T
P C N SINCE 1882 Successor to The Poseyville News & New Harmony Times POSEY COUNTY’S ONLY LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED NEWSPAPER
Volume 140 Edition 16
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
$1.00
Posey area communities to receive $800,000 for roads Special to the News Local communities were recently awarded over $800,000 in state matching grants to bolster road and bridge improvements, according to State Reps. Wendy McNamara (R-Evansville) and Matt Hostettler (R-Fort Branch). Over 200 Indiana cities, towns and counties received a combined total of $126.5 million through the Community Crossings Matching Grant program. The grants are made available through the Indiana Department of Transpor-
tation as a result of a law McNamara supported in 2017. “Investing in Indiana’s infrastructure is a local and state effort,” McNamara said. “Through this program, our communities both big and small can benefit and complete muchneeded road projects.” Posey County received $754,121 and New Harmony received $94,687 for local road projects in matching grants. McNamara said grant funding can be used
toward road and bridge preservation, road reconstruction, intersection improvements, guardrail replacements and signage. Smaller municipalities must provide a match of 25 percent in local funds, while large communities must provide a 50 percent match. According to Hostettler, more than $738 million has been distributed for local road projects through the Community Crossings program. State law requires annually that 50 percent of the available matching funds be
awarded to communities within counties with a population of 50,000 or fewer. “Roads connect Hoosiers, businesses and visitors across the state, and are vital to our economy,” Hostettler said. “Without this extra funding, local communities may not be able to make these improvements that help keep our cities and towns thriving.” An estimated $100 million will be available for communities opting to apply for these grants during the July 2020 call for projects.
Residency demands for MV response staff are set
Poseyville clean-up day reset By Lynda Baker The Poseyville Town Council met very briefly via Zoom last Tuesday, mainly for the purpose of paying the Town’s claims. A rate study was also on the agenda for the Town’s water and sewer utilities. The last study was done approximately six years ago. It is recommended that municipalities conduct a study every five years. It was decided by the Council that Callahan Utility Consulting would be hired to perform the study, which will take several months to complete. The Council unanimously agreed to postpone the Town’s Clean Up Day, which was scheduled for May 9, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mitch Wagner, Troop 387 Scout Master, and Ronald Fallowfield, of the Recycle Center, were both consulted prior to the Council’s decision. Wagner informed the Council that all Scout participation activities have been suspended until further notice. The Town-wide Yard Sale has also been postponed until further notice. Council President Bruce Baker expressed his appreciation to local residents for their cooperation during the pandemic, and for those who have organized bear hunts, feeding programs, reading programs and special Easter activities for children. Councilmen Mike Baehl and Justin Collins expressed their appreciation as well, with Baehl adding that it had been wonderful to see townspeople out walking and enjoying the weather while social distancing. Justin Collins
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Volunteer Kent Pruett works on the garden at the Lenz House in New Harmony on Sunday afternoon. Photo by Dave Pearce
Harmonist spring begins at Lenz House Special to the News In 1957 the Indiana Society was given a Rappite house, the Lenz House, in the town of New Harmony. The town which is on the Register of Historic Places was founded by a sect of the Lutheran church that first settled in Pennsylvania. New Harmony is now operated by the University of Southern Indiana and the State of Indiana. More than 15,000 visitors tour Lenz House annually.The Rappite settlers emigrated from Wurtemberg, Germany first settling in Pennsylvania and then migrating to Indiana in 1815. In 1825 the group returned to Pennsylvania despite successful commercial endeavors in New Harmony. The town was sold to Robert Owen of Scotland who was determined to form a new “Utopia” there. The Lenz House, an original settler’s home of the period, is restored to its original appearance including a vegetable and herb garden. A brick bake oven on the grounds is used for educational tours to illustrate baking methods of the period. The barn was rebuilt in 2011 to depict German craftsmanship of the era.
Harmonist Gardens The Harmonists were inspired by gardens they had seen in Germany. This includes inspiration for the labyrinth, according to one source, as almost every major European garden at the time had one. The garden at Heidelberg Castle had orange trees grown under glass; the Harmonists had an orangery, or moveable greenhouse. Paths in Harmonist gardens in Indiana would be straight and narrow. Vegetables were grown for household use, to feed the animals (for the cow, beets), and to sell to friends and neighbors. Flowers were grown along borders and fences for beauty and cut flowers for the house. Vegetable and Herb Plant List Northwest quad – Herbs Artemsia, horseradish, lemon balm, lavender, thyme, oregano, rosemary, and yarrow Northeast Quad Pole beans, potatoes, carrots, sugar beets, brussels
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By Lois Mittino Gray A lingering question has finally been settled after a lengthy Zoom discussion among members of the Mount Vernon Common Council at its April 9, meeting. An amendment to the city ordinance concerning the residency requirement for members of the city Police and Fire Departments was passed on final reading, allowing officers to reside in adjoining counties. This will expand the pool from which new hires may be tapped and ensure high quality candidates for employment. The residency ordinance underwent changes from its first reading on February 27. At that time, the requirement was that officers needed to live within a 20 mile radius of the city limits, as proposed by Police Chief Tony Alldredge. At the March 12 meeting, the ordinance was amended to expand the residency requirement to the entirety of adjacent Gibson and Vanderburgh Counties. It passed on second reading with that amended wording. The third reading tonight had a surprise twist in that Councilman Andy Hoehn made a motion the ordinance be passed on this final reading, but amended to go back to the original 20 mile radius stipulation. The turnaround action was seconded by Councilwoman Jillian Brothers, so it could be discussed together. During motion discussion, Councilwoman Dana Baldwin cited a cost comparison she did on the entire ad-
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NP’s Angela Bender announces plans to retire at year-end By Dave Pearce There is a position open in the administration staff of the Metropolitan School District of North Posey. At Monday evening’s North Posey School Board meeting, the board reluctantly accepted the notification of retirement of Asst. Supt. Dr. Angela Bender. Bender indicated that she had considered retirement for some time but after attending some meetings and realizing that she was already eligible for retirement, she realized that while there is no really perfect time to hand over the job to someone else, now is as good a time as any. “Actually, I had told the board that
Angela Bender
I was going to retire after the next school year,” Bender confessed. “But after I started going to all the retirement meetings, I realized that I could go ahead and go early.” Bender candidly spoke of the past few weeks of working primarily away from the office, it made her realize that she could find plenty of things to do if she retired. “I’ve eased into it with the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said. “I think I could handle it.” Bender became an administrator and climbed a ladder that a low percentage of females seem to be able to climb. She was in education when she had an older brother who became
disabled in his mid 20s. “I was just finishing up my degree in education so I decided to go to the University of Evansville to get my special education endorsements,” she explained. “That changed my trajectory into the special education area at that time.” Bender has been in education for 30 years but the first 22 of them were devoted to individuals with disabilities. Her first teaching assignment was actually at New Harmony School as a special education teacher. She was there for nine years and then went on to Mount Vernon and became the county educational diagnostician. In that job, she evaluated
students to see if they qualified for special education services. She went on to become the assistant director of special education for the entire county. “We had three school corporations back than and 14 schools (they also served the parochial schools) so that kept me hopping,” she said. But after 22 years in that field, the opportunity came available at North Posey in areas where she excelled and she has spent the last eight years of her career at North Posey. “This was actually a little slower pace than what I was doing before
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All roads lead to a New Harmony Reporter gets first-hand information from New Harmony, Utah By Lois Mittino Gray Has anybody ever been to New Harmony, Utah? Jennifer Blevins asked this question on her Facebook page after receiving a recent shipment of vitamins. She noticed that it had been sent from a Utah town having the same name as the one she resides in in Indiana. I’ve been there and done that, as they say, and wrote her back to tell her of my sojourn in the tiny town. Back in 2008, my husband, Jim, and I did a month long trip out West in our pickup truck visiting national parks, relatives, tourist traps, and whatever looked interesting along the way. We collected wildflowers and rocks, saw my first Say’s Phoebe (a bird named after New Harmony’s famed naturalist, Thomas Say), thrilled watching Yellowstone’s geysers erupt, and even gambled on slot machines in saloons in Deadwood, South Dakota and under the bright lights of Vegas. We also decided to find New Harmony, Utah on our way to Zion National Park. The hamlet is located just a few miles off the major interstate highway, US 15, so it was an easy turnoff
(USPS 439-500)
heading south from Salt Lake City and Bryce Canyon National Park. According to the United States 2010 Census, the town had a whopping population of 210 people in a total area of 0.4 square miles. It had a post office, a fire station, a library, a city park, a cemetery, a church, and some modest houses. From the introduction to the town on its website, the town is supposedly named after Harmony, Pennsylvania. The Rappites founded that town and resided there before moving to Indiana in 1814 and founding our “New Harmony.” The link to our town is not clear, perhaps the Mormon pioneers who originally settled the area in 1852 admired Fr. Rapp’s tenets and values. They intended to develop the area as farm land and orchards and the Rappites were highly regarded as outstanding in those endeavors. They also wanted to mine and refine iron in the area. Settlers built a crude foundry in 1852, but abandoned it soon after, due to transport and logistics
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The Post Office Building in the town of New Harmony, Utah. New Harmony, Ind., has a huge edge on the beauty of the buildings.