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The BEACON
BEACON
PUBLISHED MONTHLY SINCE 1994
Assessed Property Values on the Rise Across the State
The real estate market has taken an upturn. Annual
Adjustments or “trending” of property values are a part of
Indiana’s market-based assessment system that began in
2002.
Trending requires assessors to research sales of proper-
ties in a particular area over the previous two years. Using
that information, assessors then estimate the values of other
properties in the same area to determine an assessed value.
Many counties in Indiana have seen increases in their
trending factor based upon a ratio study. Upon completion
of the study, it is sent to the Department of Local Govern-
ment Finance for approval.
The DLGF is responsible for ensuring property tax as-
sessment and local government budgeting are carried out in
accordance with Indiana law. It is responsible for publish-
ing property tax assessment rules and annually reviewing
and approving tax rates and levies of every political sub-
division in the state, including all counties, cities, towns,
townships, school corporations, libraries, and other entities
with tax levy authority.
Dearborn County was first to obtain approval from the
DLGF and has applied these factors to the assessed values
of property in the county. Increases in assessed valuation
across the county are the result. Dearborn County has over
two hundred sixteen statistical neighborhoods with fifty
of these market areas, consisting of ten thousand sixty-six
parcels being assessed a 17% increase.
Continued on page 7A
Community
Leaders Make
A Difference
International Visitors
Oakwood Farms hosts
judges, owners, and horses
from Germany and all over
the country.
Page 9A
It’s 4-H
Fair
Time!
This year’s
fair is gear-
ing up to be
better than
ever.
Page 9A
Father and son, Russ & Stan Slack, are two outstanding men and
veterans of the United States Navy.
Memorial
Day
Our community celebrated
the true meaning of the holi-
day by honoring veterans.
PG Gentrup and U.S. Air Force
Jet Fighter Pilot, Sam Chipman,
at the service in Rising Sun.
A Happy Outcome
Judge Humphrey deliv- U.S.Army Hero, Brett Bondurant, at River-
ered his moving speech view Cemetery in Aurora with his grandpa,
in Greendale.
Jerry Bondurant who served in Vietnam.
Opioid addiction is taking over our
country, but no one wants to talk about
it. What can we do about it? How can
we solve the problem?
Two prominent community leaders
have risen to the challenge and are
facing the problem head-on: Superior
Court Judge Sally A. McLaughlin and
Lawrenceburg Mayor Kelly Mollaun.
Their approaches are different, yet both
focus on helping those who struggle
with addiction. The challenge- to help
these people become contributing
members of our society.
Over the past twenty-three years,
Judge McLaughlin has seen many
people who have committed crimes be-
cause of their dependence on an addic-
tive substance. Their rates of recovery
were meager when convicted merely
to a jail sentence. So Judge McLaugh-
lin developed a program focusing on
inmates with addiction problems but
exhibiting a strong desire to recover.
The focus of the program is to change
the thought process of the inmates so
that they can grow into contributing
members of our society.
But let’s back up. Where did Judge
McLaughlin come from? What makes
her qualified to create such a program
that demonstrates such a high suc-
cess rate? Judge McLaughlin started
her adult life by earning a Bachelor’s
Degree in nursing. She continued her
studies and eventually received a
Continued on page 3A
Agricultural Mills and the Making of a Community
By Susan Ray
A shaft of sunlight through a cracked window catches the
finest flour dust, making the very air shimmer. A soft pow-
der covers the wooden floor, its wide planks crisscrossed
with the boot prints of millers and farmers going about
their work, indifferent to the continuous rhythm of water
and gears, stones, and sifters.
Very little evidence remains of the variety of mills that
once dotted the Southeastern Indiana landscape. Julie Sch-
lesselman, Franklin County Historian says, “Mills included
paper mills, cotton mills, almost any type of mill.” For
generations, every community had at least one agricultural
mill where farmers gathered to catch up on the latest news,
swap stories and have their corn and wheat processed into
meal, grits, flour, and feed.
According to Duane Drockelman, Vice President of the
Ripley County Historical Society, “Sunman had two mills.
There was a mill in Osgood at one time, a grain mill, and
there was a grain mill in Napoleon at one time, and one
right in the center of Batesville … almost every township
had a mill of some kind.”
Former Dearborn County Historian Chris McHenry says,
“The first mill I knew of was on Wilson Creek, owned by
Benjamin Walker - that’s why it’s called Wilson Creek!”
The Aurora Farm and Garden building has been an
integral part of the community’s architectural and busi-
ness landscape since the late 1800s.
Mrs. McHenry explains, “Benjamin Walker was from
Pennsylvania and he and his brother had been in a bar
Continued on page 4A
St. Louis School Student
Council coordinated stu-
dents’ efforts in collecting
three hundred twenty-six
pounds of pop tabs for
the Ronald McDonald
House!
Page 4B
July 2018
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