The Press-Dispatch
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Local ...........A1-8 Opinion .......A6-7 Sports .........B1-5 Classifi eds .... B6-7 Church ........C1-3 Home Life........C4-8 Obituaries........... C8 School......C10-11 History ......... C12 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 CO. COUNCIL on page 2 See ELECTION on page 2 See SCHOOL on page 3 See ICY ROADS on page 2 See WINSLOW on page 2 $ 1 Three sections Three inserts 28 pages Wednesday, January 10, 2018 Volume 148 Number 2 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) By Andy Heuring Most of us are still trying to get used to writing 2018, but believe it or not, the 2018 election officially starts today. Wednes- day, January 10 is the first day in Indiana for candidates to officially file for election. There is a long list of offices that will be on this year's ballot and there will be several changes due to term limits and elected of- ficials not seeking re-election. In Pike County, the courthouse offices of Recorder, Auditor, Judge, Prosecutor and Sheriff will be on the ballot this year, along with Township Trustees and Township Ad- visory Boards. The District 2 Commission- er seat, along with the four District Coun- ty Council positions, will be on the ballot. The other locals races will be School Board Districts 1 and 2, as well as the three Winslow Town Council positions. At the state level, Indiana will be elect- ing a U.S. Senator, the seat is now held by Democrat Joe Donnelly. Pike County will also be voting for the Eighth District U.S. House of Representatives seat now held by Republican Larry Bucshon. Other state level positions will be State Senate District 48, now held by Mark Messmer, as well as State Representative seats of Districts 63, 64 and 75. A long line of candidates have already announced their intentions to run for of- fice in 2018. Locally, the race for Sheriff has generated two early announcements for the open seat. Sheriff Jeremy Britton cannot seek re-election due to term limits. So far, his Chief Deputy Kent Johnson and Deputy Brad Jenkins have both announced they will run for his seat. Lida Robinson has announced she will run for Recorder, which is currently held by her sister, Jody Hoover, who has announced she is running for Auditor. Current Auditor Ron Wilson is in his second term and can- not seek re-election because of term limits. Assessor Mike Goodpaster has an- nounced he is seeking re-election. There will be changes in the State Repre- sentative Districts. District 64 State Repre- sentative Tom Washburne has announced he will not seek re-election. So far, Princ- eton dentist Ken Becker and Matt Hostet- tler, the son of former 8th District Con- By Andy Heuring Pike County Councilmen made a long list of appointments for 2018 and approved a $10,000 transfer to temporarily fund the Pike Coun- ty Family Court Referee position during their first meeting of 2018 on Tuesday morning. Councilmen voted 7-0 to ap- point Jim Gaskins to the Pike County Library Board. It was one of several they made as they reor- ganized for 2018. Council president Greg Willis said the council's appointment to the library board had been Robyn Whaley, but she had resigned in November. Councilman Randy Harris moved to appoint Gaskins. He was approved by a 7-0 vote. Most of the other appointments were re- appointing people. Joe Smith was appointed to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission and DeWayne Sanders to the Park and Recreation board. Sanders had been appointed six months ago to replace Andy query, who had resigned. That term expired and Sanders was appointed to a four-year term. Max Elliott was appointed to the Solid Waste District Board; Dennis Bishop to the Growth Council; Randy Harris to the Pe- tersburg Economic Development Council; Travis Troutman to the Soil and Water District Board; Dennis Bishop and Greg Man- gin to the Redevelopment Coun- cil; Ross Williams to the Petaboa Board; and Todd Meadors to the Courthouse Security Committee and the Wabash Valley Correc- tions Board. Carla Willis was appointed to replace Boyd Toler on the TRI- CAP board. Toler had served 10 years and asked to be replaced. FUNDING FOR COURT REFEREE APPROVED Councilmen also approved a $10,000 transfer from Pauper At- torney to Court Referee. It had been temporarily approved by a 5 -0 email proxy vote on January 2. County Auditor Ron Wilson said he sent emails to all seven coun- cilmen. He said only five council- men responded, all in favor of the action. Recently the state did a case study of all county court systems in Indiana and determined the case load was not sufficient to justify funding two judges in Pike County. Indiana had funded both County council makes board appointments for 2018 First filing day for election candidates Winslow Council considers new fire truck Engine 93 'won't draft water' By James Capozella A lengthy agenda for Winslow Town Council members was spun through in lit- tle over an hour on Monday evening and included news that a replacement fire en- gine was needed. Winslow Fire Chief Jason Bottoms ad- vised the council that although Engine 93 has been a good truck, "It is rusted and worn out." He said, "by the end of the year we have to replace one," stating "we have no choice. It won't draft water." He thought about $20,000 would be the cost and that they had been "looking around" for a re- placement but needed to "sit down and talk about it." Bottoms reiterated that the department would "have to replace one of the two in 2018." He reported they currently meet the Indiana code because one engine is oper- ational and certified. He suggested a per- sonal loan on a four or five year note could be used at no cost to the town. Bottoms al- so reported there were seven firemen cur- rently attending a training class. There was also a discussion concerning lights outside the fire station and heaters inside the building. Bottoms reported that Ridao Heating was taking care of both heat- ers in the fire house for $500, while other estimates were $1,800. Bottoms said the cost would come out of maintenance. The department has two outside mercury va- por bulbs burned out and it was decided to replace them with dusk-to-dawn lights that would be much more cost effective. Bottoms asked permission from the coun- cil during the meeting to place the names of David Gayhart and Aaron Bolin on the doors of Engine 91 and the mini pumper because of "all the contributions these two guys have made" for the equipment and the department. On passage of the $280,815 budget, Sim- mons stated they "came out ahead" once the state had approved it. The 2018 $ 350,400 re- quested budget was cut by $ 69,585, which means the town received $ 99,109 more for 2018 than they did in 2017, according to Bennett. The totals for each fund were: gen- eral fund, $143,430 ; LR&S, $ 6,177; MVH, $ 37,150 ; CCI, $ 3,036; CCD. $11,202; rainy day, $ 0 ; for a total of $280,815. Bennett said we received $ 99,109 more than last year but still got some cuts like the rainy day fund. The 1782 notice from 2017 was By Ed Cahill Chris Satterfield was elected as president of the Pike Coun- ty School Corporation's Board of Trustees during its regular monthly meeting held on Mon- day, Jan. 8. David Waltz had served as the school board's president for the past three years. Satterfield is cur- rently serving the second year of his third four-year term as a mem- ber of the school board. In addition, Chris McKinney was elected as the school board's vice-president, succeeding Sat- terfield in that position, and Steve Potter was elected as the school board's secretary, succeeding Ron Sharp in that position. The school board subsequently voted unanimously to re-appoint Chelsea Yon as the school corpo- ration's treasurer for 2018. "Chelsea has attended profes- sional development opportunities, communicates with other school finance officials, and adheres to State Board of Accounts guide- lines for school finance," said Pike County School Superintendent Suzanne Blake. "In this role, she would also serve as executive sec- retary of the Pike County School School board elects Satterfield president for '18 By Andy Heuring Icy spots on Pike County roads closed school Monday morning after Director of Support Servic- es Todd Harker crashed while checking road conditions. The closure left many people question- ing the decision to close school as temperatures that had previous- ly been bitter cold finally normal- ized. Also, by the time most peo- ple were up and on their way Mon- day morning, the icy spots had melted. But it was a different sit- uation early in the morning. Todd Harker was driving the roads at about 4:30 a.m. to help make a decision on school when he hit an icy spot on CR 900 S., slid off the road and down about a 20 -foot embankment that caused his pickup truck to roll over. "There was some ice in the southern part of the county. There was a section of the county that had ice. I think it was a situation of one area may have been in pret- ty good shape and another was in bad shape," said Pike County School Superintendent Suzanne Blake. Pike County Assistant Superin- tendent Josh Byrd said the ice was spotty, but tended to be in areas where the roads were tree-lined. Sheriff Jeremy Britton said there were two wrecks and at least Icy roads lead to school closure Brutal cold weather, good fishing Brent Stone of Petersburg stands by his fishing pole mount and hole in the ice Saturday af- ternoon. Stone said he was mostly testing out the ice and preparing for Sunday afternoon, when temperatures were supposed to be warmer. Extremely cold temperatures for the previ- ous 13 days made for thick ice. The last day to have temperatures above freezing prior to Sun- day was Christmas Eve. Ten of the previous 13 days had single digit temperatures. Ice rescue training The fire departments of Petersburg, Patoka and Jefferson Townships participated in a joint ice rescue training ses- sion Saturday afternoon at Prides Creek. Personnel from the three departments took turns in two-person teams be- ing a victim and rescuer under the instruction of Brian Dodd, a Lieutenant of the Vincennes Township Fire Depart- ment of Knox County. "As we expand our rescue capabilities, this is an area we wanted to expand. The unfortunate event last year brought it to a forefront for Patoka and us both," said Petersburg Assistant Fire Chief Jon Craig. They were out in the weather with temperatures in the mid-teens for about four hours. Craig said they purchased the rescue suits and equipment in November. "We had used them in a pool, but never in a situation with real ice." See additional photos on page A-4.