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Since 1882 ~ Successor to The Poseyville News and The New Harmony Times • New Harmony, IN Posey County’s locally-owned newspaper
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
$1.00
Volume 133 Edition 3
Pakistani fertilizer plant, 300 jobs, coming here Courtesy of the Evansville Courier The Indiana Finance Authority has issued $1.3 billion in bonds for the purpose of financing construction of a fertilizer plant in Posey County. Proceeds from the bonds will be loaned to Midwest Fertilizer Corp., which plans to build a “fully integrated, nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing facility” in Posey County, according to paperwork associated with the bonds’ issuance last month. Midwest Fertilizer Corp. is part of Fatima Group, an industrial conglomerate based in Lahore, Pakistan. The project has not yet been publicly announced, but Midwest Fertilizer Corp. provided details of its plans in a bond financing application submitted last fall. In that application, the company said it plans to build a plant at the Ports of Indiana in Mount Vernon, with an estimated construction start date in the fourth quarter of this year.
•According to the company’s website, it’s vision is as follows: •To be the preferred fertilizer company for farmers, business associates and suppliers by providing quality products and services. •To provide employees with an exciting, enabling and supportive environment to excel in, be innovative, entrepreneurial in an ethical and safe working place based on meritocracy and equal opportunity. •To be a responsible corporate citizen with a concern for the environment and the communities we deal with. The plant would create 309 full-time, permanent positions with an average annual wage of $58,000 plus benefits, and these jobs would be in place by 2015, the application says. One source was quoted as stating the construction of the Posey County facility could take about a year-and-a-half and could have as many as 1,250 full time workers on the job for the majority of that time.
The Fatima Fertilizer Company Limited was incorporated on December 24, 2003, as a joint venture between two major business groups in Pakistan namely, Fatima Group and Arif Habib Group. The Indiana Finance Authority, which handled the bond issuance, is an entity designed to help secure financing for state and local governments and business investment throughout the state. Jim McGoff, who serves as the Indiana Finance Authority’s general counsel, said the Midwest Fertilizer Corp. deal was made possible because of a federal disaster relief program. Because of flooding in 2008, Posey County was among a number of counties in Indiana and other Midwestern states to be declared a Midwestern Disaster Area under the Heartland Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2008. And because of this designation, McGoff said, Indiana was awarded $3.1 billion in
Midwestern Disaster Area Bonds. Of that $3.1 billion, Indiana was able to use about $2.2 billion, including the bond issue for the Posey County project. The purpose of the bond program is to spur economic development to make up for disaster-related job losses. Dec. 31 was the program’s expiration date. In this program the Indiana Finance Authority was what’s known as a conduit issuer, McGoff said. This means that the state issues bonds for the benefit of a private third party, but the bonds are not considered part of the state’s overall debt load. That also means that the state has no liability in the deal. “Because it’s a federal program, there is no detriment to the state. The program was set to expire Dec. 31, so we’re glad a company could take advantage of it before its expiration,” McGoff said.
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MSD North Posey opens clinic to cut medical care costs Special to the News A ribbon-cutting ceremony this week highlights a new partnership between Tri State Community Clinics and the Metropolitan School District of North Posey County. The ceremony opens a new employee health clinic for the Metropolitan School District of North Posey County, said Dr. Todd Camp, Superintendent of MSD of North Posey County. More than 150 employees of the MSD of North Posey County and their family members gain access to workplace health care today at the new clinic, located at the corner of highways 66 and 165 in Wadesville, Ind. “Right off the bat, our clinic will serve anyone who takes medical insurance through the MSD of North Posey, including staff and retirees,” said Dr. Camp. “North Posey has had many insurance increases over the past two or three years, so we created a wellness committee to see how we could improve our situation,” Dr. Camp explained. This committee resulted in partnership with Tri State Community Clinics, an Evansvillebased organization that provides health and wellness services to local industry since 2010. North Posey’s clinic, housed in a newlyJamie Gross makes an appointment for Angela Wannemuehler, an employee of MSD remodeled building in Wadesville, has apof North Posey. Photo submitted
proximately 1,000 square feet and features two examination rooms and an intake room. North Posey employees and family members can take advantage of the clinic on Mondays from 2 to 6 p.m., Wednesdays from 7 to 11 a.m., and Thursdays from 2 to 6 p.m. “We are confident that the availability of the clinic will improve the health and fitness of our employees,” said Dr. Camp. “In turn, better employee health can decrease absenteeism and improve productivity. This, in turn, gives our students a better education and also ultimately reduces our medical expenses.” Clinics provide medical personnel who serve as coaches and health advocates for employees and family members, said R. Chad Perkins, M.D., Chief Medical Officer for the Clinics. Dr. Perkins is a longtime Evansville physician who maintains a traditional practice in Evansville and directs Clinic medical activities. “Employees and family members typically use the Clinics for simple illnesses, strains and sprains, smoking cessation, weight loss and diabetic counseling, and sports physicals,” said Dr. Perkins. “The Clinics by no means replace tradition-
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Higgins, Nelson take oath for four years on school board By Pam Robinson Dr. Tom Kopatich, Superintendent of the MSD of Mount Vernon, requested a moment of silence for the Robb family, in particular the late Bailey Robb, a freshman at Mount Vernon High School. Three members of the Robb family, including Bailey, died during a tragic accidental house fire early this year. Since the terms expired of the three Mount Vernon school board officers on December 31, Kopatich then called the meeting to order and conducted the election of officers after at-large board members were sworn in. Loren Evans, notary public, administered the oath of office to re-elected school board member, Beth McFadin Higgins, and newly elected member, Clarence Nelson. Following the oath of office, Higgins and Nelson signed Loren Evans, Notary Public for the MSD of Mount Vernon, administers the oath of of- the oath of office certificates. Higgins is befice to Mount Vernon School Board members successful in the November, 2012, elections: ginning her third term on the school board. Beth McFadin Higgins and Clarence Nelson. Higgins is beginning her third four-year term Nelson is serving his first term. Immediately following, a unanimous elecwith the school board while Nelson is just starting his first term. Photo by Pam Robinson
tion of officers took place: Kathy Weinzapfel, president; Beth McFadin Higgins, vicepresident; Heather Allyn, secretary. Then, Weinzapfel assumed her role and conducted the remainder of the meeting. The five board members now include President Kathy Weinzapfel, Vice President Beth McFadin Higgins, Secretary Heather Allyn, Brian Jeffries and Clarence Nelson. They have all agreed once more to conduct meetings on the first and third Monday of each month at 5:45 p.m. in the junior high media center, under the condition the board may adjust meeting dates and times when necessary. Accepting the same 5.5 percent pay cut as MSD of Mount Vernon employees, board members voted to accept the same compensation as last year: $1,889 per year, $106 for the second regular meeting of each month, and $59 for special meetings. Well below the IRS
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Posey man faces additional 38-year sentence By Dave Pearce According to information released from Posey County Prosecutor Travis Clowers, 26-year-old rural Posey County resident Brandon McManomy will not be free again for a very long time. At a well-attended sentencing hearing on Friday, he was sentenced to 38 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections. Theat is compounded by the fact that he is currently serving a 15-year sentence as the result of a conviction in Kentucky. The sentences will not run concurrently. “We had over 60 uniformed officers who attended to show support for Deputy Montgomery and Trooper Compton,” Clowers said. “Law enforcement, especially in Posey county, is a close-knit community and each one of those officers knows that when their fellow officers put on their uniforms at the beginning of their shift, they face real dangers every day.” Clowers went on to say that thiws was a very tough situation for Montogomery and Compton and not a day goes by that they don’t think
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about the actions of that day and the injuries that were sustained. In December, McManomy was convicted of attempted murder, aggravated battery, battery resulting in serious bodily injury and resisting law enforcement. McManomy was represented by Boonville attorney Mark Phillips. “In a small community like ours, you don’t see these types of things happen every day but throughout the country, it does happen,” Clowers said. The seemingly routine arrest warrant was being served in rural northeastern Posey County in early 2011 when things went very wrong. “One of the disappointing things about this sentencing hearing was members of the family who testified and there were a lot of personal
attacks on the officers and how they handkled the situation,” Clowers said. “But in reality, the officers are the true heroes in this situation. They ultimately saved his life after they took the knife away from him.” McManomy was facing multiple charges in Kentucky and apparently stabbed himself when Posey County deputy sheriff Dan Montgomery and Indiana State Police Officer Kylen Compton entered the home to serve the arrest warrant. McManomy was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center by LifeFlight helicopter for treatment of serious injuries. Montgomery suffered a cut to the face in the incident that occurred at 1:30 p.m. Montgomery was taken to Deaconess Hospital in Evansville and received some 36 stitches to his face and throat area. Indiana State Police Information Officer
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Inside this issue... Retrospective ................... A4 Community ........... A5 Social ...................... A5 Legals ............................ B8-9 Deaths ................ A3 Sports .................. B1-5 Classifieds ..................... B6-7 Church .................. A6 Bus/Ag .................... A7
Todd Ringle indicated that when the officers arrived, the father of the suspect gave the officers access to the home. “The father told the officers that the suspect was downstairs so the officers went downstairs to confront the suspect,” Ringle explained. “As soon as the officers got downstairs, they knew that the suspect did not want to go to jail. They were about 10 feet away and explained to the subject that they couldn’t go away and that they had to take him to jail. At that point, the suspect grabbed a knife that he had on his possession. The knife was about four inches in length. He began to stab himself in the throat area. He stabbed himself multiple times in the throat area.” Ringle went on to say that Montgomery used a Taser on McManomy, and he went down immediately and the officers approached the suspect to take him into custody. However, he still had the knife in his hand and kept swinging the knife. The blade of the knife contacted Mont-
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