The Press-Dispatch
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Local ...........A1-8 Obituaries....... A7 Sports .........B1-3 Classifi eds ..B4-6 Church ........C1-4 History ........... C5 Home Life....C6-8 School.......... C11 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 Wednesday, April 17, 2019 Volume 149 Number 16 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Four sections 38 pages Five inserts See COUNCIL on page 2 PIKE COUNTY Planter Planter SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE THIS EDITION MIDDLE SCHOOL HONOR ROLL INSIDE See page C-11 The Boys (and girls) of Summer are back Petersburg tee ball players Paige Holman, Jozey Denno and Crew O'Neill take part in Saturday's Little League Ope- ing Day ceremonies at American Legion Field. They are members of River Harbin's Prayer Warriors team, ages 5-6. Little Leaguers marched down Main Street in the parade on Saturday at 10:30 a.m., then assembled at the field for opening ceremonies. See additional photos on page A11-A12. By Andy Heuring Pike County Commissioners hired Alan Tegmeyer to mow two cemeteries and sold a small plot of ground in Petersburg during a five-minute meeting on Monday. Each year, the Commission- ers bid out mowing the Old Town Cemetery in Petersburg, be- tween the library and elementa- ry school, and the Coleman Cem- etery, which is located on Merid- ian Road, near CR 850 S. in Mon- roe Township. Tegmeyer had the lowest bid on Coleman Cemetery at $58. The other bids were Mark ( Joe) Julian $ 80 and Persimmon Ridge $105. Bids on the Old Town Cemetery were $45 by Tony Camp, $ 88.50 by Tegmeyer, $ 92.50 by Julian and $105 by Persimmon Ridge. Commissioner President Mark Flint said Camp did not have liabil- ity insurance. Commissioner Ry- an Coleman said the bid by Tony Camp was too low. "That won't pay for the fuel." Commissioners also voted to sell a 0.044 acre tract of ground behind the Sunoco station on Main St., Petersburg, and the old fire department for $5,800 to Rich Coan. Coan was the only bidder. County Attorney Val Fleig said the minimum had to be more than the property was appraised for and the price of the survey, which totaled $5,650. The Commissioners also vot- ed to advertise for paving materi- al bids. They received a $525,000 Community Crossings grant from the Indiana Department of Trans- portation. They advertised for bids on hot mix asphalt # 9 bind- er and wedging, hot mix asphalt #11 surface for 1.5 inch overlay, hot mix asphalt #5 base and AE- 90 tack oil. The bids will be opened in their next meeting that is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Monday, May 6 in the courthouse auditorium. Commissioners let mowing bids, sell ground during brief meeting By Andy Heuring The first annual county-wide yard sale is scheduled for Satur- day, May 11. The popular event in Petersburg has been expand- ed to all of Pike County. Typical- ly, there are about 40 yard sales in Petersburg. Each person purchasing a clas- sified ad in The Press-Dispatch will be given a number and the numbers will be placed on a map, grouping them by communities and towns. A classified ad starts at $4. They can be purchased in per- son, by phone or online by email- ing the ad to classifieds@press- dispatch.net The deadline to purchase a yard sale ad for the county-wide sale is 5 p.m. Monday, May 6. Yard sale event to be county-wide By Andy Heuring A man was found slumped over the steering wheel of his vehicle and bleeding profusely, near the horse camp in Pike State Forest Monday morning. The Indiana Department of Nat- ural Resources said they respond- ed to medical emergency and a person was taken to the hospital. Police said a man from Evans- ville drove to the Pike State For- est and it is believed to be an at- tempted suicide. The original call came into Pike County's central dispatch, report- ing finding a man slumped over the steering wheel, with blood all over him. Later, when emergen- cy personnel arrived, they report- ed the man had a laceration to his neck. Injured man found in State Forest Mayor invited to meet with business leaders in Japan By Andy Heuring Petersburg hired a new policeman, hon- ored a 20 -year veteran and raised the pay of the lowest ranking officer during their Monday night meeting. They also were told Mayor R.C. Klipsch has been invited on a trip to Japan by the Japan Foundation as part of the Grassroots Exchange Network-Japan. "This really was a surprise," said Klipsch. He read the invitation letter to the council. "We are pleased to extend you a cor- dial invitation to participate in a program in Japan organized by the Japan Founda- tion, 'Grassroots Exchange Network-Japan (GEN-J).'" "As you are likely aware, the purpose of this program is to develop a network with the Japanese business leaders and gain a deeper understanding about Japan and Jap- anese companies by inviting community and business leaders in the Middle West and South region of the United States. We hope that the participants will experience a fruitful time while staying in Japan." Klipsch said the Japan Foundation takes care of all the expenses of the trip. It will be May 19 to 26. This is different than the trip where he would accompany the governor. "I am going as the guest of the Japan Foundation. They are taking care of everything. I can't imag- ine coming before you to ask for $20,000 to go on this trip," said Klipsch. COUNCIL HIRES NEW POLICE OFFICER Petersburg councilmen voted 4-0 to hire Scott Arnold as a new police officer. He will start as a patrolman. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Baumgart and Sgt. Chad McClellan interviewed Ar- nold and recommended him to the council. Chief Baumgart said Arnold has a mili- tary background. "He worked in car sales and some other jobs, but realized his call- Petersburg hires policeman, honors veteran By Andy Heuring Pike County's School Corporation took another step in selling a $ 3.6 million bond to fund major updates to Pike Central. They also fired a school bus driver during their meeting last Tuesday. Superintendent Suzanne Blake told the board they were approved for $ 3.6 million on the bond sale. She said they have about $ 3.5 million in projects they need to do. The projects to be included are a new air handling system at Pike Central. The cur- rent system is the original one. Pike Cen- tral opened in the Fall of 1974. Estimated cost is $485,000. Other projects included are to replace the high school gym bleachers. She said they also are the original bleachers and are not ADA compliant. She said the estimate for the bleachers was about $500,000, but that price has in- creased to $ 600,000. They also want to include new carpet. School board president Chris Satterfield said some of the carpet is also original to the building. "Kudos to the custodial staff to have kept it as good as it is." Blake said the other big item is the re- pairing and repainting of the water tower at Pike Central. She said they recently found it is pitted, which has to be repaired. Other items include expanding parking at Petersburg Elementary School, new ex- terior lighting at Pike Central and added security. She said some good news is they can re- move the security expenses at the elemen- School corp. prepares to fund major renovations See SCHOOL on page 2 By Andy Heuring A rural Winslow resident came home recently and found the 20 trees he planted 38 years ago in front of his house as saplings looked like "corncobs." Don Mann, who lives south of Winslow on Highway 61, just north of Highway 364, was dis- traught to find a contractor for Vectren had cut all the limbs off the decorative pines trees in front of his house. The next day, they cut the trees down and eventual- ly took them. Mann said he planted those trees in front of his house to act as a sound barrier between the high- way and his house. His late wife, Phyllis, worked second shift as a nurse at the Boonville Hospital. Mann said for the last 30 or so years, the trees, which are un- der Vectren's lines, had just been trimmed back periodically. So, he was shocked to find them cut down. "They did it when I was on a day trip. When I came back, my trees were standing there looking like corn cobs." He added, "they kept trimmed for 30 years. They were my sound barrier." "And now I have yellow brick road running all the way from Barren Creek," said Mann about the large yellow mats the compa- ny put on the ground, stretching for several hundred feet on his property. "No one has contacted me. I find it insulting and pretension on their part. None of them can tell you what your easement is. They call it right-of-way. I want to know where their easement is." Mann said he doesn't want any financial compensation and he understands he can't win a fight against a conglomerate. He just wishes they had talked to him be- fore they cut down his trees. "I like to sit in the front part of my house and read. Now I can hear the traffic noise. . . They took away my solitude," said Mann. Vectren Public Relations rep- resentative Natalie Hedde, who is a Pike County native, after be- ing contacted about the situation, contacted Mann and arranged for a Vectren representative to con- tact Mann and talk to him about it. "From here forward, I'm not go- ing to do anything with it. I can't do anything with it. Anytime I hamper those people, it will cost Mann returns home to find 20 trees stripped See TREES on page A-9 Petersburg flushes hydrants Petersburg employee Jay Raney flushes a hydrant at the corner of Poplar and Ninth Sts. on Monday. It was one of 172 hydrants Petersburg workers flushed on Monday and Tuesday. The hydrants are flushed twice a year to clear sediment that builds up in the system.