1. ¢
Many businesses, all schools
and government offices will
be closed on Thursday for
Thanksgiving. Many will be
closed the day after the holi-
day as well. Here’s a list:
Thursday and Friday
All schools
Bureau of Motor Vehicles
County clerk’s office
Greenfield City Hall
Hancock County Senior
Services
Kenneth Butler Memorial
Soup Kitchen
Boys & Girls Clubs of Han-
cock County
Purdue Extension Hancock
County
The following will be
closed on Thursday only:
U.S. Post Office
Fortville-Vernon Township
Public Library
Hancock County Public
Library, Greenfield and Sugar
Creek locations
Best Way, CGS, Fisk and
Republic trash service will
have no pickup on Thursday.
Regular Thursday routes will
be run on Friday.
Wednesday’s edition of
the Daily Reporter will be
delivered by carrier. This puts
delivery on a schedule typical
of Saturdays. Newspapers
should be delivered by 8:30
a.m.; if your paper hasn’t ar-
rived by then, you can call our
customer service department
at (800) 435-5601. Calls will be
taken until 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The Daily Reporter today
salutes subscribers Misty
Reeves of Greenfield and
Lisa Lemons of Greenfield.
Have a great day!
Have a milestone or an
achievement that deserves
mention on Page One? Email
dr-editorial@greenfieldreporter.
com or call (317) 467-6022.
Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . . . A3
Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4
School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A5
Lifestyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . A6
Sports . . . . . . . B1-B3, B6
Classified . . . . . . . . . C1-C3
Amusements . . . . . . . . . C4
7 a.m. Clear 29
Noon Sunny 33
3 p.m. Partly cloudy 35
6 p.m. Partly cloudy 31
EXTENDED OUTLOOK A2
Authorities are investigating the death of a man found Monday afternoon in his
car at the Super 8 Motel. A hotel employee discovered the body.
Jazmine Flores drinks from her bottle as her grandmother, Barbara Blankenship, picks out food with the help of volunteer Jean
Smiddy at the Hancock County Food Pantry on Monday.
Tom Russo / Daily Reporter
Man found dead in car at motel
A bounty of hope
No signs of foul play; autopsy planned
By MARIBETH VAUGHN
mvaughn@greenfieldreporter.com
GREENFIELD — Greenfield officials
believe a man found dead in a car in a motel
parking lot Monday afternoon died of natural
causes.
The Greenfield Police Department
responded to a call of an unresponsive person
in the parking lot of the Super 8 Motel, 2100
N. State St. They found a man slumped over
in the driver’s seat of a white sedan; he was
pronounced dead at 2:48 p.m., according to a
press release from the GPD.
Deputy Coroner Rudy Nylund said there
were no signs of foul play. The 42-year-old
man, who has not yet been publicly identified,
was found in his car with the engine running.
“There’s no sign of injury or trauma
whatsoever,” Nylund said. “He had a cardiac
history and also a history of chronic back
pain, and he’d been having some back pain.
An autopsy will be completed within the next
day or two.”
Nylund said officials are withholding the
man’s name pending family notification.
He said a hotel employee discovered the
body Monday afternoon.
“He went out to his car late evening of the
22nd,” Nylund said. “We don’t know if he had
driven away or came back or not. He was a
guest at the hotel that night, so we don’t know
if he left and he came back, but his car was
running and he was slumped inside the car.”
Ruling
might
mean
tax hike
Long-awaited verdict
in fire territory case
backs city’s position
Cumberland looks to grow eastward once again
Town launches second annexation in the
past year as it bets on future development
By MARIBETH VAUGHN
mvaughn@greenfieldreporter.com
CUMBERLAND — Town officials are
eyeing another eastward expansion
with an annexation plan totaling 286
acres.
Theproposedannexation–thesecond
in the past year – would include mostly
agricultural land along U.S. 40 from
CR 700W to CR 600W, with the Pennsy
Trail being the southern boundary. A
public hearing on the proposal is slated
for Dec. 17, and town planner Christine
Owens said she already has met with
the 20 or so property owners in the
area.
“Our long-range plans show the
town’s boundary matching its sanitary
sewer district for the Cumberland area,
which goes up to Mt. Comfort Road up
to Interstate 70,” Owens said. “This is
just the next phase as we are looking
at growth management for the town.”
Cumberland’s 20-year master plan
SEE GROW, PAGE A7
600W
700W
100 N
MuessingSt.
40
PROPOSED
ANNEXATION
CUMBERLAND
By JIM MAYFIELD
jmayfield@greenfieldreporter.com
GREENFIELD — A cold wind didn’t
make the line any shorter outside the
Hancock County Food Pantry Monday
afternoon.
It just made it a bit more dense.
A full 30 minutes before the pantry
doors were scheduled to open, the
parking lot was full and the waiting
room already crammed shoulder-to-
shoulder with members of 44 families.
Those queued up outside, some their
teeth chattering, waited patiently
for their chance to go inside and
get food for the week, including for
Thanksgiving on Thursday.
As a pantry volunteer grabbed a
container of peanut butter off the shelf
and placed it in Barbara Blankenship’s
cart, Blankenship, toting her 8-month-
old granddaughter, Jazmine, on her
hip, rolled her eyes skyward.
“Oh, you don’t know how fast we go
through that,” she said.
With eight mouths to feed, four
of whom are teenagers, it’s a pretty
safe bet the Greenfield resident goes
through just about everything that
looks like food at light speed.
Blankenship was one of many people
who moved through the aisles Monday:
shoppers, helpers and volunteers, it
quickly became clear the food pantry is
exponentially more about people than
the structure and its contents.
In a season of thanksgiving celebrated with feasts, food
pantry volunteers make sure everyone can have one
SEE BOUNTY, PAGE A7
SPELL
BOWL
A5
Local school teams
excel in competition
By MARIBETH VAUGHN
mvaughn@greenfieldreporter.com
GREENFIELD — Greenfield
and Center Township residents
will probably see some sort of
increase in their property taxes
next year, now that the Indiana
Tax Court has reinstated the
amount of money the Greenfield
Fire Territory is allowed to
collect.
The Indiana Tax Court ruled
in the city’s favor Nov. 19 after a
three-year debate over taxation
for the department that serves
both city and rural residents.
While Greenfield
officials are
rejoicing over
the news, it’s
unclear how
it will affect
property tax
rates for local
residents in 2015
and beyond.
It’s been three
years since
the Greenfield
d e p a r t m e n t
u n d e r w e n t
a special
inspection of its
budget and tax
rates because Center Township
residents said their property
taxes spiked too high when the
territory was formed.
Back in 2011, the Indiana
Department of Local Government
Finance ruled that the territory
should not be allowed to collect
as much tax money from local
residents. The city of Greenfield
appealed the decision in Indiana
Tax Court in 2012, and last week
the court ruled in the city’s favor.
SEE RULING, PAGE A7
Cumberland
officials are
looking to extend
town limits for
the second time
this year. There
was little protest
from property
owners on the
first annexation of
roughly 182 acres
between CRs
800W and 700W.
Kyle Lewis /
Daily Reporter
Tom Russo / Daily Reporter
A look at
the his-
tory of the
Greenfield
Fire Territory
and funding
questions
over the
years ap-
pears with
this story at
www.green-
fieldreporter.
com.

2. L O C A L N E W S A7
Music
Lessons
Available
On US 40 - 1 Mile East of Highway 9,
Greenfield
317-468-0601 www.greenfieldmusiccenter.com
Layaway
Available
thru Christmas
Mapex
5 pc. Kit
(317) 462-5536
Now through December 7th
, 2014
wreaths can be ordered for your Veteran through
Stillinger Family Funeral Home for $20.00.
On Friday, December 12th
we will be
placing the wreaths in Hancock County
cemeteries to honor all servicemen and women
for their selfless sacrifice
“Wreaths Across America”
© 2014 General Electric Company
Pub. No. 1-D824 PC77831
42 Public Square
Shelbyville, IN
317-398-6236
SHELBYVILLE HOURS:
MON. - THURS. 8 AM-6PM
FRIDAY 8AM-7PM
SATURDAY 8AM-4PM
SUNDAY 12PM-4PM
“It almost got to the point
where it seemed like we’d never
hear back,” said fire Chief James
Roberts, who heard of the ruling
Thursday and happily told his
staff members.
Greenfield officials thought
back in 2011 that they may have
to lay off employees or even close
the north side fire station after
the slash in funding. That never
happened: The city council has
since plugged the funding gap by
dipping into income tax revenue
for the fire territory. Still,
Roberts said that was always a
Band-aid fix and it was tough to
budget every year knowing the
state fiscal branch would always
slash their levy.
The fire territory funding
dilemma is complicated;
Wednesday’s 14-page ruling from
Judge Thomas G. Fisher is also
complex.
The fire territory formed
in 2008 so tax rates weren’t
overly imbalanced for city and
township residents. But that was
also the year statewide property
tax reform happened, and city
controller Buzz Krohn has said a
“perfect storm” of many factors
caused the new territory rate to
skyrocket.
Assessed values dropped,
Krohn said, and a law at the
time did not allow for new fire
territory rates to be phased
in over time. Also, the fire
department budget increased
at the time when it took on the
pension and benefits from the
city’s general fund budget.
As a result, residents that lived
in the city began paying 24 cents
per $100 assessed valuation, up
from 16 cents. Center Township
residents saw the biggest
increase, from 5 cents per $100
assessed valuation to 24 cents.
Rep. Bob Cherry and former
state Sen. Beverly Gard heard
plenty of complaints from rural
residents, many confused or
upset with the change in tax
rates.
That’s why the pair wrote a bill
in 2011 that required the DLGF to
specifically review Greenfield’s
fire territory.
“The county rate went up
dramatically but the city rate
also went up; you would have
thought it might have actually
come down,” Gard said Friday.
After a crowded public
hearing, the DLGF ruled in
October 2011 that Greenfield’s
maximum levy – the amount
that can be collected in taxes
– should be lowered, causing
property tax rates for both city
and township residents to go
down. City officials immediately
appealed, and for the last two
years budgeting for the territory
has been a headache.
Roberts said he was pleased
when he got the call from the
city’s tax attorney that Greenfield
had won the appeal. Still, city
officials are still trying to figure
out the implications of the ruling.
The city will not receive funds
it was not allowed to collect over
the last two years, Roberts said,
but at least starting in 2015 the
department can move forward
knowing its budget isn’t so tight.
“We’re just trying to start from
now and move forward to where
we should have been all along,”
Roberts said.
The ruling states that the
bill Gard and Cherry wrote is
considered special legislation
because it singled out one
community’s fire department.
But the state constitution
prohibits such special legislation
because the Greenfield Fire
Territory is not unique from
any other territory in the state.
Therefore, the ruling states,
the DLGF’s 2011 decision was
“invalid.”
Cherry and Gard said they
were disappointed with the
ruling. Gard pointed out state
law on when special legislation
can be written or not is unclear,
and they wrote the bill because
they were especially concerned
for farmers who were paying a
high price for fire protection on
land that would probably never
need the services.
Gard added that ultimately,
the state Legislature should
reconsider how fire territories
affect farmland.
“I think this is the only way it’s
going to be resolved. Whether
they want to tackle that, who
knows,” she said.
Cherry said they could have
written the bill to include fire
territories across the state, but
no other communities were
complaining about the high
rates of their territories.
“Of course I’m disappointed,
but the court made its ruling,”
Cherry said.
Clerk-Treasurer Larry Breese
said it’s unclear how the ruling
will affect property tax rates for
city and township residents in
2015 and beyond. Rates will go up
from what they were in 2013 and
2014, he said, but it’s uncertain
by how much. Breese has yet to
meet with a representative from
the DLGF to discuss the issue.
The financial impact of the
DLGF’s 2011 decision was
obvious over the last three
years: More than $1.3 million of
the city’s Local Option Income
Tax fund was tapped to patch the
territory’s funding gaps.
Breese said the city will never
recoup those costs, but at least
from here on out the fire territory
can budget with more ease.
The city will be able to start
using what the levy should have
been in 2012, add a time-adjusted
growth quotient for 2015 and
collect the appropriate tax
revenue from there, Breese said.
Once the DLGF approves the
city budget in early 2015, local
residents will be able to tell what
kind of financial impact the tax
court’s ruling will have on their
property tax bills.
Continued from Page A1
Ruling
calls for further annexations.
It’s been just under a year since
Cumberland last expanded
its boundaries: Roughly 182
acres between CRs 800W and
700W were drawn into the town
limits. There was little protest
from property owners on that
annexation, and one business
owner stood up in a public
hearing and thanked the town
council for the move.
This annexation, like the last
one, is involuntary, meaning
the town is initiating the
proceedings, and a formal
approval process is in place.
Just as several steps are
outlined for the town to follow,
property owners also have the
opportunity to remonstrate
against the proposal.
Owens said so far property
owners have asked questions
over how the move will affect
their taxes and what the
community plans to do with the
land.
Owens said she is able to give
property owners an estimate
on how the annexation would
affect their taxes based on the
additional layer of taxation for
Cumberland services. Some
will go up, but if their property
has already hit the tax cap,
Owens said, their bills will be
unaffected.
As for what Cumberland plans
to do with the property, Owens
said it will be zoned similarly
to how county officials have it
zoned. Neighborhood-friendly
commercial uses would be
designated for the area.
According to a fiscal plan on
the annexation, the town would
actually lose money on the deal
over the next five years. That’s
because extending sewer lines
will be expensive – $300,000 –
and the new amount of taxes
coming in over five years
($274,000) would not make up
for that. Owens said there’s
also non-capital costs the town
would have to extend to the area
– roughly $311,000 over the next
five years in general services,
such as police protection and
road maintenance.
While most of the land is
agricultural, there are about a
dozen homes in the area. One
residential site – Eastway Court
Apartments – was purposely
carved out of the plan, Owens
said, because it would not
have met the requirement on
contiguity based on annexation
law since the area is multi-
family housing.
Joe Siefker, Cumberland
Town Council president, said
it’s important for Cumberland
to grow eastward, because if
there’s going to be commercial
development in the community,
that’s the most likely spot.
“We need to start thinking
along those lines and moving
out in that area, start thinking
along Mt. Comfort Road,”
Siefker said.
And while the community’s
master plan calls for more
expansion down the road, Owens
said it’s hard to tell how quickly
or aggressively Cumberland
will grow in the future.
“Our comprehensive plan
is our 20-year horizon plan,”
Owens said. “This is the same
that was in our plan back in
2000; it may take 20 years to
fulfill that, it could take longer.”
Continued from Page A1
Grow
What: Public hearing on
annexation proposal for the
town of Cumberland
When: 7 p.m. Dec. 17
Where: Cumberland Town
Hall
Who: Cumberland Town
Council will hear from
anybody who has an opinion
on the plan
For more information:
contact town manager Andrew
Klinger, 894-6203, or planner
Christine Owens, 894-6202
IF YOU GO
“Oh, Lord,” Blankenship
responded to the question of
how much the pantry helps.
“It’s wonderful. It’s a blessing.”
“It’s a big help when you’re
homeless,” said 47-year-old
Troy Kirk, who was stocking
a cart to take back to his tent
off the Pennsy Trail where he
planned to spend the night in
his sleeping bag.
Lean with sharp eyes peering
out from his knitted watch
cap, Kirk is open about a few
bad decisions that have now
severely limited his options.
He’s not complaining, however.
“I’ve got a bit of a record,” he
said.
He might find work
elsewhere, but he says he has
a son in Greenfield whom he
doesn’t want to leave. If his
story is accurate, the boy is
probably the one bright spot on
Kirk’s horizon as winter begins
to take hold.
Jack Wildey, one of the
Monday first-shift volunteers,
helped Kirk select food and
offered caring counsel.
Wildey, a four-year pantry
volunteer, said he is sometimes
moved to tears at what he sees
there – emotions driven equally
by the need that comes through
the doors and the compassion
that it finds there.
“These people,” he said,
waving a hand toward the
numerous volunteers manning
counters, pushing carts and
otherwise giving assistance,
“are some of the most dog-gone
dedicated people I’ve ever been
around in my life.”
Across the aisle, John Owen
was handing out the red
shopping bags pantry clients
use to bag their groceries. He
and his wife, Donna, who was
checking people in as they
enter, celebrated their 54th
wedding anniversary Monday.
At the pantry.
“We were in Columbus
(Ohio), and we had to leave to
make sure we were able to get
here by Monday,” John said.
Monday shift leader Nancy
Kent said the pantry was
stocked well after recently
receiving its bi-monthly
shipment of food, but that
probably won’t last long.
“Last week we were out
of jelly, pancake mix and
pancake syrup, and at the end
of December, if this keeps up,
we’ll probably be running
low on a lot of things, if not
completely out,” she said.
Last week, the pantry’s six
shifts served 194 families, Kent
said.
Earlier this year, the Monday
shift would serve around 30
families, but that number picks
up as the weather turns cold.
“Now, we’re serving between
45 and 50 families on our shift
alone,” she said.
Elsewhere, the story was
much the same.
“We’re doing very well,” said
Judy Haase, director of the
Knightstown Community Food
Pantry. “The people here have
been very generous, but we’re
seeing a few more people come
in this year.”
“People are hungry in
Indiana all year round,”
said Todd Clevenger,
director of marketing and
communications at Gleaners
Food Bank of Indiana in
Indianapolis. “But in the
winter, some people have a
decision to make: whether
they’re going to pay the utility
bill, put gas in the car or buy
food.”
Kent said the local numbers
are on the rise for this year but
are trending generally the same
as last year at this point.
Clevenger said demand is up
in the Indianapolis area.
“The lines are longer than
they’ve ever been,” he said.
Unfortunately, donations are
off a bit this year, Clevenger
said. Many people believe the
economy is getting better and
don’t think as much about
making contributions.
Anecdotal evidence outside
his window tells a different
story.
“The lines are wrapping
around the building,” he said.
Locally and regionally,
food assistance workers laud
the “wonderful people” who
support them, but the need
continues.
Kent worries each year that
after the holidays people worn
and frayed from the season,
many shouldering additional
bills of their own, will lose
sight of the ongoing need for
assistance at the pantry.
“We depend upon the public
to keep the doors open with
food and donations to feed
these people,” Kent said.
And while all pantries need
donations of food to help stock
the shelves, Clevenger urged
supporters not to discount
the power of the dollar and a
pantry’s buying power.
“You can buy a can of green
beans for 97 cents,” he said.
“(Gleaners) can buy a case of
green beans for 97 cents. We
can stretch a dollar a long
way.”
However, no one is going to
turn away a free meal.
“We need it all,” Clevenger
said.
Effortlessly packing an
infant in a way that shows
she’s had plenty of experience
with a baby perched on her
hip, Blankenship makes sure
Jazmine has food for the
coming week.
Come Christmas she’ll be
on the other side of the aisle,
volunteering at the pantry,
helping others get through a
hard time.
But it can be hard paying it
forward, she said.
“Last year a lady came in
and got a sugar cream pie,
and she just went on and on
about it. She didn’t think she’d
have a sugar cream pie for
Christmas,” Blankenship said.
When that particular client
then discovered she and her
family could have a turkey for
Christmas as well, the woman
was overcome, Blankenship
said.
And so was Blankenship.
“I had to go in the back and
cry,” she said.
Continued from Page A1
Bounty
greenfieldreporter.comom
“Last year a lady came
in and got a sugar cream
pie, and she just went
on and on about it. She
didn’t think she’d have
a sugar cream pie for
Christmas.”
Barbara Blankenship,
Hancock County Food Pantry
volunteer