Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Anne Hazlett Monday announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $17.4 million in 41 projects that will provide essential services for rural communities in 22 states.

“Rural America represents a wealth of opportunity – from farms to tourism, forestry, mining and manufacturing,” Hazlett said. “At USDA, our mission is to be a catalyst to bring those opportunities to life – whether building infrastructure, helping communities to attract jobs, accessing additional capital, or improving the quality of life in these towns.”

USDA is making the investments through the Community Facilities Direct Loan Program. The funding helps rural areas purchase, construct or improve essential facilities. An essential community facility is one that provides a necessary service for the orderly development or operation of a rural community, such as schools, libraries, health care facilities, day care centers and infrastructure improvements. In Indiana for example:

• The Loogootee Public Library in Loogootee will use a $1.1 million loan to construct a new public library for the 5,853 residents of Rutherford and Perry townships. The current 600-square-foot library is too small and lacks sufficient space for meeting rooms, research, special projects, or computer connections. The upgraded facility will give schools in the area another resource for their students.
• The City of Union City will use a $181,500 loan and $181,000 grant to purchase a new fire truck. This will provide a greatly-needed service for the city to protect and serve its 3,584 residents in rural Randolph County.
• The Lewis Township Volunteer Fire Company, Inc. in Clay County will use a $688,333 loan to assist the Company with supplying fire protection services to the businesses and the 1,464 residents that live within Lewis Township, Clay County. The current fire department building is insufficient to carry out the mission of the fire department because it is too small and the fire trucks and equipment are not easily accessible; this causes lost time to address the needs of the community. The investment will provide the necessary space to store equipment and to access the trucks more easily. The existing building will remain as a community center for Lewis Township.
• The Hanover Educational Properties, LLC in Hanover will use a $4,290,000 loan to obtain, hold, and retain real estate for Hanover College. In order to meet the strategic goal of increased enrollment, the first-year housing dormitories need to be renovated to stay competitive with other colleges and universities in the region. It was deemed advantageous to establish an LLC and first transfer the ownership of Crow Resident Hall to the LLC. The LLC will utilize Rural Development funding for the transfer. The cost savings with a longer term and lower interest rate will free up cash and financially allow the three freshman resident halls to then be renovated, providing quality and affordable housing options for students.

  The projects will help improve the quality of life for more than 220,000 rural residents in Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.

More than 100 types of projects are eligible for USDA Community Facilities funding. Eligible applicants include municipalities, public bodies, nonprofit organizations and federally and state-recognized Native American tribes. Applicants and projects must be in rural areas with a population of 20,000 or less. Loan amounts have ranged from $10,000 to $165 million.

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Omnibus spending bill increased the budget for the Community Facilities Direct Loan and Grant program to $2.8 billion, up $200 million from FY 2017.

In April 2017, President Donald J. Trump established the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to identify legislative, regulatory and policy changes that could promote agriculture and prosperity in rural communities. In January 2018, Secretary Perdue presented the Task Force’s findings to President Trump. These findings included 31 recommendations to align the federal government with state, local and tribal governments to take advantage of opportunities that exist in rural America. Increasing investments in rural infrastructure is a key recommendation of the task force.

To view the report in its entirety, please view the Report to the President of the United States from the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity (PDF, 5.4 MB). In addition, to view the categories of the recommendations, please view the Rural Prosperity infographic (PDF, 190 KB).

USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community services such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov.

Regional Opportunity Initiatives (ROI) is pleased to announce that eleven school districts in the Indiana Uplands have received Ready Schools grants totaling $2,325,091.

“Between six school districts receiving development grants, and five receiving implementation grants, we are thrilled to share that ROI’s signature education and workforce initiative will impact more than half of the region’s 52,000 K-12 students,” said CEO Tina Peterson.

The Ready Schools Initiative is a design-thinking framework to support school districts in re-aligning their P-12 curricular and programmatic offerings to educational and workforce needs within the Indiana Uplands, an 11-county region that encompasses Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen and Washington counties.

Bloomfield School District, Monroe County Community School Corporation, Spencer- Owen Community Schools, and a collaboration of Mitchell, Orleans, and Shoals Community Schools have been selected for participation in the second cohort of the Ready Schools Initiative. Each will receive a development grant to support an in-depth design process over the next ten months.

Six school districts from the first cohort have also recently completed the 10-month Ready Schools development process. Loogootee Community Schools, and a collaboration of the four school districts in Dubois County: Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools, Northeast Dubois County School Corporation, Southwest Dubois County School Corporation and Southeast Dubois County School Corporation were awarded implementation grants to begin executing alignment strategies. Brown County Schools is in the process of completing its Ready Schools implementation grant proposal.

Ready Schools Cohort 1 Implementation Grants

• Loogootee Community Schools
• Dubois County Collaboration:
• Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools
• Northeast Dubois County School Corporation
• Southwest Dubois County School Corporation
• Southeast Dubois County School Corporation
• Brown County Schools (pending)

Ready Schools Cohort 2 Development Grants

• Bloomfield School District
• Monroe County Community School Corporation
• Spencer-Owen Community Schools
• Mitchell/Orleans/Shoals Collaboration:
• Mitchell Community Schools
• Orleans Community Schools
• Shoals Community School Corporation

“Our region is home to amazing cultural and economic assets; however, we continue to see a need for qualified employees in our key industry sectors,” added Peterson. “The Ready Schools initiative is a concerted effort to begin addressing this issue by helping schools, industry, and communities work collaboratively to develop both short- and long-term strategies that prepare young people for career opportunities right here in our region as we develop the pipeline of talent necessary to ensure employers and communities thrive.”

Ready Schools Implementation Grants for Cohort 1

Cohort 1 implementation grants will fund programming that contribute to a systemic alignment between schools, community and workforce. Grants will support approaches including career awareness and work-based learning, project-based learning, employability and soft skills development, professional development for teachers, STEM materials and curricula, and pathways aligned to careers in the Indiana Uplands. The four school districts in Dubois County collectively were awarded $1 million in grant funds for implementation. Loogootee Community Schools was awarded $495,091 in grant funding.

“The implementation proposals we received from the Dubois and Loogootee Ready School teams were well crafted and reflect a strong commitment to long-term collaborations between schools and industry,” said ROI Director of Education and Workforce Todd Hurst. “Each of the Ready School teams took the time to work together with schools, community leaders and stakeholders, and local industry to identify and design locally driven solutions. The teams developed strategies that offer students a variety of post-secondary options, including certifications, 2-year degrees, 4-year degrees, and beyond.”

In Dubois County, a county-level career and innovation hub will be developed on the campus of Vincennes University Jasper Campus (VUJC) to serve as a central location for the collaboration and alignment of industry and the four school districts. Vincennes University is supplying in-kind space to house this hub. Called Hub 19 (Dubois County was the 19th incorporated county in Indiana.), this facility will also coordinate teacher training and become the county’s location to explore innovative teaching models and curricula.

“This has been an incredible experience,” said Bill Hochgesang, superintendent of Northeast Dubois County School Corporation. “Ready Schools has enabled our four school districts and local industry to work together for the first time on a significant initiative. This work will create many more opportunities for students for years to come, and we hope that our collaborative approach will serve as a model for other communities. We invite other schools and workforce partners to visit Dubois County and see how we put our Ready Schools work into practice during the implementation phase.”

Also in partnership with Vincennes University, an Advanced Manufacturing Academy will also be housed at VUJC to create opportunities for students from all four school districts and the Patoka Valley Career CTE Co-op. Here students will be able to take coursework and earn credentials to prepare them for employment in manufacturing across the Indiana Uplands region.

“We at Vincennes University are especially excited by the work being done by all four school corporations in Dubois County in concert with the Patoka Valley Career Cooperative and VU Jasper,” said ROI Board Member and President of Vincennes University Chuck Johnson. “The new Advanced Manufacturing Academy will be a groundbreaking partnership that aligns with Dubois County’s greatest workforce needs.”

“This is important work,” added Johnson. “It will have a generational impact, and it requires all of us to think of our communities and schools as part of a larger system. As an ROI board member, I have been pleased and impressed by the impact the Ready Schools process has already been having. I am eager to see it spread to other communities in our region.”

With its implementation grant, Loogootee Community Schools will establish a focused, district-wide approach to STEM education and project-based learning at all grade levels. The school district will develop curricula and training plans to achieve STEM certification by the Indiana Department of Education. Loogootee also strives to be one of the first rural districts of its size to be a Project Lead The Way (PTLW) distinguished school district. To receive the designation, a school district must have 20 percent or more of the K-12 students in each grade participate in a PLTW program during the previous school year.

“With the changing landscape of careers in our region, it is important for our students to develop STEM and project-based learning skills to prepare them for 21st-century jobs,” said Superintendent Chip Mehaffey. “We think this commitment to district-wide STEM certification and PLTW will put our students on a path to success and allow Loogootee to stand out among rural communities as a leading and innovative school district.”

In partnership with local industry, Loogootee Community Schools will also establish a student-run business to apply hands-on, real-world learning opportunities for high school students in their applied engineering pathway.

“Among the Loogootee Education and Workforce Advisory Team, there is a lot of excitement about the creation of a student-run business,” said Pam Loughmiller of Loughmiller Machine and Tool. “This is such a great opportunity to allow students to apply real-world experiences to their learning. From business planning, budgeting, product development, and customer service, this will be an incredible opportunity to prepare students for real-world careers. We are thrilled to be partnering with the Loogootee School Corporation.”

Ready Schools Development Grants for Cohort 2

A total of $830,000 in development grants has been awarded to schools selected for the second cohort of Ready Schools. Bloomfield School District, Monroe County Community School Corporation, Spencer-Owen Community Schools, and a collaboration of Mitchell Community Schools, Orleans Community Schools, and Shoals Community School Corporation will begin the first phase of the Ready Schools process in August. A District Readiness Coordinator will guide locally developed advisory and design teams through the year-long design thinking process. A coach from ROI will work side by side with the District Readiness Coordinator through the year-long process.

“The ROI Ready Schools Initiative Grant will enable Mitchell, Orleans, and Shoals to meaningfully collaborate with industry and community stakeholders while creating sustainable career-oriented initiatives,” said Shoals Superintendent Dr. Candace Roush. “By pooling our resources and coming together to examine new career pathways, create programming, and tweak existing models, we can provide more opportunities for student and community success.”

“The Monroe County Community School Corporation is honored to be selected as a 2018 ROI Ready Schools grant recipient,” said Superintendent Dr. Judith DeMuth. “We will focus on P-12 preparation for careers to ensure students have the skills, knowledge, flexibility, and confidence to pursue their educational and workforce goals. With many career possibilities in our area, we are excited to begin this collaborative process that will impact student success and the continued growth of our prosperous and vibrant region.”

The Ready Schools Design Process
The goal of the Ready Schools development process is to enable school districts to
engage business leaders, community stakeholders, parents and students in meaningful dialogue about what school success means and to develop a plan to obtain that success. The result is a collaborative approach designed to support students in achieving academic and career goals aligned with workforce, with a particular focus on the region’s key industry sectors: advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and national security and defense.

For a description of activities at each Ready Schools phase: go to https://swcindiana.org/details-of-the-ready-schools-initiative/

In 2017, ROI released its Occupational Needs Assessment to highlight the education and workforce needs of the advanced manufacturing, life sciences and national security and defense sectors in the counties of Indiana Uplands. The Assessment emphasizes that employers struggle to find talent for all levels of jobs, ranging from entry-level positions requiring only a high-school diploma to highly technical jobs requiring advanced degrees and training. All of the employers interviewed noted the significant role that the region’s P-12 districts play in addressing these workforce challenges.

The six core principles that guide cohort work through the Ready Schools process build upon the results of the Occupational Needs Assessment and include:

• Every student is engaged in a relevant path to success;
• Students graduate high school ready for post-secondary and career success;
• Meaningful and ongoing collaboration occurs among schools, industry, and community;
• Teaching and learning are grounded in relevancy;
• K-12 schools are aligned around a common vision of student success; and
• Schools embrace the significant role they play in achieving regional prosperity

About Regional Opportunity Initiatives, Inc.:

The mission of Regional Opportunity Initiatives, Inc. (ROI) is to support economic and community prosperity in the 11 counties of the Indiana Uplands (Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen and Washington counties). ROI is implementing education and workforce initiatives and regional engagement initiatives for quality of place development. More information can be found at https://swcindiana.org/

The Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife is advising residents not to dump their goldfish into ponds and lakes.

State officials say goldfish can grow to a large size when not in a pet store.

The breed can become an invasive species when put into the wild.

Officials suggest giving the fish away, donating it to a school, or trading it with another fish owner instead.

With an autopsy set for Wednesday morning in Washington County, sheriff’s deputies and the Indiana State Police hope to find answers as to the identification and cause of death for a body found in the woods near Little York.

Until then, police are still looking for leads relating to the case of a missing Washington County man that led them to find the body on Monday.

Police had been searching for Skyler Naugle, 35, who had been reported missing on Saturday, July 21 but had not been seen since the previous Monday. 

Although Goodin said earlier today in a press release there is a “good probability” the body found was that of Naugle, he said during a press conference this afternoon at the Sellersburg Post that police can’t report if the body they found is male or female, clothed or not – until there is an autopsy to reveal lots of information. 

“We do not know the cause of death. Don’t know exactly who it is,” said Goodin. “We have to maintain the crime scene. We don’t know what evidence we’re looking for until the autopsy is completed. We’re calling it a death investigation. We can’t reveal how we found the body or where we found the body. [We’re] hoping to get a lot of answers from the autopsy…we have a lot of questions.

Goodin said police found the body Monday while searching for Naugle. The body was so decomposed police couldn’t identify the body or tell what the cause of death was. 

“We don’t know how the body was so decomposed,” said Goodin. “The pathlogist will have to answer that. We’ve had several 100 degree days. We’ve had wind and rain. The unfortunate fact is that we haven’t been able to make a 100 percent identification to make those notifications to family members. We have to deal in facts. In 100 percentiles. Unless we can absolutely say who this is, we’re going to wait.”

Goodin did ask those living in the Little York area to be vigilent, keep their doors locked and report any suspicious activity to police. 

The Washington County Sheriff’s Department can be reached at 812.883.5999 and the Indiana State Police – Sellersburg Post can be contact at at 1.800.872-6743. 

MISSING PERSONS REPORT

According to Washington County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy, the case started out last week as a missing person’s report. 

Deputy Brent Miller said the family contacted the sheriff’s department on Saturday to report Naugle missing. 

“We began to check around the county,” said Miller. “We’ve been working with the Pekin Town Marshall, Conservation Officers and Salem Police Department….All working together.” 

Police turned up Monday at a house on 7707 East New Cut Road in Little York.

According to ISP Sgt. Jerry Goodin, police knew that Naugle was acquainted with the people there and had gone there in search of clues to his whereabouts.

“We think they were acquaintances,” said Goodin during the press conference. “There is nothing out of the ordinary on why he was there. We went there because we knew they were acquaintances.”

As officers began speaking with an occupant of the property they gained enough information to believe Naugle had been to the property before he went missing.

At this point, police obtained permission to search the property from an owner and they also obtained a search warrant. 

“We can’t say where the body was found” said Goodin. “It was in a huge wooded area. The home is built inside a wooded area. We’re staying away from specific location.”

NAUGLE’S CRIMINAL PAST

During the conference, Miller said Naugle was known to local law enforcement. 

“We have never worked a missing person case on [Naugle],” said Miller. “We do know him. It’s a small community. Everybody knows everybody. Skyler has had a couple of run ins with the law in the past.”

Looking up Naugle’s record, he had been arrested several times for theft. 

• December 30, 2003 – Burglary, theft, habitual offender.
• December 12, 2009 – Robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, robbery – defendant armed, habitual offender. 
• April 11, 2016 – Washington County, arrested for possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia, maintaining a common nuisance, habitual offender. 
• August 4, 2016 – Washington County, arrested for possession of paraphernalia.
• October 24, 2016 – Washington County, arrested for theft and charged as an habitual offender. 
• November 10, 2016 – Washington County, theft.
• February 2, 2017 – Jennings County, arrested for two counts of burglary and two counts of theft
• January 10, 2017 – Washington County, arrested on three counts of auto theft, with habitual offender enhancement, maintaining a common nuisance.

Naugle also had four infractions in Scott County, one in Floyd County and one in Allen County. 

Members of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department and Indiana State Police Detectives have been looking for a 35-year-old missing Washington County man and Monday morning found a body that could be that of Skyler Naugle, who was reported missing on Saturday, July 21 by family members.

While waiting on an autopsy, police are still following leads in their search for Naugle. 

However, according to ISP Sgt. Jerry Goodin, “there is a good possibility that the found body is that of Naugle however, until an autopsy is performed and positive identification is made nothing can be determined.”

Police received information that Naugle had visited 7707 East New Cut Road in Little York. 

Police say Naugle was last seen on Monday July 16th in the early morning hours in the Little York area of Washington County. 

Monday morning, the Washington County Sheriff’s Department requested assistance from detectives from the Indiana State Police Post at Sellersburg in searching for a missing person around the Little York area of Washington County. 

As part of their search for Naugle, officers visited 7707 East New Cut Road in Little York.

As officers began speaking with an occupant of the property they gained enough information to believe Naugle had been to the property before he went missing.

At this point they obtained permission to search the property from an owner and they also obtained a search warrant. 

While searching the property officers located a body in a wooded area near the home.

The body was not recognizable enough to prove an identity and an autopsy is planned for Wednesday in Washington County, to determine an identity and cause of death. 

Naugle is a white male, 35 years of age, 5’-7” tall, brown hair and brown eyes, (a photo is attached).

This investigation is a death investigation. After the autopsy and a confirmation of the cause of death is made this status could obviously change. 

Anyone with information regarding the missing person Skyler Naugle or the body found is encouraged to contact the Indiana State Police at 1-800-872-6743 or the Washington County Sheriff’s Department at 812-883-5999. 

The Washington County Coroner’s Office and Prosecutor’s Office are assisting in the investigation.

This investigation is continuing. 

Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter recently promoted Senior Trooper Charles Johnson to the Indiana State Police South Zone SWAT Team.

Johnson is a Perry County native, and 10 year veteran of the Indiana State Police. Johnson graduated from the 68th Indiana State Police Recruit Academy on December 21st, 2007. After graduating the Recruit Academy, Johnson was assigned to the Jasper Post, where he has patrolled primarily Perry County for the majority of his career.

During his 10 years of service, Johnson has achieved numerous certification. 

Specialties

• Field Training Officer
• Tactical Intervention Platoon (Riot Squad)
• Defensive Tactics Instructor
• Indiana Law Enforcement Academy Instructor
• Marijuana Eradication Coordinator

Indiana State Police Jasper Post Commander, Lieutenant Jason Allen says “Senior Trooper Johnson will be an asset to the SWAT Team and will continue to serve the citizens of Indiana well in his new assignment.” 

Before joining the Indiana State Police, Senior Trooper Johnson spent three years serving as a Corrections Officer for the Indiana Department of Corrections. Johnson was also a firearms instructor during his time with IDOC. 

Johnson, has served as the Perry County Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge # 137 President for the previous 5 years. The FOP participates in numerous community events throughout the year, which includes sponsoring a week long kid’s camp where kids spend time with police officers in the outdoors.

Monday at approximately 5:55 pm, troopers from the Indiana State Police Post at Sellersburg responded to a crash involving a semi-tractor and trailer on Interstate #65 South at the 19 Mile Marker, (closest town Henryville).   

 When officers arrived they found the semi-tractor and trailer fully engulfed in fire with the driver trapped inside. The Monroe Township Volunteer Fire Department was on the scene and extinguished the vehicle and trailer fire.

The preliminary investigation revealed for an unknown reason the driver left the roadway on the West side of the road. The semi-tractor and trailer then struck a tree and caught fire.

It is unknown if the driver died before, during or after the crash.

At this time, it is unknown what caused the crash and the driver is unidentified.

The semi was a 2012 Freightliner hauling a load of dairy products.

Interstate #65 South at the crash site had one lane open. Drivers were urged to use alternate routes.

This investigation is continuing.