June / July 2017

The Next Generation

Dunn Hospitality Group may be celebrating 40 years of business in 2017, but they are keeping their mindset young. The Evansville-based, third-generation, family-run hotel company is catering to the region’s millennial population with two new modern hotels on the city’s East Side. The group opened a Holiday Inn Express in January and a Home2 Suites by Hilton in mid-March amid the booming retail, restaurant, and business district off E. Lloyd Expressway and Cross Pointe Boulevard.

Steve Lockyear

Hometown: Evansville, Indiana Education: Harrison High School graduate, attended Indiana State University Evansville (now the University of Southern Indiana), graduate of the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy Resume: 25 years as a detective with the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office; served as Vanderburgh County Chief Deputy Coroner from 2009 to 2016; took office as coroner in January 2017. Family: Wife Krista and one son, Kristian, a senior at Signature School

A Day in the Life

7:12 a.m. Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke strolls up to the front door of WEVV 44News along Carpenter Street, two boxes of Donut Bank doughnuts in his hands. “It’s my way of an apology,” he says with a laugh and a smile.

When Thank You Is Not Enough

I was attending a business meeting in Houston, Texas, May 21, and went to my room for a moment prior to a lunch meeting. My cell phone rang and my sister was telling me our father William Franklin Tucker Jr. had just passed away.

Main Drag

Shoppers, walkers, and visitors can stroll down Main Street and still see signs of the past present today — literally. A trolley stop sign still stands on the walkway as a reminder of the days when trolleys ran up and down the street in the early 19th century and again in the 1980s when the road was widened to allow gas-powered trolley buses.

Secure Future

Ryan Cain’s obsession with audio equipment began in his car. In college, this interest led him to a sales job with ADT. Today, Cain owns the video, security, and audio equipment store Paragon Sight Sound Security, located at 133 W. Lincoln Ave. in Chandler, Indiana. Cain and his business partner Matt Deters began Paragon in 2005, previously having worked for security and audiovisual companies in Indianapolis and Nashville, Tennessee.

Shared Blessings

For Rita and Larry Meeks, giving back is second nature. The owners of Gibco Motor Express, though quite humble, are known by many in the city for their generous spirits. “We figure God blesses us so much, we just are more than happy to pass that on,” says Rita, who also runs R4 Boutique in French Lick, Indiana, and plans to open a store in Carmel, Indiana, soon. “I feel like that’s what it’s all about.”

Willkommen in Evansville

River City residents recently had to brush up on their “hallos” and “auf wiedersehens” to welcome a delegation from Evansville’s sister city Osnabrück, Germany. The delegation of 18 people included the city’s Lord Mayor Wolfgang Griesert, the region’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce CEO Marco Graf, and the Twinning Office Manager Jens Koopman.

Ready For Take Off

“Inventor” is not exactly how Josh Hazelwood describes himself. “I’m just a guy with a lot of ideas,” says the University of Sothern Indiana graduate and Indianapolis native.

Homegrown Scholar

Paul Musgrave became interested in news as a 4 year old, watching PBS in his home near Haynie’s Corner. Today, he is an expert in foreign policy, teaching political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and writing for notable publications like Slate and The Washington Post. Though he found an interest in news and politics from a young age, his journey to the professoriate was not a straight path.

Lock and Key

Storage units have become a common setting in popular culture. From storing Walter White’s drug money stash in the hit show “Breaking Bad” to housing dead bodies in Netflix’s new zombie comedy “Santa Clarita Diet,” people are fascinated by how renters use storage facilities and what they put inside them.

Building Evansville

The Next Generation

Back Talk