The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/924485
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, Januar y 10, 2018 C-9 EAST GIBSON NEWS Submit school news: Email: egnews@ pressdispatch.net Deadline: Noon on Friday OPEN OFFICE SESSIONS Once again this year, I will be utilizing a collab- orative opportunity for all members – students, staff, parents, guardians, and community members – of the Wood Memorial School Community. With this said, I believe to be most effective with the de- velopment and growth of our students it is impera- tive that every stakeholder of Wood Memorial have an opportunity to collaborate and provide input in any area/aspect of interest in- volving our school(s) they may have. Thus, I will con- duct monthly "Open Of- fice" sessions, focused on providing time for such col- laboration to occur. I encourage you to come meet anytime to review items of interest you may have. You may schedule a meeting by calling 812- 749 -4757 and requesting a time. In keeping with the theme of collaboration and communication, I want to invite Wood Me - morial stakeholders to fol- low the happenings at the junior high and high school by joining us on twitter at WMTrojans1. Wood Memorial TROJANS VS. PIKE CENTRAL 01/05/18 Pike Central Cameron Henson 0 1-0 3 0 Breyton Bookre 7 0 -0 2 16 Christian Benson 0 0 -0 1 0 Kaleb Claridge 1 0 -0 4 2 Kyson Western 1 1-0 4 3 Tyler Tormohles 1 0 -0 1 2 Nick Hillyard 0 2-2 1 2 Bryant Nalley 8 9 -7 4 25 TOTAL S 18 13-9 20 50 3 Point FG's-5 (Booker 2, Western 1 and Nalley 2) Wood Memorial Lathan Falls 8 4-1 2 20 Harden Hunter 0 0 -0 3 0 Remington Wilkison 0 4-3 2 3 Cameron Savlman 3 0 -0 2 8 Paxon Bartley 5 7-7 3 17 Walker Nurrenbern 6 5 -3 1 15 Austin Ireland 0 0 -0 1 0 TOTAL S 22 20 -14 14 63 3 Point FG's-5 (Falls 3 and Savlman 2) SCORES BY QUARTERS Pike Central 13 6 17 14 50 Wood Memorial 18 10 19 16 63 UPCOMING SPORTS SCHEDULE GIRLS' VARSITY BASKETBALL Jan. 11 Princeton Community home 5:30 p.m. Jan. 16 Southridge home 5:30 p.m. Jan. 18 White River Valley away 5:30 p.m. Jan. 20 Shoals JR/SR ( JV/V ) home 3:30/5 p.m. Jan. 23 Northeast Dubois away 5:30 p.m. Jan. 25 North Daviess JR/SR away 5:30 p.m. BOYS' VARSITY BASKETBALL Jan. 12 Washington Catholic home 5:30 p.m. Jan. 13 Evansville Day away 5:30 p.m. Jan. 19 Barr Reeve JR/SR away 5:30 p.m. Jan. 20 Shoals JR/SR ( JV/V ) home 3:30/7 p.m. Jan. 26 Tell City away 5:30 Jan. 27 Northeast Dubois home 5:30 Feb. 1 Vincennes Rivet JR/SR home 5:30 p.m. Feb. 6 Forest Park JR/SR home 5:30 p.m. Feb. 9 Southridge away 5:30 p.m. Feb. 13 Evansville North away 5:30 Feb. 16 Gibson Southern away 5:30 Feb. 17 North Knox away 5:30 p.m. Feb. 22 South Knox home 5:30 p.m. BOYS' VARSITY WRESTLING Jan. 10 North Knox away 5:30 p.m. Jan. 13 Boonville away 9 a.m. Jan. 17 Evansville Central home 6 p.m. CALENDAR Wednesday, Jan. 10 HS Student Council Meeting, 12:13pm Spring Musical Auditions, 3:30 p.m. Wrestling at North Knox, 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11 Prom Committee Meeting, 7:30 a.m. EGSC Classroom Teachers Meeting, 3:30 p.m. Boys JH Basketball at Loogootee, 5:30 p.m. Girls JH Basketball vs. Southridge, 5:30 p.m. Girls Basketball vs. Princeton, 5:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 12 NHS Volunteer Day, Ronald McDonald House, 8 a.m. Boys Basketball vs. Washington Catholic, 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13 Wrestling at Boonville, 9 a.m. Boys Basketball at Evansville Day, 5:30 p.m. ADDITIONAL DATE OF NOTE ISTAR, Grades 3 – 8, 10, EL A/Math/Science/So- cial Studies, Jan. 15 – Feb. 16 National Assessment of Educational Progress, Grades 4 and 8, Digital Based, Math, Reading, Writ- ing, US History, Civics and Geography, Jan. 29 – Mar. 9 HS Student Council Meeting, Jan. 17 Prom Committee Meeting, Jan. 18 Student Advisory Council Meeting, Jan. 18 Staff PLC/PD Session, Jan. 19 HS First Semester Honor Roll Announced, Jan. 19 HS Student Council Meeting, Jan. 24 Prom Committee Meeting, Jan. 25 8th Grade Commitment to Graduate – Jostens, Jan. 25 Instrumental / Vocal Recita,l Jan. 25 Winter Homecoming, Jan. 27 A&P Health Occupations Field Trip, Feb. 1 Winter ADM Count Due, Feb. 1 Prom Committee Meeting, Feb. 1 Student Advisory Council Meeting, Feb. 1 Environmental/Biology Field Trip, Feb. 1 Staff PLC Session, Feb. 2 Girls JHS Blue Chip Tournament, Feb. 3 Principal Open Office Hours, Feb. 6 HS Student Council Meeting, Feb. 7 Prom Committee Meeting, Feb. 8 Red Cross Blood Drive, Feb. 23 ISTEP Part 1, Feb. 26 – Mar. 9, JHS Renaissance Day, Mar. 23 Commission hears public comment in continued county zoning debate By Janice Barniak The Planning and Advi- sory Commission met again Jan. 3 in the Toyota Events Center, at the Gibson Coun- ty Fairgrounds in Princeton, to listen to public comment on potentially zoning Gibson County. PUBLIC COMMENTS To start off the meeting, Attorney Mike Schopmey- er, who is on the board, told the public the committee lis- tened to the questions raised about stormwater and the commission has decided to re-draft in such a way as to take out stormwater lan- guage and leave that to the County Commissioners and the local drainage board. Area artist Bob Zasad- ny was the first speaker, and said that the founding fathers didn't include zon- ing laws or dealing with li- censed builders in their con- cerns for the country. He quoted Nancy Pelo- si saying "we won't know what's in it until we pass it," and added Gibson County has survived for 200 years without zoning. He presented the board a gift; a crystal ball made out of recycled materials, to rep- resent seeing the future of the county—a gift they re- turned after the meeting. The second speaker, Chris Buck, had a list of is- sues he wanted to address, saying he believes govern- ments have the power to reg- ulate what people do on their property, as far as it affects others, but that he doesn't want to invest a lot of pow- er in only a few people, and is concerned they'll block housing for low and middle income people. "It's pretty clear less can mean so much more," he said. Sean McDevitt, grand- son of Jim McDevitt, who he said bought farm land generations ago, said that while the current proposal is imperfect, he's in favor of zoning. "I'm from a family of farm- ers, and several members of family still farm...If you're a home builder or prospec- tive home buyer, you need to know if you're going to be near a hog farm." He said it's no secret families along the corridor could see a financial bene- fit from development, but he added that it hadn't been their choice for I-69 to cut through their farmland, even if they did get market rates for the ground. He said many families lost as much as 40 percent of their viable ground, and there are peo- ple who say they must have gotten rich off that. He said if he'd become rich from it, his mother wouldn't still be living on the land. "I don't think you would like to see an adult book- store next to your church, or a landfill next to Hopkins Park," McDevitt said. "My grandfather had a vision of thriving community...I urge you to pass this ordinance." Mike Luff was next to ap- proach the podium, and he also spoke as a family farm- er. "I'm here tonight speak- ing for my mother. My fam- ily's chosen me to speak... the acreage in question — we don't want it zoned parks and recreation, we want it zoned agriculture," he said, adding they live next to a park, and are worried about being zoned as park land when they farm. "That's what my mom wants...I want it colored green, I want it colored ag. Strictly ag," he said, (green referring to the map color for agricultural zoning.) Nancy Gehlhausen, of Oakland City, describes her- self as extremely pro-envi- ronment, and said she sees zoning as a way to protect the environment with reg- ulations. "What kinds of environ- mental footprint are these developments going to in- cur? " she asked, urging the board to think about water, soil and the kind of indus- try locals want to bring in to county. Darrin Gottman, of Owensville, said he only recently found himself in- volved in the zoning con- flict after 51 years of work- ing his land. "A couple years down the road, I could no longer have rights I woke up with this morning," he said. He would like to know, he said, that if he wants to start a business or build a fence, he does not have to ask anyone. He said that growing up, he had violent neighbors, but no one interfered when they were on their own property. "I don't want to negotiate our rights back that we have today," he said, adding that he feels people are handing over rights to a committee, and he wants to see the fire the founding fathers had in protest of giving up their rights. "You're going to wonder, why didn't I take my three minutes to give my two cents worth? " he said of those not speaking. Matt Miller, of Owens- ville, said he believed at this time, the committee was five members against zoning and two for zoning, (those numbers have not been sub- stantiated at this point as no vote has been taken and the committee describes them- selves as still in the informa- tion collection stage.) Miller likened passing the zoning as it currently stands to buying a car with- out knowing what the pay- ment would be. "Don't try to pass some- thing if you don't under- stand everything that is in there...It's going to be on our backs, our tax dollars," he said. He encouraged the board to ask whether they thought the measure would pass if it was on the ballot, and if it would not, why they would pass it. Debbie McKnight said she's concerned about set- backs and footage require- ments that could prevent people from rebuilding if their house burned down. "If not big enough, what are you going to do? " she asked. Kenny Bittner stood only to say he expressed support for McKnight's opinion. Glen Ramsey spoke about wanting to be able to use his property as he sees fit. "It's none of your business what I do on my property. None...I paid for it, not you," he said. "You're taking my right away. That's not fair. You shouldn't be able to." Jim Stephens, represent- ing the Chamber of Com- merce's business communi- ty, spoke in support of hav- ing a plan. "Every successful coach has a game plan...educators are required to provide les- son plans," he said. "The corporate world says 'If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.'" He said no one would build a building without a plan, and as a person in- volved with building the Toy- ota Events Center, where the event was held, he could tes- tify to the amount of plan- ning the building took. "Lack of planning guar- antees less than desired re- sults," he said. Because Indiana has 80 counties with zoning, he said he believes the coun- ty can come to a plan that works. Dennis Simpson said he believed each township needed representation on the board—as a west Gibson resident, he said he didn't feel represented. He was also concerned, he said, about the total cost. "We all struggle with fi- nances, and this is going to be very expensive," he said. Daviess County attor- ney Grant Swartzentruber spoke, representing clients against the current zoning proposal. "The ordinance as drafted is, in my opinion, nowhere close to where you want to be for county-wide zoning," he said. He added he provid- ed a list of concerns to coun- ty attorney Jim McDonald. (See inset.) He said when Daviess County adopted zoning over the course of a couple of years, they'd never had a meeting as well-attended as the meeting at the packed fairgrounds building. "I don't know if there were 10 people at any of the meetings," he said. "My cli- ents are not saying absolute- ly not, no zoning, but they do not support the current draft." He said there needed to be a comprehensive plan, and that some parts of the draft appeared to be copied from city zoning ordinanc- es, as a county does not have the power to annex. The draft has a site scoring process he did not support, and doesn't account for new legislation on cell phone tow- ers. Mike Schleter, of Francis- co, said he didn't want extra costs, or a board's input on what he can and cannot do on his property. Jason Buck said he op- posed bringing in industries and giving them tax abate- ments. "I don't think zoning is about preserving the coun- ty, it's about paving the county," he said. "We've been the bread and butter of this county...Dairy, beef, produce...Everyone in here that pays taxes has planned pretty well." T.J. Ice described himself as from the "Mount Olym- pus/Hazleton metropolitan area," and said that as an en- gineer, he started reading the ordinance with an eye for facts and data to make a decision. He requested proof of the benefits of zoning. "We've had six genera- tions of our family...I want to ensure the land is there in the future, so if they want to build a barn, a woodshed, they can," he said. He said that the commit- tee could not control how zoning might be used in the future with their current draft, but if shut down, the county might be looking at the same arguments again in a few years. "We're going through all of this to solve a problem at one intersection of the coun- ty," he said, suggesting they give the control to boards in Oakland City and Francisco. He also had issues with some of the limitations. "You seriously want to limit the number of yard sales we can have a year and LED signs? " he asked. David Hudwall, local prop- erty owner, backs zoning be- cause he said it improves the value of the property. When he was young, he said, he ran the creeks around Johnson, only to find out people were dump- ing sewage in the creek. "They fought zoning tooth and nail because they want- ed to do it, it was their prop- erty," he said. He also said people build- ing next to his property were crowding him without set- back regulations. He suggested lack of zon- ing contributes to not hav- ing a grocery in Owensville and children not staying in the area. "There's better things outside of Princeton and Owensville," he said. "We need growth in this area and I'm for the zoning." Bob Sleter said he's lived in the area for 59 years, and doesn't think the county needs zoning. The Fort Branch Vin- cennes University project happened without zoning, he said, adding the truck stops that would show up on I-69 will not bring good jobs. He said he wants to be able to give his son land to build a home on, as his fa- ther gave land to him. Gary Seibert is a retired Dept. of Agriculture worker and said in his 20 years over 11 counties, he had not seen zoning protect agriculture, nor had he seen that in 40 years as an agriculture con- sultant. "I've always seen agricul- ture lose," he said, but add- ed zoning is important in cit- ies. He's from a sixth gener- ation farming family and when he sold the house his grandfather built in the his- torical district, it was a two- year process with Vander- burgh County's planning commission. He sees farming preserva- tion as vital to the economy. "Take surface retail, you David Hudwall speaks in favor of zoning at the Jan. 3 because he said as a property owner he thinks it improves the value of properties and en- sures neighbors don't make choices that will ad- versely affect the people around them. Engineer T.J. Ice advocated against zoning and for local control of whether to zone being given to local towns at the interchanges along I-69. See ZONING on 11