TODAY’S WEATHER Sunday, July 23, 2017 Today: Partly sunny. An isolated shower or storm possible. Sheridan, Noblesville, Cicero, Arcadia, Tonight: Partly cloudy. NEWS GATHERING LIKE & Atlanta, Carmel, Fishers, Westfield PARTNER FOllOW US! HIGH: 90 LOW: 69 Veterans honored in Cicero Powerless in The American Legion Noblesville Post 341 in Cicero hosted It was 5 Columnist a ribbon-cutting and a.m. on Friday. dedication ceremony on I woke up and Saturday for their newly- felt powerless . constructed Veterans . actually, I was Memorial Wall at the powerless. entrance of Red Bridge. And the The 36-foot wall has thunder rolls, on its face five 21- the lightning inch circles, each with strikes and we lost power. the logo for the five I stumbled branches of the armed in the dark to JANET HART LEONARD forces. Two 24-inch by the bathroom 21-inch plaques honor using my smart the American Legion phone as a flashlight. I quickly brushed and American Legion my teeth with the electric tooth brush as I Riders Post 341, along knew the charge would die soon. with the Veterans of I then opened the front door and saw Photo provided by Jack Russell Foreign Wars Post of that the lights were on across the street. Cicero. Behind the wall How come they had electricity? Power has stands three flag poles no favorites. displaying the American I thought, well I'll just wait this out and flag in the center, the watch the lightning as it lit up the almost POW/MIA flag and the dawn sky. The thunder would not allow me Indiana state flag. to go back to sleep. It wanted my full atten- Construction of the tion. It told me so . loudly. wall was funded through And so I waited. donations made by I decided I needed my morning coffee. Cicero VFW and Legion Ugh. Forget that. No power. No Keurig. Riders. Construction I checked Facebook and it seemed that costs were offset many of us here in inner-city northside No- through donations made blesville were in the dark. by local citizens and I went into my closet three times and turned up the light switch. Habit. Photo provided by Christina (Chris) Miller businesses. See Powerless . Page 3 American Optometric Association encourages safe, fun viewing of August eclipse . Dr. Brittany Foerg wants to help you take in the stellar moment The REPORTER aas.org to access eclipse duration charts. On Aug. 21, a total solar eclipse will • Know your duration. Outside of the touch the U.S. mainland for the first time path of totality, always use solar filters. since 1979, following a path that cross- O.D.s want to reinforce that the only safe es the country from Salem, Oregon to way to look directly at the uneclipsed Charleston, South Carolina. Tens of mil- or partially eclipsed sun is through spe- lions of people who live within a 70-mile cial-purpose solar filters or other ISO-cer- radius of its cross-country track will wit- tified filters, such as “eclipse glasses” or ness the eclipse in totality (the sun com- handheld solar viewers. The AOA en- pletely blocked by the moon) while mil- courages ordering solar eclipse glasses in lions of others outside of it will enjoy a advance and recommends referring to the partial eclipse. The American Optometric American Astronomical Society’s (AAS) Association (AOA), America’s family eye site for a list of manufacturers. doctors, is urging Americans to view the • Be aware of harmful solar exposure. eclipse with proper eye protection to avoid If you stare at the sun without protection, any temporary or permanent eye damage you may experience damage to your retina from the sun. (the tissue at the back of your eye) called “The eclipse is a rare moment that the “solar retinopathy.” This damage can occur whole country is able to share,” said Dr. without any sensation of pain, since the ret- Foerg. “As America’s primary eye health ina does not have pain receptors. The injury and vision care experts, doctors of optom- can be temporary or permanent. Visit your etry are excited to help everyone enjoy it local doctor of optometry immediately if an safely by protecting their eyes.” accident occurs. To ensure spectators won’t miss the re- • Visit your doctor of optometry. Check markable sight, the AOA is sharing a few in with Dr. Foerg at Norman and Miller tips for safe viewing: Eyecare Westfield for information about • Get centered and enjoy the view. safely viewing the eclipse. If you experi- Within the path of totality, you can safely ence any problems with your eyes or vision witness the two or more minutes when the after the eclipse, our office will be able moon completely covers the sun with the to provide you with the medical care you naked eye. Otherwise, your eyes should need. always be protected by verified viewing To access additional information and Photo provided by Norman & Miller Eyecare tools. Never look directly at the sun without educational materials on the solar eclipse, Dr. Brittany Foerg of Norman & Miller Eyecare in Westfield demonstrates the eye protection, even briefly. Visit eclipse. visit www.aoa.org/2017eclipse. use of proper eyeware for viewing a solar eclipse. 2 News Things are looking up around here Our read- Columnist ers may have noticed some great aerial pho- tos recently of various events in Hamilton County. Those pictures were taken from a drone and it may become the FRED SWIFT new method of The County Line taking the best news pictures. A member of the Reporter staff has a drone-mounted camera which obviously can get above the action and take some remarkable shots of events on the ground. Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) were developed for military use a few years ago. Now, a smaller version of these flying machines, controlled from an operator on the ground, are widely avail- able to civilians for photographing or rec- reational purposes. Photos provided Like so many inventions there has been (ABOVE) Random Acts of Flowers and Determine Inc. surprised residents of The Plaza at The Barrington of Carmel with controversy with critics saying the UAVs flowers.(BELOW) Carolyn Black was one such resident. can cause damage or result in invasion of privacy as they soar overhead. Our read- ers can rest easy in the knowledge that the Random Acts bring joy to Carmel drone used for news coverage will not cre- ate a safety hazard or be invading anyone's The REPORTER privacy. Recently, Random Acts of Flowers But, as time goes on, readers will likely and Carmel-based Determine Incorpo- see some great pictures of events that here- rated teamed up to put a smile on the tofore have been photographed only from faces of assisted living, memory care ground level. It's a great advancement and and skilled nursing residents by bringing only makes one wonder what modern tech- them free flowers. nology will bring us next. Residents of The Plaza at The Bar- rington of Carmel, the senior living com- munity’s health care neighborhood, were the recipients of this thoughtful treat. Volunteers were excited to see residents’ reactions as they began to smell the floral Thank you scents and were presented with their flow- ers. This is the first time Random Acts of Flowers visited the community, and the best part is that it was all a surprise! Determine Inc. donated the flow- for reading ers and volunteered its time to deliver the flowers to each resident. The goal is to improve the emotional health and well-being of individuals at the senior liv- ing community by delivering the gifts to the Hamilton them in person. This truly random act of flowers left a lasting impact on the lives County of the residents. Follow us on Facebook! TODAY’S BIBLE VERSE www.Facebook.com/ The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but Reporter! HamiltonCountyReporter the tares are the children of the wicked one; Matthew 13:38 News 3 Indiana employment report, June 2017 The REPORTER Indiana’s unemployment rate stands at 3.0 percent for June and remains lower than the national rate of 4.4 percent. The unemployment rate is a U.S. Bureau of La- bor Statistics (BLS) indicator that reflects the number of unemployed people as a per- centage of the labor force. Indiana’s labor force decreased by 2,427 over the previous month with a 4,088 increase in employ- ment and a 6,515 decrease in unemploy- ment. Indiana's total labor force continues to stand at more than 3.33 million, and the state’s 64.4 percent labor force participa- tion rate remains above the national rate of 62.8 percent. "We are pleased to see Indiana's un- employment rate go lower this past month and stay at its lowest levels since the mid- 1990s. We believe this is an indication of Grahpic provided the state's ongoing strong economy," said This chart from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that Indiana unemployment rate has been and remains Steven J. Braun, Commissioner of the In- consistently better than each surrounding state. diana Department of Workforce Develop- labor market, according to Braun. DWD's by more than 45,700 over the year, and employment stands at 2,692,600 and is ment (DWD). "We at the Department of long-term challenge is developing the has increased by 10,100 over the previous 15,700 above the November 2016 peak. Workforce Development remain focused workforce to meet the projected employer on assisting Hoosiers who are unemployed month, primarily due to gains in the Pro- demand of filling more than one million Data are sourced from June Current Em- or underemployed.