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 5, 2016
$1.00
(USPS S4 439-500) 39 500)) Volume 136 Edition 1
Mount Vernon officials look to even brighter 2016 By Lois Mittino Gray The New Year looks promising and productive for members of the Mount Vernon Common Council as they prepare to start working on their plans and pet projects. Officials took their oath of office Wednesday, December 30 at the City Hall, administered by Posey County Superior Court Judge Brent Almon. The oath states that each city official will support both the Constitutions of the United States and Indiana and discharge the duties and accept the responsibility of their office to the best of their ability. All oaths were sworn for the time period of January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2019. Mount Vernon Mayor John Tucker, who was unable to attend the swearing-in ceremony, plans to start the year enthusiastically working on many unfinished projects. “We
have the grant money to complete the pedestrian-bike trail to Brittlebank Park and we will soon be razing the old policefire station. I was sorry that no business wanted to purchase and refurbish the building as the city can’t afford that right now,” he said. “However, we are going to put a pocket park in its place as a tribute to the McFaddins who founded our city. Isn’t that a great project for our Bicentennial Year?” (Note: Mount Vernon was originally called McFaddin’s Bluff at its founding in 1816). Tucker added that he still hasn’t given up hope on a new community center. “We do have some money donated by local businesses and we may be able to make it happen. Let’s see what the year brings,” he mused.
Councilwoman-at-Large Becky Higgins talked after taking the oath about her work as the Chairman of the City Bicentennial Celebration Committee. “This is the year to make all our plans happen and our hard work pay off,” she said. Plans call for a catfish tournament, winefest, car shows, concerts, parades, torch relay, speakers and many other events all year long. First District Councilman Brian Jeffries wants to “continue working on growing the community and making it an attractive place to live.” Newly-elected Second District Councilman Larry Williams echoed those sentiments when he said, “We need to work on quality of life here. We need to get
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Recorder Rhoades warns deed copies are $2, easy By Lois Mittino Gray Posey County Recorder Mary Hoehn Rhoades is concerned that local property owners may be spending money needlessly on a scam that is making the rounds again in this area. A company calling itself Local Records Office on West Market Street in Indianapolis is sending out very authentic looking bills to owners stating it will provide a copy of their property deed to them for a service fee of $89. Rhoades’ office can make a copy of the same deed for a property owner for a $2 fee. “I am very worried that our elderly property owners especially will fall prey to this,” Rhoades explained. “This is not the first time around for that same company to send out these letters. It goes in spells. There is nothing illegal about their offer to copy the deed, it’s just a real moneymaker for them to do it instead of our office. Deeds are public records.” Rhoades’ said the new spate of these letters was called to her attention by a county farmer who brought it in to ask if he had to do this. He had a recent land sale and wondered if this was something to go with that transaction. “Luckily, it was totally unrelated and we told him not pay the $89 fee.” Since that time, others have called asking about the letter. Serving up prime ribs and drinks at American Legion Post 5’s annual New Year’s Eve Party were The letter has a property identification number, square footage, assessed value and other facts that make it look official. The small print has a dis- Lacey Breeze, Laura Frisby, Amy Boerner, and Angie Dickey. Photo by Zach Straw claimer which states, “This service to obtain a copy of your deed or other record of title is not associated with any governmental agency. You can obtain a copy of your deed or other record of your title from the county recorder in the county where your property is located. “ By Dave Pearce/Valerie Werkmeister happened was we got another bid and this company And that is what Mary Hoehn Rhoades would like property owners to Dollars for local governments and towns have been wanted $25,000 to come out and put our sludge in the know. “Let the Buyer Beware,” she said. increasingly tough to come by in the past few years ground. So we decided we would go ahead and buy so Poseyville officials have made it a point to look for equipment to do that. We found a piece of used equipways to save money. ment to do that and as a matter of fact, New Harmony Poseyville’s town garage will soon have additional has paid us to remove their sludge.” storage space. Town council members met WednesBaker went on to explain that through an agreement day, December 23, to finalize and approve claims with Seibert Farms, who charges to use the equipment, through the end of the year. It was also during this the $25000 that was spent each time the sludge removmeeting they decided to approve the expansion and the al was needed is now going to be able to be done by financing for the project. city-owned equipment for years to come at a total cost The addition is being affixed to the rear of the Gas of only $12000 plus the charge to run the equipment. and Water building to house a sludge machine which “This piece of equipment will last us for years,” will be used not only to clean Poseyville sludge but Baker said with a smile. “It’s a big piece of equipment has already been used for hire, to clean New Harmony so we decided to put two bays on the building, one to sludge. protect our leaf wagon and other equipment like out According to Poseyville Town Council President backhoe and tractors. The other one will be for this new Bruce Baker, the town may have struck a different kind piece of equipment.” of “black gold” when they decided to pick up a sludge The new structure will be approximately 30 feet machine for $12000 a few months ago. by 40 feet in size and include two, 18-foot tall garage Posey County Recorder Mary Hoehn Rhoades looks over the scam “We had this company that came in and put our doors which will provide plenty of space for tall equipletter local property owners have brought to her attention. Photo by sludge on farmland,” Baker explained the purpose of Continued on Page A5 Lois Mittino Gray the new machine. “They went out of business so what
New machine saves Poseyville dollars
Lynn building to have new face, uses By Dave Pearce Before too long, Lynn Township residents will again be able to be proud of the Wilson Community Center. And thanks to upgrades, area residents will have another option when they are looking for a place to hold family gatherings or yard sales. According to Lynn Township Trustee Donnie Mercer, the property, located next door to Smith School on Highway 69, was deeded to the township many years ago with only one stipulation…there could not be a church built on the property. “As I understand it, they said that a church built on the property might
divide the township,” Mercer said. So the Wilson Community Center was constructed on the land in 1949. Mercer said that he understands there is a time capsule on one corner of the building that was put inside the blocks in 1949. Once the renovation is completed, he said he intends to have a celebration and open house and hopefully open a time capsule. He does recognize the fact that the time capsule could have been opened at some time between then and now. But he remains hopeful. Word is that students at nearby Smith School put the items in the time capsule. One of them was his sister.
For years, the building was used as the polling place for Lynn Township. But about 10 years ago when polling place codes were changed, the building no longer was compliant with handicapped laws so the polling place is now located at the Posey County 4-H Fairgrounds. Mercer said he hopes that the work on the facility will enable it to once again be used as the Lynn Township Polling Place, since many of the township’s residents have to drive right past the building on their way to the fairgrounds to vote. Mercer knows it is a more central location.
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Lynn Township Trustee Donnie Mercer stands in front of the Wilson Community Center, a building he is helping to restore. The building has set unused for about 10 years. Photo by Dave Pearce
North Posey gymnasium project successful, nearing completion By Dave Pearce The weather has been kind and so has the budget for the new gymnasiums being built at both North Posey School Corporation elementary schools. “We are real happy with Performance Services,” North Posey School Supt. Todd Camp said of the company hired to oversee the expenses of the building project. “They are living up to their word and we are looking forward to having the new spaces. Financially, what we did with Performance Services was they gave us a guaranteed price…open book service, with no change orders. They have lived up to their word on that. That’s exactly what we contracted them for and there have been no changes in the price. They are around $1.8 million apiece.” Another big plus is that both the gymnasiums can be opened and be self-sufficient without opening the rest of the school building.
Bus/Ag .................A7 Classifieds ........ B 4 - 5 Community...........A4 Church...................A6
“We worked really hard to make that happen because it is a pain when you have to open up the whole building to let people into the gymnasium,” Camp said. According to Camp, there were a few unexpected delays at South Terrace early on but construction is coming along well and classes could be held in the new gymnasiums as early as sometime in February. “At South Terrace, we had some problems with the foundation and we had to come back in and do some engineering with the footers and it put it about a month behind,” Camp said in an interview this week. Although the schools were originally supposed to be able to take possession of both the gymnasiums in January, a commitment to quality has delayed the actual date by perhaps
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Deaths .................... A3 Legals ...................B3 Opinion ................A2 Retrospective........A5
Drawing of the completed North Elementary Gymnasium.
Drawing of the completed South Terrace Elementary Gymnasium.
School ....................A7 Social .....................A6 Sports ...... .........B1-3 TV Guide...........B6-7