The Press-Dispatch
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HUNTINGBURG CHRISTMAS STROLL THIS WEEKEND! See C-6 for details. A-6 A-10 Salute to Veterans Press-Dispatch WITH THE Local ........ A1-12 Sports .........B1-4 Classifi eds ....B7-8 Church ........C1-3 Opinion .......C4-5 Home Life....C6-9 Obituaries....... C9 School.... C10-11 E. Gibson ...... C12 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 CR ASH on page 4 Wednesday, November 7, 2018 Volume 148 Number 45 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Three sections 32 pages Seven inserts See R AISES on page 8 See ELECTION on page 4 GOP claims all races except sheriff By Ed Cahill The Pike County School Cor- poration's Board of Trustees ap- proved a four-percent wage in- crease for all administrators and non-certified personnel during its regular monthly meeting on Mon- day, Nov. 5. In a letter addressed to the school board dated Oct. 19, Pike County Schools Superintendent Suzanne Blake recommended a four-percent pay increase for all PCSC administrators "who were employed a minimum of 120 days during the 2017-2018 school year, who received an evaluation rating of Effective or Highly Effective, and who are currently employed by the school corporation." In a separate letter, also dat- ed Oct. 19, Blake recommended a four-percent pay increase "be applied to the current Staff Wage Scale, which was approved in June 2018 by the Pike County School Corporation Board of Trustees." Both recommendations were approved by 4-0 votes. A fifth school board member, Ron Sharp, was absent from the meeting. School board approves 4% raise for administrators, non-certified staff By Andy Heuring A Winslow teen and Washing- ton man escaped injury early Halloween morning when a Mus- tang slammed into the bottom of an overturned pickup truck just missing the gas tank by inches. Pike County Deputy Sheriff Buck Seger said William Craney, 55, of Washington, was driving his 1999 Chevrolet pickup truck east on CR 200 N., near the Pike-Du- bois County line, when he reached for his coffee and went off the right side of the road. He hit a util- ity pole and the truck spun side- ways, rolling over onto its side. It came to rest across most of the county road. Deputy Seger said Craney was able to get out of the truck, but then Thomas Culbertson III, 19, of Logtown Road, Winslow, was driving a 2004 Ford Mustang east and came over a hill. It was 6:30 a.m. and he didn't see the bottom of the truck in the dark. Culbert- son hit the bottom of the truck, just inches from the gas taken. He was uninjured. Damage was estimated at be- tween $5,000 and $10,000. Two Winslow men were in- jured Halloween evening when the truck they were in ran off the road and hit a tree, partially eject- ing the passenger through the windshield. Pike County Sheriff's Sgt. Dal- las Killian said Justin L. White, 23, of 1711 E. CR 25 S., Winslow, Two escape injury in double crash This year, the November 12 Vet- erans Day ceremonies, presented by Coleman-Stewart VFW Post 3587 members, will conclude with a lunch open to the public at Am- ber Manor. The scheduled visits begin at 9:30 a.m. at Petersburg Elemen- tary School, followed by Winslow Elementary School at 10 :30 a.m. and then at the Otwell Veterans Memorial beginning at 11:15 a.m. The veteran honor guard con- cludes their traveling at Amber Manner with a program there be- ginning at 1:15 pm. Lunch will be served at the post for any veteran beginning at 1 p.m. Golden Living Center is pro- viding chili and veggie soup and lunch meat sandwiches. The VFW Auxiliary members are providing the desserts. PIKE CENTRAL PROGRAM Pike Central will also be con- ducting a Veterans Day Program at 9 a.m. Monday, November 12 in the high school gym. It will in- clude the Swing Choir and Pike Central High School Band per- forming together. All veterans are welcome to at- tend. The school is asking for vet- erans planning to attend to call 812-354-8478, ext. 302 and give them your service information so each veteran in attendance can be honored during the program. Veterans Day programs at schools, nursing homes Indiana State Trooper Paul Bastin worked the at scene of a two-vehicle crash early Wednes- day morning. Trooper Bastin assisted Pike County Deputy Buck Seger, who investigated the accident. William Craney, 55, of Washington was driving the pickup and ran off the road, overturning. Thomas Culbertson III, 19, of Logtown Road, Winslow topped a hill and couldn't see the truck because of darkness, and crashed into it. Both escaped injury. Kent Johnson (D) Sheriff Judy Gumbel (R) Auditor Jeff Harting (R) Recorder Mark Flint (R) Co. Commissioner Randy Harris (R) Co. Council Forrest Manning School Board By Andy Heuring A big turnout turned into a big night for Republicans. They won every county- wide race except for Sheriff. Kent Johnson was the lone Democrat to get elected in a county-wide race. It is an office the Dem- ocrats have held every term except one since 1958. Johnson won 12 of 18 precincts getting 2,894 votes to Frank Coleman's 2,344 for 55 percent of the vote. Coleman won Lockhart, Logan, Patoka 1 and 2, Petersburg 2 and Winslow. By far, Coleman's biggest win was in Winslow where he won 198 to 130. His other largest margin was 14 votes in Lock- hart. Johnson countered that with big wins in Jefferson 1, where he won 318 to 177 and in Washington 1 where he won 236 to 149. "I'm honored and pleased. A lot of hard work in the last 11 months," said Johnson of his win. "I can't thank the voters of Pike County and my family enough. We will con- tinue to move the Sheriff's Office forward," said Johnson. "I think just everyone getting out and vot- ing. I think that has to be close to a record," said Johnson of the turnout. County-wide 5,292 of the 8,987 regis- tered voters cast a vote for 58.9 percent. That is up a full 12 percent from the mid- term elections of 2014, when 47.9 percent of the registered voters in Pike County voted. "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I'm very superstitious," said Johnson of the race. "I think that comes from being a Cubs fan." "It stings a little," said Republican Frank Coleman of the results. "Jefferson killed me. That was the one that put him ahead. That is always a dif- ficult one for Republicans. It is what it is," said Coleman. I didn't either. I thought it would be clos- er than that. From what I was hearing from voters, they thought it would be close. "It was a hard-fought race and I appre- ciate the race Kent ran and I wish him the best of luck. The voters always decide who they want in the office. The voters have spo- ken and we accept those results. That is the country we live in." "I thank everyone who was working for me. They put in a lot of time and effort. I appreciate it more than they know," said Coleman. GUMBEL DEFEATS HOOVER FOR AUDITOR Republican Judy Wood Gumbel won the closest race of the night, pulling out an 81-vote win over Democrat Jody Hoover in the race for Auditor. Hoover led early as the precincts of Petersburg and Washing- ton Township came in first. Both Hoover and Gumbel won nine of the 18 precincts. However Hoover's biggest wins were a 107 to 81 margin in Madison and 24-vote wins in both Washington 1 and 2. Gumbel countered that with a 214-152 for a 62-vote win in Lockhart and a 200 to 154 for a 46 -vote win in Patoka 1 that made up more than her 81-vote margin. "I was extremely nervous," said Gumbel about watching the totals come in. "I worked it hard, I have family all over theses areas. I had an awful lot of good peo- ple who reached out and helped and a lot of peers who gave me good advice," said Gumbel. "She did a great job," said Hoover of Gumbel's campaign. Gumbel said she is going to have a lot to learn, but "I just got a call from Ron Wil- son (sitting Auditor). I start training right away," said Gumbel. "It was a good challenge. Something I never thought I would be doing, but I thought about coming back to Pike Coun- ty and trying to help make a difference," said Gumbel. HARTING WINS RECORDER'S RACE Republican Jeff Harting won the race for Recorder over Democrat Lida Robinson by a 2,818 to 2,344 margin, carrying 54 per- cent of the vote. Harting, who is running county-wide for the first time, has been around politics for years. He is a long-time member of the Washington Township Ad- visory Board and an officer on the Repub- lican central committee. Harting is a control room operator at IPL in Petersburg, but said he plans to retire from that position at the end of the year. He won 13 of the 18 precincts with his biggest margins being in Lockhart and Pa- toka 1. He carried Patoka by 96 votes and Lockhart by 93 votes. Robinson won the precincts of Jefferson 1, Madison, Marion, Petersburg 1 and Washington 3. Her big- gest margin was 13 votes in Petersburg 1. "I didn't do it by myself. I had a lot of good support from a lot of good people," said Harting. "I think I put out some new ideas and pro- posals and I think people liked what I had to say," said Harting. He added, "I appreciate my opponent put- ting on clean race. She worked hard also." Robinson said, "I want to think Jeff for a clean race. I wish him the best and I want to thank all the voters." FLINT DEFEATS SCRAPER FOR COMMISSIONER Republican Mark Flint easily won his bid to become commissioner again, this time in District #2. Flint was elected to three terms in District 1 before moving out of his district. Tuesday he beat Democrat Heath Scrap- er 3,290 to 1,846, winning all 18 precincts. It was Scraper's first attempt at public of- fice. Manning ousts Waltz in school board race By Ed Cahill Forrest Manning defeated two-term incumbent David Waltz by more than 1,000 votes to win election to the Pike County School Corporation's Board of School Trustees representing District 2. During Tuesday's general election, Manning won 16 out of 18 precincts out- right while out-polling Waltz 2,562-1,523. "I was blown away by the margin," said the 25 -year-old Manning, who al- so finished in a 131-131 tie with Waltz in the Washington No. 3 precinct. "I think the community just really realized that things needed to change and, honest- ly, I'm just incredibly humbled that they took a chance on me." Manning, a senior finance major at the University of Southern Indiana who has been employed as a financial repre- sentative for Northwestern Mutual since May, received 62.7 percent of the 4,085 votes cast. "I am so happy that people support- ed me and believed that I could repre- sent the changes that need to happen," said Manning, who graduated from Pike Central High School in 2011 and is the son of Wayne and Leslie Manning, of Pe- tersburg. Manning, who was making his first See MANNING on page 4