Underfunded, Undermanned, Overwhelmed

August 2, 2010

One of the last weekends in July was a busy one for Evansville’s parks. The Women’s Hospital Classic — part of the United States Tennis Association circuit — was played at Wesselman Tennis Center. Also, the 2010 13-year-old Pony Zone Tournament was played at the Evansville Youth East fields in our newest city park (the park with no name), the 66 acres adjoining the State Hospital grounds. Congratulations, by the way, to Evansville’s East team for winning the baseball tournament and advancing to the Pony World Series in Fullerton, Calif. And if you are a tennis fan, the caliber of the local USTA tournament certainly was impressive.

What is not impressive was the condition of two of our nicest, prettiest, and most heavily utilized city parks. Those of you who read this column regularly (no, you do not have to admit it publicly) might pick up on two recurring themes in these publisher’s letters: quality of life issues and beautification efforts in our fair city. By “beautification,” I even would accept “maintenance.”

First, let me be right up front and say this is not an indictment of Dan Schall, the executive director of the Department of Parks & Recreation or his 12 (!) full-time workers entrusted to take care of Evansville’s 65 parks and 2,300 acres in our community. I think Schall has done a terrific job with what he has been given to work with. Nor is it a “shot across the bow” at Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel’s administration, which I am sure would also like to see beautification and maintenance efforts succeed but does not have access to proper and sufficient funding. It is a “shot across the bow” that our community seems to find this acceptable. Take an objective look around, and I think you will come to the same conclusion.

So when I see the fairly deplorable condition of Wesselman Park (sans the tennis center) or the new trails at our new 66-acre, again-unnamed city park adjacent to the State Hospital rapidly becoming weed-choked (no signage, water, bathrooms, etc.), I am not looking to assign blame. With city budgets forced to be slashed (the parks budget is roughly $10 million) to meet fiscal responsibilities and parks not having the necessary money or manpower, I feel it is time for us to take a new look and fresh approach to our community’s efforts, because what we are doing now ain’t working.

As a past chairman of Keep Evansville Beautiful (another drastically underfunded nonprofit organization using private dollars), the instances of good beautification efforts being unfulfilled due to the inability to provide ongoing maintenance were numerous. Very frustrating indeed to see quality projects in effect “turned down.” Let me say I am all for the new ball fields at the existing Roberts Stadium site, but one does not need to look any further than the Goebel Soccer Complex to see the difficulty in maintaining what already exists due to lack of budget and manpower. We better not just “hope” we can maintain the complex.

The dilemma, then, is this: Should we keep on limping along with the difficulties mentioned and with no improvement on the horizon? Or is it time to get serious about this critical issue and convene a can-do taskforce of people who care about the quality of life issues and are willing to roll up their sleeves? I know I am. We have the opportunity to demonstrate a tremendous public-private sector partnership that can get results. Let’s, as a community, get moving and further help enhance our quality of life.

As always, I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Todd A. Tucker
Publisher

What Evansville Needs Now

Staff Author

August 2, 2010

Have you heard? Evansville’s building a new arena Downtown. It’s a big deal. Such a massive undertaking has opponents and proponents. Though we are halfway through the completion of the 11,000-seat project, let’s assume the proponents are right, and hundreds of new jobs are on the way. Now what? We asked several business leaders that very question. How can we be proactive to ensure the Tri-State continues to see economic prosperity? They told us…

Lloyd Winnecke

Senior Vice President and Marketing Director, Fifth Third Bank; Vanderburgh County Commissioner

Evansville native Lloyd Winnecke has worked at Fifth Third Bank for 12 years, previously spending 18 years in the television industry. In January 2009, he took office as a Vanderburgh County commissioner. Winnecke is a longtime advocate for consolidation of the city and county governments, a move he believes will spur economic growth.

Definition of city progress: New employment opportunities for the community as well as new amenities that improve the quality of our lives.

On Evansville’s greatest strength: Our workforce. Time and again, if you talk to companies looking at coming to Evansville, they are impressed by the number of quality workers available for their prospective facilities. It’s an educated workforce; it’s a workforce that has outstanding work ethic.

On areas to improve: The multiple layers of government. Hopefully that will change in the not-too-distant future. If you’re looking at bringing a company to our community, there are a lot of layers of government to go through, even on a preliminary stage. That becomes an impediment; it just creates additional steps in a process that already is cumbersome.

On how to change: By combining city and county governments and creating a single point of leadership, I think it only will enhance our economic development opportunities. At this time, the best estimate is that it would be on the ballot in 2012.

Pete Mogavero

President, Anchor Industries, Inc.

Harrison High School graduate Pete Mogavero has been employed for 23 years with Anchor Industries, an Evansville-headquartered company producing fabric products such as tents and awnings for recreation, industry, and the United States government. Mogavero’s travels around the country give him insight into what other cities have done to encourage economic growth.

Although Pete Mogavero leads Anchor Industries, a company located north of the city’s center on U.S. Highway 41, he looks to Downtown as a catalyst for continued economic prosperity. Mogavero says his definition of progress is a growing employee base and a vibrant Downtown that attracts people both for working and living, and he likens Evansville’s potential to the renaissance of Chattanooga, Tenn. — another river city with an industrial past. Last year, Bloomberg Businessweek magazine reported that Chattanooga was one of just three American cities (the others were Milwaukee and Ventura, Calif.) to add jobs downtown from 1998 to 2006. The city’s population also grew nearly 10 percent from 2000 to 2008.

“They’ve got million-dollar condos downtown” in Chattanooga, Mogavero says, adding that top-notch dining and nightlife establishments, locally owned shops, and the massive Tennessee Aquarium anchor the downtown. While he notes that Evansville lacks certain big-city amenities — professional theatre companies and national sports teams, to name a couple — “Evansville is right on the edge,” Mogavero says.

He’s found that many of our city’s strengths — affordable cost of living, short commutes, relatively low crime — are attractive to prospective Anchor employees. His biggest concern about doing business isn’t locally based; it stems from what he believes to be excessive spending and taxation by the federal government. “Some companies,” he says, “are hanging on by their fingernails.”

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Maura Robinson

President/Owner, M.G. Robinson, Inc.

Maura Robinson, a native of Venezuela, has lived in Evansville for 34 years. Sixteen years ago, she founded her consulting and training business that specializes in multicultural training. This year, she’s pursuing a new way to change the city: She’ll be on the November ballot for the position of Vanderburgh County auditor.

When Maura Robinson accepted a contract from the city to create awareness of the 2010 census, she encountered Evansvillians from a spectrum of economic and cultural backgrounds. Despite the differences, “people are here trying to make Evansville better,” she says. “Everyone has something to give.”

That sense of community has kept Robinson in Evansville for decades. Still, she sees room for improvement in several areas: keeping the future generation of business leaders in Evansville; providing amenities for young, single professionals; encouraging small business development; and recruiting and retaining people of diverse backgrounds.

The latter comes down to what Robinson calls a true intentional purpose — and she says it must start at the top of a company and trickle down to all employees. “Are you really trying to attract people who are diverse?” she says. “If you are, when I come to your city or your business, do I see people who look like me? Part of that intention as a community is what we want to project.”

Another passion of Robinson’s is furthering the development of small businesses, including minority business enterprises and women’s business enterprises (MBEs and WBEs). For women and minorities, securing funding is a challenge, Robinson says, as is the opportunity to bid on contracts. But she believes that small businesses will flourish in the coming years. “As people get displaced by attrition or jobs get eliminated, there’s going to be a need to reach out to these businesses to support corporations,” Robinson says. “If you hire a consultant to work for you, you don’t have to pay that consultant benefits. So companies really are taking a different look at small businesses for survival.”

Norman Miller

Managing Director, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network: The Evansville Group

For 36 years, Norman Miller has worked in Evansville. The native heads the local operations of a longtime investment firm. Once located Downtown for 30 years, he moved Northwestern Mutual Financial Network: The Evansville Group to the East Side near the intersection of I-164 and the Lloyd Expressway, an area Miller believes could become the center of Evansville. The city still needs a prosperous Downtown, he believes, and with new developments such as the arena, that area is on the right track.

Definition of city progress: Paying jobs and opportunities for our children to stay in this community.

On Evansville’s strengths: In the recent economic meltdown, Evansville didn’t melt down like other communities did because we have a diverse economy and employment base. And, we’ve had some good leadership on the public side of the equation and the private side that have interacted well with the public. There are leaders who recognize that if we aren’t green and growing, we are brown and dying. They have and are trying to get the community to have — what I would describe as — a can-do attitude, evidenced by the new arena.

On areas to improve: Anyone trying to bring prosperity and change to our community has to understand that we always will have what I define as DOVEs: people “Devoted to Opposing Virtually Everything.” Whether it was Casino Aztar, the arena, the bike path, the Riverfront — there are people who always will oppose those things. That’s just a part of a process, yet we should be devoted to growing and making this a great place to have a great standard of living.

On how to change: It needs to be an open dialogue, a recognition it does take a public and private partnering — an abundance mentality that is purveyed through everyone’s actions. If a new employer comes in or existing business wants to make a change and needs a city or county permit, regionally we’ll need an attitude that doesn’t build up barriers and fences.

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Jim McKinney

President and CEO, Regency Properties

Jim McKinney, an Evansville native, returned to his hometown in 1977 after working in New York, Detroit, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh. The well-traveled businessman landed that same year at Regency Properties, a commercial property company he now leads. Based in Evansville, Regency develops properties in six states: Alabama, Illinois, Mississippi, South Carolina, Kentucky, and, of course, Indiana.

With his company headquartered on the East Side, Jim McKinney would love to see other company headquarters in any part of Evansville. Though McKinney welcomes jobs when companies open operations in the area, it “means we are the ‘hired hand,’” he says. Evansville is an attractive place to do business, he says: a good labor pool, a sound state government, and a convenient cost of operation. But, “true wealth is to be the intellectual capital that is developing and evolving a business,” says McKinney, pointing to Evansville-based Berry Plastics, one of the largest privately owned businesses in Indiana, as one example. Berry currently is undergoing a $150 million expansion in Evansville. That’s an “intellectual capital investment” in our community, McKinney says.

He wants Evansville to have a culture that nurtures small companies to become the next big enterprise. One of the best ways to attract CEOs to the community? CEOs “wish to be in a community with which they identify. They see a diverse culture. They see a culture that has arts, an outstanding educational system, and a connectivity with the rest of the world,” McKinney says. “For us to attract headquarters, we have to be a place CEOs want to live. That will cause vitality and growth here more than anything else.”

Vicki Snyder

Principal, Signature School

Evansville native Vicki Snyder was named principal of Signature School in 2001. A year later, the school — once a half-day program for Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation students — became a full-time charter school. This year, Signature School was ranked seventh on Newsweek’s list of America’s top high schools. Snyder’s career in education has shown her what young people need to become leaders.

On how Evansville educates: Charter schools are designed to be schools of specific purpose, and we honed in immediately on global education. We felt that was going to become a very important component in educating the (leaders) of tomorrow. When you look at the K-12 aspect, there are choices both in public and parochial institutions, as well as the private schools. Then, the University of Evansville and University of Southern Indiana add to the overall strength of what Evansville has to offer.

On areas to improve: Making sure students are well prepared for post-secondary aspirations. I read that something like 80 percent of future jobs will require some kind of college education. In Indiana, the percentage of adults with college degrees ranks among the lowest in the country. (We need) high expectations, offering college prep courses and courses such as Advanced Placement and the International Baccalaureate program.

On areas of increasing importance: (At Signature School), there’s a great deal of emphasis on writing, critical thinking, and analysis — projects that take kids outside their comfort zone and make them aware that there’s a large, intricate world out there. You have to listen to other people’s opinions and be able to weigh and sift through all the information that comes your way.

Statewide Service

Staff Author

August 2, 2010

If a family buys a home that has a swimming pool with a serious problem, the seller legally isn’t required to report the issue to the buyer. That isn’t right, says Carol McClintock, who leads a state government agency with the power to shape the rules and regulations guiding the real estate industry.

In June, McClintock, a broker associate with F.C. Tucker Emge Realtors and a 14-year industry veteran, was elected chair of the Indiana Real Estate Commission. Five years ago, Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed her as the 8th Congressional District representative for the commission, which handles real estate licensing and consumer complaints at its bimonthly meetings in Indianapolis.

Complaints range from mortgage fraud to failing to reveal a known problem such as mold or a cracking foundation. The seller’s disclosure form, however, doesn’t mention swimming pools, so new homebuyers unwittingly can end up with a faulty pool requiring costly repairs. McClintock lobbied to include a new section on the form where sellers must disclose such issues. The change is part of a package the commission has been developing for nearly two years; McClintock says it’s slated to go to the state legislature in 2011.

Other changes during her tenure have included new rules on real estate agents’ usage of the Internet and social media. The commission also voted for a change in continuing education requirements. Currently, real estate agents must complete 16 hours of continuing education before renewing their license every two years. McClintock advocated for more required core classes — ethics, property ownership, real estate contracts, and other topics — rather than “fluff” electives. “My favorite example was feng shui,” McClintock says. “That does not help them become a better real estate practitioner; it doesn’t help them protect the public.”

The proposed change calls for reduced overall hours of continuing education, but requires agents to pass tests over the subject matter. “Real estate agents would go to continuing education classes and do crossword puzzles and pay their bills,” McClintock says, “because they didn’t have to pay attention … To me, (fewer hours and a test) are a lot better than having 16 hours of something nobody pays attention to.”

Not So Far-Fetched

Staff Author

August 2, 2010

The new automated drop-off and pickup device for dry cleaning in Downtown Evansville (300 Main St.).

In 2007, riding the success of transforming a former Downtown department store into a 24-unit condominium complex, Ben Kunkel, president of construction company Kunkel Group, eyed the location of former clothier deJong’s. The vision, known as Meridian Plaza, included 31 condos, a five-story annex tower topped with a 2,500-square-foot penthouse, and 15,500 square feet of commercial space. With the project finished in 2008, Walker Studio Artistic Photography moved into some of that available space, yet another portion on the corner of Third and Main streets remained empty. After rumors of a grocery store failed to materialize in the building, Steve Schmitt arrived with a plan.

Hoping to capitalize on a Downtown office district with committed employees working long past normal business hours, Schmitt, the owner of Don’s and Clayton’s Fine Dry Cleaning, opened a location in Meridian Plaza this year with new technology — Fetch!, a 24-hour automated drop-off and pickup device for dry cleaning. Fetch! looks and operates like an ATM. The gist: A customer swipes a credit card, and a video screen of directions follows. Customers place clothing items in a bag, which can be bought via the machine, and the customer notifies the cleaners how many items are in the bag and if they have specific cleaning instructions. The machine spins on an axis and pushes the bag inside the facility. From there, it’s business as usual until the customer returns and enters his or her phone number to inform the machine the order is ready to move along a conveyor belt for pickup.

Schmitt, whose father opened Don’s Cleaning in 1956, saw automated technology in self-serve lines at grocery stores and airports throughout the country for years. “People were ready for this,” Schmitt says, “but I didn’t know if the machinery was ready for our industry yet.” In spring 2009, a trade show in New Orleans showed the longtime business owner the technology finally was ready for dry cleaning customers. The premise “is catching on,” Schmitt says; the most used time for Fetch! is between 7 and 8:30 p.m.

Better Together

Staff Author

August 1, 2010

The $31.9 million Business and Engineering Center at the University of Southern Indiana

In the 1920s and ’30s, Robert Pott was an Evansville luminary, an engineer and inventor best known for developing an impact wrench that was patented by Ingersoll Rand. Pott, the namesake of the University of Southern Indiana’s Pott College of Science and Engineering, “was one of those folks who would take something from a concept to its sales and marketing,” says Scott Gordon, dean of the Pott College. “That’s a rare person who can do that.”

Pott’s combination of engineering know-how and business savvy was one of the factors that, several years ago, compelled USI leaders to pursue a creative new partnership: co-location in the new Business and Engineering Center, a $31.9 million building project that fronts USI’s quadrangle. Two years after breaking ground, the four-story facility will open to students and begin hosting classes on August 30.

With its brick, glass, and limestone exterior, the Business and Engineering Center blends with the other buildings fronting the quad: the David L. Rice Library, the University Center, and the Liberal Arts Center. However, its bold, angular façade hints at the modern technology and ideas that lie inside the walls.

Business and engineering may seem an unlikely pairing. But years ago, as Gordon spoke with engineers about their education and careers, a common sentiment emerged. “Engineers tended to be engineers for a set number of years before they moved into business or management positions,” says Gordon, and they admitted that a business education would have eased the transition. Likewise, after business graduates headed out into the technology-heavy work world, many noted that they would better understand their companies’ products if they knew more about science and technology.

Gordon and Mohammed Khayum, dean of USI’s College of Business, agreed that both colleges would benefit from a collaborative environment — and a bigger facility, since both programs were outgrowing their respective spaces in the Technology Center and the Robert D. Orr Center. The creation of the Business and Engineering Center already has sparked ideas for new academic programs: an undergraduate engineering/business degree, a Master of Business Administration program for engineers, and an engineering management master’s degree. A new entrepreneurship minor beginning this fall has attracted student enrollment across various academic departments. The program will teach students about a product’s life cycle, from design and fabrication to sales and marketing.

Leaders of the business and engineering programs have lofty goals for their students, and the slate-floored atrium that welcomes them into the new building is appropriately grand. The ceiling stretches four stories high, and sunlight pours in through a clerestory window to illuminate the building’s interior spaces.

The clerestory is one element of green building that was incorporated into the facility, designed by Evansville architecture firm Hafer Associates. USI isn’t pursuing LEED certification for the new center, says USI staff architect and construction manager Fred Kalvelage, but the Business and Engineering Center showcases many of the principles of LEED. Those principles include sourcing materials from within a 500-mile radius (the limestone was quarried in Bedford, Ind.), using motion sensor lighting, and incorporating natural light to cut energy costs.

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Further brightening the building are two two-story “light wells,” openings in the roof modeled after those used in 1920s urban skyscrapers. Light wells originally were designed because electricity was unreliable and expensive. Now, to conserve energy, “we’re going back to what they were doing in 1920,” Kalvelage says. The bottoms of the light wells are furnished with tables and chairs to serve as second-floor, open-air courtyards for students.

While the light wells are a touch with a historic influence, the classroom and laboratory spaces are purely modern. Business and engineering students share numerous spaces such as classrooms, computer labs, and boardrooms, but each department also has areas especially for its students. On the lower level are several engineering labs: an optics lab, a materials testing lab, and a so-called “dirty lab” where students mix concrete for projects such as Concrete Canoe, an intercollegiate engineering competition. Other engineering facilities include a design lab and a radiofrequency shielding room that resembles a futuristic bunker. The shielding room, with a heavy door and walls made from two sheets of metal, blocks out all electronic interference. The room serves as a testing space for components, including wireless technologies.

Areas designed specifically for business students include a stock trading lab (complete with a live ticker), an entrepreneurship lab where special paint allows students to write on the walls and erase their work, and a sales lab with a central “control room.” Khayum envisions this area being used for presentations and focus groups. For example, he says, if a local business or a student group wants to evaluate how a focus group reacts to a new advertisement, leaders or executives can sit in the control room (surrounded by tinted glass) and observe the reactions, unseen by the group.

Gordon and Khayum also envision students collaborating outside the classroom. In 2008, USI received a Lilly Endowment grant to establish combined business/engineering co-ops that send groups of students to work at local companies. The deans also plan to encourage participation in competitions such as the 2010 Ideation Contest, sponsored by Escalade Sports, an Evansville-headquartered company that produces and distributes pool tables, table tennis equipment, and other sporting goods. The contest will challenge students to develop a new outdoor game that Escalade could produce and market, and the company will reward the winners with cash and internships.

The Ideation Contest is a preview of opportunities and challenges that USI students will face when they finish school and launch their careers. While 20th century inventor Robert Pott was renowned as a visionary for his skills as an engineer and a businessman, the two careers increasingly overlap and intertwine in the modern world, say Khayum and Gordon. In the Business and Engineering Center, says Gordon, “we want to show students the whole product life cycle.”

On Oct. 10, the Business and Engineering Center hosts a grand opening and invites the public to tour the new building from 2-4 p.m. See www.usi.edu for details on the event and the Business and Engineering Center.

Proving Their Mettle

Staff Author

August 1, 2010

When the Evansville Chrysler auto plant relocated its operation to St. Louis and took thousands of jobs with it, the Tri-State needed a large-scale company to replenish jobs. Two years later, Alcoa, a company that even then had established itself as one of the world’s aluminum smelting leaders, finished construction on Newburgh’s Alcoa Warrick Operations, a 375,000-kilowatt power plant and 150,000 metric ton-a-year smelter. The plant poured its first metal on June 9, 1960, and this year, Alcoa — now with a 791-megawatt power plant fueled by Alcoa’s coal reserves and an Illinois coal mine — celebrates its 50th year in the region: a milestone demonstrating a significant economic, philanthropic, and environmental impact.

Today, with a corporate center in Pittsburgh and its corporate headquarters in New York City, Alcoa has around 60,000 employees in more than 30 countries, and Alcoa Warrick Operations employs 1,911 people. It houses 120 acres of its 14,000 under one roof and boasts the largest operating aluminum smelting facility in the country.

Soon after its opening 50 years ago, the facility branched out into casting, rolling, and fabricating. The casting process transforms molten metal into 30-foot-long ingots weighing as much as 40,000 pounds. After the casting process, ingots move through a reversing mill, a continuous mill, and one of two cold mills to convert a 20-inch-thick ingot into a coil of aluminum sheet that can be 13 miles long and as thin as 10 pieces of paper. In the finishing department, workers clean, level, lubricate, coat, and trim the metal.

That metal, aluminum, heads around the world to kitchen cupboards. Since opening, Warrick Operations has been Alcoa’s prime location for can stock rolling mills, churning out aluminum sheet for food and beverage cans across the globe. Another major achievement, says Jim Beck, communications and public affairs leader at Warrick Operations, is the production of metal for lithographic printing plates used on printing presses.

A study on the current economic impact of the plant, conducted by economics professors Gale Blalock of the University of Evansville and Perry Burnett of the University of Southern Indiana, shows that Warrick Operations, and the metropolitan activity due to its existence, currently contributes more than $657 million of output to the country’s gross domestic product — almost $1.8 million every day. The ongoing study, which began earlier this year, found that the plant’s 1,911 jobs currently support an additional 4,003 Tri-State jobs, and that one out of every $20 of personal income generated annually in the Evansville metropolitan area (including Indiana’s Warrick, Vanderburgh, Gibson, and Posey counties and Kentucky’s Henderson and Webster counties) stems from the economic activity associated with the existence of Warrick Operations.

Beck says the company’s ability to endure five decades comes from being a completely integrated facility. “From generating our own power to casting raw molten metal into ingots to rolling and fabricating the finished products, this gives us a tremendous advantage in what really is a global marketplace right now,” he says.[pagebreak]

The Warrick facility is powered by the four steam-powered turbines of the Alcoa Warrick Power Plant, a local division of Alcoa Power Generating, Inc. (APGI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Alcoa, Inc. (APGI owns three generators; APGI and Vectren, a utility company, jointly own the fourth and largest generator.) Beck adds that the company’s diversity in product offerings has been a key factor in the growing challenge to stay competitive with rival markets. “Beverage and food cans have been this facility’s bread and butter over the years, and we’re also becoming very respected as the only supplier of high-quality lithographic sheet in North America,” he notes.

Manufacturing flat-rolled aluminum sheet for a variety of end products may have led to Warrick Operations’ success, but the company’s philanthropy helps make it a part of the community. Alcoa gives around $400,000 annually to local organizations, chiefly through the Alcoa Foundation, which works alongside Alcoa to provide grants, scholarships, and support for various projects and partnerships. Every October, Alcoa employees across the globe participate in a month of philanthropic service. Last October, Warrick Operations assisted the community in 18 projects such as clearing nature trails and teaching students in the Warrick County school system about the basics of aluminum recycling.

While giving back has been a part of Alcoa’s role, critics often note Alcoa’s environmental impact. Globally, complaints raised against Alcoa include the company’s presence in Iceland, a place with air quality so pure that The New York Times reported the Kyoto Protocol, an international effort to curb climate change, granted the island country the right to increase its greenhouse emissions by 10 percent from levels in the 1990s. In response, Iceland’s government welcomed international investment by power-intensive industries such as aluminum. Despite protests about the impact on Iceland’s fragile ecosystem, Alcoa opened an aluminum smelter on the island in summer 2007.

Indiana is roughly the size of Iceland, and in Evansville, air quality warnings began in April this year. Alcoa took measures to reduce those warnings long ago, says Beck. Between 2005 and 2008, Warrick Operations installed wet flue gas desulphurization technology (known as “scrubbers”) on each of the plant’s four generating units to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions. The result in 2009, the plant’s first full year of scrubber use, was a 95 percent reduction in sulfur dioxide, a 99.9 percent reduction in hydrochloric acid, and a 51 percent reduction in mercury, says Beck. The project, costing more than $500 million, went beyond anything required by the rule of regulation, according to Beck, and at the time, it was Alcoa’s largest investment in North America.

“We work in an environmentally friendly business to begin with,” he says, noting that 75 percent of all the aluminum ever made still is in use today. “When a consumer brings an aluminum can to a recycling system, within 60 days on average, that can will have been recycled and will be back on the shelf as a new can.”

Beck adds that while plastic bottles have risen in popularity in recent years, lower recyclability (25 percent of plastic bottles get recycled) has helped aluminum stay competitive in an increasingly environmentally minded market. Those investments in sustainability give “a strong vote of confidence to our employees,” Beck says. “It’s one of the factors that hopefully will set Warrick Operations up for another 50 years of service.”

Norm Bafunno

Staff Author

August 1, 2010

With more than 4,000 employees at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana in Princeton, thousands of Tri-State families have a vested interest in the auto manufacturer’s success, and earlier this year, Toyota revamped production at TMMI. Bad news followed the good, though: The Toyota recall of millions of vehicles due to widespread safety problems drew global — and local — concerns.

In an effort to initiate change, Toyota leadership spurred organizational moves within the company. Part of that plan was returning Norm Bafunno from Toyota’s Kentucky plant to TMMI where he started at Toyota in 1997 after years at General Motors as an assistant plant manager in Pontiac, Mich. Six days into his new role as president of the Indiana plant, Bafunno, who has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and a master’s degree in management from Northwestern University, talked with Evansville Business Publisher Todd A. Tucker.

My first job probably was a stock boy at Ace Hardware, which was just down the street from where I lived in St. Louis. I think the biggest lesson I learned is to treat people as you want to be treated. I think this element of respect for people is very important. But I also think, “How do I bring value to whatever I’m doing?” I still can remember when I was a stock boy, I always would ask, “Why do we have these different routes? How can I do things a little differently?” At first, I didn’t want to bring those ideas forward because I was afraid I didn’t know something and other people already had figured it all out. But when it comes down to it, if I can suggest ideas and implement those ideas in a constructive way, I think that’s been one of the things that brought me a lot of excitement or a lot of confidence through the years.

My leadership style is one of engagement. How do I get a chance to see the current activity in the plant? And what are our current concerns? And then what are we doing? And I think the best way to do that is to get a lot of different inputs. Our team members, of course, have a very big voice. What kind of issues, what kind of concerns do they have? And then what obstacles do we have in solving those problems? So, we talk to our engineering group, we talk to our scheduling group, we talk to our quality group — whomever it might be. My style is to make sure that we have an open, two-way communication, and that people feel comfortable saying what’s on their minds.

I think the company attitude is one of “We need to continue to improve.” Obviously, we have been in the news a lot this year, with some of the quality concerns by consumers and also just in general. I think even though we may have done some things that had some very good recognition for our vehicle quality, we always can get better. The new things that we put in place with our teams: Immediately, within 24 hours of receiving customer complaints, we bring in this independent board of quality experts from around the world helping us get better. I think this is a great step that will help us strengthen.

We’ve recovered 10 or 15 percent from the bottom, so we can see some things improving. But we still have a way to go. (The challenges we faced) had us reflect back on what we could have made better. Now we have time to reflect on that and, more importantly, implement ideas.

Rock Star

Staff Author

July 28, 2010

In an elevator on NBC’s sitcom 30 Rock, Kenneth — a charmingly naïve Southern boy who works as a lowly page in the show’s incarnation of the NBC studios — presses the button for the fourth floor. “Next stop, Kansas City,” he drawls in his best impression of an Old West train conductor.

The scene is a tribute to the comedy of Jack McBrayer, a 1995 University of Evansville graduate who plays Kenneth on the Emmy-winning show developed by and starring Tina Fey. McBrayer plays a goody two-shoes with an aloof innocence — a stark contrast to sitcom stereotypes who ooze lethal sarcasm. His role led to other opportunities, including the role of a geeky computer repairman in a Mariah Carey music video in which he engages in a seductively silly pillow fight with the singer. Even after a decade as an actor, McBrayer never imagined he would land, even fictionally, in bed with a superstar.

Shortly after graduating from UE and moving to Chicago, McBrayer, a native of Conyers, Ga., went to a show at The Second City, an improvisational comedy club whose alumni include Fey and celebrity comedians Steve Carell, Bill Murray, and Amy Sedaris. He soon signed up for classes at The Second City Training Center. “It was people just having fun with each other and, essentially, just goofing off,” McBrayer says. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I kind of do this anyway, and these people seem to be making a career out of it.’”

Among the Second City directors with whom he worked was Fey’s husband, Jeff Richmond. Three years ago, when Fey was developing 30 Rock, she created the part of Kenneth with McBrayer’s deep Southern accent in mind.

McBrayer — who keeps in regular contact with former classmates and UE theater-department faculty, including John David Lutz, R. Scott Lank, and Patti McCrory — still feels star-struck working with a stellar cast and a slew of 30 Rock guest stars, including Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Aniston, and Steve Martin. Slowly, he’s taken on a celebrity status himself, enough so he’s quoted in the January 2009 issue of Vanity Fair, in a cover story on Tina Fey. In it, McBrayer describes the new queen of comedy as “just a loony bird.”

Civic Project Power

Staff Author

July 21, 2010

Rendering of the Nashville Music City Center (expected to open in 2013) provided by the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau

By late 2011, construction on a $127 million arena will be completed Downtown, and Evansville isn’t the only city pushing forward with a major civic project.

Indianapolis, Nashville, and Louisville continue progress on multimillion-dollar convention centers despite the economic recession.

Here, we highlight other cities’ work and tell why their projects couldn’t wait.

City	Project	Why It Couldn’t Wait
Louisville	The $238 million, 22,000-seat arena, the KFC YUM! Center, opens in October 2010.	“Freedom Hall is 54 years old, so (there’s) clearly a need for a new arena in Louisville to replace Freedom Hall,” says Jim Wood, president and CEO of the Greater Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau. “It’s what corporations are looking for in terms of client entertainment purposes as well. Building it downtown helps add energy to our city.”
Nashville	The $585 million Nashville Music City Center, a 1.2 million-square-foot facility, is expected to open in 2013. The new music center more than doubles the amount of meeting and exhibit space in the city’s downtown district.	“Tourism is the number one industry in Nashville, employing more than 55,000 people, and the Music City Center will help to support the local economy,” says Heather Middleton, director of public relations for Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Indianapolis	Research showed Indianapolis was passing on nearly 150 major conventions a year due to lack of spacing. The $275 million expansion of the Indiana Convention Center, expected to open in 2011, gives the state capital enough room to become the 16th largest convention center in the country (up from 32nd).	“This deliberate expansion was done only after completing a survey showing demand for growth,” says Chris Gahl, spokesman for the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association, “and we already are seeing positive results by retaining current business that was on the verge of outgrowing Indy and the ability to attract new conventions.”

Exercise Encyclopedia

Staff Author

July 21, 2010

Every exercise involves movement, but these programs — CrossFit, Boot Camp, and Bodypump — emphasize speed (and calorie burning). Each exercise program has the same goal, a healthy you. We wondered how they differ.

Program

What Is It?

Who Should Try It?

CrossFit	Each time, CrossFit participants experience a new exercise routine. From pull-ups and push-ups to far more fun-sounding exercises such as farmer’s walks and burpees, trainers create a series of fast-paced exercises designed to be a heart-pumping tone up.	What began as a strength and conditioning program at police academies has transcended as an option for anyone — including octogenarians — needing a good workout. The difference between an officer’s CrossFit and a senior citizen’s workout is intensity, but the program aims to improve everyone’s flexibility, power, speed, coordination, and balance.
Where Is It? Try www.evansvillecrossfit.com or www.club-bushido.com.

BootCamp	The drill sergeant barking out orders at this boot camp is absent. Trainers at boot camps for the civilian emphasize fun by combining body weight strengthening, circuit training, hiking, Pilates, and yoga. The muscle group benefiting from the exercise extravaganza is the core, the area from the stomach to the knees. The results certainly are fun: the feeling of accomplishment and the trimmer, healthier you.	The three-day-a-week commitment may seem daunting to the busy, working parent, but the one-hour sessions you can pick Monday-Saturday are scheduled early in the morning — perfect to place in front of a loaded daily calendar.
Where Is It? Try www.evansvillefitnessbootcamp.com.

Bodypump	The weight-based exercise program targets every muscle group in the body. Set to a music soundtrack that begins melodiously and picks up speed as intensity increases, Bodypump requires barbells and numerous repetitions. The idea is to tone and burn fat.	The class is popular for women, who typically focus less on weight training than their male counterparts. The music adds an element of fun, but both women and men benefit from the high-speed repetitions.
Where Is It? Try www.ymca.evansville.net

Walking the Man

Staff Author

July 20, 2010

My man puts on his sneakers, and suddenly I’m on all fours. He stares down at me staring up at him. It’s a staring contest. I wag my tail, further testament to my willingness to walk. Sometimes it works. Am I walk-worthy? Wag. Wag. Wag.

Sometimes he doesn’t really see me, my man, for what I am — his faithful friend. He frowns at me, like that time I chewed his $100 shoes, and thinks, “Did I really spend $325 for this dog? Was I crazy? This dog has no talent, no discipline, doesn’t understand a word.”

I can read my man’s mind like that. All dogs can. We read minds with our noses, through our sniffs. It’s our secret power, like that time he left a library book on the floor: The Tin Roof Blowdown, by James Lee Burke. I thought it was a gift for me, a chew toy. When he left the room, I demonstrated my deep appreciation for that gift. The library charged him $35 but let him keep what was left of the book — that was so nice of them, giving him a gift like that. When he came home from the library, I wagged my tail, sniffed him, and read his mind: “I could have bought this same book at a bookstore for far less. Did I really spend $325 for you? — $425, counting the shoes? — $460, counting the book. You’re the $460 dog now. At that price, why aren’t you bionic?”

It makes me happy to hear how often I grow in value. I’m a good investment. I feel solid and dependable for my man. I do what I can for him, like that time I chewed the antenna nub on his cell phone. I got the satisfaction of a good chew. He went to the store and returned with a phone that works. It was win-win.

My man stands there in his sneakers, staring down into my “walk me” trance. Most times, no matter how much I bark, bounce, and weave between his legs, he leaves without me. A dog not walked is a dog well wasted, I try to tell him. I keep wagging and sniffing. “Just look at you,” he thinks. “You’ve gotten so fat. You’re no longer a wiener dog; you’re a bratwurst dog. I better walk you more, despite the aggravation. You have cost too much now for me to let you die of a heart attack before age 3.”

He attaches the retractable leash to my collar, and I jump out of the car, barking before I even hit the ground. Then I go after everything that moves — strollers, joggers, walkers, other dogs. Animate objects make me anxious. The Riverwalk is my oyster.

“Cool it, Cujo,” my man says, which makes no sense at all to a dog named Skooder — or Dammit for short.

He yanks me out of the path of others. Bike spokes mesmerize me. Bigger dogs just make me bark louder and bare my teeth. I go after a squirrel. He yanks me. I go after a duck. He yanks me. He doesn’t take me for walks; he takes me for yanks.

“You’re slowing me down,” he says. “See why I don’t bring you.”

I head for a fire hydrant 20-some feet off the path, but he yanks me. I defy the yank. I’m under hydrant hypnosis. “You don’t need a hydrant,” he says. “You don’t even lift your leg. It’s embarrassing. You’re a male. Maybe I’ll have to teach you the technique out back when the neighbors aren’t watching.”

He doesn’t need to teach me that. I mean, I’m not stupid. The neighbor dog behind us demonstrates the leg-lift method all the time, but it looks like a lot of work, all that staying in one position and balancing on three legs. Who is this dog? — Philippe Petit? He probably can spin his dog dish on his snout.

As a long-haired miniature dachshund, I’m built too close to the ground for the leg-lift technique to really be efficient. Oh, but how I’d love to get a piece of that show-off dog. Sometimes he lifts his leg and aims right into my yard. Once, I escaped the house and went straight for that four-legged lawn sprinkler, despite the size differential. I stood my ground, barking at that beast towering over me, my back hairs rising like a bad toupee. You know what that dog did? He hiked his leg over my head and … well … you know the rest. My man and neighbors laughed at that dog. Stupid dog doesn’t know the difference between a dachshund and a fire hydrant.

I nip at the heels of two women. He yanks me, which confuses me, because the whole time he commands, “Heel, Dammit, heel.” I’m just doing what he tells me. The two women frown. Our walk ends. “I’ve had enough. Let’s go home before there’s a lawsuit,” my man says.

It’s odd how much longer the walk takes him when my man walks alone. See how much time I save him? I make his walks more efficient. And here he claims I slow him down.

Every man needs a wiener dog.

Happy Trails

Staff Author

July 19, 2010

Evie, the litter-retrieving mascot of Keep Evansville Beautiful, led a group of children during this spring’s Walk and Roll Week

On a damp spring day, a group of local children laced up their sneakers for a stroll near the future Cedar Hall Community School. Their guide down the Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage? An affable, bandana-wearing Labrador retriever named Evie.

The Keep Evansville Beautiful mascot’s day job is retrieving litter, but she made a cameo appearance at the first Walk and Roll Week, sponsored by the Evansville-Area Trails Coalition. From May 17-23, the group encouraged Tri-State residents to walk to school, bike to work, explore the area’s trails, and participate in organized activities. The slate of events included birding walks at Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve and Eagle Slough, historic walking tours of the East Side’s Lincolnshire neighborhood and Oak Hill Cemetery, and a bicycle safety program for kids.

Walk and Roll Week may be over, but there still are plenty of weeks left in the year to hit the trails. For would-be walkers (or runners, cyclists, or skaters) who don’t know where to start or want to explore new routes, the Vanderburgh County Health Department developed Evansville in Motion. The compilation of measured route maps, basic fitness information, safety tips, and inspiring quotes recently was expanded with 23 new or updated maps. A few of our favorite routes:

Evansville Riverfront. Ohio River scenery, plenty of company, and music drifting from Casino Aztar — there are plenty of reasons to love this stretch of the Greenway. From Shawnee Drive/Waterworks Road, it’s a 1.2-mile jaunt to Aztar’s riverboat.

Main Street Walkway. From the front of the Civic Center Complex (Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard) to Riverside Drive and back equals one mile. The biggest challenge is resisting the siren song of the burgers at Peephole Bar & Grill.

Wesselman Park. One loop around the main road (without entering the nature preserve) totals 0.8 miles. Running or walking in the evening may bring more than cooler temperatures: Groups of deer have been known to amble through the trees at dusk.

Newburgh Rivertown Trail. From the B. Gene Aurand Trailhead at Highway 662 and Yorkshire Drive, this brand-new trail meanders along the Ohio River to the Old Lock and Dam. With the trailhead as the start and finish line, the route extends for two miles.

Download the Evansville in Motion booklet

Back in the Saddle

Staff Author

July 16, 2010

Historians call the 1920s the “Golden Age of American Sports,” and who could blame them? Legendary names such as Babe Ruth, Knute Rockne, and Man o’ War were achieving improbable feats. The latter was a stunning chestnut colt with an unbelievable winning streak. While Man o’ War’s popularity boomed, horses came to Ellis Park, a new racetrack in Henderson, Ky.

This year’s opening day (July 10) may not have quite the same feverish excitement, but there’s plenty of intrigue surrounding Ellis Park’s 88th year. News headlines show Kentucky racetracks want state legislative help to combat competition from neighboring states. That aid never came this past winter, and Ellis Park, which survived the 1937 flood and 2005 tornado, isn’t waiting.

Ron Geary, Ellis owner and president, launches this season with the theme: Ellis Park is “family fun that lasts a lifetime.” Several events are designed to attract families: Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Day (July 17), Camel and Ostrich Races (July 31), Weiner Dog Race (Aug. 21), and Family Fun Day (Aug. 29).

Ellis Park still has a gambling edge, though. In 2010, the Horseplayers Association of North America ranked Ellis Park as one of the top wagering opportunities on this continent.

A Taste of Home

Staff Author

July 16, 2010

When German immigrants settled in the United States, they found comfort in familiar acts: gathering for a beer, eating bratwurst and sauerkraut, and singing traditional tunes. Nearly 200 years later, most of Evansville’s German families have been entrenched in the community for generations. They still celebrate their ancestors’ traditions every year at Volksfest (August 5-7).

Organizers expect 10,000 festival patrons to empty 230 kegs of beer and devour 2,400 pounds of bratwurst, 10,000 kraut balls, and 2,000 pounds of pig knuckles. The latter may sound gruesome, but don’t be fooled: “It took me 11 years to eat one,” confesses Volksfest co-chair Tom Memmer. “It tastes just like ham.”

Volksfest is hosted by singing club Germania Mannerchor, which was founded in 1900. The club’s historic home on Fulton Avenue sets the scene for three days of Deutsch music, food, dancing, traditional costumes, and beer aplenty.

Performing in the second-floor dance hall is Rhein Valley Brass (Germania’s house band), and livening up the outdoor biergarten — with a tent modeled after Munich’s Oktoberfest — is the Schnapps Band from Cincinnati. After playing traditional German music, the band’s set list switches to “rock and roll with a German flair,” says festival co-chair Jim Kluesner. (Think accordions.)

Anne’s Court

Staff Author

July 16, 2010

Four years ago, an estimated 13,000 Hoosiers died of cancer. One was Evansville native Anne Keller. Her death came after a nine-year fight with liposarcoma, a rare, malignant tumor. Friends say the 39-year-old Keller was joyful, kind, and compassionate, and in her honor, they created “Rally for Hope.”

The August 7 event, held at Wesselman Park, raises money for the Evansville Community Tennis Association (ECTA). The previous three events, in which people play in a round robin tournament or simply watch skilled players, have raised more than $15,000 for the ECTA’s promotion of inner-city junior tennis development.

The gift is appropriate: Keller, who played tennis for Memorial High School, worked as a nurse practitioner at a Chicago inner-city clinic. (For the 2009 season, Keller’s friends covered Wesselman’s court rental fees for Memorial’s teams.) “She lived her life like she played tennis,” says Amy Ziemer Ryan, the event’s chairwoman and Keller’s longtime friend. “She always played within herself, never drawing attention to herself, but always moving forward, complementing everyone else.”

Chew On This

Staff Author

July 16, 2010

2 Daddy’s Pizza (1801 Waterworks Road), which has been operating out of The Little Cheers (329 Main St.), has opened at Marina Pointe. The 250-seat, outdoor restaurant serves pizzas, strombolis, grinders, and Italian dishes. … K.C.’s Time Out Lounge & Grill (1121 Washington Square Mall) has opened in Washington Square Mall in the former Quarter Note space. The menu includes hamburgers, sandwiches, and appetizers. … Penny Nejad will open Café Arazu (17 W. Jennings St., Newburgh), in mid-July. The pastry chef will bring a Mediterranean and Middle Eastern menu. … Also opening in mid-July is Eclipse Spanish Tapas Bar and Restaurant (113 S.E. Fourth St.) in the former Jeanne’s Gelato space. Owner Sandra Stohl’s menu will include tapas (small plates) including paella with seafood, chicken, and Spanish chorizo, plus Spanish wines and sangria.

Nibbles:
Kanpai (4593 Washington Ave.) has a new owner, Jayson Munoz. Among Munoz’s changes are Monday night beer samplings and new hours, including service from 2-4 p.m., when the restaurant previously was closed.

Mark S. White

Staff Author

July 16, 2010

When sculptor Mark S. White works at the broad table in what he calls his “studio/dining room/family room,” he enjoys a scenic lake view. Ducks and Canadian geese are frequent visitors to White’s North Side back yard, but don’t expect them to appear in a future series: “I don’t want to be known for cute little ducks,” White jokes.

The longtime Evansville hairdresser, who works at Posh International Hair Studio, started working with clay early last year simply because he wanted a hobby. But after selling more than a dozen pieces from an exhibit at the Oaklyn Branch of the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library and winning a second-place award at an Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana show, White takes his art a bit more seriously.

His inspiration: friend and client Lisa Heichelbech, a local ceramic artist who taught him the basics and offered use of her kiln. After a few simple platters and bowls, White — a graduate of North Posey High School and Pat Wilson’s Beauty College in Henderson, Ky. — moved on to sculpting colorful fish.

White’s work has been displayed at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science; the Arts Council’s Bower-Suhrheinrich Foundation Gallery; the Oaklyn Branch library; Fifth Third Bank; Old National Bank; Posh International Hair Studio; and the permanent art collection of Solarbron Pointe.

You’ve said you wanted to be a hairdresser since childhood. What was the first haircut you gave?
My very first memory of cutting someone’s hair was a little girl who lived down the street, and she had pigtails. It was a hot summer day, and she wanted those pigtails cut off, so I cut ‘em off. Her mother came to visit my mother. (Her hair) was chopped up really bad.

Do you think creativity — in either hairstyling or art — is innate or nurtured?
In my business, there are hairdressers out there who were taught, and then there are hairdressers who were taught but added creativity to it. I think you’re born with it.

What did you feel the first time you touched clay?
I found it to be very peaceful and soothing. I loved the way it felt. I got excited when it was finished — it was like a present when I opened the kiln for the first time.

What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced starting out as an artist?
Not knowing anything. Lisa would say things like, “Now let that get leather hard.” I would say, “What does that mean?” Well, that’s the simplest basic thing when you’re working with clay: That’s whenever it starts to dry and it isn’t completely dry, but yet it’s hardened up a little bit to where you can handle it. I didn’t know anything.

You started sculpting fish soon after you began working with clay. Why fish?
I always have loved the water, but I didn’t go in thinking I was going to make a fish. I rolled (the clay) out as a slab, and I thought, “I wonder what would happen if I stuck my hand under this and started to form it from underneath.” When I did that, I saw a fish. It started to come up, and it looked like a fish’s body.

What’s your approach to sculpting?
It just happens. If I put something in my head, I only can get it 50 percent because it usually tells me what it’s going to do. (My approach is) to let it happen (and see) what it feels like.

Do you have a favorite artist?
Jan van Eyck is fantastic. I saw his work when I visited the Netherlands, and it was just phenomenal. He’s a painter from the 15th century who had to mix his own paints, and his paintings are so real that they look like photographs.

How do you want to be remembered as an artist?
(I want people) to see something as striking and delicate and be left with wonder: “How is that done? How could that piece be so fragile?” The delicacy is what I want to be known for.

For more on Mark S. White’s work or to purchase a piece, call (812) 476-7089.

Flames at the Four Freedoms

Staff Author

July 16, 2010

Four years ago, Contessa Kindfire stood in a parking lot holding a plastic hoop with Kevlar wicks. As she lit the wicks on fire and began to spin the hoop around her body, a friend hovered nearby with a wet towel — “just to make sure nothing bad would happen,” Kindfire says.

Kindfire, now a confident “fire spinner,” is one of five members of the Evansville Fire Family. The performers light up the Four Freedoms Monument every Sunday evening, piquing the curiosity of people strolling along the Riverfront or driving down Veterans Memorial Parkway.

“I’ve been a bit of a pyro since I was a kid,” admits Kindfire, a professional fire performer who goes by her stage name, travels to gigs around the Midwest, and dances with local burlesque troupe the Drop Dead Darlings.

The Evansville Fire Family started performing in April after Kindfire and longtime friend J. Scott Myers (who performs with a staff), recruited three other members: “Miss Sunshine” on devil sticks and Nick Will and “Spain” on poi. (Poi is a traditional art of the Maori people in New Zealand; the fire version includes chains with a bundle of wicking on one end and a handle on the other.)

As for mastering the art of fire dancing, “you learn by each burn,” Kindfire says. No members of the group have been seriously injured, though. At the Sunday shows, a security team blocks off the monument and keeps spectators away from the performers. Fire extinguishers and a fire blanket always are on hand. In mid-June, the group’s Downtown performances went on a temporary hiatus as members sought safety approval from city officials, but as of press time, Sunday shows were scheduled to resume June 27. The Evansville Fire Family also will perform at Evansville Otters home baseball games throughout the summer.

The visual spectacle draws a diverse crowd, including young children who come with their parents. “Evansville is in on it,” Kindfire says. “We do this for the community. They eat it up.”

The Evansville Fire Family performs free shows every Sunday at sundown, weather permitting. Learn more about the group on their Facebook page.

A Beauty with a Bark

Staff Author

July 16, 2010

Manny, a Welsh springer spaniel, took center stage at this year’s Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

A few minutes before ring time at the 2010 Westminster Kennel Club dog show, Dr. Melanie Helms hides. She hasn’t seen Manny for more than a month. Manny, Helms’ Welsh springer spaniel, has won Best in Show at several competitions, but a professional handler, Ryan Wolfe, will be exhibiting the dog today. If Manny so much as catches a glimpse of Helms, it would be disastrous.

“If he sees her when he’s in the ring, he turns into a goofball,” confides Manny’s breeder, Gary Riese, owner of Statesman Welsh Springer Spaniels of Bremen, Ga. The “goofball” tendencies include Manny’s playful nature; he’s a dog with a short attention span.

In a stylish turtleneck, faux fur vest, and jeans, Helms initially stands ringside with her sister, Michelle Duskey, who has traveled from Arlington, Texas, for the big event. Helms, an Evansville resident, frets that this still might be too close — that Manny might see her — so she quietly leaves her sister and moves farther away, trying to disappear into a thicker crowd of spectators. Her husband, Dr. Phillip Gilson, has been banished to the stands at the 134th Westminster, one of the longest running sporting events in the country.

In 2009, Manny was the No. 1 ranked Welshie in the country and the defending Best of Breed winner from the 2009 Westminster dog show. While Helms has every reason to be a bit anxious, not more than a dozen years ago, she simply was looking for a nice pet.

With careful consideration, this husband and wife team of physicians chose their first dog to be a pet and constant companion. They wanted a sporting breed “but not the typical Lab or golden,” says Helms, so they chose a well-bred, healthy Welsh springer spaniel puppy.

Breeders tout the Welsh springer spaniel’s excellent hunting characteristics: good work ethic, terrific scenting ability, and endless energy. The breed is intelligent, loyal, and protective of family members, which requires the owner to socialize the dog well to be accepting of friends and family.

The couple sought out breeders through the Welsh Springer Spaniel Club. Less than 200 Welsh springer spaniel puppies are born annually. “At the time, we didn’t realize the breed was so rare,” says Helms. “We were put on a waiting list.” Eighteen months later, they were offered not a male puppy but a female: Statesman’s Autumn Amberlynne (“Clancy”).

The couple bought Clancy as a pet, knowing this dog could be show-worthy. The breeder, Riese, who sold them the pup knew it, too. He asked for photo updates from Helms — a standard practice among breeders, who like to keep tabs on the development of their puppies. Riese and his wife, Susan, have been breeding dogs since the mid-1970s. Working with another breeding family, they co-own 10 Welsh springer spaniels and 11 additional dogs and have owned 16 Welsh springer spaniels (now deceased). They have produced 49 litters and 300 Welshies since founding their kennel.

Upon seeing photos in 1999, Riese encouraged the couple to show Clancy. The couple chose the national specialty competition for Welshies as their foray into shows. Their aim was quite high: The Welsh Springer Spaniel Club of America hosts the national specialty competition, the premier event for that breed.

Helms and Gilson wanted Riese’s help in showing the dog the first time. To handle the dog at the show, Riese enlisted his daughter. The United States is one of the few countries where someone can make a career as a handler, a professional who bathes, grooms, trains, and transports the show dogs.[pagebreak]

Helms and Gilson were nervous at that first show. “They were wringing their hands the whole time,” Riese says. “When Clancy won her puppy class, I looked over, and they were in tears — both of them.”

That success pushed the couple onward. Helms, who never had handled a dog, mastered the leash quickly, says Riese. Helms learned to “gait” her dog: She moved her dog around the ring at the ideal pace for the dog to best show its movement while not stumbling or tripping, keeping the dog between her and the judge. The typical “patterns” for individual judging of the dog’s gait include a “down and back” with a couple of complex turns. A handler stacks the dog to show off the canine’s attributes; “stacking” is technically posing the dog in a “stand” with both front and rear legs aligned correctly. The head must be raised under the chin with the right hand and the tail extended with the left. Helms keeps the dog forward — and not shifted backward — when the judge examines the dog. Helms mastered how to groom her dog: bathe it, clip it, and shave some areas. She trained her dog to stand at attention or “bait” when she raises a tiny piece of food. This allows the judge to see the dog prick up its ears at attention, revealing the dog’s expression.

Helms finished Clancy’s championship and went on to attain multiple breed wins and group placements, including Best of Opposite Sex wins at Westminster in 2002, 2003, and 2006. Since her show career with Clancy, Helms has finished championships on four Welsh springer spaniels, including Manny. (Gilson’s involvement with the dogs: “I’m the driver,” he says with a wry smile. “My job is to set everything up and stay out of the way.”)

Though Helms prefers to show her dogs, the playful Manny was a different case. Often, in dog shows, the handler finds the dog. Impressed with the dog, Wolfe, who had handled Clancy, approached Manny’s owners at a show and offered his services. Helms accepted. Wolfe, a third-generation handler, concedes Manny is a “pain in the, uh, ahem! He just can’t stand still.” Wolfe gives an example: “I’ll put his foot down, he’ll look at me, and then he moves it.”

This is why Helms is hiding ringside today and hoping to see Manny win Best of Breed for a second year in a row. The ring steward rises from his chair and bellows out the armband numbers for the Welsh springer spaniels: “Five! Six! Seven! Eight!”

The excitement is palpable. As each Welshie enters the ring, the crowd greets the dog and handler with thunderous applause and whistles, and pocket camera flashes fire off as if the dogs are rock stars. The judge examines the canines on standing and moving. In less than 15 minutes, the judge, Virginia Lynn of British Columbia, Ontario, makes her decision. The eight handlers and dogs parade around the ring once more. Lynn dramatically sweeps her arm, and the crowd cheers as she points to Best of Breed — Winston.

Manny fails to earn a repeat but takes home a highly respectable Award of Merit, an achievement similar to “honorable mention” but with more prestige. Helms would have liked a victory, she admits, particularly because she is retiring Manny this year. She’s optimistic, though: She has a young hopeful in contention for Westminster 2011.

With the show ended, Helms and Gilson find Manny, and the couple is all smiles back in the cramped benching area. Manny, the goofball, stands on his grooming table, attracting a huge crowd around his table. He struts about and offers full-bodied barks to Helms, hardly allowing her to get a word in edgewise.

“Manny was amazing!” she says. Woof! “He showed perfectly.” Woof! “You’re number one!” Woof! “But you do have kind of a loud mouth.”

Why We Love This Town

Staff Author

July 14, 2010

The 1891-built Joan Marchand Bridge was recently restored, painted bright red, and converted into an Ohio River overlook.

We love Evansville like a hopeless romantic, and the reasons we love this city are more than landmarks and attractions. We love our accent, brain sandwiches, and the West and East Side rivalry. We just love us, and you should, too.

Cute Cats

On Sept. 22, 2009, two new female cubs, Zimba and Maya, were welcomed into the world. They were the cute offspring of Beliza and Cuxtal, the jaguars inside Amazonia, Mesker Park Zoo’s newest rain forest attraction (1545 Mesker Park Drive, www.meskerparkzoo.com). The sisters are part of a national program to breed threatened or endangered species. That’s good news, but we love the girls because they are downright adorable — for now.

Dragon Tales

Each June, crewmembers paddle their rented dragon boats — canoe-like vessels with carved dragons’ heads for prows — 300 meters across Eagle Crest Lake to a flag perched on a buoy. Agile members of the boats’ crews, known as flag catchers, climb atop the dragons’ heads and snatch their flags to end the race. This event, known as Dragons on the Ohio for when it began on the river in 2006, has grown every year. At the end of 2009, organizers purchased two dragon boats for the 2010 race (June 5).

Fiddler Fetish

A recipe for a catfish fiddler: Chop the head off a catfish, dip it in batter, deep-fry it, and serve it nearly intact with bones, fins, and the tail. The origin of the fiddler has more questions than answers. (Where did the dish come from? Why is it called a “fiddler”? Why is it so darn good?) The latter question can be answered, actually. The grease gives the catfish an even brown color and a corny, crispy shell that crunches like a tortilla chip. Find fiddlers at Dogtown Tavern (6201 Old Henderson Road), Knob Hill Tavern (1016 State St., Newburgh, Ind.), and Haub House (206 N. Main St., Haubstadt, Ind.).

Admirable Accent

We live on the Ohio River’s north bank, which geographically means we are in Yankee country. That’s a fact. Check it out on Google Maps. When standing on the Downtown Riverfront, however, we can plainly see Kentucky — a mere five-minute drive for many Evansvillians. This dichotomy’s given us our unique accent: a blend of Yankee cool and Southern charm.

Courthouse Catacombs

Phil Wolter’s job site is haunted, and his employees are a bloodthirsty clan of vampires. Every fall, the full-time haunted-house designer transforms Evansville’s most recognizable Downtown landmark, the Old Vanderburgh County Courthouse, into the “Olde Courthouse Catacombs” (www.oldcatacombs.com). The dirt floors and vaulted ceilings are creepy on their own, but Wolter’s elaborate sets, live actors, and smart storylines intensify the setting even more.[pagebreak]

Cornhole

We didn’t invent the popular backyard game involving eight beanbags and two boards, each with one hole. (Cincinnatians passionately make that claim, despite lack of conclusive evidence.) We do love it, though, and we did host the 2009 World Championship of Cornhole. Nearly 1,000 spectators packed the Metro Sports Center (5820 Metro Center Drive) as Kentuckian Matt Guy and (appropriately) Cincinnatian Randy Atha, a duo known as the OK Connection, out-tossed 125 teams in a 12-hour cornhole marathon.

Pawn Shop Paradise

Where can you find diamond rings, drum sets, guns, and guitars? Goldman’s Pawn Shop (107 S.E. Fourth St.) is loveable not just for its wildly diverse selection of merchandise, but for its history. Since the shop opened in 1898, it has passed hands through five generations of family members.

Stadium Evolution

We loved Roberts Stadium. We loved it so much that we wore it out. Demolition began Downtown in late 2009 to make way for a new state-of-the-art, 11,000-seat arena, slated for completion by the end of next year.

Pretty in Pink

The sheer size of Evansville’s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure (www.komenevansville.org) is awe-inspiring: The event once drew more than 18,000 runners and walkers. But participants know it’s not about the numbers; it’s about the camaraderie and support. Last year, during a pre-race speech, NEWS 25 anchor and breast cancer survivor Shelley Kirk pulled off her baseball cap and revealed her bald head to massive applause from her audience.

Floppy Disk

In a constantly changing world, it’s comforting to know there are some things you can count on. Technology isn’t one of them, but fortunately, the Floppy Disk at Bits & Bytes (216 N.W. Fourth St.) stuck around even when its namesake became obsolete. With fresh pita rounds, shreds of Colby Jack cheese, a choice of deli meat, and the garlicky, ever-intriguing “secret sauce,” the sandwich has been a staple since the Downtown deli opened in 1986.

Under The Beams

For 10 years, an 1818-built granary in rural Southwest Indiana has been an enchanting home for live music. The Under the Beams concert series in the Rapp-Owen Granary (413 Granary St., New Harmony, Ind.) is “just one spoke of the cultural wheel of New Harmony,” says Liz Mumford, a founder of the series that brings everything from swing music to chamber orchestras to New Harmony. No matter who’s performing at Under the Beams (www.underthebeams.org), the granary’s beamed ceilings, hardwood floors, and intimate setting are magical.[pagebreak]

Cold Beer

Evansville is a city founded on a rich German heritage, and Germans drink beer. Lots of beer. So the Gerst Haus (2100 W. Franklin St.), a German restaurant on the West Side housed in a century-old former hardware store, offers an ice-cold “fishbowl” of its house beer for less than $3. Gerst beer once was brewed in Evansville’s Sterling Brewery; the amber brew now comes from Pittsburgh but still ranks as the Gerst Haus’ top-selling beer.

Old West

A walk down West Franklin Street feels like a living history museum — a glimpse into a time before chain shops and restaurants dominated the retail landscape. Locally owned bakeries, antique stores, and pharmacies line the street, the main artery through Evansville’s West Side that somehow manages to be both rustic and grand.

Snow Hysteria

An inch of snow is predicted tonight — quick! Hurry to the grocery store and clear the shelves — and drive 10 mph through the flurries while you’re at it. Our abject terror at the prospect of winter weather baffles many a Northern transplant, and while Evansville has its share of true emergencies (the January 2009 ice storm, for one), our fear usually is unfounded.

Sports Supporters

Indiana residents are nationally known for “Hoosier hysteria,” our passion for basketball. That’s true for the die-hard fans of the University of Evansville Purple Aces and the University of Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles, but our city’s love of sports transcends the basketball court. State champions at Memorial High School soccer, Reitz football, and Mater Dei wrestling — Evansville has plenty of its own cherished sports traditions.

Central Bark

We like to think a dog is man’s best friend. But when you take your dog to Evansville’s Central Bark Dog Park (www.evansvilledogpark.org), in Kleymeyer Park off Diamond and First avenues, it’s obvious that dogs are dogs’ best friends. Somehow, tiny terriers, playful Labrador Retrievers, and slobbery Mastiffs all get along — and they have a ball-chasing, tug-of-warring, tail-wagging good time. A trip to this members-only park is entertaining for humans and canines alike.

Manliest Sandwich in America

When Hilltop Inn’s brain sandwich was named “the manliest sandwich in America,” by men’s humor Web site www.asylum.com, it was no joke. “There’s definitely something about mashing up something’s brain, frying it in a pan, and dropping it on a bun that’s guaranteed to put hair on your chest,” wrote Asylum editor-in-chief Neil Gladstone. More than 10,000 are sold yearly at the West Side restaurant (1100 Harmony Way). Imagine the excitement Gladstone would feel if he only knew we also ate fried chicken hearts. Technically, we drive to Fleig’s Café in Ferdinand, Ind., and Mac-A-Doo’s in Jasper, Ind., for such delicacies.[pagebreak]

Keeping It Wheel

We’ve expressed our love of roller derby women before. We love their passion, ferocity, and clever names (Betty ClockHer, Yoko OhNo!, and Painbow Brite, for starters), and quite frankly, they scare us, which is just how they want us to feel. Plus, there are so many: the Rollergirls of Southern Indiana, known as ROSI (www.rollergirlsofsin.com), and the Demolition City Roller Derby (www.demolitioncityrollerderby.com). That’s dozens of women who are hell on wheels.

"El Diablo"

The devil may be in the drink, but patrons of the artsy Penny Lane Coffeehouse (600 S.E. Second St.) say “El Diablo” is heaven-sent. The dark roast is fabled to cure a hangover — and we say a healthy veggie wrap or vegan baked goodie can’t hurt, either.

Urban Forest

Six miles of walking trails. Centuries-old trees. The chance to spot deer, raccoons, and marbled salamanders. These are just a few of the reasons why Evansvillians love Wesselman Woods. This East Side nature preserve (551 N. Boeke Road, www.wesselmannaturesociety.org) is the largest urban forest in the United States for cities with more than 100,000 residents, and it’s a peaceful paradise for city dwellers craving a getaway.

Pigeon Passage Progress

The Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage (www.pcgreenway.org) is the little project that could. For decades, the planned 42-mile pedestrian and bicycle trail was just that: a plan. Now, construction is moving along slowly but surely, and the project marched on in 2009. Six stainless steel panels with images of Evansville’s transportation history were installed at the Shirley James Gateway Plaza at the Mead Johnson Trailhead. In October, the 1891-built Joan Marchand Bridge (on Ohio Street between Fulton and Wabash avenues) was restored, painted bright red, and converted into an Ohio River overlook with benches and bicycle racks. Late this year, look for a new section of the greenway to connect Franklin and Maryland streets.

Walks (or Runs) to Remember

In 2004, a group of Vanderburgh County Health Department nurses realized that simply advising patients to exercise wasn’t enough — people needed a resource to help them get started. So the nurses compiled a booklet called “Evansville In Motion,” which provided maps and distances of local walking and running routes. (Download it at www.vanderburghgov.org or www.gerwc.com, the Web site of the Greater Evansville Runners/Walkers Club.) A few gems: the Riverfront stretch of the Pigeon Creek Greenway Passage, a loop around the Evansville State Hospital grounds, and the killer hill workout at Burdette Park.

The Love of Pete

Last year, just before Christmas, an anonymous benefactor known only as “Pete” called Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center and directed staff members to an evergreen tree near two Dumpsters. There, they found a metal Christmas tree with 30 hundred-dollar bills secured to the branches. “Pete” has quietly visited the center every year since 1990, and his cash donations have added up to nearly $65,000. Employees at Easter Seals (www.eastersealsswindiana.com), which provides therapy and other services to people with disabilities, look forward to his visits, and so does the community. “Pete’s” anonymous generosity is one of Evansville’s most heartwarming traditions.[pagebreak]

Belles of the Ball

Evansville’s Bosse Field (1701 N. Main St.), the nation’s third oldest professional ballpark, was immortalized in the 1992 film A League of Their Own as the home of a women’s baseball team, the Racine Belles. Crowds at Bosse Field won’t see the home team (www.evansvilleotters.com) in skirts, but they will see the Otter Belles, the dance team that sports old-fashioned uniforms like the movie characters’ — dresses, knee socks, and baseball caps — and runs the promotions that get kids psyched.

McGarians

Next time you write your return address on an envelope, thank Colonel Robert Evans that you aren’t from McGary’s Landing, Ind. That was our city’s original name in 1812, after Hugh McGary purchased land in what now is Downtown Evansville. The name didn’t stick, though, and in 1814, the settlement was renamed to honor Evans, a prominent territorial legislator.

Family Circus

The Hadi Shrine Circus, an Evansville institution, dazzles crowds every Thanksgiving weekend with a troupe of high-flying trapeze artists, comical clowns, and enormous elephants in a three-ring circus. 2010 is the 77th year for the circus, and it isn’t unusual to see several generations of the same family munching on peanuts and cheering for the circus acts.

Tales & Scales

With a core group of four talented young musicians, this Evansville “musictelling” ensemble (www.talesandscales.org) blends music, theater, dance, and storytelling into captivating performances and workshops that are a hit with local schoolchildren. But don’t take it from us. In the words of Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor Keith Lockhart, the troupe has “one of the most imaginative, musically creative, and professionally executed approaches to music education that I have ever encountered.”

Long Haul

Six years ago, organizers of the inaugural Evansville Half Marathon (www.evansvillehalfmarathon.org) knew they needed more than just a 13.1-mile race. They needed a training program that could inspire seasoned racers and couch potatoes alike. Since then, thousands of Evansvillians old and young, fast and slow, and everything in between have crossed the finish line, and every October, community members offer wholehearted support. Our half-marathon (Oct. 10) truly is a democratic event.

Rival Revelry

Maybe the rivalry began when the West Side was a town all its own known as Lamasco. It lasted just 21 years until Lamasco merged with Evansville in 1857. Does the attitude of a city change when a citizen crosses Pigeon Creek, the grand divider of the East and West Sides? Maybe. Is that a problem? No. Each October, doesn’t every Evansvillian enjoy the fried food at the West Side Nut Club’s Fall Festival on West Franklin Street? Each December, doesn’t every Evansvillian hit Green River Road to find a retail bargain? Subtle differences make each half of the city unique, but we certainly aren’t divided.[pagebreak]

Men in Lederhosen

We’re German, and we’re proud. (Just check out the city street names or count the Eickhoffs and Zirkelbachs in the local phone book.) Perhaps nowhere is Evansville’s heritage — ahem — displayed more proudly than by the lederhosen-wearing men at the annual Volksfest (August 5-7). Hosted by Germania Mannerchor (916 N. Fulton Ave., www.germania.evansville.net), the local German singing club, this festival has beer, brats, and polka music aplenty. Prost!

Roseanne Reminders

The popular 1988-1997 sitcom Roseanne was set in the fictional town of Lanford, Ill., but exterior shots of Roseanne’s yellow-sided home (619 S. Runnymeade Ave.); favorite hangout, “the Lobo” (now Talk of the Town Pizza, 1200 Edgar St.); and other spots were filmed in Evansville. The connection? Roseanne co-creator and producer Matt Williams grew up here.

Historic Homes

From Italianate to Queen Anne, a walk through the Riverside Historic District is a lesson in popular architectural styles of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Roughly bounded by Southlane Drive and Walnut, Third, and Parrett streets, the district earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Many of the mansions on First Street and Riverside Drive once were home to Evansville’s latter-day luminaries such as former bank president Charles Viele. The cornerstone of the district: the 1871-built Reitz Home Museum (224 S.E. First St., www.reitzhome.evansville.net), called one of the nation’s finest examples of French Second Empire architecture.

Tomato Toppers

More than 125 tons of tomatoes are produced in the world each year. None better can be found than at Ollie’s Sports Bar & Grill (4920 Bellemeade Ave.). Owner J.B. Dearing relies on loyal patrons for fresh produce, including lettuce and jalapeños. From June through September, the tomatoes in the salads and on the sandwiches come from the home garden of John Pickens, a retired Alcoa employee. Pickens’ 40 pounds of tomatoes each week give Ollie’s beautifully red, sweet, and homegrown fruit.

Deco Decor

When Evansville’s Greyhound bus station opened in 1939 at the corner of Third and Sycamore streets, it was more than a bustling transportation hub. It symbolized the romance of the open road. Now, the long-distance bus transportation station is all but obsolete. In 2007, Evansville’s Greyhound terminal moved a few blocks away to the METS station, and the iconic building — which once saw more than 100 arriving and departing buses daily — has been vacant ever since. Its future remains uncertain.

Lincoln’s Log Inn

Name an institution that has more history in Evansville than the Log Inn (12653 S. 200 E., Haubstadt, Ind.). The Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana says you can’t. They’ve named the family-style restaurant — known for heaping plates of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and green beans — as the oldest business in the Hoosier state operating in its original building. Since 1825, the Log Inn has served a smorgasbord of hungry patrons, including a president before he was commander-in-chief. In 1844, Abraham Lincoln dined at the inn during a speaking tour to support the Whig Party, or so the legend goes. We imagine he ate family-style, too.

Hot Ticket

Staff Author

July 13, 2010

The summer solstice on June 21 marks the official beginning of summer, but for locals, our Catholic summer socials escort in the season with chicken dinners, cornhole tournaments, and carnival rides. The faithful know which ones offer the best bingo, beer, and burgoo. Here’s a look at a few longtime favorites.

Holy Redeemer Summer Social
This North Side church and school (918 W. Mill Road), built in 1952, holds its summer social in early June. On the agenda: home-cooked dinners, raffles, rides, games, and food booths. Churches often rely on their summer socials as the largest fundraiser of the year.

St. Boniface Summer Social
Built in 1881, St. Boniface — a Wabash Avenue landmark known for its grotto beneath the church (418 N. Wabash Ave.) — dominates the West Side skyline with its twin spires. While the parish’s summer social features many of the usual trappings, including rides, face painting, and home-cooked food, parishioners especially look forward to sales of elaborate, handmade quilts. St. Boniface’s quilting ministry dates back to 1940.

St. John the Baptist’s summer social
With rides, food booths, raffles, and a dunk tank, St. John the Baptist’s summer social is the primary fundraiser for the parish (625 Frame Road, Newburgh, Ind.), which celebrated its 140th anniversary in 2006 and has the largest number of parishioners (more than 5,000) in the Diocese of Evansville.

Holy Rosary Summer Social
In 1950, a group of local Catholics petitioned the bishop to create a new parish — Holy Rosary (1301 S. Green River Road) — on Evansville’s fast-growing East Side. Even before the first Mass was held in 1951, a group of parishioners began planning a summer social, according to a church history, and called it the “Holy Rosary Country Fair.” Despite five days of heavy rain, that first social went on, and every year, this long-running event brings back timeless pleasures from the early days: rides, food booths, and fellowship.

Casting Off a New Hobby

Staff Author

July 7, 2010

Confession:
I wrote this in the middle of hotter-than-blazes July, when wool yarn was the last thing I wanted touching my skin. But looking ahead to the holiday gift-giving season and autumn’s invigorating chill, I signed up for a beginners’ knitting class, “Knit Now,” at KnitWitts Yarn Shoppe with the goal of mastering the basics well enough to make some new cool-weather accessories and handmade Christmas gifts.

The Scoop:
When I stepped inside KnitWitts (5040 Bellemeade Ave.), owner Kris Proctor greeted me right away and helped me choose a pair of bamboo needles and a simple, beginner-appropriate skein of yarn. I joined a group of knitters, ranging from twenty-somethings to octogenarians, all knitting and chatting in the center of the shop.

Don’t let the word “class” intimidate you — the Wednesday night gatherings are informal opportunities for KnitWitts customers to work on their projects, and novices will feel right at home in this friendly, encouraging bunch. Proctor sat down next to me on the couch and walked me through the four steps of knitting, chanting, “Make an X, wrap it around, take it through, slide it off” each time I made a stitch. She watched me plod through row after row of stitches, forming a clumsy practice square as her own needles clicked away and a sweater began to take shape.

The second week, I learned to purl, which is basically knitting backward. (Knitters combine these two stitches in different patterns to give their projects different designs and textures.) At my third class, I learned how to cast the stitches on and off my needles, and Proctor deemed me ready to start my first project: a hat knit from irresistibly soft alpaca yarn, perfect for crisp fall weather.

The Verdict:
The stereotypical frumpy sweaters and moth-bitten afghans were nowhere to be seen at KnitWitts — the other knitters’ works-in-progress and the finished projects displayed in the shop were undeniably cool. Among them: a chic black felted purse called the “Jackie O” and a swing-style cardigan with lime green buttons.

Plus, the group isn’t kidding when it calls Wednesday nights “group therapy.” The repetitive stitches are as soothing as the lively banter is stimulating, and I loved making visible progress every session. At the risk of alienating my fellow knitters by using a crocheting term, I’m hooked.

Need to Know:
Knit Now is an ongoing class; show up Tuesdays at 10 a.m. or Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. to complete your three sessions. After finishing Knit Now, you’ll know how to knit, purl, and cast on and off — all the basics you need to start a simple project such as a scarf or hat. Three sessions cost $30, which includes a 10 percent discount on supplies. To sign up, call KnitWitts owner Kris Proctor at (812) 471-8540.

Binding Us Fast

Staff Author

July 7, 2010

The First Presbyterian Church near Downtown Evansville traces its roots to 1821.

On a moonless night late last fall, scores of Evansville-area families gathered at their new house of worship to celebrate one of the most important holidays of their faith. Clad in brightly colored, new clothes and bearing gifts and food fit for a feast, they greeted each other warmly before heading outside for an evening of fireworks. The celebration? Diwali, the Hindu “Festival of Lights.”

The event, laden with symbols of good – represented by light – triumphing over the darkness of evil, was the first Diwali celebrated at the Tri-State Hindu Temple, home to more than 200 families of Indian origin within a 50-mile radius of Evansville. Members – many of whom are doctors, university professors, and business owners – have spent several years raising the funds to build a place where they could worship as a community. Along with the Islamic Center of Evansville, which serves some 250 families from around the world, the Hindu temple represents the growing multi-cultural diversity of the city.

It’s a much different place in many ways than on the cold December day in 1819 when a group of pioneers gathered in the log cabin of Hugh McGary, the founder of their small settlement along the Ohio River. A Methodist circuit rider named John Schrader stood before them, having traveled through the wilderness to reach their isolated dwelling. Opening his Bible, Schrader read aloud to his audience. With these words, Schrader presided over the first recorded church service in Evansville history. For the next two centuries, faith and religion would continue to play an important role in the growth and development of the city.

Evansville’s historians say the city is rich in sacred ground, filled with the icons, relics, steeples, and temples that reflect an increasing presence of the world’s religions. The city may have begun with the prayers of Christians, but other faiths have followed.

Among the earliest believers to locate in the area were 33 men and women who built a primitive log cabin church on the bank of Carpenter Creek in a community later known as Howell, now part of Evansville’s West Side. They would become the founders of a mother church of a new denomination that would spread around the world. This year, that congregation, known as Howell General Baptist Church, will celebrate its 184th anniversary.

Around the same time as Howell’s humble beginnings, a group of Presbyterians were building their congregation in Evansville. By 1831, they felt secure enough to buy a lot on Second Street for $100 and erect what they called “The Little Church on the Hill.” Within a decade, those early Protestants would be joined by the waves of German immigrants arriving in the United States, who were drawn by the promise of political, religious, and economic freedom.[pagebreak]

Evansville Historic Preservation Officer Dennis Au says the city’s civic and religious histories are interwoven. The Daughters of Charity, a Roman Catholic order of nuns, for example, started the city’s first hospital in 1827; it has evolved into the St. Mary’s Health System. In 1886, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was built on First Street. It not only served residents of what was the wealthiest neighborhood at the time but also the 129-foot church spire was used as a guide for steamboats along the Ohio River. And the first wave of German immigrants who would arrive in Evansville were drawn here by a desire to seek freedom from religious persecution. They thrived here, and with their letters home to friends and family, more soon followed.

Au says many of the first Germans to arrive here were of the business and merchant class and a great number were Lutheran and “Evangelisch” or Evangelicals. The latter group built the churches that later merged into a denomination known as the United Church of Christ, one of Evansville’s largest Protestant denominations.

By the 1880s, the city saw the arrival of the denomination most associated with the Germans in Evansville: the Roman Catholics who tended to be farmers and laborers who clung to their faith.

“It’s no accident that one of the first Roman Catholic churches on the West Side is called St. Boniface since he is considered Germany’s patron saint,” says Au. The church’s cornerstone was laid in 1881. It was rebuilt after a fire in 1901, and remains an Evansville landmark with its towering twin spires that loom over the West Side. The congregation built a school to educate their children, starting a trend of Catholic education in Evansville that would continue over the next century. They designed their sanctuary with magnificent architectural details, including vaulted ceilings, stained-glass windows that depict a heavenly host of saints, and hand-carved wooden stations around the nave of the church that represent the Passion and death of Jesus according to The Gospel of John.

The congregation clung to its German heritage, but one Sunday in 1917, during the height of World War I, the writing under the Stations of the Cross in the church was quietly changed from German, the predominant language of the parishioners, to assure outsiders of the congregation’s
allegiance to their new homeland.

Other churches, both Protestant and Catholic, followed suit, Au says. Eager to prove their American patriotism, the German congregations held rallies and public flag raisings, and their pastors and priests held services and preached sermons in English.

Although the German Catholics may have left some of the most visible marks on the face of Evansville’s religious landscape, other racial and ethnic groups also indelibly changed the city. As former slaves crossed the Ohio River after the Civil War, the number of African-American churches grew dramatically in the city. Among the first was Liberty Baptist Church, still in existence. By 1870, the African-American population in Evansville had soared to 2,000 and was concentrated in an area around what is now Lincoln Avenue and Governor Street. So many Baptist churches serving African-Americans sprung up by the turn of the century that the area became known as “Baptist Town.”

The city was becoming more culturally, racially, and religiously diverse. Among the wave of immigrants who came to Evansville in the mid- to late 1800s were members of the Jewish faith. Like their Christian counterparts, German Jews left their homeland facing political unrest. In addition, many Eastern European Jews were forced from their homelands during religious persecution. Au says many European Jews first arrived in New York City and then made their way inland, often settling in towns with German ties. Evansville’s European heritage proved to be an attraction to the Jewish immigrants: Congregation B’nai Israel was established in 1857, followed by Temple A’dath Israel in 1883.[pagebreak]

The synagogues served members who belonged to two denominations, the Conservative movement and the Reform movement of Judaism. But, the congregations also reflected their members’ different geographical backgrounds, says Evansville’s Rabbi Barry Friedman. One was predominantly German while the other was made of members from Eastern Europe and Russia. In 1980, the two congregations merged into what is now known as Temple Adath B’nai Israel.

It has only been in the last 40 years that the city has seen an increase in other faiths’ traditions. The first members of the Islamic Center of Evansville began to arrive in the 1970s, following a major piece of legislation signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 that temporarily repealed long-standing quotas on immigration by national origin. The result was a significant decrease in immigrants arriving from Europe and a corresponding increase of immigrants from Asia and the Middle East. Among the first Muslim immigrants to arrive in Evansville was Dr. Mohammad Hussain, an Evansville pediatrician from Pakistan. He personified many of the Muslims who would follow to the Evansville area: well-educated professionals seeking to build a new life for themselves and their families. As their numbers grew, so did the need for larger worship centers. By 1988, the congregation had outgrown three locations and had built a mosque on Lincoln Avenue, next door to St. Benedict Cathedral. The congregation, which has grown to more than 200 families now, is raising money to build a new mosque on the city’s East Side, near Temple Adath B’nai Israel.

Among the emerging faiths in Evansville is Hinduism. The local Hindu community has increased significantly since the early 1990s with the arrival of immigrants from India. They first began gathering for worship services at a local library and often traveled to Louisville to celebrate major holidays at the Hindu temple there. In 2006, they broke ground at a site in Newburgh for their own temple and have plans to expand the building as the congregation grows.

Another trend on the rise is the increase of non-denominational Christian “mega-churches” in the area. Among the best-known are Bethel Temple, Crossroads Christian Church, and Christian Fellowship Church. Though growing in size, they’ve faced their own challenges. “As you grow bigger, you have to feel smaller,” says Andy Hanson, Christian Fellowship Church’s administrator. “Otherwise it’s just a big crowd of people.”

The mega-churches, along with the rest of Evansville’s religious organizations, are striving to meet the needs of a changing society. While some denominations have lost members over the years, other congregations have been created or have increased their numbers, adding to the constant evolution of religious life in the city. It is believed that the word religion comes from the Latin word religare, which means “to bind fast.” Regardless of the changing face of religion, Evansville will undoubtedly continue to be a city bound to its religious beliefs. With 200 years of tradition, Evansville’s faithful have a long history to guide them.

What a Nut

Staff Author

July 7, 2010

Neil and Melinda Seidel’s collection of Mr. Peanut memorabilia boasts a variety of items.

In 1916, Mr. Peanut was a skinny-legged guy with a peanut body and fancy accessories: a top hat, monocle, and cane. He became the friendly ambassador for a simple snack. More than 90 years later, Mr. Peanut is an icon for Planters Peanuts. He’s graced Planters packaging, print ads, billboards, and television commercials. He even received a millennium gift: a new car.

His diehard fans are numerous. More than 1,000 are card-carrying members of the Peanut Pals, the national collectors club, including Evansville residents Neil and Melinda Seidel, who have been to two Midwest and two national club conventions. This spring, the Seidels hosted the Midwest Peanut Pals Convention in Evansville for 41 collectors.

The Seidels’ collection is close to home. They grew up in the Planters hometown, Wilkes-Barre, Penn. “I can see Mr. Peanut in my mind on East Market Street in Wilkes-Barre handing out a little sampling of their peanuts,” Neil says, recalling the overwhelming fragrance of roasting peanuts as he passed by the Planters headquarters.

When Neil landed a banking job in Evansville, Melinda’s mother gave them a going-away gift to remember Wilkes-Barre: a 1950s Planters tin with a peanut grinder built into the lid. From there, “it kind of became an obsession,” says Neil. Inside their home are hundreds of items found at the Vanderburgh 4-H Center, collectors’ auctions, and antique shops or on eBay. They have metal and plastic figurines, jars, fishbowls, toy trucks, and nightlights — even a Mr. Peanut putter with a nubby head in the distinctive peanut shape. Among the rare pieces is a little bag the size of a playing card made of glassine paper, used circa 1910 to serve samples of peanuts before a more popular material, waxed paper, took over.

Collecting rare items only is part of the fun. The Seidels’ grandchildren have dressed in Mr. Peanut costumes for Halloween, Neil says, and the couple loves to meet “others with the same interest who are just delightful people.”

All in on Yoga

Staff Author

July 7, 2010

If Yoga 101 owner Nicole Tibbs makes Standing Bow Pulling pose look easy, then she’s doing her job.

Years ago, Mike Cunningham was out on a limb, trimming a tree. When the limb broke, his safety rope failed him, and he fell several feet, shattering his left heel. In the 28 years since his fall, the now-57-year-old has led an active lifestyle, staying fit with weights and an elliptical, but still, without ankle cartilage, working out doesn’t always work out.

His wife of 21 years, Tina, also stays active, but the Cunninghams balance a busy schedule like most Evansville families: They bounce from work to their kids’ soccer games to board meetings and more. A year ago, the couple wanted an activity to do together that kept them healthy. The two thought yoga — an exercise that can be performed next to your significant other — might be perfect. After one class at Bikram-based hot yoga studio, Yoga 101 on the East Side, they were hooked — a surprising notion considering Bikram Choudhury, one of the leading hot-yoga experts, jokes that his yoga studios are “torture chambers.” The torture, Bikram says, is the high temperature at hot yoga studios, which reaches over 100 degrees and 50 percent humidity, but the heat allows muscles to stretch deeply with less difficulty while releasing metabolic waste and tension from the body through sweat.

For Tina, however, the heat is great. “It’s like a vacation during the day,” she says. For Mike, he found therapy, and his shattered heel is in less distress. “Try it for a week or a month,” he says, “and see if you don’t feel better.” They’ve found rehabilitation, stress relief, and exercise in their yoga practice, which motivates the couple to make the 7,000-year-old philosophy from India a priority.

Millions around the country do, too. In a recent 2008 yoga study released by the Yoga Journal, an estimated 15.8 million Americans practice yoga. Yoga styles in America came from Hatha yoga. Derived from the Sanskrit words for sun (ha) and moon (tha), the most popular yoga style is an active practice, filled with “opposite pairs.” Often, this is seen from opposing poses: one used to lengthen the spine, the other to round. While 80 percent of the American yoga population is between the ages of 18 and 55, this is an exercise for any age, and yoga practitioners have a breadth of styles to find an exercise suitable for their needs.

Evansville is no exception, but a few years ago, that was different, as Yoga 101 owner and instructor Nicole Tibbs remembers traveling to Louisville every weekend for a Bikram class. A lifelong athlete, Tibbs was drawn to how physically demanding yoga is and slightly captivated by the lore of Bikram’s methods. During the 1970s, Bikram became the yoga instructor for the Japanese Imperial family and claims he even healed then-soon-to-be Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka of stroke complications. His success expanded westward to Hawaii, where, based on a recommendation from Tanaka, a bed-ridden U.S. President Richard Nixon sought yoga therapy from Bikram to cure a vein obstruction and vessel inflammation in his left leg.

Whether fact or folklore, Tibbs has felt the therapeutic benefits of Bikram yoga for years, and she was inspired to bring this yoga style to Evansville. She trained with Bikram and began teaching in Evansville in 2001.

Evansville native Chris Crews, owner of Evansville Yoga Center, opened her studio three years ago after studying in Arizona. Her success at her West Side studio motivated her to open an East Side studio in August 2008. She’s currently training 14 new instructors, and the days of when yoga was an Evansville rarity are gone.

Western medical studies have shown yoga also heals its practitioners emotionally. The Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, released a study in 2007 revealing breast cancer patients who practiced yoga “showed improvements in quality of life; greater emotional, social, and spiritual well being; and less distress.” A German study showed women practicing yoga had significantly lower levels of cortisol — the “stress hormone” — than those who did not.[pagebreak]

If someone had told me yoga “cured Richard Nixon” or “lowered your stress hormones,” I would have dismissed yoga as New Age voodoo with a roll of my eyes. Instead, I was told it was great exercise and began practicing in 2006. Six months into my practices, I would feel angry during practice for no apparent reason, except as Yoga 101 instructor Kathy Freisinger explained to me, people carry scar tissue on their joints, especially their hips. Yoga releases the scar tissue, and with it, years of built-up anger and frustration. So when I read today about medical studies showing the emotional benefits of yoga, I say with a roll of my eyes, “Of course,” because it’s so obvious.

The Western medical studies are proving to hospitals and other healthcare facilities yoga plays an important role in community health. The Deaconess Resource Center has a three-hour yoga workshop, one Saturday a month, as a means to overcome depression. “Everything that has ever happened to you is logged in the tissues,” says Deaconess instructor Lucille York, who’s been practicing for more than 30 years. “Yoga is a way of releasing trauma and memories in the body.”

Tibbs’s style is more relaxed and fun. While most yoga practitioners often play rhythmic chantings of ambient music, Tibbs sometimes breaks away from that, ushering in more popular (though still soothing) music like Jack Johnson. Just because the atmosphere is relaxed doesn’t mean you can. Tibbs and the other Yoga 101 instructors push you without exceeding your physical limitations. “If we can be joyful and fun in a place that can be intense,” Tibbs says, “it can be a catalyst into the rest of our lives.”

From the yoga disciplines of Bikram to Ananda to Forrest, it’s clear the numerous yoga styles in Evansville rehabilitate injuries and strengthen muscles and joints. Crossover principles exist among the different styles, a fact Crews knows well. A Kripalu expert taught Crews, but Crews practices a more general Hatha style at her studios. In fact, you might not even notice any differences between yoga styles, says Crews, because whether you want stress relief, exercise, or inner peace, “ultimately these practices reach your desired goal.” Still, understanding the subtle nuances of yoga styles can help you choose a class that works best for you.

What a Workout
To studious practitioners, Ashtanga is a fast-paced practice that combines poses to create a series of heart-pumping exercises, building strength and flexibility. For the fitness buffs, it’s a workout resembling power yoga — a style developed to give yoga a Western touch.

Restorative Resources
Bikram is a series of 26 sequential poses performed in a hot, humid room, designed to develop, strengthen, and tone muscles. The sequence also builds cardiac health and fights obesity, insomnia, arthritis, diabetes, and more.

Developed by yogi Ana Forrest, Forrest is intense and builds incredible strength and flexibility through a series of arm balances and standing poses. This yoga is also mentally beneficial. Once you remove body tension, instructors help you to replace the tension with positive thoughts.

Spiritual Seekers
Ananda is an introspective style that’s all about you, though not necessarily about you and the perfectly toned body. This style’s focus is self-awareness. The motto is silent affirmations move toward higher, spiritual awareness. At the Bodyworks Massage Institute in Evansville, the Ananda practice “is not as much focus on perfect alignment of the physical body, but more a meditative, heart-centered practice of simple movement and postures that will encourage one to open, relax, and feel more at peace with oneself and others,” says instructor Cecile Martin.

Kripalu developed during the 1970s when yogi Amrit Desai discovered his body flowed through yoga poses without direction from his mind. The style — touted as a path to self-discovery — is designed to release mental control of the body during a posture practice and enter meditation.

Be Good (For Goodness’ Sake!)

Staff Author

July 7, 2010

From celebrating the arts to helping children to feeding the hungry, so many charities in Evansville support worthy missions. People here have a tradition of responding to our community’s needs. Here’s our guide to doing good.

Ted Ziemer

Ted Ziemer, a partner in the law firm of Ziemer, Stayman, Weitzel & Shoulders, LLP, has earned a reputation for being a passionate and successful fundraiser — so much so that the Vanderburgh Community Foundation honored him with a Spirit of Giving award for Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser. He currently serves on the board of trustees for the University of Southern Indiana and the board of directors for the St. Mary’s Foundation; the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science; the local chapters of the American Red Cross and the United Way; and more.

I always say that the very most important part of a successful fundraising campaign is having a good case statement, showing why the money is needed, and what you’re going to be able to do with it — and the fact that if the money doesn’t come, you’re not going to be able to do it. If you can develop that case statement, the people of Evansville are so responsive to requests for funds.

For example, I was chairman of the Red Cross board for about six years when they were having their capital campaign to raise the $4.2 million they needed to build their new building out on the Lloyd Expressway … We had a wonderful case statement in that our building was rundown and leaking. We used to have board meetings where we had to put up umbrellas because water was dripping. So we saw the important need to have a new home for the Red Cross and its activities. We were able to raise the whole $4.2 million.

There are some things that you give to and it’s going to be forever; the organization’s going to continue. But when you see specific projects that can be attained, and they’re not going to be attained if you can’t raise the money to get it done … USI’s a marvelous example. So many of the scholarships only are possible because of the fundraising efforts that have taken place. Many of these kids are on partial or full scholarships and are first-time family members to go to college. They couldn’t do it if the scholarship funding wasn’t available to assist them. So that’s the motivation — just seeing the results that will flow from putting the money together that’s needed for an important project.

Strong Foundations

From the city’s schools to its arts organizations to its healthcare community, little has been left untouched by the generosity of Evansville families. Here’s a look at two very different foundations that have made doing good a family affair.

The Thomas A. and Sharon K. Ruder Foundation began in 1998 when longtime Edward Jones financial advisor Thomas Ruder and his wife, Sharon, “looked at the needs and wanted to support the community we reside in,” says Thomas. “I also had two young kids, and I wanted to instill in them that they have the responsibility to be philanthropic and to make the community a better place.”

The couple’s children — Bryan, now 18 and a Hanover College freshman, and Alex, 17, a senior at Bosse High School — play an active role in the foundation, reviewing grant applications and evaluating the community’s needs. The Ruder Foundation’s focus is broad: “to help fulfill the needs and dreams of the community where we live,” says Thomas, whether that means supporting nonprofit organizations, volunteering as a family, or facilitating higher education through an endowed scholarship for Eagle Scouts at the University of Southern Indiana.[pagebreak]

Two organizations the family deeply believes in are the Little Sisters of the Poor and the AIDS Resource Group. One year, Bryan delivered a check to the latter. “As a 16-year-old boy,
I think he was a little intimidated going in there,” Thomas admits. “But he came back blown away” by the kindness of the staff and the education and support services the organization provides.

The Bower-Suhrheinrich Foundation began when the late community philanthropist Dallas (Bower) Suhrheinrich developed a trust at Fifth Third Bank to manage her assets with her husband, William. After she passed away in 2003 at age 91, an advisory committee was established under the terms of the trust. The committee and bank elected to complete the multi-year grants that Suhrheinrich had begun during her lifetime, and “then it went from there,” says Patrick Koontz, a vice president and trust officer at Fifth Third who administers the Bower-Suhrheinrich Foundation.

In keeping with Suhrheinrich’s own interests, the foundation focuses on the arts and education. One of its most high-profile projects is the underwriting of the new Bower-Suhrheinrich Foundation Gallery at the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana, home to rotating art exhibits and weekly lunchtime performances of music, dance, theater, and more.

Other recent projects include developing children’s programming in the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library system and contributing to Patchwork Central’s art studio. “The idea is to start that interest in the arts at a very young age,” says Koontz, “so it’s not something completely foreign to them later when they have the opportunity to take a more proactive role. When they grow up, maybe they’ll be the next Bower-Suhrheinrich Foundation.”

Gina Moore

Longtime YMCA administrative assistant Gina Moore credits her job, in part, for piquing her interest in community service, but around Evansville, she’s best known as the songbird who donates her soaring voice to local charity events. Moore has performed with celebrities such as Josh Groban (who is “just as everyday as you and me,” she says) and Michael Bolton (“not approachable at all — you’re not all that, honey”). Still, some of her most memorable experiences come from interacting with audience members at Evansville’s charity benefits.

I grew up singing at Liberty Baptist Church in the youth choir, and at first, I didn’t really like to sing. I was very, very rebellious. I would get up to the podium and sing real nonchalant. I don’t know what changed … When I joined the Sounds of Grace (at Grace and Peace Lutheran Church) in 1977, I was like, “Oh, this is fun!” Now you can’t shut me up.

I think it’s universal: People love music. If you’re passionate with your music, they just feel it — they feel it through you.

I sing at Race for the Cure every year, and I just enjoy that so much. I was getting some gas recently at Thorntons on St. Joseph Avenue, and as I was coming out, another lady was coming out, too. She said, “Excuse me, you don’t know me, but you sang at the Race for the Cure. I have cancer, and it came back.” My heart just sank. And she said, “But you sang that song, ‘I Run for Life,’ and it just lifted my spirits. I’m going to be all right. I have to go all the way back through chemo and the other stuff again, but that song just lifted my heart, and I’m going to hang on.” I said, “Please hang in there,” and she said, “I will see you next year. I’ll be there.”

I’m singing, and I’m enjoying it, and I’m feeling it, but what people get from it is amazing. I can’t really explain it, but the emotions on their faces … it’s what they interpret and how they’re feeling at that moment. I don’t know everyone’s situation and what they’re going through. But if it can come out in song, that’s awesome. It’s a blessing to be able to share that.[pagebreak]

Scott Wylie

After earning a law degree from the University of Illinois, Carmi, Ill., native Scott Wylie took his passion for public service to California. Now, back home in the Tri-State, he co-owns Firefly Southern Grill and frequently appears at local charity events as a caterer. Wylie also works at the Volunteer Lawyer Program, connecting area attorneys with pro bono opportunities. “I have this wonderful part-time job where I get to help attorneys do good,” Wylie says. “How cool is that?”

A lot of folks in the Midwest are raised with an obligation to help others if we ourselves are able. Growing up in a small town, when you looked at who was on the school board, who was on the Boy Scout council, who was on the boards of most of the local charities, you always saw the local doctors, the local lawyers, and other local professionals. I grew up in an environment where there was an expectation that if you were a lawyer, you had an obligation to use those skills you gained to help others. When I finished law school, I thought much the same. I’ve really been blessed that my education allowed me to do a lot of things to fulfill that dream of public service.

(Firefly co-owner Joshua Armstrong and I) decided early in the operation of our restaurant that our primary marketing opportunity was going to be to spend our money supporting local charities. It allows us to make their events more successful for them. So when they don’t have to spend as much money on catering or gift cards, they can devote more money to their mission. We primarily focus on human services and the arts in terms of the groups we support, but we’ve had the opportunity as a restaurant to support hundreds of local charities, all the way from small groups — church choirs and high school bands — to some of our largest charities, where we do major donations of catering or services.

Sometimes we’re being paid; sometimes we’re donating part of it. For a lot of events, we’ll donate the catering in its entirety — an event we do every year is Songs for Life, which benefits local AIDS charities. In all of those efforts, whether it’s donating a gift card or an auction package all the way up to doing catering, it’s a way we can live our corporate commitment to being a good community citizen.

Terry Huber

Fourteen years ago, Terry Huber wanted to be more involved in the community. As the executive director of workforce and economic development at Ivy Tech Community College, it was part of his job description — so he says. His dedication to the Lampion Center, a nonprofit counseling and support organization for children, became a deep passion. He raises funds, donates time, and advocates for their sexual abuse prevention programs. He’s a vocal champion for Lampion, and in October, the Vanderburgh Community Foundation also recognized his efforts as a children’s philanthropist with a 2009 Spirit of Giving Award.

Lampion dealt with family issues, but they also did adoptions. My brother-in-law was adopted through (Lampion predecessor) Family and Children’s Service. That was part of the meaningfulness I was looking for. Little did I know, but they provided help for children who experienced different kinds of abuse. Fast forward to today. They probably are known as the premier support and family group for small children, especially those dealing with different kinds of abuse — physical and sexual.

I have a daughter who, at 12 years old, was sexually abused by a teacher. It only was after going through therapy at what is now known as the Lampion Center that she went from feeling guilty for 20 years to understanding she was in fact a victim. I don’t believe in coincidences. Lampion Center now is involved in a program called Stewards of Children, which deals with that very issue.

It’s a program developed out of South Carolina where they had a huge problem with sexual abuse after a local principal was charged — a high-profile individual. This community was devastated. So they put together this marvelous program.

We have this perception that (molesters) are strangers in the park with a trench coat. Mostly, it’s people whom kids know and whom the kids and the parents trust. And, too many times it’s the parents themselves who are sexually abusing. This program educates and provides awareness and prevention. It’s been delivered now here to hundreds and hundreds, and the goal is to train thousands in the next few years.[pagebreak]

Karen Magan

Every September, when the Koch Family Children’s Museum of Evansville (cMoe) throws itself a birthday bash, partygoers have much to celebrate — including the work of Karen Magan. After opening Downtown in 2006, the museum created the Karen D. Magan Inspiring Life Award award to honor Magan, a tireless advocate for children and lover of childhood. Along with the Junior League of Evansville, she was an early champion of cMoe’s predecessor, the Hands On Discovery Children’s Museum.

I was active in the Junior League of Evansville and was asked to chair Kaleidoscope, a traveling art activity for children sponsored by Hallmark Cards.

As a provisional in the Junior League of Evansville, we were encouraged to be active in the community and the Junior League. I was an elementary school teacher and enjoy children and their wit. From observation, I know children benefit from active, hands-on learning. That’s what cMoe offers.

The biggest struggles in opening cMoe (initially called Hands On Discovery) were finding free space first in Eastland Mall and later in Washington Square Mall. It also was a challenge to keep volunteers interested when we were between locations and closed. But watching cMoe finally open in Downtown Evansville was wondrous — better than my wildest imaginings!

It’s the people I’ve worked with over the years who provide the best memories and inspiration. And learning Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel was backing the children’s museum made cMoe happen.

What does it take to see a project through more than a decade of hard work? Passion, persistence, patience, and people.

Check out the full feature in the November/December 2009 issue of Evansville Living!

Chill Out

Staff Author

July 7, 2010

Stress isn’t always the enemy. Our ancestors relied on short bursts of adrenaline to help them outrun predators and hunt for prey (also known as dinner). Now, that innate survival mechanism is more likely to help someone meet a tough deadline at work or compete in a tennis match. But prolonged unease — caused by family dysfunction, unemployment, substance abuse, or other stressors — can hurt your health. The Mayo Clinic notes that stress can cause ailments ranging from the physical (headaches, high blood pressure, insomnia) to mental and emotional (anxiety, depression, insecurity) to behavioral (overeating, social withdrawal, and relationship conflict).

The first step to tackling your worries: Be specific. Once you’ve defined what’s nagging you, develop a plan to deal with it. “Uncertainty in any form is very stressful,” says Dr. Mark Boling of Deaconess Cross Pointe. “It is easier to face a certain threat than to deal with general worries and concerns.”

We asked Boling for other tips and techniques to help us chill out.

Just breathe.
Deep breathing exercises “slow the heart rate and production of adrenaline, which fuels symptoms of anxiety,” Boling says. The same is true for muscle relaxation exercises. The Mayo Clinic suggests slowly tensing and relaxing muscles from your toes up to your head. Tense each muscle group for five seconds or more, then spend 30 seconds relaxing.

Get physical.
Whether you join a gym, take a walk with friends, or sign up for a softball league, exercise has healing benefits. Yoga, a popular method for stress relief, “offers the opportunity to learn methods of calming and focusing on the body and breathing,” Boling says.

Expand your horizons.
Serve meals at a shelter, tutor children, or care for homeless animals — volunteer activities open your eyes to other people and their needs. Another way to branch out: Take a class. Whether it’s oil painting, auto repair, or ballroom dancing, learning a new skill can be empowering.

Dig deep.
For people “who have a more existential angst about what their life is about and are stressed by a sense of purposelessness,” Boling says, spiritual counseling — which requires soul searching and examination of beliefs — may provide direction.

Sometimes, worries are too much to handle alone. Seek professional help when you can’t maintain your usual level of functioning, including your daily routines at work and home.

A Fiesta of Flavors

Staff Author

July 7, 2010

Los Toribio serves traditional Mexican dishes such as cactus salad (foreground) and mole poblano.

Ignacio “Nacho” Toribio never planned to work in a restaurant. Nearly three decades ago, living in Atlanta, he spent weekends helping his older brother Ramon run a Mexican restaurant. Arriving early in the morning and staying late at night “was something I didn’t like at all,” Toribio admits. “I was 25 or 26 and enjoying my life. I said, ‘This is not for me.’”

But years later, Toribio learned of a small Mexican eatery for sale in Henderson, Ky. Thinking of his brother’s successful business in Atlanta, he told himself, “At least I’m going to give it a try.” Toribio now owns two Los Toribio Mexican restaurants in Henderson.

Toribio — a native of Jalisco, a Mexican state on the Pacific coast — was 13 years old when he arrived in the United States in 1973. After stints in Texas, Florida, and Georgia, he worked as manager of housekeeping and maintenance for Nordstrom department stores in California. When a relative called to tell him about Cerro de la Silla, a Mexican restaurant for sale, Toribio felt ready for the opportunity to own a business. In 1994, he moved to Henderson with his family.

The original restaurant, renamed Los Toribio, has been replaced by two other locations. In 1996, Toribio opened a restaurant south of John James Audubon State Park on U.S. Highway 41. The ranch-style building, painted a cheerful shade of coral, is a 10-minute drive from Downtown Evansville. In 2005, another Los Toribio opened in a new building on South Green Street. The off-the-beaten-path dining destination requires a slightly longer haul for people north of the Ohio River, but the restaurant’s character makes it worth the drive, as does the menu of traditional Mexican dishes.

The attractive brick building features a patio with a tiered fountain. When I visited Los Toribio with two friends for a weeknight dinner, heavy rain prevented us from sitting outdoors. Still, the brightly decorated interior was a welcome contrast to the dreary weather. Larger-than-life wooden sculptures of a mariachi band line the entryway, and the restaurant has a sunny, south-of-the-border feel with green, orange, and yellow walls; painted murals; tiled tabletops; colorful carved furniture; and a festive bar area.

Toribio gives Gloria, his Colombian wife of 26 years, the credit for the interior design. “I always used to (decorate with) the colors of the flag — red, green, and white,” he says with a laugh. “She said, ‘I don’t want to see that anymore.’”

The menu, too, has a distinct touch. From unique presentation (my margarita was served in an unusually wide, shallow glass) to an unfamiliar dish (cactus salad), my group’s evening was full of small details that set the experience apart from other Mexican restaurants.

The first came when our waiter brought a basket of chips and two dishes of salsa. One salsa was mild with a thinner consistency; the other was spicier and thicker. “In other Mexican restaurants, they serve only one kind of salsa,” Toribio explains. “I made it a little different with two salsas at a time. People can decide what they want.” (As the menu notes, “Not all Mexican food is spicy hot.”)[pagebreak]

For an appetizer, we ordered the intriguing cactus salad, a dish that none of us had spotted on any other restaurant menu. The cactus — peeled, sliced, and cooked until slippery and tender — topped a bed of lettuce and tomato. A heap of shredded white cheese finished the dish. It sounded exotic, but Toribio says cactus salad is commonplace in Mexico: “That’s what I grew up with.” (However, he prefers cactus bean soup, another appetizer at Los Toribio.)

Entrees include the usual suspects, such as tacos, burritos, and tostadas, as well as dishes that reflect Toribio’s upbringing in the coastal state of Jalisco. The area is known for tender pork tips called carnitas, he says, and for seafood dishes. Los Toribio’s seafood selections include a whole fried tilapia and chilled gazpacho soup with shrimp, vegetables, and tomato juice.

One of my dining companions ordered shrimp fajitas, which arrived sizzling with slender slices of onion and chunks of tomato. The other friend’s enchiladas were topped with a mildly spicy brown sauce, a departure from the bright red, often canned variety. I opted for mole poblano, tender chicken in a pool of dark, velvety sauce made from Mexican chocolate, red chilies, and peanuts. In Mexico, the labor-intensive sauce is reserved for special occasions such weddings and quinceañeras. Closer to home, mole dishes aren’t available at all Mexican restaurants, so I relished the chance to try Los Toribio’s version: a beautiful balance of sweet and spicy flavors. The chicken dish was served with mild yet flavorful rice, creamy refried beans topped with melted cheese, and warm tortillas.

The menu includes a small dessert section with flan, sopapilla (a fried tortilla topped with honey, cinnamon, and butter), and ice cream, but a real treat is stopping by Los Toribio for the occasional mariachi band performance. Then, Toribio dons a charro suit, worn by traditional Mexican horsemen, and travels from table to table singing with the band.

Singing is just one of Toribio’s passions outside the restaurant business — which, despite his initial reluctance as a 20-something, he calls “a good thing to get into.” More than a decade after arriving in Henderson, Toribio sponsors an annual middle-school football tournament called Los Toribio Bowl and serves on the Henderson County Tourist Commission, city-county Human Rights Commission, and Methodist Hospital board of directors. After stints in four other states, “I’m in the community,” Toribio says. “This is home.”

Florida’s Forgotten Coast

Staff Author

July 7, 2010

Stately Victorian mansions set the tone of southern grace in Apalachicola, the county seat of Franklin County.

The coastal communities of Franklin County, Fla., the heart of Florida’s “Forgotten Coast” are working hard to ensure their marketing theme doesn’t foretell the area’s future.

Six communities comprise the 545 square-mile Franklin County — St. George Island, Carrabelle and Dog Island, Apalachicola, Alligator Point, Eastpoint, and Lanark and St. James — and for years the county has made quiet business of marketing its quietude. More than 85 percent of Franklin County is either state or federally protected. State parks and forests, national wildlife preserves, national forests and wildlife management areas are all to be explored and enjoyed.

I traveled to Franklin County, staying on St. George Island, on April 28, just days after the April 22 explosion of British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The area’s chief industries are tourism and seafood, and concern among residents about the county’s future was profound. Franklin County harvests more than 90 percent of Florida’s oysters and 10 percent of the oysters consumed in the nation. Shrimp, blue crab and finfish are also very important commercially, bringing in over $11 million worth of seafood to Franklin County docks annually.

At press time, the beaches of Franklin County were open and no fishing advisories had been issued. The Franklin County Tourism and Development Council issues daily reports, viewed on its website (see When You Go).

For 20 years I’ve enjoyed near-annual trips to the Florida Panhandle beaches of Seaside, Rosemary Beach, Destin, and Panama City, though until recently, I knew nothing of the Forgotten Coast. Franklin County is a scenic drive along U.S. Highway 98, 93 miles from Destin and 48 miles from Panama City. I flew into Tallahassee; as of mid-May, the area is now served by Southwest Airlines at the new Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport with direct flights from Nashville.

My visit to Franklin County focused on St. George Island, Apalachicola, and Carrabelle with an agenda of dining, hiking, kayaking, bicycling, enjoying the beach, and touring a golf course.

St. George Island
St. George Island is a 28-mile barrier island accessed from the mainland by a four-mile long bridge. My home during my four-day stay was a three-story pink beach house offered by Collins Vacation Rentals named Serenity, accommodating up to eight people. A private boardwalk leads over the dunes to the uncrowded beach.

Right outside my door was the town’s historic icon – the St. George Island Visitor center and Lighthouse Museum. Built in 1852, it was relocated to its present location after the lighthouse collapsed into the Gulf of Mexico in 2005. The original plans were obtained from the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and the lighthouse was reconstructed on St. George Island using as much of the original materials as possible.

St. George Island State Park occupies the far eastern end of the island with nine miles of undeveloped shoreline, majestic dunes, bay forest, sandy coves, and salt marshes. The park has a series of hiking trails, boardwalks and observation platforms. Several of the journalists I traveled with spotted a bald eagle on a bike ride to the State Park.[pagebreak]

St. George Island is among the few districts left in Florida where dogs are allowed on the beaches if they are on a leash and well behaved. Dogs that respond to commands can take an untethered romp in the surf. Half of the more than 650 rental homes and condos offered by two of the barrier island’s primary rental companies, Collins Vacation Rentals and Resort Vacation Properties, offer pet-friendly lodging options included in the rental price.

Journeys of St. George Island outfitting store accommodates dogs on boat cruises and fishing excursions. I didn’t bring along my dog Jethro on the trip, but I did enjoy a black water kayaking adventure with Journeys.

Visitors should keep in mind that St. George is an island; you won’t have access to a Kroger, though small convenience stores and a grocery store serve the island. Across from my beach house was a great little store with an outdoor patio called Sometimes It’s Hotter Seasoning Company carrying local and organic seasonings, salsas, specialty cheese, and, to my delight, Peroni Nastro Azzurro (an Italian beer).

Apalachicola
Once the third largest port on the Gulf of Mexico, Apalachicola’s diverse and colorful past remains visible today. There are over 900 historic homes and buildings in the National Historic District; handsome Victorian homes border tree-lined streets. The grandest is the Coombs Inn, operated now as a bed and breakfast by Lynn Wilson, a well-known interior designer of luxury hotel properties and her husband, Bill Spohrer, a retired airline executive. The couple is widely credited for initiating the revival of Apalachicola after visiting the then run-down town in 1978.
As a special treat, Lynn invited a small group of journalists to tour their equally grand private home.

The best dining of the trip was experienced in Apalachicola. Verandas, located upstairs on a corner in the heart of historic downtown Apalachicola, is a restaurant and wine shop boasting Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence for the past five years. Wines can be purchased to go, or to be enjoyed at the table for only $5 corkage fee, a fantastic value given the typical restaurant mark-up of retail wine prices.

Tamara’s (pronounced Tam-are-ah) Café Floridita, also located in the historic downtown, is recognized for its inventive fish entrees. A television producer in her native Venezuela, Tamara Suarez savored the skills of world-famous chefs and collected the recipes they prepared on her popular TV show. Now, she dons the chef’s apron at her own restaurant.

Carrabelle
St. James Bay in Carrabelle is an 18-hole championship golf course designed by Robert Walker. He worked closely with Audubon International to create a course that blends seamlessly and in complete harmony with acres of wetland preserve, abundant wildlife and unspoiled forests.

While touring the property with John Hosford, marketing director, he pointed out a nest a black bear had created in a small tree on the course, explaining that each evening, the bear takes up residence in the tree offering a view of the clubhouse. When the lights go out, the bear helps himself to whatever food he can find, retreating back to his tree for dinner and returning to the forest before dawn.

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WHEN YOU GO:

Franklin County Florida Tourism Development Council
www.anaturalescape.com
(866) 914-2068

Accommodations

Collins Vacation Rentals
www.collinsvacationrentals.com
(866) 723-9460

Resort Vacation Properties of St. George Island
www.resortvacationproperties.com
(877) 272-8206

Coombs Inn
www.coombshouseinn.com
(888) 244-8320

Dining

Sometimes It’s Hotter Seasoning Company
www.sometimesitshotter.com
(888) 468-8372

Tamara’s Café Floridita
www.tamarascafe.com
(850) 653-4111

Verandas Restaurant and Wine Shop
www.verandasbistro.com
(850) 653-3210

Activities

St. James Bay Golf Course & Crooked River Grill
www.stjamesbay.com
(850) 697-9600

St. George Island Adventures
(bicycle and beach rentals)
www.sgislandadventures.com
(850) 927-3655

Journeys of St. George Island
www.sgislandjourneys.com
(850) 927-3259

St. George Island Visitor Center and Lighthouse Museum
www.seestgeorgeisland.com
(850) 927-7744

Strong Survivor

Staff Author

July 7, 2010

Ben Trockman says that since he was paralyzed in a motocross accident his relationships with family members have deepened.

On a cloudy Sunday morning in March 2006, 17-year-old Ben Trockman sat astride his motorcycle, scanning the hills and turns of the dirt track that stretched before him. The Harrison High School junior was poised at the starting line of a motocross race in Poole, Ky. Earlier that morning, organizers had talked of canceling the competition due to low turnout. That was fine with Ben. Something didn’t feel right that day: The track seemed poorly constructed and dangerous, and Ben — the older, stronger rider — had lagged behind his younger brother, Josh, in practice runs.

The boys’ mother, Jill, and their father, Vanderburgh Superior Court Judge Wayne Trockman, stood on the sidelines as the race began. As Ben swung his bike around a hard right turn, swooped down a hill, then prepared to jump a smaller hill, Jill saw his body fly through the air. She had watched her younger son and husband fall — breaking elbows, ankles, fingers, and shoulders — so “I really didn’t think anything of it,” she says. Wayne and a family friend hurried to check on Ben. Soon, the friend ran back to Jill and said, “Stay away.”

Ben lay motionless on the ground, fighting to breathe as panicked spectators and paramedics swarmed around him. Wayne performed CPR until a helicopter airlifted Ben to Deaconess Hospital. As his family drove 40 minutes back to Evansville, says Jill, “we didn’t know if he was still alive.”

Nine days later, Ben woke up at the Shepherd Center, a rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta, with no idea why he couldn’t feel or move anything below his neck. After enduring a massive spinal cord injury often likened to actor Christopher Reeve’s, the outgoing, popular, sports-loving Evansville teen was paralyzed. That day, he began a journey of healing that would lead him to some of the nation’s most prominent medical facilities before he came home to be helped — and to help others as this year’s adult representative for Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center.

After Ben, now 21, woke up in Atlanta surrounded by family, pieces of the story slowly came together. At the motocross track in Kentucky, he’d fractured his C1 and C2 vertebrae — the highest in the neck — and severely damaged his spinal cord. Photographs showed that a steady stream of visitors had brought flowers and cards during his initial hospitalization in Evansville.

He would spend the next three months under acute care at the Shepherd Center, a rehabilitation hospital that specializes in spinal cord injury. There, Ben underwent daily physical therapy to stimulate his spinal cord and strengthen his muscles so they didn’t atrophy. He learned to operate a wheelchair using breath controls. He met with counselors and tutors who helped him catch up on schoolwork. The hardest lesson, Ben says, simply was adjusting. “I thought, ‘This is just a bad dream. I’m tougher than this,’” Ben says. “Slowly, it just sank in. I had a lot of down times in the beginning. You think, ‘Do I really want to live now? Do I want to do this forever?’ But quickly, you’re reminded of what a great life you still have.”

One reminder came when Ben returned home in June 2006 to recuperate at Solarbron Pointe while renovations were being completed to make his family’s East Side home wheelchair accessible. When the Trockmans drove onto the rehabilitation campus, the Harrison High School marching band played, and nearly 200 friends and relatives lined the streets, greeting him with applause, balloons, and posters reading, “We Missed You, Ben.” “They were just open arms,” says Ben. “I just broke down. It was really awesome to be back.”

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Just three weeks later, though, he left again for a stint at Baltimore’s International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. There, he endured another round of intensive therapy under the direction of Dr. John McDonald, a renowned neurologist and research scientist who cared for Superman actor Christopher Reeve after he was paralyzed in a horseback riding accident. McDonald knew many experts believed that spinal cord injury patients made the biggest gains within six months, and improvements after two years were impossible. He founded the center because he believed they were wrong.

So does Patty Balbach, a physical therapist at Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center in Evansville, who began working with Ben after he returned home to finish his senior year at Harrison. (Ben graduated with his class in 2007.) Balbach earned a physical therapy degree from Indiana University in 1979, and while other young therapists pursued high-paying specialties in orthopedics and sports medicine, she joined the nonprofit Easter Seals — which serves approximately 5,000 children and adults with disabilities regardless of their ability to pay. Approximately 95 percent of clients receive financial assistance. “I knew Easter Seals was there,” says Jill. “I knew that they had the Home Run Sweeps house auction and the Fantasy of Lights, but I never had been inside until Ben got hurt. It’s amazing what they do.”

Although doctors once told Ben he never would feel or move anything below his neck, he’s made significant gains in his twice-weekly sessions with Balbach. With assistance, he’s been able to bicep curl 10 pounds and bench press 45 pounds. He has moved his feet and legs and feels sensations in his arms, legs, and chest.

With a spinal cord injury, Balbach says, no doctor can say with certainty how much ability the patient will — or won’t — regain. “If you can get some movement, then something’s getting there,” she says. “A flicker may be all we ever get, but unless we try, we never will know.”

The uncertain nature of recovery is taxing, but Jill says her son has grown stronger in response to the challenges. “You don’t know what your children have inside of them,” Jill says. “I couldn’t take it nearly as well as he has. He has the best attitude, and he always is trying to help someone else.”

Ben peppers his sentences with words such as “lucky,” “happy,” and “blessed.” He has a lively sense of humor — teaching his brother, Josh (now a 19-year-old Indiana University student), to drive a wheelchair and teasing student physical therapists at Easter Seals by shouting, “Ow! You broke my arm!” He’s a junior at the University of Southern Indiana studying radio and TV broadcasting; after meeting News 25 producers and anchors during the Easter Seals telethon, they offered him a fall internship. His career goal is to become a sports announcer, but more importantly, “I want to help as many people as I can along the way,” Ben says.

He’s doing just that as this year’s adult representative for Easter Seals. In April, he helped the rehabilitation center raise a record-setting $941,840 at its annual telethon, and he travels around the community sharing his story. Reliving his horrific accident “is OK with me,” Ben says, “because I don’t want people staring and wondering, ‘What’s wrong with that kid?’ I want people to know there are people out there who need help, who have injuries. Their lives have changed, but they still are people, too.”

Summer Dates

Staff Author

July 6, 2010

Sure it’s hot; it’s summer in the city. What do we expect in the Lower Ohio Valley? It’s clear we’re into an authentic Evansville summer, and when we think of summer, we think of dates – the focus of this issue and our feature story, “Make a Date” (p. 46).

Here, staff members share their favorite summer dates.

Jinni Nall, Art Director
Tom and I like to go to the drive-in in Reo, Ind., for date night. We pack a cooler and some snacks, then stop at Tin Fish (in Newburgh) for supper and then head to Reo. If the weather is nice we’ll stick around for their double features. Then, we’ll drive back into downtown Newburgh and walk along the riverfront.

Kristen Lund, Senior Writer
Eric and I live Downtown, so we like to walk to Angelo’s and dine al fresco — or grab takeout from Jaya’s and eat in the park at Fourth and Main streets. Then we like to watch a movie from Central Library in our air-conditioned living room.

Louis La Plante, Associate Managing Editor
Dinner Downtown, then a show at The Centre, and if I’m feeling lucky, I head to Casino Aztar to win at Blackjack. I live Downtown, so my date and I don’t worry about driving — and that’s what makes it so perfect.

Jennifer Rhoades, Account Executive
John and I like to go to Edgewater Grille (in Newburgh) and sit out on the back patio. It’s fun to enjoy dinner and listen to live music on a pretty summer night.

Jeff Coffey, Account Executive
A favorite date was taking a girl who was crazy about professional baseball to a Little League game. She was so surprised and she loved it. Hot dogs, snow cones, nachos, the works. You can quickly learn a lot about a person taking them to a little kids’ event where you don’t know anyone participating.

Kim Grimm, Accounting Manager
My husband, Tim, and his friend, Paul Legeay, hold a Blues and Smokin’ Barbecue Fest in the back yard and I enjoy getting the meal together. The freshest summer vegetables purchased at the Downtown Farmer’s Market are used in the side dishes – tomatoes, corn, green beans, new potatoes, cucumbers and onions. The baking of breads and desserts, and the rich dialogue with family around a well-furnished table completes the day.

Laura Mathis, Creative Director
We like to go Gambrinus in Owensboro, Ky., for a drink before going to Friday After Five. We’ll head to the Bistro for dinner and come home to relax on the patio where we have twinkle lights strung up.

Jen McDaniel, Graphic Designer
We take my fiancé Josh’s old Chevy Silverado truck to the Holiday Drive-in Theatre in Reo. We bring a blow up mattress and put it in the bed of his truck with blankets and pillows and set up our surround sound system of speakers. The best nights are the clear nights with every star in sight!

Laurel Rawden, Advertising Director
I always enjoy eating dinner outside, listening to music, and finishing with a walk along the riverfront.

Jessica Campbell, Account Executive
It’s fun to jump on my fiancé Jason’s motorcycle and ride over to play a round of Midget Links miniature golf. Whoever loses has to buy the winner dinner and ice cream at Zesto.

Heather Powers, Art Director
I’m a big fair junkie. When I was growing up my family ran a concession trailer and traveled all over the state selling various goodies at carnivals and events, so I feel totally at home among rides, games and junk food. Fun, excitement, and gooey foods all under the stars = awesome date!

Todd Tucker, President
Letting the “natives” run wild in the yard playing flashlight tag while enjoying adult beverages around the fire pit. The best dates are long evenings at home with the fellas and good friends.

Melody Terry, Circulation Coordinator
My favorite summer date was sneaking a midnight swim in a neighbor’s pool. But you have to be quiet!

Lindsey Niemeier, Marketing Manager
I’m very traditional. I would first stop at Roy Boy Shaved Ice, because he is the master of snow cones in the Tri-State, followed by dinner at Cavanaugh’s, and a walk along the river. I’d end the evening at Taste for dessert and wine.

Shanti Knight, Editorial Intern
Evansville’s best summer date is at Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area (near Elberfeld) at sunset. Take a blanket and an iPod and stargaze — it’s adventurous, secluded, ridiculously romantic and only a little cheesy.

Makensie Coslett, Marketing Intern
A perfect date night is a dinner cruise on the Ohio with carryout from Madeleine’s and a bottle of wine, followed by live music and dancing at RiRa Irish Pub.

The editor’s favorite date? As a teenager I loved picnics at the Evansville State Hospital under a few of my favorite trees. Today, I enjoy the view of the park across Lincoln Avenue from my home, sharing stories of the week with my family and friends on our stone benches.

Enjoy this issue and make a date. As always, I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Kristen K. Tucker
Publisher & Editor

Passing on the Reins

Staff Author

July 1, 2010

Denny and Reenie Brown’s recent induction into the Pony of the Americas’ Hall of Fame comes after a lifetime of riding horses.

Maureen “Reenie” Brown’s father, Garry Ingram, grew up on a farm, and he even rode a horse to school. “His love for horses carried over,” Reenie says. At 3, she had her first pony, and six years later, she joined the 4-H Club. Soon, she joined the Pony of the Americas, a national horse organization.

A passion for horses developed at an early age for her husband of 20 years, Dennis “Denny” Brown. Denny grew up around horses and listened to his great grandfather, Dan Carmical, tell stories about his life driving cattle. When Denny’s sons, Michael and Patrick, wanted ponies, their passion led to numerous wins at horse shows across the country.

The Browns met at a POA show more than two decades ago, and their shared interest sparked their love. Today, they own and operate a 21-acre horse farm in Boonville, Ind. They’ve been involved in numerous horse organizations — breeding, breaking, training, and showing world-class champions.

They’ve passed their passion onto the next generation by teaching youth about horses, care, and riding. Girl and Boy Scout groups are frequent guests, and the Boonville High School animal science class visits every year where they learn facts such as the difference between a pony and a horse. (The technical difference is generally height. Horses are taller.) The couple also teaches students to ride and show, and those children perform in local, POA, and American Quarter Horse shows. Some have victories at the Indiana State Fair 4-H show, the POA World Show, and numerous state and regional shows. So inspired are some that they go on to work animal-specific careers such as veterinarians and professional horse trainers.

Reenie juggles time to ride and show horses with a full-time marketing job at a skilled care facility. A 32-year construction career has saddled chances to ride for Denny, who had two knee replacements, but the couple’s decades of dedication earned the two their most recent honor — inductions into the POA’s Hall of Fame. This summer is jam-packed with training sessions, horse shows, and judging competitions. Recently, Evansville Living caught up with them to talk about their love for horses and why they do it.

Evansville Living: What is it like to work with your spouse day in and day out? Be honest.

Denny Brown: I love it. It’s pretty nice to be married to your best friend. Even though I can’t ride much anymore, I love to watch her on a horse. I could sit all day and watch her ride. We work together as a team. We train together, work with kids together, and attend horse shows together — all as a team.

EL: Now that you are unable to ride very much, are you still involved in the farm and with horse shows?

DB: I can’t ride much more than 30 minutes at a time, but I still do quite a bit around the farm. After working for 32 years in construction, I retired about 10 years ago. (Denny helped build much of the Lloyd Expressway and I-164.) On a daily basis, I take care of feeding the horses, cleaning out the stalls, and letting the horses out for exercise. By the time my wife gets home from work, I’ve got them saddled up and ready for her to ride. Everything is a joint effort.

EL: You recently were inducted into the Hall of Fame for the POA. What did this honor mean to you?

Reenie Brown: When I heard we’d been inducted in the Hall of Fame for the POA, I thought, “Wow!” It was such an honor. I was just floored. I compare it to a country/western singer being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was humbling that someone thought enough of us to nominate us. It was amazing that we both were nominated at the same time. You are nominated individually and inducted individually. So for both Denny and I to be inducted at the same time was really special. We were only the second couple to be inducted at the same time. And the icing on the cake was my sister’s horse, Lickety Split, was also inducted as well. It was wonderful to share it with a room full of family and friends from all across the country; there were a lot of hugs and smiles.[pagebreak]

EL: What’s the most rewarding thing you get out of your participation with the various horse organizations?

DB: It’s like any other activity or hobby; you get out of it what you put in. Whether it’s baseball, basketball, or golf, the more you put in, the more you get out of it. Through our dedication and love for horses, Reenie and I have met some amazing people all over the country. It’s been so rewarding to meet all those folks over the years and to maintain those relationships. It’s nice to think there is a huge network of people out there. It’s like a second family.

EL: If you won the lottery tomorrow and you could do anything in the world, what would it be?

RB: I’d love to open a farm for disabled children and adults. It’s a dream for when I retire. The nursing home where I work full time is one of the few nursing homes that allows pets. I see the enrichment animals bring to the seniors. It’s amazing what can happen when you offer that kind of interaction for people of all ages.

EL: I always have been intrigued by horses’ names. What is the most outrageous name of a horse you have had?

DB: Shine My Lacy Socks. He was out of a mare, WDF Sugar Lace, and our quarter horse stallion, Socks of Doc. He was a very pretty, very talented horse. He was a pleasure to work with and show.

EL: Do you have plans to stay in the equine business?

DB: I would like to stay involved as long as I can. I can’t imagine doing anything else. We always will have horses, and I will keep judging as long as they ask.

EL: You’ve dedicated so much of your life to helping children succeed. Why do you do it?

RB: Through my work teaching and coaching aspiring equestrians, I’ve learned that a lot of times if you give a kid an extra five minutes, it can make all the difference in the world.

EL: What are your plans for the summer?

DB: The summer is our busiest time. We are working to break a 3-year-old horse. (“Breaking a horse” is an industry term for training a horse for a ride.) We are hoping to show him this summer. I’m also really busy with judging horse shows over the next few months. I’m booked almost every weekend. I’ve judged all over the country — as far west as Utah and as far east as New York. We’ve traveled to about 14 or 15 states for horse shows. I’ve been doing it since 1979, and it’s something I really enjoy. Someone must think I’m pretty good at it because I have to turn down more shows than I do.

For more information on the Pony of the Americas, visit www.poac.org.

Teen Spirit

Staff Author

July 1, 2010

When readers last met Posey County native Jill Wilderman (“Hollywood Lights,” November/December 2007), the Emmy-nominated producer of the monster courtroom series hit Judge Judy had jumped onto the other side of the camera as a reporter for a celebrity news outlet. Now, she says she’s “come full circle.”

2010 is her first full year at Fanlala.com, a website she helped found last October as a senior producer and field director. The website — a mix of teen celebrity news and social media — reminds Wilderman of the beginning of her broadcast career, covering the teen beat for a television station in Evansville.

Fanlala covers teen sensations such as pop singer Miley Cyrus, actor Zac Efron, and Nickelodeon superstar Miranda Cosgrove. The celebrity news earns millions of hits for the website each month, says Wilderman.

Fanlala functions “like a social community,” she says, where users post messages to other fans and bond over shared interests. It’s a concept Wilderman would have loved as a teenager when she liked pop bands New Kids on the Block and NSYNC, she says.

Her hope is Fanlala serves as “an Access Hollywood for teens.” While interviewing young celebrities, she “never talks down to them,” she says. “We have a lot of fun.” The thrill comes from frequent nights on red carpets or days on Disney movie sets, and those moments make it easy for Wilderman to feel passionate about her new venture. “My heart is in this website,” she says. “It’s something I plan to grow and grow.”

To see more of Wilderman on her new website, visit www.fanlala.com.

E the People

Staff Author

July 1, 2010

91: Average high temperature Evansvillians endure while celebrating the nation’s independence on the Fourth of July.

53: Members of the Evansville Symphonic Band who will blow their horns at the July Fourth Freedom Celebration on the Riverfront.

196: Years since Francis Scott Key composed the lyrics for the national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, which the Evansville Symphonic Band will perform on July 4.

5: Thousand Evansvillians who will gather Downtown to watch the fireworks.

11: Miles from Evansville’s Riverfront to Newburgh’s Old Lock and Dam Park, which hosts a fireworks display on Saturday, July 3.

30: Golf carts expected to parade through the streets of New Harmony, Ind., during the town’s Traditional Fourth of July Celebration.

2: Hundred golf carts registered in New Harmony, a town of 900 residents.

Make a Date

Staff Author

July 1, 2010

Everyone feels the need to swoon and be swooned, and with the right date planned, summer’s hot weather means even hotter nights. The time-tested dinner and movie is great, but what else does Evansville have to offer?

The Romantic Date

Be Ready to Woo.

For Fun: A couples massage begins with you and your date — clad only in towels — joined by two strangers in the room. Wait. This is romantic: The strangers are massage therapists, and they’re here to relax you. Proponents of the couples massage tout the comfort they find sharing the experience with a partner. A few options: Bodyworks Massage Institute (2112 Maxwell Ave.), Head to Toe Salon & Spa (300 W. Jennings St., Suite 103, Newburgh), and Absolute Beauty (7144 E. Virginia St., Suite D).

For Dinner: When the sun begins to set, the candles on the tables already are lit. At Lorenzo’s Bistro & Bakery (972 S. Hebron Ave.), where presentation counts as much as taste, the menu demonstrates perfection: an espresso-coated filet mignon (pan-seared to order with a coffee-infused demi-glaze), a rack of lamb (dressed in cumin and coriander), and the cherry-smoked duck breast (served on a bed of capellini, shiitake mushrooms, and arugula with a roasted shallot sauce).

For Drinks: Stretching two stories high, the interior bar at Blush (615 N.W. Riverside Drive) is beautiful, and arranged for comfort and perhaps a little cuddling, the contemporary furniture strikes a vogue sensibility. A signature drink: Pomegranatini, a sweet concoction of Pama liqueur, super premium vodka, and a splash of juicy flavor.

The First Date

Every relationship begins here.

For Dinner: The ambiance of Firefly Southern Grill (6636 Logan Drive) starts with the interior design: clean, straight lines mix with small, colorful light fixtures. The menu — unique spins on Southern comfort food — is perfectly priced, not overly expensive (because, hey, he doesn’t know if she is worth it, yet) or painfully inexpensive (because, hey, he’s not a cheapskate).

For Fun: Conversation continues with a walk on the Riverfront. Advantage: The well-lit, 1.2-mile stretch Downtown — from Casino Aztar to Sunset Park — offers beautiful views.

The "Party Like a College Kid" Date

Memorable date on a student budget? Possible.

For Fun: Smile and a bug could fly into your mouth — at least, that’s how fast it feels on the looping track at Kartworld (4700 Morgan Center Drive). Enthusiasts place their butts inches above the ground and zoom around the East Side go-kart center for a high-speed and safe experience.

For More Fun: If the $2 billion monster hit that was Avatar proved anything, it’s that IMAX theaters — with giant screens and wrap-around digital sound systems — have elevated the entertainment experience, especially when the medium is a 3-D film. The immense images with striking clarity could inspire cash-strapped college kids to shell out a few extra bones for a movie at Showplace Cinemas East IMAX (1801 Morgan Center Drive).

For Food: The most expensive sandwich on the menu at Fast Eddy’s (507 N.W. Riverside Drive) is $5, and the cooks don’t skimp on the portion size. The fried fish sandwich is massive; the tender meat doesn’t even fit underneath the bun. Another cheap but tasty option is the peel-and-pull shrimp (three for 99 cents); the cocktail sauce is fiery hot.[pagebreak]

The Cultured Date

An immersion in the arts and local cuisine creates a sophisticated day.

For Fun: In July and August, Cornucopia: Artifacts from the History Collection is on display at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science (411 S.E. Riverside Drive). The exhibition is a showcase demonstration of gratitude to longtime museum donors, but the exhibition also shows love to visitors. From early washing machines to dueling pistols, historic pieces dot the museum for visitors with varying tastes.

For Dinner: So intimate is this small, mid-priced restaurant, The White House (610 Church St., New Harmony, Ind.), that often greeting patrons is chef and owner Lora Arneberg, who emphasizes local ingredients for her menu of salads, pastas, and sandwiches. Two popular choices are the sockeye salmon, a fresh, colorful dish, and the seared Indiana duck breast, served with a plum and tarragon sauce.

For More Fun: New Harmony, a town west of Evansville, is a small destination big on the arts, and as summer heats up, so does New Harmony Theatre’s 2010 season. With Broadway-tested actors and local talent, two shows take the stage: The Glass Menagerie (July 9-25) and Ain’t Misbehavin’ (July 30-August 15).

The Hipster Date

Smart style meets nontraditional eats and live music.

For Dinner: Inside a bowl at Vietnamese Cuisine Restaurant (4602 Vogel Road) is a goat leg — bone and all. It’s delicious and certainly nontraditional in meat and potatoes land.

For Fun: The West Side’s Boney Junes Music Venue (5525 Pearl Drive) connects with the music not heard on pop stations, but these bands have a growing underground following. The crowd tends to run young — it’s an underage club, after all, that doesn’t serve booze — but adults like music, too. The popular beverage choice at Boney Junes: energy drinks.

The Outdoorsy Date

One part blue skies, one part bluebirds, one part blue water.

For Fun: What began as an opportunity to research bluebirds has become an enchanting, Disney-esque trail surrounding the University of Southern Indiana campus. Spread across nearly three miles are 38 nesting boxes. Since 1996, researchers have observed 1,100 bluebirds grow from eggs to beautiful adult birds. You can see them, too, on the Bluebird Trail (8600 University Blvd.). The nesting season ends in August, and throughout the late spring and summer days, bluebird parents feed their nestlings.

For Lunch: Frank Spadavecchio’s idea was to bring a specialty food store to the Tri-State. With an abundance of imported meats and cheeses and a menu of Italian entrees, his store, Vecchio’s Italian Market & Delicatessen (14 W. Jennings St., Newburgh), provides the opportunity to make a picnic special. The cheeses read like Italian poetry — gorgonzola dolce, taleggio, or locatelli pecorino romano — and the antipastos are Italy-inspired: cherry peppers stuffed with prosciutto and provolone, broccoli rabe, and roasted peppers.

For More Fun: As the sun slips past the horizon, canoe cruisers hit Evansville’s waterways. Led by experts, moonlight canoe trips, offered by Wesselman Nature Society, come twice a month when the moon is full. On July 23 and August 20, paddle the oxbow lake at Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area north of Evansville, and on July 24 and August 21, try Hovey Lake south of Mount Vernon, Ind. [pagebreak]

The Downtown Progressive Date

Park the car. Walk. Eat from a wide-ranging menu.

For Appetizers: Big-screen televisions line the rectangular bar, showing Main Gate Sports Bar & Restaurant (518/520 Main St.) is a sports-centric destination — the food, however, is not the generic ballpark variety. The golden, creamy cheese for the nachos appetizer is proof.

For Dinner: Angelo’s Italian Restaurant (305 Main St.) has a rich, Tuscan feel. The farther from the entrance your table is, the more romantic and cozy the date becomes.

For Dessert: The appropriately named Taste … A Wine & Dessert House (323 Main St.) is the after-dinner destination. The menu boasts wonderful, rich desserts: pumpkin cheesecake, apple strudel cheesecake, and chocolate pâté drizzled with cherry port sauce.

The Inexpensive Date

An experience to remember needn’t empty a wallet.

For Lunch: The Pub (1348 E. Division St.), a longtime popular hangout, presents the pizzaburger ($6.95), a combination that is 60 percent hamburger meat and 40 percent cayenne sausage. This half-pound entree, served on a buttered, toasted bun with pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese, comes with a hearty helping of chips.

For Fun: Thoroughbred racing is an institution in Kentucky, and just north of the Ohio River (yet still in Kentucky) is Ellis Park (3300 Hwy. 41 N.), the local testament to that tradition. Up-and-comers and veteran jockeys race at the nearly century-old track. Racing’s current hero, Calvin Borel, who’s won three of the last four Kentucky Derby races, once was a frequent Ellis Park jockey. Seeing the next big thing won’t cost you a thing: General admission is free.

For More Fun: Stadiums wear down. This unavoidable fact leads to visibly rusted bolts or cracked cement. Yet, Bosse Field (1710 N. Main St.), one of the oldest professional ballparks in the country, has none of that. The venue — the home field for the Evansville Otters, a Frontier League team — offers more than 40 home games where competitive baseball mingles with fun, mid-inning antics for a low price: $5.

The Active Date

This date requires very little sitting.

For Fun: When the summer humidity hits, the earlier, the better for a 5K run (that’s 3.1 miles, Americans). In July and August, we know of six — see our Guide, p. 99 — including the YMCA 5K Warm-Up Run. The YMCA means “warm up” as a preparation course for October’s Evansville Half Marathon; we mean it as a warm-up for rock climbing at Vertical eXcape (1315 Royal Ave.). The climbing gym offers an opportunity for a date built on trust. As one person climbs to the top, the other remains on the ground acting as the rope support in case the climber falls. It’s a lesson in relationships: Rely on each other.

For Dinner: A long meal at a restaurant hardly seems appropriate after an active day. At Ma. T. 888 China Bistro (5636 Vogel Road), the take-out options are plentiful. One suggestion for a light meal is the chicken lettuce wrap, an option for carbohydrate-conscious diners. Served with leaves of iceberg lettuce is a mixture of finely chopped chicken, water chestnuts, onions, and green peppers.

Sweet Serenity

Staff Author

July 1, 2010

Missy and Mike O’Daniel purchased this former vacation home 11 years ago. View the slideshow below for more photos.

In 1928, an Irish teenager named Joseph O’Daniel moved to Evansville from Waverly, Ky., with his parents and nine siblings in search of greater opportunity. He went to work washing cars in Downtown Evansville. Cars, it turns out, did hold the keys to his fortune. He would go on to buy several automobile franchises to establish O’Daniel Ranes in 1934. Later, his son D. Patrick O’Daniel established D. Patrick Imports, absorbing O’Daniel Ranes — today one of the largest mega-dealerships in the Tri-State, known as D-Patrick.

The 1920s also were a time of growth for vacation homes built around scenic Lake Talahi in nearby McCutchanville, where a third generation of Joseph O’Daniel’s descendants would live almost 70 years later. In 1926, the first home on the lake was built. Now, it is home to Missy Miller O’Daniel, Mike O’Daniel (Joseph O’Daniel’s grandson and an owner of the D-Patrick group of auto franchises), and their three children: Molly, 16; Margot, 18; and Peter, 21.

“We love the feel of this house that originally was a summer home on the lake,” says Missy of the 5,600-square-foot Nantucket-inspired home painted yellow and accented with black shutters. “We really have more of a traditional style,” says the Ohio native, “but I call it a farmhouse mishmash.”

Filled with collections of old family heirlooms, new acquisitions from local boutiques and travels around the world, and vintage pieces acquired at local auctions, each room of the O’Daniels’ four-bedroom, six-bath home is a blend of eclectic furnishings, art, and accessories that all have special meaning. “Most of the things we have in our house have been bought locally,” says Mike, “or have been passed down through our families.”

Mike and Missy met while they both were attending Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Missy grew up in Hudson, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Mike, who grew up in Evansville and attended Culver Military Academy in northern Indiana, returned to Evansville after graduating from SMU in 1987. After Missy graduated a year later, the couple married, settled in Mike’s hometown, and stayed to raise their three children.

The O’Daniels purchased their current home in McCutchanville 11 years ago and embarked on updating the house that sits on three and a half acres overlooking the lake. “We really did very little cosmetically to the house,” explains Missy, who notes that the previous owners had done some extensive renovation on the property, but the O’Daniels gutted the basement — formerly a storage area and garage — and remodeled it as a hangout for their children and their friends. The basement now is outfitted with a full kitchen, bath, big-screen TV, and overstuffed furniture, plus a custom-made pool table manufactured by Escalade Sports in Evansville.

The landscaping was another major project that the O’Daniels took on shortly after moving into the house. In 2002, a major windstorm destroyed seven large trees on the property. “We had limbs down all over the place,” recalls Missy. “We even had a limb that blocked the front doorway.” The couple enlisted the help of Vincennes, Ind.-based Landscapes by Dallas Foster to redesign the landscaping. The result was more trees and serpentine borders of perennial beds edging the front circle driveway and the back terraced decks.[pagebreak]

The modern landscaping accents the farmhouse style inside the house. “I call it tradition with a twist,” Missy says. “I find eclectic rooms much more interesting.” Case in point: The master bedroom includes a table and desk from Missy’s parents’ home, a sleigh bed purchased at Lea Matthews, a Victorian marble-top table won at a Curran Miller auction, a 1920s armoire purchased at a Sohn and Associates auction, and an armoire from a local department store.

The elegant dining room features formal furnishings and family silver collectibles set against gleaming original oak floors. An elegant crystal and bronze chandelier illuminates the room. “My mother gave me and my sister several pieces of her silver when we both got married,” says Missy. “Each piece has special meaning to me because I grew up with it in Ohio.”

In the kitchen, antique cabinetry showcases Missy’s collection of blue and white pottery — a favorite color combination found throughout the property in toile fabrics and outdoor furnishings. “My mom collected blue and white pottery,” says Missy, “and I got hooked on it, too. I always liked it, so I started buying it at antique stores.”

Missy also has a penchant for rich colors. She incorporates vibrant hues of red, yellow, and green with the blue and white color palette. “I like the way the bright red and yellow pop against the blues and greens,” she says. “It livens everything up, and I think it gives all our antiques a more contemporary feel.”

One showcase of the family’s antiques is the living room, which features a chalk portrait of Missy at age 18. The artist, Avis Andrews, also drew a portrait of the three O’Daniel children: Peter, an Indiana University student; Margot, soon to be a freshman at SMU; and Molly, who attends Memorial High School. Oil paintings from local auctions also grace the walls, and an antique Persian Sarouk rug — passed down through generations of Missy’s family — covers the floor. The family and guests sit on three reupholstered antique sofas, and the red-checked “hired man’s bed,” which the O’Daniels use as an extra bench, is one of Missy’s favorite pieces given to her by her grandmother. The origins of the walnut bench date to the early or mid-19th century, when it would have been used as a day bed, child’s bed, or a resting spot for the “hired men” working around the house.

The layout harkens back to Missy’s description of “farmhouse mishmash,” which might aptly be defined as “the things the O’Daniels love.” Mike admits with a laugh, “There’s really no rhyme or reason to our decorating style.”

“We just have to like it,” adds Missy, “and then it all seems to fit right in.”

A Real Solution, Here

Staff Author

June 30, 2010

Wally Paynter heads the Tri-State Alliance, an organization dedicated to gay rights.

When Wally Paynter arrived in Evansville more than two decades ago for a college education, he learned he could help the community fight a deadly virus and save lives. With a network of Christian leaders and local politicians, he’s doing more than that.

On the tables in front of the 20-year-old college student are 8,000 condoms and 2,000 bottles of lube. The plan: Place four varying sized condoms in a clear, plastic bag with a lube tube to create condom kits passed out free to patrons at local bars and coffeehouses. Selected for those wanting to raise America’s colors on July 4 were hundreds of tri-colored condoms — red, white, and blue. Alongside the college student with the cropped black hair are a wide-ranging cast: gay teenage boys; straight, middle-aged black women; and county health department employees. One man brought his grade school son, who places business card-sized fliers in the plastic bags. They all are part of an assembly line, a machine mass-producing disease prevention.

Before the student can begin stuffing lube tubes into bags, she must make an introduction. “You know you are gay when you know Wally Paynter,” she says to her friend. She calls across a meeting room on Central Library’s first floor to Paynter. The 43-year-old health department employee comes over, and the three are all smiles for a brief moment until Paynter heads back to assigning jobs to different volunteers and directing people into lines all while adding quips and asides.

During the two hours it takes to make 2,000 condom kits, volunteers come and go, giving any time they can spare, and just before everyone finishes, Paynter sits for a rest. He’s sweating, though the makeshift workshop is a comfortably cool, air-conditioned temperature. He’s a tall man with tiny glasses, and he moves with purpose. He slips out for a phone interview with a radio station in Bloomington, Ind.

The following Friday, Paynter places the 8,000 condoms into his car, and he’s off to bars to unload them. On Saturday night, he hangs with gay teenagers at a youth group for the Tri-State Alliance, an educational and social service organization for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transsexuals (LGBT) that he also heads. He plays Bingo, goes to movies, or indulges at ice cream socials with the LGBT youth of the Tri-State. And there goes the weekend of a middle-aged gay man in Evansville.

ONE PERSON PAYNTER first depended on to aid in condom kit production was his mother, Pat. When the TSA started the kits in the early 1990s, “this little white-haired lady,” Paynter says, would watch TV, make condom kits, and deliver the kits to bars in her town of Carmi, Ill. “She’s the church organist and works for public aid, and she says, ‘Here are the condoms,’” he says. Paynter credits Pat for his zeal for activism. In the 1970s, she led protests in Springfield, Ill. Women from her office dressed in black robes, carried a papier-mâché coffin down the streets of downtown Springfield, and sang tunes about the death of social services. (During the time of the interview, Pat battled complications of muscular dystrophy in the hospital. She is recovering, and Paynter adds, still has a sharp mind.)

Her influence carried with Paynter when he attended the University of Evansville in 1985. As an active member in student government, he pushed for changes in campus life such as condom access and 24-hour visitation in the dorms.

“It was a different time,” he says. “It was controversial to talk sex and sexuality.” Paynter learned how to talk to people against his stance.[pagebreak]

But during college, he had his own issue: coming out. The time — the mid 1980s — wasn’t the gay ’90s when coming out was vogue. It was a time when the only thing people knew for sure about AIDS was that those who contracted the new virus died, when AIDS was “gay cancer,” and when people were scared to be in the same room with an infected person.

In high school and college, Paynter made a mental inventory of people who said something anti-gay, realizing they were people who might disassociate from him. “That’s a scary thing. I could tell someone this one piece of info, and based on prejudice or a preconceived notion, it generates who you are.” But, “sex and sexuality is a part of all of us,” Paynter says, and he thought people should talk about who they are. He came out. A few people ended their friendships with Paynter because of it, and he now looks back at that time and thinks, “What’s the big deal?”

PAYNTER’S LOST FRIENDS and board members to AIDS. He has friends who are positive. “I feel like enough people are out there with HIV and AIDS that everyone knows someone,” he says. “They just don’t know that they know someone.” He talks about the disease so much that there’s a perception he’s positive. He’s not.

He’s passionate about education and prevention. About saving lives. More than 8,000 Hoosiers have HIV or AIDS. (The latter refers to the later stages of HIV, an infection weakening the immune system.) In a recent editorial called “A Real Problem, Here,” The New York Times noted, “The AIDS epidemic is spreading faster than previously thought, even as the American public’s concern about it declines. Such complacency may reflect a belief that AIDS is primarily a problem in Africa, or a feeling that AIDS has become treatable, so why worry about infection.” According for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, blacks represented nearly half the American population living with HIV, though blacks only represent approximately 12 percent of the total population. AIDS affects other minority groups, too, in disproportionately high numbers, and that’s one reason why more than just LGBT people gather for TSA’s condom kit-making sessions. When Paynter is asked who is most at-risk, he says, “Humans.”

In the Tri-State, the problem is fear. “Here, a lot of people don’t test until they’re sick,” Paynter says. More than half the people who test positive for HIV in Indiana receive the AIDS diagnosis within a year, says Paynter, and those results indicate they didn’t test until they were sick, which is typically six to eight years after they contracted the disease.

His weapon to fight this problem is his rallying cry, and what’s most unusual about this weapon: The cry is soft. “When Wally’s in the room, you know he’s there,” says the Rev. Kevin Fleming of First Presbyterian Church. “He’s just a big guy, but he’s a gentle giant. If he slapped you in the face with (a problem), you might not want to do anything about it. It’s just this gentle unveiling of a problem.” Fleming and Paynter work together on several services, including the AIDS Holiday Project, an annual effort to raise funds for an estimated 350 families impacted by HIV and AIDS.

The goal is relief. AIDS is a complicated disease requiring a regimen of drugs that could cost thousands of dollars every month, leaving low-income families with few options for essentials. For the AIDS Holiday Project, families ask at Christmas for the necessities: socks, underwear, a warm coat.

He also champions AIDS candlelight services throughout the Tri-State. When he launched a Facebook page for an April service in Carbondale, Ill., the page received only two hate messages: One stated, “I hope you die of AIDS.” The small number of hurtful messages made him optimistic. When he came out, AIDS was “gay cancer,” people were afraid to be in the same room with AIDS patients, and friends abandoned him because he was gay.

Now he considers two hate messages progress.

"THESE ARE NOT PROBLEMS in big cities on coasts,” Fleming says. “These are issues in beautiful Downtown mid-America. And who knew? Wally did, and he helped us get aware of it.”

One problem is AIDS, but another issue bothers Fleming: gay homeless teens. Twelve years ago, Paynter noticed a problem among gay teens, including now 25-year-old Joshua Crouch.[pagebreak]

When Crouch became a freshman at a small, rural high school in Mount Carmel, Ill., he was confident in who he was. “Whenever I decided something about myself,” Crouch says, “I was proud of that fact. When I was 6, I turned my bedroom into a library and rented out books to the neighborhood kids because I knew I was going to be a librarian. So, I always was adamant about who I was — and being that unabashedly.”

He was a kid with a passion for ballet. As a high school freshman, if someone asked if he was gay, Crouch responded honestly in a “small town where there still was so much confusion and anger toward it,” Crouch remembers. Threats came, followed by violence, and Crouch bolted for St. Louis as soon as he turned 16 with his two-door, stick-shift Ford Escort. He slept on friends’ couches until he reached the limits of their hospitality.

Looking for a solution, Crouch typed “gay teen” into an Internet search on a library’s computer and found TSA’s website. He arrived 20 minutes early to his first youth group meeting in the YWCA Tea Room where he saw Paynter unloading boxes of board games. “Come on in,” he said. “We won’t put you to work.”

The comfort he experienced among his peers inspired Crouch to move to Evansville and find a place with six occupants, ranging from 16-42, and eight cats. He bounced into an apartment with his then-boyfriend until the relationship fizzled. His couch surfing continued until, again, hospitality ran out. At the time, Indiana law prohibited teenagers from using homeless shelters’ services. Crouch was 17, and his Ford Escort became his home. Paynter noticed the normally outgoing Crouch was growing despondent.

Paynter “always was really open and honest,” Crouch says. “He sometimes could come off as a little blunt, but I always knew his honesty was guided by real care.” He told Crouch his living situation was unacceptable, and he constantly encouraged Crouch to continue his education or find work, and Crouch listened. After five different high schools and a missed semester, Crouch graduated, and today he works as a dance teacher at the D’Alto Studio of Performing Arts. “I can’t tell you the kind of joy overwhelming me when I was able to get the keys to my own apartment,” Crouch says, “and knowing there is no more sitting on a stoop somewhere.”

Crouch’s story is not unusual. Since 1998, Paynter estimates he has seen at TSA’s youth group meeting 10 homeless kids a year forced out of their homes either by their parents or fear of an unbearable situation. “This is not a time in a young person’s life when they need that kind of disruption,” Fleming says. “Their job is to get a good education and move forward. You can’t do that when you don’t know where you’re going to spend the night.”

After Paynter learned of this all-too-common problem, he called Patty and Dennis Avery, two well-known advocates for ending homelessness. Dennis, a then-state representative, and Patty, a longtime member of the Homeless Youth Coalition, asked the state to create an interim study committee on homeless youth. In 2008, a new law allowed shelters to provide minors unaccompanied by a parent “some basic services,” Patty says. One example: food. Plus, a shelter now can accept a teen’s overnight stay as long as they notify the Indiana Department of Child Services.

The new law benefits all homeless teenagers — no matter the sexual orientation — and Paynter continues to help members of the TSA youth group the way he helped Crouch. Paynter says, “It’s been counterintuitive to what my gut instinct is — but it’s the advice I give to teens and kids in college: If you think your parents might cut you off, maybe you don’t tell them at this point in time.”

FROM CHRISTIAN LEADERS to state officials, Paynter’s grown a network of support for his work with TSA. No night better exemplifies this than July 11 when TSA presents the third annual AIDS Celebrity Dinner, a night raising funds for the AIDS Holiday Project. A few on hand are U.S. representative Brad Ellsworth, state representative Gail Riecken, and city councilman Dan McGinn.

This hodgepodge of community leaders fights to change the city, but Fleming looks no further than Paynter: “Give me a hundred of him,” Fleming says. “I can change the world with a hundred Wallys.” With just one Wally, there seems to be a real solution, here.

Market City

Staff Author

June 29, 2010

Spring

Downtown Farmers’ Market
Every Friday from late May through mid-October, the vacant city block across from the Old Post Office (100 N.W. Second St.) in Downtown Evansville comes alive with the Vanderburgh County Farm Bureau farmers’ market. At summer’s peak, the event draws up to 40 vendors selling fruits and vegetables, eggs, baked goods, handmade soaps and toiletries, and more.

Summer

Hillside Gardens
Frank Duncan doesn’t know the meaning of “retire.” The octogenarian’s planned 40-acre organic, pick-your-own farm and park on the West Side next to his current business, Hillside Gardens (12100 N. St. Joseph Ave.), is well on its way. A variety of fresh vegetables (bell peppers, sweet corn, and green beans, to name a few) and some fruits (tomatoes and strawberries) are available to members.

Fall

Bill Engelbrecht’s Orchard and Farm Markets
This farmers’ market (7766 Fruitwood Lane, Newburgh, Ind.) has a local history more than 50 years old. Then, founder John W. Engelbrecht sold apples and sweet peaches from a small covered porch. Now, success has brought an expansive selection, including candy corn, nectarines, cherries, apple cider, and local wine.

Winter

Mayse Farm Market
The Northwest Side claims this year-round market. Fall goods — apples, cider, pumpkins, mums, homemade fudge, and caramel apples — offer plenty of reasons to visit, but every October, Paul Mayse opens his farmland (6400 N Saint Joseph Ave.) to families, who explore corn mazes, a straw castle, and a pumpkin patch. the winter items include a variety of meats, onions, apple butter, and kettle corn.

Suit Up

Staff Author

June 29, 2010

Evansville may be hundreds of miles from the nearest oceanfront hot spot, but we can cool off in style. Whether your look is sporty, groovy, or glamorous, the swimwear and accessories on this page are available at Dillard’s in Eastland Mall.

Flirty Florals
Straw hat, Preston & York, $48; Aqua wrap, Dotti Beach, $22; Aqua bangle, M. Haskell, $22; Ruffle halter top, Coco Rave, $62; Gold and multi-color bead necklace, Erica Lyons, $35; Floral print bottoms, Coco Rave, $36; Aqua shorts, Hobie, $30

Bohemian Beauty
“Penny Brown” sunglasses, Fossil, $50; Brown and pink halter, Becca, $88; Brown and pink bottoms, Becca, $58; Straw hat with ribbon, Caribbean Joe, $88; Brown cover-up, Becca, $72; Pink starfish necklace, Erica Lyons, $25; Gold and multi-color bead bracelet, Erica Lyons, $28; Brown “In The Mood” sandals, Reef, $40

Boho Chic
Green halter bikini top, Becca, $40; Green ruched bikini bottoms, Becca, $40; Multi-color coverup, Becca, $68; Glitter and gold bangle bracelets (set of 12), Erica Lyons, $25; Hot pink beach towel, Echo Design, $25; Straw bag, Blue Miami, $49

Good Sport
Straw visor, Preston & York, $18; Black sunglasses, Guess, $58; Black/white/red top, Nike, $40; Belted bottom, Nike, $40; Red skirt cover-up, Becca, $36; Red necklace, M.Haskell, $20; Black “Sharkey” sandals, Volatile, $40

Wild Child
Zebra-print and hot pink beach towel, Lolita, $25; Zebra print coverup, Ralph Lauren, $63; Beaded bib necklace, Erica Lyons, $35; Black one-piece swimsuit, Ralph Lauren, $94; Beaded bracelet, Erica Lyons, $25; Hot pink canvas tote, Dooney & Bourke, $185; Black and silver “Fara Crinkle Patent” sandals, Calvin Klein, $80

Preppy Power
Navy bottoms with white and pink paisley belt, Ralph Lauren $54; Paisley tankini with navy belt, Ralph Lauren, $80; White cover-up jacket, Nautica, $68; Hot pink hat, Ralph Lauren, $38; White and gold sunglasses, Jessica Simpson, $55; White & gold cane sandals, Jessica Simpson, $40

Color Commentary

Staff Author

June 23, 2010

When summer heats up, flowers burst open. Perennials and shrubs are flowering, but Evansvillians also incorporate many annual flowers that won’t grow on a year-round basis in our climate. Plus, if ground space is minimal, annuals work great in containers on patios or front entries. For these reasons, it is possible to think summer is the most colorful season in the garden, and though we buy annuals, numerous options allow the other seasons to show color.
The actual color you work into your garden is personal preference. Whether using a mix of colors or simply one or two colors, spreading colors and textures throughout the garden draws the eye to the different areas.

Think about how each plant will act in the various seasons to plan for the succession of color throughout the year. With a base of trees, shrubs, and perennials that are colorful all year, it is easy to pop in additional color with spring bulbs and summer annuals.

Springtime begins with clusters of stringy yellow witch hazel. Once they bloom, azaleas, fothergilla, and lilacs follow. To fill in larger areas, pansies and flower bulbs such as daffodils, tulips, and crocuses burst with color.

In our part of the world, we have an amazing display of fall colors on the trees that people in other regions don’t experience. It reminds me of an old TV commercial in which the trees were like fireworks exploding with color. Trees and shrubs in the fall can put on a show, and a tree’s fall color should be considered when picking a plant for your yard. Mums, kale, and cabbage also add color to the fall landscape.

Winters can be long and boring, but many plants give the long winter months pops of color. Obvious choices are evergreen plants such as holly, yews, and boxwoods. A variety of chamaecyparis adds a whimsical touch to the garden. Rhododendrons and a few types of viburnums hold their leaves throughout winter. To add other accents of color, I look to twig and berry colors; red twig dogwood is an apt description. Berries come in many colors: from the red or yellow winterberry to bayberry with a bluish berry to beautyberry’s shining purple.

Brian Wildeman is a graduate of Purdue University’s Landscape Horticulture and Design program. He is a designer with Landscapes by Dallas Foster, Inc.

Tom’s Tom

Staff Author

June 23, 2010

So revered is the Tom Collins that the drink — most well known as a refreshing cocktail on summer days — has a namesake sexy and slender glass. It first surfaced when America was turning 100, but with a long history, how the Tom Collins came to be is tough to pinpoint. A few historians credit a London waiter named John Collins for the drink’s name while others cite a fictitious, bad-mouthing, bar-loving Tom Collins for sparking the cocktail’s popularity. What is clear, though, is the Tom Collins still is a sweet drink. For this recipe, we added strawberries, a fruit made for summertime indulgence.

Ingredients:
• 1.5 ounces of Beefeater gin
• 3 strawberries, stemmed
• Splash of simple syrup
(1 part sugar dissolved in 1 part hot water)
• Sour mix almost to fill
• Lemon peel, for garnish

Instructions:
Place strawberries in glass. Add simple syrup. Muddle until broken down. Add Beefeater and sour mix. Transfer to iced shaking tin. Shake well, just until frost forms outside the tin. Pour over same glass, filled with ice. Take lemon peel and twist to express the citrus smell over the glass.

– Tom Fischer of Evansville is the host of an online show, BourbonBlog.com. He works closely with his website’s drink advisor, mixologist Stephen Dennison.

Something Old, Something New

Staff Author

June 16, 2010

Along with their wedding party, newlyweds Kate and Scott Eller jump for joy.

On Jan. 2, I’ll travel to Owensboro, Ky., to celebrate as a close friend from college ties the knot. The next weekend, I’ll hit the road to Fort Wayne, Ind., with my husband, who’s an usher at another college friend’s wedding. All that traveling takes a little coordinating — and that’s just one month.

Fortunately, both couples sent guests the links to their personalized wedding Web sites, which provided all sorts of useful information: hotel accommodations, driving directions, links to gift registries, and even activities for guests unfamiliar with the area. (The Owensboro bride encouraged out-of-town guests to go ice-skating at the RiverPark Center’s Winter Wonderland, sample local cuisine at Moonlite Bar-B-Q, or stroll through one of the city’s three museums.)

According to national experts, my Internet-savvy friends aren’t alone in their desire to communicate helpful information to their guests. The Knot (www.theknot.com), the country’s most-trafficked wedding Web site, reports that two-thirds of couples have personalized wedding Web sites. Local experts, too, say engaged couples in Evansville are trending toward “wired” weddings. “The ease of an online wedding page is a new way for the couple to communicate,” says Jim Bauer, president of The Bauerhaus, a popular Evansville venue for wedding ceremonies and receptions.

Distributing information online saves postage, a concern for budget-conscious couples. (Last February, CNNMoney.com reported that the average wedding price had dropped $6,000 since pre-recession times.) Still, in the best of times or the worst of times, “for better or worse” goes on. Couples realize that their wedding day happens only once in a lifetime, and they want it to be memorable not just for themselves, but for family and friends. The hottest wedding trend of all, says Bauer, is that “brides today are doing it their way. Not everyone goes traditional. They’re trying to be creative with their planning.”

Through their work with area couples, Bauer and other Tri-State wedding professionals have observed various trends and creativity in local weddings. Here, they share these inspiring ideas with Evansville Living Wedding Book readers.

The Look
Whether planning to attend a wedding or planning your own, one of the first questions that comes to mind is, “What should I wear?” That’s why New York City hosts the biannual Bridal Fashion Week, where wedding dress designers showcase their latest masterpieces. At last fall’s show, a spring 2010 preview, feminine details dominated the runway: bows, lace, floral motifs, and sheer straps. A strikingly modern contrast was the number of dresses with bold pops of color, even black. The trend has trickled down to mainstream wedding boutiques, too, where brides are choosing colored sashes or other accents that match their wedding colors.

As for wedding colors, “turquoise is supposed to be the new color for 2010,” says Jane Elpers, event design coordinator at TRU Event Rental. (It pairs beautifully with a range of hues: cherry red for a retro feel, white or gray for a sophisticated look, or even tangerine for a cheery summer wedding.)

Once the wedding color palette is determined, brides increasingly are turning their bridesmaids loose to choose dresses that suit their figures and tastes. (For tips on figure-flattering dress silhouettes, see “Best Dressed”) This can decrease the stress of outfitting the wedding party, particularly for large groups — and the staff at TRU, owned by Darrell and Karen LeMond, has seen wedding parties of 16 attendants.

[pagebreak]

The Ceremony
When planning their wedding ceremony, many couples default to the traditional Saturday afternoon event followed by an evening reception, but this isn’t the only option. Bauer notes that choosing a less conventional day for your wedding may mean attractive promotions and discounts. For couples with many out-of-town guests, Friday night or Sunday nuptials or even a Saturday luncheon still are convenient. It may sound unconventional, but more couples are choosing weeknight weddings, too, says Bauer.

As for ceremony venues, outdoor weddings continue to be popular, both in tents and open-air venues (although a “Plan B” in case of inclement weather is crucial). A large tent, such as those rented by TRU along with tables, chairs, linens, place settings, and other items, provides the convenience of holding the ceremony and reception in one location. So does a venue like The Bauerhaus, where couples frequently hold outdoor weddings in the venue’s park-like setting and then move the party indoors for the reception.

For several years, a “unity sand” ceremony has been a popular addition to weddings, and this trend isn’t drifting away. (It’s an alternative to the unity candle ceremony; instead of lighting a candle together, couples pour sand into a keepsake container to symbolize the joining of their lives.) The sand ceremony “definitely has replaced the unity candles,” says Bauer, especially in outdoor weddings where wind is a concern. (Couples who want to marry outdoors but stick to the traditional unity candle can use flameless or battery-operated candles, which won’t blow out in a breeze.)

The Party
After the ceremony comes the wedding reception, and although this usually is the largest expense in a couple’s wedding budget, Bauer acknowledges that receptions have become more budget-conscious in the last year. Fortunately, say experts, you can save money in style. Using a variety of table centerpieces adds visual interest and costs less than decorating every table with extravagant blooms. Specialty linens, too, are eye-catching: TRU has noticed more couples requesting patterns such as zebra print or polka dots. Items such as table runners and chair sashes in a couple’s wedding colors also have “a big impact without a big expense,” says Bauer.

Creative food and drink options can do the same, and Bauer and Elpers say hors d’oeuvres and food stations are gaining popularity. In lieu of buffets or formal sit-down dinners, guests choose hors d’oeuvres, entrees, and desserts from several food stations around the venue. “That lets people eat and mingle all night,” Elpers says. One cosmopolitan couple who hosted a reception at The Bauerhaus invited guests to taste their way around the world, visiting themed food stations with Italian, Asian, and Mexican cuisine. The couple’s friends and family were impressed, Bauer says: “Guests didn’t expect that.”

On the sweeter side, cupcakes continue to be a popular and budget-friendly alternative to traditional wedding cakes, and candy bars with personalized, color-themed sweets still are popular for favors. Creativity reigns in bar service as couples opt for specialty toasting beverages such as raspberry spumante or tinted punches. A popular drink option is the signature cocktail, served in a specialty glass to complement the wedding theme or color. (The Bauerhaus once served a blue-tinted electric lemonade for a couple whose wedding colors were blue and silver.)

While these trends are popular in Tri-State weddings, wedding professionals emphasize that the most noteworthy trend is originality, and memorable weddings are all about adding personal touches. Whether it’s a song, a special reading during the ceremony, or a slideshow of silly photos at the reception, “every bride, every couple wants to be unique,” says Bauer. “They want their personality to be reflected.”

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