NEW ALBANY A man who had been a contract employee for the New Albany High School band has been arrested for child seduction, according to Indiana State Police Sgt. Jerry Goodin.

Scottsburg resident Jacob M. Blanton, 25, has been arrested and charged with child seduction, a class D felony, which carries with it a potential sentence of six months to three years, according to a press release from Indiana State Police.

Goodin said Blanton had sexual relations with a female under the age of 18 in Floyd County. He couldnt state whether that person was a student; however, according to state code, to commit child seduction a person must be in a position of power or trust over the victim. Goodin said Blanton received that charge for having been a contract employee for the NAHS band at the time of the incident.

Blanton, who was also the former band director at Madison Consolidated High School, has previously been charged with child seduction. He is accused of having sexual relations with two girls, with one of them being a student at Madison Consolidated. According to the probable cause affidavit in that case, the sex acts with the student took place in the school. The other girl was a student at another high school where Blanton had formerly taught and also was involved in a regional band program headed by Blanton, the document said.

Blanton had been released from jail on $10,000 cash bail in November after entering a not-guilty plea in the Madison case. He was arrested again on the New Albany case Wednesday morning.

Goodin said ISP opened up the New Albany investigation in December. He said he was unsure when the alleged incident happened. The affidavit in the New Albany case was unavailable, due to the courthouse being closed for the evening.

According to court records online, a $10,000 court-cash bond has been posted in the New Albany case.

Multiple calls to various administration members at New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. were made, but only one person was able to be reached. Deputy Superintendent Brad Snyder returned the message, saying he was out of town and didnt know the facts on this case.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Former band director again arrested for child seduction

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. A former New Washington High School student was killed early today in an accident in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Jillian Rose Charlet, 22, of Winston-Salem, died at the scene when Vince Sherman Williams Jr., 27, lost control of the car he was driving, a 2005 Honda Civic, police told the Winston-Salem Journal. The car then struck a utility pole.

Williams and Charlets roommate, Choloe Claudette Mores, 21, were taken to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Speed and alcohol are considered to be factors in the crash, police said. No charges have been filed and the investigation is continuing, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.

Charlet and Morse were seniors at Winston-Salem State University and were scheduled to graduate in May. Charlet was an accounting major and played on the basketball team for three years.

Morse is from Sumerduck, Va., and was majoring in management information systems. Williams was not a student at WSSU, according to the Journal.

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Former New Wash student killed in N.C. auto wreck

NEW ALBANY The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a ruling that had backed Bradford Realtys claims that the New Albany Historic Preservation Commission didnt properly notify land owners of zoning restrictions.

Last year, Special Judge Daniel Moore ruled in favor of Bradford Realty owner Ron Craig, who was denied a Certificate of Appropriateness request by the HPC after he installed vinyl siding on the building without approval in 2008.

Bradford Realty sits in the Downtown Historic District at its 222 E. Fourth St. location. The business has occupied the spot since 1966. The HPC is charged with overseeing building upgrades and the materials used for repairs as a result of the declaration of the district in 2002.

Craig didnt notify the HPC of the repairs before work commenced, and his use of vinyl siding on the 1910 structure was later rejected by the board. He was ordered to remove the siding from the building, and a court case ensued.

Though a notice of the district was published in The Tribune in 2002, Moore ruled in July that the city and HPC failed to properly notify land owners in the boundary of the change in zoning.

Moore also ruled Craig was not required to seek approval from the HPC before installing the siding.

The HPC did not send information regarding the district and laws pertaining to property in the zone directly to land owners after the boundary was declared.

But in a 2-1 decision released Thursday, the court of appeals ruled Bradford Realty wasnt entitled to direct notice of the historic district, and that Craig was required to obtain a Certificate of Appropriateness before replacing original wood siding with vinyl siding.

In her supporting opinion, Judge Patricia Riley wrote the enacting of the historic district was prospective and general in nature and did not fall under due process requirements of the 14th Amendment.

The ordinance purports to regulate only future conduct to be consistent with the provisions of the historic preservation ordinance, Riley wrote in regards to the city legislation establishing the historic district.

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Court sides with New Albany historic group

Bethe Rykaczewski of Franklin Park says she likes the heavy siding she and her husband, Dave, put on their house because it is going to need some work.

But not in the negative sense, she says.

"Vinyl siding people will tell you about how you never have to do anything with it," she says. "But that is what I like about this: You can change it."

She is talking about fiber-cement siding, a mix of sand, cement and cellulose that is used to create a heavy, wood-like siding made in panels and shingle pattens in soft colors. But those colors easily can be changed with primer and paint, different from many other sidings.

Fiber-cement siding is finding popularity with "educated" consumers -- not because of house-smarts, but because they do a great deal of research on the product.

Brian Murphy, owner of EZ Home Exteriors in North Versailles, does 95 percent of his work selling vinyl product, he says. But he finds customers looking into fiber-cement siding are "educated" because of the research they do.

That research can be a hassle, jokes Paul Valint, owner of Unique Building Solutions in Harrison City, Westmoreland County. He talks of dealing with would-be clients who spend months, sometimes years studying the product, even though they already have decided on it.

Jim Spade of Ross says he probably presented that image when he was researching fiber-cement siding for his house. One dealer was less than enthusiastic about dealing with him.

"I guess they get tired of people who think they know it all," he says. "I might think I do, but I know I don't."

Valint and Legacy Remodeling in Dormont are the only two certified Western Pennsylvania installers of fiber-cement paneling made by its largest manufacturer, James Hardie Building Products of California. That means any job they do is audited by Hardie inspectors, which then validates its 30-year warranty. Vinyl often comes with a 15-year warranty, but generally lasts longer.

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Fiber-cement siding seen as better house option

Published on: Friday, March 23, 2012

By Nicole Macon

Mold on the walls, a leaky roof, siding that has fallen off and lunch breaks taken in a repair bay that stores chemicals these are the conditions that employees of Seat Pleasants Public Works Building are met with every day.

Mayor Eugene Grant lead a delegation along with Seat Pleasant City Council President Kelly Porter and Public Works Director Johnny Thompson to Annapolis March 10 to request bond funding to improve working conditions for Public Works employees. The delegation attended two back-to-back bond hearings in the Maryland House of Delegates and in the state Senate.

This facility behind Seat Pleasants City Hall has had only minor repairs in its 42-year history to keep the building up to code using funds from state highway user fees and taxes from real estate assessments. With an 84-percent cut in state highway user fees and a 27-percent decline in real estate assessments, the city needs bond financing now more than ever in order to make any substantial improvements to the building.

You do the basic or minimum to make it up to code, but in order to get the building up to modern standards, we need bond funds, Grant said.

The Department of Public Works is requesting $500,000 in bond financing to remove such hazards as a leaky roof, mold growth, and old and inadequate installation, lights and pipes, as well as makeshift doors to the buildings three repair bays made from ply wood by the employees themselves.

The bond funds would also help modernize the building by adding an additional floor to create an office for the Public Works director as well as a rest area, a place for staff to eat their lunch, and an additional bathroom and showers for overnight workers to use. Grant said that during snowstorms workers would sleep in their vehicles parked in the repair bays when taking a rest from plowing snow off the streets.

Grant also wants to add an additional storage bay to store equipment and for workers to repair lawnmowers and change the tires of the vehicles used to haul trash and remove snow from the streets.

Since Public Works Director Johnny Thompson started his position four years ago, he had been pushing for upgrades. Since he started, the department has received a new street sweeper, a one ton pickup truck, a dump truck, and a versatile all-weather tractor, replacing equipment that was more than 10 years old.

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Seat Pleasant requests bonds to repair Public Works Building

"Orange Crush," artist Phillip Estlund's collage on found wood, depicts a post-flood image of a mangled home. Part of the structure has been lifted skyward, and much of the siding has been ripped off. The cracks and moldlike discoloration of the collage's wood base contributes to the dreariness of the scene. Adding some color, and perhaps hope, are brightly colored Florida oranges, with bright-green leaves still attached. The house appears to have landed on, but not crushed, the fruit, which is disproportionally large and suggestive of gifts Floridians ship to Northern relatives in order to brag, "I'm in a subtropical paradise while you're shoveling snow."

This 2007 collage is one of many works in "Subprime/Subtropics," Estlund's solo exhibition that opens Friday at the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood. The show, which also includes sculptures, prints, a diorama and a site-specific installation, explores the psychological and physical effects of natural and man-made disasters.

Many of the works depict structures that appear to have stood up to nature and lost the battle. But as the show's title suggests, Estlund is also concerned with another equally unforgiving entity: banks.

Boarded-up structures in varying states of disrepair became prevalent in Estlund's work shortly after the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, the most active in recorded history.

"I had been using house iconography up until then, predominantly in collages having to do with architecture and nature," explains Estlund, who in 2001 moved fromWashington, D.C., to South Florida. "The hurricanes and the tenuous nature of structures considered solid reinforced that they're as subject to nature as anything is, and created for me a whole source of new materials."

His works came to include post-hurricane fencing material and aluminum blinds, which are presented as siding in sculptures such as "Reclaimed/Repossessed (A Derelict Nature)." The piece reveals a boarded-up and roofless structure covered in yellow-brown drop marks.

Estlund says the show has evolved since he first discussed it with Art and Culture Center curator Jane Hart. Last September, after "a bit of a dismal experience" in South Florida, Estlund downsized from a Lake Worth warehouse to a smaller West Palm Beach studio so he could live part-time in New York. Nine months away gave him a new perspective, which he plans to incorporate in site-specific murals and installations that will accompany his sculptures and collages about nature's penetration of domestic spaces.

"Home Invasion Series 1" shows a brick-walled room with a large, circular, black couch facing a fireplace. Rather than flames, large red tentacles reach from the opening, but no one is there to see them. "Nature Study," another collage, depicts people around a built-in swimming pool. All are intensely focused on writing or sketching and oblivious to the bright-green sea anemones emerging from the pool.

In these works and similar collages, nature is ever-present, and yet seemingly invisible to humans. At least until disaster strikes.

Colleen Dougher operates the South Florida arts blog Arterpillar.

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Art and Culture Center's 'Subprime/Subtropics' takes on hurricanes, banks

By ERIC G. STARK Staff Writer

Mike Stubljar says Shady Oak Apartments in Mount Joy Township feels like home.

After owning a house in Spencer, Mass. about 60 miles west of Boston for more than 30 years, Stubljar, 64, and his wife, Becky, 59, retired schoolteachers, wanted to escape shoveling snow and be closer to family.

Mike Stubljar's mother lives in Ecumenical Community, Harrisburg. He visits her three times a week, and now the drive is 30 minutes, compared to the more than six hours from Massachusetts.

Becky Stubljar, who grew up in the New Oxford/Hanover area, has a sister in East Petersburg and four brothers in the New Oxford/Hanover area.

Shady Oak, 2053 Shady Oak Drive, has luxury apartments ranging from $850 to $975 per month. Its location five minutes off the Elizabethtown/Rheems exit, close to East Petersburg and Harrisburg, made it ideal for the Stubljars.

"Route 283 is right there, and my wife and her sister are having loads of fun making up for years we have been away," said Mike Stubljar, who likes his first-floor, two-bedroom unit with its view of a pond. He also cited the ample space, closeness to attractions and "excellent accommodations."

The Stubljars live in one of three finished buildings at Shady Oak. There are three units available in this phase now, and 28 units obtainable later this month.

Brandon Clark, a partner with Shady Oak Associates, said the goal is to have the project, with a total of 112 units, finished by the end of the year. Storage units 14-by-20 and 6-by-6 are available to rent.

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'It feels like home'

Some homeowners in our area are fortunate enough to have picturesque older structures on their properties that preserve a sense of rustic history. Letting these sheds, shacks, chicken coops or outhouses sit idle, though, often means they'll deteriorate and eventually be demolished.

PHOTOS BY BURKE BUILT CONSTRUCTION, INC.

This old outbuilding, on a property in New York State, may have started life as a chicken coop.

Burke Built Construction, Inc., turned the structure into a very livable cottage. The cozy interior features beamed ceilings and built-in cabinets and bookcases.

Such buildings, with their weathered wood and tarnished hardware, can do more than just add a charming focal point to your yard. They also have the potential to increase your storage and living space. With some cosmetic touchups, or the installation of new siding and flooring, you can give these previously ignored fixtures new life.

Simple vs. Elaborate Updates

A smaller outdoor structure can be transformed for a new use, such as:

A playhouse or cabana

A workshop, hobby shop or art studio

A compact greenhouse or gardening shed

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The Older Home: Breathe new life into outdoor structures

VALLEY FORGE, PA -- CertainTeed is making installation much easier with the introduction of a J-Pocket trimboard with Cut-out in its Restoration Millwork PVC line. The cut-out allows the trimboard to lie flush with the siding around windows and doors with built-in nail flanges, allowing for more perfect miter cuts at the corners.

"Before, contractors had to spend valuable jobsite time on window and door trim carpentry," says Patti Pellock, senior marketing manager for CertainTeed Restoration Millwork. "Now there is no worrying about imprecise and expensive do-overs. The new J-Pocket with Cut-out creates an instant, perfect and flat installation."

The Restoration Millwork J-Pocket with Cut-out is available in a 4-inch width with nominal 5/4-inch thickness with either Smooth or TrueTexture woodgrain. It joins the existing standard J-Pocket trimboard line, which includes smooth or woodgrain finishes in 4- and 6-inch widths. J-Pocket trimboards come with FinishedEdge, a smooth finish created by a proprietary heat-sealing process that prevents dirt from collecting on the surface.

Made from cellular polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the Restoration Millwork full line of trim, beadboard and accessories is engineered to look, feel and work like top-grade lumber. Unlike wood, however, it is made with a long-lasting, low-maintenance material that is resistant to rotting, warping, moisture and insects. Offered in Natural White finish, Restoration Millwork can also be painted to complement exterior colors. It can be cut using ordinary woodworking tools and fastened with nails or screws.

In addition, Restoration Millwork complements all siding materials -- including vinyl, fiber cement, wood, stucco and brick -- and is ideal for single- and multi-family housing, light commercial developments and remodeling projects. It is highly resistant to yellowing caused by UV rays, resists freezing during winter months, features a Class A (Class 1) flame spread classification and is backed by a 25-year limited warranty.

For more information, visit http://www.certainteed.com.

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New CertainTeed Restoration Millwork J-Pocket Eases Installation of Corner Trim

KEY ACTION After hearing a request from Building Inspector Blaine Strawder, council agreed to let him do his job according to the current village ordinances.

Strawder asked council to reconsider a memo he received from then-Mayor Dave Flanary from June 2008 that restricted him from issuing any building permits for replacement roofing, installation or replacement siding, windows, gutter installation or replacement, and soffit installation or replacement.

Current ordinances, according to Village Solicitor Clarke Battista, state that Strawder will issue permits and inspect when necessary for any project that includes demolition, alterations, construction, remodeling, or removing.

All council members voted in favor of allowing Strawder to issue permits and inspect, with the exception of Mary Ann Miller who voted against the measure.

OTHER ACTION

Learned the Second Street water line replacement is being bid. Bid openings will be noon March 22.

Heard the Fourth Street sewer line project is set to begin March 19.

Learned the paving bids are being accepted. They will be opened 3 p.m. March 15.

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March 12 Carrollton Village Council