Eight Crothersville High School seniors graduated from IVY Tech on Saturday with Associate’s Degrees…more than three weeks before they receive their high school diploma on June 2.

Getting a college degree before a high school degree is not something lost on their beaming with pride parents.

Last year, Ivy Tech Community College partnered with Crothersville and Austin High Schools to offer the Ivy Tech High School Academy, a program offering early college courses for juniors and seniors.

This year is the first year that graduating seniors also had an opportunity to earn associate’s degree from Ivy Tech.

The eight Crothersville High School students who earned associate’s degrees in general studies while in high school. They are Lauren Barnes, Kaitlyn Hoevener, Caleb Minton, Chandler Nehrt, Hailey Pasley, Olivia Robinett, Jessica Schmelzle, and Olivia Smedley.

Crothersville offers students the opportunity to take 33 credit hours in dual-credit classes, according to CHS principal David Schill.

Schill said he initially had this dream when he became Crothersville’s principal and the Indiana Department of Education mandated Indiana schools to provide students with the classes allowing them to earn dual credit.  Dual credit classes are classes where the curriculum combines high school and college requirements, thus adding rigor to the course.

“We thought it would be a positive achievement if students could get enough credits to get a degree,” Schill said.

Crothersville and Austin students in the program attend classes three days a week each semester, taking six classes a year.

Schill said this one is the only program that works between two districts.

“It’s been a project of firsts,” he said. “It’s worked out well.”

Tuition for the program is completely free for students. The only fees students pay are for book rental.

The program saves parents an estimated $30,000 in college costs, Schill said. Thus another reason for parents to beam with pride.

“Students who are involved in the program have the opportunity to get ahead of the (educational) game,” Schill said.

President of the Crothersville School Board Dale Schmelzle, father of Jessica Schmelzle, one of the dual credit students,said the dual credit program was rigorous but that students who stuck with it will have a better chance of success in college.

“They now have the confidence that they can successfully do college level work,” said the Schmelzle.

He said the seven Crothersville students maintained a college study program along with their high school studies and still competed in athletics, and took part in cheerleading and extracurricular activities.

All of the credits they received will transfer to a 4-year Indiana college.

“They will enter college as second semester sophomores,” said the board president.

Schill said the school plans to continue the program in the future, despite the state instituted budget cuts.

“We’re working out whatever we have to do to have it continue,” he said.

“It’s been a real pleasure to get it going. Just in the short term, we’ve seen it serve the students well and we expect it to continue to do so.”

New light pole banners will soon grace US 31 in Crothersville welcoming visitors to the community’s Red, White & Blue Festival.

Festival committee member Chad Wilson displays one of the banners he designed for this year’s patriotic salute planned for June 13-15.

Talent Show, Donna Smallwood, 812-793-3701

Pet & Bike Parade, Jessica Graff, 812-216-7893

RWB Golf Scramble, Marc Bowman, 812-801-1594

Photography Contest, Sarah Freeman, 812-530-7093

Baby Contest, Pamela Guy, 812-707-9247

Corn Hole Tourney, Chris Lanning, 812-599-8487

Antique Farm Show, Kevin Hoevener, 812-524-0372

Jimmy Stewart Memorial 3/3 Tourney, Chad Wilson, 812-530-1181.

RWB Parade, Lions Club Gordon Butler, 812-793-2693

Prince & Princess Contest, Zabrina Nicholson, 812-793-2051

Fiddle Contest, Bobby Deal, 812-889-3710

5K Run/Walk, Tina Kilgore, 812-525-7351

Media Director, Brady Riley, 812-525-1399

Festival Information, Sherry Bridges, 812-569-0407

Carl & Lil Edwards of rural Crothersville are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. The couple was married on May 15, 1953 by the Rev. Billie Shepherd.

Carl is retired from the America can company in Austin and Lil is a homemaker.

They are the parents of two children, Michele (Roger) Teipen of Crothersville and Andy Edwards of Crothersville; three grandchildren, Justin (Stacey) Teipen, Josh (Stacie) Teipen, and Levi Edwards; a great-grandson Nolan Matthew Teipen and a great-granddaughter due June 7.

For a while Thursday morning the sound of sirens and high revving engines could be heard on the streets of Crothersville as authorities pursued Curtis G. Collman, 36, of Crothersvile for quesioning following a domestic incident and alleged arson.  

Speeds reached 80 mph in town and 110 mph as Collman fled west out of town in a black Chevrolet Camaro, police said.

The incident began Thursday morning as Crothersville Police Chief Richard Hanlin talked with Collman’s wife at a family member’s house on East Street.

“She said he had pointed a gun at her and threatened her,” Hanlin said.

Hanlin said he spotted Collman at about 10 a.m. while talking to his wife about an incident earlier in the day at the wife’s home.

He said the couple has been involved in an ongoing dispute for a few of months.

Hanlin began chasing Collman east on County Road 600E (Moore Street) toward Interstate 65. Collman then turned around and returned to town on Moore Street. Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputy Dustin Steward became involved as Collman drove north on U.S. 31.

The pursuit continued as Collman drove back south into town then went west on the Crothersville-Tampico Pike (Co. Rd 600 S). The chase ended when Collman crashed the car into a wooded area on County Road 850E between 700S and 800S, southwest of Crothersville, police said.

Collman fled into a wooded area after jumping out of the still-moving car after driving it into in a field on the west side of Vernon Road about halfway between County Road 700S and County Road 800S, Steward said.

Officers searching the vehicle driven by Collman reportedly found a rifle and a cell phone in the vehicle.

Police set up roadblocks around the area where Collman fled.

At the same time as the chase, Jackson County Sgt. Stan Darlage was sent to investigate the report of a vehicle on fire in an area on County Road 975S southwest of Crothersville.

Hanlin said that fire occurred when Collman reportedly set his truck on fire at his parent’s home, where he was staying.

Collman was captured late Thursday afternoon by Jackson County Reserve Officer and Jail Commander Charles Murphy as Collman walked along State Road 256 west of Austin in Jackson County.

“He was about 500 feet from the Jackson-Washington County line, and I assumed he was probably heading to Washington County across the bridge,” Murphy. “He seemed in a daze. I asked if he knew where he was, and he said he didn’t.”

Collman offered no resistance and was not armed, Murphy said. Police were concerned that he was armed with a handgun.

“He was completely exhausted, covered in mud from head to toe,” Murphy said. “He didn’t offer any resistance at all. I ordered him to get on the ground with his hands up, and he complied.”

Collman was booked into the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown at 6:22 p.m. Thursday and is being held without bond on two felony counts of resisting law enforcement.

Hanlin said he spent Friday interviewing people involved in the case and planned to request additional charges from the prosecutor’s office against Collman.

The potential new charges stem from the domestic disturbance, in which Hanlin said Collman’s wife told police he pointed a handgun at her.

Officers with Crothersville, Brownstown, Seymour, Jackson County, Scott County, Indiana State troopers along with a state police helicopter helped with the search.

 Seniors Joshua Johnson and Brittany Hall were crowned king and queen at the 2013 Prom last Friday evening. The theme of the Junior-Senior Prom, held in the CHS Cafetorium, was ‘Meet Me in Wonderland’.                                        ~photo by Alisa Sweazy