The South Gibson Star-Times serves the towns of Haubstadt, Owensville and Fort Branch.
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1433249
A-2 Front Tuesday, November 30, 2021 South Gibson Star-Times WESTIN Continued from page 1 VAUDEVILLE Continued from page 1 PARADE THEME: "An Essential Christmas" honoring our essential workers Courthouse lighting ceremony at 5 p.m. with Mayor Greg Wright GRAND MARSHAL: Diane Hornby, Gibson County Health Nurse Lighted Saturday, Dec 4 • 5 p.m. D o w ntow n P rinceton ' s Pade Sp sors: ✼ SW Indiana Land Title ✼ Kiesel Enterprises Inc. ✼ Reinbrecht Homes ✼ Steve Faulkner Chevrolet Buick GMC ✼ Country Barns & More ✼ Duke Energy ✼ Sully's Towing & Recovery ✼ Best One Tire ✼ Whitledge Tree Service ✼ Evansville Teachers Federal Credit Union ✼ Nidec ✼ Tulip Tree Health Services ✼ City of Princeton ✼ First Bank ✼ Parker Excavating ✼ GC Antique Machinery Assoc. ✼ Princeton Area Firefighters Local 1634 ✼ Gibson County Visitors & Tourism Christmas Pade Mon-Fri 7AM - 6PM Saturday 7AM - 5PM Sunday 10AM - 4PM Hwy. 41 N., Princeton at Lyles Station Rd. 812-385-2641 Memmer's POWER FOR ANY TASK! HOURS Clean up your property with time-saving tools. MS 170 Chainsaws Trimmers Chainsaw and trimmer parts and accessories in stock. We repair Stihl equipment. MS 271 Gas or Battery Powered do. Do we want them to do CPR or to let him go? We did the only thing we knew how to do, which was pray. Over 500 people prayed for him." Westin Wayne Fougnies was born June 16, weighing 1 pound 3 ounces, delivered at 26 weeks after not receiv- ing adequate blood flow in the womb due to a problem with the placenta. The fourth child in his fami- ly, his short life has been a tri- al and recovery cycle, as first he combated being under- weight, then doctors discov- ered he had a perforated bow- el, and removed 25 percent of his intestine. Then during that recovery, he didn't heal prop- erly, his bowel was perforated again and he had sepsis. Every time the family thought he'd turned a corner and was in the home stretch, another problem seemed to surface. On top of that, mother Han- nah had a massive bone tumor in her arm eating away at her radius, requiring surgery and preventing her from returning to work. This week, Hannah said the family has so much to be thankful for, as Friday morn- ing, Westin began improving, and the whole community has not only prayed, but stepped in to keep their farm going, keep life normal for their oth- er three children, and provide financial support while she's out of work. They've provided a meal train and gone out of their way for them. "We woke up Friday morn- ing and he started coming back around," Hannah said. "This week is the hardest we have had to endure." She said their friends and family made sure that even though she could only have two hour visits due to COVID restrictions, that her children still got to see her. The day, for example, the doctors decided Westin need- ed bowel surgery, the family was at another child's base- ball game. The other moms from the baseball teams her children play on especially stepped in to help, telling the family to go and they would take care of the other children. "Even from the start, I was beyond thankful, even that they caught the dangerous situation. I can't say enough about the NICU team," she said. The community stepped in with a fundraiser golf scram- ble that raised more than $20,000 for the family. Small blessings from the week include Westin moving to the regular ventilator, for example. "I'm the most thankful for waking up Friday, him open- ing his eyes, and looking like a different kid," said Hannah. "My husband and I — I'm defi- nitely a giver more a than re- ceiver. It's hard for my hus- band and I to accept the help. Being on the other end of that, I had to sit back and remem- ber they're not doing it be- cause they have to, they want to. We had to learn to sit back, accept help and be grateful." our shows we had done in the past," said Bledsoe. He thinks Vaudeville alumni will enjoy seeing those characters re- turn, but the community will also enjoy seeing the kids re- turn onstage, and their joy in that will be evident from the first number, he said. "It will be no time into the show before it's evident," he said. For the sophomores and freshman, this will be their first Vaudeville, and that makes half the cast first time participants. "It's the first time we've had a public show onstage in 24 months. These kids are hun- gry and ready," Bledsoe said. It was a little rusty to get the wheels turning again for Vaudeville, but student direc- tor Abby Scheller did a lot of the leg work. He said when thinking about how to talk to peo- ple about Vaudeville this last week, he was thinking about football and how people clear their schedules and make time to really support the stu- dents. He said he hopes the community could pull on that momentum for another week, and come out to support a dif- ferent set of students. "This is our big weekend. This is a big deal. It was easy to take productions for grant- ed until we didn't have them," he said. He added the show is one everyone will enjoy — the stu- dents have talent, but it's more than that. The students have put in the work, they've ac- cepted feedback from himself and Kathy Parks, who found- ed Vaudeville, and even other students. "Talent doesn't go any- where if you're not willing to work on it," he said. In the main villain roles, The Trunchbull from "Matil- da" will be played by freshman Jonnie Dixon; Mara Kluesner will tackle the role of Snyder from "Newsies;" Kayden Dar- deen performs as Lord Far- quar from "Shrek," and soph- omore Aaron Meny takes on the Phantom from "Phantom of the Opera." The theater program will continue on directly after Vaudeville with auditions for the spring musical this com- ing Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday—students will de- but "The Little Mermaid" March 11-14. "I can say Tom Hanks," said Bledsoe. "My students are like, 'do you mean Woody from Toy Story? '" The classic Disney animat- ed features, however, still res- onate even if they were creat- ed in students' parents' gen- eration, making "The Little Mermaid" a good choice to hit every audience member. The show will challenge the students with its visual scale and effects, while at the same time connecting with audienc- es across generations. Wheth- er they come see students this weekend or in March, stu- dents will be glad to see au- diences in the theater again. "It feels great. From the first day of auditions, I found myself watching instead of taking notes," Bledsoe said. Westin Fougnies was born 1 pound 3 ounces; his first diaper was approximately the size of a Chap- stick. Patoka receives $49k in Community Crossings Patoka, in Gibson Coun- ty, received $49,269 in road- work through the Communi- ty Crossings program, the only local of 218 Indiana cit- ies, towns, and counties who received a combined $101.9 million in state matching funds for local road projects through Community Cross- ings, a component of the Gov- ernor's Next Level Roads pro- gram. "Community Crossings continues to have a transfor- mative effect on communi- ties across Indiana" Governor Holcomb said. "The partner- ship between the state and local governments is empow- ering Hoosier cities, towns and counties to invest more and take on bigger projects than ever before to modern- ize their local transportation systems to meet the demand of our growing economy." The Community Cross- ings initiative has provided more than $1 billion in state matching funds for local con- struction projects since 2016. Communities submitted ap- plications for funding during a highly competitive call for projects held in January. Ap- plications were evaluated based on need and current conditions and impacts to safety and economic develop- ment. Funding for Communi- ty Crossings comes from the state's local road and bridge matching grant fund. "Community Crossings is one of the most important tools available to our local partners to support their ef- forts to improve local roads and bridges," INDOT Com- missioner Joe McGuinness said. "Rebuilding and improv- ing local roads, while also ad- dressing safety needs, pro- motes growth and enhanc- es the business environment and quality of place across In- diana." To qualify for funding, lo- cal governments must pro- vide local matching funds, 50 percent for larger com- munities or 25 percent for smaller communities, from a funding source approved for road and bridge construc- tion. They must also submit an INDOT-approved asset management plan for main- taining existing roads and bridges. State law requires annually that 50 percent of the available matching funds be awarded to communities within counties with a popu- lation of 50,000 or fewer. State lawmakers identified long- term funding for Communi- ty Crossings as part of House Enrolled Act 1002, passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Holcomb in April 2017. Geneva Sagers debuts a comic skit on aging called "Four Old Geezers," with Ava Bartley, Meredith Priar and Ashlyn Wil- liamson in "Vaudevillains" in the Kathy Parks Auditorium at Gibson Southern. Alyssa Baehl sang "Rolling in the Deep" with Gabby and Kaleigh Baehl, Aiden Ham- mer, Katelyn Walker and Lyd Wilder. Jake Decker sings a haunting duet with Ava Bartley, accompanied by Made- line Douglas during "Vaudevillians" this weekend. Mackenzie Hupp and Olivia Redding groove in "Spread the Love" featuring Gib- son Southern's first period musical theater class.