Indiana
Indiana Township Association concerned with bill to dissolve townships
FISHERS, Ind. (WISH) — The Indiana Township Association is against efforts to dissolve all Indiana townships.
Debbie Driskell, the executive director of the Indiana Township Association, said efforts to take away township governments will harm Hoosiers by taking away services.
“You’re removing those that were elected further from the people,” Driskell said. “So, that’s actually diminishing democracy.”
Driskell said townships have been around for centuries to protect the poor and public safety.
“Originally, township trustees were called overseers of the poor in Indiana, and we did just that,” Driskell said. “Took care of the poor, and then over time, we evolved, and now, we offer life-saving services in fire protection and EMS services.”
Townships can offer rental and mortgage assistance to residents and provide services for the homeless.
“It’s the trustee that gets our homeless folks off the street and sheltered,” Driskell said. “But, at any rate, a family can come in and make an application to have help with their rent.”
Driskell said this bill does not say which agency, if any, would be responsible for those services. The county emergency management director would manage fire and EMS services.
“That’s a big job to lay on top of a department that is already charged with some pretty important duties,” Driskell said.
Driskell said fire and EMS consolidation can be more expensive in the long run despite the effort to make government more efficient.
The bill was referred to the Committee of Local Government. It has not been heard yet.
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RIPLEY COUNTY, Ind. (WSBT) — A statewide Silver Alert has been issued for two young children in Indiana.
Police in Ripley County, southeast of Indianapolis, are looing for the children who may be siblings.
The first child is 3-year-old Aaliyah Buckingham.
She was last seen wearing a pink cat shirt and tie-dye shorts.
The younger child is 1-year-old Shane Buckingham, last seen in a red shirt and diaper.
Police think both are with 45-year-old Timothy Buckingham, who was last seen driving a brown GMC truck.
Timothy is described as a 6′ 3″ white man weighing 225 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes.
Photo of Timothy Buckingham provided by Indiana State Police
Police have not confirmed the relationship of the three, or why the children are believed to be in danger.
Anyone who sees the three are asked to contact the nearest police department.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A firefighter for the Indianapolis Fire Department was sent to the hospital Wednesday after battling a fire at a vacant house.
According to a Facebook post made by IFD, the fire happened around 10:15 a.m. at a house on Bluff Rd. IFD says that there were several complications, including limited access to fire hydrants and “interior hoarder conditions” that IFD says was due to squatters.
The injured firefighter received “slight injury,” the Facebook post said.
It took over an hour and a half to get the fire under control, according to IFD, and another hour to put out all the remaining hot spots in the building.
According to IFD, the cause of the fire is currently unknown. Their Fire Investigations Unit is working on figuring out what caused the fire.
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