Own a piece of Don Seybold’s music collection
A local jazz icon’s family plans a sale, chance to celebrate Seybold’s life. Plus, Jim Schenke, now running for Congress in Indiana 1st District, back in trouble on the road.
Thanks for ongoing support from Based in Lafayette sponsor Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Lafayette. For tickets and details on all the shows and events, go to longpac.org.
Support for Based in Lafayette also comes from Purdue Convocations, presenting Beetlejuice on Thursday, April 9. Based on Tim Burton’s dearly beloved film, this hilarious musical tells the story of Lydia Deetz, a strange and unusual teenager whose whole life changes when she meets a recently deceased couple and a demon with a thing for stripes. And under its uproarious surface (six feet under, to be exact), it’s a remarkably touching show about family, love, and making the most of every Day-O! It’s Showtime — BUY TICKETS now and save with a Me+3 Four-Pack!
POLICE: JIM SCHENKE ARRESTED ON ANOTHER CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Jim Schenke, who made vehicle-related headlines during a 2024 run for an Indiana House seat based in West Lafayette, was arrested and jailed late last week by police in Porter County for driving without a license.
The traffic stop, in which a Valparaiso police officer alleged that Schenke’s 2018 Infiniti Q50 passenger car crossed the center line twice on his way from a Republican meeting to his new home in Gary, came as Schenke continued to campaign for the party’s nomination in the 1st District Congressional District.
It also came less than three weeks after he failed to appear in court for a Tippecanoe County hearing to deal with a citation for driving without a license – a moment that led to a judge suspending his driver’s license for 90 days.
In 2024, Schenke had made news at just about every turn in a campaign in Indiana House District 26 that featured his prominently positioned, fully branded RV. He got sideways with the Tippecanoe County Election Board over campaign disclosures on the RV. He had to be tracked down and ticketed by West Lafayette police when he left the scene after he backed the RV into and knocked over a lamp post in the Village area weeks before Election Day – a day he also was accused by police of re-upping lapsed insurance between the crash and when he was found. And he spent 12 hours in the Tippecanoe County Jail the day before the November 2024 election on allegations that he violated a protective order a neighbor had against him.
Schenke lost by 28 percentage points to incumbent state Rep. Chris Campbell, a West Lafayette Democrat, in the November 2024 election.
Schenke announced in spring 2025 that he would head to The Region to run for Congress, challenging U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan in Indiana’s 1st District. He will be on the Republican primary ballot May 5 with Barb Regnitz and David Ben Ruiz. Mrvan faces LaVetta Sparks-Wade in the Democratic primary. (From BiL, May 2025: “Q&A: Schenke takes campaign on the road in run for Congress in 1st District.”)
According the court documents filed with the new misdemeanor charges, Schenke, 59, was pulled over at 12:23 a.m. Friday. Schenke told a Valparaiso police officer that he was new to the area and was trying to follow his GPS mapping to get to his new residence in Gary, according to court documents. The officer reported that when he asked for a driver’s license, Schenke told him that he’d changed suits earlier in the day and must have left his wallet in the other pants. The officer also reported that Schenke searched the car but couldn’t produce vehicle registration.
According to the court filing, Schenke was arrested after the officer found that his driver’s license had been suspended March 2 in a Tippecanoe County court. Judge Michael Morrissey entered a default judgment after Schenke failed to appear in Tippecanoe County Superior Court 6 for a scheduled hearing that day.
Schenke did not immediately respond to a message for comment Monday.
But in an email sent to court staff – time stamped at 3:51 a.m. Monday, March 23, and filed with his Tippecanoe County case – Schenke said believed he’d made arrangements with the court that he didn’t need to appear for a hearing in January. He said he’d planned to be on the East Coast to care for his parents. He also said that he was told he didn’t need to show up because the prosecutor “wanted to offer me a plea bargain with a penalty of one dollar.”
“I told court staff that while the offer was interesting, it indicated that the case was as I knew it to be – unsubstantiated,” Schenke wrote in the March 23 email to the court.
Schenke also wrote that he told court staff that if a plea bargain was in the works, he’d need court-appointed representation. In his letter, he wrote that he hadn’t been informed about his next court date – “I do not want to miss it.”
In an order filed later on Monday, Morrissey wrote that Schenke did ask, by phone, for a continuance for a January hearing and was given a March 2 date. He gave Schenke an April 14 hearing date to consider relief from the default judgment that suspended his driver’s license. Morrissey noted that the matter was a civil cause involving a traffic infraction and that Schenke’s request for a public defender was denied.
OWN A PIECE OF DON SEYBOLD’S MUSIC COLLECTION
A piece of the music collection cultivated by Don Seybold – former associate director at Purdue Convocations, radio host and local champion of jazz – could be yours in a sale from his estate Saturday at The Arts Federation in Lafayette.
Before Seybold died Nov. 26, at age 85, he donated his LP collection to an archive in Missouri, his son, Matt Seybold, said this week.
“But that left some 7,000 CDs,” Matt Seybold said. “My dad amassed an enormous collection of recorded music – especially jazz, blues and soul – during his career as a disc jockey and music presenter.”
Matt Seybold said he and his sister, Stacey Seybold Hiller, have things priced at what he called “bargain basement prices,” with proceeds going to settling his dad’s estates.
“We wanted to give his friends in the Lafayette music and arts communities first dibs, as well as offer a kind of display of his idiosyncratic tastes,” Matt Seybold said. “My sister and I also just look forward to seeing anybody who wants to come by and celebrate his life.”
The sale – and makeshift celebration of life – will be 2-5 p.m. Saturday, March 28, in the Wells Cultural Center, home to TAF, 638 North St. in Lafayette.
Here’s more on the legacy of Don Seybold:
Thanks, again, for support from Purdue Convocations, presenting Beetlejuice on Thursday, April 9. Get tickets here.
Thanks, also for ongoing support from Based in Lafayette sponsor Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Lafayette. For tickets and details on all the shows and events, go to longpac.org.
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Schenke! So glad he's back in the news...the palette cleanser that we need in these challenging times.
I wonder what soundtrack Seybold would have created for Schenke's colorful being. I don't think Seybold collected circus music.