T
P C N SINCE 1882 Successor to The Poseyville News & New Harmony Times POSEY COUNTY’S ONLY LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED NEWSPAPER
Volume 137 Edition 36
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
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County reviews bids to raze homes as part of blight project By Valerie Werkmeister Posey County is continuing its efforts to clean-up abandoned community eyesores. Bids were opened from three construction companies who hoped to be chosen to raze nine abandoned homes throughout the county during last Tuesday’s Posey County Commissioner’s meeting. The effort is part of the state-wide blight elimination program. The state will provide the necessary funding to demolish the blighted structures on each of the properties. The hope is that new homes will be constructed and added to the tax rolls. Naas, LLC submitted a bid totaling $64,525; Robinson Construction of Vincennes submitted a bid for $103,900 and Jerry Aigner Construction of Boonville placed a bid at $69,600. Only one house in Griffin is on the list and is located at
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A stone was placed under a tree that was planted at Brittlebank Park in memory of Linc Baro during a memorial dedication ceremony held August 29, 2017. The event, hosted by the Mount Vernon-Black Township Parks and Recreation, honored Baro’s decades of service to the Parks Board. Pictured front row, l to r: Beth Baro, Milma Baro, Audrey Walters, Pam Bennett, Linda Walters, Karl N. Baro, Leigh Ann Baro, Bill Baro, and Jack Higgins. Back row, l to r: Michael Harshbarger, Debbie Scott, Karl A. Baro, and Ron Bennett. Photo by Michelle Gibson
MV school board wraps up last few vacancies
Eighth graders at Mount Vernon Junior High School Dawson Brink, Courtney Miller, and Shelby Shively get the money jars ready for Tuesday’s fundraiser kickoff event.
Local students eager to help Texas school By Lois Mittino Gray Excitement is running today at Mount Vernon Junior High School. The eighth grade FACS class launches its fundraising campaign to raise money for high school in Rockport, Texas, hit hard by Harvey. Giant money jars will start being filled Tuesday in a campaign the students named, “It Takes Change to Make Change.” The catalyst for the project was Mount Vernon FACS Teacher Tammy Schneider. She went to the Facebook Page set up for FACS teachers na-
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Briefly 9/11 Memorial Service: New Harmony Kiwanis Friday, Sept. 8, 9:30 a.m. New Harmony Town Hall 200th Anniversary: Old Union Church Saturday, Sept. 16 Sunday, Sept. 17 10017 S. State Road 165, PV Saint Wendel Social: Sept. 9, 5-10 p.m. Sept. 10, 11 a.m. -9 p.m. Saint Wendel Church Day of Caring: United Way Sept. 15 Throughout community Burgoo: St. Philip Men’s Club Sept. 24, 11 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. St. Philip Church
More information on these and other events inside today’s Posey County News (USPS 439-500)
By Lois Mittino Gray The school year is off to a great start for the Wildcats! Members of the Mount Vernon School Board tied up some loose ends at their August 21, meeting to fill the last few staff vacancies, get the 2018 budget ready for advertising, and wrap up the formalities of who can sign school account checks. Last minute hires to complete the instructional staffing for the school year are Erin Kuhn and Frehley Miller who will be teacher assistants at West Elementary School. Kuhn will work in remediation, replacing Randi Redman, while Miller will be in the computer lab. In coaching, Patricia Goodyear will serve as assistant coach girls’ basketball, replacing Jade Dixon. The resignations from Dixon and Redman were accepted by the board. A complete list of extracurricular positions and who will fill them this year was accepted by the board. The comprehensive list includes coaching positions, department chairs, club sponsors, and music, dance, newspaper and yearbook positions. All positions were filled, except for intramural sponsors at the elementary level. Topping off personnel matters, the board adopted a resolution permitting five staff personnel to attend five educational meetings. One is in August, and the other four are in September. Locations range from Indianapolis to Nashville, Tennessee and St. Louis, Missouri. School Superintendent Tom Kopatich announced that ISTEP scores are in and they are sending them home to parents. Parents can look at the scores and request re-evaluation of the results with the state.
Dr. Kopatich said that by mid to late September, they should have all the scores finalized and back to release to the public. “And then they’ll change it all again next year,” he mused, with a wry smile. In other board action: • The board approved the notice to taxpayers of tax levies for the 2018 budgets, the notice to taxpayers of the School Bus Replace-
ment and Capital Project Plans, and granted permission to advertise as recommended for the following funds: General Fund, Debt Service Fund, Capital Projects Fund, Transportation Fund, Bus Replacement Fund, and Rainy Day Fund. The budget will be advertised in local newspapers and a public hearing
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Keck Gonnerman Tractor Drive
This antique Minneapolis Moline tractor was driven by John Chamness in the Keck Gonnerman Tractor Drive on Saturday morning. The group traveled to Wadesville and back. Photo by Theresa Bratcher
Driven to design: North Posey graduate pursues artistic dreams By Bryana Schreiber Have you driven on the Lloyd Expressway recently and seen a billboard for Indiana University (IU) Athletics or attended a game to cheer on the Hoosiers and brought home a souvenir cup? Or, perhaps you’re a season ticket holder who frames their ticket page. If any of these visuals caught your eye, you might be surprised to learn that many were designed by a graduate of North Posey High School. Brandon Spahn, a 2011 North Posey grad, works as the Director of Graphic Design Services for Indiana University (IU) Athletics, and his artwork now appears on billboards, posters, athletic schedules, social media outlets, recruit materials and anywhere else you might think of athletic promotions being sported. Additionally he’s been successful with freelance work he tackles in his spare time. We caught up with Spahn to learn more about how he developed his passion and talent for art, how he’s sharing his creativity with the Hoosiers, and his plans to grow as an artist. As most things that bloom do, success for Spahn started at his roots here in Posey County. He grew up in Poseyville and graduated from
North Posey 2011 graduate Brandon Spahn is the Director of Graphic Design Services for Indiana University. Photo submitted North Posey High School in 2011. In his early teen years, Spahn would occasionally play video games for fun. His love for gaming piqued his interest in computers. Near the end of his eighth grade year and into his freshman year his interest in computers grew. Just for kicks Spahn entered a t-shirt he had designed in an online contest that was sponsored by designedbyhumans.com. He entered
the contest a few times and was pleased to see his shirt win shirt of the day for which he received a $500 cash prize. The design later won shirt of the week for which he was awarded a $1,000 cash prize. “As a high school kid, receiving prize money was a big deal for me as it paid as much as a summer job,” said Spahn. “I enjoyed creating the t-shirt design and sharing my work with
others while also making money felt awesome.” In his freshman year at North Posey Spahn used some of his prize money and worked with a friend to build a computer especially for graphic design. In school he was first introduced to a multimedia course in his junior year, which gave him a good knowledge base, but he learned a lot more by exploring the software on his own and watching YouTube videos to teach himself new tricks. “It takes time to learn, but when you really enjoy something it’s easy to spend time on it,” said Spahn. “There are so many resources out there. I used YouTube videos a lot to learn how people accomplished different effects in Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as the other software in Adobe’s Creative Suite. I allowed myself to experiment and learned through trial and error.” In his senior year of high school, Spahn and a close friend, Nathan Phipps, started a small clothing line and sold different items to their friends, family and other members of the community. While they only sold about half of the items they purchased they were able to make
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