The South Gibson Star-Times serves the towns of Haubstadt, Owensville and Fort Branch.
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1483132
TITANS' MAGICAL SEASON ENDS NEWS TIPS Phone: ������������� 812-753-3553 Email ����editor@sgstartimes�com INSIDE Local ����������� A1-8 Obituaries ������ A3 Arrests ������������ A2 Sports ���������� B1-2 School ����������B3-5 Church ��������B6-7 History ������������ B7 Legals �������������� B8 Classifieds ������� B8 Two Sections • No Inserts Fort Branch 47648-0070 (USPS #205-620) $1.00 16 PAGES TuESDay, NovEmbEr 1, 2022 VOLUME 68, NUMBER 18 South Gibson SPORTS B1 LOCAL A4 PLAY FOR ALL St. James PTA plans inclusive playground See SOLUTIONS on page 3 See GREEKS on page 1 Family seeks bear clothing in final non-profit push BEAR-LY DRESSED By Janice Barniak Star-Times Editor editor@sgstartimes.com This will be the final year for a Build-a- Bear outreach that has touched hundreds of children in Gibson County, and founder Zuniga Kluesner wants it to go out with a bang — or maybe roar. The Kluesner family began giving used Build-a-Bear stuffed toys when daughters Maura and Rebecca would bring home fundraising requests — projects like school Angel Trees, 4-H drives, and Girl Scout fundraisers. Time and again the girls noticed they weren't able to partic- ipate. "The kids were old enough to under- stand we didn't have enough money for that," said the single mom. To allow them to feel they were also doing something useful, she asked her daughters if they wanted to take the Build- a-Bears they had as gifts and picked up from yard sales and donate those to the Crossroads Church Christmas giveaway. They could also ask their friends if they had extra Build-A-Bear outfits or bears they were done with, and those could be cleaned and mended as well. The first year they took two to three bears, with outfits. "I kind of thought it would be a one-and- done," said Kluesner. Her girls had done the sewing work and called it a day. Then an aunt heard of their giveaway and offered them dozens of bears she'd collected. They began seeking clothing and accessories for the bears, which led See BEAR on page 2 Sweet tradition saved by historic property investor By Janice Barniak Star-Times Editor editor@sgstartimes.com Downtown Princeton Inc. Board Presi- dent Tom Shearer told a gathering of locals about the challenges the non-profit board faced in restoring Greeks, a historic soda fountain and candy shop in Princeton, off the county courthouse square. The board raised money and hired a contractor, but when they got into negoti- ations with contractors who saw the build- ing, the estimate of what it would take to fix the property went up — way up. "It was going to be $1.2 million — which we were just a little bit short on. By about $1 million. It looked like it would be a demo- lition job," Shearer told the assembled community members. The organization announced Oct. 13 online that after talking to 20 contractors and seeking bids that most businesses did not want to touch the neglected property, and they were advised to make a decision before winter and possible collapse of the building. They looked at making the project smaller, finding a way to memorialize the former candy store and to have a large exte- rior space as part of the plan. Investor Lucas Neuffer, of Evansville Historic Homes, told the board he'd take on the renovation and he could start almost immediately. The DPI Board and Greeks celebrated Wednesday with a sweet take on a tradi- tional groundbreaking where the board cut cake instead of dirt. The next morning at 6 a.m. crews began work on the restoration. Neuffer has been renovating the historic Steele House in Princeton since 2020 and invested in the Beatty property at 118 State St. in spring of 2021, a property that will open to the public as a consignment shop later this month. The company will renovate just the candy shop portion, wiring it to be a commercial kitchen. A person has tentatively committed to running the chocolate shop. Crews will fix structural damage, add heating and air, add a bathroom, new ceil- Photos from the past show Maura, Rebecca and Noah Kluesner, all Gib- son Southern students/alumni" working on their family's Build-a-Bear dona- tion project. Second addiction recovery house opens in Princeton By Janice Barniak Star-Times Editor editor@sgstartimes.com Addiction Solutions now offers a second residential recovery house in Princeton, this one to help women who want to recover from drug addiction. The non-profit has had a men's recovery house open locally for two years. The recovery home will be in the former First Presbyterian Church, across from the library on Water Street and next door to the new YMCA. Krissy Hannel said the church invited the organizers to their final service at the location, which has been standing since the 1800s. "They dedicated the church to the Addic- tion Solutions cause...There was a guy who had attended church for 80 years. They asked who had been baptized in the church, married in the church." All that history will set the tone for the 12-step, spiritually-focused program the house will offer. "We really prefer to only have people here who are asking for this route," she said. While sometimes a recovery house is court-ordered, that's not the group's aim for the 20 beds they seek to fill. "We want people who want something different. Their attitude is, 'I'm ready. I want my kids back. I want my family back.'" She said the community will get to see people recover and become employable. The program has accountability curfews, for example. "You wouldn't know they were in addic- tion. You'd be surprised how much people change," Hannel said. She entered a residential addiction treat- Spelod Brad Lamborne performed magic tricks for the town festival in downtown Fort Branch Saturday afternoon during the town's annual Halloween extravaganza and costume contest. More photos throughout this edition of Fort Branch, Haubstadt and Ow- ensville's Halloween festivities. Michael Powers photo