The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1131808
B-8 Wednesday, June 19, 2019 The Press-Dispatch EAST GIBSON NEWS Submit school news: Email: egnews@ pressdispatch.net Deadline: Noon on Friday County Council moves closer to jail expansion, renovation By Janice Barniak Gibson County Council voted to take the first step towards a jail expansion or renovation project by having pub- lic hearings on a 0.2 percent tax that would raise $1.5 million per year for Community Corrections. County Attorney Jim McDonald said the Community Corrections facilities revenue fund would be both for oper- ational expenses and facility changes. The Gibson County Jail has been the subject of two lawsuits that cite over- crowding and not enough beds for in- mates, with some inmates housed three in a cell, some on mattresses on the floor between other inmates and the bathroom, as well as incidents of violence due to what the lawsuits cite as an inability to segregate inmates ac- cording to offense levels and special needs. County Sheriff Tim Bottoms has re- quested increased officers and made council and commissioners' members aware of the issues, but the fixes and expansions have been outside the jail facility's current budget. As the county considers an amend- ment to the local income tax rate, Mc- Donald said that the county would need to move quickly if they wanted to use 100 percent of the capital such a measure would generate. Councilman Bill McConnell op- posed the measure, voting against it, saying the council would not know what their needs were until after the state legislature looked at changing bail requirements, an issue that has been on the table several years. If implemented, he has said there would be less incarceration prior to trial for those accused of a crime. "I'm not ready to spend any money out here until we know what we're up against," McConnell said. "There's a lot of opposition to building new jails... we may not need all the facilities we're talking about. I'm not ready to jump in any direction until we know what's go- ing to happen." Councilman Jeremy Overton dis- cussed how the money could support jail operations while accumulating enough for a renovation project to ad- dress concerns. "By agreeing today to advertise (public meetings), we can determine whether it's the right thing to do or not," said Councilman Craig Pflug. "Advertising begins the discussion." Councilman Dan Beard suggested moving their meeting to a time more convenient for people getting off of work, unlike the 9 a.m. council meet- ings that are not always available to everyone. Pflug agreed. "I think it deserves a special meet- ing...no decisions can be made in Ju- ly. It just begins the information gath- ering," he said. Budget meetings for 2020 also begin in July, and the first hearing would be at 9 a.m. July 16, with budget meetings to follow, the special meeting is set for 6 p.m. Aug. 6. Pflug said by making the motion, they would have the opportunity to look at whether people were in favor, and whether the council was in favor of that kind of financial support for the jail. "This is uncharted water for me," Pflug said. McConnell opposed. "This is no time to take that vote. You have two—" he began, referring to having two council members not present. "We're not taking an action—" said Overton. "I don't care what you're doing," Mc- Connell said. "We're advertising, exploring the option. We're not agreeing to increase the tax or that we're going to have a tax or anything," he said. McConnell said after the meeting, in a phone call with the Star-Times, that he was opposed to the measure, and would look instead at measures that would address the root causes of crime, home detention with ankle monitors and rehabilitation. Councilman Overton also discussed that the county's COIT tax fund, orig- inally supposed to increase automati- cally year over year had been held at .2 percent for several years. "We passed it in August or Septem- ber, that's what we told the public (that it would increase), but it didn't. The legislature said it would stay at .2 per- cent until you vote to raise it again. So we've had a gap here of time when we have been at .2 percent when we would have been at .5 percent," he said. "I think it's been good, we haven't increased the size of government dur- ing that time. I think now it's time to look at it," he said, (referring to look- ing at a possible tax, not a possible in- crease in government size). McConnell said the county has roughly $1.5 million in building funds now. "I realize we've got some problems here. They're problems all over the state," he said. Gibson County probation officers seek pay bump By Janice Barniak Some of Gibson County's probation of- ficers are hoping for a pay bump after learn- ing that last year the Gibson County Council changed their hiring policy to account for years of experience earned prior to hiring. Judge Meade came to the counsel to ask not only that the two probation officers who were hired before that change receive the same treatment, but also that they get back pay for the time since the decision. He said he did not disagree with Judge Robert Krieg's reasoning presented last year. "His reasoning is sound, the salary schedule would allow for it," he said. He added he only wanted to raise up the other probation officers to account for their prior experience, beginning at the time pe- riod after the decision was made. He said the two experienced officers had been underpaid by approximately $17,000. Councilman Bill McConnell asked the re- quest go to the finance committee. "This is going to take some looking in- to...what it may involve is a little complicat- ed," he said. Coming this late in the year's budget, McConnell said, could be a large consid- eration moving forward. "From a statutory standpoint, he thought he had a good argument," said Councilman Craig Pflug. Meade said one probation officer had done the job she does now for 10 years with- out receiving credit for that time when she was designated as a probation officer. Ride Solutions requests larger investment going forward By Janice Barniak Gibson County's public transportation service, Ride Solutions, requested addition- al funding this year in the amount of $1,000. Last year, a $2,000 increase in funding, when combined with the contributions of the other 10 counties covered by Ride Solutions, allowed the company to add another driver. "It made a big difference," said manag- er Becky Guthrie. "People coming into the county expect some kind of public transpor- tation." The company employs seven Gibson County drivers full-time, and as a whole, the company gives 21,306 rides a year in this region. Guthrie told the story of a person stranded at an Evansville bus station with little money, trying to get to Princeton. A fter hearing the story, a driver stayed on beyond the normal shift to bring the person to town. "He paid the fare for her. He said, 'I just want to tell you I couldn't have done a more heartful thing,'" said Guthrie, adding the drivers who are mostly retirees do the job because they like the work. "We know this isn't a job that pays a lot. They say it's one of their favorite jobs; they're able to give back to the community." Drivers assist people boarding and exit- ing, offering a steady arm for home door to car door, she said. There is a lift for those who cannot use steps, portable oxygen tanks and service animals are accommodated. She said dialysis transportation is a life- line for those who need it. They also receive calls from motels, be- cause Guthrie said people from larger cit- ies arrive expecting public transportation. Ride Solution service hours are Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Rides are scheduled by order of call-in, with recom- mended scheduling at 24 hours in advance. To schedule, call 812-254-3225 for service in Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Greene, Mar- tin, Perry, Pike, Spencer, Sullivan and War- rick counties. "People are so appreciative of what we do for them," Guthrie said. Highway Dept. moves towards energy efficiency, savings By Janice Barniak Construction paving season is well un- derway, as well as chip sealing and putting down millings, Highway Dept. Supervisor Chuck Lewis told the Gibson County Coun- cil Tuesday. In good news for the county, Lewis said he'll be able to get a significant discount off some of the county's highway equipment, thanks to a grant program. Lewis explained that as part of a settle- ment with the Volkswagen auto company, a program exists that reimburses munici- palities a significant amount of a new vehi- cle's cost when the vehicle replaces an in- efficient diesel model with a more fuel-ef- ficient option. Lewis said the county has two diesel ve- hicles that would qualify for the program. As part of the requirements, the vehicles must be scrapped, however. When Lewis investigated, though, he discovered they were in the kind of shape that their scrap value was going to equal their resale val- ue approximately. The application went in Thursday. SPEAKER UNEARTHS COUNTY'S UNDERGROUND RAILROAD HISTORY By Janice Barniak Michigan-based researcher Anna- Lisa Cox, PhD, wrote about Gibson Coun- ty's part in freeing slaves through the Un- derground Railroad in "The Bone and Sin- ew of the Land: America's Forgotten Black Pioneers and the Struggle for Equality." She came back to Gibson County last week to further her research and work on a pres- entation to the National Parks Service about Gibson County lo- cations that she believes should be included in the list of nation- ally recognized stops on the Un- derground Railroad. "This was the largest piece of land set aside as free from slav- ery at a time when even New York was a slave state," Cox said. She said in talking about the compli- cated history of slavery in the county, it's helpful to realize that this territory in fron- tier times was very progressive and made to be free of slavery. At that time, the area was ruled by a four-page Northwest Territorial document that included many frontier states that or- dained the area as free of slavery in a time just after the Revolutionary War and be- fore America split into the Civil War-era North and South. In fact, A frican Americans could vote if they met the other voting requirements of the day, including being over 21 and own- ing 50 or more acres of land. That meant that many A frican Ameri- cans came to the area and made settle- ments—so far more than 300 settlements have been identified in the Midwest. Her book talked about Lyles Station, a free black settlement just outside Prince- ton, the current site of the Lyles Station museum. The Lyles family moved to Lyles Sta- tion after the A frican Americans' right to own guns was taken away in Tennessee. They and the Greer family came to Gibson County for continued freedoms, but soon the Fugitive Slave Law was passed na- tionwide and that allowed the slave hunt- ers to come into their homes dressed as marshals and justices of the peace, and to take anyone they accused of being a run- away slave. Despite being worried about their chil- dren, the Greers and Lyles families con- tinued to help slaves escape, along with sympathetic white families, including the Stormont family. The Gibson County area was said to be one of the riskiest places to escape through as it was "crawling with Chris- tian wolves," Cox said. The Stormont family kept water con- tinuously boiling in case of slave hunters breaking into their home. Those whites who aided hunted slaves on the Under- ground Railroad would be shot, because while the slaves had a value when re- turned to the person who owned them, those assisting had no value to slave hunt- ers. One of the riskiest encounters the Stor- monts and Greers ever helped with was a request to free the family of a man from Alabama. Peter Sill had saved enough money doing extra jobs for the family that he had been able to purchase himself out of slavery, which was called being a "free- dom entrepreneur." His family was still trapped in Alabama, a state with the strictest slave laws in the country. A white man, Seth Concklin, volun- teered to pose as their owner after they es- caped, but when he inquired about where the family could stay on the Underground Railroad, very few people would take on the risk of housing them because of the strict slavery laws in Alabama. Freeing slaves was all-but ille- gal in Alabama—a person could donate cows or books, but free- ing an owned person was not allowed. Meanwhile, Indiana's white majority had voted in an anti-immigration law that would take rights away from people of A frican descent. Rewards for information lead- ing to slaves was high, and with the invention of the telegraph, the information could fly be- tween places and law enforcement faster than the refugees could run. Charles Stormont was almost 70 years old at the time when his family helped Con- cklin and the Still. They made it through Gibson County, but were caught outside Vincennes, then sent to Evansville, where the family was tortured. Concklin's body washed up with half his head missing in the Ohio River, but he didn't give up the names of the Stormonts or the Greers, or they would have been victims as well. As it was, David Stormont had two assassination attempts on his life. "This history has national significance. I'm honored to be working on it," Cox said. In David Stormont's obituary, which ran front page in Princeton's newspaper, he claimed to have helped more than 600 slaves find freedom over the decades he was a stop on the Underground Railroad. "If that's true, that makes this one of the most successful stops in the Midwest," Cox said. "It's interesting how free he felt to talk about it." She said in letters she's found, the fam- ilies discuss just regular aspects of their lives, along with their part on the railroad. Stormont, at one point, writes to say he has a bag of items that used to belong to some- one captured and asks what to do with it. "These are just normal people. They had normal lives," Cox said. "These Gib- son County folks were pretty brave." If Cox's application to the National Parks Service is accepted, then Cox said the listing will highlight where people were helped and can bring national atten- tion, funding and grants to the county. Not only that, the park's service has physical resources related to the Under- ground Railroad that can give the muse- um more to work with—items like pins, coloring books, DVDs and more. The application will include published eyewitness accounts, newspaper articles, letters, obituaries, antique maps and ge- nealogy. "It's not easy stuff to find, but it's defi- nitely out there and worth finding," she said. She said while a lot of focus has landed on America's founding fathers, she's more interested in what she calls the "founding citizens." "One of most surprising things is how they interpreted the Declaration of Inde- pendence. Out of 15 states, 10 of those states had equal voting rights," Cox said. "Between the American Revolution and the Civil War is a big chunk of time. Coun- tries change, ideas change, ideals change. There were always people standing up for liberty and equality. And that gives me hope." Anna-Lisa Cox, PhD Speaker Anna-Lisa Cox, PhD, signed books and took questions from au- dience members after a presentation Thursday at Lyles Station.