The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/109082
Three sections 28 pages Six inserts Wednesday, February 13, 2013��� 75�� Volume 145��� Number 7��� Phone (812) 354-8500��� Petersburg, IN 47567-0068��� (USPS 604-340) Cost-cutting approved by school board Steps include direct-deposit payroll, increased insurance costs for administrators Emergency personnel work to free Darrin Pride from the pickup truck he was driving when it overturned and hit a utility pole early Saturday morning. Pride was seriously injured, suffering multiple fractures in the crash. Petersburg man seriously injured in crash By Andy Heuring A Petersburg man was seriously injured early Saturday morning in a Campbelltown one-vehicle crash. Darrin S. Pride, 44, of 302 Sycamore St., Petersburg suffered multiple fractures and head injuries in the 3:26 a.m. crash. Pike County Deputy Sheriff Brad Jenkins said Pride was driving north on Highway 61 in a 1982 Chevrolet S10 pickup when he went off the right side of the road. Jenkins stated Pride���s truck hit a driveway culvert causing the right side wheels to come off the ground. A few feet later the right side of the truck hit a small tree causing the truck to tip further onto its left side. Jenkins said the truck was almost completely on its side when it impacted a utility pole with the truck windshield. He said the impact broke the truck cab loose from the frame. Pride was trapped in the truck. It took emergency crews about 30 minutes to free him from the truck. He was taken from the scene by ambulance and then transferred to an air ambulance to Deaconess Hospital. Jenkins said Pride suffered fractures to his face, chest and legs as well as head injuries. Deaconess Hospital said their privacy policy didn���t allow them to comment on his condition. The accident remains under investigation. Council told to build new EMS building By Andy Heuring County councilmen were told to build one building, two buildings or close down the Emergency Medical Service during their Tuesday meeting. The discussion spread into decentralization and combining it with the Stellar Communities project. ���The commissioners are not going to spend another dime on that building. It just doesn���t make sense,��� said Commissioner Jeff Nelson. ���Either build one building, two buildings or just shutdown the service and lay people off,��� said Nelson. The discussion began with Councilman Greg Mangin. He and Myreon Krohn were appointed to a committee along with commissioner Mark Flint to study the EMS Building situation. Nelson was appointed by the commissioners to replace Flint. Mangin said the committee met and Nelson told them plans of the commissioners. ���The commissioners are looking at options we haven���t considered,��� said Mangin. The commissioners have not discussed these options in a commissioner meeting this year since Nelson and Ryan Coleman took office. Nelson then asked to speak to the council. He said councilmen had ���informally��� requested they look at privatization. He said the commissioners contacted the company providing Daviess County���s ambulance service and they were not interested. They also talked to the company in Knox County. Nelson said they were initially interested. ���They don���t seem interested now.��� He said they also talked with AMR, a national company. ���They want $400,000 an ambulance per year. We would have to have three ambulances so it would be $1.2 million. Right now the service costs about $450,000.��� Nelson then told the councilmen the commissioners weren���t going to spend ���another dime��� on the current building. The commissioners decided to have the EMS vacate the EMS building after mold was found in the building. County councilmen had an expert talk to them about the mold findings. He said the mold was nothing significant and could be eradicated. ���There is no reason to not use that building.��� He gave a rough estimate of $10,000 to $15,000, Continued on page 9 PIKE PUBLISHING Jacob Morton adjusts a CNC lathe at the Pike Central machining lab. Morton programmed and operated a machine like this one at Vincennes University to win first-place finishes in the Machine Trades and Skills USA contests this month. He said he will go to VU after high school to finish his trade education, even though he���s received job offers already. Morton claims first in machining contests By Alden Heuring Good things come in twos for Pike Central senior Jacob Morton. Since the beginning of February, Morton has won two machining contests and received two job offers from manufacturing companies. But, he said, mastering his trade is the first thing on his mind. ���I don���t really have any interest (in job WHAT���S INSIDE: Local ........A1-10 Sports ........B1-4 Opinion..........C2 Obituaries ......A3 Classi���eds B10-11 History ...........C6 Valentine���s ..A4-5 Church .......C1-5 offers) at this point. I want to go to college,��� Morton said. As the winner of the Vincennes University Statewide Machine Trades contest and the VU Skills USA contest, both this month, he is building quite a resume as an expert machinist, and he said he wants to learn even more before entering the workforce. That���s why he���s going to Continued on page 2 NEWS TIPS: Phone:........................354-8500 Fax: ............................354-2014 E-Mail . editor@pressdispatch.net By Mike Johansen The Pike County School Corporation Board of Education approved some additional cost cutting measures to help make up a budget short fall in its meeting Monday night at the Pike County School Corporation offices. They approved several steps in an effort to reduce costs to the school corporation as recommended by Superintendent Suzanne Blake in order to make up almost $6 million that was spent above what was budgeted before Blake took over the school corporation this past July. They did not announce how much money they hope to save by taking each of the steps but they are attempting to reduce costs without laying off personnel to meet the budget deficits. The steps include implementing a program of direct deposits of pay into banks for all employees rather than going through the expense of writing checks for them. This will begin with the April 1 payroll with all employees to provide bank information to the corporation by the first of next week. The second step was to have all administrators start paying the same portion as the rest of the staff for their health insurance. The administrators did have the benefit of fully compensated health insurance. The board cut that back by instituting a delay in passing on the full cost to the administrators. The School Board set the share at 10 percent with an additional step coming next year to bring administrators equal with all the other staff members. This move was made in order to lessen the impact on the administrators. They will begin the payments starting on May 1. School board members do not have health insurance through the corporation. The school corporation will offer a one time retirement incentive of $5,000 to any school employee who elects to retire by March 8. Anyone deciding to retire after that date would not be offered the incentive package this year. Teachers intending to retire who want to receive this offer must notify the superintendent by March 8. The other item is the review of extra curricular stipends starting with the start of the next school year. That includes a review of extended contracts. The move recommends the number of coaching positions will depend on the number of players. The recommendation includes having one coach for each sport if they have 15 or less members of a team plus a volunteer assistant. If they have 15 or more players they can have one paid assistant coach. The numbers will be reviewed after the 10 day eligibility date and the board will have to approve the positions and coaching numbers. Also, any team with less than 15 players must use the activity bus for transportation to out-of-town events and it is recommended the coach should be the driver of the activity bus. They will encourage coaches to drive the small bus to cut down on the costs of bus drivers for extracurricular events. They are also currently reviewing teaching assignments and courses at all levels in all K-12 buildings. Where possible, they will increase the number of courses eligible for vocational funding and it also could be necessary, after the review, for some staff-teacher reassignments. The recommendations also included no preschool at Otwell Elementary because it does not qualify for Title I Continued on page 2 Grand jury seated Tuesday By Andy Heuring A grand jury was seated in Pike County on Tuesday. Pike County Prosecutor Darrin McDonald said the grand jurors were selected on Tuesday and a date for when they could meet would be scheduled. According to McDonald, the grand jury will be investigating separate cases. One with issues involving children and another investigating the possible violation of a work release order. Grand jury proceedings are not open to the public and testimony remains confidential unless the grand jury decides to return an indictment. CONNECT WITH US: NETedition ... pressdispatch.net/edition Facebook .... facebook.com/pressdispatch E-Mail .......... news@pressdispatch.net