Perfect pitch

By Submission For The Southside Times

Andrew Sparks, a seventh grader at Beech Grove Middle School who plays for the Indiana Bandits Traveling Baseball Team 13U Division, delivers a pitch during the Greensburg Early Bird Baseball Tournament in Greensburg, Ind. Sparks pitched 11 innings with no walks or scores supporting the Bandits second place finish over two days of tournament play.

Small is beautiful for sports apparel guru

By Mike Beas

If the sounds coming from your favorite AM radio station 40 years ago were, in fact, accurate, then one is the loneliest number. No debating necessary. One is complex, companionless and entirely comfortable in its own skin.

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Holy Name goes pink

By Submission For The Southside Times

Holy Name Catholic School was recently awarded first place in the Paint the Town Pink Contest, a breast cancer awareness program in conjunction with the Indianapolis Komen Race for the Cure. Holy Name students became very passionate about this contest as a direct result of personally knowing many women whose lives have been affected by breast cancer.

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Local student serves as page

By Submission For The Southside Times

ACTS Christian Academy eighth grader Breanna Pardue recently served in the Indiana House Page Program with Rep. Mary Ann Sullivan during the 2009 session of the Indiana General Assembly.

Paging is a valuable experience in which students take a backstage tour of the Statehouse and work alongside legislative assistants and interns. On session days, pages experience how a bill becomes a law as they watch legislators on the House floor debate issues. On committee days, the students witness where a bill receives first consideration and watch hearings where the public submits input.

Kieffers celebrate 60 years

By Submission For The Southside Times

Grace (Lynskey) and Joseph Kieffer celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on April 23. They were married at St. Catherine’s Church in Indianapolis in 1949 and have lived in Indianapolis ever since. Joseph retired from Naval Avionics in 1988, and Grace was a homemaker. Both are members of St. Jude Catholic Church. Their children, Mary Kay, Patty, Joseph, Liz, Edward, Kevin and Christine and nine grandchildren live in Indianapolis. They celebrated on Sunday by attending noon mass following it with a family dinner.

Obitiuaries for the week of 4.30.09

By Submission For The Southside Times

Artie E. Duke, 86, of Indianapolis, died April 22, 2009. He was born August 26, 1922, in Scottsville, Ky., to Thomas and Lelabell (Blankenship) Duke. Artie served in the Army during WWII. Survivors include his daughter, Kathy L. Duke-Fowler; grandchildren, Kyle Padgett and Stephen Fowler; sister, Clarice Richardson; his daughter’s mother, Mrs. Louise Duke; and many nieces and nephews. Services were held April 25, 2009. Burial was held at Forest Lawn Memory Gardens.

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At Play Calendar for the week of 4.30.09

By Submission For The Southside Times

Scrapbooking • This two-day scrapbooking and rubberstamping weekend will keep everyone on their toes as you work on your project with other scrapbooking enthusiasts. | When: May 1 from 3 – 10 p.m. and May 2 from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. | Where: The Beech Grove Public Library | Cost: $5 Info: Call Tonya at 781-7800.

Free Comic Book Day • School-age children and teens are invited to pick up free comic books (while supplies last) and draw their own comic characters. | When: May 2, during library hours | Where: Fountain Square Branch of the IMCPL | Info: Call 275-4390.

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Maybe we were warned, but I was watching cartoons

By Mike Redmond

In speaking with other members of the Baby Boom® Generation (“Whining And Complaining Since 1946”) I hear one theme repeated over and over again:

“Nobody told me it was going to be this tough.”

“It,” in this case, refers to life as an adult in 21st Century America. And “tough” refers to the fact that being a so-called grown-up isn’t nearly as much fun as we all thought it was going to be, especially now that we’re on the back nine, age-wise.

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Procrastination gets a bad rap

By Kevin Kane

We need to change the perception of procrastination.

Quite often the act of putting things off until the last minute is criticized and categorized as laziness. Rather than finishing tasks early or just working on them for a few minutes each day, procrastinators take projects to the brink of past due, often wrapping up as the clock winds down and the deadline approaches.

But if there’s no difference in quality between the work of the early starters and their postponing counterparts, what’s the problem with saying “I’ll do it later”?

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Torry’s top ten most despised summer vacation ideas I’ve tried on my kids

By Torry Stiles

10. Riding the dryer at the laundromat.
9. Bedroom scavenger hunt.
8. Bikini Beech Grove Party!
7. Wandering the wilds of Wanamaker.
6. Speedrome infield camping.
5. Climb Mulch Mountain.
4. Kopetsky’s Car Wash and Waterpark.
3. Hiking the back trails of Homecroft.
2. Camp Backyardia!
1. Dumpster Diving.