The Daily Journal from Franklin, Indiana • Page 1

l' 'titer SUPER SLUGGER Center Grove star A.J. Zapp is making his mark as a homerun hitter. HILLBILLY HEAVEN Kentucky festival brings out the traditions of moonshine and com pone. TURNING POINT Organization offers help to battered women in County. J) A7 C1 B1 Ll ijL Mo mly joy SATURDAY JOHNSON COUNTY, INDIANA CENTS Tornadoes op couantty By Jennifer Del Vechio and Bryan Corbin daily journal staff writers Two tornadoes and severe thunderstorms ripped through Johnson County Friday bright, knocking out power, dumping golf ball-sized hail and twisting and tossing mobile homes.

The worst hit areas were reported at Smith Valley Road and Morgantown Road and at Indy RV on State Road, 37 west of Greenwood, said Tom Shively, Johnson County Sheriff's Related stories, pictures, graphic, page A8. Department spokesman. Damage also was reported in the Friendly Village and Glendale trailer parks, just south of County Line Road and east of Morgantown Road. The Bluff Acres subdivision In White River Township was also damaged. White Rtvar Township firefighters reported treating several minor injuries, including cuts, bruises and dislocations.

In the community of Old Smith Valley, there were reports of roofs torn, off and houses shifted off their foundations. "Some of the houses are mangled. (The residents) said they saw a tornado and heard the rumble of a freight train," said Lt. James Meacham of the White River Township Fire Department. Approximately 25 residents from the two trailer parks were taking shelter at White River Fire Station No.

2 because their mobile homes were damaged, Meacham said. The path of the first tornado began along Smith Valley Road moving west to east, Sheriff's Sgt. Mike McElwain said. The second tornado took a path heading off to the northeast, he said. Sheriff's Detective Richard Skaggs saw the tornado moving on Morgantown Road and State Road SUNDAY, APRIL 20-21, 1996 .1 4-1 STAFF PHOTO BY JCFF OWUt to the home.

Electricity is expected to bathrobe along Smith Valley surveying the uprooted trees and debris in his yard. "I was home," Armstrong said. "A board came through the side window and nipped my arm." The first wave of severe weather moved through the northern part of the county just after 7 p.m., followed by a second blast in southern (SEE TORNADOES, BACK PAGE) ADDING IT UP Tax rates for the county's six school districts based on each $1 00 of assessed valuation: 1996 1995 Center Grove $5.37 $4.86 a-Pleasant $5.82 $5.55 Edinburgh $4.43 $4.62 Franklin $4.02 $4.91 Greenwood. $5.01 $4.49 N-H-J $5.05 $5.94 Business Manager Jerry Dunn said taxpayers are funding the brunt of $46.3 million in construc-'. tion projects this year with a total school tax rate of $5.37 per $100 assessed valuation.

"The tax rates should start dropping, unless we do something to the middle school," Dunn said. The corporation is finishing work on a high school expansion and the new Grove Elementary SchooL Also, Dunn said, the corporation 3 A tornado that cut through White River Township on Friday night uprooted this tree on Smith Valley Road at the Halloran residence. The tornado also NEWSSTAND PRICE 75 GOOD MORNING COLLEGE DAZE Wheels will be spinning at Franklin College and Purdue and Indiana universities today. Franklin College will have its annual Grizzly Grand Prix bicycle race. The women's race begins at 1 1 a.m.

on the grounds of trie Indiana Masonic Home. The men's race follows. IU students will also be on bicycles for the annual Little 500, while Purdue will have its annual Grand Prix go-cart race. See page A7 for a story on those events. PARKS MARCH A walk to raise money for Greenwood parks is scheduled for 10 a.m.

today, starting at Craig Park. The walk is approximately two miles. HEALTH FAIR A Community Health Fair is scheduled from 8 to 11 a.m. today at Morgan County Physicians' Health Center.The cepter is located at 1949 Hospital Drive in Martinsville, just north of the hospital. COUNTY CHOIR The Johnson County Community Choir and the Indian Creek Community Choir will join together in song at 4 p.m.

Sunday at Morgantown United Methodist Church. TODAY Sunny and breezy. SUNDAY Cloudy, but mild. MAP, PAGE A10 GH5TSB Richard J.Bardy 71, Indianapolis Edith A. Brown, 88, Indianapolis Rev.

Carl E. Pate, 72, Indianapolis iRGSK C1-C3 Classified D1-D10 Comics C4 DearAbby. Editorials A4-A5 Johnson County A3 Movies C2 Police, Religion C5-C6 Weather Circulation 736-2777 Classified 736-2700 Newsroom 736-2726 Franklin. 736-7101 Greenwood. 887-0820 m'W did thousands of dollars of damage be out for two days in the area.

the damage near Smith Valley and Morgantown roads. Lewis Query found a barn that didn't belong to him sitting beside one of his buildings on Smith Valley Road. "Can you imagine that flying through the air?" Query said as he looked at the steel structure that barely missed the side of the building. Marion Armstrong stood in his 144. "It was large and black," Skaggs said.

"It wasn't on the ground, but it was rotating. The wind was real strong." The side of the Indy RV building was peeled off, with two RVs ending up in the lake in front of the business and several others being turned on their sides. Owners Rosie Wise and Jeff Wise said they had closed at 6 p.m. and Tax rates rise for three local schools 2 0 no one was inside when the tornado hit. The Wises said they had no idea of the amount of damage.

Quality Repair, which sits right behind Indy RV, was demolished by the storm. Homeowners stood outside surveying the damage along Smith Valley Road as PSI Energy crews surveyed the damage. Power could be out for two days in some areas while crews repair STAFF PNOTO BT I meet them. "I wanted them to know how bad off I was and how bad I "needed a' neart, Williamson saidf her voice shaky, trying to hold back tears to finish her thought. "I needed them to know how (SEE LIVES, BACK PAGE) From tragedy of son's death, family learns of lives saved By Valorie Tramm daily journal staff writer School taxes are on.

the rise in Johnson County. That shouldn't be surprising to residents aware of the growing enrollments and building projects in many school districts. But what taxpayers might find surprising is that in a year when city and county tax rates declined, three school corporations experienced an increased tax rate, according to figures released this week. Those districts. Center Grove, Clark-Pleasant and Greenwood, are in the midst of paying for multi-million dollar construction projects that include new elementary schools, renovations and expansions to other buildings.

The tax rates for those districts increased during a reassessment year in which the amount of taxable property in the county rose significantly. But not even a major increase in the taxing base was enough to prevent an increase in the tax rate for those districts. The breakdowns for the county's -six school corporations are as fol-" lows: Center Grove .5. The county's largest school district saw a 51-cent tax increase this year, due to construction debt and lost excise tax revenue, a school official said. By Yqlanda Smith journal staff witter Phronzie Williamson admits shamelessly she's "a nosy person." The 54-year-old Bloomington woman's inquisitiveness paid off recently when she met the Greenwood couple who she says helped save her life.

Steve and Jane Anderson donated the organs of their son, Jay, after he died in a handgun accident New Year's Eve 1994. Jay was a 23-year-old Whiteland Community High School graduate and Navy veteran. His heart was transplanted into Williamson Jan. 2, 1995. The retired factory worker and grandmother of six had suffered many years with an enlarged heart and had endured several heart attacks.

When the Williamson and Anderson families met for the first time three weeks ago, they immediately started building a "new friendship. "You just don't know how "much that meeting meant to us," Jane Anderson said. "We didn't do it for thanks. We wanted to tell her we were glad to help her. It made us both Steve and Jane Anderson of Greenwood, hold a photo of their son Jay killed in a gunshot accident.

The Andersons recently met Phronzie Williamson of Bloomington, the recipient of Jay's heart. feel so proud Jay could help someone." The meeting wasn't sanctioned by Williamson's doctor or" the Indiana Organ Procurement Organization, which keeps a registry of donor families and organ recipients. But Williamson says she didn't care. She felt she needed to didn't gain additional revenue from excise taxes because the state cut them in half. "Normally the excise revenue grows," for reasons such as plentiful new car sales, Dunn said.

The (SEE SCHOOLS, BACK PAGE).