This Copy Reserved Especially For:
Letters to Santa inside today Inside This Week: Opinion ................A2 Obits .................... A3 Retro ....................A4
T
Church .................A5 General ................A5 Business Dir ........A8
Jump ....................A9 Sports .....B1, B2, B4 Court News .........B6
Legals .....B5, B6, B8 Life Style..............B7 Classifieds............B9
SINCE 1882 Successor to The Poseyville News & New Harmony Times
P C N $1.00
Tuesday, December 22, 2020
Volume 140 Edition 50
Food trucks will now pay for NH presence
The Black Chapel United Methodist Church held their live Nativity scene on Sunday evening as hundreds of cars drove through the scene featuring live camels and an as-
sortment of other animals. Left to right in the manger scene are George McCarty, Roger Wade, Natalie Alvey, Kevin Alvey, and Jerry Sullivan. Photo by Dave Pearce
Bid accepted for Tresslar demolition By Lois Mittino Gray Even though Klenck was not the lowest bidder on the demolition of the 1888 Main Street (Tresslar) Building, members of the Mount Vernon Board of Works awarded the project to the Evansville-based company at their December 17, meeting. They took the advice of two engineers who felt the company’s experience doing such complicated projects was important to consider. This is the same company that took down the 155-foot tall concrete silo on the riverfront and more recently, the Mead Johnson building, near the Lloyd Expressway.
Mayor Bill Curtis initiated discussion by stating the three bids received were opened at the last meeting on December 3. From there, they underwent legal and engineering review. All bids submitted met the legal requirements for bidding. Both reviewing engineers, City Engineer Barry Tanner and Joe Vance from Hodge Structural Engineers recommended the city go with Klenck for the project. They cited their experience and their plan for using Sealand containers to keep debris on the site. Klenck Company’s bid was for $335,000. Shroyer Brothers Inc. of Muncie was slightly under at $ 334,780. Board
members expressed concern that Shroyer had 17 jobs listed and all but one were half of the estimated cost of this project. Board member David Dodd agreed with the recommendations of the engineers and added he felt Klenck is the best fit for this project. “They have proven they can handle a job like this with their experience and proven it through documentation,” he observed. Board member Andy Hoehn agreed and added this is a high visibility and high liability project and
Continued on Page A9
By Trisha L. Lopez The New Harmony Town Council voted on a food truck ordinance during its December meeting on Tuesday. After months of discussions and researching neighboring towns’ policies, council members voted 3-1 for an ordinance that would require food truck vendors not part of a festival to purchase $50 permits, limit hours of operation to 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and prohibits vendors from parking on Church or Main streets. The details of the ordinance, namely the per occurrence permit fee and time restrictions, led to several minutes of debate between council members and residents in attendance. “Fees should be $50. I think we need to start looking at all of our fees. We’re not getting enough money to cover our administrators salaries every year. Another thing I think we need to look at is the time. I think between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. is the only time we should allow the trucks,” Councilman Roger Wade said. The town requires a separate festival permit that would cover food truck vendors that are setting up in New Harmony as a part of the festival. If a vendor comes in for a specific event, not associated with a festival, the new ordinance would come into play. “I don’t want to make it too tough,” Councilman Tom Williams said. “We already talked about $25 as a fee originally and now it’s $50.” “Fifty dollars is cheap,” Council President Alvin Blaylock interjected. “As an example, I’ve done some addition. For the first 11 months of the year, the permit application fees brought in $1,945. We paid the zoning administrator $3,300 for those 11 months. It’s not a big deal to lose money. But it is.” Williams pointed out that Evansville’s food truck permit is $25 and covers a vendor for an entire year. He said he thought that $50 per occurrence was too much to ask of potential vendors. “That’s ($25) what we proposed,” he said. Wade argued that if a homeowner had to put two roofs on in the course of a year, “you’re going to have to pay for another permit.” “I know we just got a few restaurants in town and I don’t want to take business from them for somebody out of Evansville that comes down here and takes their business. I’ve got to look out for these guys. These guys have been here for years,” Wade explained. Williams countered that food trucks could bring in extra traffic which could generate more revenue for New Harmony business in the long run. “A lot of people would say the more the merrier,” Williams said. “If you create more activity, you get more people. More people go into those two or three restaurants that we have because there is more activity in town. Just like events. Sometimes an eatery in town doesn’t benefit from the Kunstfest, but they get
Continued on Page A9
Drug arrest made here was approximately one pound of synSpecial to the News Posey County Sheriff Tom Latham thetic marijuana in his vehicle. During an inventory of the vehicle, reported that an arreswt was made last and after placing Dartt under arrest, week. Latham said that ed on December Hicks located a large plastic bag con4, 2020, at approximately 11:18 am, taining approximately 3.89 ounces of synthetic marijuana. Posey County Sheriff’s OfHicks also located a lock fice Deputy Bryan Hicks box in the vehicle. was on patrol of State Road After obtaining a search 62 in the Harbor Town area warrant for the lock box, east of mount Vernon. Hicks along with DeHicks performed a traffic tectives from the Posey stop on a vehicle that was County Drug Task Force speeding. Hicks observed located .3 gram of Heroin, that the driver, Alex Dartt, Alex Dartt and 9.1 grams of Mari25, of Mount Vernon, was juana. moving around inside the Dartt was placed under arrest and vehicle and profusely sweating. Hicks also noticed a green plant material all transported to the Posey County Jail and charged with the following: over the front of his shirt. 1.) Dealing in Schedule I with a priDartt stated that he did not have a valid driver’s license. Hicks was also or conviction (LEVEL 2 FELONY) 2.) Possession of Cocaine or Narnotified by Posey Dispatch of an acWith the lack of helpers for Santa this year because of the indoor Covid risk, this Posey County Santa and cotic Drug (LEVEL 5 FELONY) tive arrest warrant for Dartt. Mrs. Claus used their outdoor facility to allow children to tell Santa, from a comfortable distance, what they 3.) Possession of Marijuana (Class desire for Christmas this year. Pictured are Daryl and Janine Woolsey, Santa’s helpers, along with siblings After Dartt was asked to step out of the vehicle, Dartt told Hicks that there B Misdemeanor) Emmy, Addie, and Ty Cole. Photo by Dave Pearce
Randall decides to keep talent in area Young teacher takes advantage of ‘teachable event’
Abby Randall
(USPS 439-500)
By Lois Mittino Gray With all the hoopla over the recent presidential election, novice teacher Abby Randall took advantage of a ‘teachable moment’ and decided to conduct her own election in her third grade classroom at Farmersville Elementary School. Which cookie is better---chocolate chip or Oreo? The Social Studies lesson began with all 18 of her students registering to vote several days before the event. On the actual Election Day, they had to show their registration card and print and sign their name in the big book before dropping a ballot in the box. Posey County Clerk Kay Kilgore gave Abby some of the “I Voted” stickers that she gives to the citizenry and Abby’s students wore them with pride. So, which cookie won that day? “Hands down, the chocolate chip won
by a lot. Poor Oreo had only one vote,” she said with a laugh. Miss Randall loves teaching at the school that she attended in her early years. “Now I’m a teacher there and I love being with my students every day,” she reflected. “I did my student teaching at Farmersville and I was fortunate when they had an opening there to get it.” A member of the Mount Vernon High School Class of 2015, Abby went on to get her Elementary Education degree, with a minor in science, from the University of Southern Indiana in December of 2018. Since it was the middle of the school year, she took a position as a long-term sub at West Elementary School filling in for a teacher on maternity leave. She was hired for her first full year in the Fall of 2019 at Farmersville to teach twenty first grad-
ers. Unfortunately, it never was a full year. “I never did get to complete the entire year of school. Our last in-class day was March 13. At first, we prepared paper packets for the students to take home for two weeks. Then the closure was extended and we had to do another two week packet in reading and math. We expected to go back and then we found out we would not go back at all. I had to say goodbye to the very first class I ever taught in a Zoom meeting. It was very odd and sad,” she recalled. “It is so much better to see my third graders live and in person now. I realize we could go virtual again if necessary. All my students have Chromebooks and know how to use Google Classroom. I enjoy being in the actual classroom and feel very safe with them,” Miss Randall remarked. She explained
the children take many safety precautions and wash their hands and sanitize their desks often. “The kids are pretty good about wearing masks. I can take mine off when we are six feet apart, but that is infrequent, so I wear my mask just about all day long. It was hot at first at the beginning of the year, but I am used to it now. The hardest part was getting to know all the voices behind the masks. I’d have to say who just asked that question?” Abby is the daughter of Mike and Nancy Randall and lives with them in their Mount Vernon home. She plans to get an apartment sometime next year. Her sister, Megan Dick, just got married in August and lives in the St. Philips area. “It’s great to work so close to home at a place that was so important to my early life,” she noted.