The South Gibson Star-Times serves the towns of Haubstadt, Owensville and Fort Branch.
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1480912
Front Tuesday, October 5, 2022 South Gibson Star-Times A-2 ARSON Continued from page 1 Do you have an upcoming community event? Send the details to editor@sgstartimes.com BRIEFLY Community invited to Adopt-a-Plot The Lyles Station Historic School and Museum has announced a new way for interested individuals to help beautify and maintain one of Gibson County's historic sites. The Adopt-A-Plot program offers individuals or groups the option to plant/maintain selected garden areas on the museum grounds. Small signs may be displayed alongside each area recognizing the "adopters" or a desig- nated family, business, church, club, or in-memoriam. A variety of spaces are available. The Lyles Station Historic School and Museum is located at 953 N 500 W, Princeton, Indiana. For more information, contact Neal Mustard at 812-664— 0649. Veterans food bank accepts donations The Veterans Food Bank of America in Buckskin is a by-appointment-only food pantry for veterans and their widows. It's located on Ind. 57 near Ind. 68. To schedule a food pickup or to donate call 812-795 -2230. Merit board meets The 2022 meetings of the Gibson County Sheriff's Merit Board will be at 12:30 p.m., the second Tuesday of every month, in the Gibson County Community Correc- tions Conference Room, located at 112 E. Emerson Street, Princeton. Trustees meet The Board of Trustees for the Oakland City-Columbia Township Public Library will meet at 4 p.m. on the second Wednesday of every month as the dates for their regular monthly board meetings. The meetings are in the Library Meeting Room. THIS MONTH Habitat Bike Ride set for Saturday Habitat for Humanity of Gibson County is announcing that our annual Charity Bike Tour will be Saturday, Oct. 8. The start of the bike tour will be downtown Princeton at 8 a.m. and will cover all of Gibson County. Registration and other information are on our Facebook page and website gibsoncountyhabitat.com. The bike tour will have stops at the Patoka Methodist Church for the 15 mile trip. The 30 and 62 mile trips will stop at A zalea Path, Toyota Motor Mfg. and Owensville Library. The funds from the event will go toward building material for the next Partner homes. We appreciate all the sponsors in the community who support the event. Contact the office at 812-385 -2434 with questions. As always, any volunteers for building or other events are greatly appre- ciated. GCAS seeks vendors Gibson County Animal Services is in search of vendors for the GCAS Harley's Heart Medical Fund Open House for Oct. 22. No booth fee is required, however GCAS asks for an item to place in their silent auction. Questions or concerns can be handled on the Gibson County Animal Services Fundraising Facebook page or via telephone at (812) 386 -8079. Honor Flight seeks mail On the evening of Oct. 29 our local heroes will return to EV V after having just visited the memorials at our nation's capital. We feel they deserve a proper welcome home. Part of this process is called operation mail call, when they will receive and open letters from home on their return flight to EV V. Mail call is a very touching, very personal way to let our veterans know that, even after all these years, their sacrifices for our freedoms have not been forgotten. Each veteran will receive a mail call envelope with dozens of cards and letters. We need your help to make this happen. Examples range from a simple card, a hand-written letter and coloring pages from children. Involve your kids, your church, your school, and be as creative as you'd like. Send a whole box of cards and we will distribute them evenly. Please leave the envelopes unsealed, as they are easier to open for the veterans. Deadline for EV V13 mail call is Oct. 22, the Saturday before the flight day. Send mail to operation mail call HFSI- EV V13, PO Box 8234 Evansville, IN 47716. Fort Branch plans Halloween bash Fort Branch will host a two-day Halloween extrava- ganza that will kick off with a Zombie run Oct. 28; Sinis- ter Cellar's Haunted Park attraction Oct. 28 -29; and the uptown Halloween Fest Oct. 28 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. To receive more information or volunteer, contact Fort Branch Community Pride on Facebook. Fall Bash planned Oct. 29, The Owensville Community Planners will host the Family Fall Bash on the town square. Chili dinner will start at 5 p.m., and there will be free games, hayrides, and face painting, along with the famous cake walk, trunk-or- treating and the Chili Cook-off. The first fall Prince, Prin- cess, King and Queen contest will also be taking place. Bulletin she said. The insurance told her to salvage the vehicle, and she asked her brother to use his backhoe. As he moved one vehicle she saw what appeared to be a two-liter bottle under the car. "I'm, like, how did that not burn? Then we found a torch in the car as well," she said. The bottle was metal and appeared to be of an acceler- ant. Dunn said it's enough to make her suspect arson. When she interviewed her neighbors, a neighbor close by had caught two teenage boys doing something around her car the same night, she said. She said the neighbor also found a lighter near her vehi- cle. "It seems an odd coinci- dence that happened the same night," she said. The family's hands are tied. They're staying with friends, and one of the vehicles, only driven 100 miles a year to a workplace a quarter-mile from home, only had liability insur- ance so it's a complete loss. She said while from the outside, it looks as though the cars burned outside a garage, the couple had only recently renovated that room into a nursery, and her children and her were sleeping on the other side of the wall that burned. "It could have killed me and my family. It's traumatizing to me. I feel like no one cares...it could have been random, but not knowing who has done it has made me a wreck," she said. Dunn has met many of her neighbors knocking on doors around town to find out who has surveillance of that night. Anyone who has Thursday night video footage or who has information is asked send it to the Owensville Police Depart- ment. "I want to make sure whoever is doing this is caught. I don't have anything to say to them. I just want them prosecuted," she said. The car fire started at around 12:15 a.m. Thursday morning. She said the home has approximately $20,000 in damage. "It was sad to see our hard work melt in front of us," she said. "We take a lot of pride in our home. Owensville's a small town and everyone should be concerned. If it was random, it could be them next." Dr. Wells retires after 63 year tenure By Janice Barniak Star-Times Editor editor@sgstartimes.com Dr. William Wells and his longtime nurse Brenda Kiesel retired Sept. 28 with a recep- tion at Gibson General. Wells said his dream since he was a child was to prac- tice medicine like his uncle, Kermit Wells, who prac- ticed medicine for 63 years in Campellsburg. "He was my idol," Wells shared during the reception. Wells, like his uncle, retired with 63 years of service under his belt, while Kiesel worked for Dr. Wells for 18 years. Wells began his career as a flight surgeon in the US Air Force. He said in that post he deliv- ered a lot of babies and met many people in the Air Force. "In the middle of the night I was often out over the north Atlantic, looking down at the face of B52 pilots, 20 feet below me, who were looking up at me. I knew they were on the way to Russia, and they had the target, and they knew where they were going. I think with the world's situation as it is now, a prayer or two would be appropriate. The Cold War was real then." A fter his time in the mili- tary, Wells chose Princeton, he said, because the physi- cians and pharmacists were so welcoming. He said on his tour of the area, when he was deciding which job to take, the person introduced him to every doctor and pharmacist in town. "Even one of the doctors who said 'You can come but I'm not going to help you,' helped me more than you can imagine." He does fewer house calls now than at the start of his career, when he only had a car and a refrigerator — both about the same temperature in the winter because the Volkswagen had no heat. He'd do house calls with his huge yellow cat named Ebenezer on his lap. While those days are gone, the medical community locally is as cohesive, welcom- ing and friendly as he remem- bers from that first day. He thanked his patients, friends and coworkers for an excellent experience. Vine Street Maker's Market The fall Vine Street Maker's Market had more than 40 vendors, music, with live music Saturday in the Fort Branch Community Park. Dr. William Wells accepted the congratulations of friends, colleagues and former patients at his retirement party at Deaconness Gibson last week.