Vincennes police arrest several in various incidents. Mayor Joe Yochum was sworn in on Friday. New Indy Mayor Joe Hogsett took his oath of office on New Year’s Day. Indiana’s first river otter trapping season has harvested two thirds of the limit already.
ARRESTS
-Two arrests were made around 3 on Friday when Vincennes Police were called to investigate a family fight at Kimmel Road and Cherry Street in Vincennes. 41-year-old Amanda K. Vanwinkle of Robinson, Illinois was arrested for operating while intoxicated. Also, 27-year-old Christine A. Alspach also of Robinson was charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct.
-Vincennes police were called to the 100 block of East Jefferson in Vincennes at 2-am Friday morning to investigate a complaint of disorderly activity. A Lawrenceville, Illinois man was arrested on several charges in connection with the call. 25-year-old Timothy J. Farrar is charged with battery on law enforcement, resisting law enforcement and disorderly conduct. He’s also charged with public intoxication and possession of drug paraphernalia. VU police assisted in the investigation.
-While conducting a welfare check at 3-am on Friday, Vincennes officers arrested 35-year-old Mark D. Sawyer at 400 Felt King Road apartment 13. He was charged with false informing
MAYOR SWORN IN
Vincennes Mayor Joe Yochum was sworn into office for another term of office on Friday at Vincennes City Hall.
Looking back at his first term in office, the mayor told the Vincennes Sun Commercial he’s most proud of the the 2nd Street project. He’s also pleased that action was taken before the city lost a one million dollar grant for the Heritage Trail project. The paper reports a commitment to a scaled down version of the project assured something would be built and the city could keep the grant money.
For the next term, Mayor Yochum says resurfacing and widening Main to Clark Middle School, paving more streets and improving the city’s quality of life through park and other improvements are some of his goals.
TAX BREAKS ENDING
The new year marks the end of several Indiana tax breaks. Indiana begins taxing police reward money and lottery winnings this year. Until now, lottery jackpots were taxed only if you won more than 12-hundred dollars. Legislators abolished little-used tax credits for historic preservation, donated computers, home insulation and solar roof vents. And they’ve clarified that not only can you only claim one homestead deduction, but only one person can take the deduction for a single property. Most new laws take effect on the fiscal new year on July 1. But 19 new laws are tied to the start of the calendar year, many of them relating to tax law.
37 CRASH
he cause of a crash that killed four Brownsburg teens in Morgan County remains unclear. State Police said a Ford Taurus traveling northbound on State Road 37 Wednesday night crossed over the median for an unknown reason and hit a van–killing Mathew Chambers, Lucas Kenworthy, Noah Tex, and Riley Hurst. A fifth person in the Taurus was hospitalized. Two adults and two children inside the van were also taken to the hospital.
JOHNSON COUNTY SKYDIVING
A skydiving accident on New Year’s Day claimed the life of a 54-year-old woman from Martinsville. Police in Johnson County say that Theresa Woods was found unresponsive in a field after jumping from a plane and impacting the ground hard. They still do not know exactly what caused the hard landing but say that the parachute did open. Woods, who was not new to skydiving, was supposed to land near the airport that she took off from, but instead ended up in a field south of that location. The same company which organized her skydive was connected to a deadly accident from back in 2014.
OTTER TRAPPING
Indiana’s first river otter trapping season since the furry species was reintroduced to the state in the 1990s has seen trappers take two-thirds of the state’s limit less than halfway into that season.
More than 400 otters had been taken by licensed Indiana trappers as of Friday. If that pace seen during the four-month-long season’s first seven weeks continues, Indiana’s season will end in late January or early February, when its 600-otter statewide quota will be reached.
Indiana’s season opened Nov. 15 and ends March 15th, or whenever the quota is met. Indiana’s otter trapping season is its first in more than nine decades.
Indiana became the last of six states in the lower Midwest, including Illinois, to authorize otter trapping following successful otter releases in the 1980s and 1990s.