The Town of Holland recieved a Community Development Block Grant for the town’s wastewater rehabilitation project.

But in order to obtain the grant funding, last night the Holland Town Council passed a resoulution authorizing the town to borrow 67-thousand dollars in matching funds from German American Bank.

The town plans to use the town’s equipment and vehicles as collateral for the loan with GAB.

In the resoulution the council appointed Clerk Treasurer and fiscal officer Ray Schuetter and town board president Tom Thacker the authority to sign any and all documents necessary to recieve funds for the loan in order to obtain the local matching funds needed for the Community Development Block Grant.

The project will upgrade mains and fix a situation involving a lift station on Kentucky Street that occasionally overflows during heavy rains.

Last night, the Dubois County Council made a verbal commitment to give $33,500 to help pay costs for a current part-time maintenence employee for the county corrections center as well as for needed repairs and maintenence.

During the meeting, Dubois County Director of Community Corrections J.P. Weisheit told the council that for most of the ten years that the corrections center’s current location has been open, funding has not been a problem. However, that has changed within the last year or so as collections revenue has been on a sharp decline.

According to numbers presented to the council by Weisheit, the corrections center is currently seeing 7 to 9 thousand dollars in revenue lost every month due to the lack of collections.

Weisheit says the collection rates were high enough for several years, but due to lack of payment of those collections in the last year or two, that has changed:

Weisheit says the county corrections center has garnished the wages of those in the program that aren’t paying to try to collect, but the corrections center has increasingly wound up second or third in line behind child support or other garnishments that a person on work release has had against their wages.

He says the corrections center has applied for an additional 150 thousand dollar grant from the Indiana Department of Corrections to help the center. The center currently gets $400,000 per year from the Indiana Department of Corrections, but Weisheit says more money is becoming available due to a new rule requiring counties to keep certain level felons at home.

He says the additional money, if the Department of Corrections gives that money, would help offset a lot of costs mainly related to health insurance for those in the corrections facility:

Weisheit told the council that the county corrections center hopes to hear an answer on the additional funding in a week or two. The center, with 102 beds, is the sixth largest corrections center in the state of Indiana.

Also, the council held a discussion amongst members about the recent decision by the county commissioners to delay any work towards building a second access road to Dubois County Park for emergency purposes.
County Council president Greg Kendall says the delay came about due to multiple issues surrounding the road and its construction needing to be resolved before any decision can be made on moving forward with the project.

The Jasper City Council chambers were nearly at full capacity last night for the monthly utility service board meeting.

The main point of focus of this meeting fell on the Beaver Lake Spillway Report. Brian McKenna, the head engineer from Christopher B. Burke Engineering, was present to report on the concerns and differences of opinion surrounding the water level fluctuations of Beaver Lake. In McKenna’s report, all indications according to his measurements of the existing spillway are that the water level is very close, within an inch of the old spillway. This report puzzled the people that have lived on the lake for decades.

As Utility Board President Wayne Schuetter explains, there are many theories as to why the lake levels seem much lower:

Schuetter says a possible solution would be to dredge Beaver Lake, but he said that would cost a considerable amount of money.

Towards the end of last night’s meeting, Schuetter addressed the council and those from the public in attendance concerning the situation with the Jasper Clean Energy Center Project. In a statement made by Schuetter during last night’s meeting, he said “The city’s decision to lease the power plant to Twisted Oak Corporation to develop the Jasper Clean Energy Project continues to be a topic of discussion and misinformation, including the information being disseminated by the group opposing the project.”

Schuetter’s comments stemmed from a recent report released by co-authors Dr. Kristin Shrader-Frechette and B.N. Kunycky of the University of Notre Dame, which included several errors as identified by the City of Jasper. Schuetter says this meeting was an appropriate time to bring the controversy to light:

Schuetter ended the meeting by stating that the Utility Service Board and the City of Jasper will continue to focus on the facts and doing their necessary due diligence concerning this important project. He also said the Jasper community is encouraged to do their own
due diligence on this issue.

A three-car accident on the north side of Jasper early yesterday evening resulted in a Jasper woman being airlifted to a regional hospital.

Jasper Police say 17-year-old Zachary Buechlein of Jasper was crossing Newton Street traveling eastbound towards Common Drive just after 6:40 pm last night when the accident took place.

Police say Buechlein failed to see a car driven by 64-year-old Donna Braun of Loogootee, who was southbound on Newton Street as he tried to cross Newton Street. Buechlein’s car collided with Brown’s car, causing Brown’s car to spin into a third vehicle, driven by 70-year-old Douglas Lukemeyer of Jasper, who was westbound on Common Drive and was preparing to turn onto Newton Street.

A passenger in Buechlein’s vehicle, 43-year-old Paula Buechlein, suffered a head injury in the crash. She was airlifted to Evansville Hospital for further treatment. Zachary Buechlein suffered lacerations to his head and face and was transported to Memorial Hospital for further treatment.

Braun complained of knee pain and was also transported to Memorial Hospital. Lukemeyer was not injured.

Buechlein’s vehicle and Braun’s vehicle each suffered 10 thousand dollars worth of damage and Lukemeyer’s vehicle sustained 3,500 dollars worth of damage. Buechlein was cited for failure to yield the right of way.

The Dubois County Sheriff’s Department, Memorial Hospital EMS, Huntingburg EMS, and Jasper First Responders all assisted at the scene.

An accident on US 231 between Jasper and Huntingburg on Saturday afternoon resulted in two people suffering minor injuries.

Dubois County Sheriff’s deputies say 56-year-old Pam Krueger of Huntingburg and 18-year-old Trenton Duncan of Evansville were both southbound on U.S. 231 just south of WITZ Road at 3:15 pm on Saturday with a truck in between the two vehicles.

Deputies say Duncan attempted to pass the pickup truck, but didn’t see that Krueger had her turn signal on in preparation for a turn onto a private driveway. Deputies say Duncan told them he couldn’t slow down in time to avoid the collision and his car T-boned Krueger’s car. The collision caused both cars to go off of the east side of the highway, finally coming to rest in a nearby yard.

Both Duncan and Krueger suffered minor facial injuries in the accident. Both cars were totaled in the crash. Both Duncan and Krueger were cited for no insurance while Duncan was additionally cited for improper passing.

Dubois County Sheriff’s deputies were assisted at the scene by Dubois County EMS, Huntingburg First Responders, and the Huntingburg Police Department.

An ATV crash in the early hours of yesterday morning resulted in a Corydon woman being airlifted to a regional hospital.

Indiana Conservation Officers say 45-year-old Christie Leadford of Corydon was riding as a passenger on a side-by-side style ATV at an undisclosed location in Crawford County just after midnight yesterday morning when conservation officers say the vehicle slid down an embankment and flipped over onto its right side.

Leadford suffered injuries to her right hip and right leg. She was airlifted to University of Louisville hospital for further treatment. The driver of the ATV was not identified. The investigation into the crash is still ongoing.

Conservation officers were assisted at the scene by the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department, Crawford County EMS, and the Leavenworth Volunteer Fire Department.

Indiana Conservation Officers strongly encourage riders to always wear a helmet, use necessary safety equipment, and perform safety checks prior to operating an ATV.

This past weekend, the Indiana Patriot Guard Riders held their sixth ‘Ride to Remember’ event visiting graves of fallen soldiers all across Southwestern Indiana, including visiting the graves of three fallen Dubois County soldiers.

The ride covered 157 miles from staging to its end and took place across both Saturday and Sunday of this past weekend.

This year’s ride honored 16 fallen soldiers from Southwestern Indiana. The three fallen Dubois County soldiers, Corporal Eric Leuken, Sgt. 1st Class David Moore, and Lance Cpl. Alec Terwiske, were all honored during the riders’ stops at Dubois and Celestine early yesterday afternoon.

Riders visited each grave and held a brief memorial ceremony for each soldier who was killed in action, killed in theater, or passed away due to illness while in theater since 2008.

Ride leader Rick Williams gave short prayers at each service and the family of the fallen soldier being honored placed a flag on their soldiers’ grave. A high school student, usually from the high school that the soldier being honored attended played taps in honor of that soldier, which ended the ceremony. The riders then proceeded on to the next gravesite.

The Ride to Remember was started by Williams in 2008 as a lasting tribute to never forget the soldiers that lost their lives in the line of duty. Several Patriot Guards in other states across the country have adopted similar events of their own in the years since.

The Indiana Patriot Guard sees Indiana soldiers off as they leave for duty and welcomes them back home when they return home from duty. The Patriot Guard also attends every military funeral.