Since 1882 ~ Successor to The Poseyville News and The New Harmony Times • New Harmony, IN
“Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain.” Posey County’s locally-owned newspaper
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
$1.00
(USPS PS 4 439-500) 39 500)
Volume 133 Edition 37
Woman charged with theft as 3,000 jewelry pieces found By Dave Pearce Posey County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Tricia D. Schneider (age 38) of Evansville, Ind., for her alleged involvement in the burglary of a rural Posey County residence. On August 31, the Posey County Sheriff’s Department was called to a residence near Wadesville, on Damm Road; the owners of the residence came home to discover the home had been broken into. As the investigation progressed, information was gained that a stolen credit card was being used in the Evansville area. Deputies began to track the use of the stolen card and were able to capture an image of the suspect using the card on a
store security camera. The image was broadcast on local news stations and tips immediately began coming into the sheriff’s office. While following up on leads Friday morning, Detective Jeremy Fortune located an individual of interest in Evansville. When the detective approached and attempted to engage the person in conversation, the individual immediately ran, causing Detective Fortune to give chase. Fortune caught the individual after a short distance and took her into custody. The individual was identified as Tricia D. Schneider, a name that the sheriff’s department was given through several phone tips. In-
Tricia Schneider
formation gained from Schneider ultimately lead to her arrest. This
investigation enabled Evansville Detectives to solve two other burglaries that were currently being investigated by the Evansville Police Department. The method of operation used by Schneider was to glean information from social media postings, where persons posted information about being out of town enjoying a vacation or being away from home for an extended period of time. Posey County Deputies traveled to a location in rural Warrick County were a number of stolen items were recovered. Schneider is currently lodged in the Posey County Jail and the case information was forwarded
New Harmony to face tons of red tape, hoops if bridge is to be reopened
MSD Mount Vernon-NEA agree to stipend amount By Lois Mittino Gray Members of the Mount Vernon School Board were delighted to sign a positive agreement between them and the teacher’s union, NEA Mount Vernon, at their September 3 meeting that includes a teacher stipend and a retirement incentive. All teachers that were rated at the effective or above level will receive a stipend ranging from $800 to $1600, depending on the compensation model. This model is structured so that larger amounts will be given to
Community Calendar September 11 Ceremony Live Taps played at the time each airplane crashed: 7:45 and 9:10 a.m. Rick Gooden and Rick Huffman of New Harmony will be playing Echo Taps on Bugle (of Bugles Across America http://www. buglesacrossamerica.org) The New Harmony American Legion Color Guard will also be present. Rick Gooden is the owner of New Harmony Woodworking and can be reached at 568-4990. Merit Board to meet The Posey County Sheriff’s Department Merit Board will meet on Wed., Sept. 11 at 6 p.m. at the Posey County Jail. Hoosier Salon Gallery Exhibit Opening Sept. 14, 2013, Reception: 5 -7 p.m., 507 Church Street, New Harmony, Ind. Meet the artists, view the art for sale, and enjoy delicious hors d’oeuvres and beverages made possible by the generous support of Harry and Linda Hottle, owners of Pop’s Grill and Old Fashioned Soda Shoppe. The reception is free and open to the public. The Hoosier Salon New Harmony Gallery thanks Lawrence & Patricia Gosh, Exhibit Sponsors for the artwork of Libby Whipple, Katie Whipple, and J.D. Naraine. The exhibit will be on display through Oct. 16. Posey Women to sell Kuchens The Posey County Women’s Club will be selling Kuchens at the Poseyville Autumnfest, September 28 & 29. We will have cherry, cinnamon, and apple again this year for $5.50 each. Our proceeds go to our Carol Renee Lamar Scholarship Fund. Please come and help support the Women’s Club of Posey County and enjoy the wonderful Autumnfest. St. Philip Burgoo The St. Philip Burgoo will be held on Sunday Sept. 29, 2013. Drive-thru and Carry-out begin at 7:30 a.m. Bring your own containers for carry-out or containers are provided for a nominal fee. Cafeteria serving is from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. This menu includes burgoo, hamburgers, pies and drinks. Along with the burgoo there will be a Raffle with a grand prize of $20,000 and 20 other prizes. Only 3,000 tickets will be sold and you need not be present to win. A $20 donation is required for each ticket. The Burgoo and Raffle are sponsored by the St. Philip Men’s Club.
the younger teachers. It is a one-time bonus to be paid out the second pay period in November. “When the school financing formula changed a few years ago, the teachers took a pay decrease, yet worked to keep our curriculum rigorous and strong. This will be the first increase in any form for our staff in six years. We worked hard to make sacrifices and build up our Rainy Day Fund and balances and now my concern is different,” said School Superintendent Tom Kopatich. “It is a must in the future that we look for dollars to be competitive with other school corporations to attract and keep great teachers.” As for the retirement incentive, Kopatich explained that several years ago the formula for school funding changed from property tax to sales tax called transition to base. This created a deficit in the General Fund of $4 million. The good news is that the district has ‘put a dent in the gap’ and seen the deficit decrease to just under a million dollars since that time. The district now has four years to reduce the remaining million dollar deficit in the General Fund. Ninety percent of the General Fund goes to salaries so Asst. Supt. of Finance Loren Evans did a complete salary study. It was established that to help close the gap, retirement incentives of $25,000 will be offered as a buyout agreement. Some 32 teachers will be eligible to retire by the state rule of 85 at the end of the school year. A minimum of 14 must agree to retire by February 1 to make it work out at a savings of $450,000 to the district. If the minimum is not reached, letters of intent to retire will be returned. “We will replace those positions with teachers starting at a lower pay scale and this will help close the gap. It also shows our staff we appreciate their hard work and sacrifices in the past” Kopatich explained. “On the down side, we do lose some very skilled professional teachers.” Kopatich thanked NEA Mount Vernon Bargaining Spokesperson Richard Jesch for all the hard work they put in together to achieve the accord. “Teachers and administrators would ride together to get things done in Indianapolis as a cooperative us team. It is good to be able to give the teachers something back,” said Board member Beth Higgins. “We were happy to see the stipend increase, but it’s unfortunate that we’ll have to give that back in increased health insurance premiums,” noted Jesch before signing the agreement.
to Posey County Prosecutor Travis Clowers, where official charges were issued. Schneider was charged with Theft, a Class D Felony along with a charge of taking over 3,000 pieces of jewelry from the home as well as credit cards, which she apparently was using in Evansville. Posey County Sheriff Greg Oeth warns that this should serve as a cautionary tale for avid social media users. “Far too often we deal with people who have simply allowed themselves to become victims of crime,” Oeth said. “We encourage everyone not to post information that is going to make them an easy target.”
Right into the fire,” said School Board President Kathy Weinzapfel, handing him a large packet of papers and memos. As the new initiate thumbed through the facts and figures, School Superintendent Tom Kopatich explained how Isaac was chosen to replace Brian Jeffries who went to the Mount Vernon Common Council. “The Board had a short time frame in which to work so we made a list of possible candidates. It had to be a person from
By Valerie Werkmeister New Harmony Town Council members met with members of the Harmony Way Bridge Commission for a special morning meeting, September 9. Council and bridge commission members as well as other citizens were allowed to voice their concerns during the meeting. Bridge commission members urged the council to consider buying the bridge to open eligibility to government funds and grants. Member Linda Henning addressed the council advising them that the commission’s goal is to transfer ownership to a government entity. “If you will consider the option to buy the bridge, we’re not going to leave you high and dry. We’ve done too much work not to continue to help with grants,” Henning stated. “We see this major asset sitting there and we just felt we had to do something about it,” she added. Henning presented a business proposal to council members that outlined the positive points of purchasing the bridge. She stated the property has been established for 80 years, produces an annual revenue of $250,000 $350,000 with the potential to increase that revenue by a toll or traffic increases. She added it carries the gas line, a valuable commodity, to the town of New Harmony. She explained that New Harmony
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Posey County Prosecutor Travis Clowers, Posey County Sheriff Greg Oeth, Detective Jeremy Fortune, and Posey Chief Deputy Tom Latham look over some of the estimated $40 to $50 thousand in stolen jewelry recovered this weekend, thanks to the quick work of several law enforcement agencies and for the public’s tips after the accused woman’s photo was shown on local television. Photo by Dave Pearce
Isaac joins school board By Lois Mittino Gray Mark Isaac, the newest member of the Mount Vernon School Board, has had his hand in school activities for a long, long time. “I began stirring burgoo for Marrs Elementary School way before my daughter even started school there. She’s 20 now and I’m still stirring,” he said with a smile. He was reminiscing on an exciting night as he took his seat at his first board meeting on September 3, right after Loren Evans administered his Oath of Office. “Get ready because here we go.
Bishop discusses Holy Angels future By Lois Mittino Gray Bishop Charles Thompson came to New Harmony for a listening session with members of Holy Angels Catholic Church on Thursday night September 5 at the Catholic Community Center. He explained that this is the next step in a Strategic Planning Process that will lead to the reorganization of the 69 parishes in the Diocese of Evansville under his auspices by the end of this month. The cleric opened the meeting with a prayer for guidance and inspiration telling everyone to be
open-minded and respectful of all opinions and questions voiced freely that evening. Tim McGuire, Chief Operating Officer for the Diocese, gave a slideshow presentation with background facts on the plan to start things out. Discussion on the plan began formally in early 2012 with discerning teams, group reviews, and town hall meetings. The timeline calls for announcements on parish mergers in the Message Catholic newspaper and at press conferences as soon as possible, probably at the end of this month. Implementation for some is
slated to begin July 1, 2014 all the way to 2018 for others. McGuire explained that with demographic changes and lower priest numbers, it became necessary to determine how to properly use all diocesan resources to best meet the needs of the 85,000 Catholics in the diocese in the twenty-first century. “This is not unique to our diocese as this is being done right now in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Belleville, Ill., to name a few nearby,” he said.
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PCN publisher to speak at United Way breakfast The United Way of Posey County will start its 2013 Campaign with a kick-off breakfast Wednesday, September 19 at 8 a.m. at the Alexandrian Public Library, 115 West Fifth Street, Mount Vernon, Ind. Breakfast will be provided by Larry Williams. This year’s featured speaker will be Posey County News Owner/Publisher Dave Pearce. Pearce has been involved in newspaper since moving to Posey County in 1985. Originally from Enfield, Ill., Pearce is a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale with a degree in accounting. He also earned a degree in communications, with an emphasis on journalism, from the University of Southern Indiana. Pearce lives with his wife Connie (Redman) Pearce in Poseyville. Prior to becoming involved in newspaper, Pearce worked in the accounting department at Mead Johnson Company in Evansville. He was actively involved
Retrospective ...........A 4 Legals .....................B8-10 Classifieds ..........A11-12 Community ..............A 5
in the accounting portion of the Capital Project at Mead Johnson, now known as Mead Johnson Park, located just east of Mount Vernon. Pearce worked alongside project engineering during the construction phase of the project in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He began his newspaper career at the Mount Vernon Democrat in 1985 and was twice employed by Landmark Communications at the newspaper. He worked as a Sports Editor and later as News Editor from 1985 through 1991. After nearly five years as editor of the Boonville Standard and NewburghChandler Register, Pearce returned to Posey County where he served as editor of the Democrat from 1996 through 2002. From there, Pearce became editor of the South Gibson Star-Times in Fort Branch.
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Deaths ........................A 3 Church ........................A 7 Social ..........................A 6 School .......................A10
Sports .......................B1-5 Bus/Ag ...................... A11 Opinion ....................A14 www.poseycountynews.com
David Pearce