The Press-Dispatch
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Local ........ A1-10 History ........... A9 Sports .........B1-5 Classifi eds ..B6-8 Church ........C1-3 Home Life....C4-8 Obituaries....... C7 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 Wednesday, May 15, 2019 Volume 149 Number 20 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Seven sections 70 pages Six inserts See METH BUST on page 2 See ELECTION on page 2 See HUNT on page 2 Four charged in meth bust ADVENTURES Let's Go EXPLORE! 2019 INSIDE THIS EDITION By Andy Heuring A rural Gibson County man was convict- ed of killing a domestic animal and domes- tic violence (animal cruelty), both class 6 felonies, last week in Pike Circuit Court. However, he was acquitted of the most se- rious charge of intimidation with a deadly weapen, level 5 felony. Jordan Hunt, 28, of Hazelton, still fac- es counts of burglary and theft in Vander- burgh County stemming from the same in- cident. Hunt was arrested in September 2018 after he was accused of stealing his ex- girlfriend's two dogs from her Evansville apartment, then, the next day, shooting and burning them at a rural location in Pike County, as his girlfriend and police were on their way to retrieve the dogs. Pike County Deputy Prosecutor Sarah Christianson, in her opening arguments, said the dogs, Roxy, a six year-old pit bull/ lab mix , and Willow, a four-month-old gold- en doodle mix had been left at home as Chelsie Koutz went to work. She returned home from work and found they were gone. Christianson said Koutz's relationship with Hunt was at best an on-again, off- again relationship that had deteriorated to the point with Hunt that she sent him a text stating, "You are not my boyfriend." Hunt had texted her, "I'm not a throw away boyfriend." "He realized then that is what he was," said Christianson. Koutz returned home from work on Tues- day, September 25 and found her dogs were gone. Christianson said Koutz then sent Hunt a text that stated, "give me my dogs back." She then drove to Hunt's parents' house near the Pike-Gibson county line to get the dogs. "Then she realizes what this is about," said Christianson. "So she texts him and says, 'I love you, let's work things out.'" Christianson said when she received Hunt convicted of two felonies, acquitted on one Highway 56 is scheduled to be closed near Ireland beginning Tuesday, June 4, according to the Indiana Department of Transpor- tation. It was originally scheduled to be closed on May 14, but that has been moved to June 4. Maintenance crews will close S.R. 56 between the junction of U.S. 231 and S.R. 257 in Otwell as they replace a drainage cul- vert. The actual replacement will be between Dubois County Road 600 and CR 550. The operation re- quires a full closure as crews will be making a full width cut in the pavement to excavate the existing pipe. Once they're finished with the replacement, motorists should expect a rough spot while fill ma- terial is compacted under traffic conditions, according to INDOT. The operation is scheduled to take two days, depending upon weather conditions. The closure will not begin until all school bus traffic has cleared for the morning and will be open for the afternoon bus schedule. During the closure, local traffic will have access up to the point of closure, but through traffic will need to use the official detour us- ing S.R. 257, S.R. 64 and U.S. 231. SR56 to Jasper closing June 4 The 41st Timeless Classics of Pike County Car and Truck Show is set for Saturday, May 25 in Hor- nady Park. This is the biggest car show of the year in Pike County. The show will give awards to the top 80 vehicles, with the top 65 going to model years 1900 to 2009, and 15 to 2010 to 2019. There will also be an award for the top club participation. Trucks 4 Kids will be offering breakfast and lunch at the event. There will also be vendor and swamp meet spaces available. A disc jockey will be playing '50's and '60's music. Registration runs from 8 a.m. to noon, with awards at 2 p.m. Admis- sion is $10 per vehicle, plus a non- perishable or canned food item. The event is rain or shine. For more information, call Jack Anders at 812-354-4422, Gene Keepes 812-582-8293 or Joe Schwenck at 812-661-2850. Timeless Classics car show is May 25 By Andy Heuring Petersburg had no contested races in the primary election, but there are two races set for this fall's general election and there may be more. The deadline for a party to file a candidate to fill a va- cant spot on the ballot is June 30. Two races already set are those for city council at-large, where for- mer Democrat Assessor and Re- corder Jody Hoover will face Re- publican Barden Henson. Current at-large member Fran Lewis did not seek-re-election this year after serving 20 years on the council. The other race is for District 3 councilman, where Republican Tricia Claridge and Democrat Scott Jenkins will vie for the posi- tion being vacated by Bertis Jen- kins, who served on the city coun- cil for two decades before decid- ing not to seek re-election. Ironically, both Scott Jenkins Edward Petry Cody Hatfield-Lee Mary Jo Shalabi Makayla Roach By Andy Heuring Three people were arrested on dealing meth charges and a fourth on possession charges after police raided an Otwell apart- ment early Saturday morning. Mary Shalabi, 29, of 6523 E. CR 250 N., Winslow, Edward Lee Petry, 34, and Cody Wayne Hatfield-Lee, 28, both of 2207 N. SR 257, Otwell, were arrested on charges of dealing in meth, at least five grams, but less than 10 grams, a level 5 felony; pos- session of meth more than five grams, a level 6 felony, unlaw- ful possession of a sy- ringe, a level 6 felony; maintaining a com- mon nuisance; and possession of para- phernalia. Makayla Roach, 22, of 904 W. Hollywood Dr., Rushville, was arrested on charges of visiting a common nuisance, a level 5 felony; possession of meth more than five grams, a level 6 felo- ny; possession of a sy- ringe; and possession of paraphernalia. According to a probable cause affida- vit, Pike County Dep- uty Sheriff Jared Sim- mons obtained infor- mation that Shalabi had traveled to Lou- isville to purchase meth and went to Bu- chta Apartments in Otwell. Police arranged a controlled buy and purchased meth from Shalabi, then ob- tained a search war- rant for the apartment of Petry and Hatfield- Lee. Sheriff's Sgt. Buck Seger, Chief Deputy Dallas Killian, Deputy Paul Collier, Deputy Jason McKinney, Petersburg Sgt. Chad Mc- Clellan and State Trooper C.J. Boeckman, along with Deputy Simmons, went to the June 30 is deadline to fill election vacancy By Andy Heuring The topic of whether or not the town should trim ditches on pri- vate property became a heated topic Monday during the Winslow Town Council meeting. Former Winslow Councilman Terry Strobel, who was defeated in the November election by the current town council, asked coun- cilmen if they were going to trim ditches at the property edge in the town's right-of-way. Councilmen Debra Lamb and Josh Popp both said they would not. "The ditches are the home- owner's problem." "The town is supposed to weedeat the ditch," said Coun- cilman Dick Brewster. "No, the homeowner owns the property," said Lamb. "You want the homeowner to 12th Street gets new sidewalks Crews from E&B Paving work on sidewalks along both sides of 12th St. in Petersburg, near Spruce St. City Servic- es Manager Ross Elmore said the sidewalks on both sides were in "really bad shape." He said, this year, Petersburg was allowed to include sidewalk and curb work in the Crossroads Community paving grants. It is one of the streets that will be paved this year. Elmore said the city is also going to do a small section of sidewalk on 12th St., near the VFW. See WINSLOW on page 2 Trimming ditches gets heated at Winslow Lafayette St. in Winslow, about a block west of Collins St. is collapsing as water in a ditch has been eroding the road base out from under the pavement. About 18 inches of this side of the road has collapsed. Residents made the Town Council aware of the damage during their Monday night meeting and council said they would see it was repaired.