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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, February 12, 2013
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Volume 133 Edition 7
Raben Road bridge out of service, structure unsafe
Only in Posey County... Billy Bob (Tom Strupp) loves Charlene (Donnie Goebel) , and the proof was in the entertainment provided for those in attendance at the fund-raiser Saturday evening at the Posey County Fairgrounds as the Bubba Brothers put on a memorable show. Here, the group does their rendition of “John Deere Green,” by Joe Diffie.” Photo by Dave Pearce
New Harmony loses hero By Dave Pearce The New Harmony community lost one of its most decorated heros and cheerleaders this week. James Doyle Westfall, 73, of New Harmony, Ind., passed away Monday, February 4, 2013. He was born September 8, 1939, in New Harmony, the son of Doyle and Helen (Endicott) Westfall. Jim was a Class of 1957 graduate of New Harmony High School and attended the University of Southern Mississippi graduating with degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics. He received two masters’ degrees from the University of Southern California in Computer Information Systems and Software Engineering. He was a Vietnam Veteran and a career officer in the United States Army attaining the rank of Major. He began his military career as an office machine repair person in
Europe. He then attended flight school and upon completion was deployed for his first tour in Vietnam. Upon returning, he was first a flight instructor and then joined the Corp of Engineers, competing with West Point graduates while he, at the time, had only a high school diploma. After returning from another tour in Vietnam, he completed his first college degree and was then transferred to Hawaii where he became a Project Officer developing a new Army Supply System. During his Army career he received 41 Air Medals, the Bronze Star, Vietnam Service Medal with “V” and others. He retired from the Army after 20 years of service, and then began his second career as a professor, and then Department Chair of the University of Evansville Computer Science Department. He was also a founding member of Evansville On-line, now owned by Synergy. Upon retiring from the University of Evansville, the family moved back to New Harmony where he became active in the community and local school. He was a member of Kiwanis, the American Legion, Working Men’s Institute, and an active member of his church. He is survived by his wife of 55 years,
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By Valerie Werkmeister Posey County is without the use of another bridge, the second to date. Highway Superintendent Steve Schenk reported the incident to the Posey County Commissioners during their meeting February 5. Schenk stated that the damage to the Raben Road Bridge was discovered late on February 1. The bridge has a seven-ton weight limit and Schenk reported that something much larger, possibly as big as 30 tons, hit the bridge. A steel beam is cracked and bowed. Schenk stated this bridge was built eight years ago at a cost of $1 million. It is closed pending a formal bridge inspection. The other bridge that will soon be rebuilt is located behind Wesselman’s Shopping Center in Mount Vernon. The commissioners approved Schenk’s request to advertise for asphalt bids. He stated they will accept bids on March 4, and they will be awarded at the following meeting slated for March 19. A road school will be conducted on March 5 – 6 with Carl Schmitz planning to attend. For this reason, the commissioners approved changing their meeting from March 5, to March 4, at 9 a.m. Brian Hirshberg, a representative from ProLiance Energy, a natural gas broker and Vectren subsidiary, delivered a presentation to the commissioners. ProLiance will offer costsavings to seven county buildings including: the Hovey House, the county highway garage, the courthouse, the EMS building, the Poseyville highway garage, the old jail and the sheriff’s department. The commissioners agreed to move forward with their proposal pending a contract review by the county attorney. Building commissioner, Ed Battieger, informed the commissioners of a nuisance complaint at 1200 N. Leonard Road. A registered letter was sent and received by the property owner, Howmull Properties, LLC, however they failed to attend the meeting. Battieger
stated they have also not attempted to contact him or clean up the property. The commissioners agreed to proceed with the next step in the nuisance complaint process by sending a letter from the county attorney. The commissioners appointed attorney Adam Farrar to the Emergency Medical Services Board. They are still in need of a volunteer that is a business representative who lives in and pays taxes in Posey County to fill the last vacant position on the board. They also need a volunteer for a position on the Posey County Redevelopment Board. Jim Hirsch, head of the Posey County Sheriff’s Department reserve officer’s program, informed the commissioners of the attributes of program. He stated the reserve officers covered 2,600 hours of service last year. Hirsch added they have been working hard to rebuild the program which only had $134 when Sheriff Oeth took office in 2011. Currently, it has $5,500 in its coffers to help pay for much needed equipment. The reserve officers help save the county money in overtime costs by covering deputy’s shifts when they are off or on vacation. The commissioners lauded the officers for their service to the county. County Clerk, Betty Postletheweight, informed the commissioners about a counterfeit $20 bill that recently passed through the office. She stated the $20 bill resembled any other $20, and went unnoticed until it was deposited into the bank. The bank contacted the Postletheweight and now measures will be put into place to help curb this from happening in the future. The Clerk’s office currently marks $50 and $100 bills and will begin marking $20 bills with a special counterfeit detecting marker. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 19, at 6 p.m. This is a change from their regularly scheduled time of 9 a.m. to allow citizens who work during the day the opportunity to attend the meeting.
“Bridge Out” lets everyone attempting to go across the bridge on Raben Road just east of Mount Vernon that the bridge has been damaged and is impassable. Photo by Zach Straw
Partners in Food gather to give thanks for crop bounty By Dave Pearce On Sunday evening at Zion-Lippe United Church of Christ, a large group consisting of mostly farmers gathered to give thanks for this year’s bountiful harvest. That could be a little confusing since 2012 was one of the worst years for farmers in many many years. However, this group was giving thanks for something even more precious than the harvest. They were giving thanks for the ability their group had to help so many families over the past year. The Partners in Food program was started by a group of four who gathered at the church about eight 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, 67 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 2012, Droege said he believes the group will be just about the same place it was last year. And that’s quite an accomplishment considering the year area farmers endured. To give some idea of the scope of this program, the fresh meat from nearly 30 head of
ThePCN
beef, 152 hogs, and over 18,000 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 almost 8700 pounds of ground beef and nearly 18,000 pounds of ground pork. Dewig, who spoke briefly at the meeting, estimated that translated into somewhere between 60 and 80 thousand pork burgers. The group also found a way to obtain and distribute 4000 pounds of Ball Park franks this year. Droege expressed that even the annual dinner, organized to thank those who provide sponsorship, was at no cost to the organization. The food and the labor was donated. Several distributors were on hand to sing the praises of the organization at the Sunday evening event. The Rev. Myers Hyman, who operates “At the Cross Mission” in Mount Vernon, told the crowd it had been a blessed year for his organization. He indicated that his organization, now operating out of Hedges Central School Building in Mount Vernon, served some 23,000 meals and about 30 meals per night carry-out. He said he first found out about the organization through the Posey County Community Foundation and besides the meals, the Mission serves about 125 families a month in Mount Vernon. Lora Norrrington, substituting for Mount Vernon Food Pantry Director Erin Hollinger, said that group served a “highest ever” 7,876 Partners in Food volunteer Kay Austin prepares to serve her famous homemade rolls people and 700 households last year. That in- during the annual “Thank You” dinner Sunday at Zion-Lippe Church. Photo by Dave cluded 2200 pounds of fresh meat provided Pearce
Inside this issue... Retrospective ................... A4 Community ........... A5 Social ...................... A6 Legals...............................B5-7 Deaths ................ A3 Sports .................. B1-5 Classifieds ..................... C3-4 Church .................. A7 Bus/Ag ................... A9
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