Successor to The Poseyville News & New Harmony Times
LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED SINCE 1882
“OUR LIBERTIES WE PRIZE, AND OUR RIGHTS WE WILL MAINTAIN.” Posey County’s ONLY Locally Owned Newspaper.
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
$1.00
(USPS S4 439-500) 39 500)) Volume 136 Edition 2
NH Town Council approves McDaniel, seeks counsel By Valerie Werkmeister A few members of the New Harmony Town Council met for a special meeting on Friday, January 8, and hired a new town marshal. New council members Gary Watson, Alvin Blaylock and Roger Wade were present for the vote. David Flanders and Don Gibbs were absent. Caleb McDaniel was chosen for the position that was long occupied by town favorite, Scott Champlin. He retired in November. McDaniel, 21, does not have
prior police experience. He has worked as an EMT and fireman for the New Harmony Fire Department, a dispatcher for the Posey County Sheriff’s Department and most recently as security at Sabic. He intends to begin his 17-week training on February 1, in Evansville at the Southwestern Indiana Law Enforcement Academy (SWILEA) McDaniel and council members signed an agreement that states he will serve as the probationary and interim town marshal until January
7, 2017. He will receive a $2,375.76 bonus now to be paid after January 15. His salary will begin at $32,500 and he’ll receive a $500 increase to the annual salary once he starts at SWILEA. Upon graduation, he will receive another $500 increase. The final pay increase will be given after graduation and 90 days of service to bring his annual salary to a total of $34,000. If McDaniel is terminated or resigns before the end of his probationary year, he will be required to repay the cost of his training at
SWILEA. “I’m very excited to get this underway. I’ve been looking forward to law enforcement for my whole life. I’ve been training and planning to do this and me and Scott Champlin had talked awhile back and we had kind of set stuff in motion. You know, he was kind of trying to get me to go, you know come here and start. I think it’s going to be a good time and hopefully the town’s people will benefit from me being here and hopefully I will benefit from it as well,” McDaniel
said. McDaniel added he grew up here and knows a lot of the people in the area. He has one college credit in criminology through his attendance at Southern Indiana Career and Technical Center in Evansville during his junior year. He also gained experience in public service through his involvement as a cadet volunteer on New Harmony Fire Department. He also served as a chief on the Posey
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MV man faces sex with minor charge By Dave Pearce she told the worker that the two had sexual intercourse A Mount Vernon man was arrested this week and between five and 10 times at the Stallings home. faces charges of sexual misconduct with a minor. He Officers then proceeded to the Stallings home where remains in the Posey County Jail on a Stallings and his grandfather were in the $5,000 bond. room with the officer when he was read According to the probable cause affidahis Miranda Warnings and he agreed to vit, John A. Stallings, 27, of Lee Drive in answer questions. Mount Vernon, admitted that he had interStallings first indicated that he didn’t course with the 14-year-old babysitter of know if he had inappropriate contact with Stallings’ children. the minor. He said that he came home Members of the Mount Vernon Police from work one night and had a couple of Department were made aware of the situadrinks. He went on to describe his version tion when the mother of the alleged victim of what happened that night. asked to meet with officers. Officers went When Stallings was finishing the deJohn A. Stallings to the alleged victim’s home where her scription, his grandmother walked into mother indicated that her daughter had told a friend of the room and asked him if had sex with the girl. He the mother’s that she had sexual intercourse with some- again said he didn’t know. The officer advised Stallone she identified as ‘Tony.’ ings again that he was simply there to get Stallings’ Two male police officers attempted to talk to the vic- side of the story. tim but realized quickly that due to the sensitive nature Upon learning that officers had talked to the victim of the conversation, the victim might be more comfort- and knew what had happened, Stallings replied, “Yeah, able speaking with a female. it happened.” A Child Protective Services worker was brought in to Officers finished the interrogation and took Stallings speak to the alleged victim. When the worker returned, into custody.
Check in Breeze’s honor to help babies Little Addyson Chamberlain enjoys her first experience in snow near her St. Philip home. She is the daughter of Darryl and Emiley Chamberlain and the granddaughter of Gene and Kelley Esche.
Winefest will be April 10 By Lois Mittino Gray Brittaney Johnson, representing the Southwestern Indiana Chamber of Commerce, appeared before the Mount Vernon Board of Public Works meeting on January 7 to announce her group will host a Winefest on Saturday, April 30. It will be one of the city’s premiere Bicentennial Events and will be called ‘Wine on Water.’ The Chamber requests that Water Street be closed from Main to Walnut for the noon to 9 p.m. wine tasting event. Johnson said there will be several wine vendors there and they will provide their own bartenders and certificates of liability. There will be eight Posey County-based restaurants selling food as well. The participating vendors will require use of the electrical boxes. She added they have money in the budget for two off duty police officers for security during the entire event. The board approved the request to close the street on Friday afternoon
By Brooke Simpson Precious Posies received a very nice surprise on January 5, 2016, during the Purdue Extension Homemakers meeting. Posey County’s Right to Life and Paul Breeze presented a $2000 check to the organization in memory of his late wife Martha Breeze. A former Posey County Recorder and Right to Life Officer, Martha was very active with both groups and this donation came at the perfect time. Precious Posies’ manager Cheryl Potter said she has written grants in the past for funding needed to keep the program going, and had appealed to the Posey County Community Fund for the past two years. She said this year she felt like asking them again this year would just be too much. Potter has written grants previously for the organization, maintained very detailed records of how many customers came in and the coupons used each month for the last four years to show how the program has grown. Her recorded proved the need is still
there. Potter and others at the meeting said God had plans and Martha was smiling down on them. With tearful eyes Ann Nussel, Janice Martin (President for Posey County’s Right to Life), Deanna Goossens (Secretary of Right to Life), Paul Breeze (Husband of the late Martha Breeze), Cheryl Potter (Manager for Precious Posies), Laurie Mason (President of the Purdue Extension Homemakers Club), and Wilma Jacobs all stood together as the exchange took place. In 1999, Jacobs along with several others applied for a $500 grant from the state. The conditions of the grant were that it had to be used for the community. With that Precious Posies was born. Starting out in a room above the old skating rink in a room with no heat or air, mothers of Posey County’s newest additions could get “a hand up not a hand out” from the program. When an expectant mother goes to the doctor for a
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Briefly Posey County Health Board to meet The Posey County Health Board will meet Tuesday, January 12, 2016 at 6 p.m. at the Coliseum, Room 20, Mount Vernon, Ind. For questions, please contact the Health Department, 812-838-1328. APL presents Getting Crafty: Easy Heart String Art Valentine’s Day is coming, so what can you make that shows how much you love someone? Alexandrian Public Library has a possible solution to your dilemma. On January 19 local artist Monica Emerson will help you make an easy piece of Heart String Art that’s perfect for Valentine’s Day. And, the end result is beautiful and gratifying. All your necessary supplies will be provided for you free of any cost. All you have to do is choose the time you want to attend the program: 10 a.m. or 6 p.m. This program will take place in room 223 at Hedges Central Community Center. Please enter through door 16 on Canal Street This is a secure building, so please plan on arriving five-10 minutes before the start of the program or you may be locked out. Registration for this program is required. You can register now for this easy to do craft project by calling the Adult Information Desk at 812-838-3286 or going to the Alexandrian Public Library website at http:// alexandrianpl.org. PC Health Department to hold immunization clinics The Posey County Health Department will hold immunization clinics at the Coliseum, Room 20, in Mount Vernon, Ind., from 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. on the following days: Thursday, January 14, 2016, Thursday, January 28, 2016, Thursday, February 11, 2016 and Thursday, February 25, 2016. Appointments are not needed for these clinics. For questions, contact the Health Department at 812-838-1328. BMV announces holiday closing BMV Announces Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Hours Kent Abernathy, Commissioner of the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), announced today that all BMV license branches will be closed Saturday, January 16 through Monday, January 18 in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. All branches resume their regularly scheduled business hours on Tuesday, January 19.
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Ann Nussel, Janice Martin, Deanna Goossens, Paul Breeze, Cheryl Potter, Laurie Mason, and Wilma Jacobs all stand together as Posey County’s Right to Life organization presented a $2,000 donation to Precious Posies in memory of the late Martha Breeze at the Purdue Extention Homemakers Club meeting on January 5, 2016. Photo by Brooke Simpson
Officers honored for saving life
Officer Casey Young, left and Officer Brandon Brauser, middle, listen as Police Chief Grant Beloat reads the letter of commendation aloud to the officers and their families. The officers were honored with the Lifesaving Award pin stemming from a structure fire rescue. Photo by Lois Mittino Gray
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School ....................A8 Social .....................A6 Sports ...... .........B1-3 TV Guide...........B6-7
By Lois Mittino Gray Two rookie Mount Vernon rookie police officers saved a human life on September 18 last year and the duo were honored publicly for their efforts by their chief at the Mount Vernon Board of Public Works meeting on January 7. Police Chief Grant Beloat presented first year officers Casey Young and Brandon Brauser with Lifesaving Award pins to wear on their uniform and letters of commendation to go into their police files as proud family members watched. “We were both working midnight patrol that night and received a radio call of a structure fire in the 600 block of East Second Street.
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