COVID leads list

COVID-19 has become a part of our everyday lives.

That’s precisely why it is the top story for the second year in a row.

A year ago, the coronavirus pandemic was so pervasive that it occupied not just the No. 1 spot in The Commercial Review’s list of top 10 stories, but accounted for five of the topics on the list. While it won’t take up half of the list again this year, it was still the easy selection for the top story of 2021.

As the pandemic continues, it can be difficult to remember what events occurred this year. Here’s a reminder:

•Vaccines became available

•Mask mandates were in effect for schools through the end of the 2020-21 school year

•There was local debate and outcry over where the authority lies to implement COVID-19 mitigation policies

•Sporting events and other activities have been postponed or canceled

•Local government units implemented various COVID-19 policies

Nothing has touched the lives of local residents on a daily basis in the way the coronavirus pandemic continues to do so.

The rest of the top 10 stories for 2021 are as follows:

2. Progress toward the construction of three solar farms

3. Murder trials and pleas result in four convictions

4. U.S. Aggregates wins approval for expansion after long process with significant opposition

5. June tornado destroys homes, property in Jay and Mercer counties

6. Arts Place completes its $2.4 million renovation and expansion

7. Coca-Cola plant closes in Portland

8. IU Health Jay begins multi-million dollar renovation project

9. Jay County selected for HELP program

10. Extension of runway at Portland Municipal Airport begins



1. COVID-19 impact

Thirty deaths.

That is the most clear and obvious impact of the coronavirus pandemic in 2021. Of those, 23 have come since Sept. 15.

Jay County has been rated at Indiana State Department of Health’s highest risk level for the spread of coronavirus for five of the last seven weeks. There have been more than 2,150 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the county this year. (That’s up from about 1,500 in 2021.)

Vaccinations became available in early 2021, first offered to those most at risk. Jay County currently has the sixth-lowest vaccination rate in the state at 38.2%.



2. Solar is coming

Invenergy’s “Skycrest Solar,” led the way as the company approached Jay County Council on Feb. 10 with information on a solar farm in the northwest corner of the county.

Plans for two other facilities, Leeward Renewable Energy’s “Rose Gold Solar” north of Dunkirk and Scout Clean Energy’s “Sun Chief Solar” in the same area as its existing Bitter Ridge Wind Farm, followed in July and August. The companies have received all or most of the approvals from the county to move forward.

Construction on the facilities, which combined are projected to cost about $400 million, may begin in 2022.



3. Trials and pleas

Two murder cases progressed through Jay Circuit Court.

Portland women 31-year-old Esther J. Stephen and 20-year-old Shelby N. Hiestand were both found guilty of murder Shea Briar and each sentenced to 55 years in prison. Hannah Knapke, 20, of Fort Recovery, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in relation to Briar’s death and was sentenced Nov. 17 to serve 17.5 years.

Also, 44-year-old Cory M. Jones of Redkey pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter of rural Dunkirk resident Shanna Jones. (He had been charged with murder.) His sentencing is set for Jan. 7.



4. Quarry to expand

Early in 2021, U.S. Aggregates began pursuing plans to expand its stone quarry north of its current site at 2228 W. 125 South. Its proposal faced significant public opposition, mainly from residents of the adjacent Beacon Heights addition and nearby Rose Drive. After six months of public meetings and negotiations, U.S. Aggregates won approval from Portland Plan Commission, Portland City Council and finally Portland Board of Zoning Appeals. The company agreed to various stipulations, including providing compensation for adjacent homeowners for loss in home value attributed to the quarry and setting allowed hours for operation and blasting.

5. Tornado ravages

A tornado whipped through northeast Jay County and southwest Mercer County near Fort Recovery on June 18. It damaged nearly two dozen homes and even more outbuildings.

The National Weather Service rated the storm an EF2 category tornado, with peak wind speeds of 130 mph.

No injuries were reported. In the aftermath, local residents visited damaged households — such as properties in the area county roads 450 East and 500 North — and offered their assistance. Six months later, some of those affected by the storm are still finishing house repairs and renovations.



6. Arts expansion

The Jay County Campus of Arts Place entered a new era.

The $2.4 million project saw major renovations in the existing Arts Place building in Portland and construction of the new Hudson Center for the Visual Arts across the street. In all, about 280 individuals, families, organizations, and foundations contributed.

It is evidence, said major donor John G. Young, of “a community that cannot be matched.” Young, whose family dedicated the Young Music Education Wing to his wife Gretchen, who died in 2020, added, “There are few places in the United States that can claim this.”



7. Coke canned

Jay County’s business landscape changed dramatically in late March when it was announced that the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Portland would phase out operations in November, putting 54 employees out of work.

Coke had been a fixture locally since 1919, when the bottling plant was founded by local businessman Orien Holsapple. It had previously operated out of facilities on Main Street and Arch Street before moving in the early 1980s to Meridian Street on the north side of the city that had previously been the site of Horizon Homes.

Production was moved to a new facility in Whitestown.



8. Renovating facility

As part of Jay County Hospital’s 2017 integration agreement with IU Health, $5 million was set aside for capital improvements to the facility. Those began to become a reality this year with the expansion of the Family First practice and renovation of space for the Healthy Beginnings program.

Other renovations that are underway or coming in 2022 include an area for cardiac and pulmonary outpatient services on the second floor, and space for the outpatient physical therapy service and outpatient behavioral health unit on the first floor.

The work comes in at a total of about $3.75 million.



9. Getting HELP

Jay County was allotted nearly $4 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds in March.

County officials have been discussing options for the monies, noting problems such as childcare, housing and outdated or cramped emergency personnel buildings. No decisions have been made for the funds.

In November, the county was selected to be in the first cohort for the federal Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program (HELP), which will offer assistance to communities for planning how to spend COVID-19 relief monies. It may also provide another $1 million in matching dollars to Jay County for its initiatives.



10. Extension starts

A project that had been in discussions for more than two decades got underway when Portland Board of Aviation held a groundbreaking ceremony on a rainy June 1 for the runway extension at Portland Municipal Airport.

The first phase — enclosing 555 feet of Alexander Ditch and leveling land west of the current runway — of the multi-million dollar project is mostly complete, with crews set to return in April to finish it. The second phase — paving and lighting — is expected to begin in late spring or early summer, with the 5,500 foot runway to open by the end of 2022.