Contents
Contributors
Contents
13 COLORING CONTEST 15 HISTORY MYSTERY
SUBSCRIBE
16 Tamar Kander ~ by Chrissy Alspaugh
22 Muddy Boots Dart Club ~ by Boris Ladwig
26 Woman Hiking Alone ~ by Sara Clifford
34 Names and Places ~ by Mark Blackwell
38-39 Photos by Jane Mitchell * 40-41 CALENDAR
44 Courthouse Bell Dedication ~ by Amy Huffman Oliver
48 Brown County Craft Gallery ~ by Bob Gustin
58 Sandhill Cranes ~ by Jim Eagleman
62 Sampler at 19th Hole 68-70 INFO PAGES
Cover: Nashville’ s Village Green ~ by Cindy Steele
OUR BROWN COUNTY P. O. Box 157 Helmsburg, IN 47435
( 812) 988-8807
ourbrown @ bluemarble. net ourbrowncounty. com
Also at issuu. com / ourbrowncounty Facebook at OUR BROWN COUNTY
Jeff Tryon is a former news editor of The Brown County Democrat, and a former regional reporter for The Republic. Born and raised in Brown County, he currently lives with his wife, Sue, in a log cabin on the edge of Brown County State Park. He is a
Baptist minister.
Joe Lee is an illustrator and writer. He is the author of Forgiveness: The Eva Kor Story, The History of Clowns for Beginners, and Dante for Beginners. He is an editorial cartoonist for the Bloomington Herald-Times, a graduate of Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Clown College, and a veteran circus performer.
Jim Eagleman is a 40-year veteran naturalist with the IN DNR. In retirement, he is now a consultant. His program“ Nature Ramblings” can be heard on WFHB radio, the Brown County Hour. He serves on the Sycamore Land Trust board. He enjoys reading, hiking, music, and birding.
Contributors
Chrissy Alspaugh is a freelance writer and photographer. View her work at < ChristinaAlspaughPhotography. com >. She lives in Bartholomew County with her husband Matt and three boys.
Cindy Steele is the publisher and editor of this magazine. She sells and designs ads, sometimes writes, takes photos, and creates the layout. For fun, she likes to play the guitar or banjo and sing.
Mark Blackwell no longer makes his home in Brown County where“ the roadway is rough and the slopes are seamed with ravines.” He now resides within sight of the sixth green of an undisclosed golf course. He was born in the middle of the last century and still spends considerable time there.
Amy Huffman Oliver has lived in and around Brown County most of her life and raised two kids here with her husband, Jim. She grew up with“ newspaper in her blood” by way of her parents, Jane and Stu Huffman, who were both journalists. She writes as a freelancer after working most of her career as an attorney and a seventh-grade teacher.
Bob Gustin worked as a reporter, photographer, managing editor, and editor for daily newspapers in Colorado, Nebraska, and Indiana before retiring in 2011. He and his wife, Chris, operate Homestead Weaving Studio. He enjoys expanding his book and record collections.
Boris Ladwig is a Columbusbased journalist who has worked in print, online and TV media in Indiana and Kentucky and has won awards for features, news, business, non-deadline news, First Amendment / community affairs and investigative reporting.
Sara Clifford spent the first 20 years of her career as a print journalist and as editor of The Brown County Democrat from 2009 to 2021. She is now managing editor of an earth science research journal. She lives in Brown County with her husband and three sons.
* Jane Mitchell first fell in love with photography during her elementary school days when she snapped blurry black and white shots with her Brownie camera. She has never stopped taking photos since then. She taught art in public schools for 33 years and showed her work of stained glass and weavings through the art and craft circuit. Her experience and a strong appreciation of nature keep her interest in photography alive.
Thanks, Mom, for making it happen!
copyright 2025
March / April 2025 • Our Brown County 9