Decatur Independent

06/23/2026

The Greensburg Decatur County Animal Shelter's cat quarantine has been lifted and cats are available for adoption again.

Our Cat Quarantine is OVER! Come by at noon and see all our adoptable cats and kittens. They are ready for homes and all the snuggles! See you soon. Cat adoption fees are only $20!

06/22/2026

Welcome, new followers, we're glad you're here. If you haven't heard of us, we're the Decatur Independent, a locally owned newsletter covering Greensburg and Decatur County. We keep most of our essential stories (e.g. articles about local government meetings, the 2026 election when we get that started, the basics that keep you informed about the world around you) free but we do paywall non-essential stories (e.g. local arts/culture articles, local business profiles when we get those up and running) for 1-2 weeks, meaning paid subscribers get immediate access to that coverage.

If you want to show your support for us, signing up for the paid subscription plan is the BEST way to do that, a paid plan is $12/month: https://decaturindependent.mymagic.page/ #/portal/signup

06/22/2026

An update from DCEMA regarding the Lake McCoy Dam.

Updated for today's operations regarding mitigation efforts at the Lake McCoy
Dam

06/22/2026

The library's Cincinnati Children's Theater performance of Peter Pan has been cancelled.

Today's Cincinnati Children's Theater performance of A Piratey Peter Pan has been cancelled due to illness. We are so sorry for the last-minute notification. We just found out!

06/22/2026

The Decatur County Democrats' next meeting is June 30.

06/22/2026

Congratulations to the winners of the community photography show!

06/22/2026

Decatur County PRIDE Alliance will have their next Youth Group meeting July 1.

06/21/2026

Update regarding the dam at Lake McCoy. Per Decatur County Emergency Management Agency it is still undergoing its controlled release.

The Lake McCoy Dam is still undergoing its controlled release. There is no imminent threat to public safety at this time. National Weather Service has broadcast some incorrect information. The situation at the Dam is under controlled operation. Residents along Cobbs Fork should be aware of higher water levels.

06/21/2026

We're baaaack! Our latest issue is live and features coverage of the June Greensburg city council meeting and Decatur County PRIDE Alliance 's fundraising efforts. We're also still running our reader survey and there's a link to that inside. Fill it out and be entered in a random drawing for a $10 Dog-Eared Pages gift card.

Check it out: https://decaturindependent.mymagic.page/volume-1-issue-12-free-edition-june-21-2026/

06/18/2026

Information from Decatur County EMA on how tornado sirens are used and when they are activated.

How do all Decatur County Tornado Sirens Work?
1. Tornado sirens are only meant to be heard by people outside. They were not designed to be heard inside homes.
2. Decatur County’s sirens are automatically polygon activated. That means when the National Weather Service (NWS) issues a polygon (a computerized shape file) the computer system picks this up, sees what sirens are covered by that polygon and activates the necessary sirens. The exception to this rule is if one siren is activated in the City of Greensburg, all Greensburg sirens activate out of caution to the public.
3. Decatur County sirens only activate for three reasons:
a. NWS issued Tornado Warning
b. NWS issued Tornado Emergency
c. NWS issued Potentially Destructive Storm (one criteria for this is baseball size hail that poses a threat to life).
4. There is no longer the condition of Tornado Watch and Severe Thunderstorm Warning will cause the sirens to activate. That method has not been used in quite a while.
5. If the automatic system should fail, there are redundancies in place for the sake of public safety. First, 911 Dispatch has the capability to set the sirens off. However, if that activation has to be used they can only set off the “All Call” switch which will
activate all sirens county wide.
6. Second redundancy is a manual switch activation. Again, this is an “All Call” that sets off all sirens.
7. Third redundancy is the signal company we are contracted with can do a manual activation. Depending on the issue and circumstance, this could be an “All Call” activation.

Last night (6/17/2026 into the early morning of 6/18/2026) there was a software failure on the siren system. This required the “All Call” redundancies to be activated. By doing this, all Decatur County sirens were activated. It was in fact for NWS issued Tornado Warnings and activating through the specified time frame for the warnings. However, if the system had activated normally and automatically, it would only have set o􀆯 sirens in the Westport area.
I hope this clears up some confusion about how our sirens work.