Sister makes lemonade out of lemons to help brother fighting cystic fibrosis

thedcregister.com

THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2018

190TH YEAR

ISSUE NO. 19 $1

McHenry wins GOP sheriff nomination; Turner ousts county council incumbent What was expected to be a close GOP race in the Tuesday, May 8, primary election for the Dearborn County sheriff’s nomination turned out to be a decisive victory for now county commissioner Shane McHenry, who defeated Brad Schwing 58 percent to 42 percent.

The 16 percent gap represents 3,310 votes for McHenry and 2,418 for Schwing.

Both candidates ran on high creds.

McHenry is part of the Dearborn/Ohio County Prosecutor’s Office/Special Crimes Unit, and graduated from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy and Indiana University.

He also has 20 years experience as a law enforcement veteran, and eight years as an Indiana Drug Enforcement Association Southeast District representative.

Shane McHenry

In 2005, he received the Tom Cochran Law Enforcement Officer of the Year award.

Schwing is a full-time deputy for the Dearborn County Sheriff’s Department. His career in law enforcement began as a jailer at the Dearborn County Sheriff’s Department in 2002. He also worked part time as a town marshal for West Harrison.

In 2004, he went to work as a full-time officer for Greendale, and returned to the Dearborn County Sheriff’s Department in 2011. He is a graduate of the Indiana Law Enforcement Police Academy.

Only 17.8 percent of registered voters in Dearborn County cast ballots, according to Dearborn County Clerk of Courts statistics. In all, 6,816 of

See WINS page 6

Kevin Turner

Felony charges may have helped uncover more illegal activity

By Joe Awad Managing Editor

jawad@registerpublications.com

Felony charges against another alleged bad guy may have brought full circle the Dearborn County investigation into alleged criminal activities from dealing meth, armed robbery, beating up competitors, stealing their drugs, and carrying an assortment of weapons without licenses.

Eli M. Ramey is charged in Dearborn Circuit Court, Lawrenceburg, with six felonies that are connected to the pivotal incident, when Caleb Ludwick, 26, led Indiana State Police on a winding chase from Intersate 74 to Brookville on Tuesday, April 24.

The affidavit of probable cause provides no address or age for Eli M. Ramey, but identifies him as the man who, on Tuesday, April 24, severely beat Ludwick, and stole meth that Ludwick, who lived in Miamitown and Brookville, was carrying.

Dearborn County detectives corralled parts of several connected alleged crimes by using a confidential informant and various forms of technology.

Ramey specifically is charged with dealing more than 10 ounces of meth, possession of more than 28 grams of meth, robbery while armed with a deadly weapon,

robbery resulting in bodily injury, carrying a handgun with no license, and stealing a firearm.

Based upon affidavits of probable cause, the investigation plays out like this: 1. Caleb Ludwick, 26, leads ISP on a chase from Intersate 74 to Brookville on Tuesday, April 24. The apartment residence of Ludwick’s girlfriend, Ashley J. Crouch, 25, Brookville, already is under surveillance by Indiana State Police. Ludwick is jailed in Franklin County.

2. Felony charges are filed against Ludwick in Dearborn Circuit Court, Friday, April 27, three days after he was arrested and jailed in Franklin County.

3. The Dearborn charges are connected to bizarre episodes that led to felony charges against Crouch and Michael E. Maxwell, 43, for illegal activities and connections in at least Aurora, Harrison, West Harrison, and Hamilton County.

Crouch and Maxwell are charged in Dearborn Circuit Court with felonies connected to alleged crimes and violence Tuesday, April 24, against Joey Gyarmati, who was living in a trailer on property off Texas Gas Road in Aurora.

Ludwick, Maxwell, and Crouch are each charged in Dearborn County with four felonies: conspiracy to com-

See CHARGES page 6

JOE AWAD/The Register JOE AWAD PHOTO

Rowan Ziegler, 7, raised $4,800 Saturday, April 28, in front of Comb’s Pizza, Aurora, for research into cystic fibrosis, the condition with which her brother, Jet, was born. The money includes $600 from the pizzeria, which donated 10 percent of the day’s sales to the Lawrenceburg Primary School first-grader’s cause. See free video at thedcregister.com.

Sister makes lemonade out of lemons to help brother fighting cystic fibrosis

By Chandra L. Mattingly Staff Reporter

cmattingly@registerpublications.com

We’ve all heard, “When life gives you a lemon, make lemonade.”

Life didn’t exactly give Rowan Ziegler and her family a lemon. It gave them her little brother, Jet, but Rowan is making lemonade anyway, and it’s all because of the 3-year-old.

Rowan, 7, raised $4,800 Saturday, April 28, when she sold lemonade in front of Comb’s Pizza in Aurora for research into cystic fibrosis, the condition with which Jet was born.

The money includes $600 from the pizzeria, which donated 10 percent of

the day’s sales to the Lawrenceburg Primary School first-grader’s cause.

“We had such a spectacular turnout,” said April Combs. “It was amazing.”

The pizzeria even broke its single day sales record as folks supported Rowan’s Jet’s Flight Fundraiser.

The following day, Rowan raised another $385 at Perfect North Slopes, during Luke’s Lifesavers Breathe Easy Ride, another CF research fundraiser.

And all of that is on top of the $4,010 Rowan raised in front of Comb’s Pizza in spring 2017.

Rowan and Jet are the children of Valerie and Adam Ziegler, Aurora, and grandchildren of Scott and Karen Lovern, Rising Sun, and Andy and Peggy

Ziegler, Logan.

Adam Ziegler, 37, is a 1999 East Central High School graduate, and Valerie Ziegler, 32, is a 2003 Rising Sun High School graduate.

Before Rowan was born, her parents had learned they both carried the gene for cystic fibrosis, said Valerie Rowan.

Chances were three out of four their baby would not have cystic fibrosis, and Rowan does not.

Jet, however, does.

“We kind of figured he did; he tasted kind of salty,” said his mom, explaining that’s a symptom of the disease. “They do a sweat test to confirm it,” she said.

See LEMONS page 6

RS Courtyard Inn: Most Endangered

Staff Report Rising Sun’s The Courtyard Inn is one of the 10 sites included on Indiana Landmark’s 10 Most Endangered in 2018 list.

The Cravenhurst Barn in Madison is another on the annual list of Hoosier landmarks in jeopardy.

“We put places on the endangered list to raise awareness and find ways to save them,” said Marsh Davis, president of the nonprofit preservation organization.

“Indiana Landmarks has been able to

solve problems, forge partnerships, and create revitalization strategies that wrest these sites from the brink of extinction,” he added.

Demolition has claimed only 16 of the 131 Most Endangered sites listed since 1991, while 84 places are completely restored or no longer endangered. That includes the Speakman House next to Laughery Creek in French, which was on the 2017 list.

Now owned by Banschbach Enterprises (Mark Banschbach), the 1846 mansion

Contact Register Publications (812) 537-0063 © REGISTER PUBLICATIONS,

is undergoing renovation.

Davis said places that land on the 10 Most Endangered list often face a combination of problems rather than a single threat - abandonment, neglect, dilapidation, obsolete use, unreasonable above-market asking price, owners who simply lack money for repairs, remote location.

The five buildings (four are connectSUBMITTED PHOTO ed) that form the shuttered Courtyard The Courtyard Inn, Rising Sun, has been listed as one of Inn represent the earliest links to the Indiana Landmark’s Ten Most Endangered 2018 sites. The See INN page 6 property, 121-133 Front St., is up for sale.

WEATHERforecast

Today: High: 78 Low: 58 Friday: High:83 Low: 67

Saturday: High: 85 Low: 65 Sunday: High: 82 Low: 64

PAGE 6

THURSDAY, MAY 10, 2018

THE DEARBORN COUNTY REGISTER

INN

From Page 1 Ohio River flatboat industry that put Rising Sun on the map.

Shadrach Hathaway replaced his two-story log structure in 1827 with a brick building at the corner of Front and Fourth streets that he operated as a general store. In the 1830s, Pinckney James and Able C. Pepper constructed row houses adjacent to the mercantile, filling out the block facing the river.

The early structures help establish the visual character of the town. For many years, the buildings operated as an inn and popular restaurant that contributed to the town’s resurgence.

In the stone-walled basement, adapted as a bar and banquet room, a long-collapsed tunnel to the river served as an intriguing centerpiece. But the inn closed

LEMONS From Page 1

Consultation with experts came next.

“Once we went to Children’s (Hospital, Cincinnati,) we found out this was going to be our normal life,” said Valerie Ziegler.

The Zieglers enrolled Jet in a study for a drug called Orkambi in 2017, and he continues on an extended portion of that study, said his mom, calling the med one of the break-through drugs for CF. Pending FDA approval, he will remain on Orkambi, currently approved for ages 6 and older.

The study bolstered her faith, said Valerie’s mother.

She and her husband had been open to another pregnancy after Rowan’s birth, but nothing happened for nearly three years. She was wondering what was wrong before she finally conceived - in good timing, as CF breakthroughs were happening at the time Jet was born.

The Zieglers became involved in fundraising for CF research, and learned they are not alone.

“Once we found out he had CF, there were more CF kids than we thought” in the local area, said Valerie.

From her own childhood, Valerie recalled one girl dying from cystic fibrosis at age 18, but said at Children’s they encounter many adults with CF,

and revitalization has stalled in Rising Sun. Most of the inn’s vacant buildings suffer accelerating deterioration.

The owner is selling all the property, 121-133 Front St., together. The landmarks need a preservation-minded buyer, or several.

Sold separately, the structures could return to residential use, although many already bemoan the loss of the restaurant and pub that was popular with locals, tourists and casino visitors alike.

Moose barn?

The Loyal Order of Moose property in Madison has an enviable pedigree. Railroad entrepreneur John Brough built the house around 1850 and sold it soon after on his way to becoming governor of Ohio. J.F.D. Lanier - a name famous for his role in shaping Madison and for the house now operated as a museum by the state of Indiana - bought it and passed it on to his daughter Drusilla Crasome of them living into their 50s or 60s, thanks to research and new treatments.

The Zieglers began participating in the Great Strides fundraiser each spring at Batesville; set for 1 p.m. Sunday, May 20, at Liberty Park this year.

They involved Rowan in discussions about CF, and she also saw Jet struggling, taking medicines, and receiving daily treatments.

“It’s hard sometimes to watch him,” Rowan has told her mom.

“He does throw up a lot and get sick,” said Valerie. “He’s got to do his breathing treatment twice a day, plus he’s got to take all of his medicines as well.”

Rowan is aware of the stress her parents undergo, said her mom.

So, wanting to help, Rowan started a lemonade stand at age 4. The first two years were in the family’s driveway.

But they eat at Comb’s Pizza frequently, and the second year Combs’ owners offered to have a fundraiser for CF at the business. That led to the lemonade stand and a 10 percent donation from Combs’ sales in 2017.

vens. The family kept it until 1938.

The Moose bought the property in 1941 and altered the house to suit their needs.

They didn’t need the Cadillac of a barn - a slate-roofed stone and wood structure with elegant arched entrances - and it has declined to a perilous state. The 1906 bank barn has an internal silo, collapsing now, and feeding chutes to main and lower levels from the grain storage floor above.

The Moose can’t afford to repair the failing roof, masonry, and siding, although member Louis Shields has almost single-handedly shored up failing timbers. With restoration, the barn would make an attractive meeting and wedding venue, but the rescue must come soon.

More sites

Other sites on the 2018 list include Cannelton Historic District, Cannelton; Commandant’s Row at Inwebsite. More than 125,000 people participate in more than 400 walks.

Cystic fibrosis, an inherited chronic disease, affects about 30,000 children and adults in the United States, according to the CFF. Due to a defective gene, the body produces thick, sticky mucus, clogging the lungs and leading to life-threatening lung infections. The mucus also blocks the pancreas and interferes with the body’s absorption of nutrients.

In the 1950s, children with CF rarely lived long enough to attend school, according to the CFF. “The reason they’ve advanced so much is because of the fundraising across the country,” said Valerie Ziegler.

Folks who would like to support Jet’s Flight for Great Strides can do so here: http:// fightcf.cff.org/site/TR/GreatStrides/42_Greater_Cincinnati_Cincinnati?team_ id=70525&pg=team&fr_ id=6656.

the county’s 38,311 registered voters made it to the polls.

As expected the GOP led the charge with 5,811 Republican ballots cast, compared to 1,005 on the Democratic side which featured no races.

The sheriff’s race probably increased the tallies from the 2014 presidential midterm primary in which 9 percent of the county’s registered voters participated.

Meanwhile, Kevin Turner defeated incumbent Ryan Brandt 54 to 46 percent in the GOP primary for County Council District 3. Turner will face Democrat Melvin C. Kremer Jr. in November.

- Joe Awad

May is Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month, and this year is the 30th anniversary of Great Strides, which is the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s biggest national fundraising event, according to the CF

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From Page 1

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diana Veterans’ Home, West Lafayette; Marion National Bank Building, Marion (repeat entry from 2017 list); Muncie Fieldhouse, Muncie; North Christian Church, Columbus; Old Masonic Hall, Knightstown; Rocky Edge, Terre Haute; and Saint Joseph’s College campus, Rensselaer.

“Indiana Landmarks confers 10 Most Endangered status on important historic places that have reached a dire point, like the Newkirk Mansion in Connersville on the 2017 list,” said Davis.

“The vacant hilltop mansion suffered a leaking roof, vandalism and an arson fire in the carriage house. We developed a strategy that included price negotiation, optioning the property, and a national search for a new owner willing to restore the house. We found an ideal buyer in the Sparks family who immediately began addressing the structural needs

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CHARGES From Page 1

mit criminal confinement, criminal confinement with intent to obtain ransom, conspiracy to commit robbery with a deadly weapon, robbery with a deadly weapon.

4. Before the charges, Ludwick and Maxwell “strapped up” and headed to the Texas Gas Road property in Aurora, where Ramey also was living. He was not there when they arrived, and they beat up Gyarmati, for whom no charges are filed.

5. Gyarmati, on probation in Ohio, reported through a friend, that two armed men, both whom appeared high, had invaded the trailer, threatened to kill him, and that one, later identified as Maxwell, repeatedly hit him across the head and face with a pistol.

6. Gyarmati said he recognized one of the men as Ludwick, with whom he was friends in high school and participated with on the wrestling team. He also told police Ludwick was touting a AR-15 assault weapon in addition to a handgun.

7. Ludwick’s face “was messed up as if he had been fighting,” Gyarmati told police.

8. Gyarmati stated that Ludwick shouted: “Where the f - - - is Eli, where is my s - - -?” says the affidavit.

9. Gyarmati tried phoning Ramey, who earlier had entered the camper in which Gyarmati lives, bragging about robbing Ludwick.

Ramey and his girlfriend, Melissa Maybrier, had stayed overnight at the residence.

10. Gyarmati made contact with Ramey through a messenger app. “Caleb was yelling at Ramey, “We’re at your house mother f - - - -. Say hi to Joey.’” Then Maxwell yelled that they had

“guns to Joey’s head.”

11. After some discussion, Ludwick and Maxwell allowed Gyarmati to dress for work. He told them his boots were in his truck. Once outside, he said his truck was out of gas, and they allowed him to re-enter the camper for fuel. He locked the door, and called another person who called the cops.

12. Then the multi-jurisdical search was in high gear.

A call made by Maxwell led police to a West Harrison resident “involved in methamphetamine and criminal activity.”

13. Contact with the Hamilton County Drug Abusive Resistance Team informed Indiana police that a close associate of Ludwick’s had been involved in several shootings in Greater Harrison, and that Harrison and Cincinnati police are investigating Ludwick for dealing meth out of Dayton, Ohio.

14. Cops listen to a conversation between the CI and Ludwick. The CI posed as someone interested in a drug deal. Ludwick reveals during the conversation that he was beaten and robbed by Ramey.

15. Ludwick told police that Ramey had robbed him in Miamitown on Monday, April 23, by striking him in back of the head with brass knuckles, and continued to hit him about 20 times until he could not move.

16. Police concluded Ramey stole Ludwick’s handgun, meth, watch, and a large amount of cash, among other items.

17. On Wednesday, May 2, Maybrier’s vehicle is spotted on Texas Gas Road. Maybrier and Ramey are in the vehicle.

Two cell phones are seized 18. The Texas Gas Road property is searched. Police find a handgun and watch that Ludwick claims belong to him.

CONSTRUCTION NOTICE The Rising Sun Municipal Utilities is accepting proposals for the construction of an addition to their 15kv City Substation. The project entails concrete foundations, grounding, cabling, structure additions and bus and equipment installation. Proposals are due by May 23rd at 2 PM. Interested parties should contact Wayne Gallimore at WayneG@Alphaeng.us for further information.

REAL ESTATE AUCTION

Offered by Cornerstone Realty, Inc. / Lutz Auction Service LLC

Rare Opportunity! 2 Parcels on Woods Road in Bright Indiana

Thursday May 17, 2018 • 6 p.m.

The Auction is held at Lutz Auction Center 25980 Auction Lane. Guilford, IN 47022.

Call to arrange a showing.

Tract 1: 3413 Woods Rd. Includes 35.6 acres with 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home.

Couple out buildings, city water. Sold “AS IS” condition.

Tract 2: Adjoins tract 1. Includes 63.1 rolling to hilly acreage with creek. Great hunting!

Terms: The successful bidder will give a $10,000 non-refundable down payment per tract made payable to Cornerstone Realty Inc. Trust acct., sign a sales agreement and close on or before 40 days. There are no contingencies, have financing arranged before the auction. Final bids are subject to Dearborn County Court approval.

Adam, Anne, Gail, Ralph Clingerman & Linda Ott - Owners Dale & Randy Lutz – Auctioneers 513-266-1859 / 513-266-1860 AU01030327 / AU10100126 Log onto Lutzauctions.com for more information and pictures.

Announcements made day of auction take precedent over printed material.