Country Connections

Camp Carson Acres of Activities & Opportunity If one travels ten miles or less from the center of any of our little towns in Gibson County, they will find corn and bean fields. It’s gently rolling hills of country. However, in nearly the center of the county, you will find more than 300 acres of land with trees, a lake, cabins and all of nature’s finest - YMCA Camp Carson. There’s a long history of this summer camp in our county. There is a picture of mule teams digging the lake that goes back to 1913. Seminole Lake as it’s known, opened in the 1920’s and was privately owned. In 1940, the Evansville YMCA purchased the land and the next year, W. A. Carson, a Sunbeam executive, donated another 32 acres adjoining the lake. That’s how it came to be named Camp Carson. For those who may not know, Camp Carson is for kids 7-17 years old. It has 12 cabins, three yurts, and two additional lodges that sleep 26 each. It offers an incredible amount of varied outdoor activities. There is the usual The lakeside building renovated with the help of Toyota. hiking, swimming, boating, canoeing and fishing. But there is so much more than folks realize. They also offer archery, rock climbing, dirt bikes, an air gun range, pottery making, and a scroll saw class to introduce these skills to the kids. One of their most popular features is the horseback and trail riding option. There’s even a special camp called the Wrangler Camp for those 11-15 years old so they can learn about horses, the responsibilities and fun of horses with lots of hands on experience.

A view of the cabin interiors

entire military family can spend select weekends together at minimal charge. To help defray the cost of camp, scholarships are available through donations. They have a great base of alumni that contribute. Because camp was such a positive experience for them, they want others to be included in the opportunity. Paying maintenance, utilities and employees to run such a large operation isn’t easy. Some local service organizations want to give kids in Gibson County such an experience and are hoping to establish scholarships. Additionally, a dedicated Alumni created the Mark Kniese scholarship - a college scholarship awarded to an outstanding summer camp counselor. Mark was a camp counselor during the summers of 1976-’77, and was a part of the University of Evansville basketball team that died in the plane crash December, 1977. In all these years, he’s not been forgotten. Recently, Camp Carson welcomed a new director, Jim Sexstone. Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, Jim has spent years running a camp in

The dining hall which holds 200 and hopes to expand to seat 300.

Learning to use a scroll saw

Lexie Birch of Ft. Branch helped with the Wrangler camp.

Northwestern Ohio. He had to grin and mention, “I didn’t remember the humidity being like this, although I’m sure it was in Louisville as a kid.” Welcome to Southern Indiana. Despite starting a new job as a camp director during Covid, in August of 2020, Jim saw this as a great opportunity in a beautiful surrounding. He’s very excited to meet the local folks and become involved in the community. He believes this is a partnership that can benefit everyone. Jim would like to do events like a farm to table at the camp or offer its amenities to local organizations. He offered, “This is a perfect venue for boy scouts earning badges”. They also have a disc golf course and Jim would like to work with others in the area to be apart of this upcoming sport’s events. The major questions locals seem to have, besides what do they do at Camp Carson, is can we go there? Our Camp Carson is one of 260 YMCA camps in the United States. They are part of YMCA of Southwest Indiana. So that means you can’t go fishing or take a dip in the lake anytime it suits your fancy. But you can rent out a cabin for the weekend, a building (for a wedding reception or family reunion) or a lodge for a meeting, event or weekend get away. There are numerous ways we can utilize our local YMCA camp for the benefit of all.

Haubstadt Knights Helped ARC

The Knights of Columbus, Haubstadt 2215 have done it again, collecting a record high of $3,951.50 through their annual Tootsie Roll Drive to benefit The Arc Southwest Indiana!

Tifani Burns (Director of Day Programming), Adam Adler, Stan Keepes (Executive Director), Alan Wade (K of C Financial Secretary), Aaron Adler, Brian Drogich (Director of Operations)

Gibson County Habitat Awarded Grant

Kurt Phegley of the Duke Foundation presented Habitat Director Bronda Simmons with a check for $4,000 to go towards homeowner education.

CASA Received Donation from Santa

Santa With a Cause donated $500 to CASA

Photo: Brandi Steelman

From 812 Young to Tokyo - A Welcome for Olympic Gold Winner Jackie

Crowds of locals surrounded the Princeton Square and lined Broadway all the way to McDonalds to cheer for Jackie.

They welcomed home their Olympic winner with pride. Jackie smiles, waves and grabs more candy from her sister, Kiare to toss out to her fans. This was her third firetruck ride as a winner.

Brad and Jackie Saum as well as their daughter Laney waited to congratulate Jackie

Brayden Smith made a sign and got an autograph.

Jon Jon Greene was so proud.

Micah Buhl got to have his picture taken with Jackie after the parade was over.

Locals made a variety of colorful signs congratulating Jackie on her gold medal.

Mike Watkins chats with Monie McElhiney and her mom before the parade.

From Parade to Back Pack Bash

The annual Back Pack Bash at Lafayette Park for North Gibson students supplied 342 back packs with the help of 30 volunteers and Jackie’s family. As a bonus, Jackie and Puma donated 200 back packs to help sponsor the event.

Jackie took time for pics and autographs at the park.

Those Puma back packs that Jackie helped donate were in big demand

Everybody was helping at the park, even the Parks Director & Mayor.