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POSEYVILLE MAN GETS ‘GIFT OF LIFETIME’ SINCE 1882 Successor to The Poseyville News & New Harmony Times
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P C N Tuesday, May 10, 2022
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Volume 142 Edition 19
Latham, Newman claim wins in contested county races By Trisha L. Lopez Tuesday’s primary election results painted a contrasting picture of change and consistency as 15 percent of the county’s registered voters cast ballots in a year where party officials speculate that a lack of options on the democratic ticket led to a dominant republican turnout. Republican tickets accounted for more than 82 percent of the 2,760 ballots cast, up 36 percent from the last non-presidential primary in 2018. County officials predicted that a lack of contested races on the democratic ticket might lead to lopsided numbers. Ed Adams, head of the democratic party in Posey County, said 54 percent of the 3,537 ballots cast in 2018 were democratic. That number dropped to 17.86 percent on Tuesday. “That’s way down. I mean that’s way down. It’s really hard to compare democrats versus republicans because there was just nothing for us to vote for. There was nothing (contested) on our side locally,” Adams said. “I think democrats pulled republican ballots (to be able to vote) for the commissioner and sheriff races.” Greg Newman, republican party chair who bested incumbent District 2 County Commissioner Randy Thornburg by 32 votes on Tuesday, said party fluctuations are not uncommon in local politics and not necessarily a sign of a shift in party numbers. “Historically, throughout the years you’ve seen that on both sides, where people will get a different ballot from what they normally do. Obviously,
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Celebrating Primary wins at the Mount Vernon American Legion following Tuesday’s election are, left to right, Margie Tomes, Jim Tomes, Tom Latham, Nita Latham, Greg Newman and Theresa Newman. Photo by Dave Pearce
Poseyville’s Autumnfest to add bierstube to annual event By Theresa Bratcher Attendees of the April Poseyville Town Council meeting were met with more exciting news for the town. Members of the Poseyville Kiwanis were there to seek approval for a Bierstube to be held during the annual Autumnfest. Ryan Oeth, representing the Kiwanis, provided the council with prepared documents including licensing, layout and planning minutes for the event at the Community Center each August. Oeth requested the board review the cen-
ter regulations line item that references no alcohol permitted outside of the Community Center for an event. He discussed the liability question as well as liquor laws and assured the council the Kiwanis wanted a safe, fun, and responsible event. The matter of security was addressed with Town Marshall Charles Carter in attendance to satisfy concerns that he and Sheriff Deputies would be on hand and all state liquor laws would be upheld. His request was met with questions from Council Member Bruce Baker on liability and
the possibility of a law suit to which Oeth reassured Baker the town liability and special events insurance policy in place should cover any needs. Both Baker and Oeth had called Indianapolis to make sure that event taking place so close to a school was within the law - no law stands on the books anymore concerning an event of this type. Baker stated he has a problem with changing the center rules as they have been in place since 2002. Council Member Justin Collins commented it would not only draw more peo-
ple to Autumnfest, but to the town in general. Oeth asked council members how this differed from alcohol at events ‘inside’ verses ‘outside’ if contained in one area. Baker replied, “It is a limited area.” Collins understood Bruce’s concerns but remarked, “Anyone can get sued this day and age.” Council President Mike Baehl added that with a fenced in area he sees no problem as long as it is monitored by police. Baehl suggested that as a ‘good neighbor policy’ they
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Commissioners agree Centerpoint is hold-up
Pictured above is the state championship Fine Arts Academy team from North Posey. Left to right are art teacher Julie Wilson, Madelyn Galindo, Emma Moore, Allison Werkmeister, and Autumn Glass. On Saturday, May 7, North Posey’s Fine Arts academic super bowl team clenched the state title at Purdue University. This is a fantastic group that worked tirelessly all season. They are coached by Julie Wilson, Team members are captain Emma Moore, competitors Allison Werkmeister and Madelyn Galindo, and alternate Autumn Glass. They have won every competition this year-- the PAC invitational, the Memorial Invitational, and area competition. They qualified for state competition with the highest score in the entire state, and they won state with the highest score of any team in any class--22/25 questions answered correctly. On Saturday evening, they were honored them with a fire truck ride through Poseyville.
By Lois Mittino Gray The Posey County Commissioners are closely watching the progress of the Broadband Internet installation grant work in the county. The Mainstream Company is under a strict two-year time limit to complete the grant work or the county loses the federal funding. The Commissioners voted to withhold the final third of the payment to them until at least two-thirds of the work is completed. Jeramy Elrod, Managing Engineer for Morley Associates, the firm overseeing the Mainstream work, reported back to the commissioners at the meeting. “It is mainly in CenterPoint Energy’s hands now. They have five pole agreements yet to do and they want to wait until all ten are complete to agree to start some of the work,” Elrod said. Commissioner Brett Schorr agreed they are the problem and said, “I called CenterPoint and confirmed that they received all the information in January and they did. Pole agreements are being held up. We need to put a little ‘giddyup’ in CenterPoint to get this done, so we don’t lose our federal funding.” Later in the meeting, local resident Earl Schrader spoke on Internet installation being done right now around his residence. “I have thirty years’ experience doing this kind of work and I think this is going to take a lot longer than what you think. The problem is the experience level of those doing the installation is about zero. They are learning as they go. One worker got a 1,000
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Mount Vernon’s Loren Evans receives distinguished award By Lois Mittino Gray Loren Evans, Mount Vernon School District’s Director of Business and Technology, was presented with the John F. Young
Lamplighter Award that is given annually by the Indiana Association of School Business Officials (IASBO). The award was presented by Denny Costerison, IASBO Executive
Loren Evans, Mount Vernon School District’s Director of Business and Technology, center, displays the John F. Young Lamplighter Award he recently received. He is pictured with, left to right, school board members Beth Higgins, Joe Rutledge, Mark Isaac, Kathy Weinzapfel, and Greg Oeth. Photo by Lois Mittino Gray
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Director, on Thursday, May 5 at the Awards Banquet associated with the Annual Meeting held in French Lick. The John F. Young Lamplighter Award is IASBO’s distinguished service award. It is IASBO’s highest award for outstanding contributions to the profession of school business management. The award is named for IASBO Past President John Young, who was a founding father of the association. The local “whiz with numbers” was shocked to learn back in March that he would be this year’s recipient. “I attended an IASBO meeting to make a recommendation for choosing the next treasurer and they surprised me then with the announcement,” he said. “I am so honored.” All five members of the Mount Vernon School Board were on hand to see the deserving Evans received the recognition plaque. “This is really a significant award. He is well-respected all over the state for his work on school fund management,” observed Board Member Beth McFadin Higgins. Evans started with the district in 1983 as a high school mathematics and computer pro-
gramming teacher. In 1993, he was tapped to be the Computer Systems Manager, responsible for all district technology. He took over his current position as director in 1997 and is often consulted for advice on school budget matters by many other districts. He is renowned for his thorough presentations on the upcoming budget at summer board meetings. The award recipient presently serves on the Indiana State School Bus Committee and is an Educational Service Centers Risk Funding Trust Executive Board Member. He was the IASBO President from 2010-2011 and IASBO Region 9 Director from 20042007. Loren Evans received his education degrees at the University of Illinois in Urbana. In 1983, he earned his Bachelors of Science in Secondary Education/Mathematics degree. Afterwards, he received his Masters of Science in Mathematics in 1988 and a Masters of Computer Science in 1991. Loren and his wife, Carol, have been married since December 1998 and reside in Mount Vernon. The couple has two children and nine grandchildren.