The dearborn county register 1 23 14

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Dearborn County register

theREGISTER THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 2014

188TH YEAR

Knights will show they have ‘Talent’

ISSUE NO. 4 $1

SNOW DAYS

South Dearborn choir lands VIP audition, has big year By Denise Freitag Burdette Assistant Editor newsroom@registerpublications.com

Any talent. Any age. Just about anyone can try out for the show America’s Got Talent. But not everyone receives an email from a booking agent asking them to attend the auditions. That is what happened to the South Dearborn High School Opening Knight show choir. In December, show choir director Justin Selmeyer received an email from a booking agent with the show, requesting the choir attend open auditions in Indianapolis. He had seen a video of the choir online from last year. “They loved it. They thought it was excellent. They thought it would

SUBMITTED PHOTO

South Dearborn HIgh School Opening Knight show choir has a VIP audition with America’s Got Talent. be a good fit, at least for the auHe discovered the booking agent ditions,” said Selis a friend of meyer. the Ozzy OsBut at first, Selbourne family. meyer was a little Watch their video at thedcregister. Wife, Sharon Osskeptical. He did com. bourne, is a forsome research on mer judge on the the person who sent the email. He show, he said. also posted the news on the choir’s “I really didn’t think it was real at Facebook page to receive feedback first,” said sophomore choir member from the students and parents, he said. Bobby Mangold.

See for yourself

After her mom told her about the Facebook post, she was so excited she started running through the house, said choir member junior Leah Craft. Probably the first thought many of the students had was they are going to be TV stars. But he had to remind them this is just an audition, said Selmeyer.

See TALENT, Page 6A

Here are the days missed by Dearborn County schools so far. Lawrenceburg and South Dearborn schools are planning to use Presidents Day, Monday, Feb. 17, as a make-up day, while Sunman-Dearborn schools will only use it if students have missed more than five days by then. South Dearborn and Lawrenceburg also used Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a make-up day.

Lawrenceburg South Dearborn

7* 7*

Sunman-Dearborn

7*

* the state said schools closed Jan. 6 & 7 could apply for waivers so they do not have to make up days missed. All three applied for the waivers, but have not yet received them.

Dispatch going in Aurora, but no lay offs By Chandra L. Mattingly Staff Reporter cmattingly@registerpublications.com

‘Long way to go...’

By Erika Schmidt Russell Editor erussell@registerpublications.com

The crowd was smaller than it has been in years, perhaps because there was no march from the Dearborn County Courthouse this year was the theory put forward by some in attendance. Yet, there were the familiar faces of friends. Longtime Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration coorganizer Bucky Thomas named everyone gathered in Union Valley Missionary Baptist Church Monday, Jan. 20. Thomas noted attendance of his friends from Lawrenceburg schools. “Bones (Kaffenberger) is here. Bill’s (Ritzmann) here. We were friends. I think back to 1966, and this community stood by what was right,” said Thomas. Even though some places told a young black man in the 1960s to go to the back door, the friends would talk about it, and would stand up for each other, he added. The 25th Anniversary Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration will be the last organized by Thomas, Union Valley Pastor Sheldon “Tony” Rox and Unlimited Future. When the march was started, there were threatening phone calls, “and even the Klan showed up in this community,” said Thomas. After Rox’s speech honoring King’s legacy, and challenging those in attendance to live up to it,

Rox’s sister, and fellow pastor Sharon McRae said she would be helping take over the Lawrenceburg celebration of King. For Rox’s full speech see below. McRae hopes the community will take up the challenge to continue the Celebration of King. “We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. ... There are bad black people, and there are bad white people. But if you cut us, our blood is the same color,” she said. Black and white have the same needs, have the same bills to pay, the same struggles. “We’re all going through the same things. ... It’s not about fairness, but about justice...” doing what is right, “not what I can get for me,” she said.

Martin Luther King Jr. 25th Annual Celebration Union Valley Missionary Baptist Church

Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. stood in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln, looked out over a crowd of 250,000 people and told America about a dream he had. That year, 1963, marked the centennial anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, and King had come to remind the nation and the world that “one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free ... One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.”

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© REGISTER PUBLICATIONS, 2014

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While some 45 years ago in the city of Memphis, Tennessee at the Loraine Motel the course of history in this country changed forever. On that day while waiting to speak to a gathering of sanitation workers the moral voice of humanity was shot and killed. Born Michael King, his father changed his name in honor of German reformer Martin Luther. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. a man full of love and hope, a man who believed in the inherent good in all men fell prey to the worst man had to offer. While it was determined one man shot Dr. King, many had their fingers on the trigger. And because of that, we gather here once again to honor the life and legacy of this great man. Since the death of Dr. King, it is true we have come a long way. The question remains, what would Dr. King think about America today? Most assuredly he would notice some progress in the breaking down of some legal racial and ethnic barriers. But he also would recall on that hot August day 50 years ago, there were people of all faiths and denominations: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Catholics and Greek Orthodox. Considering the religious divide in the country today, fanned by self-serving politicians, he might determine that America, despite its sick condition of segregation at the time, was more united then than it is today.

See LONG, Page 3A

WEATHERforecast

Today: High: 13 Low: 2

Sun: High: 33 Low: 10

Fri: High: 23 Low: 21

Mon: High: 17 Low: -6

Sat: High: 31 Low: 6

Tues: High: 9 Low: 4

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PHOTOS BY ERIKA SCHMIDT RUSSELL/The Regster

Above: Former Lawrenceburg High School classmates and longtime friends Bill Ritzmann, left, Bones Kaffenberger and Bucky Thomas greet each other with smiles and hugs at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration Monday, Jan. 20. Right: The Rev. Sheldon “Tony” Rox gives what may be his final Martin Luther King Jr. speech.

An interlocal agreement shifting all Aurora dispatching to the county was unanimously approved Monday, Jan. 20, by Aurora City Council. The dispatching, starting Saturday, March 1, will cost the city $37,726 in 2014 and $45,000 for 2015, said Aurora City Attorney Jeff Stratman. Dearborn County Dispatch has been handling all Aurora’s 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. calls since 2008, and more recently also taken on those occurring when no dispatcher is on duty. Aurora Police Department has three full-time dispatchers, and has not used any part-time dispatchers to fill in for sick days or vacation time for some time, with a annual savings Stratman estimated at $12,000. The current dispatchers will remain police department employees, but will be assigned other duties come March, such as daytime receptionist/clerk duties, said Stratman. As those three retire or resign, their positions will not be filled, eventually saving the city about $53,500 in salary and benefits per dispatcher, as well as $10,100 in service contracts for dispatching equipment and software, said Stratman. “So everybody knows we’re not laying anybody off?” said councilman Mike Crider. Yes, agreed Stratman: the savings will be realized through attrition as employees leave voluntarily. But either party – the county or the city - can terminate the agreement with 90 days notice. One dispatcher already has said he will be resigning due to relocating this summer, said Aurora Police Chief Josh Daugherty. But even when all three current employees are gone, the police department may want to retain a clerk position. Meanwhile, he will address the way the police department’s 926-1101 number is answered, currently with a set of prompts, including the first to dial 911 if the call is an emergency. He wants the caller then to get “a live person” if not dialing 911, or to be forwarded to county dispatch, he said. Stratman said the city will have to clarify which calls go to the county, as some callers are seeking his, the mayor’s or the clerktreasurer’s office. “Hopefully non-police” callers


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