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February 19, 2015 • Headlines
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Jac-Cen-Del Lady Eagles are Regional bound! Pictured are the 40th Annual IHSAA Class 1A Sectional 60, 2015 Girls Basketball Champion Jac-Cen-Del Lady Eagles. For a complete list of names, pick up The Versailles Republican at your local newsstand. GARY FRANKLIN PHOTO |
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FFA Week begins Saturday. Pictured above right, students enjoy Ag Day at the Ripley County Fairgrounds. Pictured left and center, South Ripley FFA sponsor and students work on a memorial banner design for the Pumpkin Show Parade float. SUBMITTED PHOTOS |
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This SUV flipped around 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 16 on US 50. No one was hurt. Send us your snow pictures! Click here to email your photos to mmattingly@ripleynews.com! MARY MATTINGLY PHOTO |
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Former Greensburg police chief arrested
The former Greensburg Police Chief turned herself in to Indiana State Police after an audit of the department’s evidence records. She is accused of taking over $73,000 from the department to support her gambling habit.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Pictured left is Stacey L. Chasteen, former Greensburg police chief.
On Tuesday February 17, around 10 a.m. Stacey L. Chasteen, 49, of Seymour was arrested and taken to the Decatur County Jail. According to ISP Investigator Tracy Rohlfing, the Decatur County Prosecutor filed one count of Theft and one count of Official Misconduct, each a Level 6 Felony, against Chasteen as a result of an extensive investigation of the Greensburg Police evidence records during her term as chief and her tenure as the department’s property officer as well. An investigation of the Greensburg Police evidence records were requested in December of 2014 regarding missing evidence (US Currency). The ISP Laboratory conducted an audit of the property room in January 2015 and discovered several discrepancies involving evidence.
Police chief since 2012, she abruptly quit in November. Her husband, Scott, who is fire chief at Greensburg, said in the affidavit she has a gambling problem. The Greensburg Daily News reported she told police in the affidavit she took the money from the evidence locker, and also gambled away the money she borrowed from her family to replace the funds, the affidavit says. Two Greensburg officers contacted her after she left her job as chief because they could not find missing money seized from a massage parlor investigation. She told them she hoped she had not released it or destroyed it, an answer which caused them to be suspicious. Chasteen told police she had been taking money from the evidence room since 2006 when she was a property officer.
The Decatur County Prosecutor’s Office is handling the case. She posted $2000 from the $20,000 bond. A hearing is scheduled for March 4 in Decatur Circuit Court.
Winter storm impacts area
Mary Mattingly
EDITOR
mmattingly@ripleynews.com
These past few days area reminder that we’re still in the midst of winter. Despite sub-zero temperatures, it’s actually not been a bad winter so far, and nothing like last year’s when we learned about such things as polar vortexes.
MARY MATTINGLY PHOTO
Town of Versailles employees were out early this week shoveling parking lots and sidewalks. This was in front of the town hall.
Andy Hatzos, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio, which monitors this area in the tri-state, said if you didn’t count the 6.3 inches of snow Tuesday morning “we would have been way below normal. Normal is 16.2 inches (counted at the Cincinnati airport) and now (as of Tuesday afternoon) we’re at 14.6 inches.” Ripley County is a little below that average, he added. A few more inches of the white stuff overnight Tuesday and Wednesday surprised some meterologists, and a wind chill advisory was issued for the area through Friday at noon. It is predicted to feel like 30 below when factoring the wind chill for Thursday.
The weather did play havoc with motorists and schools. Milan and Jac-Cen-Del schools were already off Monday for President’s Day, but South Ripley and Batesville closed, and all four districts closed Tuesday and Wednesday. At this point, South Ripley Supt. Rob Moorhead said they are into four make up days during the two week provisional spring break beginning March 16. They won’t touch the following week, and they have Good Friday also as a make up day if needed.
Ripley County Sheriff Jeff Cumberworth said it helped that schools were closed, reducing traffic on the county roads, but otherwise they were not overwhelmed with accidents or slide-offs. “Not near what happened on interstates, 74 and 65,” he noted. He didn’t recall any serious injuries either. A SUV flipped on US 50 near the state park after 5 p.m. Monday and when they arrived, Cumberworth said the driver was dialing 911 on his phone upside down but couldn’t get out of his safety belt.
He said local drivers were cautious and steady overall, and that’s the way to be with these weather conditions. Indiana State Police spokesperson Tommy Walker at the Versailles Post said there were quite a few crashes on the bridge and overpasses along the interstates, with a pile-up on I-74 Tuesday morning at the 159 mile marker. It shut down the interstate for several hours, but there were no serious injuries. He didn’t get over 40 mph Monday on the interstate. He advised to keep it slow, “Courtesy is the best policy!”
Ripley County Commissioners issued a yellow level travel advisory, which means to take caution, on Monday at 10 a.m. and lifted it Tuesday morning. The next level is orange, which is for essential travel such as to and from work, and the last level, red, is for emergency personnel only on the roads.The county and town highway departments have been busy treating the roads. The county uses 1 part salt to 3 parts cinders, but the salt is not too effective if temperatures drop below 20 degrees as it did Monday-Wednesday; however, the sun was out some Tuesday and helped melt ice and snow from the salt-treated roads.
The brunt of the storm went south, with Louisville and central Kentucky getting amounts of snow in the double digits. Batesville and Aurora reported 4 inches Monday evening, according to the National Weather Service. However, southeast Indiana had the lowest temperatures reported. Around 7 a.m. Tuesday, Big Oaks National Refuge had temperatures at -13, Batesville -10, Versailles -5 and Osgood -7. Hatzos projects the next two weeks to have below and “way below normal” temperatures, but there was no strong indication of precipitation. He noted there is a storm system for the weekend, but could not pinpoint which day.
The former Greensburg Police Chief turned herself in to Indiana State Police after an audit of the department’s evidence records. She is accused of taking over $73,000 from the department to support her gambling habit.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Pictured left is Stacey L. Chasteen, former Greensburg police chief.
On Tuesday February 17, around 10 a.m. Stacey L. Chasteen, 49, of Seymour was arrested and taken to the Decatur County Jail. According to ISP Investigator Tracy Rohlfing, the Decatur County Prosecutor filed one count of Theft and one count of Official Misconduct, each a Level 6 Felony, against Chasteen as a result of an extensive investigation of the Greensburg Police evidence records during her term as chief and her tenure as the department’s property officer as well. An investigation of the Greensburg Police evidence records were requested in December of 2014 regarding missing evidence (US Currency). The ISP Laboratory conducted an audit of the property room in January 2015 and discovered several discrepancies involving evidence.
Police chief since 2012, she abruptly quit in November. Her husband, Scott, who is fire chief at Greensburg, said in the affidavit she has a gambling problem. The Greensburg Daily News reported she told police in the affidavit she took the money from the evidence locker, and also gambled away the money she borrowed from her family to replace the funds, the affidavit says. Two Greensburg officers contacted her after she left her job as chief because they could not find missing money seized from a massage parlor investigation. She told them she hoped she had not released it or destroyed it, an answer which caused them to be suspicious. Chasteen told police she had been taking money from the evidence room since 2006 when she was a property officer.
The Decatur County Prosecutor’s Office is handling the case. She posted $2000 from the $20,000 bond. A hearing is scheduled for March 4 in Decatur Circuit Court.
Winter storm impacts area
Mary Mattingly
EDITOR
mmattingly@ripleynews.com
These past few days area reminder that we’re still in the midst of winter. Despite sub-zero temperatures, it’s actually not been a bad winter so far, and nothing like last year’s when we learned about such things as polar vortexes.
MARY MATTINGLY PHOTO
Town of Versailles employees were out early this week shoveling parking lots and sidewalks. This was in front of the town hall.
Andy Hatzos, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio, which monitors this area in the tri-state, said if you didn’t count the 6.3 inches of snow Tuesday morning “we would have been way below normal. Normal is 16.2 inches (counted at the Cincinnati airport) and now (as of Tuesday afternoon) we’re at 14.6 inches.” Ripley County is a little below that average, he added. A few more inches of the white stuff overnight Tuesday and Wednesday surprised some meterologists, and a wind chill advisory was issued for the area through Friday at noon. It is predicted to feel like 30 below when factoring the wind chill for Thursday.
The weather did play havoc with motorists and schools. Milan and Jac-Cen-Del schools were already off Monday for President’s Day, but South Ripley and Batesville closed, and all four districts closed Tuesday and Wednesday. At this point, South Ripley Supt. Rob Moorhead said they are into four make up days during the two week provisional spring break beginning March 16. They won’t touch the following week, and they have Good Friday also as a make up day if needed.
Ripley County Sheriff Jeff Cumberworth said it helped that schools were closed, reducing traffic on the county roads, but otherwise they were not overwhelmed with accidents or slide-offs. “Not near what happened on interstates, 74 and 65,” he noted. He didn’t recall any serious injuries either. A SUV flipped on US 50 near the state park after 5 p.m. Monday and when they arrived, Cumberworth said the driver was dialing 911 on his phone upside down but couldn’t get out of his safety belt.
He said local drivers were cautious and steady overall, and that’s the way to be with these weather conditions. Indiana State Police spokesperson Tommy Walker at the Versailles Post said there were quite a few crashes on the bridge and overpasses along the interstates, with a pile-up on I-74 Tuesday morning at the 159 mile marker. It shut down the interstate for several hours, but there were no serious injuries. He didn’t get over 40 mph Monday on the interstate. He advised to keep it slow, “Courtesy is the best policy!”
Ripley County Commissioners issued a yellow level travel advisory, which means to take caution, on Monday at 10 a.m. and lifted it Tuesday morning. The next level is orange, which is for essential travel such as to and from work, and the last level, red, is for emergency personnel only on the roads.The county and town highway departments have been busy treating the roads. The county uses 1 part salt to 3 parts cinders, but the salt is not too effective if temperatures drop below 20 degrees as it did Monday-Wednesday; however, the sun was out some Tuesday and helped melt ice and snow from the salt-treated roads.
The brunt of the storm went south, with Louisville and central Kentucky getting amounts of snow in the double digits. Batesville and Aurora reported 4 inches Monday evening, according to the National Weather Service. However, southeast Indiana had the lowest temperatures reported. Around 7 a.m. Tuesday, Big Oaks National Refuge had temperatures at -13, Batesville -10, Versailles -5 and Osgood -7. Hatzos projects the next two weeks to have below and “way below normal” temperatures, but there was no strong indication of precipitation. He noted there is a storm system for the weekend, but could not pinpoint which day.
