Form 214)

—Veteran license plates: Ex-POW, Purple Heart, Disabled Hoosier Veteran, Pearl Harbor Survivor. Veteran license plates also include:

—Air Force Veteran

—Army Veteran

—Coast Guard Veteran

—Marine Corps Veteran

—Merchant Marine Veteran

—Navy Veteran

—U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Disability Award Letter

—Veterans hunting and fishing license

—Documents showing veteran benefits with veteran’s name on document

—Any other certificate or verification letter or form that establishes past or present military service

For general information about state park, reservoir, forest properties, and state off-road vehicle riding areas, see dnr.IN.gov.