“Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain.” Since 1882 ~ Successor to The Poseyville News and The New Harmony Times • New Harmony, IN Posey County’s locally-owned newspaper
Tucker scramble set
Friends of John Tucker will be hosting a “Re-Elect John Tucker for Mayor Golf Scramble” on August 6, 2011. The event will be held at CountryMark Golf Course in Mount Vernon. A shotgun start will be at 8 a.m. Food and beverages will be served during the entire scramble. If you are interested in participating in any way, please call 480-3875.
Band Tag Day set
The Mount Vernon Marching Wildcats will be having their annual “Tag Day” on August 27 from 8 a.m. till 2 p.m.
Blood drive set
There will be a Community Blood Drive at St. Matthew Catholic Church Gymnasium at 421 Mulberry St, Mount Vernon on Sunday, August 14 from 7 11 a.m. To schedule an appointment go to www.redcrossblood.org
Class of 1964 meets
The MVHS Class of 1964 is celebrating their 65th birthday. A picnic will be held on Sept. 17. For more information please email M. Louise Bulla Tomlinson at louisetom64@yahoo. com or Mike Dunbar at dunbarhome@insightbb.com.
River Days entries sought
Members of the Mount Vernon River Days committee are looking for parade entries from area businesses, churches, civic groups, scout troops, car clubs, etc. This year the parade will take place on Sept. 10 at 6 p.m. The theme is yesterday, today and tomorrow. Information can be obtained through the Mount Vernon River Days web-page, the Black Township Fire Department web-site, or the Posey County Sheriff’s Department.
Oldest Posey vet sought
The Mount Vernon River Days Committee wants to identify the oldest living veteran in Posey County. Can you help? The male or female who has this distinction will be honored as Grand Marshall of the River Days Parade. If you have a veteran in your family or know of a veteran who served in the service of our country, please phone 812-643-0091 or email Judy Whitten at riverview303@ insightbb.com. Be ready to provide the name of the service person, years of military service, branch of service and age at the last birthday.
Class of ‘81 to meet
The Mount Vernon Class of 1981 will have their second planning meeting at Bob EvansWestside at 7 p.m. Anyone interested in coming to discuss plans for our 30th re-union is invited to attend. Current personal information can be e-mailed to mvhs1981@ yahoo.com
Old Union hosts help
Families are invited to The Clothes Hanger, this coming Saturday, August 6, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. for your children’s back to school needs. The Clothes Hanger is a clothing bank located in Old Union Christian Church, Hwy 165, Poseyville.
Salsa seminar set
Do you like salsa? It is very simple to prepare and with a good crop of tomatoes and peppers you can prepare some now to enjoy with chips later. This workshop will teach the steps of preparing salsa and how to “can” it for use later. Cost is $5 and will cover the cost of all the supplies. Please enroll by August 5 by calling the Extension Office, 838-1331. Class size is limited.
ThePCN
Tuesday August 2, 2011
$1.00
(USPS 439-500)
Volume 131 Edition 32
Farm Bureau takes aim at copper thieves By Holly Heerdink Copper wire thieves may think twice about stealing from Posey County farms because of a new twopart program introduced by representatives of Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance and local farmers. The program features new security measures for irrigation systems and a reward for anyone with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of wire thieves. “Our ultimate goal would be for whoever is stealing this copper wire from our irrigation systems to end up in jail,” Randy Kron, vice president of Indiana Farm Bureau, said during a phone interview. Since September 2010, the electric wire has been stripped from 18 irrigation systems within a five-to-
Integra becomes 2011’s 61st bank failure
six mile radius of Griffin. The thefts have accompanied an increase in the cost of copper. Jim Rink, Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance’s director of farm/crop/commercial/rural, said the price of copper in 2004 was around $0.75 per pound, but today’s price is around $4 per pound. After several farmers were affected by the theft, they decided to pool their resources for a reward program, a strategy that has worked well for farmers in Southern Illinois. The group collected $5,000, and it hopes the reward will encourage people to contact the Posey County Sheriff’s Office with information about the copper wire thefts. “You wake up one morning and go out and look and realize the wire that makes everything work is just
gone,” Griffin farmer Bishop Mumford said. “It’s a very expensive repair.” Depending on the lengths of the systems, the cost to repair a center-pivot irrigation system can be anywhere from $6,000 to $10,000. For many farmers, the money they donated to the reward program is worth it if they can deter copper wire thieves. In addition to the reward program, Farm Bureau insurance is sponsoring a pilot program to help protect its insurance customers. Devices that can detect when copper wire has been cut or compromised are being installed in irrigation systems throughout the county. As soon as the devices are disturbed, the system calls the Posey County Sheriff’s
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Inside this issue... Retrospective ................. A4 Legals ...................... B10-12 Classifieds ................... B6-8
Posey man is sentenced to 38 years for rape, conduct
By Dave Pearce Posey County Superior Court Judge Brent Almon sentenced a Mount Vernon man to 38 years in prison on Thursday. Posey County Prosecutor Travis Clowers said that the Christopher Master, 45, pleaded guilty to charges of Rape and Criminal Deviate Master Conduct. Clowers described the crime as “a brutal rape and beating of his girlfriend while on bond from previous assault on her.” Master was also on probation from a conviction in the State of California. Master plead guilty to the two charges without any type of plea agreement. Both of the crimes are Class B Felonies. Clowers indicated that Master was sentenced to 20 years on the first charge and to 18
FDIC takes over and Old National steps in
By Dave Pearce On Friday, July 29, 2011, Integra Bank National Association (N.A.), Evansville, Ind., was closed by the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named Receiver. Evansville-based Old national took over the bank’s operations shortly thereafter. No advance notice is given to the public when a financial institution is closed. Mount Vernon is home to branches of both Old National and Integra. Old National Bank President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Jones met Sunday afternoon with over 300 Integra employees in Evansville and advised them that, in essence, common sense would be used to determine which employees and which branches would be retained. Jones said job decisions would begin to be made in 30 days and announcements would come in 60 to 90 days. Integra had operated 52 branches. Jones indicated that where there are “redundant functions and locations” would be the most likely cuts as Old National begins to trim operating costs of the failed bank. The Mount Vernon would certainly fit initial descriptions as the two branches are a block apart. According to information from the Federal Deposit Insurance Company, all deposit accounts, excluding any Cede & Co. deposits, have been transferred to Old National Bank, Evansville, (“assuming institution”) and will be available immediately. The former Integra Bank, N.A. locations reopened as branches of Old National Bank during regular business hours. Transferred deposits will be separately insured from any accounts you may already have at Old National Bank for six months after the failure of Integra Bank, N.A. Checks that were drawn on Integra Bank, N.A. that did not clear before the bank closed will be honored as long as there are sufficient funds in the account. You may withdraw your funds from any transferred account without an early withdrawal penalty until you enter into a new deposit agreement with Old National Bank as long as the deposits are not pledged as collateral for loans. You may view more information about Old National Bank by visiting their web site at www.oldnational.com. According to the Associated Press, Integra Bank received $83.6 million in taxpayer funds in February 2009 under the government’s financial bailout program, Treasury Department data shows. The data also shows those funds have not been repaid. According to a statement from the Federal Deposit Insurance Cor-
Office and the owner of the farm. “It’s a marvelous system,” Mumford said. “You can’t tell in any way if an irrigation system has the device installed or not.” According to Randy Kron, some insurance agencies have canceled coverage on irrigation systems because of the costliness of the repairs. He said Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance paid $200,000 in claims last year, but the company wants to continue its coverage. It is now offering insurance discounts to farmers who participate in the program. Kron said he hopes the combination of the reward program and the new security devices will stop the copper wire theft, and people will realize stealing wire is not worth the risk.
Newly-appointed Mount Vernon Fire Chief Wes Dixon works on the air conditioning for one of the trucks this week. Photo by Dave Pearce
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New Harmony Bicentennial logo contest underway The New Harmony Bicentennial Commission is hosting a logo design contest for the celebration of New Harmony’s Bicentennial in 2014. Only one entry may be submitted per artist, each logo must include the phrase “New Harmony Bicentennial” and “1814-2014,” and must be an original design. More information and contest rules are available at www. usi.edu/nhgallery and www.hoosiersalon.org/newharmony.html. For a list of area businesses where appli-
cations can be picked up, call 812-682-3156. Artwork will be judged based on artistic merit, creativity, and relevance to the history of New Harmony. Completed applications, along with logo design, must be submitted no later than 5 p.m. on Oct. 1, 2011. Applications may be mailed to the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, P.O. Box 627, New Harmony, IN, 47631, or delivered in person to 506 Main Street in New Harmony.
Front row left to right: Kira Irons, Joseph G. Hoover, Josie Brown, Alec Donald Beard. Back row left to right: Phillip Hagemann, William Shaltis (judge), John Mongiardo (judge), Gregory Rike (judge).
Mount Vernon’s Irons takes Hagemann Award An enthusiastic audience of music lovers assembled in Thrall’s Opera House in New Harmony Wednesday evening, July 27, to attend the Finals of the competition for the 29th Annual Hagemann Award for Musical Performance, open to juniors and seniors from the three high schools in PoseyCounty. The winner was Kira Irons, a soprano who recently graduated from Mount Vernon Senior High School. She was accompanied by Teresa Bloodworth. Her parents are Gretchin and Jason Irons, and her
teacher is Shay Barnett. Her selections included “Danny Boy” and songs by Schubert and Handel. Miss Irons will receive $600 in cash plus an Alexander Scholarship, worth approximagely $2,000 for her first year of post-high school education. The other three Finalists were: Alec Donald Beard, a tenor from North Posey; Josie Brown, a mezzo-soprano from Mount Vernon and Joseph G. Hoover, a percussionist from North Posey. Each will receive $250 in cash. The judges were: John Mon-
giardo, National President of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, an honorary men’s music fraternity; Gregory Rike, a tenor and member of the Voice Department of the University of Evansville and William Shaltis, member of the faculty of the University of Evansville and principal percussionist of the Evansville Philharmonic and the Owensboro Symphony. Presiding over the evening was composer-conductor Philip Hagemann, the founder of the award who is a Mount Vernon native who resides in New York City.
Go to www.poseycountynews.com Community ........... A5 Social ..................... A6 Deaths ................... A3 Sports .................. B2-5 School.................... A8 Bus./Ag ................... A9
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