Top 10 stories of ’18

<p><span>10. Massive road projects across county</span></p><p>Greenwood commuters had to navigate around several road projects this year including improvements to Madison Avenue, Emerson Avenue, a new roundabout at Smith Valley Road and Madison Avenue, a new &quot;jug handle&quot; at Smith Valley and U.S. 31 and more downtown. The city has several more projects planned for next year, but they won’t have as big of an impact on traffic.</p><p>In Franklin, the city completed several roundabouts on the truck bypass, further work on King Street and more segments of work on Jefferson Street through the downtown, as well as building a new road to serve an industrial area.</p><p><span>9. Greenwood downtown</span></p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>Downtown Greenwood made several changes this year to attract more businesses, residents and visitors. They updated signs on many of the historic buildings as part of a new grant program, added walking trails along Madison Avenue and built a new public parking lot. In November, the city council established a riverfront district along three creeks in the city, which will allow them to issue an unlimited number of liquor licenses to bars and restaurants interested in setting up shop in Greenwood. They planned to demolish the old Greenwood Middle School at the end of the year, which Mayor Mark Myers hopes to eventually turn into retail shops and condos.</p><p><span>8. Interstate 69</span></p><p>Years ago, when local leaders envisioned the future Interstate 69 traveling through the county, the entire route was lined with businesses. This year, that vision changed. Officials have different ideas for the three different I-69 interchanges planned in Johnson County. The goal is to have room for multiple types of development, from residential to retail and offices to park land, according to the plan.</p><p>Local officials worked with residents and experts to put together a blueprint for development. Once approved, that plan would be used to prioritize road projects, and set guidelines for future development in the areas along the interstate. State officials are encouraging local officials to start laying out those projects so they can work toward getting federal funding to help pay those costs.</p><p>INDOT began purchasing portions of up to 170 properties in Johnson County this fall as part of the long-planned construction of Interstate 69 along State Road 37, which will include relocating about 60 homes and businesses. State workers began initial discussions with property owners this spring. The process of appraising and purchasing properties was expected to last about nine months.</p><p>Construction on the final section of I-69, a $1.5 billion project from Martinsville to Indianapolis, is set to begin in early 2019 with work in the Martinsville area on new access roads and overpasses. Work on the new interstate itself is set to begin in 2020.</p><p><span>7. Center Grove coach investigation</span></p><p>The Center Grove community was rocked by allegations against and an investigation into the actions of high school football coach Eric Moore. In February, Moore was put on paid administrative leave while the Indiana Department of Child Services investigated a report that Moore had assaulted an athlete. The state found the report unsubstantiated.</p><p>The school district launched an investigation into Moore’s overall conduct and found evidence that he used inappropriate language and aggressive physical contact, and a “larger, systemic issue within the culture of our extra-curricular activities.”</p><p>The school district re-iterated its support for the coach and in the fall released handbooks for coaches and club sponsors, outlining language and conduct that should be avoided.</p><p><span>6. Opioids</span></p><p>The opioid epidemic continued to have a profound impact on Johnson County and the rest of Indiana throughout 2018. Health care providers, government officials and community partners struggled with ways to address the devastating problem. Local residents in recovery from opioid addiction, as well as family members who had lost loved ones to the epidemic, called for increased access to addiction recovery services. In April, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed legislation to fund nine new opioid treatment centers across the state, raising the total number of treatment centers aimed at the crisis to 27. Other legislation required doctors to access patient information from the statewide prescription tracking system before writing a prescription for opioids, as well as requiring coroners to do thorough investigations in deaths suspected to be overdoses.</p><p><span>5. School threats and improving safety</span></p><p>Gun violence hit a little closer to home this year, with school shootings in Noblesville and Richmond. Locally, in May, when school officials found threatening lists of names at two Franklin schools and a threat on a website connected to Center Grove, police were called in to investigate.</p><p>Greenwood and Center Grove students took matters into their own hands in March when hundreds walked out of the schools as part of a nationwide protest against gun violence and calls for more stringent gun regulations.</p><p>In November, Clark-Pleasant residents approved a property tax increase to generate more money for school safety, including mental health treatment.</p><p><span>4. Historic drug arrest sweep</span></p><p>After a year of gathering evidence, police officers from around the county and state worked to arrest more than 120 suspected drug dealers across Johnson County on Nov. 8. It was the largest drug raid in state and county history and it unfolded in the neighborhoods of Johnson County to send a message that drug dealing will not be tolerated here and to cripple drug distribution. The cases had been investigated by Franklin police, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and Greenwood police. Methamphetamine was still king in Johnson County.</p><p><span>3. Police-action shooting</span></p><p>Two New Whiteland police officers shot a 17-year-old who pointed a gun at them on Dec. 14 outside a home in the Country Gate subdivision. He was rushed to the hospital where he underwent surgery and survived. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office was called in to investigate the shooting. Another teen, 19-year-old Jordan Fulkerson, was captured and arrested after police caught him running in a field behind the house two hours later. Both boys had warrants out for their arrests when they led police on a car chase through town earlier that day, eventually escaping on foot and firing two shots at police.</p><p><span>2. Environmental investigation leads to remediation</span></p><p>A former manufacturing company in Franklin has agreed to replace a city sewer segment, upgrade its own treatment system and continue paying for testing and treatment of homes that are in the path of contamination after a six-month investigation. The issue was discovered after a concerned group of parents, called If It Was Your Child, raised concerns about certain locations that could be contaminated across the city. The Amphenol site and others have been monitored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency or the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for decades, but Mayor Steve Barnett asked for proof that the ongoing cleanup and monitoring was working properly.</p><p>The city also hired a company to expedite testing, and that company discovered that contaminants were escaping the company property.</p><p>More testing is ongoing.</p><p><span>1. Voting problems</span></p><p>A technical glitch on Election Day in November left some voters waiting in lines for more than three hours, and others not voting at all. Electronic poll books, which are used to check in voters before they cast a ballot, kept freezing. Each time that happened, nobody could sign in to vote. Several voting machines were left empty and lines were out the door at several vote centers. County officials, along with ES&amp;amp;S, worked quickly to fix the problem on Nov. 6, but no action has been taken by the county or the vendor since Election Day.</p><p>The Secretary of State’s Office on Dec. 7 launched an investigation into what happened, specifically with the vendor’s equipment, in seven counties, including Johnson County. The vendor apologized to the voters and offered the county partial refunds, but blamed the software, a Microsoft product, and the unexpected turnout for a non-presidential election. More than 50 percent of the county’s registered voters turned out in this election. Nearly half of those people voted early, which was also unexpected.</p>