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

Photos from Owen Valley’s homecoming: the 2026 court, student section, cheerleaders, Patriot Band and Guard, and a 19-14 win over West Vigo.

The Owen County Fairgrounds was abuzz with activity Oct. 7 as fourth graders from Spencer, Gosport, Patricksburg, and McCormick’s Creek elementary schools attended Ag Safety Day. The event, organized by the Spencer-Owen Community Schools (S-OCS) Agriculture Department with the help of Owen Valley FFA, showcases various agriculture related careers as well as safety information provided by local businesses and first responders. The event is meant to give students the opportunity to interact with aspects of these fields up close.

“The idea from our side was to bring different industries, different people, professionals that interact with different levels of safety that they might interact with in their daily lives, so it’s more applicable to them,” said Owen Valley agriculture teacher and FFA advisor Josh Schonfeld.

Students started off their morning with a demonstration from South Central Indiana (SCI) REMC. Several demonstrations of the dangers of high voltage electricity were shown using a model of typical power lines hooked up with actual powerline voltages. REMC linemen roasted hot dogs with electricity arcs, burned an orange from the inside out and set a tree branch on fire to the awe and excited murmuring of the attending students.

The students then separated into groups to hear from representatives from the Owen Valley Fire Territory, Owen County EMS, All Pro Tree & Land Service, Frye Towing and Recovery, the Department of Natural Resources, Strouse Farms & Trucking, and Diana Curry of Curry Farms.

The Owen Valley FFA was also on hand, volunteering as group leaders and helping to coordinate the fourth graders.

“We have a really involved FFA and we are trying to build on that,” said Owen Valley Middle School agriculture teacher and FFA Advisor Emili Weddle.

She also noted that a lot of different parts of the community had to come together to make the day a success.

“We have been planning and making phone calls and reaching out to our teachers, and community members,” she said. “They say it takes a village, and it literally does.”

The event is a variation of traditional “Ag Day” events hosted in the past that usually involved some sort of farm animal petting zoo. Now, instead, “Ag Safety Day” is a broader showcase of jobs within the agriculture field and safety demonstrations.

“Historically it’s been more of an education of agriculture in general,” said Schonfeld. “In my prior county, the safety aspect was always the focus because a lot of times [the kids] would already have pet an animal, they may have animals, but [they] may not know how to act around the greater aspects [of ag technology]. Most likely they are interacting with at least one industry professional safety item that they’ve probably never been around before.”

For a fourth grader, a field trip where they get access to heavy machinery and watch people interact with electricity is pretty exciting. At least Weddle thinks so.

“Every student loves a good field trip, especially a fourth grader,” she said, “but we just want them to be really involved, so to see the smiles on the kids, and for them to look at each demo… to see their smiles and to learn the information and the ag safety that we really want them to see…[to] kind of spark those interests and excitement.”

Local agriculture-related businesses that would like to participate in next year’s Ag Day event should contact the Owen Valley High School office at 812-829-2266 and ask to speak to the Ag Department.

Governor Mike Braun and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have released formal plans for a modernized, expanded campground at McCormick’s Creek State Park (MCSP) east of Spencer. The announcement marks a major milestone in the recovery of Indiana’s first state park following the devastating EF-3 tornado that struck the property in March 2023.

“As Indiana’s first state park, McCormick’s Creek has been a place where families and friends have gathered and created memories for more than a century,” Governor Braun said in a news release. “The tornado in 2023 was a heartbreaking moment in the park’s history, but we are now ready to rebuild this campground stronger, more resilient, and better suited for today’s visitors. We look forward to welcoming campers back to camp once construction is complete.”

The late-night storm on March 31, 2023, packed peak winds of nearly 150 mph and cut a destructive 400-yard-wide path through roughly 282 acres of the park. The campground suffered catastrophic damage, toppling most of the surrounding mature trees and destroying over 90% of the sites in key loops, alongside all three campground shower houses. Following extensive multi-year debris removal, root ball extraction, and site cleanup, the grounds are finally clear and prepared for rebuilding.

The newly designed campground will feature a larger footprint spanning 65 acres, housing 192 modern campsites equipped with full hookups for electricity, water, and sewer. Measuring approximately 32 by 40 feet, the modern sites are built to comfortably accommodate larger recreational vehicles. Additionally, 32 primitive campsites will remain available for tent camping, and the park’s existing group camps will continue to welcome visitors.

To enhance the overall visitor experience, the $25 million project also includes building a new gatehouse, a camp store, and three modern comfort stations equipped with adjacent playgrounds. Substantial landscaping and tree planting initiatives are integrated into the master plan to restore the natural forest character of the campground area. True to local roots, the Indiana DNR Division of Forestry will supply timber used for constructing the new gatehouse and camp store.

“McCormick’s Creek State Park holds a special place in the hearts of so many Hoosiers, and the loss of the campground in the 2023 tornado was felt across our entire state,” added Brandt Baughman, Director of Indiana State Parks. “Our team has worked thoughtfully and carefully to design a new campground that honors the park’s history while creating space for future generations to explore, connect, and make memories.”

Construction bids for the infrastructure, including buildings, electrical grids, water lines, and sewer systems, are scheduled to open on Oct. 20. State officials anticipate that the newly rebuilt campground will officially open to the public in the late summer of 2028.

Detailed information regarding the 2023 tornado and ongoing recovery efforts can be found online at on.IN.gov/McCormicks-Recovery, while general park details are available at on.IN.gov/McCormicksCreek.

The Cataract Lake Community Center reopened about a year and a half ago, with hopes to build trust and offer meaningful resources to the community.

The center offers monthly free community dinners, emergency food assistance and free resources, such as hygiene products, diapers, formula, clothing and mobility aids like crutches and walkers. The building is also open for people to come hang out and play and hosts regular events like ice cream socials and LEGO® nights.

The monthly dinners are held on the third Wednesday of each month from 5-7 p.m., drawing anywhere between 45 and 100 attendees. The center’s board president, Patricia Chappell, said the dinners are a chance for all people to come together for a meal.

One of the center’s greatest impacts, she said, is showing respect. The center opens its doors to “people who are already struggling, who are already in a situation of uncomfortableness, who are being judged, who are being looked down upon, who are leery,” Chappell said.

Focusing on being non-judgmental, the center aims to avoid the stigma or ridicule faced by people who are living in poverty or dealing with addiction.

“I wish people understood that they’re good people,” board vice president Christal Perrine said. “They deserve to have things as well. They deserve food. They deserve kindness. They deserve people to be friendly to them.”

Chappell said the center is important in giving aid to community members in need but is in “desperate” need of food and hygiene donations and involvement. Chappell said she wants to see more people come to the monthly dinners, join as volunteers and tell the center what resources, services or events they want to have.

The center tries to cater to those who may be experiencing homelessness or don’t have the resources to cook in a kitchen by offering food items that can be easily made over an open pit or with boiling water. It also opens up during tornados or extreme warm or cold weather as a place where people can find shelter.

“Last year we stayed open,” Chappell said. “There was about five days where it was extremely cold. My family actually stayed up there for three days straight. We slept on the floor to keep the building open for people to come in and provided coffee and soups and different things in case people were cold.”

Chappell said her goal is to have organizations like the IU Health Owen County Women, Infants and Children office, Division of Family Resources or local health department come to the center and provide outreach and services to the “really underserved area.”

Transportation is a large barrier for some, she said, and some kind of shuttle to take those without their own transportation to the grocery store, a job interview or doctor appointments would help people get on their feet.

“You’d be really surprised how many people don’t have internet,” she said. “They don’t have a home. They’re living in tents in the woods, so they don’t have cars. They don’t have a means to apply (to jobs) or obtain services outside that little bitty area.”

Working with and volunteering for the center has changed the way Chappell thinks about the underserved people in the community, she said. Learning just how many are facing generational poverty, homelessness and addiction was “heartbreaking.”

“There's a lot of children, an enormous amount of children in that area that nobody knows about, that are living in the woods, that are living in tents, that are not going to school, that are hungry, covered in sores,” Chappell said.

Not only does center leadership hope to attract more volunteers, as the most current ones are the seven board members, but also more users of the community building. Chappell said the center has tried some programs that haven’t quite taken off. Perrine said more people are starting to come to the dinners and use the center, but she wants to know what the community wants.

In the future, Perrine said she would like the center to be open at least five days a week. With more volunteers, donations and community members offering resources, programs and events for the center, Chappell hopes the facility will have the stability it needs to be open and stay open more often.

“If we had more resources and more ability to get resources out there, I do believe that people would see a change,” Chappell said of the underserved community.

The nonprofit leases the building from the Jackson Township Trustee in Owen County, who currently covers rent and helps with utility bills. But, in March 2027, the center will fully fund itself and needs donations to last.

Perrine and Chappell both want the community to know that it’s not the same center that’s been open off and on for five to 10 years and broke the community’s trust with a lack of transparency. It has new leadership.

“Our main goal is a community,” Perrine said. “We’re not doing this for us, we’re doing this for the community. We want them to come in. We want them to know that we’re there for them.”

The center is open from 3-7 p.m. on the first and third Sunday of each month, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 4-7 p.m. Fridays, 7-10 a.m. on the first and third Saturday of each month and 4-6 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of each month, according to its website.

The center, located at 5530 State Road 42 in Poland, IN, regularly posts updates and events on its Facebook page.

“I want to see that place full of people,” Perrine said. “I want to see kids in there playing. I want to see seniors in there enjoying coffee, playing cards. I want to see adults socializing, everybody just getting together.”

The Franklin Street Superfund Site in Spencer has been investigated further and the extent of the pollution has been much more defined, however, remediation and cleanup are still a long way away.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Remedial Project Manager Dion Novak presented the latest findings in the soil and groundwater tests conducted around downtown Spencer. Since the last public update meeting in April of this year, the EPA has conducted 53 soil sample tests from 27 soil borings and seven new groundwater monitoring wells.

EPA officials conducted VOC monitoring at 100 households in Spencer to check for PCE vapor intrusion into basements or crawlspaces around the hot sites. Vapor from soil or groundwater pollution can make its way into cracks in basement foundations or through crawlspaces and expose residents to dangerous PCE vapor in a very similar way that radon does. The remediation for the two is also very similar: a system that creates a negative airflow system in the affected area, a monitoring system and sealing of cracks in foundations as possible. Fortunately, the latest testing based on 25 households found that none of the sites were in need of such mitigation.

A final round of groundwater sampling will be conducted in Nov. 2026. A full report on the extent of testing, found contamination, and remediation recommendations is being compiled by EPA staff and should be available sometime in 2027. Once this report is finished, there will be another report compiled that will assess the costs and feasibility of a remediation project based on available funding. This report is planned to be released in early 2028.

“Government tends to move slowly, but we want to make sure to do all of our tests and gather all of our information so that we can put together a remediation plan that addresses all the issues,” Novak said.

Based on historic research assisted by Spencer resident Tony Neff as well as chemical composition of the pollution in question, contamination has been linked to dry cleaners operating in the 1940s or ‘50s improperly handling dry-cleaning chemicals. This chemical, with extended exposure, can cause acute nervous system problems and with long-term exposure, various cancers and additional nervous-system disorders.

The chemical contamination was first noted by routine water quality testing done by BBP Water Corporation in Spencer. An air stripper and reverse-osmosis filters were installed in 2018 to filter the contamination out of the drinking water used for BBP customers. These machines cause PCE and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to be removed from the drinking water and disposed of safely once removed. No drinking water from BBP circulated to customers before the remediation measures were in place due to the fact that the contaminated wells in question were not in use for drinking water at the time. Current measures in place allow water to be used from the contaminated wells if necessary, as any contamination is filtered out during the water treatment process.

In 2020 and 2021, the EPA determined that PCE was unsafe to be exposed to in 60 of 61 of its designated uses and is phasing out all manufacture, sale and use of PCE by July of 2027. After the initial discovery of PCE by BBP, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management began investigating the contaminated wells and in 2018, the EPA declared Spencer a Superfund site and began their own local operations. Since then, a COVID delay, multiple government shutdowns, and funding uncertainties have pushed the operation timeline out through at least 2028.

A previous Owen County Superfund site at Neal’s Dump underwent remediation for PCB contamination in the groundwater, concluding in 2003.

To keep up with the progress of the Superfund site investigation and remediation and for additional maps and updates, visit www.epa.gov/superfund/franklinstreetgroundwater.