New Palestine and Notre Dame graduate Pat Feeney competes on the Team USA 1,600-meter relay team at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia in 2015. Feeney ran the final leg of the relay and helped his country win the USA vs. the World event.
March 13
In 1992, Gov. Evan Bayh signed Public Law 44, a bill authored by Indiana Rep. Sarah Wolf, D-Greenfield. It returned boat excise tax revenues to counties once a month instead of twice a year, as had previously been done. “What this is basically doing is getting the county’s money to it sooner,” Wolf said. “It will give the county a chance to draw interest on the money.”
March 14
In 1972, Hancock County commissioners met with property owners along County Road 1050 East between Charlottesville and Wilkinson to discuss acquiring right-of-way to widen the road. The day before, two Eastern Hancock High School students were injured when the southbound car they rode in near County Road 200N went over a rise and then off the road and into a tree.
March 15
In 1972, state highway officials told a crowd of about 60 Hancock County residents about plans for the “dual-laning” of State Street (State Road 9) north from McKenzie Road to Interstate 70.
In 2022, New Palestine High School presented its first boys volleyball team in a season-opening match at Southport, where the Dragons fell to the Cardinals.
March 16
In 2020, Hancock Regional Hospital opened a COVID-19 triage clinic in Brandywine Plaza to screen and test for the novel coronavirus. The hospital also set up a COVID-19 hotline for people to call in with questions about the disease.
March 17
In 1930, twenty men with tractors began stripping the sod off the site of what would become Riley Park Pool.
March 18
In 1968, Pfc. Elvin W. Gose of Cumberland was killed in action at Quang Tri, Vietnam.
March 19
In 1958, the Hancock County 4-H Junior Leaders decided to sponsor a “county queen” at the Hancock County 4-H Fair; the first local fair queen contest took place at that year’s fair.
In 2016, New Palestine High School graduate Patrick Feeney helped Team USA capture the gold medal in the 4×400-meter relay during the IAAF World Indoor Championships. He ran in one of the relay heats, helping the USA to the fastest heat time. Teammates finished the work in the finals the next day. Feeney competed at the Olympic trials that year; after not qualifying for the games in Rio, he retired to focus on medical school.
