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BRAZIL, Ind. (WISH) — Indiana Sheriff’s Youth Ranch in December will host a new “Breakfast With Santa” event for students in kindergarten through Grade 6.

The nonprofit training retreat will provide clothing, toiletries and food for youths. Selfies with Santa will be encouraged, the ranch said in a news release. The free event will include a meal of pancakes, cereal, turkey sausage links, juices and milk.

The event will be from 9 a.m.-noon Dec. 11 at the 62-acre ranch about 2 miles south of Brazil at 5325 N. State Road 59.

No reservations are needed, but guests are asked to “respect one another’s pandemic precautions,” the release said. Face masks and social distancing are encouraged when possible.

For more information or to donate to the ISYR Chaplain’s Fund, call 317-460-4242, go online to Indiana Sheriffs’ Youth Ranch GoFundMe page or write to the ISYR Chaplain’s Fund, 5325 N. State Road 59, Brazil, IN 47834.

Organizers of the event include Clay County Sheriff Paul Harden, Greene County Sheriff Michael Hasler, former Marion County Sheriff John Layton, Owen County Sheriff Sam Hobbs, Parke County Sheriff Justin Cole, Putnam County Sheriff Scott Stockton, Sullivan County Sheriff Clark Cottom, Vermillion County Sheriff Mike Phelps, and Vigo County Sheriff John Plasse.

We are starting a new segment here at News 8 called “Phil Finds Out” where Phil Sanchez explores a topic in our community. For our first installment in this new series, we wanted to know what’s behind some of Indiana’s most uniquely named communities. 

HOOSIERVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — All over the Hoosier state, you’ll find communities with interesting names. We’re traversing the state to find out where they came from. 

Our travels took us all over Indiana, including Clay County, where we explored the town of Hoosierville. 

“We moved here when I was 5 years old,” longtime resident Deloris Johnson said. 

Johnson raised her family in Hoosierville — five grown children — three boys and two girls. Hoosierville began as a mining community but later became home to farming families like the Johnsons.

“Only about 20 people live here now,” Johnson added

According to Chris Flook, Hoosierville is similar to a lot of smaller communities across Indiana. Flook teaches at Ball State University and studies smaller towns across Indiana. 

“Places in Indiana that don’t get quite the same attention like Indianapolis and Fort Wayne and Muncie,” Flook said. 

Places like Hoosierville. 

“Hoosierville was named obviously as an homage to ‘Hoosier,’ which at one point was a little like maybe the word ‘yokel,’ for backwoods folks, but the word evolved to something that we in Indiana take with pride,” Flook said. “To my best knowledge, Hoosierville was developed because of an early road that went through there and it had a post office at one point. But no interstate came through, no railroad came through and has fallen back into this sleepy hamlet.”

So sleepy that just a couple of miles away at the Sunnyside Family Restaurant in nearby Brazil, some people didn’t even know Hoosierville still existed. 

“I’ve probably driven through it but I didn’t know it,” one patron said.

In most towns across Indiana, there’s a sign. Something to tell you where you are, where you’re headed, but not in Hoosierville, not anymore. Johnson said she doesn’t remember when the sign was taken down.

“I just remember when I got the Indiana map, it was gone,” Johnson said. 

Nobody wants to be forgotten about, but Johnson said that’s how it felt. 

“People who come through don’t know what all happened right here,” Johnson said. 

Johnson showed us around the town, where the local store used to be and where she went to school. A school that no longer exists. But Johnson still holds out hope that someday Hoosierville will one day thrive. 

“You might be surprised, you know,” Johnson said. “Somebody will come out start something and people come.” 

So, what happened to Hoosierville? Why did it all go away?

Deloris said the sign, school and store went away when the people left for opportunities in other places.

We are starting a new segment here at News 8 called “Phil Finds Out” where Phil Sanchez explores a topic in our community. For our first installment in this new series, we wanted to know what’s behind some of Indiana’s most uniquely named communities. 

HOOSIERVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — All over the Hoosier state, you’ll find communities with interesting names. We’re traversing the state to find out where they came from. 

Our travels took us all over Indiana, including Clay County, where we explored the town of Hoosierville. 

“We moved here when I was 5 years old,” longtime resident Deloris Johnson said. 

Johnson raised her family in Hoosierville — five grown children — three boys and two girls. Hoosierville began as a mining community but later became home to farming families like the Johnsons.

“Only about 20 people live here now,” Johnson added

According to Chris Flook, Hoosierville is similar to a lot of smaller communities across Indiana. Flook teaches at Ball State University and studies smaller towns across Indiana. 

“Places in Indiana that don’t get quite the same attention like Indianapolis and Fort Wayne and Muncie,” Flook said. 

Places like Hoosierville. 

“Hoosierville was named obviously as an homage to ‘Hoosier,’ which at one point was a little like maybe the word ‘yokel,’ for backwoods folks, but the word evolved to something that we in Indiana take with pride,” Flook said. “To my best knowledge, Hoosierville was developed because of an early road that went through there and it had a post office at one point. But no interstate came through, no railroad came through and has fallen back into this sleepy hamlet.”

So sleepy that just a couple of miles away at the Sunnyside Family Restaurant in nearby Brazil, some people didn’t even know Hoosierville still existed. 

“I’ve probably driven through it but I didn’t know it,” one patron said.

In most towns across Indiana, there’s a sign. Something to tell you where you are, where you’re headed, but not in Hoosierville, not anymore. Johnson said she doesn’t remember when the sign was taken down.

“I just remember when I got the Indiana map, it was gone,” Johnson said. 

Nobody wants to be forgotten about, but Johnson said that’s how it felt. 

“People who come through don’t know what all happened right here,” Johnson said. 

Johnson showed us around the town, where the local store used to be and where she went to school. A school that no longer exists. But Johnson still holds out hope that someday Hoosierville will one day thrive. 

“You might be surprised, you know,” Johnson said. “Somebody will come out start something and people come.” 

So, what happened to Hoosierville? Why did it all go away?

Deloris said the sign, school and store went away when the people left for opportunities in other places.

BRAZIL, Ind. (WISH) – A Brazil teenager has been missing since late October and one organization is asking for the public’s help.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 17-year-old Karrigian Saums was last seen on Oct. 29 at her home in Brazil, Indiana.

The organization says they believe the girl may have traveled to Indianapolis.

Saums is described as being 5’1″ tall with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information on her disappearance should contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or the Brazil Police Department at 812-446-2211.

BRAZIL, Ind. (WTWO) — Linda Messmer says she likes to be an informed voter. That means she reads up on candidates and pays attention to their ad campaigns at the beginning of election season. 

But, Messmer says, the negative ads relating to this year’s Indiana Senate race put her over the edge. 

“They were just throwing mud and cow manure at each other, and I thought I don’t like this, I wanna get away from it, so any time an ad would come on with these two people I would mute my TV or turn off my TV or radio,” Messmer said. 

She found that wasn’t enough and decided to take matters into her own hands. She bought a radio spot on WAMB in Brazil, Indiana, to send politicians a message.

“I am sick and tired of being bombarded with all the negative, hateful, mean-spirited ads. I say to all the politicians running these ads, stop it!,” said Messmer in part of the ad. 

Messmer said she fears the message these negative ads are giving to the newest generation of voters.

“It’s going to show kids, young voters, it’s going to show a whole generation of people, ‘Boy this is how you get what you want, you don’t respect anybody, you throw mud, talk about ’em, lie about ’em,'” Messmer said. 

The trend of negative ads is one that ebbs and flows in the United States but has been around for hundreds of years.

“In terms of a documented record, we have a lot from 1800, so that was John Adams was running for re-election against Thomas Jefferson, and it descended into incredible negativity,” said Chris Olsen, dead of Indiana State University’s College of Arts and Sciences. 

While television ads are more regulated in other countries, where there is less money spent on campaigns, that doesn’t mean negative ads aren’t circulated elsewhere. 

“Television is not the only medium anymore. Things are done on the Internet, and that negative advertising that makes it on television in the United States simply migrates over to the Internet in other countries,” said Terrence Casey, a professor in Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s political science department. 

Olsen said that while research shows that negative ads work, due to their easy-to-understand nature, he does not want people to be discouraged about changing the current campaigning formula. 

“I think it will take some sort of public response, though, and will, to kind of collectively reject that style,” Olsen said.  

A public response we see in Messmer, who’s being selective about where she puts her stamp of approval.

“The only other thing I would add is ‘I’m Linda Messmer and I approved this interview,'” Messmer, said and laughed. 

Olsen encouraged people to pay attention to the ends of political ads, where there will be a specific endorsement message if the candidate has approved the message. He said oftentimes the nastiest ads are not endorsed by a candidate, something voters should keep in mind.

Messmer is extending a challenge to Sen. Joe Donnelly and candidate Mike Braun to come visit her at her home to discuss these political ads and their agendas face-to-face.

BRAZIL, Ind. (AP) — A rural western Indiana county that’s home to the state’s only holding facility for people being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was paid more than $1.2 million last year to house and transport detainees.

Clay County has become a major service provider for ICE at a time when the country is debating the Trump administration’s zero tolerance immigration policy, the (Terre Haute) Tribune-Star reported.

The 176-bed Justice Center was overbuilt for the county of 26,000, said Sheriff Paul Harden. The agreement to house ICE detainees using open bed space generates upward of $1.3 million annually for its general fund, most of which officials said goes back into jail operations.

The Justice Center first began housing ICE detainees in August 2013 through an intergovernmental service agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service’s Prisoner Operations Division. ICE saw the existing arrangement while looking for spacious Midwestern jails and decided Clay County was a natural fit.

The agreement pays the county $55 per ICE detainee per day and transportation fees of $20 per hour per guard.

The jail is allowed to house an average of 65 detainees per day. Harden said the jail has an average 25 detainees on a given day, but Jail Commander Ryan Cannon said the averages don’t reflect the rapid fluctuations in daily numbers.

Harden said politics has nothing to do with the program and that it is money coming to the county.

“If we can have some money coming in and not just have an empty cell, why not have the money coming in?” Harden said.

He emphasized that the detainees at Clay County usually aren’t illegal-entry defendants, but that they are more often picked up for serious criminal offenses.

“Very rarely do they ever target someone that has not committed a criminal violation,” he said. “Now sometimes police will be making an arrest and another individual there is found without the proper paperwork to be in the United States. Then in that case, they may be picked up for a non-criminal offense.”

CLAY COUNTY, Ind. (WISH) — State police are investigating the death of a 9-month-old infant in rural northern Clay County. 

Around 10:30 a.m. Saturday an adult family member found the infant unresponsive in the crib area and reached out to 911, according to state police. The Parke County Sheriff’s Office got the call, and a dispatched advised the family member how to perform CPR; meanwhile they notified the Clay County Sheriff’s Office for emergency responders. 

Family members continued CPR until crews arrived; then the infant was transported to St. Vincent-Clay Hospital in Brazil and was later pronounced deceased, state police said. 

An autopsy is scheduled for Monday at Terre Haute Regional Hospital.

Detectives say they have no indication of foul play and will continue to investigate the death.

Indiana State Police said in a release they encourage parents to practice safe sleeping environments for infants, including proper crib assembly and no use of soft objects — such as blankets, toys, pillows and bumpers — in sleep areas.

CROZET, Vir. (WISH) — An Indiana lawmaker is being hailed a hero after a train carrying members of Congress and their families crashed into a garbage truck.

The crash happened late Wednesday morning about 15 miles outside of Charlottesville, Virginia in Crozet. The train was carrying dozens of Republican members of Congress, including several from Indiana, to their legislative retreat in West Virginia. The driver of the truck was killed. Six patients were transported to UVA Medical Center, with one in critical condition. All members of Congress on the train and their families were said to be OK, with the exception of a few minor injuries.

Indiana representatives Susan Brooks and Jim Banks, as well as Senator Todd Young were on board the train.

Congressman Larry Bucshon is a heart surgeon. He was also on board with his wife who is an anesthesiologist. Both stepped up with several others to help after the crash.

“We again came to a very distressing scene with obviously very severely injured people and the atmosphere was as professional as that setting could allow and I do think it made a difference, I think what the people on this stage did hopefully has saved a life,” Rep. Larry Bucshon said.

Rep Bucshon also offered prayers to the those involved in the crash and said he hopes it will refocus lawmakers in Washington.

“This does bring back thoughts of family and friends in a partisan Washington D.C. climate. Sometimes, I think some of us start to lose what really is important in life and this incident today really brings that back in focus for everyone,” Rep. Bucshon said.

As for the retreat, GOP lawmakers say it is going on as planned. It’s happening in West Virginia through Friday. President Trump is scheduled to speak to the group Thursday.

BRAZIL, Ind. (AP) – Authorities say four children were taken to a hospital for evaluation after an SUV crashed into a school bus in western Indiana.

The crash happened Monday afternoon in Clay County, about 55 miles west of Indianapolis. The sheriff’s department says the bus was hit by an SUV. Two area residents pulled the SUV’s 54-year-old driver from the vehicle before it burned.

Authorities say more than 40 children were on the Clay Community Schools bus. They were checked at the scene before four were taken to the hospital. Details on injuries weren’t immediately released, but the district’s superintendent says they’re grateful it wasn’t worse.

Investigators say the SUV’s driver passed another vehicle when he saw the bus and tried unsuccessfully to avoid hitting it. The crash is under investigation.

CLAY COUNTY, Ind. (WISH) — A mother and step-father of an 11-year-old special needs girl are now in custody on charges of neglect.

Investigations into the conditions of a residence on 3995 East County Road 1500 North began on August 18 for a compliance check. Although no one was at the residence, officers took note of the deplorable conditions.

The investigation concluded following a search warrant of the home and the eventual interviewing of 29-year-old Autumn Snodgrass, 36-year-old Stephen Snodgrass and the 11-year-old girl.

The search warrant of the home found that a small shack had no indoor plumbing, unprotected electrical outlets, unprotected electrical wires and raw sewage on the ground among other health hazards.

Both Autumn Snodgrass and Stephen Snodgrass face one count of neglect.

The 11-year-old girl was placed in foster care and is said to be doing well.