The Press-Dispatch

July 11, 2018

The Press-Dispatch

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Local ........ A1-10 Sports .........B1-4 Classifi eds ..B6-7 Church ........C1-3 Home Life....C4-8 Obituaries....... C9 History ......... C10 Opinion .. C11-12 WHAT'S INSIDE: CONNECT WITH US: NetEdition ...pressdispatch.net/edition Facebook.....facebook.com/pressdispatch E-Mail .........news@pressdispatch.net Phone:.................. 812-354-8500 Fax: ...................... 812-354-2014 E-Mail . editor@pressdispatch.net NEWS TIPS: PIKE PUBLISHING See WINSLOW on page 2 See PADGET T on page 2 Wednesday, July 11, 2018 Volume 148 Number 28 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 See ARSON on page 2 Four sections 32 pages Five inserts A fire believed to have started from a smoldering grill destroyed a pole barn early Sunday morning at the residence of Grant and Jess Adams, near the Dutchtown Com- munity. Jefferson Township Fire Chief Chris Young said it is believed coals in a char- coal grill that was left open reignited and started the fire. The grill was on the porch of the pole building that was just a few feet behind the family's house. Young said Jess Adams got up early Sun- day and discovered the pole barn burning. "Grant said it was burning enough, he con- templated trying to put it out with a fire ex- tinguisher, but then decided against using the fire extinguisher. By the time we got there, it was fully engulfed." He said their initial efforts were to cool off a 500 -pound propane tank at the back of the building and prevent the fire from spreading to the residence. "We cooled the tank and house before we did anything else. The building was already a total loss," said Young. "There was some minor damage to the house. There was enough heat to break a couple of windows." He said because the house had a composite siding and metal roof, instead of vinyl siding and an asbestos shingle roof, it was a factor in preventing it from catching fire or melting the siding. The fire was reported just before 7 a.m. It was located at 6318 N. CR 500 E. Jefferson Twp. was assisted byPeters- burg and Patoka Twp. Depts. Sunday morning fire destroys Adams pole barn By Andy Heuring A Petersburg woman was arrested on charges of arson, insurance fraud and forg- ery related to a trailer fire on April 28, 2018. Theresa Loveless, 62, of 714 S. Ninth St., Petersburg, was arrested on a warrant by Petersburg Police Cpl. Kyle Mills last week. Loveless is accused of setting fire to a house trailer at 509 N. White River Ave., Petersburg. According to a probable cause affidavit filed with Pike Circuit Court by As- sistant Chief Matt Wells, of Indiana State Fire Marshal's Office, the April 28 fire "was intentionally started." It states firemen entered the mobile home and found a couch in the living room on fire. The mobile home had damage throughout estimated at $7,000. Wells, in the affidavit, stated records from Pike County named Keri Davis (Dav- enport), Nancy Davis and Patricia Wilhite Life Estates as owners of the trailer. He said when he spoke with Keri Davenport, she told him she was a child of the deceased owner and was in the process of getting sole ownership of the property. However, during the investigation, Wells learned Loveless had insurance on the prop- erty. She had a Bill of Sale that showed the purchase price of $10,000 when purchasing the insurance on the trailer on April 27, the day before the fire started, according to the affidavit. It also showed Loveless had pur- chased a policy for $47,190 for replacement of the trailer and $23,500 for replacement of the contents. Wells said she had faxed the Bill of Sale to the insurance company. Wells, in the affidavit, said Davenport provided a written statement that she had not sold the property to Loveless, and had not received any money from Loveless, nor had she signed any documents. He added, when they did a comparison of Davenport's signature to her alleged signature on the Bill of Sale, they did not match. According to the affidavit, when Wells questioned Loveless about the April 28 fire, she denied being in the area of the fire, but her cellphone records showed she was at the scene at 3:10 p.m. on April 28 and the fire was reported seven minutes later by a passerby. It also states Loveless arrived at her residence on Ninth St. 13 minutes later. Wells said he interviewed Matthew Hor- tin, of Foremost Insurance, where Loveless has purchased the insurance on the trail- Loveless arrested on arson, forgery charges July 4th parade participant Reid McCandless, 2, of Winslow, waves at the crowd while participating in the Otwell 4th of July parade on Wednes- day, July 4. See additional photos on pages A-7 to A-9. Ed Cahill photo Padgett is new director for Otwell Miller Academy Board also votes to not offer health insurance to employees By Ed Cahill The Otwell Miller Academy School Board approved the hiring of Rich Padgett, Jr. as its new director during its regular monthly meeting on Monday, July 9. The 55 -year-old Padgett, an Otwell na- tive who graduated from Pike Central High School in 1981, had served as assistant prin- cipal at Union County High School in Lib- erty, Ind., for 12 years before retiring from secondary education this past June. Prior to that, Padgett spent six years at Pike Central High School: five years as ath- letic director for grades 9 -12 and as head varsity football coach – compiling a won- loss record of 6 -45 – and one year in the classroom teaching U.S. and World History. Padgett, who graduated from Hanover College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History in 1985, also served as a class- room teacher – and as head varsity football coach, as well as head or assistant coach for the boys' and girls' track and field teams – at Taylor Jr.-Sr. High School in Kokomo, Ind., from 1992 to 2000, and as a class- room teacher at Shelbyville High School from 1985 to 1992, where he also was head coach of the wrestling, and girls' track and field teams. Padgett, the son of Marilyn Padgett, of Otwell, and the late Richard Padgett, Sr., owns approximately 140 acres of farm prop- erty – located across Highway 356 from the Otwell Miller Academy building – where his mother still lives in the house where he grew up. "I've preached to my kids, in education, all along, when you go into a community, to make sure you give back to the commu- nity," Padgett said. "I guess I saw this as a perfect opportunity to repay a community By Andy Heuring Winslow announced they suspended an employee for three days and implemented procedures to prevent future problems, as well as said Town Marshal Steve English is expected to be back on the job in about six weeks. The three-day suspension of Nathan De- weese came up during a discussion of a Jap- anese Maple tree being trimmed at the cor- ner of Lafayette and Collins Streets. Gary McCandless told councilmen he looked into the matter and it appeared to him, "It looks like this boy was doing what he was told." Debra Lamb, who is on the town's Zon- ing Board, said the town has an ordinance that requires vegetation to be removed be- tween 2.5 feet high and 12 feet high within 25 feet of an intersection. "The town has an easement to clean it," said McCandless. "Where I have a problem is if we go on private property without talking to the res- ident to inform them of what we are going to do, they may want to take care if it them- selves," said Councilman Dick Brewster. He added that he agreed the tree need- ed to be trimmed. "I agree it needed to be trimmed back, but I think we went way overboard, very excessive. That tree will never recover," said Jason Bottoms, who owns the proper- ty where the tree had blocked a stop sign. He said he had looked up and down La- fayette St. "There was no reason for them to cut the tree they way they did. They cut limbs that were facing the house." Bottoms also said the tree was a 65 -year-old Japa- nese Maple. McCandless said he asked why the tree was cut back and was told it dangerous be- cause the limbs were hanging so low. "He did a good job of trimming the tree. . . I still say if you are going to do that, you need to make sure you notify the proper- ty owner first. It for sure needed to be do- ne, because that sign was covered up," said Brewster. "He got a three-day layoff for other inci- dents. I was informed that he was going on private property and he was told not to. It wasn't just because of the tree. It wasn't just Winslow worker suspended; complaints addressed Jefferson Township Firemen battle a blaze early Sunday morning that destroyed the pole barn of Grant and Jess Ad- ams on CR500E. The pole barn was a total loss, but they were able to prevent it from spreading to the Adams' house. CLOG THE PATOKA PHOTOS AND STORY • A-4 FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION BEGINS ON A-7 BARGAIN PERIOD $4 OFF YOUR SUBSCRIPTION • A-6 SPECIAL SECTION • D-1 Planter

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