Motorcycle crash kills off-duty Marion County officer\nINDIANAPOLIS -- A motorcycle crash took the life of a Marion County Sheriff's deputy Sunday morning. The accident comes after a rash of Indianapolis police deaths in the last two months.\nDeputy Jeff Jones was off-duty when he crashed his Harley Davidson at about 5:20 a.m., said Captain Phil Burton. \nInvestigators believe Jones lost control of the vehicle after hitting a median as he traveled westbound on Southport Road in Indianapolis. Investigators took pictures at the scene and measured the skidmarks to determine Jones' speed and the cause of the accident, Burton said.\nJones is survived by his wife and 5-year-old daughter. He was 33 years old and had served the Marion County Sheriff's Department for five years. He is the third police officer killed in Indianapolis since August.
State commission looks at change in constitution\nINDIANAPOLIS -- A state panel examining the structure of local government is considering the possibility of changing Indiana's Constitution so that seven elected county offices could be abolished or appointed.\nSen. Marvin Riegsecker, a Goshen Republican who is chairman of the Local Government Efficiency and Financing Study Commission, said it is difficult to consider city-county mergers and consolidations without having any flexibility with the county offices.\n"As long as you are constitutionally prohibited, you can't do anything," Riegsecker said. "This allows changes if Allen County or Vanderburgh County or anyone else would want to. It gives them something to work with."\nThe offices that could be abolished or appointed are clerk of the circuit court, auditor, recorder, treasurer, sheriff, coroner and surveyor, The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne reported.\nFour similar proposals would amend the constitution to allow the General Assembly to pass a law either abolishing or making those offices appointed.
