Brett W. Todd – Page 37 – Clinton County Today

Sheriff Kelly Sought Legal Ruling On Merit Board Member

Published on March 25, 2021 by Brett W. Todd

FRANKFORT, Ind. – Just days before Clinton County Commissioner Jordan Brewer made the motion for the Board of Commissioners to file suit against Clinton County Sheriff Rich Kelly and Jail Matron & Commissary Manager Ashley Kelly, Commissioner Brewer’s father, Kent Brewer, was resolving a lawsuit filed by Sheriff Kelly.

According to court documents, the elder Brewer, a member of the Clinton County Sheriff’s Merit Board, faced a legal claim by Sheriff Kelly filed on August 31, 2020, asking the Clinton County Superior Court to declare Kent Brewer was in violation of Article 2, Section 9 of the Indiana Constitution – “no person may hold two lucrative offices at the same time.” Kent Brewer was also serving as a member of the Frankfort Utility Service Board at the same time. Brewer later filed a motion to dismiss the suit.

On January 27, 2021, Judge Thomas Busch denied Brewer’s motion to dismiss writing:

“1. A member of the Sheriff’s Merit Board may be removed for cause by a declaratory judgment of the Superior Court. Ind. Code 36-8-10-3(b).
2. No person may hold two lucrative offices at the same time. Ind. Const. Art. 2, Sec. 9.
3. The Complaint herein alleges that Defendant holds two lucrative offices, one of which is as a member of the Sheriff‘s Merit Board.
4. If defendant holds two lucrative offices he is in violation of the Constitutional provision.
5. Plaintiff is the Sheriff of Clinton County.
6. Plaintiff, as Sheriff, has standing to bring a declaratory judgment action under Ind. Code 36-8-10-3 (b) seeking defendant’s removal for cause from the Sheriff’s Merit Board.”

According to a court document dated March 3, 2021, the case was dismissed: “Plaintiff, Richard Kelly, in his official capacity as Clinton County Sheriff, and Defendant, Kent Brewer, and as a result of Kent Brewer’s retirement from the Clinton County Sheriff’s Merit Board hereby stipulate to the dismissal of Plaintiff’s claim against Defendant in this action, without prejudice, with each party to bear its own costs.”

The Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 on March 16, 2021, to bring a suit against Sheriff Kelly and Matron Kelly. The suit was filed on March 19, 2021, with the Commissioners scheduling a special meeting on March 25 to discuss the pending lawsuit.

Sheriff Kelly filed a suit on March 19, 2021, against the Commissioners in a Montgomery County Superior Court seeking a declaratory judgment against the Commissioners after the Board voted to amend the county smoking ordinance in an attempt to prohibit inmates from using tobacco-free products at its March 16 meeting.

Update (3/25/21): 10 New Clinton County Residents Tested Positive For COVID-19 As Reported By The ISDH

Published on March 25, 2021 by Brett W. Todd

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) announced today, Thursday, March 25, 2021, Clinton County had 10 new residents who tested positive for COVID-19, 4,040 residents in total have tested positive for COVID-19. There are 53 deaths related to COVID-19 in Clinton County. At least 55,954 total tests have been administered to residents of Clinton County, of which 18,268 have been unique tests as reported by the ISDH.

The rolling 7-day positivity rate of unique individuals for Clinton County is 5.4% as of March 18, 2021. The State of Indiana as a whole is 8.9%.

The rolling 7-day positivity rate of all tests for Clinton County is 2.0% as of March 18, 2021. The State of Indiana as a whole is 3.4%.

The weekly ISDH County Metrics score released today showed Clinton County with a score of 0.5 an advisory color of Blue. Clinton County’s official advisory level is Blue.

Clinton County had 70 new cases per 100,000 residents – a score of 1 – and a 7-day positivity rate of 1.84% – a score of 0. The ISDH utilized the results of 3/22/2021, 11:59 p.m. for the purpose of calculating the weekly County Metrics.

The ISDH shows a total of 6,570 Clinton County residents have received the first of a two-dose vaccination series (an increase of 180 over the previous day) and 4,971 are fully vaccinated (an increase of 137 over the previous day) with 282 Clinton County residents receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a single-dose vaccine. Statewide, 1,530,403 Hoosiers have received the first of a two-dose of vaccination series, 1,018,521 are fully vaccinated with 48,358 from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as of 3/25/2021 at 5:00 a.m.

Additionally, the ISDH announced that 977 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing at ISDH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and private laboratories. That brings to 680,046 the total number of Indiana residents known to have the novel coronavirus following corrections to the previous day’s total.

To date, 3,224,904 unique tests have been administrated on Hoosiers and reported to ISDH, up from 3,222,944 on Wednesday.

The Regenstrief Institute released updated hospitalization data as of March 24, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. for Clinton County. Data are unique individuals and cumulative.

Total Hospitalizations: 261
Emergency Visits: 588
ICU Admits: 57
Hospital Deaths: 37

Statewide Recovery: 651,070 (96%)
Statewide Deceased: 12,553 (2%)
Statewide Active: 9,335 (2%)

Free COVID-19 Test Center in Clinton County
Children age 3 and older can be tested as well as anyone who needs a test can get tested.

Location:
Clinton County Fairgrounds in the Edward Jones Building
1701 S Jackson St.
Frankfort, IN
8am – 6pm (Monday – Friday)

The Clinton County Health Department currently has two (2) testing sites operating at the fairgrounds; Optum and the ISDH Community Test Site both inside the Edward Jones Building at the Clinton County Fairgrounds located at 1701 S Jackson St, Frankfort, IN.

Optum runs from 8 am to 6 pm Monday through Friday (not open on holidays) and the ISDH Community Test Site runs from 12 noon to 6 pm Monday through Friday.

The Optum testing site breaks for lunch from 12 noon to 12:30 pm each day with an afternoon break from 3 pm to 3:30m. There are NO appts scheduled for Optum during 12-12:30 or 3-3:30 pm for this site and no walk-ins taken during those break times.

To schedule a test, use one of the following:
web: https://lhi.care/covidtesting
phone: (888) 634-1116

To schedule a vaccination shot:
Schedule at https://ourshot.in.gov or call the Frankfort Public Library system if you have no internet access or difficulties with scheduling. The vaccine clinic is located at 1701 South Jackson Street, Frankfort, IN (4H Building at the Fairgrounds) Open 8:30 am – 6 pm Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Would you like to volunteer your Nursing skills for the Covid Vaccine Clinics?
* Go to https://www.serv-in.org/ to register

* Then go to https://signup.com/go/wCOxxxz to schedule the days & times you are able to help.

Update (3/24/21): 2 New Clinton County Residents Tested Positive For COVID-19 As Reported By The ISDH

Published on March 24, 2021 by Brett W. Todd

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) announced today, Wednesday, March 24, 2021, Clinton County had 2 new residents who tested positive for COVID-19, 4,030 residents in total have tested positive for COVID-19. There are 53 deaths related to COVID-19 in Clinton County. At least 55,875 total tests have been administered to residents of Clinton County, of which 18,247 have been unique tests as reported by the ISDH.

The rolling 7-day positivity rate of unique individuals for Clinton County is 5.8% as of March 17, 2021. The State of Indiana as a whole is 8.8%.

The rolling 7-day positivity rate of all tests for Clinton County is 1.8% as of March 17, 2021. The State of Indiana as a whole is 3.3%.

The ISDH shows a total of 6,391 Clinton County residents have received the first of a two-dose vaccination series (an increase of 237 over the previous day) and 4,835 are fully vaccinated (an increase of 141 over the previous day) with 268 Clinton County residents receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, a single-dose vaccine. Statewide, 1,496,852 Hoosiers have received the first of a two-dose of vaccination series, 992,664 are fully vaccinated with 46,025 from the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as of 3/24/2021 at 5:00 a.m.

Additionally, the ISDH announced that 976 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing at ISDH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and private laboratories. That brings to 680,046 the total number of Indiana residents known to have the novel coronavirus following corrections to the previous day’s total.

To date, 3,222,944 unique tests have been administrated on Hoosiers and reported to ISDH, up from 3,221,661 on Tuesday.

The Regenstrief Institute released updated hospitalization data as of March 23, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. for Clinton County. Data are unique individuals and cumulative.

Total Hospitalizations: 261
Emergency Visits: 588
ICU Admits: 57
Hospital Deaths: 37

Statewide Recovery: 650,130 (96%)
Statewide Deceased: 12,5553 (2%)
Statewide Active: 10,275 (2%)