Priest Accused of Sexual Abuse
Perry County News [Indiana]
January 2, 2007
http://www.perrycountynews.com/articles/2007/01/01/headlines/h2.txt
An ex-priest described as a "prolific molester" of young boys will face civil-court actions in Indianapolis that will involve one Tell City man, The News reported in late 2005.
Since then, the number of alleged victims of Father Harry Monroe grew to 12, with five claiming they were subjected to sexual abuse while the priest was working in Tell City’s St. Paul parish or Cannelton’s St. Michael parish. Those parishes, and the Indianapolis archdiocese overseeing them, were also named as defendants in lawsuits expected to begin in August.
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| Junior running back Bo Gibson (carrying the ball against Linton in the sectional) helped Perry Central’s football team win PLAC, sectional and regional titles. The Commodores fell just one point short in the semistate. |
Included with allegations of sexual abuse are charges the archdiocese repeatedly moved Monroe from one parish to another as victims stepped forward in Indianapolis and Terre Haute parishes, until his final assignment in Perry County, "one of the farthest locations that Defendant Archdiocese could have moved Monroe after the reports of abuse," according to Patrick Noaker, a St. Paul, Minn., attorney who will represent the victims in Marion County Superior Court.
He said in each of his filings that response by the archdiocese endangered members of each new parish Monroe moved to.
ELected school board makes cuts in Cannelton
After a petition drive set the stage in 2005, Cannelton voters opted in a special election in January to move from a three-person appointed school board to one composed of five members of their choice.
The new board faced in April a need to cut teachers, driven by an over-counting of students in school years 2001-04. State payments based on the inflated figures put the school corporation in a fiscal crunch that made cuts necessary, Schools Superintendent Al Chapman said. In addition to repayments of per-pupil funding from the state, which Chapman said was roughly $7,000 per student, the corporation anticipates a $200,000 cut from next year’s state funding, and at the time, owed $800,000 in money borrowed from the Indiana Bond Bank.
Inflated enrollments meant the state overpaid the school system $50,421 for the 2001-02 year; $10,597 for 2002-03 and $90,000 to $100,000 for 2003-04.
Chapman said discrepancies were discovered as staffers worked to bring outdated records up to date.
Student athletes excel in 2006
Two Perry County teams won conference, sectional and regional titles this year and one also tacked on a semistate title.
Tell City’s girls cross country team won only the fourth semistate title by any team in any sport in Perry County history. It was only the second semistate title for a Perry County team in a sport not divided into classes and the first since Tell City’s boys basketball team won its semistate in 1961.
The Marksmen had a strong, balanced team, with three different runners …amp;quot; Myra Dauby, Tiffany Davis and Ashley Zellers …amp;quot; leading the team in different meets.
Jessica Fenn, Claire Tuggle and Marianne Krueger also placed among the team’s top five scorers often and whichever one was not in the top five usually placed ahead of other teams’ fourth and fifth runners.
The regional title was Tell City’s fourth in nine years.
Perry Central won its sixth Class A football regional title in eight years, nipping Fountain Central 24-21 in double overtime on a 24-yard field goal by Wes Linette.
The Commodores then lost 21-20 to Cardinal Ritter of Indianapolis in the semistate, marking the second year in a row they had lost the semistate by just one point.
Junior running back Bo Gibson led the Commodores’ offense, carrying the ball 360 times for 2,304 yards, second best total in school history. He scored 31 touchdowns to tie Dwight Brown’s school record in that department.
Perry Central had a 10-game winning streak going into the semistate and finished the season 11-2.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition visits area
In the quiet town of St. Meinrad, Steve and Shawna Farina and their three children were surprised Sept. 25 when Ty Pennington and the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" design team arrived to tell them they were selected to receive a new home.
Cher Reed of Tell City nominated Shawna, who is a breast cancer survivor and deeply involved with the local Relay-for-Life team, after watching the show one evening. "My husband thought I was crazy," she said. "But I thought, if she gets it, she’s the most deserving person to get it."
While the show was filming in St. Meinrad, local businesses including Perry-Spencer Communications, VIP Foliage, Mulzer Crushed Stone, Best Chairs and Best Home Furnishings Furniture were building, donating or installing supplies and services to complete the home in a week.
Volunteers came from every walk of life including Tell City High School senior Kara Gunn who decided to volunteer "to help a deserving family." Volunteers also participated in a large-scale Relay For Life event that included teams from Perry, Spencer, Posey and Vanderburgh counties.
A substantial crowd welcomed the family home Oct. 1 as their Brewery Street home was revealed to them. After the show was gone, the giving wasn’t. The community decided to use the premiere of the St. Meinrad "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" episode as a fund-raiser to help another cancer victim, Amanda Harper.
County marks time change
Most Perry Countians remembered to turn their clocks back an hour before climbing into bed in late October, but at least a few forgot about the end of daylight-saving time.
A state law passed by Indiana legislators required all Indiana counties to observe daylight-saving time.
Since Perry County was granted its request to be placed in the Central time zone year round, local clocks didn’t have to change in April. The switchover in October was old hat for many Hoosiers, but new to most in Perry County.
The time issue may not be dead. Statehouse leaders are expected to present a number of bills this legislative session, some mandating a 2008 referendum asking Hoosiers what time zone they want to be in. Dubois, Daviess, Knox, Martin and Pike counties filed in August a resolution with the federal Department of Transportation, the agency responsible for time-zone boundaries, asking to be designated Eastern time-zone counties.
No action has been made on those counties’ requests.
Investment at former Maxon site could top $18 million
A newly formed company wants to return the business of building barges to Tell City and could invest up to $18 million in a project that may eventually employ up to 150 people.
The Tell City Common Council offered Tell City Marine Contractors LLC a 90-day option in March to lease the former Maxon Marine site on the city's south side.
The company signed a formal lease with the city later in the year and as 2006 ended, was awaiting the last of the state environmental permits it will need to move forward.
Tell City purchased the property after Maxon Marine folded in the 1990s and has leased the site to the Perry County Port Authority.
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