SEE PAGE A12 FOR KECK GONNERMAN PHOTOS 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.
Briefly Bluffs on Main Project to hold Public Meeting Jane Hendrickson representing Boxer Girl, LLC will host the unveiling of the proposed multifamily residential community, Bluffs on Main, during a public meeting on Tuesday, August 18, 2015, at 6:30 p.m. in the new City Fire and Police Station Conference Room located at 311 College Avenue. This meeting will include building elevations and conceptual site plan of the community as well as proposed floor plans of units for that will be available for rent. We invite city residents to come and meet the Development Team representing Boxer Girl and participate in the discussion of a new downtown destination for residents to live, work and play. For questions or for more information, please contact Jane Hendrickson, Boxer Girl, LLC, at 317-716-8042 or by email at boxergirlllc@gmail.com.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Little Miss, Mr. and Smoke on the Ohio scheduled for 2015 River Days The 2015 Mount Vernon River Days Little Miss and Mr Pageant will be held Friday, September 11, 2015. Contestants must be between the ages of five and seven years old. Deadline to return entries is August 28, 2015. The entry fee is $20. The entry form can be found on page A6 or at http://mtvernonriverdays. com/or contact Rachel Rainey, pageant director, at 812-4572633 for the entry form and more information. The Annual Smoke on the Ohio Mount Vernon River Days Barbecue Cook-Off will be held September 11-12, 2015. Judging will take place on Sept. 12 with Brisket, Chicken, Ribs, and Pulled Pork catagories. See page A11 for more information or contact Ed Adams at adamsed85@yahoo.com or 812-838-0035 for entry forms and rules.
St. Phillips Burgoo, Raffle to be held September 27 The St. Philllips Mens Club will be holding their annual Burgoo and Raffle on Sunday, September 27, 2015 at St. Phillips Church. Carry out will begin at 7 a.m. For more information call 812-985-2275.
Special to the News The Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana is working with the City of Mount Vernon as grant writers in an attempt to obtain grants for special city projects. About 30 days ago there were random surveys mailed out to households within the City of Mount Vernon. A second mailing went out on Friday, July 31, 2015, to the same households. These economic surveys are required by
the funding agencies in order for cities to be eligible to receive future grant funded projects. Last summer the city identified several projects in their Stellar application. Although Mount Vernon was declared one of six Stellar communities in the State, we did not receive funding for the projects that was identified. Mayor Tucker would like to move forward to pursue some of those when grants become available to complete some of those projects
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that were identified in the Stellar application. Tucker says the city has already received funding for a bicycle/pedestrian trail which starts at RiverBend Park and travels up Main Street to Sixth Street and ends at Brittlebank Park. This is one of the projects that was identified in the Stellar Application. He also would like to see Mount Vernon be eligible for more grant funded projects. If you are a resident of Mount Vernon and re-
ceived one of those surveys, he would encourage you to please fill your survey out and return it. These surveys are very confidential and are only used to benefit the city trying to receive grant money. Grant money reduces the amount of money the city spends on a project and makes the project affordable for the community. If you received a survey and have further questions, please call the Mayor’s Office at 812-8385576.
County delays vote on bypass design work to hear from MFC
replace the five recently demolished structures at the site. The Mayor invites everyone to go and give them feedback and input. “I plan to be there. I can’t wait to see what they came up with for the location,” he said enthusiastically. He also updated the council on the status of changing the stoplight at Fourth and Walnut Street to a flashing red light. He said the traffic engineer at Vincennes District office has signed off on the change, sent it to Indianapolis and that has been signed, and now they
By Valerie Werkmeister Posey County Commissioners delayed action on a contract with Structure Point, an engineering firm that is poised to do the design work on the bypass around Mount Vernon, during their August 4, meeting. The contract presented by Structure Point would also complete the survey of the area that will establish the necessary right of way and specific course the bypass will take. Structure Point officials explained they will complete approximately 30 percent of the road and bridge design. They must also do a wetland delineation study that will take a few weeks to complete and must be finished before the first frost. Structure Point cautioned the commissioners that delaying the contract could ultimately delay the desired timing on the entire bypass project. The survey must begin first and takes the most time to complete before the design process can begin. Given the fact that the end of summer is fast approaching, Structure Point is eager to begin work before the first frost. Commissioners’ attorney Jake Weis informed Structure Point the commissioners were not ready to act on the contract. Commissioner Jim Alsop stated they hoped to have more information from Midwest Fertilizer within the next few weeks. They tabled their decision until their next meeting on Tuesday, August 18. Posey County Clerk Betty Postletheweight alerted commissioners to an ongoing problem in the courthouse basement. She stated the condensation from the pipes is causing damage to files and paperwork. She explained they have moved furniture, computers and files around to avoid potential damage, but they are out of space. Building commissioner Ed Battieger stated the pipes must be rewrapped as they have wrapped with just duct tape in the past in an effort to put a ‘band-aid’ repair on them. He explained the best time to do this work is between the time when they switch from cold water to warm water in the Fall. Commissioners questioned Battieger whether he felt a dehumidi-
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Dave Sharber, left, Jackpot Winner Jeff Watson, middle, and Ron Hanger, State of Indiana Southern Vice-Commander of the American Legion paused momentarily for a picture after Watson’s name was drawn. Watson, a Posey County resident and Sons of the Legion member from the New Harmony Chapter exclaimed, “Praise the Veterans” after winning $394,261. Tickets go on sale for the new Jackpot on September 5 with the first drawing being held on September 19, 2015. Photo by Theresa Bratcher
Food Truck Monday to debut here By Lois Mittino Gray Brittany Johnson, representing the Southwestern Indiana Chamber of Commerce, appeared before the board to present an idea she called “exciting and new-Food Truck Mondays.” Johnson has five vendors interested so far in setting up their stands two times a month from about 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. One site will be at the Riverfront, the next time will be on the Courthouse Square. “We’ll have fun foods available, not just hamburgers and hot dogs. I talked with the owners of local restaurants BLIS and Water’s Edge and they like the idea.
They both feel the more people at the Riverfront will complement their businesses and Monday is often very slow,” she explained. The board agreed it was a great idea and reminded Johnson to make sure they have proper liability insurance. “Supply and demand will determine if this works. Let’s see how it goes and if there are issues, we’ll address them,” said Board Member Brian Jeffries. A ‘new face’ sat at the table in City Hall at the Mount Vernon Board of Public Works meeting held
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NH budget to fall short of desires By Valerie Werkmeister New Harmony Town Council members met early last Thursday morning to discuss recommendations for the upcoming budget. Each council member offered ideas on upcoming projects in the next year and estimates on what they’d like to see within their department budgets. Andrew Wilson stated additional maintenance work such as painting may need to be completed next year
at Murphy Park and Playtopia. He questioned whether the budget should be raised an additional $3,000. Town Clerk-Treasurer Karla Atkins cautioned the budget could not be raised higher than the anticipated revenue amount they would receive. Atkins estimated the park would only receive $3,122 next year based on use of the shelter house and camp-
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Plans for MV building to be unveiled By Lois Mittino Gray The August 6 meeting of the Mount Vernon Common Council and Water Utility Board set a record of only 15 minutes long, but the time was filled with many announcements and one passed ordinance. Mayor John Tucker said a proposal for a multifamily residential building in the 200 block of Main Street will be unveiled at a public meeting on August 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the new Public Safety building. Jane Hendrikson of Boxer Girl Ltd., a developer from Zionsville, will be on hand with her team to explain the details on the proposed apartment building that will
Pay is key budget topic
WMI to host ‘Weather History of PC and the Griffin Tornado’ The Friends of the Working Men’s Institute’s fourth lecture in their 2015 Lecture Series features Harold Morgan. He will speak at the Working Men’s Institute (WMI) in New Harmony on Tuesday, August 18 at 7:30 p.m. on the Weather History of Posey County and the Griffin Tornado.
Kunstfest-German Heritage Festival set for Sept. 19-20 Join us for the 33rd annual German Festival which honors the founding fathers of New Harmony, and one of New Harmony’s largest annual events.
(USPS S4 439-500) 39 500))
Income survey crucial for MV grant opporunity
Chevys will roll into Poseyville August 12 A group of ‘55, ‘56 and ‘57 Chevy participants from the northern part of the USA will visit Phoenix Collision Center of Poseyville, Ind., on Wed., August 12, 2015. The vehicles that are headed to the Tri Five Nationals in Bowling Green, Ky., are stopping for a tourstop. Attendees will see some of the finest cars in the country. Everyone is invited to come by and see the cars, meet the people, and bring your own ride, for a really cool get-together of the Tri Five community. Phoenix Collision and NAPA Auto Parts are located at 71 North Saint Francis Street, across from CountryMark One Stop gas station and near the park. Any questions, call 812 874-0001.
$1.00
North Posey High School student Erin Will recently placed first in the Dairy Placement Proficiency area in state competition and will soon compete for a national award at the National FFA Convention.
Retrospective........A4 Legals.................B4,7 Classifieds ........ B 8 - 9 Community...........A5
Deaths .................... A3 Church...................A7 Social .....................A6 School .................A8
By Valerie Werkmeister Posey County Commissioners and Council members came together following the commissioners’ meeting on August 4, to discuss upcoming budget topics, namely discrepancies among salaries of new employees versus those of long-term employees. Council president Bob Gentil explained the problem for the commissioners is that the pay for new employees is only $500 to $1,000 less than that of the senior employee who left the position. “When a person in the county has been employed for let’s say, 25 years and they leave and we hire a new person to come in…that new person gets basically what that person got for 25 years with a $500 to $1,000 deduction. And in six months, they get that back. Commissioner Jim Alsop probably stated it best when he said, “What we’re doing now is rewarding a new employee for someone else’s experience.” Gentil asked for ideas on how to resolve the problem. The commissioners and council members have discussed this topic several times in the past, but have never been able to determine the best resolution. Sheriff Greg Oeth submitted a salary schedule as an example.
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Sports ...... .........B2-3 Bus/Ag .................A8 Opinion ................A9 TV Guide...........B5-6