The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1176874
A-2 Front Wednesday, October 16, 2019 The Press-Dispatch Tricia Elect t I am your Republican candidate for CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT #3. I would appreciate your vote and support on Nov. 5 or before. Paid for by Claridge for Council Open HOuse OctOber 18 friday 9:30am tO 6pm & Jewelry FRESH flowers Refreshments Special Sampling of Classic Original Savory Crackers South Bend Chocolates & Candies Register to Win Brighton Jewelry On Select Items SAVINGS 50% UP TO FREE Jewelry Bag with $75 purchase of Brighton Jewelry 816 E. Main St., Petersburg 812-789-3046 • Mon. - Sat. 9:30am-5pm Angie Carter • Sandy Tichenor • Jane Reed While supplies last. Pike Central's March- ing Band advanced to the State Finals with their per- formance on Saturday in the prelims at Jasper. "We scored high enough to advance to state finals," said Director Chris Ash- worth. They will be competing against 15 other schools across the state on Saturday, Oct. 26. Pike Central per- forms at 1:36 p.m. at Law- rence Central High School in Indianapolis. Their performance this year is entitled Bent. The music for this year's show is written by John Fanin, direc- tor of bands at Murray State University. "The concept is everything bends. Music bends, props bend, uniforms even have a bend in them. We all sat down and tried to figure out how to make ev- erything fit into that title," said Ashworth. "Our score was a bit lower than expected, but we also had a tough judging panel. Anytime the band gets to a big competition such as pre- lims or finals, the students are more nervous. I truly be- lieve this was a better perfor- mance than we have had, but the scores do not represent it. I told the students that the scores were based on that particular set of judges and that it didn't truly matter be- cause we were still advanc- ing to state finals." PC Charger Brigade marches to state finals Highway 61 just east of Vincennes will close for a polymeric overlay project. Beginning on or around Thursday, Oct. 17, contrac- tors will close the bridge spanning a branch of Kelso Creek. This bridge deck be- tween Johnson Farm Road and Nugent Road was com- pletely replaced this sum- mer under full closure. The next operation will help preserve the new concrete structure from salt intru- sion in the future in hopes that the concrete life will be extended. This phase of the project was planned with fall break schedules for lo- cal schools in mind. During the project, through traffic will not be able to pass, but, local traf- fic will have access up to the point of closure. The detour for this route uses S.R. 241, U.S. 50 and U.S. 41. Motor- ists can also detour around it on county roads. Depending upon weath- er conditions, work on the bridge is expected to be complete by Monday Oct. 20, however, rain and oth- er inclement weather condi- tions could cause delays in the timeline. SR 61 to be closed near Vincennes HOMELESS Continued from page 1 A fter the speakers, the stu- dents were fed bologna sand- wiches, water, chips and a ba- nana, which is what Petersburg Police Chief Baumgart said the homeless were fed from a truck in Washington, D.C. Baumgart spent more than 10 years as a Washington, D.C., police officer. A fter eating, the students set out the canned goods that they brought to donate to Somebody's Place. The winner received a blanket and second place received duct tape. Not long after, Petersburg Police Sgt. Chad McClellan arrived to inform the students they couldn't stay where they were. He had them tear down their housing and relocate across the street. Bohnert said, "This was planned, but the stu- dents didn't know about it." They watched a movie on homelessness, discussed the books the students were read- ing and more experiences were shared about homelessness by other guest speakers. About 1 a.m. the students turned in for the night and slept in their cardboard box- es. It started raining about 3:30 a.m. and the students were dis- missed at 4:30 a.m. Before de- parting, the students wrote a journal entry about their ex- perience. Bohnert said they will be having someone from Some- body's Place speak to all of the students participating in the unit and then they will vis- it Somebody's Place to volun- teer. She also hopes to visit a shelter in Evansville. Students participating in the project were: Jordan Schatz, Allison Turner, Crystal Wam- ser, Ryan Hertel, Ethan Hill, Samuel Haycraft, Charlotte Dudenhoeffer, Jerzey Reibold, Makayla Thorne and Haven Longest. "It made me a lot more ap- preciative of my house. It was really cold and raining, and not so comfortable," said Ha- ven Longest, who took part in the project. She added, "I'm just real- ly thankful I don't have to live in that situation and I'm really appreciative I don't' have to do that every night. It was raining. It made me realize they have to be out in it regardless of what the weather is. It is a lot worse than you imagine it to be." "I understand one night in a box on the street does not come close to the significance of be- ing truly homeless, but this project was more memorable than any class discussion or book we could have read. This experience inspired discus- sion, and discussion inspires service and service inspires change. As educators, we have the future of our country in our classrooms. If I can teach em- pathy and compassion (even if it is through a short experi- ence) and inspire my students to help change the world, then that is what teaching should be about. We may be a small sliv- er of the world, but I truly be- lieve that we can make a differ- ence," said Bohnert. The Pike County Park and Recreation Board wants to know what you think about the future of the coun- ty's parks and recreation- al opportunities. The Pike County Park and Recre- ation Board is in the pro- cess of preparing a five-year Master Plan to guide their decisions concerning future needs and growth. A survey is available both online and on paper during the month of October. An- swers will be kept anony- mous. The online survey is available to residents of Pike County by visiting the link https://www.surveymon- key.com/r/PikeCoParkan- dRec; this link is also on the Prides Creek Park Facebook page. Paper surveys are also available to county constit- uents at Prides Creek Park and the courthouse. Participation in this sur- vey is very important. The input will be used to guide the content of the Pike Coun- ty Master Park and Recre- ation Plan for 2020 -2025. If you have any questions about this survey, contact Cheri Taylor at Indiana 15 Regional Planning Commis- sion at 812-367-8455. Park board wants survey participation for five-year plan GRANT Continued from page 1 be dug up. He also said they have tried to work on older water lines before they pave the streets. He said some of the water lines they have replaced have as many as five or six patches on them. Klipsch said again the idea is to not have to dig up a newly paved street. The four streets included in the grant awarded last Thursday includes: • Spruce St., from Ninth St. east to its dead-end. • Walnut St., from Ninth to 12th St. • Poplar St., from Fifth to Mulber- ry St. and, • Fifth St., from Main to Illinois St. Klipsch said the paving on the last grant would not be done until next spring. He said they will start soon on Pike County's list of roads they will be pav- ing with the $434,356.74 grant, which include: • CR 325 W., from CR 350 N. to rock section in Madison Twp. 4,165 ft. • CR 500 W., from Highway 56 to Bridge 24 in Madison Twp. 2,178 ft. • CR 150 W., from Highway 57 to CR 200 N. in Wash. Twp. 4,782 ft. • CR 275 W., from CR 200 N. to CR 250 N. in Madison Twp. 3,000 ft. • CR 950 E., from Old SR 64 to rock in Lockhart Twp. 4,410 ft. • CR 50 S., from now blacktop to dead-end in Logan Twp. • CR 375 S., from Bridge 90 to CR 50 E. in Patoka Twp. 3,888 ft. • CR 150 E., from CR 550 S. to CR 475 S. in Patoka Twp. 3,960 ft. • CR 900 E., from Highway 64 to Highway 257 in Lockhart Twp. 5,890 ft. • CR 200 N., from Church St. to Bridge 172 in Jefferson Twp. 5,700 ft. "High-quality local roads and bridg- es are an important part of our formu- la for attracting jobs, growing our economy and building strong com- munities," said Gov. Eric Holcomb. "Our fully-funded Next Level Roads plan and record-breaking level of con- struction has gained Indiana national recognition for our approach to infra- structure, and Community Crossings takes that commitment to the local lev- el all across the state." The Community Crossings Initiative has provided more than $ 612 million in state matching funds for construc- tion projects. The latest round gar- nered more applications than dollars available—making the call for proj- ects highly competitive. In response to local requests to help manage proj- ect flow, INDOT now accepts applica- tions in both January and July, with a $1 million cap annually per communi- ty. An estimated $100 million will be available for communities opting to apply during the January 2020 call for projects. "Efficiently and safely moving peo- ple and commerce is vital to the qual- ity of life and vitality of our commu- nities," said INDOT Commissioner Joe McGuinness. "INDOT is excited to partner with communities through this matching grant program to make infrastructure investments that con- tribute to the success of all Hoosier cities, towns and counties." To qualify for funding, local govern- ments must provide local matching funds, 50 percent for larger communi- ties or 25 percent for smaller commu- nities, from a funding source approved for road and bridge construction. They must also submit an INDOT-approved asset management plan for maintain- ing existing roads and bridges. State law requires annually that 50 percent of the available matching funds be awarded to communities within coun- ties with a population of 50,000 or few- er. State lawmakers identified long- term funding for Community Cross- ings as part of House Enrolled Act 1002, passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Holcomb in April 2017. By Dennis Marshall The Pike County School Board voted unanimously to adopt a $27,591,229 budget for the 2019 -20 school year at the Tuesday, Oct. 8, meeting. According to a resolution presented by Pike County School Superintendent Su- zanne Blake, the adopted bud- get totals $27,591,229, con- sisting of $1,756,637 in the Debt Service Fund, $289,133 in the School Pension Fund, $15,370,669 in the Education Fund and $10,174,790 in the Operations Fund. The adopted budget's tax rate would be 2.3713 per- cent, resulting in a tax levy of $7,160,449 based on an as- sessed value of $499,433,550. The Pike County School Corporation's adopted bud- get will now be submitted to the Indiana Department of Local Government and Fi- nance (DLGF) for review. DL - GF will then determine the fi- nal amount approved for each category. Last year, the school cor- poration adopted a budget totaling $25,234,024 wit a tax rate of 1.5322 percent and a tax levy of $ 8,347,987 based on the accessed value $544,791,907. OTHER BUSINESS Blake provided an update of the school corporation's various fund balances as of Sept. 30. The board approved the Dyslexia Procedures and Timeline. The universal screener is an assessment for understanding students' literacy performance, both strengths and areas of con- cern. Universal screeners focus on specific areas and are typically brief, but deter- mines those students who are "at some risk" or "at risk." Universal screeners, which are used for the initial screen- ing of students, shall include the following, as determined to be developmentally ap- propriate for each student: phonological and phonemic awareness, sound symbol recognition, alphabet knowl- edge, decoding skills, rapid naming and encoding skills. Prior to Dec. 31 of each year, the universal screener for Dyslexia will be adminis- trated to all students in kin- dergarten, first and second grade. The "Ready, Ready" Diagnostic will be adminis- tered to all students and meet required components: phono- logical and phonemic aware- ness, sound symbol recogni- tion, alphabet knowledge and decoding skills. The "Arkan- sas Rapid Automatized Nam- ing Screener" will be admin- istered to all students and meet required components: Rapid Naming, DIAL -4 may be used, as needed. The "Words Their Way: Primary Spelling Inventory" will be administered to all students and meet required compo- nents: encoding. In January, the Dyslex- ia data team consisting of teachers from both build- ings, building principals and the reading specialist trained in Dyslexia will meet to ana- lyze results from the univer- sal screener given in Decem- ber. The data team will com- pare student data with cut score norms for each of the three assessments and factor in teacher input as necessary. In February, the Dyslexia Data Team will reconvene to evaluate the data. Parent con- tact will again be made prior to Jan. 31 of that school year. Teachers of students who have been identified will meet with the Authorized Reading Specialist Trained in Dyslexia to put a learning plan togeth- er for identified students to begin potential remediation. School Board adopts 2019-20 budget Richardson escapes serious injury in Friday crash A Petersburg man was injured Friday at about noon when his foot slipped off the brake. Petersburg Po- lice Cpl. Kyle Mills said Loren Richardson, 79, was attempting to pull from his driveway onto Highway 61, near Poplar St., when his foot slipped off the brake and his Crown Victoria rolled down the steep drive- way into the side of a semi-trailer driving north on Highway 61. The impact of the crash spun Richard- son's Crown Victoria around and it came to rest in his yard. Cpl. Mills said Richardson had a cut on his arm, but was not transported to the hospital. Dennis Mills, 53, of Mitchell, was driving the semi-trailer and was uninjured. Richardson's vehicle had extensive damage.