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P C N SINCE 1882 Successor to The Poseyville News & New Harmony Times POSEY COUNTY’S ONLY LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED NEWSPAPER
Volume 140 Edition 33
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
$1.00
Poseyville meeting turns ugly By Lynda Baker Councilman Justin Collins led off the August 2020 meeting of the Poseyville Town Council with a proposal that the Town Marshal have a set schedule. The discussion turned personal rather quickly however, it was allowed to proceed. Inevitably, an Executive Session was planned to discuss job performance, as according to state law. Collins said that the New Harmony Marshal and the Sheriff’s Department (which has many officers) have schedules. He added that he had received a complaint or complaints from unidentified individuals that the Marshal was not reliable in law enforcement mutual aid responses. However, Council President Bruce Baker, who has served as both Poseyville Town Marshal and as a Posey County Deputy Sheriff for many years, expressed vehement opposition to a set schedule for the Marshal. He believes that unpredictable patrol has been shown to be a key crime deter-
rent. He also wants the Marshal to continue to be available around the clock, as much as possible, without incurring excessive overtime or scheduling interference. According to Baker, Poseyville residents have complained many times since the mid-1970s about seeing a Poseyville Police Department vehicle outside of town limits, but he knows firsthand that rural communities rely heavily upon law enforcement mutual aid, as do rural fire departments. “Trying to predict when and where a law enforcement event will occur is like trying to predict where lightening will strike. Anything can happen at any time, usually when you least expect it. It is very important for all county law enforcement agencies to respond, train and coordinate well with one another, but some differences have arisen over the years.” It was relayed to Baker, from Posey County
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Long-time public servant dies Special to the News A long-time Posey County public servant passed away August 10 in Florida after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Sandra J. Elpers, 75, daughter of the late Edsel and Lela (Gibson) Thornburg, passed away on Monday, August 10, 2020, after a long battle with cancer. Sandra joined the Lord while surrounded by family at her home in The Villages, FL where she resided with her husband, Herman “Bud” ElpRichard and Davie Sue Litov, of Evansville, drove their French Citroen 2CV to ers since 2010. For the first 65 New Harmony on Sunday afternoon. Litov said there were five million of the vehicles years of her life, Sandra happroduced in France between 1949 and 1990 and no changes in body style were made. pily resided in Wadesville, Ind., graduating from North Posey They are known for their outstanding suspension. Photo by Dave Pearce
Sandra Elpers High School in 1962. After graduation, Sandra attended the John Hancock Institute of St. Louis for data
processing, and then worked at Charles Leich, Whirlpool, and Alcoa. In 1967, she married Bud, and together they operated the Dutch Corner in St. Wendel. A few years later, Bud and Sandra moved into the home they built in Wadesville. It was there where they raised their two daughters, Angela and Laurie, while Sandra supported Bud in building his construction business. In the early 1980s, Sandra obtained her real estate license and worked for Hughes Realty in Wadesville, and later with Andry Real Estate in New Harmony. For a few years after her
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New NP School Supt. Galvin takes part in first meeting By Lynda Baker Michael Galvin, the new interim superintendent of North Posey School Corporation, was in attendance at the August 2020 meeting of the Board. The Board approved the contracts with Galvin, which were discussed at a prior meeting of the Board. Board Member Vince Oakley described the search and selection process for a superintendent to replace Dr. Todd Camp, upon his retirement after the first of the year, as “…quite a process. We sent out a survey and received an excellent response from the public. We evaluated several excellent candidates. I believe that
our selection of Galvin was the correct one.” Other members of the Board agreed that everyone had done a tremendous job during the process, including the outside advisors who had assisted with the search. They congratulated Galvin upon being selected. Camp requested the Board’s consent to advertise the Corporation’s budget for 2021. After a brief discussion regarding the tax rate, the Board consented to its publication. The budget will be discussed in detail at a future meeting of the Board. The Board approved the request of the Poseyville Kiwanis to
use school property in Poseyville for its fireworks display in September of this year, with the Kiwanis to provide insurance coverage for its event. A one year contract for fire suppression services was approved as presented to the Board by Camp. He explained that the Corporation usually enters into a three year contract, but he felt that it may be time for the Corporation to shop around. He did not want Galvin to be locked into a three year contract.
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Mount Vernon City Council addresses police questions By Lois Mittino Gray Mount Vernon Police Department officers patrolling outside the city boundaries was a topic of discussion posed to Police Chief Tony Alldredge at the August 13, Mount Vernon Board of Works meeting. Board member David Dodd initiated the discussion by saying he has been approached by citizens wondering why city officers are sitting in the highway median by AstraZeneca. Dodd added the residents were feeling there were other things possibly going on inside town limits and wondered if this was really the best place for them to be. Alldredge replied, “They are running traffic out there
in an effort to slow down cars, before coming into town.” The Chief said his officers usually patrol between Plaza Drive, which runs alongside the Southwind Shopping Center, and the Keck Bypass on the highway. He reminded them the city limits do now extend all the way to the Bypass. Occasionally, officers go out as far as to the AZ median. “We need them out there. Historically, it is a bad area for accidents, especially where the two lanes go down to one,” Chief Alldredge remarked. Board member Andy Hoehn told him he has seen officers out in the medians well beyond the Keck Bypass, too. Hoehn
agreed that drivers do need to slow down entering the city, especially when the highway drops down to one lane. Chief Alldredge explained his officers run traffic in locations of their own choosing. “I don’t designate an area where to go to. I can pull them out of there, if you feel I should direct them out elsewhere for a while. We also have problems with the no passing zone near Plastic Drive.” Board member Dodd said he realizes he is not the Police Chief and is not trying to tell him how to do his job. He mere-
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Moving Yoga Outdoors Zion-Lippe women take advantage of open air to get exercise, observe distancing
Starting with instructor in front are Emily Mills, Sue Wolf, Lisa Calvert, Johlene Hoenert, and Linda Reutter. In the third row are June Carr, Darlene Roedel, Nancy Lewis, and Ruth Redman. In back is Marilyn Hirsch. Photo by Dave Pearce By Lois Mittino Gray The group, averaging from 8 The serenity of doing the Sun to 12 women, meets at 8 a.m. on (USPS 439-500) Salutation pose on a blacktop park- Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friing lot with friends brings much days for an hour of yoga exercise comfort to several local women led by Emily Mills, a physical therduring this COVID pandemic. apist from Evansville. She takes Spreading their yoga mats right them through warmups, poses, down on the pavement, a group of stretches and breathing exercises, ladies meet three times a week in while calming music resonates the early morning hours to exercise in the background from a nearby safely outdoors on the lot of the Zi- speaker. As a finale, the group quion-Lippe United Church of Christ etly relaxes while lying on their in the center of the county. backs, as Mills talks and reads an
inspirational quote. “Then, whenever we are ready, we come back into reality and roll up our mats and go our own way to start our day,” enthused Ruth Redman. Redman is one of the original four ladies who founded the yoga group in 2014. She and Lisa Calvert, Nancy Lewis, and former Zion-Lippe Pastor Linda Nanninga met indoors to do yoga, under the tutelage of Amy Sellers. When Sellers moved away to Georgia, Mills took over the classes about three years ago. Her basic fee is fifty dollars per class, so the ladies have a rule that at least four of them minimum must be present to cover the costs. The ladies are from many areas of the county, of all ages, and do not have to be members of the host church. “We met indoors for all those years, arriving about fifteen minutes early to chitchat and have some camaraderie,” Redman said. “It went well until this spring when the pandemic hit.” The group continued to meet indoors until the virus, when they
decided to stop meeting together in March. They tried doing yoga by television, but that was disappointing. Missing the ‘good vibe’ body exercise, the group decided to start up again on June 19 by meeting outdoors on the parking lot where they felt safer. “We have masks with us, but only wear them if we get close. Otherwise, we continue as usual. A few times it has even sprinkled rain, but we don’t let that stops us!” Redman said with a smile. Mills leads them through a variety of poses. “She mixes them up all the time and she is very good,” Redman observed. Her favorite poses are ‘the Child’, which has the group with face prone to the ground, and ‘the Warrior II’ which is a standing pose. “I feel it really has helped me feel better and I hate to miss it. I like it so much, I hope we continue to keep meeting outside, as weather permits.”
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