Hamilton County

Fishers has been dubbed one of the country's top "playful cities" for the second time.

KaBOOM!, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that promotes the benefits of playing and creates a list of playful cities, noted Fishers' collaboration with Hamilton Southeastern Schools on recreational activities as a key reason for the town's second appearance on the list.

KaBOOM! named 118 cities to its annual list, and five -- Fishers, Indianapolis, Franklin, Bloomington and Fort Wayne -- were in Indiana, according to a press release from the organization.

Bloomington has been on the list three times, Fishers and Indianapolis have been named twice and Franklin and Fort Wayne made their first appearance this year.

Indiana tied with Maryland to have the fourth-most communities on the list. Florida had the most with 19 communities on the list. Arizona and California followed with 10.

On September 10, 11 and 12, 2010, the Carmel Repertory Theatre will present the North AmericanPremier of Zimbe!, by Alexander L'Estrange. The one hour performance will feature African music,performed by a group of singers from throughout Central Indiana. The ensemble includes children,adults, a jazz combo and African drums and dance. Tickets for the performance are $10 each, with $5 going directly to local and African charities.

This is the first of many opportunities designed to bring the artistic community of Carmel together, and to show Central Indiana that we are working towards the promotion, production and presentation of quality arts programming. Together, we can show the region that we are unified in our support of the arts and of the city's future.

The three performances will take place at three different venues. The times and dates are as follows:

Friday, September 10, 7:00 pm – Carmel United Methodist Church 621 South Rangeline Rd, Carmel, IN

Saturday, September 11, 7:00 pm – St. Christopher's Episcopal Church 1402 West Main Street, Carmel, IN

Sunday, September 12, 4:00 pm – Clay Middle School 5150 East 126th Street, Carmel, IN

As a special added bonus, the composer, Alexander L'Estrange, will be in attendance for all performances and will be playing in the jazz combo. He is a wonderful and talented composer, arranger and performer, and will be traveling from England to visiting Carmel, not only for the premier, but also to meet and work with students from local schools and universities.

Alexander has worked in both the film and television industries, writing and arranging music. Most recently, he composed the incidental music for the hit television series GLEE. He is also known for his work with the well known English choirs, the Swingle Singers and the King's Singers.

To kick off the North American Premier, the Carmel Repertory Theatre and ADDBAC (the Arts and Design District Business Association of Carmel) will be hosting a “Black-Tie” Gala on Thursday, September 9, from 7 pm to 10 pm. It will be held at the new Indiana Design Center, located at the corner of 1st Ave and Rangeline Road in Carmel.

The event will include food and drink, raffle and auction items, live entertainment by several local groups, including CRAVE, the Carmel Rep. Artistic Vocal Expressions, and L'Estranges in the Night (a jazz duo made up of Alexander and his wife, Joanna Forbes). Tickets are $100 each and proceeds from the night will go to help establish a new scholarship for high school students from Carmel that wish to study the arts at the university level. Tickets for the gala can be reserved at through Event Brite, at

http://zimbefundraiser.eventbrite.com.

Please come and enjoy this premier performance. To order tickets either visit the Ticket Reservations link on the Carmel Rep's website (www.CarmelRepertoryTheatre.com) or call 317-767-3973. For more information about Zimbe! or the Carmel Repertory Theatre, please email Darren S. Herring, Director of Development and Public Relations, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

ADDBAC (the Carmel Art's District Association) is partnering with the Carmel Repertory Theatre on a prequel fundraising event to ZIMBE! that will take place on Thursday, September 9, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m., at the Indiana Design Center, 200 South Rangeline Road. ADDBAC will receive 100% of the proceeds from the silent auction and 50% of the ticket sales. All ADDB proceeds will go to the ADDBAC Scholarship Fund.

The prequel event is a formal, black tie gala. Heavy hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be served, and several performers will entertain, including Alexander L’Estrange, one of the best known jazz musicians and composers in the United Kingdom, and the arranger of the music of ZIMBE! L’Estrange has also composed some of the music for the popular television show Glee, and arranged the Austin Powers theme song.

The prequel event will be the kickoff to three weekend performances of ZIMBE!, an African-inspired choral work that chronicles a day in the life of an African village. This is the North American premiere of ZIMBE!

Ticket price will be $100 per person. Tickets are available to purchase at online ticket service Eventbrite: http://zimbefundraiser.eventbrite.com/ or by calling the Carmel Repertory Theatre at 767-3973.

Kathleen O’Neil Stevens of Renaissance Fine Art has designed an original mosaic piece entitled Earth Beauty (pictured above) to represent ZIMBE! the image of which will be used on the invitations, program, commemorative bag, and other promotional items. A numbered gicleé print of the mosaic will also be given to attendees of the fundraiser – one per household – along with the commemorative bag.

Research has shown that swallowing coin-sized lithium "button batteries" found in many common household products is a growing threat to children. The data from two new studies reveal that between 1985 and 2009, the risk that children will experience a serious health complication after swallowing a button-battery increased nearly seven-fold.

According to Dr. Toby Litovitz, Director of the National Capital Poison Center in Washington D.C. and lead author for both studies,  "We're talking about a really profoundly devastating injury, and sometimes fatalities. It's also clearly a worsening situation. From the late 1970s until now there have been 14 fatalities in the U.S. that we're aware of, and of those 10 were just in the last six years. So that should send a signal of warning."
About 3,500 cases of button cell battery ingestion are reported annually to poison control centers. While swallowing batteries has occurred for years, the problem is escalating as a result of the 20-mm lithium coin cell becoming a popular household battery. Button batteries have become more common with the emergence of items such as remote controls, thermometers and even singing greeting cards and talking books - objects that are readily accessible to children.

Standard 20 millimeter lithium button batteries are thicker than a nickel and somewhere between a penny and a nickel in diameter. The batteries that pose the greatest risk are those that begin with the number 20, which stands for 20 millimeters. Batteries numbered
2032, 2025 and 2016 are responsible for more than 90 percent of serious injuries.

In 1990 only about one percent of all small 20 millimeter-sized batteries were lithium coin cells. That figure has now risen to about 18-20 percent. The batteries are popular with consumers because they have a long shelf life and have more cold tolerance, making them convenient for outdoor use.

Young children under the age of four account for 85 percent of button battery ingestions. When children swallow this type of battery, it may get lodged in the esophagus rather than the air passage. This means that the primary risk from swallowing a button battery is not choking but rather potentially fatal alkaline burns. These burns are not caused by battery leakage but by the exposure of body tissues to the battery's external current, which results in hydroxide that can burn through the throat or esophagus. Dr. Litovitz and her colleagues have determined that to prevent all possible injury, including serious injury or death, a swallowed battery needs to be removed from a child's esophagus within two hours of being swallowed.

Unfortunately, unless a child is showing signs of choking after swallowing a battery, parents and caregivers may not even be aware that the child has actually swallowed a battery. To make matters more complicated, symptoms resulting from swallowing a battery such as vomiting, fever, cough and lack of appetite may be mistaken for flu symptoms.

Data compiled by the National Poison Data System and the National Battery Ingestion Hotline, as well as a review of more than 8,600 swallowing cases and an analysis of recent medical literature shows that in nearly 62 percent of cases, children under 6 are swallowing batteries they obtained directly from a consumer product. Nearly 30 percent find the batteries loose, while just over 8 percent get them from battery packaging.

To prevent the risk of button battery ingestion, Dr. Litovitz suggests that the consumer electronics industry needs to produce items that use a compartment secured with a screw, requiring a screwdriver to open them. This would create a barrier between a young child and button batteries, making access more difficult. Federal safety rules require toys that use the batteries to have battery compartments that are locked with screws. At the same time, devices intended for adults — like bathroom scales and remote controls — often hold the batteries in with a simple plastic cover that can fall off or be easily removed.

What can parents do to keep young children safe from button batteries?
Store batteries in a secure place away from children.
Check your home for products that contain button batteries and make sure that compartments holding the batteries are secured. If not, use tape to secure the compartment and to be safe, put the product out of reach of children.
Check toys for button batteries before allowing your child to play with them.
Choose button battery free toys for younger children under the age of 6.

To read the full report of these studies check out the June issue of Pediatrics:
Emerging Battery-Ingestion Hazard: Clinical Implications
Toby Litovitz, Nicole Whitaker, Lynn Clark, Nicole C. White and Melinda Marsolek

Join us for our most popular special event! St.Vincent Tour de Carmel is a bike ride along 10-mile and 20-mile routes through Carmel. Along the ride, stop at any of our rest stops for a variety of healthy snacks, drinks and entertainment. After the ride is complete, you can join us at the finish line for more entertainment and refreshments. Pre-registration is required in order to secure a T-shirt and goodie bag. Day of event registrations will be accepted. You can pre-register online at www.carmelclayparks.com or pick up a form at the Monon Community Center. All participants will receive a goodie bag and a T-shirt if registered on or before 8/27/2010. Check-in on event day is from 7:30-9:00am. No riders will be allowed to begin the tour after 9:00am and must complete the course no later than noon. In case of inclement weather, this event will be cancelled.

Adaptive 10-mile Ride: This ride is for individuals with special needs only. Individuals will ride as a group on the 10-mile route. Staff will be staggered within the group throughout the ride. Group will meet at the Monon Community Center in the designated tent at the start line for check-in at 8:00am. Group will begin the ride at 8:30am sharp. For more information on the adaptive ride, please contact Brooke at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 317.573.5245.

Saturday, September 11
7:30am-12:00pm (Adaptive: 8:00am-12:00pm)
Fee: $6/person
Starting Location: Monon Community Center - East Parking Lot (1235 Central Park Drive East)

For more information on St.Vincent Tour de Carmel, please call 317.848.7275 or visit carmelclayparks.com.

The weather is wonderful and there is still plenty of time to enjoy some golf. We visited Purgatory Golf club to learn more about their services and the fun that you can have when you stop by there for a game of golf. Learn more by clicking the video below

Purgatory Golf Club purgatorygolf.com 12160 East 216th St. Noblesville 317-776-4653

If you are looking for some great styles at a great price you should visit Carmel Consignment. Here is some information about Carmel Consignment and some of their fashions:

Carmel Consignment 13686 North Meridian Carmel, Indiana IndianapolisConsignment.com

We have free tickets to give away for the Creed concert this Saturday at Verizon. The concert starts at 7:30 and the tickets are for lawn seating. If you would like a chance to win the two ticket for yourself or a friend just go to our facebook fan page and tell us what is your favorite Creed song. We will draw the winners Thursday morning.

The Carmel Chamber began awarding the Nancy Blondin Scholarship in 2000 to honor Nancy, who was President of the Carmel Chamber from 1986 to 2000. The scholarship is available exclusively to children of employees whose companies are Carmel Chamber members and who meet the criteria of need; activities, both in and out of school; academic achievement; and a written essay about the person who most influenced the student in his/her career determination. The $4,000 scholarship is given annually and is awarded to each year’s recipient at $1,000 each year for four years.

Lauren Bowers, was awarded the Carmel Chamber’s Nancy Blondin Scholarship at the Chamber’s July luncheon.

A recent graduate of St. Theodore Guerin Catholic High School, Lauren sang in several school choirs and acted in school musicals during her four years there. She was presented with district and state Gold Awards from the Indiana State School Music Association for solo and ensemble, and as a freshman, Lauren was part of the Golden Voice Chamber Choir that was chosen to represent Indiana at the 200th anniversary of Jamestown and perform for President George W. Bush. With her passion for music, Lauren will study to become a music therapist when she enters Hanover College this fall.

In speaking of her decision to pursue music therapy as a career, Lauren credited teacher Mark Duray as “the driving force behind my aspiration of becoming a music therapist.” She wrote in her scholarship essay, “It was Mr. Duray who supported my thought process of fusing my passions of music and people together and setting my sights on music therapy, and he has justly stood behind me every step of the way.”

During her high school years, Lauren was also a member of National Honor Society, Senior Class/Student Body Vice-President and Hoosier Girls State Delegate. She also found time to be involved in sports – as the Girls’ Varsity Soccer Team Captain; Faith in Athletics Core Leadership Group; and Indiana Soccer Coaches Association, High School All-Academic Player – and volunteering with St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church choir and Lucious Newsome’s “The Lord’s Pantry” among others.

Lauren is the daughter of Dave and Maureen Bowers of Carmel.

A total of 84 students from Indiana received scholarships from the total of $1.2 million awarded by Burger King to 1,092 students in the United States and parts of Canada. This is the 10th year of the program.

Hamilton Heights High School graduate Dylan Rawles was one of 11 Indiana high school seniors to receive $1,000 Burger King Employee Scholars Award.

Two Westfield High School graduates, Heather Johnston and Braydon Lucas, were among 70 Indiana seniors who received $1,000 scholarships from Burger King's Have It Your Way Foundation. According to the release, the awards are in recognition of the students' outstanding academic achievement, along with other academic and community involvement criteria.

Once again it shows that Hamilton County Teachers are giving a lot to our leaders of the future.