MARTINSVILLE Hayley Taylor will be taking her talents to Franklin College after she graduates from Martinsville High School this May. Making the transition from high school to college isn’t the only change in store for Taylor. She said she would be likely switching to the outfield from first base. “I’ll be playing outfield in college, hopefully, (head coach Butch Zike) needs some speed in the outfield and hopefully I can live up to that,” Taylor said. Franklin College was an easy choice for Taylor. She said it was “the perfect fit” and she hadn’t looked too much at other colleges and programs. “Franklin College is really close to home so that’s nice for school and they have a really good exercise program and that’s what I wanna go for and it’s always been a dream to play softball in college,” Taylor said. Taylor plans to study exercise science at Franklin College, another thing that attracted her to the school. Taylor said he experience volunteering at St. Francis Hospital in the Physical Therapy Department got her interested in studying that in college. “Over my summers throughout high school I would always volunteer in the physical therapy office so I’ve always taken an interest in how it all works and helping people maintain mobility,” Taylor said. Taylor is notable for her academics as well as her extracurricular activities and is excited about the challenge of managing the demands of being an athlete and a student. “I’m excited to get more into the field of studying that I wanna do when I grow up and the challenge of managing that with softball environment,” Taylor said. Martinsville High School Softball Coach Ken Rhoden said that Taylor placed a great importance on her education. “First of all, she has the skill. She’s just a hardworking, very intelligent. She’s a student-athlete, very highly regarded student and she’s a top-notch athlete and she’s just a good person. We try to make them better softball players but we want them to be better people. She’s very a very good representative of our school and team,” Rhoden said. Rhoden said it was always a happy occasion when a student had a chance to play a sport at a college level. “It’s very gratifying because a lot of these kids, it’s helps them further their education and whenever that happens, it’s a good deal for them and for us, because they’re getting some notoriety. It’s always a time to be happy for the kids and family,” Rhoden said. Taylor is very serious about softball, she’s played the game since she was about five, according to her mother, Cheryl Taylor. Cheryl said that they spent a lot of time traveling for her daughter’s softball team. “Just about every weekend, traveling out of town and staying in hotels,” Cheryl said. Cheryl said it was difficult to think of a specific favorite memory but said her daughter’s recent play had left an impression. “She’s had a couple home runs here lately and that makes you really proud. Just having to see her work so hard to get that home run and then finally getting it over the fence,” Cheryl said. Ben Crane coached Taylor on a traveling team and said she had grown as a player and a person over the course of her time on the team. “She approaches the game with a different mindset and understands that it’s mental as much as it is physical. I think that growth has prepared her well,” Crane said. For Taylor, the love of the game is what keeps her going and the feeling she gets from it. “It’s just something to free your mind and it helps take your mind off a lot of things and I’ve been in it since the beginning of ever playing sports, so it’s just fun to keep up with it,” Taylor said.

MARTINSVILLE Students on several area robotics teams were able to show off the skills they’ve learned this year during Saturday’s inaugural District Robotics Scrimmage. South Elementary School and its team hosted groups from Poston Road Elementary School, Brooklyn Elementary School and Charles L. Smith Elementary for the showcase. The South Robotics team walked away with a victory on their home turf as winners of the overall competition, and members of the team were very excited about their success. “I honestly feel happy, because this is the first year that we did the robotics team. And it’s good to have a trophy to put in our trophy case. I’m just excited for the team for winning it,” said Aiden Dodds, an 11-year-old fifth-grader at South. Aiden said he was drawn to the robotics club because he enjoys taking things apart and rebuilding them. “I’m thinking of becoming a robotics engineer, maybe get my master’s degree at Purdue. I’m probably also going to be an artist,” he said. He said he enjoyed helping his team and the process of building the robot, and that he found one component of the robot trickier than others. “The claw, definitely the claw, because we had to find the right axle to put in there, ’cause one of them had a loop on it and we couldn’t put that one in there because it would stop the motor from getting on and allowing the claw to close properly,” Dodds said. The claw is a vital part of the robot, as the skill challenges involve lifting and moving objects. South fourth-grader Elijah Peters, 10, said his interest in building robots and being creative got him interested in joining the robotics team. He was pleased with the results for his team. “It feels really good, because we worked so hard to get it. And sometimes you get mad when other people kind of mess it up for you. Sometimes other people think you did bad. Sometimes when you win, it feels great,” Elijah said. His teammate, fifth-grader Michael Rodenbeck, 11, was pleasantly surprised by the result. “I feel really great. I honestly didn’t think we were going to do it, “ Michael said. Michael, like Aiden, is considering pursuing a career in the field of robotics and is interested in more stellar matters like working on robotics intended for space exploration. “It will take a whole lot longer, and I could stay employed longer,” Michael said. He said he didn’t know what to expect when he joined the team, but he was excited to flex his creative muscles. “I just thought it was a chance for me to show my creative side, but I didn’t know we’d have to make the overall, basic robot,” Michael said. South fifth-grader Haley Holzworth, 11, developed a love for robots at a young age. “What drew me into it is as a kid, I was always building robots out of Legos and I would try to use the Force to make them move. It never worked,” Haley said. She said she liked the social aspect of the robotics team. “I think the coolest part of being on the robotics team is staying after school and hanging out with friends, and we get to build stuff together and they always give us Cheez-Its as a snack,” Haley said. She said though she enjoys math and science, she is interested in being a mystery writer and that the problem-solving in science and math help her to think of unconventional solutions: something like a cybernetic Gordian knot. “Building robots, you always have challenges, so you have to think outside of the box to get rid of those challenges,” Haley said. And while South took home the top prize, the other participating schools were recognized for their efforts as well — in some cases, with participation certificates, and in others, with a trophy. One of the trophies will be a traveling trophy. If the enthusiasm, excitement and competitiveness on display is any indication, next year’s potentially expanded competition will have a lot to live up to. Sharon Goodin, a fourth-grade teacher at Brooklyn Elementary, served as master of ceremonies for the event and was very pleased with how things went. “I think that South did a great job putting things together. All of the teams, all of the schools got together several times to get this to go. The kids did an amazing job. They worked really hard to get these things up. It was really good,” she said. Goodin said the four schools that competed at the event had each received a grant from the TechPoint Foundation. The District Robotics Scrimmage served as a celebration of the robotics club, which has competed throughout the year at various events, and as a way to see how much students have learned and improved. Goodin said she hopes to expand the event for next year. “Next year, I think we’re going to open it up to be even bigger,” she said. “We’re really going to try to have a competition where we have other schools from around the area come and compete. And hopefully we can talk the high school into letting us have it there.”

MARTINSVILLE As activists from the Higher Fellowship, a group interested in legalizing cannabis, hosted a rally Saturday on the Morgan County Courthouse square, the crowd that gathered was small, but passionate. Bobbie Young, who spoke at the rally, said she has spoken before crowds of three people and crowds much larger than that. Members of the Higher Fellowship attributed the low turnout at Saturday’s rally to Easter activities and the nice weather — people who otherwise might be interested had other obligations. Young said there likely were people who were using marijuana while the rally was going on, but feared attending. Young touted the benefits legalizing marijuana would have for the state of Indiana. According to an October 2016 New York Times article, more people were arrested for marijuana-related charges than for violent crimes in 2015, and despite similar usage rates, African-Americans are arrested at a higher rate than whites for marijuana usage. Most of the time, the arrests aren’t of drug kingpins, but rather individuals who possessed marijuana. It’s a problem that has financial implications for both individuals and communities. “We spend $150 million enforcing marijuana laws — $150 million,” Young said. “Any police officer, can you imagine adding $150 million to your budget by adjusting a law that is unfair to the people?” Young also emphasized the benefits legalization could have when it comes to financing infrastructure repairs in Indiana. “There are currently 168 open, licensed dispensaries in the state of Colorado, $1.7 billion in revenue to their state,” Young said. “I don’t know about you, but what about our highways? We’re the Crossroads of America, but every highway in our state has construction. Every one of them. And the second they’re done, it’s broken. But in the state of Colorado, there are pendants and signs that say ‘Thank you cannabis for rebuilding our roads.’” Many advocates of cannabis legalization focus on potential medical benefits of the substance. Charlotte Woods attended the rally after seeing a post about it on the Higher Fellowship’s Facebook page. Woods said it was her first rally and that she is interested in medical benefits of cannabis. “It’s the safest treatment option for my daughter, who is currently taking Risperidone — and it’s a pretty dangerous medication, but it’s the only one that’s helped with her,” Woods said. She said seeing the low number of side effects compared to the ones for Risperidone drew her interest. Legalization efforts drew Breon Jones’ attention for similar reasons. “I have a brother with cerebral palsy,” Jones said. “His was caused by a doctor’s error, that’s the personal aspect of it for me. Just all the things it can do for people, all the diseases, all the money it can raise. The benefits are so massive. I think it’s idiotic that it’s criminalized when there’s much worse things out there, like alcohol and tobacco, that’s so much worse, but those are legal.” Jones said he attended the group’s April 20 rally last year and decided to get involved. “I talked to the music director and performed at the first-ever Greenstock, and after that they had me host a rally in my county, which is Kosciusko,” he said. “I did a rally and had 80 people, which is a crap-ton for Warsaw, Indiana. And then after that, (I) went to their annual Christmas party, saw how they were behind the scenes — they were a really good group of people. And then they invited me on their rally tour to be one of their headline acts for it. I jumped into that.” Two pieces of state legislation that recently were passed, Indiana Senate Bill 15 and Indiana House Bill 1148, would legalize the use of cannabidiol. Cannabidiol is found in the seeds, stalk and flowers of cannabis plants, such as hemp and marijuana, according to TheStatehouseFile.com. It has been found to minimize seizures in epileptic patients and has a negligible level of tetrahydrocannabinol – THC – the compound that creates the “high” feeling in marijuana. The version of the bill from the Senate required cannabidiol to contain no more than 0.3 percent THC. Both pieces of legislation are awaiting the signature of Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb. The Higher Fellowship will host another rally at noon Thursday at the Indiana Statehouse, 200 W. Washington St., Indianapolis. For more information, visit the organization’s Facebook page or visit indycann.org.

MARTINSVILLE There are many signs of the return of spring that sports fans see each year. For some, it’s the NCAA tournament; for others, it’s the winding down of the NBA’s regular season, and still for others, it’s the return of baseball. America’s pastime is the perfect marker of lazy summer days when it’s so hot outside, a more leisurely activity is in order. Like perennial flowers blooming in April, so too does the Artesian Little League return. Opening day for the 2017 season was held Saturday at Schwab Field. Young baseball and softball players gathered in the outfield and infield to celebrate the return of the game that unites generations. This year marks the return of Mike Baugh to Artesian Little League. Following the pledge of allegiance and the national anthem — sung by Baugh’s son Kevin, himself a former Artesian Little Leaguer — Baugh talked about the history of Artesian Little League and what the league and the game itself mean to him. “You know, I’ve been gone from Artesian Little League for several years and I was pressed back into service this year. I was proud to say I would lend a hand again for Artesian Little League. This whole league here started out and there were only five diamonds. It stretched all the way to that swamp back there between the two facilities and went all the way to Douglas Creek. We only had five diamonds,” Baugh said “It was conceived by a small group of people who got excited one night about the possibility of having sanctioned Little League in Martinsville. One thing we never stopped to do was to consider what an impossible task that was to accomplish.” Baugh discussed the difficulties the original organizers of the league faced as they worked to bring sanctioned Little League play to Martinsville. “I want you to imagine how improbable that was, that Martinsville would even have sanctioned baseball or the Artesian Little League for that matter. First, we had no players. Second, we had no money. Third, we had no land. And even if all those things had magically fallen into place, we had to compete with another league that had been here for decades,” Baugh said, “So here we are, 30 years later. Our brainchild was born, it survived, it thrived — and when I see the kids playing baseball out here, I get a little sentimental. Some of this grass is 30 years old, and I was out here someplace throwing the seed down when it was just a cornfield.” Baugh also made sure to acknowledge those who helped make the league a possibility but have since passed on. “Some of the ones who helped us greatly to pull this off aren’t even with us anymore,” he said. Baugh asked those in attendance to respect the dream of those who founded the league 30 years ago. “Respect it by making a new dream. And remember, our dream was just putting the fields in. We have to have people now dream more than that. Look at this complex, look out here, look how big it is. It’s enormous now. Think of what this could be. It could be literally the best facility in the state of Indiana. It’s only limited by your imagination and your participation. So with your talent and your knowledge, this could be the best facility in the state for so many reasons,” Baugh said. Following his introductory remarks, Baugh introduced the board members and discussed respect — for opponents, umpires and others — maintaining perspective and keeping things fun. The Little League pledge and the parents pledge were recited, and then it was time for Martinsville High School baseball coach Jeff Scott to speak. “This program’s important for our high school program, to develop kids and have them continue that development when they get to high school and be productive for us,” Scott said. Scott said the coaches are important in the development of players and keeping them engaged and excited about the game. “We want kids to love the game of baseball,” he said. “We don’t them to be run off because winning and losing is so important at this age that they get discouraged and they don’t like baseball. We want them to be taught and have fun. You guys have a big responsibility, and I thank you for volunteering your time and putting in all the hours that you do to help these young kids out.” Following Scott’s remarks, the ceremonial first pitches were thrown: one for baseball and one for softball. The kickoff ceremony ended with the Little Leaguers dancing to the “Cha Cha Slide.” The Artesian Little League is back, and this season ought to be a good one.

My Fair Lady is one of the most popular musicals of all time. And until Saturday, I had never seen it. I was a theater geek in high school and the musical looms large enough in pop culture that I knew the basic plot points. Plus, when you’re enthusiastic about theater, it’s almost a requirement to know the standards from Lerner and Loewe musicals. I was also familiar with the George Bernard Shaw play it was based on, “Pygmalion” as well as the Greek myth that inspired it. Who said learning Latin wouldn’t be helpful in the real world after all? After attending Saturday’s performance, I can understand why “My Fair Lady” is so beloved. It’s a delightful musical and the script and lyrics really embody the sparkling Shavian wit. The Beef and Boards production is incredibly well staged, especially when taking into consideration the many moving parts and set changes involved with it. Shaw’s original play featured recommendations for changes to make it easier to stage for smaller casts and for theaters that lacked the technology to stage some of the more complicated scenes. The sets, lighting and especially the costumes are incredible. I was very happy to see a pearly queen and pearly king present in the opening scene. It really helped to give a sense of time and place and was evidence of the care Jimmy Halliday took in costume design. What really shines in “My Fair Lady” is the acting. Kimberly Doreen Burns commands the stage as Eliza Doolittle. This production marks her fourth time playing the cockney flower girl and one can tell that she has a real affection for the role. She imbues Eliza with real fire and passion. Burns has fantastic comedic chops and believably shifts from the cockney accent to the Received Pronunciation that marks one as a member of high society. David Schmittou is outstanding as Professor Henry Higgins, his accent is a dead on and he really gets across the arrogance and priggishness of Higgins. But there’s also an understated vulnerability to the character that Schmittou conveys with great subtlety in the second act of the musical when Higgins attempts to find Eliza after she runs away. Schmittou’s upper-class accent is fantastic and feels like the real deal. Mark Goetzinger is wonderful as Colonel Pickering, as soon as he speaks his first line; one instantly likes Pickering though he is an entirely new acquaintance. The secret to the success of this production of “My Fair Lady” is the strength of the three characters. Burns, Schmittou and Goetzinger have amazing chemistry and play off each other so well. It’s such a joy to watch them verbally spar. The sort of feeling one gets from watching a hangout-style sitcom like “Cheers.” And it’s not just the leads whose acting impress, Eddie Curry is great as Alfred P. Doolittle. He’s a lowlife and a moocher, but he’s very open about that side of his personality and embraces it. Though Curry has a smaller role each scene with him is memorable. Vickie Cornelius Phipps really captures the character of a mother visibly frustrated with her son’s behavior in her portrayal of Mrs. Higgins. It’s to Phipps credit that she plays the character in such a well-rounded way. The excellence of the acting and the fitness of the actors speaks to the quality of the casting by directors. Every actor, no matter the role, adds something to the events on stage. It’s such a pleasant and warm experience; one doesn’t want it to end. “My Fair Lady” is a fascinating play for it’s more complicated view of love and romance. Things aren’t as simple as what perhaps one might find in musicals from its era. It also raises interesting questions about class mobility and whether one can rise above one’s circumstances and what that might mean if one does. The scene where Eliza returns to Covent Gardens is fascinating, she no longer fits in that world but doesn’t quite feel at home in her new one as someone might always make her feel unwelcome. The ending is ambiguous, it can be read as happy or the cycle of Higgins enraging Eliza and causing her to leave may continue. If you have the chance, see “My Fair Lady” you’ll leave Beef and Boards with a warm glow, the sort you get from spending time with beloved friends.

MARTINSVILLE Railroads represent for many the spirit of a bygone age, when things moved slower and the journey was as important as the destination. It’s a sentiment that also fits the attitude of the typical model railroad enthusiast. Many of those who attended the 2017 Martinsville Train Show on Saturday feel a deep passion for model trains, one that goes all the way back to childhood. There are numerous things about the hobby that inspires devotion in these amateur engineers. “I think mostly because it’s creative, you get a chance to do a lot of problem solving, and believe me there’s a lot of problem solving in this business,” Dan Goins, president of the Morgan County Railroad Association, said. “ But you try to find new ways to make things. But sometimes you use things that are leftover — soda straws that are painted gray can become culverts and all kinds of things. Trees are spongy stuff or wooly stuff, you paint ‘em up, so that’s part of it. And designing it to running it is part of it.” It’s a hobby that is sometimes foreign to the children of today, according to Goins. “Unfortunately today, young kids don’t get to do this much. There have been a lot of kids today, but it’s one of those kinds of things, you see they get excited because they do the one at the bank and they kind of drift away. Hopefully later on, they get some more time they can get into it. It’s getting harder and harder for us to find people today that are willing to spend the time and that’s the issue,” Goins said. This was the second year the show took place in the former Big Lots store in Martinsville Plaza. Goins reached out to the owners of the property to rent it for the event. In years past, the show took place at the National Guard Armory. The current venue offers more space, which means more layouts. “This is much more room, much more spread out and a lot more model trains. If you want to see model trains, this is the place to come,” Goins said. Dealers are a big part of the train show. They chat with their fellow hobbyists about the ins and outs of various models in the type of inside baseball that is indecipherable by the lay person. “We speak the same language, for one thing. And I enjoy re-meeting some of my acquaintances and friends that I’ve met at many different train shows and I see some of the same people. But there’s also new people I meet at every show, so I enjoy that part of it,” Tim Coyle, owner of Hobby Station in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, said. Coyle said a lot of people who stopped by his table expressed an interest in the custom weathered trains cars. Coyle said he expected to do a lot of mail order business at this store, which is located at 536 W Dixie Ave. Ste 100 Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Coyle said he couldn’t recall a time he wasn’t passionate about model trains. “It’s hard to say how I got into it, because I can only remember trains all the way back to when I was four or five years old. I’ve enjoyed trains all of my life,” Coyle said. Along with dealers, there were also several train-related organizations at the train show, including the Monon Society, which seeks to preserve the legacy of the Monon trail line. “We have equipment that we restore and maintain: a caboose in Noblesville, one in French Lick — the president’s business car,” John Craig, Monon Society member, said. “We just try and preserve the memory of anything related to the Monon, photographs and time tables. I think it’s almost mesmerizing watching them. You model the past as it was in the good old days. Personally, I model 1966, partially because of the type of engines that ran at that time and I was in the sixth grade and it was just a fun time.” When it comes to designing the layouts for model trains to travel around, many include elements that reflect their interests or life experiences. Bill White, a member of the Central Indiana Division of the National Model Railroad Association, designed the layout that greeted train show visitors at the door of the show and aspects of it reflect White’s time serving in the Coast Guard. White’s layout also features a flying saucer and a miniature DVD player attached to a small speaker. It’s positioned near a flying saucer and it continuously blasts music from the classic 1951 sci-fi film, “The Day The Earth Stood Still.” The layout also features a landing strip covered in aircrafts flown in World War II. “This is a World War II era air show exhibit each of these aircrafts represents an ace that flew those aircraft, so I did a lot of historical research on finding the aircraft and making them into the schemes of the pilots that flew them,” White said. White said the show had gone really well and that Martinsville was a good location for the show as there were many railroad buffs that lived in southern Indiana. And as for what draws people to the model trains, White echoed what others at the show had said, a yearning for the past: nostalgia. A word derived from Greek meaning old wound, which reflects the bittersweet nature of reflecting on times and days gone by. “I think it goes back to the times where people used to ride on trains and the romance of riding on trains and just the experience families had of going places by rail and how the country started that way, by the train,” White said.

MARTINSVILLE Many hands make light work. That’s an old chestnut of an adage, but there’s a real truth to it. And it’s something that was on display Saturday at the Barbara B. Jordan YMCA in Martinsville as a group of volunteers worked to build a running path along the edge of the property. The project came about because Suzanne Mittenthal heard Dave Nash, executive director of the Y, was planning to hire a contractor to build a running path. Mittenthal has been a YMCA member since 1995, and she also works as a nonprofit trail designer. “I heard that he was going to spend $10,000,” she said. “Some contractor had offered to put in a running path for $10,000. I said, ‘That’s ridiculous. I know what they’ll do, they’ll just doze a path in the grass. You get some volunteers and we’ll put it in the woods and the shade where it’s interesting.’” Mittenthal designed the trail at Jimmy Nash City Park as well as other ones around the state. She swims at the Y and said building trails helps with a back problem. “I crushed a vertebrae in my back, so I need to do this kind of work to help keep my back going,” Mittenthal said. The Y trail, which will be about a quarter-mile long, is a way of giving back for both Mittenthal and for some of the volunteers helping to build it. Some of those volunteers are from the Indiana Dream Team, which helps men dealing with addiction to get their lives back on track by helping them to reconnect with family and rebuild their self-worth. Part of that comes from making amends with those they might have hurt, but it also involves giving back to the community and finding new purpose in life. That’s how Evan Abner and Kevin Delaney, two members of the Indiana Dream Team, describe it. “We’re just out here serving today, giving back to the community. That’s a lot of what we do. We just do what we can to help. The community helps us out, so we appreciate that. There’s a lot of guys we bring out and serve as often as we can, not just the YMCA, the whole community,” Delaney said. Delaney and Abner both said the program is a lifesaver. “It’s been a blessing,” Abner said. He builds furniture and Delaney is a construction worker. On Saturday, they were building a bridge for the running path at the Y. Dream Team members also work at Barnwood Furniture, where they build furniture out of old barns. “The main thing with what we do, we tear down old barns that are donated and we make furniture. That’s kind of like our lives. People look at us as all worn-out, because we come from addictions and stuff like that. And we take something that nobody wants and we make it new again, into something that people can use. And to us, it brings back self-worth and that’s what a lot of us are missing in our lives. And the spiritual part of it, the ministry is good for us,” Delaney said. Delaney said the Dream Team gets a lot of its funding from churches and organizations such as the Y, so they give back to those that have helped them. “And the success rate of this program is tremendous. You go through probations and rehabs and the success rate is not good, because they just don’t do stuff like this. It’s much more classroom stuff and not hands-on and giving back to the community,” Delaney said. Mittenthal said the trail project wouldn’t have happened without their assistance. “These Dream Team people are really good workers; they are nice young men. I’m so glad they were able to get lined up with us, because they’re doing a terrific job,” she said. The volunteers broke for lunch just after noon, but there was much more to be done. “We’ve got work to do here, see where that pink stuff is,” Mittenthal said, gesturing to pink flags that poked out of the green grass and marked where the trail would go. “Does it look like you can run where those pink flags are? No. This afternoon, people are going to be working real hard to put in what will look like a road cut. If you’re going around the side of a hill, your car doesn’t slant sideways, you dig in and make a flat bed for that car. All we’re doing is making a classic road cut here. And what we’re doing is going up and down the side here so that if water gets on it, it’ll drain off to the side, so it’ll stay. But it’ll wind around the trees and make it more interesting.”

MARTINSVILLE The Martinsville Youth and Development Center hosted a free hitting clinic from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday for boys ages 7 to 12. The clinic is just one of the ways the center hopes to engage more with the youth of Martinsville, as well as make members of the community aware of the center and the types of services and activities provided there. “We wanted to give back to the community with baseball season kicking off. It’s a great way for us to give back and interact and just get people through our door just to know that we’re here,” Shelby Wilson, director of the Martinsville Youth and Development Center said. The clinic featured Martinsville High School baseball coach Jeff Scott and Steve Keefe, who coaches youth baseball and is on the board of directors for the center. The clinic was on a reservation basis and Wilson said 42 children signed up and it filled up in less than 48 hours. Wilson said she was pleased with the turnout, of the 42 who had reserved a spot, 38 showed. Steve Keefe thought the clinic was a good way to give back and to promote the center. Keefe said that there were still people who were unaware of the center’s existence and the type of facilities they had to offer. Participants got feedback on their swing and ways they could improve. Keefe used an app on his phone to show the children what adjustments they could make and any flaws in their mechanics. It’s something parents can use at home with their smart phones. Giving back is a matter that’s very close to the heart for Keefe. “I grew up an at risk kid, I didn’t have a father figure and never felt like anybody ever cared about me. You know kids are innocent and if you can change one kid’s life, it’s worth a thousand service hours, a thousand. Because I know how to teach someone to hit a baseball it’s probably good that I’m willing to donate my time. It’s really about giving, it really truly is, that’s why I got involved in this initiative,” Keefe said. There are a few events on tap for the center in the coming months. Keefe said that the center was planning to hold its inaugural fundraising dinner on May 16 and were in the middle of getting a speaker for the event. Keefe said he also planned to hold a pitching clinic. “Next time, we’ll scale it down a little bit. It went great, there were some kids that really needed it bad and there were a couple of really good hitters, but most of them really needed the help. It was awesome, we were happy to be able to do it, it’s all about giving time,” Keefe said. Wilson said she hoped to get transportation squared away so that more Martinsville students could take advantage of the center. “We want to get as many kids in our youth center as possible. Right now we have sixth through eighth-graders in there, that’s just due to transportation. Once we lock down transportation, we’ll be able to branch out to the younger kids,” Wilson said. In addition to a pitching clinic, Wilson said there were plans to have a clinic for softball players. Wilson said that another way she hoped to get more students involved was volunteering, which can help set students apart when they begin to apply for colleges. It’s also a great way to get experience that can be helpful in landing a job. “We’re a good way for high school kids to volunteer and beef up their resume. Any volunteer hours you can get is awesome for your resume,” Wilson said. For more information about the Martinsville Youth and Development Center, call 765-558-8137 or email director Wilson at shelby@martinsvilleyouthcenter.org Contact the rec center at 765-558-8145 or visit martinsvilleyouthcenter.org.

MORGAN COUNTY Morgan County Master Gardener David Mow planned Saturday’s wildflower walk back in January. It was a roll of the dice, as he had no way of knowing what the weather would be like. An unseasonably warm February suggested a warm March hike with lots of wildflowers in bloom, but Mother Nature had other plans in store. Snow earlier in the week and overcast skies and cold temperatures the day of the event made for fewer blooming plants. It also made for fewer participants in the wildflower walk at Burkhart Creek County Park, south of Martinsville — though Bonnie Bray, her husband, Joe Hovish, and their dog, Lucky, seemed to enjoy the experience. “We wanted a walk for him (Lucky) and we wanted to see the park; we didn’t know it was here. And that was really interesting, and I think maybe more people should know about it,” Hovish said. Hovish, a retired librarian, said he plans to get a book on Indiana wildflowers to learn more about the topic. “I didn’t realize that there were so many. If you open your eyes and look down, you’ll probably see quite a bit that normally I would just plow through and just walk on by without seeing it,” he said. Bray said she found the walk informative and that it allowed her to, so to speak, put a face to names of plants she’d heard for years. “I’ve always heard of liverwort but never knew what it was until now. It was just interesting, because I’ve lived here, grew up here and had no idea, so it was just fun,” she said. Mow has an uncanny eye, one that’s developed from years of study and practice. He can make sense out of the chaos of the forest floor, in the same manner a sports broadcaster can diagram a play in real time or a musicologist can break down a piece of music into its essential components. “I’ve been doing it for years, so I’ve trained my eye to see the details. National Geographic said that the human eye can detect 2,000 different shades of green. A lot of people just see green. Well, I see different shades and different shapes and different details. So I’ve just trained my eye to pick out things,” Mow said, “I can drive down the highway at 60 miles an hour and say, ‘Oh that’s this species.’ Of course, that’s good and bad because I see all the invasive species — the autumn olive, the bush honeysuckle and the multi-floral rose — and it just drives me crazy. We gotta get rid of this stuff.” Mow leads wildflower walks several times a year. The week before a walk, he marks out a path, taking note of the floral points of interest. It’s a passion for him. “Educating the public. That’s what I wanna let people know, that these flowers are here, get out and enjoy ’em. I do. I’d like more people to do it,” Mow said. He said the sheer number and variety of wildflowers can make them an intimidating topic for people to study, but like all things, time and effort are necessary to achieve competence. It’s such a large topic that Mow is still learning new things all the time. “I’ve been studying wildflowers for over 30 years. I’m always learning something new. I’ve found it’s a never-ending process,” he said. Another benefit to the study of wildflowers is a better understanding of the role wild plants play in gardening and how humans have domesticated plants for the food supply. “A lot of this stuff is used for food, like I showed you the mustard. A lot of our garden vegetables are related to these wild mustards, and people collected them and hybridized them and selected them over the years. Now we’re planting ’em and growing ’em in our gardens,” Mow said. He will be leading two more walks this year, at 1 p.m. April 15 and May 13 at Burkhart Creek County Park.

Cleveland in June 2016 was a busy place. The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers were in the middle of a memorable NBA Finals series in which the Warriors, who were up three games to one, blew the lead. That was the dramatic backdrop for the Donate Life Transplant Games, which took place from June 10 to June 15, 2016. Brook Zander, a lifelong Morgan County resident, was a participant in the national games. She won a silver in women’s double bowling, a silver in mixed doubles bowling and a bronze in darts. Zander is also a transplant recipient. On March 14, 2015, she received a double lung transplant and a second chance at life. “Last June, I went to Cleveland; that was my first games. It was just an amazing experience, one just to participate, but you got to see all the recipients there and all the donors, as far as living donors, but then the donor families were there,” she said. “Everybody was one big family. Nobody knew a stranger. I didn’t want to go home after the week was over. It was amazing.” Zander is now trying to make her way to Malaga, Spain, for the Twenty-First World Transplant Games, where Team USA athletes will compete against those from 65 countries in 16 sports and more than 40 events, according to a fundraising page. She said she needs to raise between $1,000 and $1,500 to pay her way there, as flights are not cheap. It’s been a mixed bag in terms of response for Zander. “I’ve done some online and I’ve sent out letters, of course. I have gotten one letter back and I’ve gotten a couple of declines, so-so, still needing some,” Zander said. Zander bowled in college and still uses the same ball, a fact a friend of hers teases her about. “I was on the (Indiana University) bowling team for a year, but that was it. Darts, I had never played darts before, but when I decided I was going to Cleveland, I didn’t want to go to Cleveland and just participate in one sport, because you’re there for a week and bowling was only two days,” she said, “So I thought, ‘Well, let’s see, what else can I do?’ So I thought, ‘Let’s play darts.’ So three months before I went to Cleveland I started going to the bars, because where else do you practice darts? So I started playing darts and there we went. And I got a bronze.” Exercise has been a big part of Zander’s life post-transplant. “I take medications every day. I will for the rest of my life. You need to exercise daily, so I still go to pulmonary rehab three days a week. I still do 5K walks, I just did one on Sunday and I try to do as many as I can to exercise,” she said. Recovery from the procedure took a while. Zander said she started feeling a little better about three to four months after the surgery. “Six months after my transplant, I walked my first 5K. That’s when I knew I was starting to feel better,” Zander said. She is taking up a new sport for the games in Spain, petanque. According to the World Transplant Games website, petanque originated from a game played in Roman times, but emerged as it is known today in La Ciotat Provence in France. Roman soldiers and sailors brought the game to France. The name of the game comes from the expression “pes tancats” — feet fixed — in the Provencal dialect of the Occitan language. Petanque bears a resemblance to bocce ball — it’s a game that’s simple to play but requires a decent level of strategy. There are no requirements for joining Team USA for the games, apart from being the recipient of a transplant. Zander said other countries might require team members to qualify. And practice is mostly left to the individual. “I bowl in a league twice a week. As far as Team USA for the world games, it’s hard to practice. I know for the U.S. Games, Team Indiana, we would get together — like the basketball team would practice a little bit here, the volleyball team would practice a little bit here, because it was easier. But the U.S. teams, because they’re all over, they’ll probably just practice when we get there, to Spain,” Zander said. She said the contingent heading to Spain will be the largest Team USA that has competed in the games. For those looking to help Zander in her cause, she said there are two ways to help. “Donations and prayers, those are two, just good thoughts,” she said. Those interested in making a donation to Zander can visit teamusa.causevox.com/brook-zander. Zander can be contacted at bzan75@gmail.com. For more information about the World Transplant Games, visit wtgmalaga2017.com/en/.

BROOKLYN The name out front may have changed over the years, but 6 N. Main St., Brooklyn, continues to operate as a restaurant. Its current incarnation, Spoonful of Hope, however, is not the typical restaurant. For one thing, it’s only open one day a week for three hours. It also uses a pay-what-you-can model. There are no prices on the chalkboard menu — instead a basket sits on the counter and patrons can pay what they like. Everything gathered goes towards purchasing groceries for the next week. It’s by mere chance that some stumble upon Spoonful of Hope in Brooklyn. In the summer, it’s cyclists out training for the Hilly Hundred or Little 500 that stop at the restaurant. “The bikers find us by accident,” Crystal Barnett, co-owner of Spoonful of Hope, said. “They’re usually taking their rides and they stop in for some water or something and we have a good group of them that come through in the summer time, especially the cyclists. And they come in and they’re like, ‘We just need water and a bathroom,’ and we’re like ‘Go right ahead.’” Crystal and her husband Anthony Barnett are both pastors at Hope Church of Brooklyn, located next door to Spoonful of Hope. “It started with a vision with me,” Crystal said. “I noticed that with our church, we had a lot of need and a lot of people that just needed a place to go and have some meals. Some could afford it and some couldn’t. Some couldn’t drive and we just had nothing. I said, ‘We’re just gonna have to feed them somehow.’” Before being known as Spoonful of Hope, it was The Wagon Wheel and prior to that, the building bore the name Amy’s Café. Originally, the Barnetts planned to serve meals at their church, then The Wagon Wheel closed down. “So we called the owner and said, ‘This is our heart, we want to open up a diner,’ He said, ‘Free?’ I said, ‘Yes, we kind of want to go with the theme of pay it forward if you have to give a couple dollars you know someone in that room might not have it.’ And we started. It’s been two years now,” Crystal said. It will be three years in October. Initially, visitors to Spoonful of Hope thought it was a soup kitchen. “It was slow at first, but I think once people realized what pay it forward meant, what it meant that anybody could actually come, then it just went from there,” Crystal said. Since then, Spoonful of Hope has become a part of the Brooklyn community, along with serving as oasis to weary bikers in the summer, it’s become a place frequented by community members. “Groups like the retired police, Morgan County retired police guys, they come once a month and eat,” Anthony said. “The fire department comes on the weekend. We’ll usually have a group of them and their families. That’s why we have the big long table set up in the middle, for families and large groups.” Children are the driving force behind Spoonful of Hope. The Barnetts have seven of their own, some of them are living out of state for college or in the Air Force and when they call home they ask about the diner. “My passion is letting kids experience eating out,” Crystal said. “And parents not having guilt that they couldn’t feed them out, but not growing up not understanding what it means to go sit in a restaurant. We get kids that walk in off the street and they’re hungry. I love the people that come to help us. I love the people that come and eat and support it. My passion is the children and the young families that just need that extra help.” Brooklyn Elementary School helps to raise money for the food pantry at Hope Church and then have a pizza party at Spoonful of Hope. “It’s a big field trip. They’re right down the street, but to them they got on a bus, they got to go somewhere,” Crystal said. Spoonful of Hope is a passion project for the Barnetts. They rely on donations to cover the cost of running the diner and work full time jobs in addition to their duties as pastors. “It’s not hard work — it’s heart work,” Anthony said. “I would tell our church when we started it five years ago, if you’re just going to church, it’s a country club. Not that you’re not making an impact or doing anything. I wanted our church to be a church for the community. I wanted us to be the hands and feet of Jesus. And not that there’s not other churches in the community doing good work, but we wanted to do something different. We wanted to do something very personal, touch people on a very personal level.” Some weeks it’s harder than others to make the meals happen, but something always seems to come through. About a month ago, the Barnetts experienced a busy Saturday. Things were tight for next week, but they felt that God would provide what they needed to feed people next week. And then a woman came into the diner with a check. “She said, ‘I drove by and God told me to turn around,’” Crystal said. “And I’m like, ‘He worked quick today. That was some fast work, man upstairs!’ I told her we just had a conversation we have six days to figure it out — it’ll all work out. And we’re not in control and she gave us exactly what I spend every week to help.” Sometimes the Barnetts receive envelopes in the mail with donations. An incident a year ago in particular sticks in their minds. The Barnetts did a radio interview on WCBK about Spoonful of Hope and a few days later received an envelope in the mail. The envelope contained $3 and the address was in a handwriting that appeared to belong to older person. “And that just touched our hearts because we knew an older man or woman or somebody had just heard our vision and thought that was awesome and said, ‘I’m gonna send what I can,’ and it kind of brought us back to what Jesus said to the lady who gave two coins,” Anthony said. “She gave all that she could. She gave more than the wealthy in his perspective. And that person sending $3 in the mail, it just spoke to our hearts. We remember that. We’re thankful for every dime that comes in that helps us.” At the core of it, Spoonful of Hope is about helping others, giving to those in need. The Barnetts hope to serve as many people for as many years as possible. “Take everything away, the glam, whether people know we’re here or not — we want people to know we’re here because that’s the mission. But for the fame and glory of it? No. If no one knows my name, but they know a place they can go, that’s what we’re about,” Crystal said. Spoonful of Hope is open from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturdays at 6 N. Main St., Brooklyn.

MORGANTOWN Pay a visit to the house of Brad and Diana Pearson in Morgantown, and two things are immediately obvious: the decor exudes the warmth of the people who call it home, and the Pearsons adore their son Grant Pearson. The walls are covered in framed photographs capturing Grant at various life stages. Tragically, Grant was killed in a car accident on Dec. 12, 2015, at the age of 27. Though he is gone, he continues to have an impact on the lives of others. One way is through fantasy football. Grant was a member of the Limestone League for four years. His second year, his parents joined the competition. Fantasy football “Diana and I started watching him and seeing how involved he was and how much fun they were having, and so the next year they had an opening so we started playing,” Brad said. And discussion of fantasy football became a common feature at family gatherings, something that perplexed Brad’s brother and sister-in-law, Craig and Kerry Pearson. Brad said the rest of them would be talking fantasy football jargon and it was like a foreign tongue to them. Trash talking is a big part of fantasy football and the Limestone League “A lot of our family get-togethers around Thanksgiving and Christmas involved trash talking about the fantasy football teams of each of us — my nephews, and of course Grant. When Grant passed, I asked my brother and sister-in-law if in honor of Grant they’d take over his team. And they did. And they managed to be the winners this year,” Brad said. Brad requested that his brother and sister-in-law not change the name of Grant’s team from Clever Team Name and that they keep his keeper player, Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson. A keeper is a player from the current season that the team holds onto for the next season. Diana said Grant’s team started slow, but everything worked out and it managed to make it to the playoffs and ended up winning the whole thing. “They had a lot of Atlanta Falcons team members, and one week they were on bye, so they lost about four or five team members but they didn’t even fill the roster and they still won,” Diana said. Diana said she came home the Thursday before Grant died and Grant was really excited because his team had done so well. After Grant swapped Eddie Lacy for Adrian Peterson, his team got hot and made the playoffs. Out of respect for Grant, opponents of his team pulled their players so that Grant’s team would move on. But Brad said that Grant’s team was going to win anyway. “I was calculating it myself as to what the scores really were, and he beat them anyway. He beat everyone anyway. It didn’t really matter. So I was kind of glad of that. I made sure everyone knew that. It was a nice gesture that they did, but he was gonna win it, regardless. That made it more legit,” Brad said. At this year’s draft, Brad proposed that the winning owner would select a charity of their choice and donate whatever amount they chose and Brad and Diana would match it. Grant’s team won again this year, and Craig and Kerry Pearson selected the Children’s Organ Transplant Association, a national nonprofit group headquartered in Bloomington, as their charity of choice. “When I started researching the organization, I don’t see how he could have made a better choice. It sounds pretty neat,” Brad said. Brad and Diana plan to donate $500 to COTA later this month. The organization helps children and young adults who need organ transplants with fundraising assistance and family support. Grant Pearson, the individual Grant took after both of his parents. His father, Brad, played basketball in high school and played alongside Terry Stotts on a Bloomington North team that won sectionals. Grant played basketball at Indian Creek High School. His mother, Diana, is the daughter of a pastor and grew up singing in church. Grant had a real passion for music and would amaze his parents with the facts he knew about various bands and artists. Grant loved music, especially from the 1970s. He played bass in a ’70s-influenced band in high school called the Modern Dukes. Brad joked that Grant unfortunately inherited his singing voice from him instead of his mother. The Modern Dukes had memorabilia made up, including shirts and stickers. “My nephew Erik (Pearson) asked me if we had one of his shirts and that he would like to have it. He coaches at Bloomington North, and he wears that shirt under the baseball uniform at their games all the time. It’s just kind of something that he likes doing, keeping Grant with him, so to speak,” Brad said. Brad said Grant was a sweet boy. The last night of his life, he traded a lengthy series of texts with his uncle about an impending surgery his uncle was worried about. “My brother read them at Grant’s funeral,” Brad said. “They went back and forth. Diana’s father was a minister and he passed away in 1995. I swear, it was like if her dad or Chris Page (the pastor at the church the Pearsons attend, Hoosier Harvest) was counseling my brother. This was our son doing it. At the end he told him, ‘Everything’s gonna be all right. And if it’s not, you’ll be with Pops,’ that’s my dad who had just passed away six months earlier. I was so proud of that. I just didn’t realize how much comfort that brought to my brother, but that was just him.” Grant loved to help others. Following high school, he attended Indiana State University, where he studied human resources. He enjoyed working in the field, but hated having to fire people. When he interned at IU Proton Health Therapy, he would go around to the other side of the building on the way to his office to speak to patients and say good morning. Grant especially liked to talk to children. He won intern of the year during his time there. Brad said that before he passed away, Grant had gotten involved at Emmanuel Church in Greenwood and served as a parking lot greeter. He’d also become part of a small social group around his age. Brad said the group attended the funeral, and they and others who didn’t know each other kept telling him the same thing about Grant, that he was a great listener. “They said that when Grant was talking to you, whatever you were talking about was the most important thing in the world,” Brad said. Though Grant has died, he continues to touch the lives of others. The Pearsons hope that their donation will inspire others to take up a charitable cause or otherwise match their efforts, helping to extend Grant Pearson’s legacy.

MARTINSVILLE Gentry Martial Arts hosted a course on Saturday designed to teach participants the skills they needed to survive an active shooting scenario. The students learned how to treat a variety of trauma and injuries caused by gunshots. Most gunshot wounds are survivable, but victims often bleed to death before they can be given treatment. Paramedics aren’t permitted to enter a building where there is an active shooter situation until it has been cleared. Making these types of survival and first aid skills helps reduce the mortality rates. Despite the serious subject, participants in the class on Saturday were chatty and at times hammed things up during the scenarios instructor Mark Wilson, medical training manager for the 123rd Special Tactics Squadron at Kentucky Air National Guard, had them run. “We had a very enthusiastic group and very attentive. I think they learned a lot today,” Wilson said. “With this class, I have found more often than not that everyone seems to be very invested in the class. It’s a class that they are seeking out. With the threats that are going on today, with the prevalence of active shooter events, I think once this course is out there and offered, people who are like-minded like these individuals are generally enthusiastic about the class.” Wilson taught students how to properly use tourniquets to stop bleeding, saying most people viewed the tourniquet in a bad light because of its association with amputation and the American Civil War. He said that was more related to improper hygiene than stopping the flow of blood. The tourniquet is intended as a last measure and is used to prevent victims from bleeding out before they are able to receive care from paramedics and other emergency personnel. The group also learned how to dress wounds using pieces of meat to simulate the damage bullets do to flesh. One scenario featured part of the class playing the role of victims while the others wore cloth over their eyes as a way of simulating a scenario where visibility was poor. After the final scenario where the group had four minutes to care for the wounded while balls whizzed by to simulate bullets, they sat down to eat pizza from Gatti’s. While the focus of the class was on surviving trauma related to an active shooter event, some students found the lessons practical for other stressful and life threatening situations. “Another thing I didn’t realize until we started talking about it doesn’t necessarily have to be shooting. You could have an accident with a chainsaw or the pick axe. Or just something out on the farm,” Gus Petraits, one of the students who took the class, said. His wife Cathy, a student at Gentry Martial Arts, joined Gus for the class. “I’m one of Brandon’s (Sieg, Gentry Martial Arts owner) students, so I’m inundated with all the martial arts here and it’s just part of getting educated,” Cathy said. The medical training was new to the Petraits. Cathy said she had done CPR training several years before and Gus said he learned CPR during high school. Cathy said she found the course to be very helpful. “Another thing too, even though I don’t take anything here at Gentry, because of her relationship to Gentry, there are a lot of familiar faces here. So it’s just kind of like a stupid family,” Gus said. Wilson said the most rewarding part of teaching the course was its potential to some day save a life. “The fact that I am putting in the hands of civilians a skillset that our military and first responders are given and that — God forbid — if there was an event, it may possible save someone’s life,” Wilson said. For more information on Gentry and possible upcoming active shooter classes, call 765-342-5600 or follow it on Facebook. Gentry Martial Arts is located at 1909 E. Morgan St., Martinsville.

“Go, Granny, go!” That’s what Margaret Irene Scott’s grandchildren would say to her as she drove them around town in her big, white Ford Maverick. Karen McKee-Arthur, one of Scott’s granddaughters, said Scott had a real lead foot. “She could get around 465 quicker than you think,” McKee-Arthur said. “It’s what happens when they put her in a V-8,” Bruce McKee, grandson of Scott, said. Scott’s grandchildren gathered Saturday at the Waters of Martinsville to celebrate her birthday. Scott turns 102 on Tuesday, and she’s lived through a remarkable number of historical events and occurrences. “She’s lived a good life, seen a lot of changes and that’s what she talks about — she says, ‘Oh, things have just changed so much,’” McKee-Arthur said. Scott has resided in the Alzheimer’s wing of the Waters of Martinsville for the past 10 years. McKee-Arthur said her grandmother is still able to carry on conversations and that she has her good days and her bad days. “Sometimes she knows who I am, sometimes I’m her niece, Thelma, but other than that we get along great. Once you get her engaged she does real well,” McKee-Arthur said. Just outside Scott’s room is a display her grandchildren put together in honor of her becoming a centenarian two years ago. It features photos of Scott, including one of Scott with a prized doll. The doll remains with Scott, keeping her company in her room. Another picture features Scott, who prefers to go by Irene, with her husband, Carney Scott. There’s also a novelty license plate emblazoned with “Go, Granny, go” that features Scott driving a Maverick. “Go, Granny, go” is the refrain in “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena,” a song written by the surf-rock duo Jan and Dean about a woman who, like Scott, drives with a tendency to step on the accelerator. It’s fitting for Scott, who spent much of the ’70s and ’80s working in the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. “We’d go over to Kmart and she’d drive and we had Tara, she was a baby, she was in her car seat and she’d say, ‘Step on it, Grandma!’” Jennifer Whetstone, one of Scott’s granddaughters, said. “She would take us around everywhere in that old white Maverick.” Whetsone said Scott would tell her that she’d never live to see her graduate from high school, get married or have kids. “My daughter is now 15, so she’s seen it all,” Whetstone said. During the party, Scott’s family reminisced about their favorite memories with her. “Was it you, Karen, when Grandma wrung the chicken’s neck?” McKee asked. “Oh, Lord have mercy, and it chased me!” McKee-Arthur said. “Grandma went out there and grabbed it, cut its head off and tossed it,” McKee said. “And about that time, she came walking around the corner and that chicken is flapping with no head.” “I’ve been traumatized my whole life,” McKee-Arthur said. “She’s hated chickens ever since then,” McKee said. “Every time we’d go to the zoo I’d say, ‘Oh look at the ducks!’ and then it’d bite me, so I hate every fowl,” McKee-Arthur said. “Unless you’re eating it,” McKee said. “Oh, I can eat it, that’s payback there,” McKee-Arthur said. “That’s another one of the favorite (memories),” McKee said. “Grandma always used to sit and laugh about that: Karen getting chased by a headless chicken.”

A city such as Columbus draws many eyes. One notable view of Columbus belonged to famed architecture photographer Balthazar Korab. He first ventured to Columbus in the late 1950s to work on the J. Irwin Miller home with the rest of architect Eero Saarinen’s firm. Korab, who was both an architect and a photographer, later devoted an entire book to his photographs of the architectural masterpieces that Columbus houses. The book, “Columbus Indiana: An American Landmark,” was published in 1989. Decades later, another photographer, also drawn to Columbus by way of the Miller House, decided to revisit Korab’s works. In 2014, Brownsburg-based photographer Hadley “Tad” Fruits received a grant from the Indiana Arts Commission. He decided to put the money into a project that would place himself into Korab’s shoes, taking his iconic photos of Columbus and reshooting them. “Columbus was a great way for me to refocus my energy in those creative ways,” Fruits said. “My project was to do a photographic survey of Columbus architecture and design.” The series, recently shown at Hotel Indigo in a Columbus Museum of Art and Design show, was called “Fruits from Korab.” “We immediately knew we wanted to do (the show),” CMAD board president Brooke Hawkins said. “I think the show was successful because not only did it highlight his technical expertise — recreating those shots is extremely difficult. You have to know what lens to use and get the lighting and the shadows, but then it also took the viewer back through time a little bit and allowed them to reflect on the changes that have been made. It kind of leaves it up to the viewer to decide if they like those changes.” Columbus has garnered a sizable roster of architectural heavy hitters who have worked in the city, often with the support of the Cummins Foundation, said Tricia Gilson, archivist for the Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives. Often they started at the beginning of their career, she said. Korab immigrated to the United States (Detroit, specifically) from Hungary via France. In working for Saarinen’s firm, he brought his training as an architect to photographing architectural models and finished landmarks. “(Korab’s) photography represents the architecture of the building as opposed to being about photography itself,” Gilson said. Columbus was by no means a mystery to Fruits. When the Indianapolis Museum of Art took over stewardship of the Miller House, Fruits — a museum staff photographer — found himself shooting there. When he lost his position in a round of layoffs, he found it was time to revisit his approach to photography. “I’d always been connected to organizations or to projects,” he said. “The photography I do is part of a larger process. I feel connected to (Korab) because of his contributions to architectural firms. He transformed how they worked through his photography.” The process of revisiting Korab’s work, Fruits said, was an odd one and, at times, a dry one. Shooting shots from the same angles Korab used was like shooting updates of family photos. For Fruits, whose father died in 2014, the project also was a chance to bridge generations and continue threads. “It was really a moment to pause and see how to connect Korab’s life, my life, Columbus’ life and its future,” he said. “It’s a visual connection.” Fruits began this exploration through overnight trips to Columbus. “The approach is the same way,” he said. “These were sites that Korab photographed in their infancy. You’re seeing the third-grade photo, the seventh-grade photo. I’m showing its midlife and my own midlife. You just start thinking about these generational changes, and the work that (Korab) did over the decades is immeasurable to the history of Columbus and photographers like me.” The connections were successful not only because of the nostalgia; it was also about Fruits’ talent, Hawkins said. “Tad has this rare ability to capture the spirit of a place,” she said. “It’s not a matter of lining up a shot or luck. I just think he sees the world from a different perspective than most people see.” Balthazar Korab A native of Budapest, Hungary, Korab started his career as an architect and worked with Eero Saarinen, whose architectural designs include the Columbus home of the late J. Irwin and Xenia Miller. Korab first visited Columbus while working with Saarinen on the Miller House. Korab began taking pictures of the elaborate architectural models and learned he had a passion and talent for photography. Some of Korab’s favorite spots to photograph in Columbus were the AT&T Switching Center at Seventh and Franklin streets and the Cummins Occupational Health Association building at Seventh Street and Cottage Avenue. Korab died in 2013 at age 86. “Balthazar Korab: Architect of Photography” by John Comazzi, a retrospective of Korab’s work, was published in 2014. On the Web You can see Hadley Fruits’ work at instagram.com/hadleyfruits Republic features editor Jenny Elig contributed to this report. Think your friends should see this? Share it with them!

Being a Cubs fan entails going through the five stages of grief every season; and much like the children of parents who expect nothing less than perfection, they always seem to find a way to disappoint you. This typically occurs just before the All-Star Break when the club’s record is hovering close to .500.