We're "ON" It! - The Owen News

Owen Valley football closed its season with a 55-27 loss to Sullivan, finishing 4-6, an improvement over last season’s 2-9 record. Both Owen Valley cross country teams reached regionals: the boys went as a team for the first time since 1998, and Payton Lukowski broke the Owen Valley girls 5K record.

Good luck at football sectionals, Cloverdale!

Owen County residents will now be able to seek nutritional and breastfeeding services closer to home with the county’s newly opened Women, Infants and Children (WIC) office.

The office opened Sept. 11 inside the New Beginnings Pregnancy Resource Center at 189 S. Main St. in Spencer. It’s the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for women, infants and children and is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays.

The WIC office offers a range of services, specifically aimed at “improving access to nutritious foods and promoting healthier eating and lifestyles,” according to its website.

Samantha Branning, coordinator for the Morgan and Owen County WIC offices, said the center offers nutrition and health screening assessments, nutrition education and counseling, breastfeeding education and support, referrals to other Indiana Health family and social service providers and supplemental healthy foods “designed to meet special nutrition needs.”

The Owen County WIC office is operated under IU Health and opened this year after closing in 2025, Branning said. The office offers all WIC services provided by locations statewide. However, Branning said as the Owen County program settles in, future developments could look like expanding its hours and service availability.

WIC funding is based on office caseloads, Branning said, and before the old county office closed, it served around 275 participants. Moving forward, the newly opened office will keep data on the participants getting enrolled, which could lead to more employees and days it's open.

Right now, the office has one clerk, two nurses or dieticians and three breastfeeding team members.

Stacy Kristoff, director of New Beginnings, said having a local office for Owen County families is valuable because of the group of people it is designed to serve. According to the Indiana Department of Health, to be eligible for WIC benefits, applicants must be Indiana residents and be “categorically eligible.” This includes pregnant or breastfeeding women, non-breastfeeding postpartum women, infants and children under 5.

Additionally, the applicant must be “at nutritional risk” and “income eligible.” The nutritional risk requirement is determined through the health and dietary assessment performed at the time of certification. The income-based requirement includes families receiving Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits. Others may meet the income requirement based on their income in accordance with household size.

“Some of these people who need those services and with the price of gas, they were having to go to Greencastle or Bloomington to have their WIC appointment,” Kristoff said. “If we can have that service right here in our county and save those families every little bit that we can and make sure that these babies have the food and care that they need, I think that’s the value.”

Branning seconded this, saying the rural population in Owen County already often must drive to other counties for services, and the families served at WIC offices already are facing higher barriers than others. Having an office in the county is closer and can provide resources for families at little to no cost.

“I love WIC,” Kristoff said. “I think it’s a fantastic resource for our community.”

New Beginnings and the WIC office, although housed at the same location, operate independently, with the IU Health office being open on Fridays, the weekday the pregnancy center is closed. The WIC office uses the center’s lobby, restroom and two offices.

However, Branning said WIC refers some of its clients to New Beginnings, one of the ways the two collaborate because they share clients in the same stages of life.

The office also makes referrals to healthcare providers, food pantries, Head Start, immunization programs and other needs.

Branning said the center is working to transfer people who were traveling for services into the Owen County office. To start receiving assistance at the new office, people can call 765-813-7828.

“We definitely have the capability to continue taking on new clients and hope to continue to grow our caseload and the impact that we can make in Owen County,” Branning said.

Contested races for the 8th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and Owen County prosecutor highlighted a candidate forum in Spencer Monday night, Oct. 19.

About 50 people gathered at the historic Tivoli Theatre to hear from candidates on the local ballot in the Nov. 3 general election. The forum was sponsored by The Owen News and moderated by Interim Executive Editor Tyler DeFord.

Incumbent U.S. 8th District Rep. Mark Messmer, a Republican, joined his opponent, Democratic challenger Mary Allen, on stage to kick off the event. After shaking hands, Allen and Messmer each had two minutes to introduce themselves before answering two questions posed by DeFord.

During their introductions both spoke about their backgrounds. Allen, a member of the Evansville City Council, said she is a small-business owner and wants to get to know district constituents. Messmer said he is a business owner in Jasper and served as a state legislator before being elected to Congress in 2024. He emphasized his faith and a desire to protect the founding principles of the U.S. Constitution.  

Both candidates were asked what they will do for Owen County if elected. Messmer said he will strive to lower taxes and give more freedom to constituents. Allen said she will work to address the major issue of high costs in rural communities. She said she also supports investment in local economies and businesses.

In response to a question about current issues, Allen said she opposes the Iran war, which was launched by President Donald Trump in February. She said she believes the war is wrong and that she would always favor diplomacy first in such instances. She also said the war is having a negative effect on fuel and other costs.

Messmer defended the war, saying it is necessary to address threats posed by Iran and it will benefit the U.S. and the world in the long term. He also said high costs can’t be blamed totally on the Iran war and that prices will come down eventually.

In the contested race for prosecutor, Republican Ashley Fleetwood was joined on stage by Democrat Kristin Szczerbik. Fleetwood defeated the incumbent prosecutor in May’s Republican primary election.

Both candidates talked about issues they would address if elected. Szczerbik said mental health is a major issue confronting the criminal justice system that needs attention locally. She also said she would work on rehabilitating juvenile offenders to give them a better future. Fleetwood agreed that mental health is a big issue and added she wants to put more resources toward felony cases with victims.  

Owen County has several contested races on the ballot, but not all candidates attended the event. Some who did not attend submitted written statements which were read by DeFord when their races were featured. Candidates who did attend took their turns on stage to give an introduction and answer questions. Uncontested candidates were also invited to participate.

Anton Neff is an uncontested candidate for county council in district 2. Although unopposed, he still decided to attend the forum and speak.  

“I love interaction with the public, so for me attending this is definitely a yes,” Neff said. “No way around it whether I have an opponent or not.”  

During his time on stage with Norm Warner, an unopposed candidate for county commissioner, Neff addressed the upcoming county jail project. Following the forum, he said the project is one of the main focuses for the council right now as it will be a big financial commitment.  

School board seats are also on the ballot. Candidate Jacob Zeunik is running for the district 5 seat on the board of the Spencer-Owen Community School Corp. He is an Owen County native and has two children attending schools in the district.

Zeunik said he came to the forum to get his name out more. He also said he was seeking an opportunity for people who he may not already know in the community to learn what he is about and how he will approach school matters.  

“Number one, the top priority is the students … that’s why we’re here, that’s why we’re doing this,” Zeunik said. “Second is to take care of our teachers, take care of staff, you know, do whatever we can for the longevity of the corporation itself.” 

Attendees of the forum heard many topics discussed and heard candidates’ opinions on issues such as data centers and Flock cameras.  

John Schrock attended and said he appreciated hearing Sheriff Ryan White’s opinions on Flock cameras, which photograph license plates at several locations in the county and are used in criminal investigations. He said he liked knowing why the sheriff wanted the cameras, especially due to recent controversies surrounding the surveillance technology. Schrock said he ultimately came to the event because he finds it important to know the candidates running for different races. “We need to be more informed, and that’s on us,” he said. 

The candidate forum was video recorded and is available on Facebook for anyone to view. Early voting started Oct. 6 and will run through Oct. 30, with additional early voting opportunities taking place on Oct. 24, 31 and Nov. 2.

Stella Klaus is a student reporter with the Indiana Newsroom, a learning lab designed to give Indiana University students practical experience in community journalism and provide news coverage to areas where reliable local news is limited or nonexistent. It is funded by a grant from the Community Foundation of Bloomington & Monroe County and housed at The Media School in Bloomington.

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The 2026 Chamber Banquet held at Abram Farms hosted HGTV-featured artist Shellie Phelps and presented awards to businesses and individuals in Owen County. The 2026 theme was “A Night at the Movies” where attendees were encouraged to dress as their favorite movie characters.

A lot of people might ask what’s so interesting about beans and cornbread, but Cataract has made an entire three-day festival out of it, drawing in dozens of vendors and hundreds of visitors every year. In its 57th year, the Cataract Bean Dinner Festival has done it again. Started in 1969 as a simple fundraising dinner to raise money to create a Cataract Volunteer Fire Department, the event has grown into a full-blown community festival.

The roots of the event run deep and haven’t changed as the festival has grown. The titular beans of the bean dinner are still served, now out of three gigantic cast iron pots with proceeds from the sales funding a significant amount of the Cataract Volunteer Fire Department’s budget. During lunch and dinner time, the line for the beans stretches over 100 feet from in front of the Cataract fire house where the beans are served.

The man serving those beans was firefighter Clint Galloway. He has been cooking them for the last 15 years and assisting for the last 17.

“Ed Rawlings, who used to fix the beans, passed the baton up to me and ‘It’s all yours now’,” Galloway said. “So that’s what you get for helping, more responsibility,” he said, chuckling.

Each pot of beans takes 12 hours to prepare: six hours of soaking and six hours of simmering. Preparation begins late at night the day before the festival and continues throughout the three days of the festival. The Cataract Volunteer Fire Department spearheads the festival organization, but volunteers from all over Owen County chip in to make the festival a success. This year, Millgrove Diner volunteered to bake the cornbread that was served at the festival. In previous years, dozens of volunteers each baked the cornbread in their own ovens.

“We’re always a little short handed, but somebody always steps up,” Galloway said. “Elected officials step up, law enforcement steps up, community members step up… everybody here is a volunteer.”

Beans aren’t the only thing on the menu, though. This year’s event also brought down chef Carlos Dorantes from Indianapolis. He says that his uncle, who lives in Cataract, told him about the event and convinced him to come down and put on a fish fry at the Historic Cataract Schoolhouse. Dorantes studied at the Culinary Institute of America and served breakfast sandwiches during the festival mornings and fried whiting and served coleslaw for lunch. He had a very busy day on Saturday and was impressed by the turnout.

“[Saturday] was a busy, busy, day,” Dorantes said. “We had a little bit of hiccups [early on] but managed to work through them and had a fun time here and made quite a good impression on the people here.”

For Galloway, the people are also a big part of what makes the festival worthwhile.

“[It’s] fun for me because as I get older, I’ve seen a dozen people I went to school with that I haven’t seen other than here [at this event],” he said. “You see family here, you see people that you haven’t seen for years.”

And Galloway’s number one trick to make a delicious pot: “Don’t stir the beans!”

Cataract Bean Dinner Festival by the Numbers

Extrapolated based on bean chef Clint Galloway’s count of the number of beans in one 1-lb bag of great northern beans.

• 850 pounds of beans
• 13 servings/lb
• 94 beans per serving
• 188 beans per bowl
• 1,032,750 beans cooked over the whole weekend
• 5,494 bowls of beans served
• 720 boxes of cornbread seasoning
• 720 eggs
• 100-125 pounds of beans per pot
• 200 pounds of onions for the weekend
• 110 pounds of ham for the weekend
• 37 pounds of jowl bacon for the weekend

Lots of fun was had at Gosport’s 12th annual Pumpkins in the Park. Led by community member Shelly Leonard, recognized at Gosport Lazy Days as Gosport’s Outstanding Citizen for 2026, the event featured a bounce house, hay rides, face painting, games, pumpkin painting, story time, sack races, piñatas, and more. Proceeds raised at Pumpkins in the Park fund future community events in Gosport.