INSIDE TODAY: REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK
theRISING SUNrecorder
www.theohiocountynews.com
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Eads offered counselor position but declines when told to give up band The Rising Sun-Ohio with Roeder on ThursCounty Community School Tim Hillman day, July 17 when a Corporation held a special Recorder-News Editor verbal agreement was meeting on Tuesday, July risingsun@registerpublications.com reached with Roeder 29 and hired Carrie Barand he had the support rett as the new high school counselor. of principal Noel Bostic also. The announcement came after a pair That agreement was to the position of executive sessions to interview ap- but wanted to continue to the end of plicants to replace counselor Leigh Ann marching season which would allow for Craig, who had resigned to take a posi- the smoothest transition for the students. tion at the Lawrenceburg School CorRoeder noted that ultimately the deciporation. sion was up to the school board. The position was originally offered Eads was offered the position on July to band director Ron Eads who declined 24 with stipulations. The board wanted the job when the school board stipulated him to be at the high school for seven that he give up the band position once periods. a new band teacher was hired, school “I agreed to that as long as I kept the board president Corey Potts confirmed. marching band in the evenings,” his letA standing room only crowd was in ter stated, as the band has been in the attendance at the special 4 p.m. meet- middle of preparation for the upcoming ing but could only come away from the fall season. “The board declined.” meeting dumbfounded. “I am appalled that almost 30 years The decision went quickly to social of dedicated service to this school and media (FACEBOOK) where various community, this board is unwilling to rumors including that the board was work with me to reach an agreement getting rid of Eads because he made that is beneficial to all students,” the too much money. “That,” school board letter reads. president Corey Potts said, “is not true.” “I cannot, in good faith, and will not, Eads has a masters degree in counsel- for the sake of the band students and ing and has counseled for two periods a their parents, accept the stipulations the day at the elementary school for 20 of board has chosen to attach to the posihis 28 years as band director. tion.” Superintendent Branden Roeder preRoeder said it was the contention of sented the denial letter from Eads for the the board to have the new band teacher board to review. take over marching as well. In it, Eads wrote that he had talked The letter added, “The board knew
they had to make me an offer I would not accept in order for them to be able to hire an unqualified, non-licensed person for the position.” The new counselor was hired under an Emergency Permit. She has a degree in psychology, has taught fourth and fifth grade and has worked at the Department of Child services (DCS), Roeder reported. The EP is good for one year and can be renewed twice which gives her three years to meet the qualifications. She will be taking courses at Capella University. Roeder himself has a master’s degree and qualified for a temporary superintendent license when hired earlier this year. Barrett is fiancee of boys basketball coach Chris Jones, who sparked controversy a year ago when he cut all four seniors. In other business, the recommendation to move the Johnson, Gray, and Cooper Scholarships to the Ohio County Community Foundation for greater investment options was approved. Angie Wilson and Tonia Minks were approved as the Middle School Drama Sponsors. Andrea Levi, Jennifer Mossburger, and Nancy Swart were approved as the Middle School Academic Coaches. Andrea Levi was approved as the Junior National Honor Society Sponsor.
Issue No. 32
$1
SCHOOL OPENS
TIM HILLMAN
School started on Monday for Rising Sun students but an Open House on Friday, Aug. 1 was held for students to get supplies (above) and meet their teachers. Parents (below) got a look at the new tablets used this year.
Registration open to file for school board Two school board members will be elected in the November general election in Ohio County. The school board members elected in 2014 will be people who live in District 4, which is precincts 1, 2, 3 and 4. (all the precincts within the city limits. Those seats are currently held by Corey Potts and Tim Phelps. Potts is unable to run again because he has moved out of the district.
To run for school board you must have resided within the school corporation for one year. A person is not qualified to run for a school board office unless the person is registered to vote in the election district the person seeks to represent not later than the deadline for filing the declaration or petition of candidacy or certificate of nomination. A person is also not qualified to run for school board if they
have been convicted of a felony. Ohio County Clerk’s Office has the forms required to petition for this office. The two forms you need are the CAN-34 and the CAN-12. You can find these forms online at www.in.gov/sos, in the search engine type CAN-34 and CAN-12. The deadline to turn in your petitions to run for school board is Aug. 22, 2014 by noon.
PHOTOS BY JIM BUCHBERGER/The Register
The image on the giant video board at Great American Ball Park (above left) on Tuesday, July 29 depicts Lawrenceburg’s P.G. Gentrup saluting the crowd of 33,000-plus while being honored as the Cincinnati Reds’ “Hometown Hero.” The Vietnam veteran served as a sergeant with the 25th Infantry Division during the height of the conflict from 1967-68. At right: The Ohio County Veterans Officer tips his cap to fans standing on the dugout.
Reds, city honor true Hometown Hero
P.G. Gentrup has backs of fellow veterans BY JIM BUCHBERGER Sports Editor
CINCINNATI – The City of Lawrenceburg, with a little help from the Cincinnati Reds, honored a true “Hometown Hero” during Tuesday night’s game at Great American Ball Park. Paul (P.G.) Gentrup, 67, a combat veteran of Vietnam who has been a tireless advocate of fellow veterans since his retirement five years ago, drew a standing ovation from the crowd of 33,153. The former Sgt. Gentrup of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (the famed Tropic Lightning Division), based at Cu Chi, South Vietnam, from August, 1967, through August, 1968, and 1965 Lawrenceburg Consolidated High School graduate was hailed in a brief ceremony Tuesday.
After the final out in the second inning of the Reds’ 3-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, Gentrup took his spot atop the home team dugout for the brief ceremony, doffing his cap and returning salutes from other veterans in the stands. Of course, a two-minute introduction didn’t begin to tell Gentrup’s story. It began with some harrowing combat experiences of his own and continues, to this day, with the longtime Rising Sun resident’s (since 1970) noble efforts on behalf of veterans from at least four Southeastern Indiana counties. As an NCO in the Tropic Lightning’s “Rat Patrol” at the height of the Vietnam War, Gentrup was assigned to convoy escort and base security duty at Cu Chi, near Saigon. That name became famous as the Viet Cong’s base of operations for the 1968 Tet Offensive, as well as the enemy’s vast underground tunnel complex – some of which actually extended underneath
the 25th ID camp. “We rode in gun jeeps, with M60 machine guns mounted in the back,” said Gentrup, who could have qualified for Purple Heart medals on at least a couple of occasions, but eschewed the red tape involved. “We had a driver, a “shotgunner” and the machinegunner in back. Nobody wanted to be the machinegunner because he was always wet during the rainy season and ate dust the rest of the year.” Eight to 10 Rat Patrollers jeeps regularly escorted long supply columns to U.S. bases at Long Binh, along Vietnam’s infamous Highway 1, and to the 25th Division’s 2nd Brigade, at Tay Ninh, near the Cambodian border. “We weren’t attacked regularly,” said Gentrup, an Army draftee at age 19. “We ran two big convoys a day lots of times. What the VC would do was blow big holes in the road with things they call IEDs nowadays. Then they’d hit you with sniper fire.
“The 554th Engineers would come up to fill in the bomb craters and sweep mines. But they would miss a few around the edges every once in awhile.” Gentrup still owns a collection of Viet Cong shrapnel he acquired in a close call during a rocket attack on the Cu Chi base. “You can’t hear the incoming mortar shells,” he noted. “But you could hear those rockets. They sound like a freight train. One tore up the hooch right next to ours. I knew it was going to be close, and I dove in to take cover just in time. “But I skinned myself up so bad – knees, shins, elbows and forearms – that I was stove-up for a month. I’d probably have recovered quicker if I had been wounded. Afterward, there was all kinds of shrapnel sticking out of the sandbags around our hooch.” Gentrup was injured on a patrol to a place the grunts
See HERO, Page 10
Mosquito spraying has started
Earl Keteribrink, Ohio Comity Environmental Health Specialist, reports that treatments will be on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from dusk to midnight. The insecticide used has been carefully chosen to be most effective and environmentally friendly. The insecticide is AquaAnvil adulticide. MSDS sheets are available for review. Tt only kills adult mosquitoes, midges and black flies. It will be applied with a ULV machine, (Ultra Low Volume) and will appear as a fog. Weather plays a big role as to when I can and cannot do the treatments. (too windy, raining or below 50°) If you do not want any spraying done in front of your property, please call
the Ohio County Health Department at 438-2551 to be added to the NO SPRAY list. We will try to accommodate as much as possible and still try to get control of the mosquito population. To date we have not found any West Nile Virus positive mosquitoes in Ohio County this year. They have been here in the past and probably still have a presence in our area. All citizens should take precautions to prevent getting bit and to remove any standing water to prevent the breeding habitat of the mosquito. We do have a new virus in the United States. It is Chickungunya or ChicV (we'll just call it that for short). It has not been found in this area yet.
Opinions sought on uniting police and sheriff departments The City of Rising Sun has assembled a task force to study the feasibility of combining the Rising Sun Police Department and the Ohio County Sheriff Department into a joint police unit that would serve both the city and county. The task force would like your opinion – “Do you think the citizens of Rising
Sun and Ohio County would be better served by one joint police agency, YES or NO?” Please email your responses to dbrown@cityofrisingsun.com, call the Mayor’s office at 812-4383340 or comment on the City’s Facebook page – City of Rising Sun – which has a post asking for comments on this issue.
WEATHER
INSIDE today
3 TODAY Mostly Cloudy COMMUNITY OBITS 4 HIGH ......80 LOW.....63 6 Friday Scattered T-Storms SPORTS Copyright HIGH ......75 LOW.....64 Register Publications, 2014 Saturday PM T-Storms HIGH ......85 LOW.....66 131st Year, No. 32 Sunday: Partly Cloudy www.ohiocounty news.com HIGH ......86 LOW.....67 Monday Scattered T-Storms HIGH ......84 LOW.....66