Cost cutting options could chop 1000 feet from Huntingburg Airport project
The Huntingburg Airport Runway Committee convened yesterday to discuss further options on the planned reconfiguration and expansion of the Huntingburg Airport. The committee consists of Airport Manager Travis McQueen, Airport Board member Raymie Eckerle, Board member Brett Yourgans and Board President Mike Cummings. Woolpert Engineering representative Chris Snyder discussed some cost cutting options with the…
Local Ron Paul supporters challenged as delegates for Republican State Convention
Update Feb. 29: The Dubois County Election Board has rendered a decision in regards to the public hearing held on Feb. 27. The Board has decided Joshua Wold, Monica Wold, and John King have not met the requirements under Indiana Code or Republican Party Rules in regards to their candidacy filings as delegates to the…
County Council declines to invest in studies for I-67
On Feb 27 the County Council voted against providing the I-67 group with funds for the feasibility studies that must be done before moving forward with any plans for the highway connection. The vote was 4 to 2 against with Council President Greg Kendall withholding a vote in case of a tie. County Democrats Bonnie…
Greater Jasper Consolidated School Board meeting Feb. 27
The majority of the Greater Jasper School Board Meeting was spent authorizing the purchase of needed items from the Capital Projects Fund. Assistant Superintendent Mike Hile made the recommendations to the board that consisted of well over $250,000 in expenditures in the form of: A Thomas bus from Kerlin Bus sales in the amount of…
Gay-Straight Alliance group approved at Jasper High School
Local Jasper students who have been pushing for a Gay-Straight Alliance at Jasper high School achieved success this week as the club was approved Monday. Sarah Barry, a senior at JHS, and co-director of the local LGBT group “Raise Up’, along with co-director, Tommy Craven, a freshman at New York University, have been leading the…
Huntingburg Common Council meeting Feb. 23
The Huntingburg Common Council met last night (Feb. 23) for the regular meeting. The Council heard of a large natural gas field found near Stendal and the potential to enter into a contract for the gas in the future. That story is covered here. In other Utility news, Traylor requested and was given approval to…
Resolution honors Schnitzelbank Restaurant for winning Super 46 Sandwich contest
A resolution authored by State Rep. Mark Messmer honoring the Schnitzelbank Restaurant in Jasper for winning the Indiana Office of Tourism Development’s (IOTD) Super 46 Sandwich contest was adopted today by the Indiana House of Representatives. “The Schnitzelbank Restaurant has been an excellent institution in Jasper for more than 50 years,” said Rep. Messmer. “This…
Large natural gas field discovered could potentially be a 20 year supply for Huntingburg
Update: Utilities Superintendent Tony Traylor stated the city has had the gas from this field tested independently and it is a very high quality. With the plan to abandon the city’s gas storage field this could be a new source of gas for the city with less liability and cost to the city to operate…
Ferdinand Town Council approves three important bids
The Ferdinand Town Council met last night for the regularly scheduled meeting. Several important decisions were made during the brief meeting. The first item on the docket was the decision on awarding the contract for the town’s new police station. The town is in the process of converting the old Ferdinand library building into the…
Jasper City Council meeting Feb. 22
The Jasper City Council Meeting featured a similar discussion heard in Monday night’s Utility Service Board meeting in reference to the legal services of Shaneyfelt and Bohnenkemper provided to the City. The meeting was opened at 6:40 pm with two public hearings. The first on a change to the City of Jasper Ordinance Number 1993-17,…
Arguments ensue at meeting, Splash Park on hold indefinitely?
The Huntingburg Park Board attempted to consider a change in the November decision on where the proposed splash park would be built at the meeting on Feb. 21. In January the board requested that Huntingburg City Engineer determine the costs for both locations and he was to present the board with the estimates at the…
Jasper Utility Service Board meeting Feb. 20
The majority of the meeting was covered in this story. The Jasper Utility Service Board met Monday night and opened quotes on several items: For the Electric Distribution Department, Central Tie and Distribution project for the Central Sub Station. Two quotes were opened and taken under advisement by Jerry Schitter. Also for the Electric Distribution…
The newly combined Huntingburg and Dubois County Foundations will hold a community conversation
On February 27, 2012 at 5:30 pm at the DCCF offices, the board of DCCF and HFI will have an open community conversation to share more insights into the community vision and mission of the evolving merging foundations. This will be one of many in the coming months to share the mission and vision of…
Raise Up raising awareness through movies and discussion at VUJC
“Raise Up”, the local program advocating for LGBT acceptance and education held their first event in November in response to recent LGBT suicides. The program, directed by Jasper natives Tommy Craven and Sarah Barry, is now covering more issues through the Raise Up The Curtains: LGBT Film Series which showcases LGBT-related films and introduces a…
Harvesting Miscanthus in Southern Kentucky
Jasper Mayor Terry Seitz, City Utilities Manager Bud Hauersperger, and others were about three hours south today (Feb. 21) near a little town in Kentucky called Adairville. According to Mayor Seitz, Jasper representatives of the city were invited to a demonstration put on by Mendel Biotechnology that involved harvesting a three year old (mature) crop…
Two issues dominate Jasper Utility Service Board meeting
Jasper Mayor Terry Seitz presented several initiatives last night at the Utility Service Board Meeting, which helped extend the meeting to almost three hours in length. Seitz first presentation was to bring before the board a contract for legal services and representation by the firm Shaneyfelt and Bohnenkemper. The existing contract is in its sixth…
National Guard Unit receives orders to Afghanistan
Mobilization orders for Afghanistan have been delivered to the soldiers of Indiana National Guard 1st Battalion, 151st Infantry headquartered in Jasper. The unit will deploy to Camp Atterbury in July for training before shipping out in October for a nine month tour. Original Story from October 20 below. The following is a video courtesy of…
Ferdinand Town Council meeting Feb. 14
A power outage that affected about 2/3 of the Town of Ferdinand came up at last nights Ferdinand Town Council meeting. Utility Superintendent Henry Haake says that a circuit breaker failed at one of the substations, which affected power for most of the town including essential emergency services. Haake says they are okay for now…
Hurdle cleared for now in Jasper Gymnasium construction
The hurdle that tripped up the construction of the Jasper High School Gymnasium was revisited and cleared today with the passage of a common wage for the new construction. A committee of five individuals is required to meet and determine a common wage for public works projects over $250,000; the Jasper High School gymnasium is…
Dubois County Leadership Academy issues call for applicants
The Dubois County Leadership Academy has issued a call for 2012 applicants. In its second year, the Leadership Academy is searching for emerging leaders in Dubois County businesses, corporations, and schools. There are no age requirements. [quote style=”boxed” float=”right”]“Investing in existing human capital tops the list of investments an organization should make.” Jasper Mayor Terry…
Police and Fire Chiefs discuss switch to narrow banding that occurs this month
Once per month the Chiefs from Dubois County fire and police departments meet to talk about issues that affect their department’s functions. The focus of the discussion in Monday night’s meeting was on a concept called “narrow banding.” This term describes a change that is mandated by the Federal Communications Commission in Washington that affects…
Airport Board meeting reveals cuts in FAA funding for runway project, offers alternatives
The Dubois County Airport Board held their monthly meeting last night. Airport Manager Travis McQueen reports that the Dubois County Flight Services has increased their fuel usage in January from 586 gallons in 2011 to 778 in 2012. McQueen says that the usage statistics provides one way to gauge economic movement and that they will…
2012 Dubois County Primary Candidates
Those individuals that wanted to run in the coming primary had until last Friday to file their intentions. Here is the finalized list. County Commissioner Larry M. Vollmer, 7985 W 150 N Jasper, IN 47546, (812-482-9981), Democrat, District #1 Marvin R. Belcher, 511 Sunrise Dr .Huntingburg, IN 47542, (812-630-4835), Democrat, District #1 Randy L. Fleck,…
Dubois County Tourism Commission approached about lease of Huntingburg Event Center
[quote style=”boxed” float=”right”]In 2010 Dubois County Tourism generated approximately $65 million in economic impact to Dubois County. [/quote] The newly formed Huntingburg Event And Community Center (HECC) non-profit recently approached met with the Dubois County Tourism Commission about a potential lease agreement with Dubois County Tourism. The effort was spearheaded by HECC Treasurer Mitch Clark…
American Legion announces Oratorical Contest Zone Winners of 2012!
On Sunday Feb. 5, 2012 the Zone Four competition of the American Legion Oratorical Scholarship contest was hosted by the Jasper American Legion 147 in Jasper. The contestants competed within their own district and advanced to the zone which consists of any post south of Indianapolis (covering the entire southern half of Indiana). Each contestant…
A local law enforcement officer’s historic death will be honored in Washington D.C. in May
In October of 2011 the Dubois County Sheriff Department received a letter from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund advising they had been notified of a possible historical law enforcement death in 1886. Sheriff Donnie Lampert began to research the historic occurrence and determined the officer was Constable Thomas Cummins of Jefferson Township (Birdseye)…
Huntingburg names new police chief and adopts tax abatement ordinance
The council chamber was full of Patrolman Arthur Parks’ family, friends, and most of the Huntingburg Police Department as Huntingburg Mayor Denny Spinner announced Parks would become the City’s new chief of police. Parks is a 16 year veteran of the Huntingburg Police Department and will replace Chief Ron Drew on March 1. Chief Drew…
Ferdinand seeking help in building community calendar on town’s website
In a continued effort to make the town’s website a relevant source of information and communication for the citizens of Ferdinand, a new effort has begun to collect information about events in the community. The website for the town currently has an events calendar for people interested in community events, but the new intern, Victoria…
For your information, three students from Pike Central are in the White House with science project. LIVE NOW
Live White House feed with President Obama viewing Pike Central students project. In case you had not heard about this, Ray Niehaus was invited to the White House with three students via his MIT Invent Team success. Due to the nature of White House visits and confidentiality, Ray was not allowed to tell anyone. Even…
Dubois County Waste District experiencing growing pains
Dubois County Solid Waste District (DCSWD) Director Toni Lubbers wants more people to recycle, but with an increase in recycling she’s running out of room at the current location. The DCSWD shares space at the city old Jasper Landfill on 350 west. The center was almost destroyed last year in the February 28th tornado that…
Lindsay Gootee in court today – defense requests extension for discovery
Lindsay Gootee was in court today for her omnibus hearing. Gootee was arrested Nov. 30, 2011 for the aggravated battery of her son. Jasper Police Detective Lisa Miller began an investigation on Oct. 18, 2011, after Gootee’s son was transported to Memorial Hospital for seizures that occurred at the daycare where he was placed. Gootee’s…
