Fair Results & Photos Inside! Inside This Week:
Obits ........................... A3 Retro............................A4 School/Business ...........A5 Church/General ..........A6
Opinion.......................A8 Jump ...........................A9 LifeStyle................... A12 Sports ...................B1, B2
This Copy Especially Reserved For:
Legal/Court ............... B4 Bus Directory.............. B6 Classifieds...................B7 Fair .............C, D, and E
SINCE 1882 Successor to The Poseyville News & New Harmony Times
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Tuesday, July 27, 2021
Volume 141 Edition 30
‘Fair like the old days’ describes Posey’s annual event By Lois Mittino Gray Jake McGennis, Posey County Fair Board President, called it “the best fair ever in 30 years. The whole week was amazing!” Throngs piled through the gates each day to attend events starting on Monday, July 19 and finishing up with the Demolition Derby on Saturday night, July 24. Although it is too early to report total income this year, McGennis said the fair took in $1800 in paid gate admissions on just the first night. “It’s hard to get an actual count in attendance from that figure because it also includes the sale of season passes for $25 for the whole week, and 4-H students and children under 10 in attendance do not have to pay any gate fees,” he pointed out. “The rodeo on Monday night really drew people here. I saw many new faces this week and talked to folks who said it was their first time at the fair.” A ‘full-fare-fair’ Rodeo Show, held Monday evening, was brought back to the Posey County Fair after a twenty year hiatus by Loehr Productions. “We could not have been any prouder of how our community turned out in droves. Their support was overwhelming,” said Jennifer Loehr, Chairman of the Rodeo
Show. She observed that the bleachers and whole arena were packed full and estimates that 1500 to 2000 people attended the show, with events such as Bull Riding, Bronco Riding, Barrel Racing, and Calf Roping for men, women, and children. Nine buckles and entry money refunds were awarded to winners. Rodeo professionals who travel with Loehr Productions were aware that the Loehr family, who reside locally in Point Township, were bringing the rodeo back to their hometown fair after so many years. “Our announcer is from Murray, Kentucky and our rodeo clown was here from Texas. They were in awe of the outstanding community support,” she noted. “At one point, the announcer turned down our taped recording of the national anthem, because people in the bleachers next to his booth were singing along so loudly to it. The cowboys in the pens could hear them and were lovin’ it!” She said that brought tears to her eyes, as it was so cool and her family and friends were all part of it. Loehr and her family are already on the road again to put on another rodeo pro-
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brought a record crowd the first night of the fair and the remainder of the week followed suit. Photo by Dave Pearce
Mount Vernon native Kyle Hamrick finishes in the money at the Posey County Fair’s opening right rodeo. The rodeo
Radio issues continue to plague county’s emergency responders
Pictured above are Henley Towers-Top Sponsor, Paisley Lupfer-First Runner Up, Delayne Dalrymple-Little Miss Posey County, Kinley Newman third runner-up, and Aubrey Magill-second runner-up at the Posey County Fair. Photo by Dave Pearce
Fate of dog who injured youngster to be decided by appellate court By Lois Mitino Gray The fate of Jager, the boxer dog featured in many signs around the city, was addressed to the Mount Vernon Common Council at its July 14, meeting by two residents. About 15 other Jager supporters stood outside the Hovey House with placards and signs during the meeting chanting the motto, “No Bite, No Kill, Free Jager.” Rodney Phillips approached the podium first and introduced himself to councilors. He said he is a lifelong Mount Vernon resident who is a former Mount Vernon Police Officer and retired recently from SABIC. “I have asked to speak on behalf of someone who has no voice, a loving family pet named Jager. But first, I would like to apologize to May Robinson. The other day I asked May to relive the reason we are here tonight, so that I knew the truth. Being a grandfather myself, I
still can’t imagine anything worse than what she endured the night of the accident and is forced to relive almost daily,” he began. He then told May’s account of the incident that led to this furor and stated he has read every page of the transcripts on the event and has seen the pictures. “The truth is May and her granddaughter Kinley were sorting through groceries in the kitchen and gathered up what would be stored in the freezer in a separate room. It is called the Dog Room, a catch-all where the family pups eat and sleep in their safe zone. Kinley followed along and accidentally dropped her toy. As she picked it up, she stepped on and startled a sleeping Jager. The surprised Jager reacted by jumping up and accidentally scratched the 4-year-old girl across the side of the face.
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By Trisha L. Lopez Issues with Posey County’s emergency service radios can’t be narrowed down to a single source for an easy fix. The problem? No one knows what the problem actually is. County officials have been asking for answers for months, but radio experts working on the system say they have to actually find the problem before they can fix it. Dan Shepherd, owner of VEI Communications, the Vincennes-based company that sold county officials the digital Kenwood system in 2017, said he’s worked with Jason Knowles, 911 director, on a variety of issues. The ins and outs of radio signals are complicated. In order to fix a signal issue, Shepherd has to duplicate the situation in which the signal failure occurred. “There’s not something that you just go ‘it’s broke.’ There are so many moving parts
in that it’s just unbelievable,” Shepherd said. “I can’t prove what’s wrong. Ourselves and people from the county, when issues have arisen, we’ve gone out to the exact same spot and we cannot duplicate the problem. That’s what makes it difficult. The other part is it’s been a year-and-a-half (since the system became operational) and they just came to us and said they had issues.” Knowles said the problems have been around for a while, but they wanted to be sure that the issues weren’t just part of getting to know the new system. “We understood there were several differences between a digital trunking radio system and the analog radio system we replaced. We were growing accustomed to the new system and learning the limits of it, as there are with
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Pictured above are, left to right, Maizee Brothers-Top Sponsor and Court Member, Jayli Dike-Tiny Miss Posey County, Addelyn Kimmerling-First Runner-rp, and Charlotte Schnautz court member Photo by Dave Pearce
Meeting new challenges
First-time principal has no shortage of life experience...
Christan Shockley
(USPS 439-500)
By Lois Mittino Gray There is a new principal at Saint Matthew School and she has been on the job since July 1 preparing for a special start to a new school year. “I’m really looking forward to the first day. I’ll be out there in front, bright and early, to meet and greet all the returning students,” Christan Shockley said with excitement in her voice. “In fact, I’ll be out there every morning to meet them.” Last weekend, Christan attended both masses at Saint Matthew Catholic Church in Mount Vernon to introduce herself to parishioners and to meet some of her new students. She is no stranger to Catholic schools, as she grew up in Saint Phillips and attended the parochial grade school there. She went on to become a Wildcat at Mater Dei High School as a member of the Class of 1993. She knows how to write ‘JMJ’ at the top of her homework paper! Christan did her undergraduate studies at Indiana State University and received her Special Education degree in 1997. She pursued a Master’s De-
gree in School Counseling from Western Kentucky University and finished it up in 2003. “I think my background in Special Education and Counseling will be a real asset for me in leading Saint Matthew School. It is such a strong school already and I want to make it be the strongest school it can be.” Christan may be a tyro as a first-time principal, but her 18 years in education with classroom background gives her much experience in many areas. The first seven years were spent in public schools teaching Special Education. The remaining years were spent in Parochial schools, with assignments a mixture of Special Education and School Counseling. She spent five years at Saint John the Baptist School in Newburgh and then moved over to Holy Redeemer in Evansville. During that time, she worked hard to earn her Administrator’s license and completed those requirements in 2020, receiving it from Marian University. Christan met her goal while working fulltime and raising a family of five daughters that range in age
from seven to 17. “There’s always something going on with lots of action around the house. There are lots of clothes, lots of drama, but I love it all,” she reflected. She does enjoy the 30-minute respite of quiet when commuting to Mount Vernon from Northern Evansville. The family likes to go camping and hiking together, especially in nearby Indiana State Parks. She has a special place in her heart for her role model and patron saint, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. She is the founder of the first Catholic schools in the United States. “She had five children, too” she noted. Saint Matthew School has about 75 students in Grades K-5. After Grade 5, most students enter the Mount Vernon public school system or go to Saint Phillips School. Many will move on to Mater Dei for high school. There is also a pre-K children’s center associated with the school and Christan will work together with their administrators on it.
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