Charlestown High School Athletic Director David Null has announced the ticket prices for CHS regular season athletic events.
    Tickets at the Door
    $5 for varsity football, boys varsity/jv basketball and girls varsity/jv basketball.
    $4 for all other varsity, jv and freshmen athletic events.
    Tickets for post season tournaments, girls basketball holiday tournament, wrestling jv invitational and wrestling MSC Duals will be announced at a later date.
    Tickets in Advance
    Charlestown students (K-12) may purchase an All-Sports Pass from the athletic office for $30. The pass permits students admission to all regular season home athletic contests. The Pirate Pride Booster Club will also give a t-shirt to all students who purchase an All-Sports Pass.
    New this year: Adults may pay $37.50 in advance for a Discount Punch Pass good for 10 admissions to any regular season home athletic contest. Discount Punch Passes will be available at the door/gate of any home athletic contest or they may be purchased in the athletic office from 8 a.m to 4 p.m. Punch Passes will be available throughout the year, additional passes may be purchased as needed.
    Adult All-Sport Passes and Family All-Sport Passes are no longer being offered.
    Student All-Sport Passes and Punch Passes will go on sale in the Athletic Office on August 9.

    The Sellersburg Police Department has been working understaffed for many years. Previous chiefs have been asking to add new officers to the department and have been denied for various reasons.
    Last Monday night, July 23, the Sellersburg Town Council voted unanimously to add two new police officers to the department to bring them up to 15 full-time officers.
    "I would personally like to thank the Town Board for giving me those two officers. It is something that the police department has been needing for a while," Sellersburg Police Chief Russ Whelan stated. "This is definitely a step forward for better coverage for the citizens of Sellersburg and to alleviate some of the officer safety issues of the past."
    The decision to add new officers is not one that was made overnight. Whelan has been working with the Town Board for several months to get the goal accomplished.
    "I originally approached them last year, my first year as chief, when we were doing the budget for this year. I approached them then about adding two officers," Whelan said. "We needed two officers, there were days where officers would be working one on a shift, I did that myself, one on the road. It’s just not safe and not an ideal way to do policing. It’s an officer safety issue."
    According to research done by Whelan and Deputy Chief Donald Ross Jr., the department was two officers short.
    "We, Donnie and I, researched the national averages. The FBI puts out national averages. Those numbers are how we came up with two officers. We were right at two officers behind with the amount of citizens," Whelan explained.
    The Town of Sellersburg, according to the last census taken, had 6,078 residents.
    "I am sure that number has gone up. That was the last recorded census we could find," Whelan continued.
    The magic number for the department was two officers. The two officers will even make the shifts more officer friendly.
    "Two is what we needed to make the schedule ideal for the officers. For the amount of officers on a shift, once we do some shifting around, we will generally have three officers on per shift, which is much better than one. Barring vacation and training, it would drop us down to two officers per shift, but again, that is still much better than the one officer we have had in the past," Whelan explained.
    Whelan continued about the safety issue of having just one officer working on the road on a shift.
    "For me as Chief and when I was working as a road officer, it is never good to have to work a shift by yourself. We are no longer living in the past days of a small town, now you just don’t know what will happen next. You don’t like to work a shift by yourself," Whelan explained. "You always have other officers from other agencies like County or State Police but you just don’t know how long their response times will be."
    When Whelan took over as the Chief of the department, adding more officers was one of his goals due to the officer safety issues.
    "One of my goals as Chief was to get more officers so my guys did not have to work shifts by themselves. It’s really an officer safety issue. With one officer on the road the citizens were not getting the police protection they deserve. This is better coverage, better response times and more protection. It’s a win-win for the police department and for the citizens of the Sellersburg community," he added.
    Now since Whelan has been given the approval to add the two new officers, the next steps can be taken to provide the better coverage and protection.
    "First of all we have to decide on what route to take on hiring. I am going to look at my Reserves. They are already within the community volunteering to do the job for free for months and for some it’s been for years. They are volunteering with the hopes of becoming a police officer full time. They have donated time to this community and if I can help them obtain their goal of becoming a police officer, I will do what I can to make that happen," Whelan continued.
    Once the candidates are chosen the first step in the process of hiring the officers is to send the candidates to Indianapolis.
    "The first step is to go to Indianapolis for the medical and psychological exam. After the exams are completed doctors then contact Whelan with the results.
    "After the exams it’s a waiting game for me. The doctors will contact me and let me know if they pass or fail the medical and psychological part," Whelan added. "Barring any problems and they pass, the next step is waiting for the next class at the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield."
    Once the officers complete all of the required tests and the training at the Academy including physical fitness and physical assessments, they will be assigned to a Field Training Officer.
    "Since we are looking at Reserves, the field training will be a little bit different. It will not take them near as long to be up and on their own. They already know how we operate as a department with the paper work and all. That always speeds up the training process. Right now its PERF, once hired and through all the preliminary and hired it will be on the long side, six months before they are cut loose on their own. That’s including three months at the Academy and three months in field training."

by JANNA ROSS
Managing Editor
Green Banner Publications

    The Clark County Youth Coalition (CCYC) met for a very special reason on Tuesday afternoon, July 24. The group met at Clarksville’s Town Hall for the 2007-2008 Drug-Free Communities Fund Grant Awards Ceremony.
   Executive Director of the CCYC Connie Keith was still excited about the awards ceremony on Thursday morning.
   "We handed out the grants for this year’s programs that we funded," Keith stated during an interview.
   Keith then explained how the Coalition gains the funds to be dispersed.
   "It’s from the Direct Free Community Fund. That comes from those who are convicted of drug or alcohol crimes, they must pay a counter measure fee. Those fees collected makes up the Direct Free Community Fund," Keith explained. "Those fees are reallocated into the community in three different areas."
   The three areas of the grant application are:
   Prevention/Education: Eligible projects will fund activities directly related to the prevention of substance abuse, and/or the education of consequences of use/abuse.
   Treatment/Intervention: Eligible projects will fund activities designed to treat and/or intervene in the lives of residents afflicted and/or affected with substance abuse issues.
   Law Enforcement/Justice Eligible projects will fund equipment and other activities directly related to the enforcement of alcohol, tobacco and other drug laws in the county.
   During the grant application process each applicant had to address one of three problem statements from the comprehensive community plan. According to the grant application, the Problem Statement 1 was "Youth and adults in the county abuse substances, including alcohol, tobacco and other drugs." Problem Statement 2 was "Individuals and families facing issues associated with addiction do not have a full range of affordable, accessible, intervention, treatment and aftercare resources, and programs available." Problem Statement 3 was "Law enforcement and justice programs in the county are overwhelmed with the demands on the system created by substance abusing offenders."
   After local agencies and organizations filed their applications by the March 31 deadline, the grant applications went to the grant review committee for review.
   According to Keith, "The grant review committees are comprised of members of the Clark County Youth Coalition. If a member of the grant review committee has applied for funding, they may not serve on the committee for which they are seeking funding."
   The grant review committees did an excellent job as they reviewed all the applications and made hard decisions.
   After the review process, the Clark County Youth Coalition awarded grants to 25 local agencies totaling $60,000. Last year the Coalition presented 24 agencies and organizations grants tallying $57,876.
   The local agencies and organizations receiving funds this year were:
   Prevention/Education
   Cherry Hill Neighborhood Association, Clark County Youth Shelter and Family Services, Communities in Schools of Clark County, Fulton Terrace Public Housing Authority, Jeffersonville Police Department, New Progressive Baptist Church, Tri-County Health Coalition, Wesley United Methodist Church and the YMCA of Southern Indiana.
   Treatment/Intervention
   Brandon’s House Counseling Services, Center for Lay Ministries, Child Place, Clark County Youth Shelter and Family Services, Jeffersonville/Clark County NAACP, LifeSpring Mental Health Services, Options Alternative School, Our Place Drug and Alcohol Services, Personal Counseling Service and St. Elizabeth Maternity Center.
   Law Enforcement/Justice
   Borden Police Department, Charlestown Police Department, Clark County Sheriff’s Department, Clark Superior II Drug Court, Indiana State Police, Jeffersonville Police Department and Sellersburg Police Department.
   Brian Davis, of Child Place, said the grant they received was for $2,000 and it will be used for counseling.
   "We work with a lot of children and adolescents with issues at school or out in the community that is related to alcohol and drugs. The grant will subsidize and offset treatment for kids dealing with that. Some cannot pay for the help they get," Davis stated. "The last several years the Coalition has been very generous. We are very appreciative of the grant. At the Awards Luncheon, everyone there was appreciative of the grants received."
   Amber Ridings received a grant for the Healthy Kids Day Program at the YMCA of Southern Indiana. The $750 grant will pay for the t-shirts distributed during the event and for Radio Disney.
   Georgi Baker of the Fulton Terrace Public Housing Authority was very excited about the grant received from the Coalition. According to Baker, the $2,800 grant will fund several educational programs at the housing authority.
   "It will provide alternative drug free programming," Baker stated.
   Laura Fleming-Balmer of the Clark County Youth Shelter said the shelter received a total of $6,300 for three different programs.
   ‘We actually have three programs that were awarded grants. The first was Family Education. That was $2,800. Then Safe Place received $2,000 and Betting Against Drugs received $1,500," Fleming-Balmer explained.
   She continued about the opportunity to be a member of the Clark County Youth Coalition, "I have been a member of the Clark County Youth Coalition for 12 years. From a funding arm, the grants are wonderful. The meetings that are held are wonderful, as well as the training. It’s a great way for networking. The Coalition is great and the Lunch and Learns are wonderful. And, membership is free."
   Lt. Jim Hickerson of the Indiana State Police said their grant was for $2,895.
   "Kevin Fischer wrote up the grant but he was unable to attend the luncheon," Hickerson explained. "The grant will purchase one Laser Speed Timing Device."
   Hickerson continued by explaining what the device did, "It measures the speed of moving vehicles with a laser. All you have to do is put the red dot on the bumper of the vehicle and it will clock how fast the vehicle is traveling. You have to be stationary to use it but it will enable you to clock individual vehicles. It’s a very good tool and is very accurate."
   He concluded, "We are really appreciative of the support of the Clark County Youth Coalition. A lot of departments don’t have the budgets for this type of equipment. It helps officers to have the high-tech equipment."
   Hickerson said the Laser Speed Timing Device will be utilized in Clark County primarily on DUI Patrols.
   Charlestown Police Department Assistant Chief Chuck Ledbetter said they received a $3,000 grant from the Coalition.
   "We received $3,000 for in car police radars. It is something we apply for every year. We have received grants on the same lines. They have consistently assisted this program," Ledbetter stated.
   Sellersburg Police Chief Russ Whelan stated they received $3,790, also for radars.
   "We put the grant in for upgrading radars in the cars. With this amount we are able to purchase two new Stalker Radars. I have already ordered them through Stalker. They should be here in a couple of weeks. We have already received the grant monies and Donnie (Ross) has already deposited it. We want to get the two radars in cars as quickly as possible," Whelan stated.
   By Friday afternoon Whelan said the radars had already been delivered to the department.
   Allison Juliot of Clark Superior II Drug Court said the grant they received was for $2,765. The grant will go toward program management.
   "The Drug Court is an alternative sentence for drug offenders in Clark County. A person who enters the program is subject to substance abuse and mental health counseling and frequent drug screens and they appear in front of both the Judge and their case manager," Juliot explained. "The program is 18 to 36 months. In the beginning it is very intensive. We have them in structured living like a half-way house or a three-quarter house. Then as the program continues they get more, leading to a productive, drug free citizen."
   According to Juliot, the program has graduated 26 people since its inception in 2003 and a fact she was proud of is they have had three drug-free babies born this year. Judge Cecile Blau of Superior Court II is over the program.
   "And just to tell you, we’ve had three drug-free babies born this year," Juliot concluded.