USI to celebrate Lighting a Tradition with holiday activities, refreshments
New this year: carriage rides, train rides for kids and karaoke
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The University of Southern Indiana Student Alumni Association will host the 27th annual Lighting a Tradition at 6 p.m. Monday, November 20 on The Quad of the USI campus.
Festive holiday lights strung on the trees around The Quad will be illuminated, kicking off the holiday season at USI. Along with the traditions past, several new and notable additions have been made to this year’s event, including horse and carriage rides, train rides for the kids and karaoke, aka Christmas Carol-oke.
At 6:30 p.m. guests can mingle over cups of hot chocolate in the University Center (UC) Breezeway and enjoy caroling in front of the Rice Library. Children can hop aboard the train and take a ride around The Quad. From 7 – 8:30 p.m., horse and carriage rides will be offered, leaving from the north side of the Rice Library.
Also beginning at 7 p.m., several fun holiday events will take place in the University Center. Visitors can participate in cookie and card decorating, get a photo with Santa in the UC Cone, at the UC Fireside Lounge, step inside snow globes that inflate when you enter for another photo opportunity, or stop by the Student Life Lounge to belt out your favorite holiday tunes for Christmas Carol-oke.
At 8 p.m. gather in the Wright Administration Building Forum I for a free showing of the holiday classic movie Elf.
Lighting a Tradition is open to all who wish to celebrate the season. The Student Alumni Association will be accepting new or gently used hats and scarves to be donated to a local shelter, and Toys for Tots also will be on site for toy donations.
For additional information, contact Caylin Blockley, assistant director of Alumni Relations and Volunteer USI, at 812-465-1215 or cjblockley@usi.edu.
Adopt A Pet
Dudley is a 7-year-old male smoothhaired Fox Terrier mix. He is a very sweet boy who loves other animals, kids, & people! His previous owner loved him dearly, but had to move into an apartment and could only take her cat. Abbie the Jack Russell is his friend and they could go home together, but they don’t have to. Dudley’s ready to go home today for only $100. Contact Vanderburgh Humane at (812) 426-2563 for adoption details!
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Eagles return to Angel Mounds for NCAA Championships
University of Southern Indiana Men’s Cross Country returns to a familiar site Saturday when it participates in the NCAA II Cross Country Championships at Angel Mounds in Evansville, Indiana.
USI is one of 32 teams that qualified for the event that also features 27 individuals. The Screaming Eagles advanced to this year’s national championships after placing second of 28 teams at the NCAA II Midwest Region Championships. Seniors Bastian Grau (Höchstadt, Germany) and Cain Parker (Petersburg, Indiana) led the Eagles with sixth and seventh-place finishes, respectively.
At last year’s championships, the Eagles placed 13th in the 32-team field. Chase Broughton finished 27thand Noah Lutz 35th to earn All-American honors. Of the returners, junior Darin Lawrence (Indianapolis, Indiana) had the best finish of 98th.
This is the 13th consecutive year, and 25th overall, that the Eagles have qualified for the national championships. Their best finish is third back in 1982.
The Eagles moved up three spots to fifth in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll.
While the USI women did not earn one of eight at-large bids after a fifth-place finish at the Midwest Region Championships, junior Hope Jones (Cumberland, Indiana) received an at-large bid as an individual and will be one of 25 individuals competing amongst the 32 teams.
Jones finished sixth at the Midwest Region Championships, narrowly missing out on qualifying automatically. Jones finished 182nd at the national championships a year ago as USI placed fifth as a team.
The USI women’s team dropped one spot to 24th in the most recent USTFCCCA poll. The Eagles were the only ranked women’s team to not make the field.
The women’s 6k begins at 10:15 a.m. with the men’s 10k to follow at 11:30 a.m.
IU’s Parratto, Pieroni Earn Big Ten Weekly Honors
Indiana University’s Jessica Parratto and Blake Pieroni earned weekly Big Ten swimming and diving honors on Wednesday, the conference office announced.
Parratto was named the Big Ten Women’s Diver of the Week for the second time this year, while Pieroni was named the Big Ten Men’s Swimmer of the Week for the third time this season.
Pieroni helped lead the No. 1 Indiana men’s swimming and diving squad to victories over No. 13 Notre Dame and Cincinnati last week, winning two individual events. The Valparaiso, Ind. native won the 100 freestyle (43.17) and 200 IM (1:47.07) with NCAA B cut times. He was also a member of the 200 medley relay for the Hoosiers, touching with a time of 1:28.75.
Parratto was dominant for the Hoosier women’s team in the diving well, helping IU take down Cincinnati. The Dover, N.H. product won the 1-meter with a score of 309.50 and the 3-meter with a total of 348.15. Both scores were NCAA Zones qualifying marks.
The No. 1/9 Indiana University men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will be back in action on Nov. 16-18 at the Early Bird Invitational, hosted by Purdue University.
Eagles shrug off slow start to best Brescia
The University of Southern Indiana men’s basketball overcame a slow start to dominate Brescia University, 93-67, in the 2017-18 home opener Tuesday evening at the Physical Athletics Center. USI watched its record to 3-2 overall in 2017-18, while Brescia, which is a member of the NAIA and considers the game an exhibition, remains 0-2.
The Screaming Eagles started slow, hitting only two-of-seven from the field and falling behind by nine points, 15-6, at the 14:23 mark of the first half. USI rallied midway through the half with a 14-5 run to take a 29-27 lead with 6:25 to play before halftime and extended the lead to as many as nine points (45-36) before settling for the 45-38 margin at the intermission.
USI freshman forward Emmanuel Little (Indianapolis, Indiana) and junior guard/forward Nate Hansen (Evansville, Indiana) led the offensive attack during the first half. Little had 12 points on a near perfect five-of-six from the field, while Hansen dropped in 10 points on four-of-six.
The Eagles quadrupled their lead in the first 10 minutes of the second half, enlarging the margin to 28 points, 71-43, with 10:35 to play. The lead would not shrink below 21 points in the final 10 minutes as USI cruised to the 26-point, 93-67 final.
USI junior guard Alex Stein (Evansville, Indiana), who was honored prior to the game for becoming the 20th Eagle to reach 1,000 or more points in his career, led USI offensive charge with 19 points, 15 coming in the second half. Stein was seven-of-11 from the field, two-of-two from long range and three-of-three from the line.
Following Stein in the scoring column was Little, who had 16 points and 12 rebounds to post his second double-double his career. Senior forward Julius Rajala (Helsinki, Finland) added 12 points, while freshman guard Mateo Rivera (Indianapolis, Indiana) and senior center Davis Carter (Denver, Colorado) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points each.
As a team, USI shot 55.7 percent from the field (39-70), 50 percent from beyond the arc (8-16). The Eagles also dominated the board, 52-31.
The Eagles continue their four-game homestand November 20 when they host Fisk University for a 7 p.m. match-up. The second half of the homestand follows after Thanksgiving when USI hosts Martin Methodist College November 25 and concludes Lewis University visits to open Great Lakes Valley Conference play November 30.
VANDERBURGH COUNTY FELONY CHARGES
Below are the felony cases to be filed by the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office today.
John Andrew Jones: Operating a vehicle as an habitual traffic violator (Level 6 Felony)
Nickholas Lee Garrett: Possession of methamphetamine (Level 6 Felony), Possession of a narcotic drug (Level 6 Felony), Possession of marijuana (Class B misdemeanor), Possession of paraphernalia (Class C misdemeanor)
Matthew Lee Jourdan: Criminal recklessness (Level 6 Felony), Criminal recklessness (Level 6 Felony), Invasion of Privacy (Class A misdemeanor), Resisting law enforcement (Class A misdemeanor), Domestic battery (Class A misdemeanor)
Larry Dean Barber: Theft (Level 6 Felony)
Deionte Leshaun Cook: Theft of a firearm (Level 6 Felony), Intimidation (Level 5 Felony), Domestic battery (Class A misdemeanor), Carrying a handgun without a license (Class A misdemeanor)
Daniel Lee Thorpe: Intimidation (Level 6 Felony), Intimidation (Level 6 Felony), Disorderly Conduct (Class B misdemeanor)
Christopher Lee Kuhen: Possession of methamphetamine (Level 5 Felony)
Lane Deforest Avery: Possession of methamphetamine (Level 6 Felony), Unlawful possession of syringe (Level 6 Felony), Maintaining a common nuisance – controlled substances (Level 6 Felony)
Josee Lynn Caldemeyer: Theft (Level 6 Felony)
Bryan Allen Payne: Unlawful possession of syringe (Level 6 Felony)
IS IT TRUE NOVEMBER 15, 2017
We hope that today’s “IS IT TRUE” will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?
IS IT TRUE we have been told because of recent increases in the County Income Option Tax (CIOT) and the Wheel Tax that Vanderburgh County may now have the money to fund the expansion of the county jail?
IS IT TRUE that after over two centuries of statehood the State of Indiana is finally on the verge of allowing alcohol sales on Sunday?…a panel of experts established by the State of Indiana has concluded that firewater should be available on Sunday just like it is in nearly every other place on the planet?…Hoosiers have always been able to purchase booze on Sunday but only at certain times and only at bars or restaurants where beer and cocktails are marked up by a factor of more than 100% when compared to the cost at a grocery store or liquor store?…it is encouraging that Indiana may finally be coming out of the Stone Age with respect to alcohol sales as we all know that buying more on Saturday has always been the way to defeat the idiocy that the state hath wrought?
IS IT TRUE it will be interesting to see if the powers that be will lift the ban on selling automobiles on Sundays too?…this is a ban that has mystified most people who are aware of this relic of the past when “blue laws†were passed to appease temperance league devotees and cars got caught up in the mix?…we cannot understand how a state with four border states that allow and even encourage vehicle sales on Sundays could every think that restricting auto sales on Sunday was good for business?…this is one of the things along with alcohol sales that the Chambers of Commerce in Indiana should be flogging the state government over as it hurts Indiana businesses and diminishes sales tax collections?…we are amazed that pizza sales are allowed on Sunday given the Dark Age thought process that our laws come from?
IS IT TRUE a group of American veterans who deal with some of the most debilitating mental anguish has called upon the State of Indiana to legalize medicinal marijuana? …some Veterans  feel that legalizing medicinal marijuana and decriminalizing small amounts may just cut back on the overcrowding problem at the Vanderburgh County jail?…they also feel that the pro-keeping someone who possessed a small amount of marijuana in jail at $50,000 per year cost to the taxpayers is bordering on insane?
IS IT TRUE the City of Evansville has voted to give a $500,000 tax abatement to a distribution center for golf equipment that will be hiring about 50 people at an average wage of roughly $15 per hour? Â …we been told that distribution centers much like call centers sometimes have very little economic impact on any regional economy? Â …we hope that the new golf equipment distribution center will?
IS IT TRUE last night the Vanderburgh County Democratic party had a very successful Dinner/VIP reception fundraising event? Â …over 100 people attended the VIP reception and 185 attended the dinner? Â …we are told this was the most successful fundraising event that the local democratic party have had in many years? Â …it looks like party chairman Scott Danks has the party headed in the right direction?
IS IT TRUE that the IRS has now documented that there has been massive migration of high earning individuals from high tax states to low tax states?…the big winner has been Florida with the losers being made up of Illinois, New Jersey, and New York?…we doubt that the people running these states with notice until their checks start to bounce?
Todays READERS POLL question is: Do you feel that the State of Indiana should allow alcohol sales on Sunday?
EDITOR’S FOOTNOTE:  Any comments posted in this column do not represent the views or opinions of the City County Observer or our advertisers