Honked off, protesters opt for day in court on excessive horn tickets
Plus, a fix coming in 2026 for rugged Ninth/Kossuth, as pavers installed in 2021 fail. Another Tony for Lafayette Jeff grad. An update on delayed repairs for one-lane Indiana 225 bridge
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HONKED OFF, PROTESTERS OPT FOR DAY IN COURT ON EXCESSIVE HORN TICKETS
A pair of protesters ticketed in April for honking their vehicle horns as they passed a demonstration around the Tippecanoe County Courthouse were given a date for bench trials after telling the court Monday that they had no intention of paying the fine tied to tickets officers gave them.
“I’ve been doing this too long to have someone tell me, ‘Don’t honk your horn,’” Anne Buja, one of several Greater Lafayette residents ticketed during recent political demonstrations in downtown Lafayette, said.
Monday morning, Buja stood in line for traffic court outside Tippecanoe Superior Court 5, still steaming about getting a ticket for sounding her car horn, as she passed the remainder of an April 19 rally of more than 100 people assembled outside the courthouse to protest President Donald Trump’s second term.
“They’re trying to squash protest,” Buja said. “You bet I’m going to fight it.”
In line a few slots back was Jim Mattern, who lives north of Lafayette in Tippecanoe County. Mattern was ticketed on April 19, too, when he and passengers in his pickup truck – one displaying an upside-down U.S. flag – made a pass by the courthouse on their way home, honking to demonstrators he’d been standing with for much of that afternoon. He was pulled over a block away, on Main Street, and cited for excessive honking.
Buja and Mattern both told a deputy prosecutor Monday morning that they’d prefer to tell their story to the judge, rather than paying $173 fines and court costs tied to the infraction.
The court scheduled Aug. 5 court hearings for Buja and Mattern. Court staff told them Monday that other drivers had scheduled court dates for similar tickets this spring.
“Maybe a warning would have been the fair thing,” Mattern said. “But I don’t think we did anything wrong.”
Tippecanoe County Sheriff Bob Goldsmith said in April that his deputies were looking for those sorts of violations as demonstrations continued along Columbia Street outside the courthouse. But Goldsmith said it had nothing to do with trying to stop rallies or people protesting but instead called it a matter of safety, aimed at drivers laying on the horn as they circled the courthouse rather than paying attention to downtown traffic. Goldsmith said the ticketing started late in an April 5 “Hands Off” rally and continued with the April 19 demonstration, after several near-miss crashes.
How many tickets were written for honking horns at the two rallies wasn’t immediately available. Indiana Code that reads: “The driver of a motor vehicle shall, when reasonably necessary to ensure safe operation, give audible warning with the horn on the motor vehicle but may not otherwise use the horn when upon a highway.”
The tickets caused a stir, particularly against the backdrop of an investigation into a confrontation between a driver and demonstrators near the corner of Columbia and Third streets at the April 5. In that case, James Jordan, a Tippecanoe County resident, got out of his truck frustrated by people using the crosswalk, bumping his body into demonstrators gathered at Third Street near the courthouse, eventually getting head-butted by a Lafayette man at the corner. Based on video and witness accounts, Jordan returned to his truck, retrieved an assault-style rifle and pushed his way through the crowd before putting the firearm back. Jordan was briefly detained and released without an arrest in what police initially described as an act of self-defense. Lafayette police later ramped up an investigation into the scene and Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter was appointed special prosecutor in the case. That investigation continues. No charges have been filed.
The pushback on the excessive honking tickets also comes as several local groups – including Greater Lafayette Indivisible, MAD Voters and the Women’s March – plan a march and rally Saturday, June 14. The 10 a.m. march – starting at the Margerum Fountain on the west side of the Myers Pedestrian Bridge, going around the Tippecanoe County Courthouse and back to Tapawingo Park in West Lafayette for a community fair – is conjunction with similar “No Kings” rallies scheduled nationwide the same day as a military parade that day in Washington, D.C., to mark the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday. (It also coincides with Trump’s 79th birthday.)
Mattern said he’d be prepared to give his side in court come Aug. 5.
“I was ready today, when they told us to show up,” Mattern said. “I just don’t getting bullied.”
CITY LOOKS TO REWORK NINTH AND KOSSUTH INTERSECTION AGAIN
Construction could come in 2026 to fix the rough ride and failing sections of pavers installed four years ago at the intersection of Ninth and Kossuth streets in Lafayette.
A $624,075 contract with VS Engineering approved Tuesday morning by the city’s board of works would cover design work for drainage and the rideability of the Ninth and Kossuth street intersection, as well as a new stormwater line leading down Ninth Street Hill to the city’s pump station at the corner of Ninth and South streets.
The designs also are expected to look at how to replace sidewalks on Ninth Street to deal with tripping hazards on multiple sections pushed out of place by tree roots, bump-outs for new trees and traffic calming, street lighting and driveway approaches.
According to the city, the project could be ready for construction bids in late winter or early spring 2026, with work done in one construction season.
Jeromy Grenard, Lafayette’s city engineer, said the project is expected to cost $4 million to $5 million. He said the scope of the project and lining up funding kept the city from moving earlier to fix the intersection that started to fail shortly after it was rebuilt in 2021.
“We’re confident this is going to fix the issues we’re having,” Grenard said.
The city has been talking about the project for the past two years, after the paver work at Ninth and Kossuth started coming undone. The city initially spent $600,000 to work on drainage and rebuild the intersection at Kossuth and Ninth streets. The city project used permeable pavers that were meant to help with flooding issues at the intersection. In the first year after the intersection reopened in November 2021, the city brought contractors back in, in hopes of righting spots where the pavers settled and left things bumpy.
Since then, the intersection has been a spot that drivers have learned to take with care.
The city had used similar permeable pavers for other streets, including North and Brown streets, without problems, Grenard said. He said those streets, though, didn’t have the same sort of traffic volume that Ninth and Kossuth faces as a main connection to the southern part of the city.
Grenard told the board of works that that the reworked intersection would be asphalt or concrete, stamped to give the same sort of aesthetic feel without using pavers that proved to not be up to the task.
The project also will deal with drainage problems in the area. Grenard said initial design work showed that the inlets and pipes weren’t enough to handle water that flowed to the intersection from neighborhood streets to the east and north.
The stormwater project, running down Ninth Street, will mean the removal of 15 to 20 trees along the hill. Most of them, Grenard said, are honey locust. He said that as sidewalks are replaced along the hill, new trees will be placed in bump-out areas that push seven to eight feet into Ninth Street, about the width of a parking space. Grenard told the board of works that the plan was to limit the number of parking spaces lost along Ninth Street.
In other road project news …
LAFAYETTE STREET MANHOLE PROJECT COMPLETE
A $164,250 project to refit 73 manholes on Ninth Street, 18th Street and other main Lafayette thoroughfares so they’re flush with the pavement, rather than sunken hazards that have drivers weaving their way through the daily commute, is finished, Grenard told the city’s board of works Tuesday. Rieth Riley Construction won the bid in late 2024, with work expected to be done by August 2025. The project involved removing the manhole casting, adding a collar to bring the cover higher and pouring concrete to make it all at street grade. Grenard said the city has included the manhole work – roughly at $2,250 a shot – in larger paving projects so they don’t leave drop-offs in the travel lanes. Grenard said the city engineer’s office will continue to keep a list of manholes for city water and wastewater lines for similar projects in the future.
BIDS DELAYED UNTIL 2026 FOR CLOSED ONE-LANE INDIANA 225 BRIDGE OVER THE WABASH
Things continue to drag on for the one-lane Indiana 225 bridge over the Wabash River, closed for structural problems since 2022.
At one point, the Indiana Department of Transportation expected work to start in spring 2025 to replace the decking, curbs, approach slabs, railing and abutments on the four-span, 664-foot bridge built in 1912 between Old Indiana 25 and Battle Ground.
INDOT officials say bids for the bridge project in November 2024 came in over the engineer’s estimate. New bids will be let in January 2026, they say. During an INDOT public hearing in 2024, officials said construction was expected to cost $5.5 million. Once a contract is awarded, construction is expected to last approximately 18 months, according to INDOT.
For now, the bridge is blocked at either end by barricades and piles of rocks and marked for pedestrian use only on decking that has turned into a canvas for graffiti. An official detour for through traffic adds four miles to a trip, using Old Indiana 25, Interstate 65 and Indiana 43.
THIS AND THAT/OTHER READS …
Lafayette Jefferson High School grad Aaron Glick’s name popped up again this week at the Tony Awards, among the producers for “Purpose,” which won for Best Play. (Catch a glimpse of him here among the cast and more at Sunday’s awards ceremony.) Glick, who graduated from Lafayette Jeff in 2002, previously was part of Tony-winning productions “Kimberly Akimbo,” which won for Best Musical in 2023, and “The Boys in the Band,” which won for best revival of a play in 2019.
The America 250 Committee for Tippecanoe County, a collection of organizations preparing for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, will host a historical marker dedication and children’s box parade from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 14, at the corner of Wabash Avenue and Ellsworth Street in Lafayette. The historical marker will commemorate this history of Rebecca Ball and contributions to the local underground railroad, as well at a temporary prison and hospital for Confederate soldiers taken prisoner during the Civil War after surrendering at Fort Donelson, Tennessee, in February 1862. The box parade is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. For details and to sign up, here a link. The marker dedication ceremony will be at 1:30 p.m., hosted by the General de Lafayette Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the West Lafayette Public Library and Tippecanoe County Historical Association.
FINALLY … MARK YOUR CALENDARS: I’ll join Brian Leung, author and Purdue English professor, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 17, at Second Flight Books, 2122 Scott St. in Lafayette, to talk about “A Terrifying Brush with Optimism,” his latest collection of new and selected stories. We’ll probably also talk about other stuff, too, if you want to stop by for the Q&A. It’s free.
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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
So, the LPD (recipient of about half of the city's operating budget) is in hot pursuit of honkers? The jokes write themselves.
For the record, there will be no drainage issues after our Q&A at Second Flight. I really hope to meet folks from the community even if they are only there for Dave Bangert.