SINCE 1882 Successor to The Poseyville News & New Harmony Times POSEY COUNTY’S ONLY LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED NEWSPAPER
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Volume 136 Edition 35
Historic Mount Vernon City Hall in line for clean-up and facelift By Lois Mittino Gray Mount Vernon’s City Hall will get all cleaned up and painted this year after decisions were made at the Mount Vernon Board of Public Works meeting on August 18 to get it all finished before winter comes. Mayor Bill Curtis contacted four masonry businesses for quotes and was able to get two in hand to present to the board. Don Koester came in at $31,395 and NM Bunge was for $31,540. While both quotes were very close in amount, the board voted to hire Don Koester Masonry of Wadesville with the lower quote. The work covers power washing and tuck pointing around the whole building, repairing stone sills, cleaning and regrouting the alley, and putting a protective cover over it. Curtis also called four local painters and received quotes from two of them. Weintraut and Bellwood, both local, did not want to bid as they felt it was too big of a job requiring scaffolding. Tri State Painting quoted $11,544 and Sims quoted $21,630. Surprised by the disparity in the two numbers, the board voted to accept the lower one. The work will require scraping and washing and using a lift to paint the ornate ‘dental work’ near the top.
The painting will be done first. Both companies hired are expected to start work in the fall, as long as the required insurance coverage meets city regulations. Curtis explained that monies for the sprucing up are already budgeted at $41,000 from EDIT and Public Works funds. Other sources may have to be tapped for funds, especially if an unforeseen repair is required. Board Member Larry Williams expressed the opinion that “the time is right. This building has not had work done on it in a long time. A lot of communities do not have a building as beautiful as this gem and we need to take care of it.” The present City Hall was once the Alexandrian Public Library building, until that was moved across the street in 1986. It was dedicated on October 16, 1905 after Andrew Carnegie donated $12,500 to build it and another $1,400 to equip it. Since the police and fire station building alongside it was torn down last year, uncleanliness and ravages of time on the old library building have become very evident so this action North Posey High School senior Isaac Mayer is the winner of the Elizneeded to be taken. abeth Baier Spirit Award. He receives the award here from Michelle In other board action: Hudson. More photos and story from this event on page A7. Photo by Continued on Page A10 Zach Straw
Grant will help with Mount Vernon with erosion control By Lois Mittino Gray Mark Pharr was welcomed as the brand new District One councilman at his first Mount Vernon Common Council meeting on August 18. After the meeting ended with only a few department reports and just a little business, he commented that it “was easier than I thought. I expected to be here until 9 p.m.” The main business came when Mayor Bill Curtis announced that the city was on the receiving end of a $20,000 Lake and
River Enhancement Grant (LARE) from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The money will be used for the first phase of a river erosion control program at the city riverfront, east of the public boat ramp toward the barge area. The money will fund a feasibility study on what work will be needed, soil borings, permit requirements, wetland and floodplain determination, flood records and a review of all existing data on the subject. An RFP (request for proposals) will be sent out next for the feasibility
study, of which the city will be responsible for $3,000 - $4,000. The second phase is the actual design of the erosion control project which can range from putting in riprap to changing the course of the river flow. A $100,000 grant can be applied for to do the design after the feasibility study. Phase three would be the actual construction. Curtis will work with the Southwest Indiana Economic Development Coalition and Ashlee Haviland of the DNR to begin the
project. He hopes to advertise the feasibility study and bring in the names of firms interested in doing it to the board two meetings from now. The study itself should take three to six months to complete. In other council action: • Ordinance 16-16 passed vacating the east half of an east-west alley starting at Main Street that would give more room for construction of a Heritage Federal Credit
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Farmersville history book penned by Mathew
Author Nancy Mathew
By Pam Robinson Farmersville native Nancy Stevens Mathew doesn’t consider herself a writer. In fact, she says, “I don’t even really like to write.” Yet, Mathew has co-authored a history of Farmersville, including Farmersville School, along with the late Martha Carroll Leigh, another Farmersville native and one of Mathew’s life-long friends. “Once the state [of Indiana] started buying up houses and land in the area to expand Highway 69,” Mathew explains, “we wanted to preserve the history of Farmersville and Farmersville School.” The two friends started their project entitled ‘Farmersville: Our Old Hometown,’ in the mid-1990s and had it completed by 1999. This year, Betty Carroll Stevens and Darlene Duckworth Fisher did the computer word processing, placed the printed pages in protector sheets, indexed
the pages and bound them in three-inch notebooks. Stevens and Fisher presented one notebook to Mathew and delivered an electronic copy to the Alexandrian Public Library for printing so the historical research would be available to the community. “I hate Martha didn’t know about the computer preservation,” Mathew states. “I know she would have been happy.” Martha Leigh passed away in 2015. The notebook format allows Mathew to add pages, namely obituaries of Farmersville residents, and keep the history updated as necessary. The index reveals the detailed research involved, among both the living and the deceased, for Mathew and Leigh to complete their 254-page
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Artist Judith Powers brings ‘Bison-tennial’ art to life By Pam Robinson Long-time Mount Vernon resident, artist Judith Powers, has spent a lifetime, since the mid1960s, painting animal portraits and wildlife scenes, first with pastels, now with oils. Her work is shipped all over the United States. She’s known for her murals gracing many walls, such as those at Turoni’s in Newburgh, Golf Plus in Evansville and, locally, Trinity United Church of Christ in Mount Vernon. A few years ago, she painted a fiberglass carousel horse with an American flag theme for an Evansville company to showcase alongside additional themed carousel horses lining the Evansville riverfront walkway. The work was painstaking, requiring many
brushstrokes during many hours over a two-month span. Nonetheless, the art nurtured her, for she had always loved horses and had continually sketched them during her public school classes until she could sketch more during recess. Her experience and talent prompted the Mount Vernon Bicentennial Committee to ask her to serve as the artist to paint Posey County’s own fiberglass bison as part of the Bison-Tennial Art Project, sponsored by the Indiana Association of United Ways in partnership with the Indiana Bicentennial Commission. “United Way encouraged all 92 counties in Indiana to participate in the Bison-Tennial Art Project,” states Becky Higgins, President of the Mount Vernon Bicenten-
nial Committee. “Counties were asked to solicit donations to purchase and paint at least one bison to honor Indiana’s heritage during this year’s Bicentennial.” Posey County’s bison arrived just three weeks ago. In this first Indiana statewide, public art project, the bison will be highlighted along the Bicentennial Torch Relay route. Judith Powers’ magnificent animal will be set in the grassy area near the bronze city welcome sign east of Mount Vernon along Highway 62 between Hawg ‘N Sauce and Expressway Auto World. The torch will pass through Posey County on Sunday, September 11, the day after the Mount
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Artist Judith Powers with Big Al, celebrating the Bison-tennial Art Project. Photo by Pam Robinson
Briefly
Poseyville Autumnfest to be held September 23-25 The Kiwanis Club is once again putting on the Poseyville Autumnfest on September 23-25, 2016. The Autumnfest Princess and Miss Autumnfest Contest will be held Friday evening. For the Saturday evening entertainment there will be a band performing for a couple of hours followed by a 30 minute professional fireworks display. This year will also see some games added: cake walk, beanbag and egg toss, ugly hat and ugly apron contest, water balloon contest, paper air plane contest, sack race, pie eating contest, and power wheel and big wheel race. For a complete list of events see page XX. If you have any questions or comments concerning the Autumnfest the Kiwanis Club would like to hear from you, please call our Autumnfest Chairman, Warren Korff at 812-550-7662; Don Schenk, at 812-874-3249; or James Reynolds at 812-963-5700. Community Center to be site of Rummage Sale The Posey County Community Center, located at the Posey County 4-H Fairgrounds on Highway 69 South of New Harmony, will be hosting a Rummage Sale on Saturday, October 1, 2016. The doors will be open to the public from 8 a.m. until noon. Vendors will be in
$1.00
(USPS SPS 4 439-500) 3 9 5 00
attendance with a wide variety of clothing, shoes, boots, kitchen and household items, collectibles, dolls, jewelry, antiques, decorations, picture frames, books, glassware and much more. There is still vendor space available. For a registration form or more information, contact the Purdue Extension Office at: 812-838-1331 or download the form from our website at: https://extension.purdue.edu/posey. MV American Legion to host Open House, Fish Fry Owen Dunn Post 5 American Legion at 203 Walnut in Mount Vernon, Indiana will hold an Open House and sponsor an ‘All You Can Eat Fish Fry’ on Saturday September 3, serving from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Carry out is available. Call 812-838-5122 to arrange for large carry out orders. Post 5 American Legion will be open to the public all day. Thank you to all those who have supported Owen Dunn Post 5 American Legion. Please bring friends and family to the American Legion, socialize and enjoy the all can eat Catfish filet dinner. Big Whopper-Liars contest set for September 17 It’s That Time of Year Again… We’re Looking for a Few Good Liars. The 28th Annual ‘Big Whopper - Liars’ contest is rapidly ap-
proaching. If you have a story you would like to share that’s not on the up and up or enjoy listening to some farfetched stories, the place to be is Murphy Auditorium, 419 Tavern Street in New Harmony, Ind., at 7 p.m. Saturday, September 17, 2016. Bring the entire family and join us for an exciting evening in the finest of storytelling entertainment with special guests ‘Clif the Drifter’ and other celebrities. Admission for the contest is $5 per person. So…see if you can catch a ‘Whopper’ or maybe throw one yourself. For your entry form, tickets or more information please contact: Jeff Fleming - 1-618-395-8491; Jeff Greenwell - 1-812-783-2762; or A. Scott Huck - 1-812-963-5198. Tickets will also be available at Murphy Auditorium night of show. NP reminded about Viking Pride Food Drive The North Posey Vikings are reminded to bring in food items for the Viking Pride Food Drive this week. The food drive will last until Wednesday, September 7, 2016. All proceeds will be donated to the Tri-State Food Bank. The Vikings need as many items as possible for the Sunrise School Spirit challenge taking place on September 9, 2016. The first period class with the most donated items will receive a Donut Bank donut party.