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.