“Our liberties we prize, and our rights we will maintain.” Since 1882 ~ Successor Successor tto oT The he P Poseyville oseyville N News ews a and nd T The he N New ew H Harmony ar mony T Times imes • N New ew H Harmony, ar mony, IN Posey County’s locally-owned newspaper
Tuesday T d M March h 22, 22 2011
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Volumee 130 0 Edition 13
Proposed spending cuts will hurt North Posey By Dave Pearce It has often been said “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” Posey County school districts would probably agree with that statement, particularly with the budget that has recently come out of the Indiana House. “We need the people in this district to contact their legislators and tell them that we are a model school,” North Posey Supt. Dr. Todd Camp explained during an interview this week. “We have 50-year-old buildings that have been taken very good care of. We have been financially responsible. We have remodeled and we have maintained. We don’t have the big Taj Mahals. We work together and take care of ourselves. I think we have excellent community commitment and I am asking them to help us take this fight to the legislature or we are going to lose funding per student that is going to drastically change our education at North Posey.”
Ambulance results here Public Meeting to discuss the EMS Geographic County Study (Ambulance). The Public Meeting is scheduled for March 29, 2011, at 6 p.m. at the Posey County Community Center. Gary Ludwig from the The Ludwig Group, LLC will be in attendance to present the study findings.
Daniels to speak here The Posey County Republican Party has scheduled their Lincoln Dinner for March 30 at 7 p.m. Gov. Mitch Daniels will be the featured speaker. If you would like more info, call 483-2922.
‘Clean Up the Hill’ set The annual New Harmony “Clean Up the Hill” effort will take place on Tuesday, March 29, beginning at 4:30 p.m. at Maple Hill Cemetery. Volunteers will work together to pick up the trash that has accumulated on both sides of South Main Street, starting at the Cemetery and continuing up the hill to Highway 69. Come join in this activity. Volunteers of all ages are welcome. Gloves and trash bags will be provided. For more information, contact Karen Walker at 682-3390.
While the $6.2 billion overall amount spent on schools does not change from a state standpoint, according to the proposed budget, it includes a funding formula that benefits areas where schools are growing and would ultimately cost districts who remain constant or where enrollment is shrinking. Camp said this week that area residents need to be aware of what is going on and can expect changes if something is not done at the state level. “At North Posey, we have never really bombarded legislators,” Camp said. “We have talked to them when they come around but we have not pressured them. We have always operated financially responsible here at North Posey. But with the cuts they are planning, it will hurt North Posey.” Based on current projections, Camp is expecting North Posey to receive $8.8 million in state school funding. But in 2010, the district took
$455,000 in revenue cuts. Other sources have cited that the Metropolitan School District of North Posey County Schools would see its $8.4 million in state funding this year decrease to $8.1 million next year and $7.9 million in 2013. Its per-pupil funding, currently $6,394 per student, would dip to $6,207 per student in 2013. “That’s a $900,000 cut in a three-year period,” Camp explained. “At the same time, we are continuing to operate at high levels. We are a Four Star high school and a Four Star junior high school. And if you look at scores, our tenth grade math scores are at 81 percent against a state average of 66 percent; our English scores are at 75 percent against a state average of 64; our graduation rate is at 95.2 percent against a state average of 84.1. Out attendance rate is at 98 percent versus 95 percent state-wide. The list just goes on and through all our schools.”
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Mount Vernon residents face sewer rate hike of 25 percent
McNamara, Tomes to appear The Chamber of Commerce of Southwest Indiana will host the third in the series of Meet Your Legislator events in Posey County on Saturday, April 9 at the Poseyville Community Center. Event will begin at 9 a.m. Representative Wendy McNamara and Senator Jim Tomes will be in attendance. This event is open to everyone and is free of charge. For more information or with questions, contact Tiffani Weatherford at 838-3639 or by email at tweatherford@ccswin.com
Curves helps Food Pantry Curves Fitness Center for Women, located at 230 College Avenue in Mount Vernon, will waive the sign-up fee, for a new or renewed membership to any woman who brings in a grocery bag filled with $30 of non-perishable foods or toiletries any time during the month of April.
Pat Compton, owner of Compton’s Flower Patch near Griffin, was hard at work Sunday afternoon in preparation for another year of selling plants. Althought Sunday was officially the first day of spring, Compton said she has no definitive ‘opening’ date. When the customers begin to come, she will be officially open. Photo by Dave Pearce
NHSF annual meeting set The New Harmony School Foundation will hold its Third Annual Town Hall Meeting on Saturday, April 2, 2011 at the Ribeyre Gym Annex. A free breakfast (donations taken) will be served at 9 a.m. with the meeting to be held at 9:30 a.m. Everyone is welcome.
NHS make-up days set Students in New Harmony schools will be in class on April 8, April 25, and May 6. These are snow makeup days.
NHS registration set Parents wishing to register new students for New Harmony School’s next school year may come to the office anytime to do so. These would be new preschool, kindergarten, and other students new to the school.
Poseyville shows resolve for rescue truck By Valerie Werkmeister There is no doubt about it, the Poseyville Fire Department (PFD) is in desperate need of a new rescue truck. The firemen who spend countless hours trying to keep the old truck operational know it. The other area fire departments who depend on Poseyville for assistance know it. The Town of Poseyville and Robb Township, who have each committed $48,500 towards the purchase, know it. The question now is, do the Community Focus Fund grant administrators know it? A public hearing was conducted last Thursday giving details about Poseyville’s grant request from the Community Development Block Grant program. They are requesting a $150,000 grant. At the start of the hearing, a check presentation was conducted to Seib Farms by Brian Denning of Stewart Seeds. He explained how their farm was selected to receive a $2,500 Farmers Grow Community Award sponsored by the Monsanto fund. Mark Seib then spoke on behalf of his family and turned the money over to the PFD in support of the new rescue truck fund. Many community members took the opportunity to speak in favor of the grant. Of course, this is not
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Medley uses spring break to help disadvantaged
APL Book Sale postponed The Friends of the Alexandrian Public Library has made the decision to postpone their bi-annual book sale, a key fundraiser that helps pay for extra services at the library, slated for Saturday, April 9 and Sunday, April 10 until further notice. This event has been postponed, sadly, due to the limited number of books donated to the organization to make the sale the large-scale event the public has come to expect. Instead of the book sale, the library will host a silent auction Friday, April 8 and Saturday, April 9 from noon to 5 p.m. The auction will feature framed posters that formerly hung in the meeting rooms and surplus furniture and technology from the library.
the first time they have done so. This is the third time Poseyville is trying for the grant. Debbie BennettStearsman of the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana explained that unfortunately, all of the previous meetings and letters that were submitted on behalf of this grant request are not submissable in this round. Essentially, they had to start from scratch. In late December, officials from both the town and the PFD, were devastated to learn their grant request was not approved. They later learned that none of the requests for trucks or equipment throughout the state were approved. Instead, requests for structures were given the green light, and New Harmony was one of the communities who benefitted from the grant to begin their project for a new fire station. The current truck is a 1984 model purchased 10 years ago from Highland Park, IL. It has presented an array of mechanical issues over the past few years. Fire chief Mike Crawford estimates it has cost the department over $12,000 in the past six years. That is money, he says, that should have been spent on other vital equip-
Seven-year-old Lucas Medley shows off cookies that he will sell as part of his spring break project to benefit the Food Pantry. Photo by Pam Robinson
By Pam Robinson Seven-year-old Lucas Medley of Mount Vernon didn’t hesitate when his parents Jaime and Shawn asked him what he wanted to do for spring break. The Farmersville first-grader said he wanted his dad to build a refreshment stand so he could sell cookies and give the money to the Mount Vernon Food Pantry. When his parents agreed, Lucas started making plans. He decided McKim’s IGA in Mount Vernon would be the perfect venue for his sales, so he made an appointment to meet face-to-face with store manager Larry Williams and set the date. Next, he met with his minister at First United Methodist Church, Rev. Tim Ahlemeyer, to schedule an announcement in church this past Sunday, asking the congregation to support his sales and to donate additional baked goods if desired. Lucas’s bake sale for the Mount Vernon Food Pantry will be held tomorrow, March 23, and Thursday, March 24, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at McKim’s IGA in Mount Vernon. His mother, a gifted baker, is donating dozens of chocolate chip, lemon drop and sugar cookies and trays of dark chocolate
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Inside this issue...
ThePCN
Retrospective ................. A4 Legals .......................... B4-5 Classifieds .................. B6-8
By Pam Robinson Mount Vernon City Council members present voted unanimously to pass on first reading an ordinance that would raise monthly sewer rates at their Monday, March 14, meeting. Councilman Steve Fuelling was absent from the meeting. Scott Miller of Umbaugh and Associates reviewed information based on engineers’ estimates regarding the across-the-board increase in wastewater rates. He commented that the average rate for customers now is $29.60 per month and that rate will increase to $37.12 per month. For the record, Councilman Andy Hoehn noted that the proposed increase is 25 percent. The rate increase is needed to help fund Phase 2 of the sewer project. Mandated by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, or IDEM, along with the EPA, Phase 2 will correct two combination sewer overflows, or CSOs, at Mill Creek by the city garage and near the wastewater treatment plant itself. The City of Mount Vernon has been awarded a federal community block development grant of $6,572,000 administered by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, or OCRA, that will pay for approximately half the project. In other business: •Council members voted to table until their April 11 meeting the ordinance restricting truck traffic on Kimball, Maple, Elm and Sawmill streets, yet still allowed for discussion of the ordinance that passed on first reading at their previous meeting. They explained the decision stating they wanted all members present and they wanted to receive more information from the traffic counts underway. Presentations from the audience regarding the ordinance included an argument against it from Point Township native and farmer Clarence Nelson, two arguments in favor of the ordinance from Mount Vernon residents Brandyn Mohr and Larry Clark, who lives on Kimball Street; and one argument in favor of truck traffic heading north only from another Kimball Street resident, Sarah Clark. •Council passed on first reading the bond ordinance for Phase 2 of the sewer project. The public hearing regarding the ordinance will be held at the March 28 meeting of the city council. •Council passed on first reading the ordinance to increase fines for sewer violations as required by federal law. •Council approved $3,000 to edit for consistency and user friendliness the county’s zoning ordinances. The Mount Vernon City Council will meet again Monday, March 28, 2011, at 7 p.m. in the City Hall Annex.
Go to www.poseycountynews.com Community ........... A5 Social ...................... A6 Deaths ................... A3 Sports .............. B1-4 School .................. A8 Business/Ag ............ A9
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