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Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Volume 141 Edition 14
Mount Vernon community mourns loss of long-time mayor By Dave Pearce The Mount Vernon community lost one of its longest leaders and biggest cheerleaders around noon on Good Friday. Former Mount Vernon Mayor Jackson L. Higgins died at Deaconess Midtown in Evansville. He had been living most recently at The Ford Home in New Harmony. He was 86. When it came to politics, Higgins was known in Posey County as “Mr. Democrat,” serving Mount Vernon as the mayor for 32 years, the second longest running term for a mayor in
Indiana at the time. He was born October 29, 1934 in Mount Vernon, Ind., to the late Lawrence and Evelyn (Broadhead) Higgins. Jack served in the Indiana National Guard for 20 years, retiring as Captain. He was on the staff at the Mount Vernon Democrat as an advertising manager and had worked at General Electric for 28 years as an operator. Jack was the “Voice of the Wildcats” for 68 years. He started announcing Mount Vernon High School football and basketball games after gradua-
tion in the Fall of 1952 and did so until the spring of 2020. Jack also announced track meets part-time at the school. If he wasn’t announcing the track meets, he was helping with the judging and timing. He also volunteered to work the Turkey Classic wrestling meets for many years and was a high school basketball referee. Jack coached Little League and American Legion Baseball, was an Assistant Boy Scoutmaster and was the first male co-leader of the Raintree Girl Scouts. He was a founding member of the Mount Vernon M-
Club and was inducted into the MClub Hall of Fame in 1988. It was at the encouragement of renowned journalism purist Orvan Hall, a name synonymous with newspapers in Mount Vernon, that Higgins got involved in politics. Higgins was a Mount Vernon Councilman from 1964 until 1971, Black Township Trustee in 1971 and was the Mount Vernon Mayor from 1972 until 2004. Upon leaving the Mayor’s Office in 2004, he had
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Jackson L. Higgins
Posey Commissioners will decide fate of solar zoning By Dave Pearce After several long meetings, discussions, a three-hour public hearing and a lawsuit, The Posey County Area Plan Commission completed the wording for their recommendations concerning wind and solar energy on Wednesday evening. It appears that the item will be on the agenda of the Posey County Commissioners during their next meeting. The appointed board witnessed a tractor parade down Fourth Street in Mount Vernon prior to the meeting with several voicing their opinions regarding solar energy expected to apply to come to Posey County. No solar energy company has made application to come to the County at the current time. Opponents and supporters agreed on one thing and that was both sides want to have wording in place not only for the first solar application but also for those who might seek to locate
in Posey County in the future. This meeting, the fourth or fifth related to the existing solar ordinance, was held to address the final wording of the suggestions that will be sent to the commissioners. A rough draft was hammered out in a nearly three-hour meeting just over a week ago. Wednesday’s agenda stated “This meeting is to discuss and take action on proposed amendments for consideration to solar ordinance sections 153.120 and wind ordinance.” The five items which made up the agenda were Setbacks, Landscape Plan, Fencing, Property Value Guarantee, and Housekeeping amendments. Perhaps the most important item on the agenda was addressed first. Setbacks have been a point of contention since a filing for amendment of test
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Dog’s death nets felony charges
Prior to Wednesday evening’s Posey County Area Plan Commission meeting, several area farmers and friends drove tractors up and down Fourth Street in Mount Vernon to express their stance on the possibility of a solar farm coming ot Posey County. Photo by Dave Pearce
By Trisha L. Lopez puppy in a cardboard container inside of a trash A Mount Vernon man was arrested on Mon- bag. Police found the puppy in the dumpster, day for beating a nine- to 10-week-old puppy to which had been placed on the side of the road for death. collection. Mount Vernon Police Officer Brittany Wolf told Officer PoAndrew Porath was dispatched to rath that she didn’t immediately the home of Robert Dean Ray Wolf call police because she was home on March 29. According to police with her two small children and documents, Wolf’s wife told police she was afraid her husband would that she had received a text mesbecome violent, according to posage at 9 p.m. on March 28 from lice documents. She told police her husband in which he told her that her husband had asked her to that he was “beating the (expletive) tell police that the puppy had been out of (your)(expletive) dog.” hit by a car. Wolf told his wife that he was Robert Dean Ray Wolf The Posey County Prosecutor’s bitten in the finger by the puppy Office filed the following crimiwhen he took him outside to urinate and he nal charges: count one, torturing or mutilating struck the puppy several times. Brittany Wolf a vertebrate animal, a level six felony; count 2, told police that when she arrived at her home, killing a domestic animal, a level six felony; and her husband had brought the dead puppy inside Continued on Page A11 the house. She said Robert Wolf placed the dead
Couple loses nearly everything in Saturday evening house fire By Dave Pearce A Mount Vernon home sustained significant damage as a result of a fire at the home on Saturday evening, April 5, around 9:15 p.m. According to Mount Vernon Fire Chief Wes Dixon, several calls came into Posey Dispatch at around 9:30 p.m. reporting that a house was on fire at the corner of East Sixth and Owen streets in Mount Vernon.
Members of the Mount Vernon Fire Department responded immediately and when they arrived, they found flames shooting out of at least one window of the home. Dixon said the department was quick to make sure both residents of the home were safely out of their home along with their dogs. Members of the fire department began the fight and within about 15 minutes had the fire
under control. Dixon said members of the department remained on the scene for another two hours once the fire was out to make sure there were no hot spots left. Occupants of the home were reported to be Josh Whitlow and Rebecca Palmer. Dixon said there were probably nine or ten Mount Vernon firemen on the scene and that the department did not call for back-up since it was
a single structure fire. Dixon credited the swift action of his department for controlling the flame and he believes the home will be salvageable. Although there is significant damage inside, looking at the home from the outside, you can hardly tell there was a faire, according to Dixon.
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Riding Hope Bernie Reidford’s horses give students a rare opportunity
Bernie Riedford
(USPS 439-500)
By Lois Mittino Gray Bernie Riedford began this year’s “Riding Hope” sessions which team up horses with students with special needs this week. On Monday, April 5, students met at the barn on Freeman Road, by the baseball diamond, for an early evening riding experience. “The first session, which begins at 5 p.m. is called hippotherapy. The kids ride the horses and we gently lead them. Hippo is Latin for horse. We take three to four kids in three sessions. From about 7:30 to 9 p.m., we do an adaptive riding session for higher functioning students. In those, we guide, but do not lead the horse,” he explained. The program aids the students in so many ways, from physical and mental to spiritual wellbeing. “Some students who cannot walk well due to neuromuscular problems, benefit in their
core muscles by balancing on a horse and strengthening them. They just love the horses and I just love to watch their faces enjoy being on them,” Bernie remarked. He uses his own animals and works alongside Beth Tromley who helps with scheduling rides. Reidford is a teacher in two worlds. He has been an educator at Mount Vernon High School for 37 years, hiring on to teach Chemistry and Biology full-time. This year, he only goes into the classroom to teach one period a day there from 8 to 9:30 a.m. It is the CAP Advanced Biology class that his students can take for dual credit through USI. After that, he goes to his other job. He is in his fifth year working at the University of Southern Indiana as the full-time instructor of Biology 105, an introductory anatomy class called the “Biology of Human Concern.”
Bernie started out teaching this Biology 105 course in the evenings as an adjunct professor about fifteen years ago. Being full-time, he now instructs five sections of lecture in Carter Hall with the class labs being all virtual. “The students can use online eyedroppers and tools to actually do the lab and it works. The students are great about staying safe and distancing in lecture, but I miss doing all the labs in person,” he said. The veteran educator also is employed as the CAP program liason for the university. This involves advising and evaluating other high school teachers who teach the dual credit class for the university. “Another professor on campus comes to Mount Vernon High school to evaluate me though to keep it fair,” he noted. Riedford’s success as a Biology
teacher at the high school is legendary. His office wall is covered with 16 plaques nominating him as an ‘Outstanding Teacher at Mount Vernon High School.’ It is an honor bestowed by a graduating senior who selects the most influential teacher during their school years . “The greatest one that I received sits on my desk. It was awarded to me by my son in 2012,” he said, beaming with pride. “I just love all the kids I teach here.” One of Riedford’s “side hustles” allows him to enjoy students and biology as a Counselor at the annual Health Science Institute offered at Deaconess Hospital. Held in June, dozens of high-achieving students are selected to participate in the residential two week program exposing them to speakers and
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