South Gibson Star-Times

NEWS TIPS Phone: ������������� 812-753-3553 Email ����editor@sgstartimes�com INSIDE Local ����������A1-12 Obituaries ������ A3 Shopping ���� A6-7 History ������������ A8 Opinion ����� A9-11 Home Life ��A10-11 Sports ���������� B1-7 Church ��������B4-5 School ������ B8-10 Classifieds ������B11 Thanksgiving ���B12 Two Sections • No Inserts Fort Branch, IN 47648-0070 (USPS #205-620) $1.00  24 PAGES   TuESDay, NovEmbEr 16, 2021  VOLUME 67, NUMBER 22 South Gibson SPECAIL B12 SPORTS B1 See DOLLS on page 2 See LIBR ARY on page 2 TITANS HOLD ON AGAINST LAWRENCEBURG Owensville woman creates dolls representing people with disabilities By Janice Barniak SG Star-Times Editor editor@sgstartimes.com Mother of four Amanda Tindle's quest to normal- ize her daughter's hearing aids led to her creating doll accessories that represent children of all walks of life last week in Owensville. The story really started when Temperance "Tem- pe" Tindle, age 5, told her mother she wanted to be El- sa from Frozen for Hallow- een this year but couldn't because Elsa didn't have hearing aids like she did. Tempe is the youngest, after two 9 -year-old twins and a 7-year-old brother, and her ear problems began as infections at six months old. She had two sets of ear tubes, one of which became infected and left a hole in her ear. While Tempe will eventually be a candidate for ear surgery, she's not yet old enough to qualify. "Our best option now was to get her a hear- ing aid," said Amanda. Easter Seals provided the life-changing hearing aid for Tempe, but as for toys that represented the girl's physi- cal challenge, they were very expensive and outside the mainstream toys Tempe already played with. Princess Elsa, for example, did not have a hearing aid. Amanda's husband, Joe, has a 3D printer for other projects, so with a little tweaking and design research, Amanda printed and then made finishing touches made out of clay and painted the items to look like the child's per- sonal model, Amanda made realistic-looking hearing aid accessories to fit Tempe's dolls— even Elsa. "Having dolls that look like her is import- Fort Branch library granted $3.7M for expansion, ADA By Janice Barniak SG Star-Times Editor editor@sgstartimes.com Gibson County Redevelopment Commis- sion voted to grant the Fort Branch Library $ 3.7 million for an expansion on the condition part of it is used to make the historic Carne- gie library ADA accessible. "I'll get on my horse. I think there's a moral and ethical obligation any time you use public funds for a public building that you want to be used by anyone in the community. Anyone in the community should have the right to en- ter the building in a manner as we do any oth- er public building," said board member Mark Iunghuhn. "I also believe if there is a person in your community that wanted to access that building that could not, you would be on very, very poor legal grounds." Up until now, the Carnegie building has been grandfathered in without handicap ac- cessibility. The library's original plan presented to the board was to move all remaining public resources out of the Carnegie building, and use it for storage and staff space, at a cost of $2.62 million. The library was asked to instead come up with a plan to make the Carnegie library ADA accessible. Universal Design estimated that $4.7 MILLION PROPOSED EXPANSION Health Dept. to create mobile unit By Janice Barniak SG Star-Times Editor editor@sgstartimes.com COVID testing is still going strong, Health Dept. director Diane Hornby told Gibson County Council last week, and a mobile unit will continue to make testing and eventually vaccinations easier as the pandemic weath- ers on. A fter 774 COVID cases in September, an- other 393 in October, and November kicking off with 44 cases by the Nov. 9 meeting, the testing site is up five days a week and well re- ceived by the community, Hornby said. "They like the drive-through because it's so convenient for them," she said. Patients schedule at coronavirus.in.gov, choosing one of the five days a week the coun- ty has free drive-up testing. The mobile unit will replace their tent set up, and will save paying rent on a building and the additional labor of creating an off-site facil- ity as they did earlier in the pandemic at the fairgrounds. Outside businesses don't want to rent a site because they also don't want the stigma of a COVID testing site at their loca- tion. Also, a second location requires addition- al liability insurance and utilities. The 29 -foot trailer has a ramp that will al- low wheelchairs to roll up should that acces- sibility be needed. The County Council approved up to $40,000 on the trailer. "Let's live in a fantasy world and assume COVID goes away some day? " asked Coun- cilman Derek McGraw. Hornby said then the department could use the trailer for mobile immunizations. "It's not going away," said Councilman Craig Pflug. "Thank you for your persistence," said Councilman Derek McGraw. Temperance Tindle, 5, enjoys having dolls with hearing aids that are like her own. Amanda Tindle poses by the 3D printer that, along with clay sculpting, she us- es to make disability-conscious doll accessories. Owensville remembers the fallen Owensville honored Veterans Day by adding new local vets to their memorial wall in Steelman Park at the Owensville Carnegie Library Thursday, as well as perform- ing a 21-gun salute and playing "Taps." See more photos and stories on page A-4 Fort Branch's 1917 Carnegie Library will receive an elevator and handicap ramps with the $3.7 million the library was granted towards the project, however that's still $1 million shy of the $4.7 million option that is projected as needed to both provide expansion and make the library ADA compliant. MEALS IN Monica's Thanksgiving MINUTES

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