Jasper 14 year old All Stars win first game at World Series
The Jasper Babe Ruth 14 Year Old All Stars opened World Series play at Moses Lake, Washington Saturday in impressive fashion beating Kansas 8 -0. Jasper’s Tanner Egbert pitched a gem: one-hitting Kansas, striking out 13, and going the distance. Jasper broke a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the third scoring three runs when Reece Kleinhelter tripled, Egbert…
Pipeline work to disrupt traffic on County Road 500
Dubois County Highway Superintendent Steve Berg reported at the Local Emergency Planning Committee meeting that work on the Texas Eastern gas pipeline will cause the closure of CR 500 North, about .64 miles west of Kellerville Road on Thursday. The closure will take place on Thursday beginning at 6 a.m. and run all day long as contractors…
Ferdinand Town Council: Approved purchase of two new police cars
by Kathy Tretter, editor Ferdinand News Special to DC Free Press The Town of Ferdinand is in the market for a new town manager. On Tuesday night it became official — Marc Steczyk — the first man to hold that position — submitted his resignation, and the council “with very disheartened feelings about it” [Councilwoman Debbie…
Jasper Board of Public Works and Safety: Strassenfest high on attendance and low on crime
Jasper — Jasper Police Chief Michael Bennett informed the Jasper Board of Public Works and Safety that the Strassenfest was very well attended and well-behaved. According to Bennett there were few complaints and no arrests around the festival other than traffic complaints and a few drunkeness complaints. The majority of incidents involved the department assisting with lost…
Dubois County Airport Authority meeting: Seeking easements on 6 acres for FAA approval
Huntingburg — The airport authority decided to move forward with determining how much to pay for the easements to bring Runway 09 back into Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) compliance. The authority learned in June that the runway was no longer approved for instrument approaches from the west at night due to trees and three towers considered…
Red Cross distributing backpacks and school supplies at Jasper Armory Monday
Jasper — American Red Cross workers are delivering 100 backpacks stuffed with essential school supplies for military children to the National Guard in Jasper to be distributed on Monday afternoon from 12-4 p.m. With the support of community partners and volunteers, the Red Cross was able to collect and stuff nearly 200 backpacks for military children in…
2013 Leadership Academy introduces 3 new projects
The third Dubois County Leadership Academy held their graduation ceremony Friday evening. Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann was the keynote speaker at the event that highlighted three teams’ efforts to create capstone projects for the betterment of Dubois County. This is the third year for the academy that teaches local business and government employees about leadership…
Steczyk stepping down as Ferdinand Town Manager
Ferdinand — Ferdinand Town Manager Marc Steczyk is stepping down to take a position with Kimball Office later this month. Steczyk was hired as Ferdinand’s first town manager in September 2007 and has seen the town go through some dramatic change and growth over his six years as its manager. “I am going to miss working…
Jasper Library summer reading program inspired 49,000 hours of reading
“We had over 3,700 people – adults, children, and young adults who participated [in summer reading] and over 2,000 who actually completed it.” Library Director Rita Douthitt told the board at Thursday’s meeting. Douthitt says that for every book that was read or every hour that the young adults read tickets were issued that would…
Jasper School Board pondering elementary school problems and solutions
Jasper — Gibraltar Design, an Indianapolis-based architectural firm, presented the Greater Jasper Consolidated School Board four options for proceeding with updates to the corporation’s three elementary schools at a public work session Wednesday night. Gibraltar conducted a comprehensive study of the three elementary schools in March. In May, Jim Thompson, president of Gibraltar Design, told the…
Third suspect still being sought in murder investigation
Huntingburg — Huntingburg police are still searching for the third suspect involved in the murder of a Louisville teen on July 28. Police are asking for information regarding 21-year-old Leonal “Leo” A. Hernandez, of 911 Main Street, Huntingburg. Hernandez is wanted for the murder of 17-year-old Darius J. Miller by the Louisville Metro Police Department. Police are…
Dubois County Health Department to continue to work with WIC program
While the sponsorship and partial funding of the Women, Infant, and Children (or WIC program, as it’s called) has been terminated with the Health Department, the program will continue in Dubois County. That was the message delivered to the County Commissioners by Dubois County Health Administrative Director Donna Oeding at their regular meeting on Monday….
Highway construction updates – Forest Park should expect delays until mid-September
Highway construction continues in Dubois County on U.S. 231 and at Bretzville Junction. The U.S. 231 paving project and subsequent traffic congestion is expected to continue until the end of September. Crews will continue to deep patch the roadway until Labor Day and then to begin paving the highway. Paving will be conducted in patches…
Huntingburg Police to resume walkthroughs of schools
Huntingburg — The Huntingburg Police Department will begin daily walkthroughs of the three schools in the Southwest School Corporation on Thursday. In February of this year, the Huntingburg Police Department, through an agreement with the Southwest School Corporation, began a daily walk through of the three schools in the Corporation. As school starts on Thursday, the department would…
Birdseye appoints new town marshal
The Town of Birdseye hired Benton Stroud as the new town marshall at Thursday night’s town council meeting. Stroud had been serving as interim town marshal since Town Marshal Robert Jenkins passed away on June 24. Councilwoman Kelly Wiseman told WITZ News this morning that the 26-year-old Stroud is a lifelong resident and comes with…
Honor, Pride and Dedication, HPD gets new department patch
Huntingburg — Honor. Pride. Dedication. Huntingburg Police Department. Chief Art Parks is proud of the new patches sewn on the officers’ uniforms at the Huntingburg Police Department. After being appointed to police chief in January 2012, Parks began working toward changing the patches that had been used since around 2004. “We took the patch used by…
IURC Commission Adopts “930” Area Code overlay for “812” Area Code
Indianapolis — Southern Indiana will be assigned a new area code – 930 – with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s adoption of an overlay to resolve the 812 area code numbering shortage. An area code overlay allows a new area code to be assigned over the same geographic area as an existing area code, which means any customer requesting…
Residents OK with new road; park board also mentions mountain bike trail in near future
Monday evening, members of the Dubois County Park Board met with homeowners who live along the proposed emergency entrance to the Dubois County Park. Only two board members were present — president Jason Schmitt and secretary Jane Betz — for the meeting that 11 property owners attended at the annex building on the county park property. By…
Huntingburg tightens extension agreements on delinquent utility payments
Huntingburg residents who take advantage of the city’s leniency regarding utility bills may find it harder to do so from now on. City attorney Phil Schneider presented an amendment to the city ordinance regarding shutting off residents’ utilities. A recent decision regarding a case in which the United States Federal District Court held that utility…
Scenario surprises school administrators with quick, deadly consequences (with video)
Jasper — The shotgun blasts and smell of black powder at Jasper Middle School only accentuated that the perpetrator had only been in the school a bit over two minutes. He had already walked through all the JMS administrative offices and was three bullets into his second magazine. Then he pulled the boomstick from the black equipment…
Babe Ruth Regional opening ceremony at League Stadium
Jasper Youth Baseball is hosting the Ohio Valley Region Babe Ruth 14-year-old Regional Tournament Thursday to Sunday, but on Wednesday, all 12 teams took part in the opening ceremonies at League Stadium. The unusually pleasant weather and setting made for a fun opening for the regional tournament with teams coming from Northern Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin,…
Water main break on Main Street in Huntingburg
Huntingburg – The city is reporting a water main break between the 600 and 1200 blocks of Main Street (US 231) in Huntingburg that occurred Tuesday. Repairs are expected to continue into Wednesday. Residents and businesses in that area may experience low water pressure and/or discolored water. Please use caution when driving in the area….
Updated: Pilot injured in crop duster crash southeast of Huntingburg
John A. Layne, the pilot injured in the crash, was the former manager of the Putnam County Airport, served as both a pilot and general manager of Dixie Chopper Air as late as 2012. He left the local airport later that year to assume the crop-dusting position with Milhon.[hr] Huntingburg — A pilot was severely injured…
Jasper Board of Public Works approves sale of 5 city properties
Jasper — The City of Jasper is making good on its promise to attempt to sell several city-owned properties to recoup money that was spent to purchase the Jasper Country Club Golf Course Property several months ago. A public hearing was held Tuesday morning on the possible sale during the Board of Public Works and Safety. The…
Dubois County Solid Waste District Board appoints Interim Director
Jasper — The Dubois County Solid Waste Board met Tuesday morning to appoint an interim director to take over for Lee Kraft, Jr., who passed away on Monday. Board President Greg Kendall called the meeting to order at 7:30 and talked about their sole purpose for the meeting and then expressed his condolences to the Kraft family….
Jasper School Corporation hires Strobel as curriculum director
The Greater Jasper Consolidated School Board hired Kim Strobel, 39, of Tell City as the new curriculum director for the school corporation. The position has been vacant since June 2012, when then-director Tracy Lorey was appointed as the superintendent. Strobel has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Southern Indiana. She completed…
Town of Holland taking water tower offline Wednesday
The Town of Holland will be taking the 200,000 gallon water tower offline for an inspection on Wednesday. The town will begin to draw the tower down on Tuesday afternoon and it will be empty by early Wednesday morning to allow the inspection to begin. The inspection should be complete by late Wednesday afternoon. Once it…
Trash court delayed due to director’s death
Jasper — The Dubois County Commissioners were scheduled to hear from the Dubois County Waste District Director Lee Kraft, Jr., this morning regarding a large illegal dumping, but they were forced to delay the proceedings due to Kraft’s death. Kraft was found at 10:30 a.m. on Monday at his residence. Coroner Tony Matthews has stated he…
SW Dubois County School Board meeting: Sickbert new Southridge principal
Southridge High School’s new assistant principal was appointed at the Southwest Dubois County School Board meeting Thursday night. Chad Sickbert will take the spot vacated by Kelly Murphy when he was named principal. High School Agriculture Teacher. Chad Sickbert, the vocational agriculture teacher for the high school, was introduced in Thursday night’s Southwest Dubois School…
Healthy Dubois County, Inc., awarded grant by Indiana Utility Rate Payers Trust
Healthy Dubois County, Inc., (HDC) a not-for-profit public benefit organization advocating for the health and well-being of the area residents, has recently been notified that it has received a significant grant from the Indiana Utility Rate Payers Trust (IURPT). In a press release HDC stated they will apply the award to expenses incurred in the…
New scam threatens victims with arrest
A new scam hitting the area uses the threat of arrest to coerce victims to send money. A Holland resident received a call from an individual stating there was a warrant for her arrest due to an outstanding loan that had been defaulted on. The caller told the victim she would be arrested unless she…
