AURORA, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) — Ohio-based Kaiser Pickles has announced it will expand its operations in Aurora with plans to add up to 20 new jobs by 2022. The company plans to invest nearly $2.2 million to build a 17,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse in the Dearborn County city.
Kaiser began with one production line in its 46,000-square-foot facility when it started in Aurora in 2017, and has since expanded to four lines and a second shift to meet demand.
“It’s an exciting time for Kaiser Pickles as we celebrate 100 years of our company and expand our footprint in Aurora,” said Kim Speed, president and chief operating officer of Kaiser Pickles. “The company keeps growing generation after generation, and our Aurora operations will support this success and demand of our products. We appreciate the continued support from the Aurora community, Dearborn County and the state of Indiana.”
The company says construction on the new warehouse will begin this month and is expected to be complete by June 2022.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. has offered Kaiser up to $140,000 in conditional tax credits, which the company will not be eligible to claim until Hoosier workers are hired for the new jobs. The Dearborn County Redevelopment Commission will consider additional incentives.
AURORA, Ind. (AP) — A school bus collided with a garbage truck stopped along a road in southeastern Indiana on Wednesday, seriously injuring a 13-year-old student and leaving 18 other students and two adults with mostly minor injuries, authorities said.
Twenty-two students were on the South Dearborn Community School Corporation bus when it struck the rear of a garbage truck along State Road 350 near Aurora, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Cincinnati, said State Police Sgt. Stephen Wheeles. The collision about 8 a.m. crumpled the front of the bus.
Eighteen students were taken for treatment at area hospitals, most for minor injuries, and a parent later took at least one additional student to a hospital to be checked out, Wheeles said. The driver of the school bus and the garbage truck also were treated for injuries.
“While there were numerous kids injured we’re very fortunate that most of those injuries appear to be minor,” Wheeles said.
One student suffered serious injuries in the crash and was taken to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, said Eric Lows, superintendent of South Dearborn Community School Corporation.
Hospital spokesman Jim Feuer said that 13-year-old Jordan Cole was in fair condition Wednesday afternoon and his parents are requesting privacy.
The bus was carrying mostly middle and high school students to local district schools after picking them up, Lows said, but some students from two private schools were also onboard.
Middle school student Dakota Jones said he was on the bus when the crash occurred and students began screaming.
“I heard screaming. I heard noises and I went to the back of the bus. A few kids were screaming. Most of them were crying,” he told WXIX-TV after he was treated and released from a hospital.
Indiana State Police are leading the investigating into the crash with assistance from the Dearborn County Sheriff’s Department, Wheeles said.
He said it was too early to speculate about whether the school bus driver didn’t see the garbage truck that had stopped along the road, whether the truck was obscured by the glare of the morning sun, “or what exactly occurred there.”
He said both the bus driver and the garbage truck drive will submit to routine toxicology tests, but alcohol or drugs are not suspected in the crash.
Crash investigators will also be thoroughly inspecting the school bus, including its brakes and other systems. The garbage truck will also be inspected.
A spokeswoman for Rumpke Waste & Recycling told the Cincinnati Enquirer that the school bus struck a Rumpke residential truck. She said the garbage truck driver was not inside the vehicle when the collision occurred, but was injured by crash debris.
Wednesday’s crash follows a December school bus crash in northern Indiana that killed a 13-year-old boy. In that case, a truck driver told police he was removing his jacket and a sweat shirt just before his vehicle rear-ended the school bus.
Statement
Highpoint Health in Lawrenceburg issued this statement:
“The Highpoint Health Emergency Department cared for 20 students and 2 adults injured in a school bus accident this morning on State Route 350. All were treated for non-life threatening injuries. Twenty of those injured were treated and released. Two of the 22 injured were transferred to Cincinnati hospitals. For additional information, please contact the South Dearborn Community School Corporation or the Indiana State Police.”
LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. (WISH) — A southeast Indiana couple is facing multiple battery charges in relation to children they cared for as foster parents or babysitters, according to court documents.
Timothy Combs, 59, and Diane Combs, 55, of Aurora, each face 22 charges in Dearborn Superior Court 1.
An investigator with the Dearborn County Sheriff’s Office was tipped off to the abuse after a boy who did not live with the Combs gave a cellphone to a foster child in the Combs’ home. The foster child used the phone to record videos that court documents described as “acts of abuse towards a child.”
“One video showed a female, later identified as Diane Combs smack a young, naked, male juvenile in the face, knocking him to the ground,” court documents said. That boy was later identified as a 6-year-old.
Videos also showed children being shaken, dropped on their heads and, in one boy’s case, forced to carry a dirty diaper in his mouth.
A deputy who visited the home found eight children there: 4 were foster children placed with the Combs, three were being babysat and one was a child the Combs had adopted. The children ranged in age from 2 to 16. Some of the children were mentally and physically disabled with limited verbal skills, court documents said.
The deputy who visited the home immediately contacted the Indiana Department of Child Services, which removed the children from the home.
Child Services indicated 38 children had been sent to live with the Combs since February 2014.
The charges against the Combs include attempted aggravated battery, domestic battery with a child with a mental or physical disability resulting in injury, domestic battery of a child less than age 14, domestic battery by bodily waste with a child less than age 14, domestic battery in the presence of a child less than age 16, attempted strangulation and strangulation. The charges involve alleged incidents from Dec. 7, 2016, to July 28.
The Combs remained in the Dearborn County Jail on Wednesday. A pretrial hearing is set for Oct. 15 for the Combs. A trail was scheduled for March 11.
Aurora, a town of 3,700 people, located on the Ohio River about 15 miles east of downtown Cincinnati.
AURORA, Ind. (WISH) — An arrest has been made in connection with the death of a man from January 24.
Authorities arrested 47-year-old Rocky McMurray after his 1999 Dodge Grand Caravan collided with a 2005 Dodge Neon driven by 48-year-old Steven Ahaus. Ahaus died as a result of the crash.
An investigation determined that McMurray was intoxicated at the time of the crash when he tested twice the legal limit on a breathalyzer test at the scene of the crash.
McMurray faces preliminary charges of reckless homicide, operating while intoxicated-causing death, and operating while intoxicated while endangering a person.
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AURORA, Ind. (WISH) – A photo taken of a float showing Donald Trump preparing to execute Hillary Clinton has gone viral.
Residents in the town of Aurora Indiana were in uproar over the float that appeared in a parade on Sunday. The float showed a woman dressed as Hillary Clinton in an electric chair with a man dressed like Donald Trump ready to pull the switch.
Also on the float was an Easter Island head painted black with a black face and a sign by it that said Obama.
The float was created by Frank Linkmeyer who told WCPO-TV it was a tossup of who he was going to put in the chair. Linkmeyer said he didn’t mean to offend anyone.
The parade was organized by the town’s Lion Club.
They released a statement that said:
“The Aurora Lions Club regrets the display which was part of the Aurora Farmers Fair parade on October 1st which offended some viewers. The parade is a public venue which does not reflect the views of the Aurora Lions Club. As a member of a worldwide service organization, we are proud and standby our record of service to this community. We appreciate the high levels of support and the esteem given to us by our citizens. We will continue to do our best to live up to their standards. We hope the political circus of this year’s election stays with the national media.”
The Mayor of Aurora said the float might have slipped through the cracks during the preparation process.