The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1304002
B-2 Wednesday, October 28, 2020 The Press-Dispatch See Business Box for special services Page C-7 GRANTS Continued from page 1 VOTING Continued from page 1 DOUGGLASS SERVICE & STORAGE A babies are born A babies are born PRO-LIFE They just want to live. They just want to live. Please vote Pro-Life! More than 120 vehicles participate in county-wide Trump Parade Sunday's Trump Parade formed up at the Petersburg Hardware parking lot, begin- ning at 1:30 p.m., and heading down Illinois street, with Pe- tersburg Police Chief Chuck Baumgart blocking traffic at the intersection. He reported that the parade included 120 vehicles. Trucks, Jeeps, SUVs, cars and one on/off road motor- cycle participated. Hundreds of large Trump and U.S. flags flew from vehicles as they headed out Illinois Street, honking horns and waving. They then traveled north on Main Street. Eric Smith, who led the procession, said they then traveled Hwy 56 to the Otwell junction, Velpen, Stendal, Spurgeon, Winslow and then back to Petersburg. Cary Thorne was the lone mo- torcyclist, according to Smith. Thorne rides long distance and travels both on road and off with the bike he had in the parade Sunday. Smith said, "When we were in downtown Velpen, Sherry and Dennis Bishop were the caboose and they were at the Otwell Junction, so the parade was seven miles long at that point. We were trying to cov- er most of Pike County. We had several groups join in be- tween Petersburg and Otwell, but don't know for sure how many jumped in. We might have had 140 vehicles alto- gether. We had vehicles from Huntingburg and Princeton, and one from Hawesville, Ky., which is about 70 miles." Sunday's Trump parade started with 120 vehicles at the Petersburg Hardware store and traveled throughout the county, picking up groups of vehicles on the way. Trucks, Jeeps and SUVs made up most of the Trump pa- rade on Sunday, along with cars and an on/off road motorcycle. The 2 p.m. parade circled the county and made it back to Petersburg around 4 p.m. James Capozella photos Cary Thorne braved the cool temperatures to take part in the parade on his motorcycle. Big pickups, Jeep Wranglers and SUVs comprised the bulk of the vehicles in Sunday's Trump Parade. Salvation Army volunteer bell ringers needed Once again Salvation Ar- my Volunteers will be ring- ing on Fridays and Saturdays between Thanksgiving and Christmas at the Petersburg Dollar General and Peters- burg Hardware. Call or text Cal Biddle at 812-582-2385 if you can help. Because of the pandemic, volunteers will need to mask up and stand six feet away from the kettles so others can safely deposit their contribu- tions. Donations may also be made touchless with a smart- phone using the QR symbol. Needs are up this year in Pike and Gibson counties. The month of August alone, 86 food baskets went out, 273 soup kitchen meals were served to 182 different peo- ple, 754 people received 3,644 grocery items from food give- aways, three households re- ceived help with rent, one with utilities, 102 others received services, 55 first time clients, and a total of 257 different cli- ents were served. Most of the rent and utility requests were from Pike Co. Last week's The Press-Dispatch reported how to apply for Christmas assis- tance from Salvation Army. Al- ready applications are coming in from Pike County. "Maybe you are facing dif- ficult times, too, but it doesn't cost anything to ring a bell, so you may know the joy of giving at Christmas," said Pike chair- man Cal Biddle. Counter kettles will also be available throughout the com- munity. By Andy Heuring A Petersburg woman was arrested for drunken driving at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday af- ter police saw her driving er- ratically on Highway 61 Amy Schmitz, 42, of 1208 N. Raven Ave., Petersburg, was arrested by Petersburg Offi- cer Scott Arnold. He said he was on patrol when he saw a vehicle driving north on High- way 61 go left of center and then cross back into her lane, and run off the right side of the road. Arnold then followed her and after she almost ran off the road again, he stopped her near Spruce St. He said when talking with Schmitz, he smelled a strong odor of alcohol, noticed her speech was slurred and her eyes were bloodshot. She ini- tially told Arnold she did not drink. Schmitz failed field sobri- ety tests and a portable breath test. She then admitted she had drank a little. She was taken to the Pike County Jail, where she tested 0.124 percent for blood alcohol content. The legal limit in In- diana is 0.08 percent for blood alcohol content. She was preliminarily charged with operating a ve- hicle while intoxicated. Schmitz charged with OVWI WINSLOW Continued from page 1 specific reason and is "just a numbers thing that's all plugged into a system." The adopted tax levy total is $ 362,978, and the adopted tax rate is 4.7081. In addition, the total home-rule funds, not re- viewed by the department of local government finance, is $51,200. TRICK-OR-TREAT The hours for trick-or-treat- ing this year have been set in accordance with the Winslow Town Council's motion at the meeting on Oct. 12 to follow the suggestions of the Pike County Health Department. The hours for trick-or-treat- ing this year are from 5 to 8 p.m. on Halloween. er is being challenged by Democrat Teresa K. Kend- all. Both are from Jasper. In District 64, incumbent Matt Hostettler, of Fort Branch, is being challenged by Demo- crat Ian Gamroth, of Prince- ton. In District 75, Democrat John Hurley and Republican Cindy Ledbetter are vying for the seat Ron Bacon held for several terms. Bacon did not seek re-election. Democrat Woody Myers is challenging Republican in- cumbent Governor Eric Hol- comb. Also in that race is Lib- ertarian Donald Rainwater, of Westfield. Former Evans- ville Mayor John Weinzapfel and former Dist. 2 U.S. Con- gressman Todd Rokita are facing off in a battle for Indi- ana Attorney General. At the federal level, Don- ald J. Trump is being chal- lenged by Joe Biden. Down ballot is the Eighth District Congressional race. Repub- lican Larry Bucshon is being challenged by Democrat E. Thomasina Marsili, of Spen- cer, and Libertarian James Rodenberger, of Terre Haute. ed by the Rural Development Corporation, which is a part of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. They set up a meeting for nu- merous people in the commu- nity to attend with numerous federal and state agencies to review Petersburg's needs. "We had a large attendance at Kiefer Hall." Klipsch said Petersburg was named a Designated City by the USDA. During the meeting, it was determined Petersburg has water and sew- er needs. They were given two $40,000 studies to determine the needs and solutions. From that, the wastewater and water plant studies hap- pened. The two main projects that developed from that include more than $10 million in a new water plant and nearly a $12 million project adding to and improving the wastewater plant. Petersburg got a grant for most of the wastewater plant. But because their water rates were so low, they only re- ceived a low interest loan for the water plant. However, ear- lier this month, Wilbur Ross, Secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, delivered a $4.2 million grant to Petersburg to help with the water plant improvements. Petersburg also is receiv- ing help with the relocation of a waterline along Highway 61, which is part of another proj- ect. Highway 61, from Main St. to the White River Bridge, is going to be completely re- built. Crews are going to dig it up, take it down to the dirt and rebuild the road bed and construct a new road. It will in- clude new sidewalks. Current- ly, much of the sidewalks are in disrepair or don't exist. That project is going to take place in three phases to limit disruption to traffic. The first phase will be from Main St. to the railroad tracks, then from there to the former State High- way Garage, and from there to the bridge. Klipsch said the third phase would just be re- surfacing. Klipsch said while plan- ning the project, they realized an old water line is under the pavement of Highway 61. "We don't' want to put all that new pavement on top of that old line. Now is the time to place it." So while it is connected to the project, it is not officially part of the project. Cost of re- placing the old line with a new line in the right-of-way, but not in the roadway, is projected at about $500,000. The Indiana Department of Transporta- tion has agreed to pay about 80 percent of the project, lim- iting Petersburg's expense to about $100,000. Klipsch said the water line will be relocated before the Highway 61 project starts. The streetscape project will be redoing the sidewalks along Main St., with new streetlights to match those in front of Home Savings Bank and Parsifal. A new waterline is also go- ing to be installed down Main St. Klipsch said it is supposed to go to bid in August of 2021, with most of the construction in 2022. Klipsch said Main St. will not be closed during the streetscape construction. The first phase of the waste- water improvements are sup- posed to be advertised for bids in November, with construc- tion hopefully being started in early 2021. Included in the water treatment plant is new wells, which will increase the plant's pumping capacity, and a new water tower at the top of Half-mile Hill. In the meantime, the El- mer Buchta Entrepreneur and Technology Center is un- der construction. Pike Coun- ty received a grant of about $2 million for that project. Other projects that are al- ready completed are the Downtown Terrace project that built more than 40 senior housing units in downtown Pe- tersburg. They have also built a water line and are working on a sew- er line to the I-69 interchange area. Klipsch said other proj- ects in the Stellar project for Petersburg included moving the Police Department from City Hall to its current loca- tion, and new fire station on Illinois St. He noted Peters- burg did the fire station proj- ect on their own. In all, Klipsch said instead of the about $20 million they would have gotten from the Stellar, Petersburg is right at $44 million in grants since then. "It really is quite amaz- ing for a little town like Peters- burg."