Home Care In Greencastle, IN

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The City of Greencastle and the Putnam County Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) are joining forces to go back to the future.

The city and the CVB are purchasing the old Penn Central Railroad freight depot building, moving and renovating it to become a People Pathways trailhead and base for nature education programs as well as making the location home to a bicycle rental program to encourage residents and visitors to ride People Pathways. That includes a new segment to be installed along Veterans Memorial Highway in 2024.

Plans are to move the depot from its present location along the south side of Berry Street, just west of Crown Street, in the city’s South End to vacant property at the southeast corner of Veterans Highway and Cemetery Road. The vacant site is city-owned land at the northwest corner of Forest Hill Cemetery property.

The site is “surplus land,” Mayor Bill Dory said, indicating it is not usable as cemetery property. The project provides an opportunity “to preserve a piece of local history,” he added.

The location is considered key because it provides parking and a view of the silo mural that has beautified the northwest corner of the U.S. 231-Veterans Highway intersection.

After first negotiating with Vectren/Centerpoint Energy for two years from September 2020 for a site at the southwest corner of the U.S. 231-Veterans Highway intersection, the CVB purchased the freight depot for $10,000 with the intent of moving it by February 2023. However, the gas company subsequently declined to lease its property to the CVB.

“That’s a major gateway into the city,” Eric Freeman, executive director of the CVB, told the City Council at its November meeting.

Calling the Vectren site “an ugly corner” with an “opportunity to beautify it,” Freeman said the motivation was the current lack of a place for people to park and enjoy the silo mural as well as a chance “to use it as a branding opportunity” for Putnam Parks and Pathways.

The new site off Cemetery Road is “really a good second option,” Freeman said, adding that the Cemetery Board “is enthusiastically supportive.”

Mayor Dory agreed, noting it is ground the city (Cemetery Department) has to mow anyway.

“It’s the same area that’s been looked at for a community garden,” he added, “but there were some issues with the soils test for growing food.”

The plan includes the city providing $27,500 in EDIT funds, listed as a City Council allocation, to own the building, Putnam Parks and Pathways to cover utility costs and building/liability insurance in perpetuity, Forest Hill Cemetery to maintain the grounds and the Heritage Preservation Society of Putnam County to restore the building exterior to its original appearance and leverage it to build a brand for Putnam Parks and Pathways. The building is to be lighted with a large Putnam Parks and Pathways logo.

City Clerk-Treasurer/Mayor-elect Lynda Dunbar called the bicycle rental portion of the proposed project “a fabulous idea.”

“That’s what they put the pathways in for, we might as well use them,” she added while suggesting that organizers look into putting restrooms at the site.

“The site is big enough,” Mayor Dory said, “that it might be easier to put restrooms on site instead of inside the depot.”

He called the restroom suggestion “a great idea” that might be accomplished “in a couple different ways.”

The cost of moving the building carries a current bid of $26,000, Freeman said, with an additional $2,000 needed to temporarily remove overhead utility lines.

Three bids to construct a foundation at the new location, install a gravel drive, cement curbs and a gravel parking lot range from $27,500 to $39,000. It is understood that the parking lot and drive will need to be paved in accordance with city zoning requirements and that work cannot be included in the Next Level Trails grant funding for the new People Pathways segment. Paving will be undertaken in a second phase.

Meanwhile, site design and planning work will be provided at no charge by Align Civil Engineering of Greencastle, and the Cemetery Board will donate use of two parcels of its land at the new location.

Overall the project cost is estimated at $55,000 — $28,000 to move the building and temporarily remove utility lines and $27,5000 to construct a foundation and gravel drive/parking area at the new site. The CVB Board has agreed to fund half of the total cost if the city agreed to fund the other half.

Had the city not agreed to fund half the cost, the CVB would have been forced to deed the depot back to the current property owner and scuttle the project.

However, Councilman Darrel Thomas made the motion to support the project and finance the city’s share out of EDIT dollars. The motion was approved unanimously with Council members Stacie Langdon, Dave Murray, Cody Eckert, Russell Harvey and Veronica Pejril adding affirmative votes. Council President Mark Hammer was absent.

The Greencastle City Council will next meet in regular session at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14 at City Hall.

The holiday season is upon us, and communities in and around Greencastle are bustling with Christmas spirit. A series of community-driven Christmas events are scheduled to take place, offering an array of festive activities for families and individuals alike.

Greencastle Community Coalition’s Christmas Activities – December 3rd

The City of Greencastle Community Coalition will host an array of free Christmas activities on December 3rd. Key highlights include a special appearance by Santa at the Greencastle Community Building at 2:30 PM, followed by a screening of ‘The Santa Clause’ at 3:30 PM. Complimentary cookies, hot chocolate, and popcorn will be provided to add to the festive cheer.

The coalition emphasizes that youth must be accompanied by an adult for visiting Santa and watching the movie. To ensure a safe and family-friendly environment, vape products, tobacco, and cigarettes are strictly prohibited within the Greencastle Community Building. Attendees are encouraged to bring blankets for additional seating, as only limited seats will be available.

Greencastle Community Christmas Dinner – December 3rd

Later the same day, the Greencastle Community Christmas Dinner will be served at the Greencastle Lions Club at noon. The community is invited to partake in this festive feast, where the main dishes include ham, turkey, noodles, mashed potatoes with gravy, and rolls, complemented by tea and lemonade. Participants are encouraged to contribute a side dish or dessert to the communal table. This event is proudly sponsored by the City of Greencastle, Greencastle Lions Club, and the Greencastle Fire Department.

Green City Community Christmas Dinner and Breakfast with Santa – December 10th

Moving to the neighboring community, the 24th Annual Green City Community Christmas Dinner is set for December 10th at the Green City Methodist Church, commencing at noon. Attendees are requested to bring a covered dish to share, with meat and drinks provided by the hosts. For more details, Rolf and Ilse Christen can be contacted at 660-874-4714.

Additionally, the Green City After Prom will host a Breakfast with Santa event at the Old Brick Bistro on the north side of the Green City Square. Scheduled for December 10th from 9 AM to 11 AM, the menu features Christmas pancakes, sausage, coffee, hot cocoa, milk, and juice. Activities include writing letters to Santa, making reindeer food, and the opportunity to take Polaroids with Santa for a fee starting at $5. Tickets for this event are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

GREENCASTLE, Ind. - The city of Greencastle and DePauw University are using a $250,000 planning grant from Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc.’s College and Community Collaboration Initiative to create a plan to revitalize a corridor between the university and the city’s downtown.

The effort, the partners said Wednesday, will build on the 2011 Stellar Communities designation that Greencastle received, with a focus on four key areas: housing, education, recreation opportunities and aesthetics.

“We all believe that these are the biggest needs that we all have to recruit people to live and learn within Greencastle,” said Andrea Young, vice president of finance and administration at DePauw.

Young, who moved to Greencastle last summer, told Inside INdiana Business that housing is a primary focus of the collaboration.

“We have recent housing studies as well as ongoing housing analysis, and there’s really a dramatic shortage of housing,” Young said. “I bought the singular house in Greencastle with more than one bathroom this summer. And so there’s really a severe housing shortage, and that impacts our ability to recruit employees. It impacts local businesses, and it impacts the town economy for obvious reasons.”

Greencastle was one of the two inaugural recipients of the Stellar Communities designation in 2011, along with North Vernon. The designation provided $15 million in funding that allowed the city to revitalize the courthouse square and downtown, as well as support new business growth and community initiatives.

Dionne Jackson, vice president of institutional equity at DePauw, said the new collaboration will further those efforts.

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“One of the things that the mayor and others have mentioned is that the housing initiative is a piece of that [Stellar] initiative that they did not get to, and it’s one that they really want us to be able to think through and address,” Jackson said.

Young said the other areas of focus stem from DePauw’s “Bold & Gold 2027” strategic plan unveiled in March 2022.

“[There’s] the need to have strong educational offerings, strong community offerings, including recreations,” said Young. “And then there’s, I think, a shared sense that aesthetically, there’s real value in thinking about how Greencastle looks, and this plays on long history of exciting mural projects and art projects within the community that we think we can actually lift up through the Lilly grant proposal.”

Young added the history with the Stellar designation has provided a template for how the partners can accomplish their goals.

“We have the housing aspect that we want to address,” she said. “We also now have other sites in the we’re calling the DePauw-Greencastle Corridor, that sort of the region between the two locations that we we’ve already identified. And we already know what the shared value would be. And so we’ve we’ve crossed many of those hurdles.”

Jackson said the partners have until late winter to work on the plan. A master planning process will be implemented that will involve hiring a team of architects, urban planners and financial advisors to help identify the sites that have the biggest potential to achieve the goals of the collaboration.

Young said once that vision is set, the partners will apply for phase 2 funding from the endowment’s College and Community Collaboration Initiative. That funding, which could be up to $25 million, would represent 30% of the effort, and the partners would need to find the capital to make up the remaining 70%.

“A lot of the legwork on the grant will be done in the evaluation process in the next four to five months,” said Young.

Greencastle's stellar run came to an end at the hands of some stellar pitching.

The Blue Devils dropped their PIAA 5A semifinal against Strath Haven, 2-0, from Wenger Field in Fredericksburg on Tuesday, ending their season. They finish the year at 19-6.

Here's how it happened:

What it means

Tuesday was the end of the line for a talented group of seniors: Carter Reid, Adam Horst, Austin Wyand, Aidan Grudzinski, Jace Szaflarski, Austin Simmons and Darren Kline.

Before their freshmen year, the Blue Devils were an under-.500 team. Then the pandemic took away their first year. But in the three years since, it's been a constant progression that led to being one of the final four teams in the state.

"This was a group that the program needed so badly," coach Eric Shaner said. "When they were eighth graders, if I could have brought them up, four of five of them probably would have been on varsity as eighth graders."

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Many were impact players on this run, leading the team to heights not seen in almost two decades.

"This year they found their voice, and it was instrumental in getting us to where we are as a ball club," Shaner said. "Just a special group of kids."

After Shaner and the coaching staff met with the entire team postgame, the seniors stayed behind to thank one another, for the coaches to thank them and to walk off the field together one last time.

By the numbers

This game was a pitchers' duel, with Strath Haven having the edge.

Alex Pak took the mound for the Panthers, and he was sensational, throwing a complete-game shutout, giving up only three hits and striking out 11.

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"He never made mistakes. He just hit low and away, low and away," Shaner said. "You knew where it was going, and if we could stay disciplined to it, you can hit it, and we did a couple of times, but their defense stood out as well. ... He just didn't get himself in trouble, didn't give you a chance to breathe."

Greencastle knew from last week that it was going to be a challenge.

"We started to look at this kid on the way home on Thursday, and it was like, 'This is ridiculous, this is video game numbers,'" Shaner said. "And you just wonder what it's going to look like, and he was just really good."

Landon Huth took the mound for Greencastle and was equally as dominant early, mowing through the lineup the first time through with three strong innings.

But the plate discipline of the Panthers made things difficult.

"Some of their takes were incredible," Shaner said. "He was hitting sliders right where we wanted him to throw them, and they were spitting on them. To me it was more a credit to them. Landon did everything we could ask of him."

Huth only gave up four hits, in front of a rowdy student section, to a lineup that scored 24 runs in their last two state playoff games combined.

"To sit in this environment, to stare down the barrel like that and deliver pitch after pitch against an offense that scores a lot of runs, we have nothing to be ashamed of," Shaner said.

Key plays

The potent Panther offense had to work for their runs, and they did just enough. A single in the fourth, the first hit of the game, followed by a stolen base and another single, led to the first run. And in the fifth, they scored again off of a two-out wild pitch.

Greencastle had chances early, putting two guys on in the first, but it couldn't plate them. A double by Logan Shifflet in the later innings was right after a diving catch by the third baseman, so if the previous runner had gotten on, it could have been a 2-1 game.

But Pak shut the door in the end, retiring the last eight batters.

Greencastle author Stu Fabe has ventured into some personally uncharted waters for his recently-published 10th book.

Gone is the violence of Clay Arnold series that comprised his first six works. Also absent is the supernatural suspense of his last two books — “The Write House” and “Kindred Spirits.”

Instead, “Given Names” tells a pretty straightforward story of a man who does what many of us dream about — he wins more than $500 million in the lottery.

Narrated in the first person by lucky winner Nathan Andrews, the book sets about to answer a simple question with complicated answers: “What would you do if you won the lottery?”

Call it a “novel” approach for the author.

“It’s a story about giving,” Fabe said. “It’s also about worthy individuals, deserving individuals.”

Additionally it is, just like Fabe’s last two novels, a story about his adopted hometown of Greencastle and Putnam County. For rural Greencastle is the home of Nathan Andrews, Fabe’s not-at-all veiled alter ego who is the narrator and subject of the story.

The book opens with an explanation of how Nathan, a native of Cincinnati, came to be in Putnam County in his retirement. He tells of retiring from a career in philanthropy in the Queen City and falling for an artist from West Central Indiana named Marlita, eventually relocating to live with her “on 36 acres of rolling pasture, down six miles of quiet country roads.”

Anyone who knows Fabe sees this is the story of his life with partner Marla Helton.

But that’s where the autobiographical portion of the story ends ... at least as far as we know.

For shortly into the narrative Nathan, along with the reader, learns that he has won $514 million in the “Whopper Ball” drawing, a development that is sure to instantly change his life.

Nathan is concerned with his anonymity and with being a good steward of his previous unimagined wealth. He immediately retains an attorney he knows from his old life in Cincinnati as well as appointing a local agent with her thumb on the pulse of the community.

He chooses Stella Chastain, owner of the Monon Diner as someone who can give the money to deserving individuals, and the attorney, Joseph Daniels, to help him give to organizations.

“I’m really excited about it because it is a story about giving and, in my way, encouraged people to give,” Fabe said. “It’s a thrill for me to take a look at our community and use a positive filter to identify wonderful cultural and civic organizations that make Greencastle and Putnam County such a fine place to live.”

So most of the remainder of the book plays out in this way, with each chapter a vignette, a kind of story within the story of a worthy individual or organization and how they come to benefit from Nathan’s largess.

And the organizations are very much real-life Putnam County entities, some as beneficiaries and others as important parts of the story. Local organizations, businesses and places include Putnam County Public Library, Putnam County Museum, Putnam County Fairgrounds, Beyond Homeless, Putnam County Animal Shelter, Putnam County Convention & Visitors Bureau, local covered bridges, J.J. Hunter caboose, the Monon, Putnam County Community Foundation, United Way of Central Indiana, Asbury College (DePauw University), Almost Heaven Restaurant (Almost Home), Transcend (Edge 21), Asbury Chapel (Gobin Church), McKim Observatory, Greencastle Summer Music Festival, Asbury Nature Park and the Banner Graphic.

Likewise, local people are featured, including Beth Benedix, Susan David (Sue and Dave Murray), Drew and Alicia Greenfield (Dave and Alice Greenburg), Phil and Erin Lindell (Aaron and Felicia Littrel), Tess Monaco (Mossie Carrico), Dutch Vanderhaar (Joanne Kissinger), Lisette Vanderhaar (Lisa Kissinger Kaplan), Rev. Langston Bryant (Rev. Bryan Langdoc), Prof. Enrique Bergman (Eric Edberg), Matt Matlock (Matt McClelland), Anita Mack (Anita Barr McEnulty), Hunter and Lydia Hickman (Vic and Lin Hunter), Tad Robinson, Cathie Malach, Ming Hui-Kuo, Claude Cymerman, BJ Stanley (BJ Rabold), Linda Stanley (Linda Wall) and even the writer of this article, again under the pseudonym “Red Jergens.”

“I love trying to take what we’ve got all around us and put a spin on it that will get people’s attention,” Fabe said.

It’s certainly not his first foray into this, as last winter’s “Kindred Spirits” also dabbled in rich local residents being generous with their treasure, though that story was complicated by some international intrigue.

But that’s not the case here, though perhaps the only question is if Fabe has a half billion dollars about which he’s keeping mum.

He grins at this question, not directly answering, though his track record of supporting the arts and other worthy causes leaves little doubt that if Fabe suddenly found himself rich beyond belief, then Putnam County would find itself the beneficiary in a number of ways.

Anyone wanting to learn a bit more about the book may do so in person at a pair of upcoming events. Fabe will give an author talk at the Putnam County Public Library from 6-7:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 21. Additionally, he will speak as part of the Poland Historic Chapel speaker series at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 10.

The book will be available for purchase (cash, check or Venmo) at these events, as well as being for sale at Eli’s Books, online with Amazon or Barnes & Noble or by contacting the author himself at [email protected].

In getting the word out about his book, the author is hopeful he’s spreading the word about the joy of giving.

“If we can think about just giving more,” he said. “It’s a thrill to just view our community through a little different lens.”