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“Our lib “O liberties ti we prize, i and d our rights i ht we will ill maintain.” i t i ” Posey County’s only locally-owned newspaper
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
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(USPS S4 439-500) 39 5 0 0) Volume 134 Edition 17
Latshaw to take AD reins, other positions to shuffle By Lois Mittino Gray country and will continue to coach the latter Leigh Ann Latshaw was hired as the Athletic sport. She has also served as the president of Director at Mount Vernon Senior High School NEA Mount Vernon since 2006. at the April 21 Mount Vernon School Board School Board Member Heather Allyn noted Meeting. In announcing the apthat, “Lee’s ability to commupointment, School Superintennicate and motivate is tremendent Tom Kopatich said that, dous and students listen to her.” “she has some big shoes to fill Board Member Kathy Weinzaand the challenges are there, but pfel added that, “she also has she will do well.” She fills the the respect of the teachers as athletic sneakers of Gary Redwell.” Kopatich said applicants man who held the position for were interviewed from both 21 years. inside and outside the district. Latshaw has taught physics She stands out for her passion along with other science and for Mount Vernon and experimath courses for the school disence and will be asked to work trict for the past 22 years. She on the efficiency of the athletic Latshaw will continue to teach one physprogram. ics course in her new role. She has coached at David Frye was appointed as Director of all levels in basketball, softball, track and cross Buildings and Grounds and will also fill the
Maintenance Foreman vacancy. He formerly served as the Principal at Farmersville Elementary School part time and that vacancy will be posted and hopefully, filled by June 1. Kyle Jones will be the new Director of Curriculum, Grants, & Testing, replacing Jody Pfister. He has been the Junior High Principal for the past two years. His position will be filled by Chad Rodgers as the new principal there. In other board action: • accepted the bid from CDW in the amount of $320,215.33, including alternates, for the upgrade and replacement of networking equipment at the high school and for the data center deployment project. Director of Business Loren Evans explained that three bidders did the walk through, but only CDW met the deadline for submission. He felt they would have been the lowest bid anyway and the numbers came in under budget from the Capital Improve-
ments Fund. “We need to do this to get the high school ready for the 1:1 eLearning Project to replace switches and access points and network closet switches and wireless controllers,” he said. Network will not be available this summer at the high school due to this reworking and teachers have been notified. • Vicki Reuger was given permission to visit Center Grove and Plymouth Schools to observe implementation of 1:1 eLearning in April, Keven Krizan to travel with students to the DECA International competition in Georgia in May and to Monica Collins and Keisha Seitz to attend the EVSC eRevolution Conference in July, • In other personnel matters, accepted the resignations from Steve Mitchell as girls’
Continued on Page A8
I DID IT!!!!!!!! I REALLY, REALLY DID IT!!!!! READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE!!!!!
Posey County’s Fortune shares 6-month journey with cancer
Story by Dave Pearce Michelle Fortune had no reason to think she would ever be touched by cancer. After all, she was a healthy, active mother of two who not only took care of herself but also her husband, Jeremy, and her two daughters. And there had never been cancer in her family…At least not until November 1, 2013. “I had noticed an enlarged lymph node on the right side of my neck in August,” Fortune said on Sunday afternoon following her final chemo treatment this past Friday. “I didn’t really think much of it other than I thought it was strange because I didn’t feel sick.” But as a 15-year probation officer, like most of the rest of us, she continued to do all the things she was expected to be doing…working, taking care of family, and living the good life. “I never felt bad or had any real reason to think anything was wrong,” she continued. “I had been a little more tired than usual but I attributed that to the workouts I had been doing.” But then, about two weeks after discovering the first spot, Fortune noticed a second spot above the first one. “That’s when I figured I should say something to my doctor,” Fortune said. “So I did and that set everything into motion.” Fortune said her OB referred her to her family doctor who treated her with antibiotics to rule out an infection. “A week later, still nothing had changed and we could feel more…like a chain of them,” Fortune explained. “So I was referred to an ear, nose, and throat doctor who performed an excisional biopsy on the largest node. The rest is history.” Fortune was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma on November 1, 2013. At 37, with her family and a myriad of friends supporting her, there was no choice but to fight. After all, she wanted to be around not only for herself but also for her husband and two daughters. Her oldest daughter Emily is 12 and youngest daughter Reagan is 7. While the journey of less than a year some-
Briefly Kunstfest planning meeting is May 5 The next Kunstfest meeting will be at Sara’s Coffee Shop at 5pm on Monday, May 5. Posey County Royalty Pageants hold meeting An Informational Meeting for the Posey County Royalty Pageants will be held Thursday, May 8, 2014 at the Posey County Fairgrounds Community Center at 6:30 p.m. Contact person for Tiny (3-4) and Little (5-7) Miss contestants is Jessica Temme at J_Temme@yahoo. com. Princess (8-10), Dutchess (11-13), Teen Queen (14-16), and Queen (17-21) contact Katie Beste York at kabeste@ hotmail.com. NP High School Honors Program set North Posey High School will hold its annual Honors Program on Thursday, May 15, 2014 in the high school main gym. The program will begin at 8:15 a.m. with the presentation of academic and scholastic awards.
times seemed like a lifetime, Fortune knows she is one of the fortunate ones. But she is also familiar with fighting the odds. Her husband was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease in 2007. He, too, is again the picture of health and is very active making Posey County a better place to live. Fortune’s progress had always been good and the prognosis was good but there were the chemotherapy treatments. Most everyone has seen an example of what chemo can do to you. Fortune was no exception. She experienced all the familiar symptoms and can now appreciate the effects that go on inside a patient’s body and mind that others never see. So upon her diagnosis, she started a blog. She added to it whenever she needed a time of expression and a way of shedding and sharing her feelings. “It’s really crazy,” she exclaimed. “I started my blog with the whole hope to keep a journal of everything for my kids, and to help others who will go through this in the future. I started it with no expectations at all of how many would actually read it. In less than six months it has had almost 30,000 views.” Fortune, the daughter of Gary Thiem of Wadesville and Cheryl Beirman of Evansville, is grateful for the support from her family and friends, and was actually grateful for the opportunity to use her story and tell others about her blog. “You have my permission to use anything in my blog,” she said sincerely. “It’s all a true depiction of what I have been through and what cancer and chemo do to a person. And thank you for using my story. By you sharing, you are helping me. Thank you!” When asked about the future, Fortune can now smile and with good reason. “I had a CT scan, I believe in February, that showed no more abnormalities and the radiologist indicated I was in remission at that time, way ahead of schedule,” she said. “But I still had to complete chemo to be sure we killed all the cancer. So on May 23, I will have PET scan
Members of the Fortune Family are all smiles as they leave the hospital after Michelle finished her final chemo treatment on Friday. Pictured are Jeremy and Michelle Fortune and their daughters. Fortune kept a blog throughout the ordeal and has agreed to share it with readers of Facebook and the Posey County News. The final day is on page A11 inside. to make sure it is all gone.” But as proof that the worst is behind her and she is beginning to return to ‘normal,’ when asked Sunday if there had been cancer in her family, she replied tartly. “Nope. I’m the first! Just waiting for my prize!”
Her blog is available at www.girlmomma. blogspot.com Fortune generously agreed to allow the Posey County News to print her writings from the final day of her chemo. It is inside on page A11.
County feels cost strain of online presence
By Valerie Werkmeister “We’re getting into bigger and online and we need a link for that. as well. I’m sure if he’s trying to Plans to update the county’s better things. Like the treasurer is You know it would probably be nice Continued on Page A11 website are in the works follow- moving onto, you know, doing taxes for a link for Mr. Taylor’s business ing approval by the Posey County Commissioners to hire a new web developer. County Executive Assistant, Keely Winiger, recommended Bob Price of Mobile Idea Marketing Studio to develop and maintain a new website at a total cost of $14,000 at the commissioner’s meeting on Tuesday, April 22. The cost is comprised of two components – an $8,000 site development fee and a $6,000 annual maintenance fee. Winiger explained the current site was developed by Jeff Goodrich, who does the task as a side job. Prior to the current website, the county did not have a web presence. She praised the job Goodrich did and said he took the county from nothing and moved them through Phase I by getting the Winiger stated the On Thursday evening (April 24), at approximately 8:20 p.m., the Posey County Sheriff’s Department current website is not easy to update and change. Each department head was called to the scene of a two vehicle crash on Industrial Road at the Bellefontaine Road intersection. is responsible for making updates Two vehicles were stopped in the northbound lane of Industrial Road with the lead vehicle attempting to to their specific pages on the web- make a left turn to proceed west off of Industrial Road. A third vehicle traveling north approached the site. She did not blame Goodrich two stopped vehicles. As the lead vehicle began making the turn at the intersection, the third approachfor the difficulty and added, county ing vehicle struck the rear of second vehicle in line (pictured above), as that driver was awaiting the department heads are not experts at intersection to clear. The third vehicle was a 2013 Jeep Wrangler driven by Judith A. Hardin (age 56) of changing the website portals to up- Mount Vernon. Hardin’s vehicle struck a 1998 Buick LeSabre operated by Patrick A. Riordan (age 65) date the information. Goodrich also of New Harmony. Both Riordan and Hardin were transported to Deaconess Hospital by Posey County works another full-time job and is EMS. The injuries sustained in the crash were not reported to be life threatening or severe. Assisting the not easily accessible for questions Sheriff’s Department with the investigation were the Black Township Fire Department, Posey County EMS, and the Mount Vernon Police Department. Photo by Michelle Gibson or project development.
Retrospective ...... A 4 Legals ...................B 7 Classifieds .... B11-12 Community ......... A 5
Deaths .............. ...A3 Church ................ A 7 Social .................. A 6 School ................. A 8
Sports ............... B 1 - 5 Bus/Ag .............. A 1 0 Opinion ............. A 1 2 TV Guide........ B9-10