Two of the three Owen County Commissioners are new to their positions. Those new commissioners are former sheriff Sam Hobbs and David Risk.

In fact, the only commissioner who isn’t new to the position is Gary Burton, the board's former president. 

At the beginning of the commissioners’ first meeting of 2025, held on Jan. 9, Hobbs was unanimously elected president of the board, and Risk was unanimously elected vice president. 

Immediately following the reorganization, Hobbs gave a monologue about what can be expected from the board moving forward.

“It’s going to be kind of a lengthy meeting. We got a lot to go through. I’m not here to upset the apple cart with anybody, but I’m going to. It’s just the nature of the beast,” Hobbs began. “I base my faith off of God being in control because He is. We’re just here to do His will and try to make the best of a community that is falling apart.”

After sharing his long-standing attendance at these sorts of public meetings, Hobbs commented on a trend.

“The thing that I’ve seen in the last several years of coming to the meetings and stuff like that is the discord and dislike between the employees, whether you’re elected or appointed or whatever, has turned into a hatred. And it’s going to end. The reason I say that is we’re a team here together,” Hobbs said. “We were elected to serve the people and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. The people have a voice. You’re taxpayers. You’ll have a voice in every commissioners’ meeting. That’s only right. I expect your ideas, your vision, your goals and your solutions to some of the problems that we have.”

Hobbs then quoted Proverbs 23:19.

“This county is going to have a vision for everybody, not just for self-centered seeking thumb-sucking selfish people. I won’t tolerate it. I won’t tolerate rude behavior from nobody,” Hobbs said. “I’m in no way here to tell anybody to pack up and get going. If you’re not doing your job that’s required of you, there’s going to be a problem.”

Hobbs then said that employees are the county’s biggest liability and the county’s biggest asset.

“We’re going to work together as a team,” he said.

He then reiterated that the commissioners do not have any authority over other elected officials. He also said that commissioners should allow for autonomy and leadership from the county’s department heads saying they have a business to run. 

Hobbs was clear that department heads could and should ask for guidance and help from the commissioners when needed and said the commissioners will not interfere unless asked or unless there is an issue. 

“I’m new at this part [being a commissioner], but I’m not new at being around here. I’ve seen how some people have been treated and mistreated, and rest assured of one thing. That’s coming to an end, like real soon,” Hobbs said.

Then, instead of making the usual first meeting of the year liaison appointments, Hobbs announced that those appointments would not be made until February. He cited a “legal problem” but did not go into details. 

“There’s some things facing this county that is going to be revealed in the next 30 to 60 days that could change the whole outlook on certain things,” he said. 

One and only one liaison appointment was made, and that was for Risk to serve as the liaison for the highway department. 

“Gary cannot do that because his wife works there,” Hobbs said. 

Until appointments are made in February, Hobbs said that he would serve as the liaison for the auditor’s office and appointed department heads. He noted that elected officials can go to any of the commissioners that they want.

The commissioners then began with the routine business of approving the meeting minutes and claims. 

In both this meeting and the Jan. 23 meeting, the commissioners addressed the extensive and inappropriate amount of out-of-cycle claims. 

The board then went on to new business.

“This is where the rubber is going to meet the road for some of you,” Hobbs said, adding that it was unfortunate that not everything was going to be good news.

The first matter that was addressed was the contract with Dana Kerr for his services as county attorney.

“We’ve been through this for a couple of months. The current attorney is not here today. He is sick. We wish him the best in his recovery,” Hobbs began. “Dana is not here today, but we have to proceed with business. This has been discussed briefly in a couple commissioners meetings. The contract that the current attorney has is on a week-to-week basis at the moment.”

“Mr. Kerr’s last day will be Jan. 31. I’m not going to sit here and bad mouth him, run him down or anything like that. He did what he did and done what he’s done for what he thought was right. He’s an attorney. I do feel and I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mr. Kerr was led down a couple roads that he shouldn’t have had to go down. That’s my two cents worth. I think if Mr. Kerr had things to do over again, they would be done different. Again, this is my opinion.”

With that, Hobbs moved to relieve Kerr of his duties as county attorney as of Jan. 31. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. 

“This is not the end of this story,” Hobbs said. 

After allowing him to introduce himself, the commissioners hired Tony Overholt from Frost Brown Todd Attorneys in Indianapolis. Overholt has served as the attorney for the county council. The commissioners hired Overholt, who has been an attorney for 30 years, for six months. Overholt has experience representing local government. 

Overholt will be paid between $350 and $375 per hour. 

There is $160,000 budgeted for the county attorney. Under Kerr’s extended 2022 contract that served from week to week until the end of January, approximately $13,000 would have been spent from the $160,000 budgeted for county legal expenses. 

The council separately has budgeted approximately $40,000 for their legal expenses, as Kerr did not represent the council.

At the high end of Overholt’s rate, the county commissioners would have a total of 392 hours before exceeding the appropriation. This translates to a weekly average of roughly 7.5 hours per week without going to the county council for an additional appropriation. 

During the approximately four-hour first meeting, the commissioners also: 

• Worked toward getting a county human resources officer. It was noted that the county attorney should not serve as the HR person. It was also noted that a proposal to fund such a position had not previously been brought before the county council, according to council president Polly Chesser. Hobbs said the goal would be to take insurance responsibilities away from the auditor’s office and to remove drug testing for county employees from the health clinic run by the county health department.
• Discussed and accepted the resignation of the 911 dispatch director, Cherie Anderson. Anderson was not present at the meeting.
• Removed the blue line in the commissioners room that was previously placed to restrict the public from approaching the area where elected officials sit.
• Overturned a previous ordinance dealing with the 911 advisory board to restore it to what it was prior to the ordinance passed in 2024. “The 911 advisory board was basically taken out of any decision-making that involved the 911 dispatch center, other than policies and procedures,” Hobbs said. Burton said he believed it was just the financial side. EMA Director Jack White said that members of the board were not asked for input when that change was made.
• Moved the county maintenance department back to the armory and moved EMA to the previous office location on the Washington Street side of the brick building on the corner of Market and Washington Streets. This is instead of the front of the same building, which is where Jack White had been moved to.
• Addressed an issue concerning the Veterans Service Officer vehicle. Risk asked about the vehicle for the VSO, and VSO Dennis Bucy said they have a 2001 brown van and that they previously also had a 2005 Ford Explorer. The Ford Explorer was purchased, at least in part, through donations from veterans. “I won’t tolerate our veterans being disrespected,” Risk said. He moved to return the Ford Explorer back to the VSO immediately. Hobbs seconded the motion and asked where the vehicle was, and it was said that it was with the county building department. Suzanne Simmerman from the building department said that it was sitting on the empty lot with everything out of it. Hobbs asked when that happened, and Simmerman said at the beginning of the year. Burton said the building department vehicle broke down and he had asked Bucy if he needed both vehicles. At the time, Bucy did not have a driver to transport veterans. This was in May of 2024. “We didn’t know it was donated by, the money was donated by veterans. Had no idea,” Burton said. Simmerman said the building department vehicle was fixed in September or October. 

The commissioners also held a joint meeting with the Owen County Council on Jan. 23. A story on that meeting will be made available soon on The Owen News website, theowennews.org. The commissioners met again yesterday, Feb. 6, and they will meet again at 6 p.m. on Feb. 20 in the second-floor Commissioners Room of the Owen County Courthouse, 60 S. Main St., Spencer.

A Gosport home was destroyed by a fast-moving fire that broke out around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 24.

The first wave of firefighters and emergency personnel arrived on the scene a short time later to find heavy smoke billowing from the roof and flames engulfing the front porch of the home at 246 E. South St.

Homeowner Bryan Rogers was at home when the fire broke out and was reportedly unharmed, declining medical treatment at the scene from the Owen County Emergency Medical Service.

The American Red Cross was later contacted to help meet Rogers’ immediate emergency needs.

According to the Gosport Volunteer Fire Department, a cause for the fire was undetermined.

Firefighters estimated around 30,000 gallons of water was used to battle the morning blaze.

The Gosport VFD received mutual aid from the Owen Valley Fire Territory, Bean Blossom Township-Stinesville VFD, Owen County Sheriff’s Department and the Owen County EMS.

Fire personnel were called back to the scene around 12:30 p.m. where they were able to quickly squelch the rekindled debris at the home, located on the southwest corner of East South and South Second streets.

Authorities with the Owen County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD), with assistance from the Bloomington Police Department (BPD), have arrested and charged 25-year-old Quentin Porter, Jr. of Bloomington in connection with the murder of Malik Darea Sims.

The body of Sims was discovered off of Stephenson Road near the Owen-Monroe county line by a passerby on July 15.

An autopsy later revealed the cause of death to be a single gunshot wound to the head. The death was ruled a homicide by the examining pathologist.

Porter, who had been sought on an arrest warrant issued by the Owen County Circuit Court, faces charges of murder and auto theft in connection with the death of Sims.

Authorities have not said what they believe may have led to the shooting.

According to the probable cause affidavit filed in the case, at approximately 2:21p.m. on July 15 deputies from the OCSD responded to a location on Stephenson Road regarding an unresponsive male discovered by a passerby. Owen County Emergency Medical Services personnel also responded and upon arrival, a black male was located and determined to be deceased.

The deceased male was reportedly found approximately 20 feet north of the gravel roadway, wearing red gym shorts, a white tank top, no shoes, and had a black plastic bag pulled over his head. Evidence technicians also found suspected blood and glass fragments.

While on the scene, authorities reported that an individual appeared and said he and Sims share their location with one another through "Find My iPhone," and Sims' last known location through this feature was in immediate proximity of where the crime scene had been established. Authorities noted that individual indicated this location stayed constant as Sims' location for over the past 20 hours, indicating Sims had been in that location since the afternoon of Sunday, July 14.

Law enforcement was able to preliminarily identify the deceased black male as Sims, 23, of Bloomington.

Authorities further noted that a second male subject, who was found to be a long-time friend and a current roommate of Sims, arrived at approximately 5:25 p.m. from the west end of the established crime scene. According to the probable cause affidavit, that individual stated the last time that he saw Sims was on Sunday, July 14, at approximately 1:00 p.m. Later in the investigation the roommate stated he was leaving the apartment and saw Sims after 2:00 p.m. on their front porch with another male that he knew as Quentin Porter, Jr., aka "QP."

A person who was later identified as the girlfriend of Sims provided detectives with information that she received a Snapchat message from Sims on July 14 at 3:15 p.m., according to the probable cause affidavit. This message thread was later viewed from Sims’ Snapchat account. In this message the Snapchat account identified as belonging to Sims stated, "Be this ni**a QP got me going through some bulls***."

The investigation led authorities to determine that Sims had a gray 2012 Audi A4 registered in his name. The registration for this vehicle was searched through Flock Safety, a system of solar-powered cameras that utilize license plate and vehicle recognition technology and real-time alerts, throughout the investigation. The results of these searches identified a dark colored Audi bearing the same registration traveling northeast near The Village at Muller Park on South Muller Parkway on Sunday, July 14, at 5:41p.m. in Bloomington.

The searches using Flock Safety then identified the same vehicle at the intersection of State Road 46 and Stinesville Road in Monroe County at 6:24 p.m. on July 14. Authorities say the next time this vehicle is seen by cameras is at 10:43 p.m. on July 14, traveling northbound at the intersection of South Harding Street and W. Troy Avenue in Indianapolis. The same Audi is then seen on camera at the eastbound exit ramp of Interstate 70 to North Post Road at 11:11 p.m.

Sims' vehicle was later located on the evening of July 16, according to the probable cause affidavit, on the northeast side of Indianapolis, parked outside of an address registered to the grandmother of Quentin Porter. On the evening of July 16, law enforcement officers served a search warrant at the grandmother’s residence to search for evidence related to this crime. Porter was not found at the location during the execution of the search warrant.

During that search, the probable cause affidavit indicates the grandmother and other family members all stated that Porter arrived at approximately 11 p.m. on July 14. He reportedly arrived alone and was driving the Audi A4 that belonged to Sims. Authorities reportedly asked Porter if the vehicle was his and he responded vaguely that, "it was going to be his."

The vehicle was processed on the morning of July 17 by evidence technicians with the Indiana State Police (ISP). During the search of the vehicle, evidence technicians with the ISP stated a large amount of blood was found inside the vehicle. There were also signs of an attempted clean-up of the blood based upon traces of bleach found and areas on the interior that had been spray painted. There were also seat covers placed over the car seats, likely to conceal or cover the blood.

An evidence technician from the ISP also located a purchase receipt from O'Reilly Auto Parts dated July 15, at 10:22 a.m. which showed the purchase of seat covers and duct tape. The receipt from O'Reilly Auto Parts contained the last four digits of the credit card used to make the purchase. These items were reportedly found inside of Sims' vehicle at the time of the search by ISP and also observed inside the Audi A4 prior to the recovery on the date the vehicle was located. O'Reilly Auto Parts was contacted, and an employee viewed the surveillance video and confirmed that a single black male entered the O'Reilly Auto Parts and conducted the purchase. Photographs of the black male completing this transaction at O'Reilly Auto Parts matched a known photograph of Porter.

The probable cause affidavit further reveals that on July 17, at approximately 9:00 p.m., an individual called JL Transport Towing and Recovery in Bloomington. The person stated that their car needed to be towed from the grandmother’s address in Indianapolis to either Midas or Firestone in Bloomington. This person stated the vehicle that needed to be towed was a 2012 or 2013 Audi and paid $400 in advance and the payment was made with a credit card identified as the same credit card that was used to purchase the seat covers at O'Reilly Auto Parts for Sims' vehicle.

An initial hearing in the case was held in Owen Circuit Court on July 25, where a not guilty plea was entered on Porter’s behalf. Jacob Fish was appointed as his public defender. Pre-trial conference dates are set for Sept. 5 and Dec. 13, and a jury trial is slated to begin on Jan. 21, 2025.

“This is an example of what law enforcement can do when we work together,” Owen County Sheriff Ryan White said. “All the agencies involved have worked endlessly since we first received the call on July 15th. We put our resources together in one cohesive effort to bring justice for Malik. I cannot thank our partner agencies enough for their assistance with this case. We may not be a large agency with many resources, but we know we are never alone. Agencies like Bloomington Police Department, Indiana State Police, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police, and the Indiana Conservation Officers are always willing to lend a hand to serve the people of our community, and we are always willing to do the same for them.”

Detectives with the OCSD were assisted in the investigation by Indiana State Police, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, and the BPD.

Owen County Prosecutor Benjamin Kim issued a reminder that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

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