Check out the 4-H Fair calendar and special section inside today’s edition
T
P C N SINCE 1882 Successor to The Poseyville News & New Harmony Times POSEY COUNTY’S ONLY LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED NEWSPAPER
Volume 138 Edition 28
$1.00
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
MV street project nearing completion
Enjoying a few minutes following another successful Posey County Fair Queen Pageant on Saturday evening are, from left to right: Pageant Director Keely Burkhart, Miss Teen Posey County Leslie Veatch, Posey County Fair Queen Maria Turner, Posey County Duchess Jenna Wehmer, Posey County Princess Amelia Wolsiefer, and Pageant co-director Ashley Dorsam. Photo by Dave Pearce
By Lois Mittino Gray Orange barrels and sitting in a car smelling hot asphalt while waiting for street paving work crews are staples of summer and Mount Vernon sure has had its share this year. Mayor Bill Curtis announced the good news that one project is almost complete at the July 5, Mount Vernon Board of Works meeting. The mayor said the State Street Project will hopefully have the entire pavement down by the upcoming weekend. The project tied up traffic at State Street and Fourth Street, near Arby’s, for several weeks. It will still be blocked with barrels as it needs to set for five days, and then it will be striped. From there, INDOT will move work crews down Fourth Street to the area around West Elementary School to ensure that section will be finished by the time school begins. The entire Fourth Street repaving may take months to complete. Local Street Commissioner Max Dieterle said
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Wadesville Video interfacing system coming to county jail man drowns in fishing accident By Lois Mittino Gray The Posey County Commissioners made investments in approving a video interfacing system in the county jail linking it to the courts and in LED lighting for all county buildings at its July 3, meeting at the Hovey House in Mount Vernon. In both cases, money spent today should see By Dave Pearce A rural Posey County man died on higher returns in the future. Posey County Sheriff Greg Oeth Tuesday morning after falling from a told the commissioners that video inboat into a lake on his property. According to Indiana Department of Conservation officer Duane Englert, 77-year-old Dennis Happel of rural Wadesville was fishing with his wife when he fell from the boat in about 10 feet of water. The Happels reside in the 5000 block of Springfield Road. Officials say he got a fishing hook Special to The News stuck in his hand and fell. His wife Indiana State Police initiated a was with him, but was unable to save him. She called 911 around 10 a.m. criminal investigation on June 26 on Tuesday. His body was found just after receiving information that a before noon. Mount Vernon man had recently Authorities say they received a call molested two girls under the age from Happel’s wife learning it was a of 14. fishing trip gone wrong. During the investigation, InEnglert said, “Their boat capsized diana State Police Detective while they were in the process of fishWes Kuykendall revealed that ing. The gentleman did not surface, Carlampio Lopez, 24, of Mount and that was after several attempts by Vernon, allegedly molested two his wife to save him. That’s when 911 Posey County girls under the age was called.” of 14 between May and June 24. Authorities said no life jackets After the Posey County Prosewere available on the boat or near cutor’s Office reviewed the case, the site of the accident. Englert said,
terfacing equipment will be installed this week in the county jail and in the two county courtrooms. “We’ve wanted to do this for a long time. It will allow inmates to attend court hearings or talk to their lawyers without having to be transported to a location, including the prison at Michigan City. It will save money on transportation, promote faster legal service, and be safer for our officers,” the Sheriff said.
Sheriff Oeth pointed out that no taxpayer money goes into this purchase. Revenue is generated by housing inmates from other counties. He is especially pleased that they were able to lock in good prices with significant savings, before they were to go up July 5. He gave credit to Byron Sanders, Jail Project Clerk of the Works, for arranging great prices with CISCO for the system. The jail room kit with
one camera runs about $16,000. The courtrooms will run about $21,000 each, as they require two cameras in each room kit. One will be on the attorney and one on the inmate. The judges will test out the system this week and Sanders assured the commissioners that the contract will be void if the system fails or does not meet the judges’ needs.
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Safe Haven Baby Box 24-year-old arrested for child molestation preparations under way
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Briefly Student Registration August 2-6, 2018 8-11:30 a.m. and 12:30-3 p.m. North Posey High School New Harmony Music Festival July 9-14, Pop-up concerts 12:30 p.m. and 6:30-9:00 p.m. New Harmony, IN Free Lunch for Kids Premier Healthcare of NH Noon-1 p.m. New Harmony, IN Harmonie State Park Luau Free Swim 5-8 p.m. Hawaiian feast poolside American Legion Post 370 Spot Shoots Sunday, July 15/22/29, 2018 1 p.m. Black River Spot Shoot, NH
More information on these and other events inside today’s Posey County News
(USPS 439-500)
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Carlampio Lopez
By Lois Mittino Gray City Councilman and Fire Chairman Andy Hoehn gave an update on the “Safe Haven Baby Box” at the June 21, meeting of the Mount Vernon Common Council. The Safe Haven Law is in place to provide a safe way to surrender a healthy newborn without fear of criminal prosecution. As of 2017, 3,543 infants have been safely surrendered to Safe Havens locations nationwide. Mount Vernon Fire Chief Wes Dixon is preparing to place a box at the city fire station after the July 1 state requirement goes into effect. He is looking into preparing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to put a plan into use. He called Woodburn, a city near Fort Wayne, whose baby box was installed in 2016 as the
first in the nation. He also called the only other one in the state, located at Michigan City. To his surprise, neither have a SOP in writing. Dixon said he talked about equipment needed with them and “had a long conversation on ethics.” The boxes have been used twice and Dixon feels that is “better here than somewhere else. These people feel like I do. We must help save these children.” Councilman Hoehn added that Chief Dixon will prepare the SOP for review by the City Attorney Beth Higgins. He feels the Chief is fully capable and will do a good job on it. He will outline the equipment and training necessary, too. He added they want to be sure there are no legal
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Guy for the job: Harmonie welcomes new Property Manager By Lois Mittino Gray “I’m a naturally-born vagabond, travel is in my DNA,” Brad Walker recounted, as he talked about the three coast-to-coast trips he’s taken on his 2004 Harley-Davidson Sportster motorcycle. “I bought it new and it has 60,000 miles on it now. I’ve been back and forth and everywhere in-between on it”. Brad is the affable new Property Manager at Harmonie State Park. He arrived on the scene right after Memorial Day to take over the facility, replacing Jon Winne. He brings a wide range of experiences to the job. Brad was the assistant manager at Versailles State Park in Ripley County. Due to his versatility, he was the first assistant state park manger ever hired in without previous experience with the Department of Natural Resources. Brad loves biking and hiking and has walked most of the Appalachian Trail on his sojourns. He considers climbing atop New Hampshire’s Mount Katahdin at the end of the trail one of the most exhilarating experiences of his life. Having this passion for hiking, before going to Versailles, he was employed as the first Trail Manager for the West Lafayette Park
Department. In this position, he designed and built all kinds of trails and structures on them. This includes bicycle trails, woodland trails, Greenway trails and thirty miles of wide paved trails that are ADA wheelchair compliant. Before this designation, Brad was a groundskeeper, landscaper and maintenance technician for the West Lafayette Parks. A native of that area, growing up Brad did “a little bit of everything” to get more proficient in hands-on operations. “I worked on a hog farm, baled hay, and de-tasseled more corn than anyone would ever want to do,” he said with a grin. He graduated from Ivy Tech with an Associate Degree in Business Administration, specializing in Human Resources. From there, he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Purdue University, specializing in organizational leadership. A mountain biking enthusiast, Brad worked with the 23 miles of bike trails that are at Versailles State Park before his promotion. “I have a good understanding of their design and recognize that Harmonie has outstanding bike
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Brad Walker has been named the new Property Manager at Harmonie State Park. Photo by Lois Mittino Gray