Since 1882 ~ Successor to The Poseyville News and The New Harmony Times • New Harmony, IN
“Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain.” Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Posey County’s only locally-owned newspaper
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Volume 134 Edition 6
Mount Vernon awarded $3 million in grants for renovation, port road
Mount Vernon City Attorney Beth McFadin-Higgins pointing to the photo chart explaining the new trail location to Vectren’s Mike Smith. Vectren will do the trail lighting work. Photo by Lois Gray By Lois Mittino Gray Mount Vernon Mayor John Tucker proudly announced at a press conference on Friday that the city has received not just one, but two, INDOT grants totaling almost 3.2 million dollars. “It may be cold outside, but it’s warm in here with this great news that will improve citizen safety and quality of life,” he began. After traveling to Vincennes to plead his case for the grants, Tucker found out on Tues., Feb. 4 about the double award. He said just a few cities are selected to receive them and was elated that Mount Vernon was
granted two. The first grant was for $465,600 to build an access road from the Southwest Maritime Port west entrance to State Street. The road is now a grassy area that will be developed south of the Stendeback Funeral Home and Arby’s Restaurant near there. It will intersect with State Street at its junction with Indiana 62 west (Fourth Street) as a traffic light is already there. “It is estimated that 15-20,000 fully loaded semis a year now have to turn left across four lanes of traffic to head west on 62 out of the port,” Tucker said. “This creates a safety issue and is hard for them, too.” To avoid doing this, some semis go out the back entrance and travel through neighborhoods. “Many of them go right past a children’s playground at Kimball Park to go to the light on Kimball Street and turn left. This will be so much safer,” the mayor explained. The second award is for $2,686,492 to complete phase three of the downtown revitalization project. The Riverfront Trail, completed in phase two along the riverfront, will be extended from Water Street north all the way up Main Street to Indiana 62 (Fourth Street). The ten foot wide blacktopped trail will be enhanced with lighting similar to that in Riverfront Park. It will be landscaped and environmentally friendly with an added small ‘pocket park.’ After all five phases are complete, the trail will eventually extend all the way to Brittlebank Park. “These three blocks are the heart of our community. If we refurbish it and improve the look and the deteriorating buildings, we can breathe new life into down-
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Madison Werry and Michael Bender were named North Posey basketball homecoming royalty prior to the varsity game on Friday night. Photo by Dave Pearce
Partners in Food appreciation meal draws praise, crowd By Dave Pearce In the Bible, it reads: “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you.” In another place, the Lord speaks through the Bible: “Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger.” Then in Deuternomy, the instructions are as follows: “When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.” “You are those gleaners,” Jim Droege told members of a congregation of participants in the Partners in Food program held Sunday evening at Zion-Lippe United Church of Christ. The Partners in Food program was started by a group of four who gathered at the church about nine years ago when one of the food assistance groups for the area announced that the program would be ending. From that group of four the
first year, 75 now are partners in the group. “One of the things that makes this such a special program is that there is absolutely no overhead,” spokesperson Jim Droege told the audience on Sunday. “The church here provides us with someone to answer the phone and everything else is donated.” Donations come in the form of farmers donating the proceeds of one acre of their crops to the program through shares which can be purchased by individuals. When the final numbers are finally calculated for 2013, Droege said he believes the group will be ahead of last year. To give some idea of the scope of this program, the fresh meat from nearly 35 head of beef, 149 hogs, and over 16,000 pounds of potatoes were distributed through local food pantries this year. Processing of the meat, done at a discount through DeWig Meats in Haubstadt and some by Paul Goebel, resulted in over 16,000 pounds of ground beef and nearly 15,000 pounds of ground pork. DeWig, who spoke briefly at the meeting, estimated that translated into somewhere around 125,000 sandwiches.
Partners in Food appreciation dinner emcee Jim Droege listens as Denny Schaeffer and Kathy Ridley tell the audience what the program has meant to At The Cross Mission this year. Photo by Dave Pearce The rib portion of the animals is barbecued and sold with all proceeds going to assist the organization. MV Elks host Trivia Night Droege expressed that even the On Friday, February 21, Mount Vernon Elks Lodge 277 will be holdannual dinner, organized to thank ing our annual Cancer Benefit. Justin Suedmeyer has planned a Trivia those who provide sponsorship, Night for us. This is guest night, so please get your teams lined up to was at no cost to the organization. compete. Teams will be comprised of four members. The entry fee is $40 The food and the labor was doper team. Trivia begins at 6:30 p.m. and lasts approximately two hours. nated. There will be a steak dinner served at 5 p.m. Please RSVP to Donna at 838-3361 if you will be attending the dinner and also, let her know if you Continued on Page A11 will compete in the Trivia contest. Cancer Research is the Indiana Elks State Project. Since its inception in the 1940’s, Indiana Elks have given over $9.0 Million combined to Purdue University for research and Indiana University for clinical studies. Please come out and have some fun and support this worthy cause.
Briefly
State of the County slated for Feb. 12 The Southwest Indiana Chamber will host the annual Posey County State of the Government Luncheon on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at the Ribeyre Gymnasium. This important community meeting will serve as an opportunity for the speakers to present information about their respective communities and highlight some of the issues their communities are facing. Posey County Commissioners: Carl Schmitz, President; Posey County Council: Alan Blackburn, Vice President; Mayor of Mount Vernon: John Tucker; New Harmony Town Council: Joe Straw, President; Poseyville Town Council: Bruce Baker, President; Posey County Economic Development Partnership: John Taylor, Executive Director Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana For more information, contact Brittaney Johnson, Posey County director at the Southwest Indiana Chamber, by phone at 812-838-3639.
Troop 387 to host Pancake Breakfast/Spaghetti Supper Boy Scout Troop 387 participated in Scout Sunday church services at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Poseyville on Sunday, February 9. Pictured front row, from left are: Richie Meyer, Logan Woods, Paul Goins, Bryce Kiesel, Jacob Lingafelter and Hunter Straw. Second row from left are: Assistant Scoutmaster John Epley, Jared Tepool, Layne Coleman, Devin Kiesel, Drew Cook, Alex Garcia, Thomas Rapp, Devon Smith and Cole Werkmeister. In the back row are: Assistant Scoutmaster Matt Tepool, Ryan Garcia, AJ Reynolds, Dalton Epley, Scoutmaster Mitch Wagner, Brandon Tepool, Assistant Scoutmaster Russ Werkmeister, Chris Reynolds and Glen Alexander. Photo by Valerie Werkmeister
Online property tax payment nears Soon, Posey County taxpayers will be able to pay their property taxes online. According to Posey County Treasurer, Justin White, the online feature will be added to the county’s website and users will be able to search, view and pay their property taxes with a major credit card, debit card or e-check. The new payment options will also be available to clients who come into the office. According to White, Posey County is one of just a few counties within the state Indiana that do not already offer this service. “These new payment options will bring an up-to-date level of
convenience and accuracy to the payment process,” White said. Nominal processing fees will apply, but it will be minimal and save some taxpayers who work in another county from having to take the afternoon off work in order to pay their taxes in person at the Treasurer’s office. When the online feature is ready, taxpayers will visit the county web-
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site at www.poseycountygov.org and click on the Treasurer’s Office link listed under County offices. From there, a link will be available for online payments and searches. White added that his office is continuously seeking new ways to implement improvements that will make it even more accurate, more convenient and more cost effective for its patrons.
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The fundraiser event is scheduled Saturday, February 22, and will be held at the Poseyville Community Center, 60 N. Church Street in Poseyville. The pancake breakfast will be from 7 a.m. -10:30 a.m. and for a minimum donation of $5, the menu will consist of pancakes, sausage, eggs, and choice of coffee, milk or orange juice. The spaghetti dinner will begin at 4:30 p.m. and last until 7:30 p.m. The menu will include spaghetti, garlic bread, salad and choice of drink. Desserts will be available for sale. A minimum donation of $7 is requested. Tickets will be sold in advance and will also be available to purchase at the door. Anyone interested in purchasing tickets may call Julie Reynolds at 812-453-0062, Kim Epley at 812-575-9492 or Valerie Werkmeister at 812-499-4917
Fundraiser to benefit Mount Vernon Homeless Shelter Enjoy an early Valentine’s Day lunch or dinner on February 13 at Silverwood Restaurant, 533 W. Fourth Street, Mount Vernon and 10 percent of those restaurant sales will benefit the Homeless Shelter of Mount Vernon. Lunch or Dinner Diner-in or carry out the Special of the Day: Homemade Chicken & Dumplings, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Green Beans and Rolls with Spiced Butter. Sandwiches, salads and desserts from the menu are also available. Local celebrities will volunteer their time to help serve either lunch or dinner, so come on out and enjoy a delicious homemade meal while helping a good cause.
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