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.” Posey County’s only locally-owned newspaper
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Briefly
Three long-time school administrators to retire
American Legion Post 5 at 203 Walnut Street in Mount Vernon will host a ‘Veterans Benefits Seminar’ at the Legion home on Wednesday, March 12. The seminar will begin at 6:30 p.m. and last about an hour with a question and answer period to follow. American Legion Department of Indiana Veterans Service Officer, John Hickey, will be presenting the program and answering your questions. John has served the American Legion Department of Indiana Veterans Affairs 20 years and is well versed on all aspects of veteran’s benefits. Veterans with questions about their benefits are encouraged to attend this seminar. If you plan to attend please RSVP to Posey County Veterans Service Officer, David Sharber, by phone at 812-838-8372 or by e-mail at dave.sharber@poseycountygov. org. Please include your contact phone number in your message so that you can be notified you in the event of changes. This event is open to the public for area veterans and their families.
By Lois Mittino Gray The Mount Vernon School Board ruefully accepted the resignations of three top administrators within the district at their February 17 meeting. Resigning at the end of this school year are Jody Pfister, Gary Redman, and Fran Wood-Osborne. School Board President Beth McFadin Higgins summed up everyone’s mixed emotions by saying, “We want to honor their request, but it is tough to lose all three of them as they will be deeply missed and hard to replace.” Pfister, a 36-year veteran who has served on many levels from teacher to principal, is currently the Director of Curriculum, Grants and Testing. Fran Wood-Osborne has been there almost as long with 35.5 years in many capacities and now serves as Special Services Director. Redman is the Athletic Director with 21 years experience. “Good or bad, Gary hired me 21 years ago as one of his first actions,” School Superintendent Tom Kopatich quipped as the audience chuckled. “All three of them have done a tremendous job moving this corporation forward and will be missed.” Teachers and staff who took the retirement incentive package will be announced at the March meeting. The board also appointed all the remaining district directors, principals and assistants to a two year term ending 2015-1016 as required by the state before March 1. Kopatich also discussed the timely topic of snow days. To date, the district has called off seven days. Two of those cold days in January have a state waiver, so only five have to be made up. Since the schedule has five built-in snow days, every thing is as planned with the fifth being made up on Friday, May 23 Graduation Day. Teachers will have to go back on the following Tuesday after Memorial Day. “If we have to call one more snow day, we will all go that Tuesday and add it to the end of the year,” Kopatich explained. He added optimistically that the Daytona 500 is this weekend and that is always the first sign of spring to him, so maybe better weather is on the way. In other board action: • A bullying policy was approved with changes mandated by
Veterans Benefits Seminar scheduled
Report to the PC Business Community Dinner to be held On Wednesday, March 5 at New Harmony Inn & Conference Center, the Southwest Indiana Chamber will host the annual Report to the Posey County Business Community Dinner. The evening will feature highlight of recent business impacts made in the Posey County community and for a celebration of 2014 Posey County Award recipients. The evening will begin with a 5:30 p.m. Cocktail Reception followed by Dinner and Reception at 6 p.m. For more information, contact Brittaney Johnson, Posey County Director at the Southwest Indiana Chamber, by phone at 812-838-3639 or email.
Community Center to host rummage sale The Posey County Community Center, located at the Posey County Fairgrounds on Highway 69 South of New Harmony, will be hosting a Rummage Sale on Saturday, March 8. The doors will be open to the public from 8 a.m. until noon. With approximately 40 vendors committing to attend, there will be a wide selection of items to choose from. Clothing, shoes, boots, kitchen and household items, collectibles, dolls, jewelry, antiques, decorations, picture frames, books, glassware; are just a few of the many items that could be available at this event. There is still vendor space available. For a registration form or more information, contact the Purdue Extension Office at 838-1331.
St. Francis to host Relay paint party Paint with your friends and support Relay for Life at the same time. The St Francis Relay for Life team and friends will host their third Paint Party on Saturday, March 29 at St. Francis cafeteria in Poseyville beginning at 9 a.m. Paint your choice of an Egg, Initial (whimsical or regular), or a Heart or a Cross. Have something else in mind you’d like to paint? Let us know and we may be able to accommodate. Your $45 registration and item choice is a must by Friday, March 22. Children are welcome to come and paint a smaller item for only $25. Snacks and drinks are included in the registration fee. Checks may be made payable to SFX Relay for Life. Contact Jeri Ziliak at 449-7445 or rjziliak@ yahoo.com for more information. You may also ‘like’Facebook and check out events to keep up to date on our activities.
Correction The article titled ‘Posey’s EMS continues to be costly’ in last week’s Posey County News incorrectly identified the County Recorder as Martha Breeze not Mary Hoehn Rhoades.
Continued on Page A13
Secret Service investigating former official
By Dave Pearce According to information received by the Posey County News, former Posey County Treasurer Chris Harp is being investigated by the Secret Service. Mount Vernon resident Chris Harp has spent more than her share of time in the news following her election to the office of Posey County Treasurer nearly three years ago. But just after a court found recently there was no wrong-doing on Harp’s part as she stepped down from the office and Justin White was appointed to replace her as Treasurer. Posey County Democratic Party leader Ed Adams filed a lawsuit on behalf of ‘the people’ indicating that Harp should never have been seated because of her inability to secure the recommended bond amount. Harp has been serving as the Chief Deputy Treasurer. But Harp’s name surfaced again this week as the Secret Service office in Evansville, Ind., has contacted Posey County Prosecutor Travis Clowers for his help in securing subpoenas. “I was contacted by the Secret Service and they explained that they were investigating Chris Harp,” Clowers said. “They explained they would need help in securing subpoenas for records and the investigation is ongoing.” Clowers indicated they are continuing to look at records and interview witnesses. Clowers said the Secret Service asked for subpoenas concerning financial institutions in both Posey County and in Evansville. The U.S. Secret Service has two distinct areas of responsibility. The Evansville office general is concerned with Financial Crimes, covering missions such as prevention and investigation of counterfeiting of U.S. currency and U.S. treasury securities, and investigation of major fraud. The agency’s primary investigative mission is to safeguard the payment and financial systems of the United States. These include crimes that involve financial institution fraud, computer and telecommunications fraud, false identification documents, access device fraud, advance fee fraud, electronic funds transfers and money laundering as it relates to the agency’s core violations.
Retrospective ...... A 4 Legals ............... B 5 - 6 Classifieds ........ B 7 - 8 Community ......... A 5
$1.00
(USPS S4 439-500) 39 5 0 0)
Volume 134 Edition 8
Scott Hancock was recently honored by Monsanto, the company for which he works. He earned a $2,500 award for the agriculture school of his choice. Hancock chose North Posey High School to receive the award. Pictured during the presentation are Doug Bergman (Monsanto Rep.), Scott Hancock (Winning Farmer), Dennis Heil (Posey Coounty Coop Rep.), Tom Hancock (Winning Farmer), Olivia Goebel (Chapter Secretary), and Parker Sturgell (Chapter Reporter). Photo by Ellie Herrmann
Mistrial declared in felony trial By Dave Pearce The trial of Derrick Demarco Armstead, who was arrested on July 29 as the result of altercations at Twin Lakes Mobile Home Park, has been delayed. According to Posey County Prosecutor Travis Clowers, a jury pool of around 50 people were in the Posey County Superior Courtroom of Judge Brent Almon and jury selection was ready to being when a member of the Courthouse staff brought Armstead into the room.
Armstead is facing several charges including being an Habitual Offender after two men were hospitalized after suffering stab wounds on July 29, allegedly at the hands of Armstead. “One of the members of the court staff brought the defendant into the court room without his attorney before the judge and the prosecutor were out there,” Clowers explained. “He was there for perhaps a minute
Continued on Page A13
Duane Miller of Flaherty and Collins, Larry Williams, J. Jacob Sipe of IHCDA, Andy Myszak of Myszak & Palmer, Mayor John Tucker, attorney Beth McFadin Higgins, Brian Emmons of First Merchants Bank, and Shelly Kirk of 5/3 Bank celebrate Open House at The Landing with a ribbon cutting. Photo by Zach Straw
New Harmony grapples with ideas for school By Valerie Werkmeister What do you do with a former school building, other than use it as a school? New Harmony officials have been trying to answer that question ever since the school was forced to close its doors. Last fall, the town council hired Kennedy Hutson Associates of Monticello, Ill., to develop ideas for the structure’s use. Keddy Hutson returned on Thursday, February 20, to share his vision during the council’s monthly meeting. Hutson explained he conducted interviews with council members as well as other community members to get a sense of what the townsfolk would like to see happen with the former school. He used the information to develop a plan and produced drawings to illustrate the plan. The first plan, known as Scheme A, included retaining the entire building for use as a campus setting as possibly an alternative type school, college satellite
campus or other type of creative learning or trade school setting. Additional housing would be created for educators or administrators to reside nearby as well as studio apartments and dormitories. The second plan involved removing a portion of the building but retaining the athletic area and kitchen to be used as at type of community center. Scheme B’s plan included a wetlands area, premium housing, a neighborhood park, and bike paths. The final option, or Scheme C, included razing the entire structure and create various types of housing units on the property. Each of the three designs included housing of some sort, green space and a wetlands area. The council has already expressed a desire to return other vacant properties, such as the former Tree of Life Building, into hous-
Continued on Page A3
New public safety building one step nearer By Lois Mittino Gray The Mount Vernon Board of Public Works took the first step toward actual construction of the new public safety building by awarding the contract to supply steel for the infrastructure at its February 6 meeting. The low bid was awarded to Empire Construction of Evansville at a cost of $76,650. Seven bids were opened in a special session held the day before. In an ensuing email, the architect assured the board that all standards were met by the lowest bid before it was awarded. The architect is hopeful that steel delivery will happen in 7-9 weeks so that work can get started on the combined policefire building. It is projected to be completed by July. The building site, located at 311 College Avenue, is the former Dausmann Motor Company and adjoining the former Schroeder’s Marathon lot. The building will be renovated into a two story structure with housing for firemen, additional bays for trucks and police vehicles and office areas for both groups. In other board action: • Sewer Commissioner Rodney Givens said the
Deaths .............. ...A3 Church ................ A 7 Social .................. A 6 School ................. A 8
state inspector was at the sewer plant and liked everything he saw, with one exception. The city was issued a citation for not having the SCADA alarm system in working order. City personnel should be getting alarms on cell phones when things are not functioning. At the last meeting on January 23, Givens asked to investigate the cost of alarms for the system and report back to the board. He reported that the alarm package was quoted at $7,695 by the original equipment supplier. There were no other quotes made for the repairs as Givens thought it would be better to keep all the suppliers the same. Board Member Bill Curtis encouraged Givens to ‘look for other prices for that kind of expenditure. It is standard operating procedure.’ Givens agreed and will report back with more system alarm quotes. He also said door tags will be hung on the homes of owners affected next week when Layne Inliners will work on the sewer relining on Magnolia in the Coun-
Sports ............... B 1 - 4 Bus/Ag ................ A 9 Opinion ............. A 1 2 www.poseycountynews.com
Continued on Page A13