Martha Buechlein and Ruth Witte looked over computer forms during voting 25 years ago at the old St. Joseph school in Jasper. The two women were working Jasper precinct 3S, where voting was slightly above normal as of 10:30 that morning. Herald file photo by Tim Myers. Published Nov. 7, 1995.

By BOB ALLES
news@dcherald.com

65 Years Ago

Nov. 7, 1955

Beta Sigma Phi Sorority held a business meeting Friday night at the Dubois County Country Club. Frances Ann Eckstein, chairman of the Ways and Means committee, announced the sorority’s annual Santa Pack will be displayed Nov. 20 and awarded Dec. 10 and that $200 of the proceeds is pledged to Dubois County Memorial Hospital toward the purchase of an Isolette (infant incubator). Attendance prizes were presented to Gloria Buecher and Alma Eckert. A luncheon was served. Thelma Elliott and Hilda Ruxer were hostesses.

Nov. 8

At the regular council meeting held at the city hall Monday night, it was announced in the reading of the clerk-treasurer’s monthly report, that the parking meters in Huntingburg had collected $11,662.79 since their installation in February 1954. This does not represent clear profit, as the 254 meters are still in the process of being paid for. Also, there are regular operating expenses. Other business transacted included the letting of the garbage-collecting contract. There were only two bids submitted, with Onis Hubster, the present contractor, receiving the job. His bid was $2,900 per year for a two-year contract. He is to make two collections per week in the summer months and one a month in the winter time.

Nov. 9

In contests that were undecided until the final precincts were in, Edward J. Lorey was re-elected as mayor of Jasper yesterday as the Independent Citizens Party candidate while P. C. “Pop” Giltner, Democrat, stymied the bid of Mayor Orval Kemp for reelection this time as an Independent. The vote was 1,254 for Lorey and 1,218 for James E. Alles, a difference of only 36 votes. When both men ran for the Democratic nomination last May, Alles beat Lorey by 16 votes. At Huntingburg, the city’s four precincts gave “Pop” Giltner an even 1,000 votes compared with 906 for Mayor Orval Kemp. The latter showed a gain in strength since the primary, at which time he lost the Democratic nomination to Giltner by 283 votes. Yesterday, Giltner’s total was cut to 94 votes.

Nov. 10

Pictured on the sports page of this issue is James “Pinky” Powell, a junior at Oakland City College. Pinky took advantage of his noon hour to make a short hunting expedition. Going to a lake about 4 miles east of Oakland City he spotted four Canadian geese and fired once with a 16-gauge shotgun. To his amazement, the shot killed two of the geese. The honkers each had a wing span of better than 5 feet and, together, weighed more than 35 pounds. Employees at the Frozen Foods Locker in Huntingburg where he took them to be cleaned report that they are the largest ever to be brought in there. Pinky, a mainstay of the “Oaks” basketball team, is the son of William Powell of Huntingburg. He was accompanied on his lucky trip by Richard Kreitzer from Dubois.

Nov. 11

The first of a group of service stations to be operated by a newly formed local concern is now open for business, it was announced by Herman Krodel of Jasper, president of New-Kro Oil Co., Inc. It is the station at the Y at Jasper’s west city limits which was operated by Earl Schiller until he recently took over management of the new Phillips station across the highway. New-Kro has leased the building. Mr. Krodel announced the firm he heads is building several service stations in Indiana and next year plans to build some in Illinois and Kentucky.

Nov. 12

Pictured on the front page of this issue are Robert Traylor, executive officer of the Jasper Military Police Reserve Company; Congressman Winfield K. Denton, who later gave the main address; Legion Commander Claude Miller; and the Legion post chaplain, William Kuper. The men are shown chatting at the American Legion Home in Jasper yesterday evening. Veterans Day was observed in Jasper with proper pomp and ceremony. A parade through the downtown district included marching units from local veterans groups, the high school band and the Girl Scouts. A highlight of the parade was the colorful Forty & Eight locomotive, whose crew periodically set off a cannonade.

50 Years Ago

Nov. 9, 1970

Pictured on the front page of this issue is Ernie Begle, photographer for THE DAILY HERALD. Ernie was accorded state honors Saturday night in Indianapolis when his picture of the Reising’s Store fire of Sept. 1, 1969, won first place honors in the second annual contest sponsored by the United Press International. Making the presentation to Begle is Scott Alexander of the Daily Journal in Franklin, president of UPINE. Begle received a certificate and a cash award for his top entry. THE DAILY HERALD was also presented with a certificate recognizing the honor.

Nov. 10

Prosecutor Roger W. Brown stated today that there has been a sharp increase during the past several weeks in shoplifting activities, particularly in grocery stores in Jasper and Huntingburg. He has filed charges and will continue to file charges against all persons reported to his office as being caught in the act of shoplifting. Whereas in the past, such offenders upon conviction have received only fines in the Huntingburg City Court, the prosecuting attorney stated that he will henceforth ask the judges for jail sentences.

Nov. 11

The Covenant Players, a National Repertory Theatre group based in Los Angelos, will present a series of programs in Dubois County between Sunday, Nov. 15, and Thursday, Nov. 19. The series will open Sunday when one-half of the team will appear at 7:30 at the United Methodist Church in Huntingburg, while the other part of the group performs at a Jasper-Portersville worship service. The Huntingburg program is sponsored by the RIAL (Religion in American Life) Committee of that city. The Covenant Players will also appear at Ferdinand on Monday night, at Kundek Hall in Jasper on Tuesday, at Tenth Street School in Jasper on Wednesday and at Lutheran churches in the area on Thursday.

Nov. 12

The Jasper Park and Recreation Department has accepted the application of John Dance, 24, of Bowling Green, Kentucky, for the position of parks and recreation director for the City of Jasper. He succeeds Jim Brown, who resigned from the position to take over new duties as an instructor in physical education and director of intramural activities at the new Evansville campus of Indiana State University. Dance was chosen from a list of 40 applicants from the U.S. and Canada. He is a graduate of Western Kentucky University, from which he earned a bachelor's degree with a major in recreation and a minor in psychology. A native of Florida, he is presently the director of parks and recreation in Warren County, Kentucky. Dance, who is married and the father of a 14-month-old daughter, is expected to assume his duties as director in Jasper in about two weeks.

Nov. 13

Pictured on the front page of this issue is Charles F. Wheatley Jr., general manager-general counsel of the American Public Gas Association, Washington, D.C. Wheatley spoke to Mayor Helmerich, members of the Board of Public Works, and members of the Huntingburg Utility Board, Thursday night on what a proposed gas settlement now before the Federal Power Commission would mean to the consumer. Wheatley said that under the proposed settlement, gas consumer rates could go up as much as 30% next year.

Nov. 14

The Schmutzler Funeral Home along Highway 45-231 on Jasper’s north side was damaged extensively Friday night by a fire that started in a skillet of over-heated grease in the kitchen of an apartment in the rear of the building. Members of the Jasper Volunteer Fire Department used their new foam equipment for the first time in fighting an actual structural fire, but even so, it took them more than an hour to bring the blaze under control. It is felt by the firemen and State Sen. Emil H. Schmutzler Jr., who operates the mortuary, and his wife, Wanda, that use of the new equipment undoubtedly helped to contain the blaze and may have prevented destruction of the interior of the building.

25 Years Ago

Nov. 13, 1995

Pictured in this issue are the members of Northeast Dubois High School’s state spell bowl championship team. Those pictured include: Amy Gudorf, Christa Fromme, Kylie Miller, Kelly Merkel, Nicole Freyberger, Jill Reuber, Garren Heeke, Jeremy Nathan, Nathaniel Persohn, Larren Danford, Clint Knies, Michael Tretter, Nathan Seger and Coach Connie Himsel. The Jeeps have fourpeated. Spellers from Northeast Dubois High School took a fourth straight small-school state championship in the Hoosier Spell Bowl state finals Saturday in Indianapolis. It was the their sixth state title in the past nine years. Northeast Dubois has now won state championships in 1987, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995.

Nov. 14

Huntingburg Mayor Connie Nass spoke about vision during a fundraiser Monday at the Jasper Country Club for her campaign to become the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor. Nass has battled back from an August cornea transplant beset with complications. An infection six weeks after the transplant resulted in four surgeries within two weeks, but she is now back running city meetings and putting in nearly full days at the Huntingburg City Office. “I am doing well,” an enthusiastic Nass told 50 Republican political and business leaders from Dubois and Spencer counties during lunch. Her medical problems affected her eyesight, she said, but her vision for helping Indiana as lieutenant governor has never been sharper. Indiana’s gubernatorial candidate will be selected by the GOP during May’s primary. Top contenders include Indianapolis mayor Stephen Goldsmith, former state GOP chairman Rex Early and Indiana Senate President Pro Tempore Robert D. Garton. In June, a lieutenant governor candidate will be selected by the gubernatorial candidate and the delegates at the Republican State Convention.

Nov. 15

The town of Ferdinand has received a $2.8 million federal grant to extend the Industrial Park Road to the north and south and connect both ends with State Road 162. At Tuesday’s town council meeting, Council President Charles Schuler said he planned to meet with the county commissioners on Nov. 20 to determine how much of the $500,000 local match the county is willing to pay. The northern extension would be .68 mile long and the southern extension just under a mile. A time line for the project indicates that preliminary work would take about a year and a half, and that construction could begin in the spring of 1997, to be completed in early 1998.

Nov. 16

Young hunters are required to attend a safety course run by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Anyone born after Dec. 31, 1986, must take the 10-hour course before getting a hunting license. It usually entails a full Saturday of instruction, then a week off, followed by a second full Saturday, said Dubois County Conservation Officer Tom Jahn. The course is mostly offered in the off-season, with the Dubois County 4-H shooting sports program being one of the largest groups regularly participating locally, Jahn said. High school classes from Southridge and Forest Park also participate as groups.

Nov. 17

Southridge Athletic Director Jim Bardwell and several key allies pulled off a major coup in the world of Indiana prep basketball through a persistent letter-writing campaign. Friday, the Indiana High School Athletic Association announced the boys basketball regional at Washington would rotate annually between Huntingburg’s venerable Memorial Gym and Washington’s Hatchet House. “We’ve applied for the regional year after year,” said Bardwell. “We’ve always made an effort, but we really made an all-out effort this time to get the regional back.” It paid off. Beginning in 1997, Huntingburg will host the regional for the first time in more than 27 years. A high-ranking IHSAA official said Southridge’s persistence, its boys-sectional track record and the widespread support of the other area schools weighed heavily in the decision.

Nov. 18

BR Associates Inc. plans to hire about 35 area residents to staff a new Grandy’s it plans to open in Huntingburg next spring. President Bob Ruckriegel said the restaurant will go into the former Kentucky Fried Chicken building at 1205 N. Main St. The building will be remodeled inside and out, he said. The Huntingburg restaurant is BR Associates’ only restaurant in Huntingburg but its seventh Grandy’s overall. A Grandy’s opened in the Germantown Shopping Center in Jasper last month.