T
P C N SINCE 1882 Successor to The Poseyville News & New Harmony Times POSEY COUNTY’S ONLY LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED NEWSPAPER
Volume 139 Edition 11
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
$1.00
Wind turbines appear to be blowing into the area By Andrea Howe Reprinted with permission of Princeton Daily Clarion E.ON Climate & Renewables is planning a wind farm in Posey and southern Gibson County — and is exploring the feasibility of a second wind farm in areas northwest and south-southwest of Princeton as well. Wind Development Manager Karsen Rumpf told Gibson County Commissioners and residents Tuesday afternoon that the company has been involved in land acquisition for 13 months in Gibson County as part of a three-part study of developing a Gibson County wind farm. He said more meteorological and environmental studies and permitting processes are ahead over the next two to three years, before a wind farm layout is finalized. Rumpf said the company was involved in some prospecting work earlier, but he became involved in the project in January, 2018, gathering data on available wind speeds and infrastructure, and gauging landowner interest. He said E.ON is a third-party contractor that would de-
velop and generate wind energy that could be distributed via Duke Energy transmission lines through the Midwest Independent System Operators (MISO) electrical grid. He told commissioners that the company is negotiating easement agreements with private property owners and will not be involved in acquiring any property through eminent domain. E.ON is either completing or negotiating lease
agreements for about 9,500 to 10,000 acres, and would like to have agreements for about 2,000 to 3,000 more acres, he estimated. Rumpf said E.ON will be working with U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Indiana Department of Natural Resources and In-
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Gibson meeting may serve notice to Posey By Hans Schmitz Purdue Extension – Posey County A lot of speculation about wind energy developments in southwest Indiana have floated about in recent weeks, but wind energy is not a new development for the state of Indiana. Small windmills with low power output have dot-
ted the Midwestern landscape for quite some time. In 2009 and 2010, larger windmills were installed in earnest, increased the wind power generation of the state tenfold, according to the American Wind Energy Association. To get up to speed on what wind energy is, where it exists, and where it poten-
tially could be located in Indiana, good information exists at university and government locations. As of late last year, Indiana ranked 12th in the United States for the number of wind turbines and installed wind
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MSDMV hears no Jason Knowles answers 911 call objection to plans Evans honored by IASBO peers By Pam Robinson Mount Vernon School Supt. Tom Kopatich made a special announcement at the Monday, March 4, meeting of the Mount Vernon School Board. The Indiana Association of School Business Officials, or IASBO, has named Loren Evans the 2019 School Business Official of the Year for Region 9. At the announcement, Evans, the district’s Director of Business and Technology, received a round of applause from administration and the board. “He does a tremendous job for this school corporation. Business managers can be stingy, but I tell you what, when it comes to children, he finds ways to do things. He makes it work, and he makes things happen,” Kopatich commented. “I’m honored to say he’s a friend of mine. I’m privileged to have worked with him for the last 25 years ... I will miss him terribly. He’s a tremendous person, and we’re very, very fortunate to have him.” Board members Kathy Weinzapfel and Joe Rutledge spoke next about how well-known Loren Evans is in education circles, followed by board member Beth McFadin Higgins speaking to how much he loves southern Indiana. In other business: After an uneventful public hearing with no citizen comment, the Mount
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Jason Knowles By Pam Robinson Poseyville native Jason Knowles worked his first day on January 28, 2019, as Director of 911 Dispatch for Posey County. Years before, he had started his journey toward this position while he served as a teen fire cadet for the Poseyville Fire Department. “I started at the Poseyville Fire Department when I was 13-years-old,” the 30-year-old Knowles relates. “I followed in the footsteps of my dad. Dad
was a fire chief up there a couple of years, and he’s still a lifetime member. I followed in his footsteps there. I always wondered who the voices were on the other end of the radio, on the other end of the pager, when they’d get a run.” The 2007 North Posey graduate thought initially he would serve the public as a paramedic with his knack for medical treatment. So right after high school graduation, he gained experience at Deaconess Gateway’s Heart Hospital as a patient care technician. In 2008, however, he became “curious again about the people on the radio” and applied and was hired for the position of part-time dispatcher in Posey County. By 2009, he moved to full-time dispatcher for the county. He remained there until 2017 when he received the opportunity to apply his skills at Central Dispatch in Evansville. “I was a little bit busier, and I took some intense calls. Mainly, I gained a lot of knowledge to be able to bring back to Posey County,” he stated. As Director of 911 Dispatch for Posey County now, Knowles oversees day-to-day operations to ensure all systems work properly. Of the utmost importance is CAD, the computer system where all 911 calls are input before dispatched to law
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Expansion to help answer call for more elderly housing Special to The News The Charles Ford Retirement Communities of New Harmony’s board of directors is announcing its intent to embark on a building project that will expand the Communities’ services to include free-standing independent living structures and additional assisted living capacity. The independent, not-for-profit, assisted living retirement community’s expansion project will also include the continuing renovation of its current building’s common living areas. The project advanced to the four to six-month design phase with a unanimous decision by the Communities’ board. During the planning process, the services of three consulting firms were contracted. They include GraceTeam of Topeka, Kan.; Universal Design Associates of Jasper, Ind.; and Buckley Consulting Services of Denver, Colo. Each company provides specific expertise in From left, Karen Walker, Administrator Amy Koch, Richard Di- the development of state-of-the-art independent living emer, and Paul Allison look over the proposed site. Photo submitted and assisted living communities. The Master Planning
Committee is composed of Vicki Campbell, board president; Richard Diemer, Paul Allison, and Karen Walker, board members; along with Connie Tousley, the Charles Ford Retirement Communities’ Maintenance Director and Amy Koch, Executive Director. “The new expansion and services answer a need in our community that has been defined through an independent, senior housing market demand study,” said Koch. “The project is being designed to provide a multitude of additional amenities for our residents and the opportunity for future growth in the services we provide. Every aspect will be intentionally developed to promote individuality, encourage independence and bring comfort and life enrichment to our residents. “Above all,” Koch continued, “what is essential is that our current and future residents receive individualized care and personal attention delivered by a caring, dedicated and professional staff. These characteristics continue to reflect our ongoing mission.”
Metronome annoyance keeps one singing Humble beginnings have always kept Dave Ries with a song
The Golden Years By Pam Robinson Mount Vernon native David Ries started singing in the Sunday choir when he was 12 years old alongside his father, Oscar. The 82-year-old celebrated 70 years in the First United Methodist Church, or First UMC, choir this past Sunday, March 10, with a solo performance of “His Eye is on the Sparrow.” The song choice reflects his early days in church choir. “All we did was sing the old hymns. We didn’t have a director. We had no robes,” Ries states. The first choir director, Bob Padgett, doubled as the Mount Vernon High School, or MVHS, band and music director, Ries recalls. Padgett encouraged Ries not only in church choir, but also in his state award-winning highschool choir. “He took me under his wing,” Ries reminisces. In addition, Ries learned to play the piano from lessons with his aunt, Florence RiesSchenk. “The clock on the wall ran too slow,” he says, “and the metronome drove me crazy.” As a result, singing remained his first love. Over the years, Ries has sung solos at many churches, funerals, and weddings. Most
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notably, he has blessed his grandchildren at Ries gives thanks despite a life filled with their weddings with his acapella solo of “The his share of sorrow. He lost his mother, Luella Lord’s Prayer.” Borcheding Ries, in 1941 when he was only Singing is a constant in the life of the Vice three-and-a-half years old. His beloved wife, President of Ries Ruth Chaplin Ries, Farms. Ries has been passed away May 25, the proud recipient of 2013. the Hoosier HomeThe skilled stead Farm Award to Dale Carnegie recognize 150 years and Toastmasters on the same farm, the graduate deflects first deed of purchase attention away from written in 1857. In his sadness about 2010, he received his mother’s passing the Friendly Farmer with the story of his Award also. His birth, concluded with German ancestors good fun. “I was along with his father, born three pounds., his mother, and his three ounces, water wife lie at rest in under the house, so the historic family the doctors couldn’t cemetery on the farm get there. I was born property. with midwives. I was “I sing on tractors. washed off in the David Ries I sing in trucks. I back water. I’m glad sing in the night,” Ries states. they didn’t drop me,” he states. “They put me Song brings him comfort as well as allows on the old coal stove with the lid down to keep him to worship his God with praise. “In the me warm. I’m glad they kept turning me like a Garden” and “How Great Thou Art” are two rotisserie to get me done.” favorites. When he speaks of his wife, however, it is
no laughing matter. His eyes brim full of tears as he describes the scene of leaving for Army duty after he was drafted April 1, 1957. “I left my high school sweetheart crying, and it was pouring down rain. I was stationed in Germany for two years. When I came back to Evansville, when the plane landed, she was the most beautiful sight,” he calls to mind. “We got married a year later.” David and Ruth Ries raised four children together — David, James, Margaret (aka Peg), and Charles. Their family grew to ten grandchildren and three great grandchildren. A fourth great grandchild is due in August. David Ries’s achievements could fill two lifetimes. These highlights reveal a vibrant volunteer and servant of our country. He cherishes his work with 4-H, FFA, Indiana Farm Bureau, Mount Vernon School Board, and Kiwanis, receiving the Kiwanis Distinguished Service Award in 1998. He was inducted into the MVHS Football Athletic Hall of Fame. He was a US Army Sargent, two years Active, and a Drill Sargent, four years Reserve. He is an active member of Wolfgang Orchestra and Chorus. Ries’s work has been invaluable with the Historic Santa Claus Farm, an 84-acre, non-
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