The Press-Dispatch
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PAGE D-10 SECTION E Black Black Winter S ports Local ...........A1-8 Sports .........B1-5 Classifi eds .... B6-7 Church ........C1-3 School.........C4-5 Home Life....D1-5 Obituaries....... D6 History ........... D7 Opinion .......D8-9 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 See ACADEMY on page 2 See LIGHTS on page 2 See BUILDING on page 3 $ 1 Five sections Nine inserts 44 pages Wednesday, November 22, 2017 Volume 148 Number 47 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) Rauch injured in Wednesday crash By James Capozella On Wednesday at 11:21 a.m., a crash at the intersection of Main and Sixth streets in Petersburg re- sulted in one injury and both vehi- cles being disabled and towed from the scene, according to Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Baumgart. Baumgart reports that a 2009 Lex- us, driven by Walter Wyatt Rauch, of 901 E. Goodlet St., entered the inter- section and was struck in the driv- er's side by a southbound 2018 Toyo- ta Tundra, driven by Christopher D. Kinman, of 876 S. SR 57, Petersburg. Rauch was transported by Pike County EMS to the hospital. Both the Tundra and Lexus were disabled by the crash. Rain and wet pavement were contributing conditions, ac- cording to the report. The combined damage estimate was between $5,000 and $10,000. Walter Wyatt Rauch of Goodlet St., was injured in a Wednesday crash in Petersburg at Sixth and Main streets by Pike County EMS after a crash between Rauch's Lexus and a Toyota Tundra, driv- en by Christopher Kinman, of Petersburg. Rain and wet pavement were contributing factors in the 11:20 a.m. accident that incapacitated both vehicles. Rauch was released from the hospital that evening following treatment and observation. By Andy Heuring The calendar is filling up with Christmas activities for the month of December. Christmas parades in Win- slow and Petersburg will be Saturday, December 2. The Winslow parade will be- gin at 10 a.m., with line-up at the Fire Department. The pa- rade will proceed to Main St. and then north to the Little League park. Santa will be at the Naza- rene Church's Fellowship Hall following the parade. There will also be a Mouse House un- til 1 p.m. at the same location. It allows children to purchase inexpensive Christmas gifts for siblings and their parents. PETERSBURG PARADE SATURDAY AT 2 P.M. The Petersburg parade will start at 2 p.m., beginning on Walnut St., going to Main St and heading south on Main St. Line-up will begin at 1 p.m. on Walnut St., near the court- house. HOLLYWALK, OTWELL BREAKFAST WITH SANTA SET FOR SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9 The annual Hollywalk in De- cember is scheduled for Sat- urday, December 9. It will fea- ture free carriage rides around downtown Petersburg from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Rides will start at the southeast corner of Main and Seventh streets Santa and a storyteller for children will be in the city building across the street, next to Town Hall. Marge Leavitt, of Marge's Hallmark, said other activities are also in the works for the Hollywalk. She said if vendors or civic or- ganizations would like to take part, they can call her at 812- 354-8372 or City Hall at 812- 354-8511. Santa will also be at the Ot- well Community Center from 8 to 10 a.m. on Saturday, De- cember 9 to talk with children. They will have juice and do- nuts available. REINDEER RUN SET FOR SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10 The Reindeer Run, a 5K run or 1K Santa Shuffle, is sched- uled for 2 p.m. on Sunday, De- cember 10 at the ARC of Pike County on Illinois St. Regis- tration begins at noon. It is $15 prior to December 1 and $20 after that and includes a T-shirt. For more information, call Melissa Walden at 812-677- 6045. Area parades, holiday events set for December By Ed Cahill Pike County School Corporation officials are planning to use a portion of the former Otwell Elementary School building to of- fer an alternative education program begin- ning in January 2018. According to Pike County School Super- intendent Suzanne Blake, the alternative education program will consist of two ele- ments – an alternative to suspension (ATS) program, and an alternative learning pro- gram. "The ATS program will be used as a dis- ciplinary step instead of out-of-school sus- pension for students," Blake said. "The alternative learning program is separate from the ATS program. It will offer a non- traditional learning environment, includ- ing online courses. This approach is help- ful for students who need flexible schedul- ing options in order to meet graduation re- quirements." During the regular monthly meeting of the Pike County School Corporation's Board of School Trustees, Pike Central High School Principal Brian Holland said that the alternative education program planned for the former Otwell Elementa- ry School building was needed to help stu- dents – who would otherwise drop out – graduate. "I've had students who want to quit school because they have to help out finan- cially with their parents or they're financial- ly on their own and they've got to quit to pay for just their basic needs and survival," Holland said. "I've had probably about four of those in just one semester, and that just breaks my heart, knowing how close we are to getting these kids a diploma, and how they're going to miss out on opportunities." "This gives them an opportunity now, whether they're doing it during the school day or outside of the school day," Holland continued. "This can give them that option to complete it." Most of the alternative education pro- gram's classes would be taken through an online platform such as Plato, which is cur- rently used at Pike Central High School as a credit recovery program for students. "We're currently licensed with Plato, but there could be other options out there that might be better suited for us that we're looking into," Holland said. Students will be able to be in the alterna- tive school program for a half day or a full day "depending on their circumstance," ac- cording to a document presented by Hol- land to the school board. The alternative to suspension (ATS) pro- gram, meanwhile, would allow students with behavioral issues to continue to work on school-related items while serving a pre- School corp. to use OES building in January By Andy Heuring At about 11:30 a.m. Saturday, strong winds and deteriorated bases combined to topple five light poles on Main St. in the 700 and 800 blocks of Main St. The poles fell like dominoes, crashing onto Main St. They kept Main St. closed for several hours. "We were just lucky no one was hurt and no property was damaged," said Petersburg Mayor R. C. Klipsch. "They were probably worse than anyone imagined," said Klipsch of the bases on the light poles. Each pole had four one-inch di- ameter rods, one on each corner of the bas- es. Those rods were staked into the ground to hold the poles in place. However, on most of the bases, all or most of the rods were completely deteriorated by rust. The few that hadn't completely rusted in two only had about a quarter of an inch of the rod left. This left them vulnerable to the wind. Klipsch said he hasn't found anyone who remembers or could find when the poles were put into place. However, clerk-treasur- er Tammy Selby had a picture dated 1951 that showed the poles were in place then. The old poles and lights are owned by Duke, who leases them to Petersburg. Klipsch said earlier this year, when three of the poles fell as a delivery truck got caught on one of the decorative flags, he started reaching out to Duke. Crew came on Saturday and worked on cleaning the fallen poles up and had Main St. open to traffic by mid-afternoon Satur- day. Crews came back on Monday to remove a leaning pole. A fter examining it, May- or Klipsch said Duke contacted him at about 3 p.m. and informed him all of the remaining 14 poles were going to be taken down. Those poles were removed Tuesday. Klipsch said city employees worked late in- to the night removing Christmas decora- tions from the existing poles before they were taken down. He said Petersburg owns seven light poles that were installed in a new style as part of the Main St. Downtown Terrace project. They are also in front of First Fed- By Ed Cahill On Monday, Nov. 20, Friends of Otwell Elementary president Bob Rhodes unveiled a plan to raise more than $ 64,000 in do- nations during the months of January and February as part of an effort to keep the doors to Otwell Miller Academy open. During an hour-long pub- lic meeting held at the charter school, Rhodes announced that Otwell Miller Academy had ap- proximately $ 66,000 in state tuition support left over after being paid based on an aver- age daily membership (ADM) count of 120 students during the months of July, August, Sep- tember and October, when the school's actual ADM was 58 stu- dents. On Wednesday, Nov. 8, the Indiana Department of Educa- tion issued a funding recalcu- lation notice informing Otwell Miller Academy that it would re- ceive zero state tuition support for the months of November, December, January and Feb- ruary, state tuition support of $20,527 in March and monthly state tuition support of $28,347 during April, May and June. "The question is, what are we going to do? " Rhodes said. "What we have is pretty much going to get us through Novem- ber and December. It's a little High winds fell five Main Street light poles Friends of Otwell plans $64,000 fundraiser Five light poles on Main St. Petersburg fell over Saturday at about 11:30 a.m. causing the street to be closed for sev- eral hours on Saturday. On Monday, Duke Energy, which owns the fallen poles removed all the light poles along Main St. except for the seven new ones owned by Petersburg.