Successor to The Poseyville News & New Harmony Times
LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED SINCE 1882
E, “OUR LIBERTIES WE PRIZ L MAINTAIN.” AND OUR RIGHTS WE WIL Posey County’s ONLY Locally Owned Newspaper.
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
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Volume 135 Edition 23
New teachers join MSDMV By Lois Mittino Gray School Superintendent Tom Kopatich provided a chuckle at the June 1 Mount Vernon School Board meeting telling his Saturday siren story. “First, the Unified track team came in and fire trucks and sirens escorted them around town to celebrate their championship. Just about when they were finished, the baseball team came back to town with a sectional win and the sirens and trucks escorted them around town to celebrate with the community. Then the real storm sirens went off when bad weather came through in the afternoon and made even more noise,” he said as audience members smiled as he told the tale. The main business at the meeting was the staff changes that usually come with the end of the school year. Aja Blair and Erica Preston were hired as new teachers next year at West Elementary. Blair replaces Chelsea Ziliak while Preston replaces Amber Fifield. Both novice teachers did their student teaching in this district and have worked this past year as long term substitute teachers. Doug Blair resigned as Assistant Basketball Coach for high school boys to accept the position of Head Coach for the high school girls’ team, replacing W. Byron Sanders. Megan DeVault will coach high school girls’ volleyball and serve as the study hall/ teacher assistant replacing Ken Miller. Peyton Law will teach English /Language Arts at the junior high school, replacing Michael Crandell. Antoinette Robinson will work at the junior high as a counselor, replacing Shelley Ryan whose resignation was accepted by the board. Melissa Howard will work in food serEric Kippenbrock takes a few minutes away from the Mount Vervice three hours a day at the high school, while Renon Relay for Life action to enjoy a dish of ice cream on Saturday. becca Forsee resigned as a food service worker. Photo by Dave Pearce
The most well received news was the return of Bill Harloff as a part-time music teacher two days a week at Farmersville Elementary. He taught music in the district from 1991 to 2012 until he retired. Board Member Kathy Weinzapfel commented that she saw him at the recent teacher breakfast and he ‘was as excited as a little kid’ to be back teaching again. Sarah Henning’s resignation as a Speech Pathologist at Marrs Elementary was accepted. Keisha Seitz was hired to be one of the two new district-wide eLearning coaches. These are certified teacher positions and Pam O’Risky will fill the other. They will start working this summer in preparation for the new Macbooks to be used at the high school. Kopatich noted that, “We are really in good shape right now with hiring. We are trying to get teachers in place as quickly as we can. Several openings will be posted soon. We do need special education teachers.” Seitz was given permission to attend the ICE Maker Summit at Indiana University on August 14-15 and to give a presentation there on June 11. She also will give a presentation at the Indiana Connected Educators Conference in Noblesville in October. Matt Rebeck will attend a Psychopharmacology workshop on June 3 in Evansville. In other board action: • A revised responsible use of technology policy was adopted. The changes took out a required signature and added use of WiFi at home since newly installed filters will catch any problem. • The board set total student capacity limits, including resident and non-resident student transfers, at 240
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County hands over reins of Griffin dogs, expenses to PCPP By Valerie Werkmeister Posey County Commissioners met for a short time last Tuesday, June 2, as their agenda was very brief. Despite the brevity, they still attended to some important matters. President Carl Schmitz read a statement about the county’s future involvement with the 100 dogs rescued from the hoarding situation in a Griffin home. According to the statement, the county assigned any and all rights the county may have with the dogs over to the PC Pound Puppies.
The Pound Puppies worked with the Posey County Humane Society to assist in the rescue and took a large number of dogs to their facility. Schmitz explained the statement was prepared by county attorney, Jacob Weis of Bender Law Office and will enable PC Pound Puppies to seek grant funding to assist in care for the dogs. Schmitz stated Animal Control Officer Chuck Mobley submitted his report for May which included 50 complaints, 111 dogs taken in and $72 in fees were collected.
Commissioners approved an ordinance that will officially establish a three-way stop at the intersection of Old State Road 69 and Zoar Church Road. The ordinance will be advertised for two weeks before it will become effective. Sheriff Greg Oeth stated his deputies will enforce adherence to the new stop sign. Auditor Kyle Haney reported that two companies have already been scored and a third company’s scores will soon be tallied to determine which firm will complete the county’s transit study. The study will evalu-
ate the need for public transportation within the county. The commissioners granted Emergency Management Director, Larry Robb’s, request for approval on an updated emergency management plan for the county. He stated no major changes were made within the document that has already been in place for several years. Robb also informed commissioners that the county did not receive a $20,000 grant
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Elizabeth D. Baier spirit Award winner is Koester
Travis Koester, a student at the United Way of Posey County. North Posey Senior High School Michelle Hudson, chairperson student, has been selected as the of the selection committee, said, recipient of the Eliza“The United Way of beth D. Baier Youth Posey County wanted Spirit Award for to recognize Elizabeth 2015. The Award, in for her service to the the amount of $500, United Way, but we is given annually to also wanted to honor a high school junior her for her many years who resides in Posey of leadership, comCounty and who is inmunity involvement, volved in community and volunteer services activities in Posey to Posey County. An County. award recognizing exTravis Koester The Elizabeth D. emplary volunteerism Baier Youth Spirit Award was cre- by young people had been a dream ated in September 2007 in honor of Elizabeth’s for many years, so of Elizabeth D. Baier’s 25th AnContinued on Page A3 niversary as Executive Director of
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WMI holds annual Book Sale The Friends of the Working Men’s Institute’s Annual Book Sale will be held on Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 14 under the tent on Tavern Street, across from Murphy Auditorium. The sale will be from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday and a ‘free will offering’ all day Sunday until 4 p.m. If you have books, CD’s, DVD’s, and/or magazines you would like to donate for the sale, please take them to the Working Men’s Institute (WMI). The hours are Tuesday through Thursday 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.; and Sunday Noon – 4:30 p.m. The WMI is closed Mondays.
MVSHS Class of 1980 plans reunion The Class of 1980 MVSHS is currently planning their 35 year class reunion for October 3, 2015 at Western Hills Country Club. We are looking for the following classmates and if you should know of their where abouts, please contact Jeanne Bishop Wehr (812)483-9101 or Vicki Embrey Bethel (812)781-0378: Daniel Baird, Dorothy Blum, Cindy Bradley, Donnie Breeden, Mary Burdette, Larry Case, Norman Chastain, Cynthia Click, Ladonna Elliott, Kelly Feldman, Terry Garrett, Ronald Gatewood, Billy Gootee, Elizabeth Green, George Grindall, Raymond Haas, Carla Hanmore, Tina Harris, Kevin Hughes, Kevin Johnson, Michael Johnson, Dennis Juncker, Anje Krantz, Dora Lance, Debra McCarty, Sandra McFadden, Theresa Morris, Susan Myers, Eric Nichols, Martha Ortega, Sheila Orth, Ricky Osborne, Robin Reich, Tony Reich, Cheryl Robinson, Tammy Snyder, Kevin Tomlinson, Gary Trammel, Mark Vanzant, Samuel Walden, Guy Whelan, George White, David Wright.
Boy Scout Troop 389 to host free outdoor movie night Poseyville Boy Scout Troop 387 will host a free outdoor movie night on Friday, June 12 at sunset. The event will be held on the lawn of the Community Center and those interested in attending should bring blankets or lawn chairs. The featured movie will be PG-rated ‘Bedtime Stories.’ Admission is free and hot dogs, drinks and snacks will be available for purchase. Donations will be accepted.
Retrospective........A4 Legals.................B5-6 Classifieds ...... B9-10 Community...........A5
Audrey Goodman is ecstatic to be a participant in Dr. Kent Scheller’s ‘Physics is Fun’ presentation, a part of Alexandrian Public Library’s 2015 Summer Reading Program. Photo by Zach Straw
Stoplight’s future is MV concern By Lois Mittino Gray Should the stoplight at Fourth and Walnut streets in Mount Vernon be removed or kept in place for a few more years? This question was the focal point of discussion at the May 28 meeting of the Mount Vernon Common Council. The issue was first discussed a
year ago when the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) sent a letter to the city stating that the light did not meet the criteria to justify a stop light intersection at that location. They would like to remove the light, but will not do so without direction from the Mayor or Council.
Councilman Andy Hoehn called INDOT and afterwards proposed a motion to try a 90-day trial period with a flashing light instead to assess the need. Mayor John Tucker agreed that this issue was brought up in March of 2014, but INDOT
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Ian Mathew to teach in china By Lois Mittino Gray 11 a.m. Ian will also help with the ‘English Corner’ Right now, Now Harmony High School graduate and may occasionally have to do a night or weekend Ian Mathew is busy practicing words in Mandarin special class during both semesters there. Chinese, taking a course on teachFor his efforts, Ian will receive ing English as a second language, housing in a campus apartment and trying to find someone to take that is a 10-minute walk to school care of his corn snake for a year. and a Master Degree level pay of The Posey County native will leave $6,500 CNY (Chinese yuan). Ian in August to work a year contract will complete his Masters Degree with the TiC (Teach in China) profrom the University of Southern gram at Jiangxi Normal University, Indiana in Public Administration near Nanchang City. this summer. After learning about the oppor“TiC arranges everything from tunity, Ian applied and found out getting my government visa, he would be given a teaching ashousing,medical clearance and signment starting the fall semester background check in order,” Ian in September. He will fly out in explained. “They will cover the August for a week-long training expense of round trip airfare when seminar first with all the participatI complete the one year contract.” ing student teachers and then they Ian believes the class will not be Ian Mathew will go to their respective universiconversational due to its large size, ties. He will be teaching English to about fifty 19-22 Continued on Page A3 old graduate level students in the mornings from 8 to
Deaths .................... A3 Church...................A6 Social .....................A5 School ....................A7
Sports ............... B 1 - 4 Bus/Ag .................A8 Opinion ................A9 TVGuide.............B7-8