The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/847960
A-10 Local Wednesday, July 12, 2017 The Press-Dispatch Senior Executive Club Supporting our Seniors Amber Manor Care Center invites you to attend the next meeting of our Senior Executive Club. There are no fees or obligations for being a member of the SEC, and the benefits of being a member are also free! Thursday, July 22 nd 2:00 p.m. Amber Manor Care Center 801 East Illinois Street • Petersburg, IN 47567 812-354-3001 • ambermanorhc.com • Clayton Greener unloads kayaks from a trail- er. It was one of several trailers unloading boats at Survant near the "Old Iron Bridge," which was the put-in point for those boatings. It was about a seven-mile trip down the Patoka to Riverside Park in Winslow. Matt McCandless, at the bottom of the bank, and Bob Burke help Annette Sharp with her oxygen tank down the bank to get into her tube. Sherry Nelson, Annette Sharp, Jaelyn Hall, Trisha Bottoms, Tabitha Willis, Remington Bottoms, Chad Willis and Kylon Bottoms get a group shot before hitting the water together. A Federal Conservation Officer talked with or- ganizers Bob Burke and Chris Clements about regulations. It was a family outing for this family. Most of the event was family friendly as several families from toddlers to adults participated together. Vance and Elaine Nelson, of Otwell, were the first two in the river Saturday morning. Many more fol- lowed as 340 signed in for either the kayak trip from Survant or the float down from McCord's Ford. as Survant. This trip is about seven miles and was set up for those wanting to paddle or to have a long float trip. A second trip was for those wanting to float down for about a two hour trip starting at McCord's Ford, which is located on CR 400 S., about two miles upstream of Winslow. Both trips ended at the Winslow Riverside Park, where there is a boat ramp. The Winslow Lions Club set up, and provided break- fast and lunch to partici- pants. Clement said the hardest part of the event was work- ing out the shuttles. He said originally they thought it would be a small number of people and they wouldn't need a shuttle, but when in- terest in the event spiked, he had to work out a shut- tle system. He said they had hoped to have people park at the put in-sites. But after working with the Sheriff's Depart- ment, they said not to have people park along the side of the road. "They told me when it gets full, people will start parking on both sides of the road and it will cause a problem." So he got volunteers with a 15 -passenger van, four mini-vans, two SUVs and a crew cab pickup truck. Clement asked people rid- ing on the shuttles to pay the volunteers $2 each to help them cover their costs. He also had two parking directors at each site. Conservation Officer Duane Englert was on the river in a boat much of the day, and said there were very few problems. He didn't see any excess drinking and there were no problems with trash in the river. "It really did go much better than we thought it might," said En- glert. He added most people were wearing life jackets or had them nearby. "We saw a lot of life jackets." He said they only had one report of a person turn- ing over and people near- by quickly helped them get back into their boat. Monday night, Winslow officials at their Town Coun- cil meeting praised the event as well. Clerk-Treasurer Beth Bennett said she talk- ed with several merchants and they were thrilled with their boosts in business on Saturday. Street Supervisor David Gayhart said on Sunday he went down to the park to check on it. "You wouldn't have found so much as a cigarette butt there. They cleaned it up better than it was when they got there," said Gayhart. Clement said their official number of participants who signed in was 340. Howev- er, he said he thinks there were a couple of groups who might not have signed in. He said the one complaint was they didn't have porta potties and it was also sug- gested they have markers on the river showing how far in- to the trip they were. "A lot of people said they couldn't tell where they were on the trip. So we may try to put up some markings at each mile of the trip next year." Clement said with the suc- cess of this year, they are al- ready looking towards mak- ing it bigger and better next year. "The people who didn't go missed out," said Bot- toms. PATOKA Continued from page 1 The Kayak Mafia members who organized and put on the Clog the Patoka are front row (l to r): Quin- tin McCormick, Breanna Clement, Chris Clement, Linda Traylor, Aidan Clement, Greysen McCormick and Brooks Powell; back row: Joe Warner, Matt McCandless, Heather McCandless, Heather Stafford, Bob Burke, Nicole Evans, Neal Day, Holly McCormick, Mark Traylor, A.J. Powell, Doug McCormick and Lukas Powell. VIDEO NetEdition Exclusive