SINCE 1882 Successor to The Poseyville News & New Harmony Times POSEY COUNTY’S ONLY LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED NEWSPAPER
S E E O U R FA L L S P O RT S S E C T I O N I N S I D E Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Volume 136 Edition 34
Plastics company could open near New Harmony By Lois Mittino Gray A potential new business bringing 59 jobs to town was a main topic of discussion on the agenda of the August 16 New Harmony Town Council meeting. Council President Alvin Blaylock said Hoehn Plastics proposes to lease its warehouse building, located on town property at the old fairgrounds site east of town, to the Trivalence Company. Hoehn proposes a ten-year lease to the polymer-making company. It would operate shifts 24/7 to manufacture its plastic goods. The council had to approve the lease since the company plans to make electrical and road improvements at the site over a one and
a half to two year period. “I’d like to make this deal work as it could bring more people to live in town,” Blaylock told the council. Councilman David Flanders expressed a desire to have a representative from the company at a future council meeting as he has questions. “For example, are these new jobs being made or will there be transfers from another location? Since we own the land, what will we get from it? Should we set up a TIF zone? Are there environmental hazards associated with their product?” Blaylock said to write the questions down and he would forward them on with a request to attend the next meeting.
Later on in open forum, resident Nathan Maudlin reiterated the point about checking on the environmental safety plan of the proposed new business. Other Agenda Items: Brett Slayden, appeared on behalf of the new Heritage Federal Credit Union, to ask permission to have a grill on their sidewalk out front for the branch grand opening and ribbon cutting on Wednesday, September 14. Hot dogs and the fixins’ will be served from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. The fire hydrants will be flushed starting on August 22 and continue for two to three nights until completion. Notice has been put in the newspaper as it may result in
water discoloration during the process. Johnson United Methodist Church was granted its request to close Granary and Church Streets and use Maclure Park for their annual Ice Cream Social on Saturday, August 27 from 3 to 8 p.m. Flanders presented resolution 2016-1, which was approved, identifying September 11 as Bicentennial Torch Relay Day in New Harmony. The torch is expected to arrive in New Harmony around noon and will be run up to the Red Wagon in Poseyville by 1:30 p.m. It will then be passed off to Gibson
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Floods cause ‘mess’ at MVHS By Lois Mittino Gray The first day of school for about a dozen Mount Vernon High School students turned out to be a soggy mess in a sewage-filled parking lot that totaled their cars and frayed their emotions. Mercedes Angel, along with her parents, Margaret and Bryan Angel, and brother Xavier, attended the Mount Vernon School Board meeting last Monday to comment on concerns regarding the aftermath of the recent flooding in the lot after
heavy rains on Wednesday, August 10. It was Mercedes’ first day of her senior year at school. Mercedes recounted events of the day to the board. “It started raining at lunch about noon. At 3 p.m. announcements were made that a bus would be shuttling students to the parking lot near the football field. Nothing was said about the lot near the tennis courts where I was parked. My brother met me after school and I walked out the glass doors and couldn’t be-
Mercedes Angel speaks with Mount Vernon School Supt. Tom Kopatich after this week’s meeting. Several cars were flooded in the school’s parking lot with recent downpour. Photo by Lois Mittino Gray
lieve my eyes. My car was sitting in two to three feet of murky water.” To top it all off, floodwaters knocked over a porta-potty at the site and the waters inside and outside the cars was contaminated by sewage and chemicals. Mercedes said she and her brother had to wade through the waist-high water to get to her car. “We couldn’t see what we were walking on and whenever a car would drive through it, it caused high waves to lap around us.” She showed the board still photographs and video of the waves and flooding, with water pouring out the door of one student vehicle as it was opened. Mercedes and other students were concerned that they were not helped by administrators with this dilemma in any way. “Does your concern for us end when we walk out those doors?” she asked. “School officials drove out past us. They saw us crying and we needed them then.” Mercedes said one administrator, who was outside for a minute, walked back into the school and told a student on the way out “Good luck with your car.” Margaret Angel said that, as a mother, she would have preferred that the school held her children and other students until parents North Posey quarterback Ethan Morlock gives the South Spencer were called to come get them, as the cars were inoperable. “I would Rebel defender the slip as he gets to the outside during season-openrather them come home late than ing action Friday night in Reo. The Vikings were winners and will face Mount Vernon for the Posey County News Cup on Friday night. Continued on Page A12 Photo by Dave Pearce
Survey shows Posey County’s roads in need of repairs By Pam Robinson The Posey County Commissioners heard reports on the condition of the county’s roads and bridges when they met in regular session this past Tuesday morning. The reports make it clear the county will need to stretch its budget to maintain its highway and bridge system.
County Highway Superintendent Steve Schenk presented the main points in Beem, Longest, and Neff’s surface condition evaluation of county roads. Schenk said the surveyors actually drove the roads, and machines evaluated the roads’ condition. The surveyors evaluated all 400 miles of roads in the county, Schenk stated, both chip and seal
Briefly New MV Soccer Field recognition to be held August 23 A recognition of the opening of the new Mount Vernon soccer field facility will be held tonight, Tuesday, August 23, between the two soccer games beginning at 5:30 p.m. MVCC to show movie Mount Vernon Community Church - Black’s Chapel UMC, 1800 West Fourth Street, Mount Vernon, will be showing the movie ‘Miracles From Heaven’ on Saturday, August 27, starting at 8 p.m. This free outdoor movie will be shown, along with free popcorn and drinks, between the church and Young Life building. All you need to bring is a chair or blanket. In case of rain, movie will be shown inside. PC Election Office announces county-wide school boards openings The Mount Vernon and North Posey school systems will have At Large School Board candidate openings on the November 8, 2016, election ballot. Anyone at least 21 years of age who has an interest in running for one of these positions may go online to the Indiana Secretary of State office, election division and get the CAN-34 application. This petition must be signed by 10 registered voters in the appropriate voting districts. It is a good idea to get more signatures because some may be unreadable and others may not be registered. The Posey County Election Office also has forms that can be faxed or e-mailed to you. Candidates will also need an Economic Interest form filed, CAN-12. All forms must be returned in person to the Courthouse by noon Friday, August 26. Big Whopper-Liars contest set for September 17 It’s That Time of Year Again… We’re Looking for a Few Good Liars. The 28th Annual ‘Big Whopper - Liars’ contest is rapidly approaching. If you have a story you would like to share that’s not on the up and up or enjoy listening to some farfetched stories, the place to be is Murphy Auditorium, 419 Tavern Street in New Harmony, Ind., at 7 p.m. Saturday, September 17, 2016. Bring the entire family and join us for an exciting evening in the finest of storytelling entertainment with special guests ‘Clif the Drifter’ and other celebrities. Admission for the contest is $5 per person. So…see if you can catch a ‘Whopper’ or maybe throw one yourself. For your entry form, tickets or more information please contact: Jeff Fleming - 1-618-395-8491; Jeff Greenwell - 1-812-783-2762; or A. Scott Huck - 1-812-963-5198. Tickets will also be available at Murphy Auditorium night of show.
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as well as blacktop. The surveyors ranked the roads on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 standing for the worst condition and 10 standing for the best condition. Posey County has no roads ranked as 1’s or 2’s, and no roads ranked at 8, 9 or 10. The 205 miles of county roads ranked as 6 and 7’s require $500,000 per year to main-
tain. That’s the good news. The bad news is 158 miles of county roads ranked as 3, 4, and 5’s will require $13.5 million of improvement to bring the roads up to par. Schenk said the report helps the county highway department in choosing which
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Students exceed budget at MSDMV By Lois Mittino Gray Members of the Mount Vernon School Board were pleased to hear at the August 15 meeting that school enrollment figures are up, compared to the estimated figure in the 2017 budget. School Superintendent Tom Kopatich said he had to add a new teacher as a result and may have to add more if the school population keeps growing. “We are an older community and have been losing enrollment every year. The projected number of 2,036 in the budget is now at 2,067 as we speak today and I hear that five more are coming in soon. This is a really positive number for us,” he explained. The official number for state reimbursement per pupil, about $5,800 apiece, does not come until state-wide Student
Count Day on September 16. Kopatich informed the board that he has added another third grade classroom at Marrs Elementary. This brought classroom size down from 27 to 18 in a class. “This is a critical grade since it starts ISTEP testing and has the IREAD test,” he noted. He is also looking at kindergarten class size at West Elementary running now at 23, 23 and 24 students. “They do have two teacher assistants to help out at this time,” he added. The board also approved the Notice to Taxpayers of Tax Levies for the 2017 budgets and the Notice to Taxpayers of the School Bus Replacement and Capital Project Plans. It granted permission to advertise
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New location to enhance Behavioral Services By Pam Robinson Southwestern Behavioral Healthcare has served Posey County since 1979 in a rented building on Vista Drive at the edge of Mount Vernon’s Lawrence subdivision. Next Tuesday, Southwestern’s Posey Regional Services will open its own newly-constructed building, at 309 North Sawmill, behind Dairy Queen, in Mount Vernon. The new facility will open its doors to clients at 8 a.m., August 30, 2016. “August 23 and 24 the furniture and the cabinets are being installed. It’s all brand new for the community,” states therapist Wendy James, LCSW, coordinator of both Posey
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The new facility for Southwestern Behavioral Healthcare, Inc., Posey Regional Services, located at 309 North Sawmill Street, Mount Vernon, will open on August 30, 2016. Photo by Zach Straw