The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/941742
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, Februar y 14, 2018 C-9 EAST GIBSON NEWS Submit school news: Email: egnews@ pressdispatch.net Deadline: Noon on Friday PLTW GRANT Wood Memorial High School and East Gibson School Corporation has re- ceived a grant to allow us to launch a PLT W (Project Lead The Way) Computer Science curriculum. The grant total is $20,000, with funds to be utilized for train- ing, equipment, and pro- gram registration costs. Ms. Nossett and Ms. Hill will be reviewing how we may best invest the grant monies to ensure the greatest opportu- nity for students to benefit. MAKE UP DAYS In order to make up the five (5) days of missed school, due to the recent winter weather, our schools will be in session on the fol- lowing dates: Friday, Feb- ruary 16; Monday, April 2; Wednesday, May 23; Thurs- day, May 24; Friday, May 25. The second semester is now scheduled to end on May 25. WM INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES Internship opportunities are available for Wood Me- morial sophomore and ju- nior students through the Conexus Advanced Manu- facturing program launched last fall. Individuals may earn more than $2,000 during the six (6) week in- ternship. For more informa- tion, contact the Wood Me- morial High School Student Services (Counseling) of- fice. WM BREAKFAST CLUB Mr. Messmer is planning to launch the "Wood Memo- rial Breakfast Club" in the near future. The club will meet twice a week, on Tues- day and Thursday morn- ings, from 6:30 a.m. – 7:30 a.m. in the weight barn. The focus will be on providing a structured strength and fit- ness training club for those who want to better them- selves physically. No pri- or athletic experience is re- quired, as Mr. Messmer will be providing proper form and safety instruction to those participating. Information is being sent home through the respec- tive student. Parent approv- als and signatures are re- quired in order for a student to take part in this healthy opportunity. Please contact Mr. Mess- mer with questions and in- formation needs. OPEN OFFICE SESSIONS Once again this year, I will be utilizing a collab- orative opportunity for all members – students, staff, parents, guardians, and community members – of the Wood Memorial School Community. With this said, I believe to be most effective with the de- velopment and growth of our students it is impera- tive that every stakeholder of Wood Memorial have an opportunity to collaborate and provide input in any area/aspect of interest in- volving our school(s) they may have. Thus, I will con- duct monthly "Open Of- fice" sessions, focused on providing time for such col- laboration to occur. I encourage you to come meet anytime to review items of interest you may have. You may schedule a meeting by calling 812-749 - 4757 and requesting a time. In keeping with the theme of collaboration and communication, I want to invite Wood Me- morial stakeholders to fol- low the happenings at the junior high and high school by joining us on twitter at WMTrojans1. GOT SCHOOL NEWS! Email: egnews@pressdispatch.net Wood Memorial CALENDAR Wednesday, Feb. 14 Statewide ISTEP Readiness Test, 9 a.m. HS Student Council Meeting, 12:13 p.m. WMJHS Spirit Club Meeting, 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15 Breakfast Club 6 a.m. Prom Committee Meeting, 7 a.m. Statewide ISTEP Readiness Test – Backup, 9 a.m. Student Advisory Council Meeting, 11 a.m. Careers Session Make Up Date, 1:25 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16 Snow Make Up Day – School In Session Staff Development Session, 8 a.m. Boys Basketball at Gibson Southern, 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17 Boys Basketball at North Knox, 5 p.m. ADDITIONAL DATE OF NOTE Math, Reading, Writing, US History, Civics, and Geography, Accuplacer – Part 2, Feb. 12 – Mar. 30 Science Academic Bowl Team Meeting, Feb. 14 IHSA A Boys Tournament Pairings, Feb. 18 Science Academic Bowl Team Meeting, Feb. 21 WMHS Softball Club Meeting, Feb. 21 Red Cross Blood Drive, Feb. 23 A&P Health Occupations Field Trip, Feb. 23 ISTEP Part 1, Feb. 26 – Mar. 9 Science Academic Bowl Team Meeting, Feb. 28 Science Academic Bowl Team Meeting, Mar. 7 WMHS Softball Club Meeting, Mar. 7 WMHS Softball Club Meeting Mar. 14 Science Academic Bowl Team Meeting, Mar. 14 WMHS Softball Club Meeting, Mar. 21 Science Academic Bowl Team Meeting, Mar. 21 JHS Renaissance Day, Mar. 23 Academic Banquet, Apr. 6 ISTAR ,Apr. 16 – May 18 ISTEP Part 2, Apr. 16 – May 4 Indiana Bass Nation High School Event, Patoka Lake, Apr. 22 TROJANS VS. FOREST PARK 02/06/18 Forest Park Isaac Uebelhor 2 0 -0 0 5 Daniel Lusk 2 2-2 3 6 Braydon Voegerl 5 4-4 3 14 Trevor Zink 3 1-0 0 8 Sam Englert 4 4-2 4 10 Colin Hochgesang 1 0 -0 3 3 Curt Hopf 5 7-2 5 12 TOTAL S 22 18 -10 18 58 3 Point FG's-4 (Uebelhor 1, Zink 2 and Hochgesang 1) Wood Memorial Lathan Falls 10 4-2 3 23 Remington Wilkison 0 0 -0 4 0 Cameron Saulman 2 0 -0 0 6 Paxon Bartley 6 2-2 5 17 Walker Nurrenbern 02 13-9 5 13 TOTAL S 20 19 -13 17 59 3 Point FG's-8 (Holder 2, Falls 3, Bartley 2 and Parke 1) SCORES BY QUARTERS Forest Park 11 14 19 14 58 Wood Memorial 10 20 13 16 59 TROJANS VS. SOUTHRIDGE 02/09/18 Southridge Matthew Price 1 2-2 3 4 Joe LaGrange 6 4-3 3 18 Jayce Harter 2 0 -0 1 4 Garrett Voegerl 3 2-2 4 9 Colsen Montgomery 8 10 -8 1 26 Jacob Masterson 2 0 -0 1 5 Logan Seger 3 0 -0 3 7 Jaden Hayes 1 0 -0 2 2 TOTAL S 26 18 -15 18 75 3 Point FG's-6 (LaGrange 3, Voegerl 1, Masterson1 and Seger 1) Wood Memorial Lathan Falls 4 3-3 5 12 Harden Hunter 2 2-1 2 3 Remington Wilkison 1 0 -0 3 2 Cameron Savlman 1 0 -0 1 2 Paxon Bartley 6 3-2 4 15 Walker Nurrenbern 9 13-13 3 31 TOTAL S 22 21-19 18 65 3 Point FG's-2 (Falls 1 and Bartley 1) SCORES BY QUARTERS Southridge 19 16 17 23 75 Wood Memorial 16 15 10 24 65 WOOD MEMORIAL BASKETBALL BOY'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE AND RESULTS 2017-18 SCHEDULE Date Opponent Location Time (CST)/Result 11/21 Princeton H L, 53-68 12/1 Loogootee A W, 77-76 12/2 Tecumseh H W, 55 -44 12/8 Perry Central A W, 81-48 12/13 Washington H W, 51-25 12/15 North Daviess H W, 48 -40 12/19 Castle H L, 52-76 12/22 Princeton H L, 51-56 12/23 Mount Carmel H W, 58 -40 1/5 Pike Central H W, 63-50 1/22 Shoals H W, 44-29 1/26 Tell City A W, 59 -38 1/27 Northeast Dubois H L, 54-66 1/31 Washington Catholic H W, 60 -12 2/1 Vincennes Rivet A W, 74-53 2/3 Evansville Day A W, 57-47 2/6 Forest Park H W, 59 -58 2/9 Southridge A L, 65 -75 2/13 Evansville North A 7 p.m. 2/16 Gibson Southern A 7 p.m. 2/17 North Knox A 7 p.m. 2/20 Barr-Reeve A 7 p.m. 2/22 South Knox H 7 p.m. Aramark District Employee of the Month for December "I love my job" are words that are spoken very fre- quently from Allison Lee's mouth, and it shows! Allison, who is the food service director for East Gibson School Corp., is very passionate about her work and her com- munity. Living in the community, she often talks about how we can do more for our families that surround our schools. Having a catering background, Allison was con- fident in bringing a little flair to the quality of food, but she has also bought in to doing the fun things for our kids like Ace's Kids Club, updating marketing for the secondary, starting a Summer Feeding program, Hal- loween contest, ugly sweater contests, the list goes on! In the time Allison has been with East Gibson, she has increased total meals over 150 per day. She is al- ways looking for ways to get the kids involved and ex- cited about eating at school. Allison has provided a strong leadership presence within the District, gaining relationships with each per- son with whom she comes in contact. Pictured above is: Dr. Henry Brewster, super- intendent of East Gibson School Corporation, and Allison Lee, East Gibson School Corp. food ser- vice director, holding her award for employee of the month. Area Planning Commission meets with coal reps By Janice Barniak Representatives of local coal in- terests presented their concerns about zoning to members of the Ar- ea Planning Commission Friday in a meeting with seven members of the board in attendance. The coal meeting was after the 1:30 p.m. meeting wrapped up, and was originally a presentation for the 3:30 p.m. meeting members. Chad Sullivan, whose clients in- clude Peabody and Alliance, said he was there primarily to answer ques- tions and provide questions about coal mining and how the zoning or- dinance can best address coal. He said coal mines are working well in the county and bring many good paying jobs to the area, and it's because of their own experiences that he said his clients have "grave concerns." "It would be one of the most re- strictive zoning ordinances in the state of Indiana," Sullivan said, add- ing that Gibson County is one of the places in the state where they mine the most coal, and he didn't think people would want to be the most restrictive where coal is mined the most. "Coal mining is already one of the most highly regulated industries in the country," he told the board mem- bers, adding that the public does have the opportunity to speak up about coal mining when the mine applies for permits with the Depart- ment of Natural Resources. He said he'd propose exempting mining from the zoning ordinance. Chris Hopple, a manager at Gib- son County Coal, who has dealt with zoning ordinances in Warrick and Pike counties, seconded that idea. He said that everything from dust, noise and water are regulat- ed in coal mines, and that his stack of mining regulation binders, when stacked, would be taller than he is. Like Sullivan, he said regulations in the zoning ordinance would re- peat some of the work mines go through already; for example, pub- lishing a legal notice for four weeks in the newspaper and having confer- ences with citizens. People who disagreed with out- comes from DNR meetings would be the same people opposing at a planning commission meeting. "Most of the time planning com- missions don't have the expertise to evaluate the way the DNR does," Hopple said. If the coal company is stopped at the zoning level, while meeting DNR requirements, they would litigate anyway, he said, and that is expensive, with the outcome normally being the same as if zon- ing committees had approved them. Board President John Feutz said that part of the difficulty with coal mining was it's geographical restric- tions. While a zoning commission can set aside specific places for resi- dential, commercial and manufactur- ing concerns, coal mining has to be done where the coal is, and that, plus its status as a special use in the cur- rent ordinance, would mean every time a mine would want to open, there would need to be a hearing. Hopple said there are already many restrictions on where zoning can be, and from a mining point of view, it's made even more difficult because mines don't want to spend millions on country roads trying to get their product onto a state road. He said many zoning committees also want to make mines solve every potential objection before allowing them to open. "My problem is this—if you say I have to be a half mile from x..I have to deal with that one guy," he said. This person objects, Hopple said, because of the natural beauty he de- scribes as stars shining and deer, and he's a person who just doesn't want to see any presence of coal. He said the planning commission will require the mine to buy that per- son out, leaving him with five acres and a house he doesn't need. He said he wants to come in and give people $ 85,000 a year jobs, but feels like he'll have to continue buy- ing and litigating if zoning for mines goes forward. "Do I have to buy his house and the next house? Where does it stop? " he asked. "You're adding costs to our operation." He estimated future costs in the million-and-a-half-dollar range, add- ing he sees both underground and surface mining potential in Gibson County. Attorney Mike Schopmeyer said the most common request of a plan- ning commission for a coal mine is tree planting and putting in a berm, which he called a win-win. "If you do the county process last, shame on you," he said, indicating it should be first in the process. He al- so said the commission would look at Warrick and Daviess for exam- ples of mining within a zoning or- dinance. Livestock and manufacturing have the same issues, Schopmey- er told him, and they're required to go through zoning where zoning is in place. "What you're asking is for noth- ing, and that provides no protection to our citizens," Feutz said, pointing out that it would leave coal the only unregulated industry, while farm- ing and manufacturing would have to meet guidelines. "Sure wouldn't be fair for us to put in no regulations for coal in the county...There should be a give and take somewhere for every group." Hopple said he felt the group wasn't understanding the amount of permits he already had to obtain. "We can't leave coal mining com- pletely out," Feutz said. "You can meet technical requirements, and still cause public concern." Member Greg Reising said that it seemed the mines were basi- cally afraid that if the community didn't want them they wouldn't get to mine. "Maybe you can win, and maybe you can't. Isn't that what this is re- ally about? " he asked. Sullivan said the group was wor- ried mostly about arbitrary deci- sions. He said that not having zon- ing does give a county a leg up as far as where mines want to locate. "Are they going to go to a place where they're at the whim of an in- surance salesman, a dentist—peo- ple who don't have a coal back- ground," Sullivan asked. "For citizens of the community, at some point, we have to protect them, too," Feutz said. "All I'm telling you is, I've been to those meetings where they will not approve it until no one opposes," he said. "Landowners don't want to per- ceive it at all." The regular people on the board have connections to the people who are complaining, Hopple said. When the coal mining represent- atives left, the discussion continued. Feutz brought up that strip min- ing effects agriculture and that agri- culture is the top priority of the cur- rent ordinance. "Their point of view is the busi- ness end and making money, but we have the concerns of our citizens, and one of them is health," he said. "He's saying this is another hoop they have to jump through. That's not our problem." They also discussed whether coal was really an industry a layperson could understand. "Just assuming that because you're a dentist you can't be reason- able about coal mining isn't true," Feutz said. The board discussed seeing if Paul Waters, of Gibson County Eco- nomic Development, might want to talk to those with coal interests in the area to show them the mega sites the county is looking to devel- op at the I-69 interchanges, and to find out whether mining is likely un- der those sites, and if so, what kind of manufacturing restrictions that could likely impose. Steel plants are heavy, for exam- ple, and would not be a good choice for a place where the ground under- neath might become a mine.