Paula Dunn
Wiper Blades, Pantyhose and Another View of Judge New
Normally when I do a reader column, I have comments from several people, but David Sutton sent an email that was so full of interesting details, it easily filled an entire column by itself. David began by referring to my recent stories of celebrity visits — and alleged visits — to Hamilton County. He brought…
Read MoreThe Tethered Chicken and Other Tales
From Time to Thyme By Paula Dunn OK, I have to confess — I had another subject in mind for this week’s column, but while I was working on it, I realized I was going to need more research time than I had available. So, I shifted gears and pulled out some of the funny…
Read MoreSpotlighting Famous Visits to County
Writing about the woman who created a stir by being mistaken for Carrie Nation started me thinking about all the famous people who actually HAVE set foot in Hamilton County. I’ve covered some of the most obvious ones — presidents, movie stars, etc. — but I’ve also run across several whose connections to Hamilton County…
Read Morein the ’60s, Dam Sliding and One More Judge New Story
From Time to Thyme By Paula Dunn This week’s reader column actually grew out of comments I received about the previous reader column. After the subject of the old Strawtown restaurant, the Trading Post, came up, Jeanne Flanders reminisced about her family enjoying their 1963 Easter dinner there. While Jeanne didn’t mention attending any of…
Read MoreA Visit From the Kansas Smasher?
From Time to Thyme By Paula Dunn Some headlines in the old newspapers just beg to be investigated. Take this one in the July 26, 1906 Hamilton County Times — “Kansas Smasher May Be Sojourning Here — Is Hard To Locate.” “Kansas Smasher?” How could I ignore that? According to the rather lengthy article, a…
Read MoreArresting Developments in Judge New’s Court
From Time to Thyme By Paula Dunn Last week I wrote about Judge Edward F. New, Jr.’s rough treatment of juveniles and his inventive sentencing of convicted offenders. What created the most headlines, however, was his penchant for citing local officials for contempt. One of the earliest incidents took place in 1967 when the judge…
Read MoreOrder in Judge New’s Court? You Bet!
From Time to Thyme By Paula Dunn I’ve been thinking about writing about Judge Edward F. New, Jr. for a long time, but I put it off because I knew there was so much material to work with that it would be harder to decide what to leave out of the column than to figure…
Read MoreChamomile, the 2025 Herb of the Year
From Time to Thyme By Paula Dunn The Herb Society of Central Indiana may not be holding their annual Spring Symposium, but we can still celebrate the 2025 Herb of the Year, chamomile (or camomile, if you prefer the traditional British spelling.) The word, “chamomile” is derived from the Greek for “ground or earth apple”…
Read MoreMorse Reservoir, World War II Aviation and a Popular Strawtown Restaurant
More reader responses this week! The column on Morse Reservoir’s beginnings sparked a couple of comments from Diane Nevitt, the former director of the Hamilton County Historical Society Museum. Diane noted that Sheriff Mark Passwater once told her that a number of Native Americans had worked on clearing the land for Morse. One of those…
Read MoreThe Distaff Side of Hamilton County Medical History
I’ve been wanting to write something about Hamilton County’s medical history for a long time, but I discovered that’s easier said than done. Most of what’s in the old newspapers are accounts of the Hamilton County Medical Society’s meetings and they don’t make very interesting reading. While trying to come up with a topic for…
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