The Press-Dispatch
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Local ...........A1-8 Sports .........B1-5 Classifi eds .... B6-7 Church ........C1-3 School.........C4-5 History ........... C9 Opinion .......D1-2 Home Life....D3-7 Obituaries....... D8 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, November 16, 2016 Volume 147 Number 45 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) 75¢ See COUNCIL on page 2 See SCHOOL on page 3 Four sections 38 pages Six inserts Christmas in the Park preparations John Burns (left) and Charlie Mathias (right) lift a Christmas light display while setting up for the annual Christmas in the Park at Hornady Park on Saturday, Nov. 12. The display will open Friday, Nov. 25 from 6 to 9 and be open each night through Christ- mas, Dec. 25. A donation is requested, and will go to the Sam Taylor Scholarship Fund. Volunteers are needed for several evenings. To volunteer call 812-354-6582 and leave a message if there is no answer. Ed Cahill photo Veterans Day program V.F.W. Post 3587 member Reno Richardson folds a U.S. Flag during a Veteran's Day program held at Winslow Ele- mentary School on Friday, Nov. 11. Veterans conducted ceremonies and were honored at several locations around the county. See additional photos on page A-6. Ed Cahill photo EDIT funds to pay for Economic Development Master Plan By Andy Heuring County councilmen voted 6 -0 to appro- priate $125,000 from Economic Develop- ment Income Tax funds to pay for the devel- opment of a Master Plan for economic de- velopment near I-69. They also approved a $15,000 appropriation for fuel at the High- way Department, which was lowered from $77,500 they had earlier requested. Both actions took place during their Tuesday morning meeting. "Simply put, this is about jobs and capital investment. It is the road map to help us get there," said Paul Wheatley of the Wheat- ley Group, who is a consultant for the Pike County Economic Development Council. Wheatley told the council the master plan would design infrastructure, utilities and roads to best utilize the property near the I-69 interchange just south of Peters- burg. He said the plan would also include cost estimates for various projects. He said it will help the county to best utilize their resources instead of "sinking infrastruc- ture all over the place. We want to be finan- cially efficient." Wheatley said there is a "broad spec- trum" of development opportunities near the I-69 interchange including the Solar Sources mega site and several other prop- erty owners in the area." Councilman Greg Mangin asked Wheat- ley to go through the site selection process. "Site selectors are assigned the task of eliminating risk. They really are site elim- inators, because they eliminate sites," said Wheatley. He explained they asked ques- tions like who will be served with water, electricity, natural gas as well as other things like access, and what is going to be located nearby. "The master plan will tie all of this to- gether. This isn't a feasibility study. It is an action plan. It will help us pursue a pro- spective economic development project," said Wheatley. Councilman Joe Sutton added, "I think another benefit is it will show us shortfalls we have, and things that we need to beef up or shore up a little." "Absolutely," said Wheatley. Councilman Randy Harris asked if they could send out requests for proposals be- fore the council approved $125,000 for it. He said it is amazing how when firms hear the county has $125,000 to spend, the cost of the plans tend to cost $125,000. Wheatley said he understood Harris' concern, but there seemed to be a large amount of competition for the project. He anticipated several firms submitting pro- posals. "Competition will tend to take care of that," said Councilman Max Elliott. "If you only have one bidder then your price is go- ing to be $125,000. But if you have five or six then the price will go down." Wheatley added that engineering firms $125,000 marked for Master Plan By Andy Heuring Even though it was nearly 80 degrees last week and a high temperature in the seven- ties is predicted for today, Christmas is just around the corner. Along with the annual Christmas parades on Saturday, December 3 in Winslow and Petersburg, there are new activities planned this year. The Pike County Chamber of Commerce is planning a kickoff for their Shop Small, Shop Local event, which promotes local businesses. The kickoff event will be at 1 p.m. on Monday, November 21. Chamber of Commerce Director Leslie Tegmeyer said participating area business will be getting together then to promote the event. Then, they will have sales promo- tions on Saturday, November 26. PIKE COUNTY BICENTENNIAL BIRTHDAY BASH Pike County will be celebrating their 200th birthday as a county on Saturday, December 3, prior to the Christmas parade. Tegmeyer said they will have cake and punch in the rotunda of the courthouse. The rotunda will be lined with Pike Cen- tral students portraying notable Pike Coun- ty residents over the last 200 years. The event will be from noon to 2 p.m. It also includes an auction of "All Things Indiana." Tegmeyer said there will be items from places all over Indiana, as well as tick- ets and coupons to various places to visit in Indiana. "I have been collecting auction items from all over Indiana, things made in Indiana and places to go." "We have passes to Holiday World, India- napolis Children's Museum, a shirt and hat from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and many other items." Petersburg Mayor R. C. Klipsch will ded- icate the new Christmas decorations and several historians will be doing presenta- tions on Pike County history. PARADES SET FOR DEC. 3 The Winslow Christmas parade is set for 10 a.m. It will begin at the Winslow Fire Department and proceed to Main St., then north on Main St. to the Little League park. The Petersburg parade will be at 3 p.m., with line-up starting at the 2 p.m. on Wal- nut St. The parade has been moved to a lat- er starting date so the Shriners units can participate in the parade. There will be prizes given to the top units in the parade. HOLLYWALK SET FOR SATURDAY, DEC. 10 The Hollywalk is set for Saturday, Dec.r 10, with events from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Santa Claus will be in town at Marge's Hallmark. There will be children's activities at Parsi- fal and a storyteller for children. Free carriage rides will be available at the corner of Seventh and Main streets from 11 to 3 p.m. A model train show will be at the Gospel Center Church's Steve Frederick Memori- al Gym from noon to 4 p.m. It is free to the public and model trainers are encouraged to show their train set. For more informa- tion, call Don Richardson at 812-582-2021. Parades, celebrations set for December East Gibson NEWS a MEALS IN Monica's MINUTES Full Thanksgiving Meal Page D-9 Page C-8 New section beginning this week Page C-10 new Pike County Soil and Water Conservation District Newsletter Planter Planter Maximizing farming through tough times By Ed Cahill The Pike County School Cor- poration's Board of School Trust- ees voted Monday, Nov. 14, to ap- prove Old National Insurance as its broker/agent – with Anthem as its network – beginning in 2017. The school corporation's In- surance Committee, comprised of Pike County School Superin- tendent Suzanne Blake, PCSC Treasurer Chelsea Yon and teach- ers Barbara Jochim, Cassi Craig, Melissa Traylor, Stephanie Shedd and Dawn Hedge, made the rec- ommendation after spending "several weeks" reviewing health plan proposals for the school cor- poration's employees, according to a letter to the school board – which was signed by each mem- ber of the committee – dated Fri- day, Nov. 11. In an email sent to The Press- Dispatch on Tuesday, Nov. 15, Blake said that the school cor- poration's annual premium for 2017 – under the new agreement with ONI – will be $101,028 less than what it is currently paying for 2016. "However, since we have with- drawn from the Indiana Public Schools Trust, the original stand- alone quote from Anthem was pro- jected to increase by $121,776," Blake wrote. "We were able to keep our current plans with An- them, fund our account at 100 per- cent, and save money." Blake told the school board that Anthem's original standalone quote was not competitive, and that the Insurance Committee was prepared to recommend that the school corporation change networks, from Anthem to Cig- na, as late as Friday, Nov. 11. "But, at this point, I believe we're going to still be able to stay with Anthem," Blake said. However, the Insurance Com- mittee recommended that the school corporation sever its ties with German American Insur- ance and go with ONI Risk Part- ners as its broker/agent. German American Insurance manager Tony Cochran, who was in attendance, asked Blake to ex- plain the basis for the Insurance Committee's recommendation. "We do this all the time, so the numbers should be the same," Co- chran said. "Are the quotes the School corporation changes insurance providers