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C11 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 COUNCIL on page 2 See CLEARED on page 4 See ARRESTED on page 4 Three sections Three inserts 30 pages Wednesday, March 14, 2018 Volume 148 Number 11 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 See WINSLOW on page 2 Britton reports housing out-of-county inmates raised $425,000 in 2017 By Andy Heuring County Councilmen approved transfers in the Health Department to fund a new phone system, overtime at the dispatch cen- ter and got updates on the jail inspection and economic development during their 30 -minute meeting Tuesday morning. The council approved a $2,989 transfer in the Health Department's budget from rent to office equipment to purchase a new phone system. Health nurse Amy Gladish told the coun- cil when the Health Department moved from the courthouse to the Old Petersburg Gym offices, they originally thought they would be included in the courthouse's new phone system. However, they learned that would be "astronomically" expensive. Com- missioner Assistant Kristi Dischinger said originally the county was told it would be no problem to connect the Health Dept. to the system. However, when the company changed engineers, they were told it would cost between $10,000 to $14,000 to make the connection. Gladish said in the interim, they have been using an old phone system Rich Coan had loaned them. She said it works, but some of the lines are "scratchy" and there is no voicemail. She said she put rent into the Health De- partment budget for 2018, but later learned the Commissioners' budget had included a line item for their rent. So she was ask- ing to transfer that amount to purchase the new phones. Dischinger said they had quotes of be- tween $2,800 and $5,500. She added it would probably cost more than the $2,989 they were transferring, but they wanted to get money in place so they could get start- ed while an additional appropriation was being approved for the remaining amount. Councilman Randy Harris asked if cel- lular phones were an option. Gladish said with the number of phones they needed, it would probably be more expensive than a new system. She said they have five employees in the Health Department, plus the Veterans Ser- vice Officer. The request was approved by a 7-0 vote. Sheriff Jeremy Britton requested and re- ceived a $1,000 transfer from jailer over- time to IDACS Coordinator overtime. Brit- ton said they have had two jailers quit to take other positions. Consequently, the IDACS Coordinator filled in to help cover those positions. His request was approved by a 7-0 vote. Britton gave the council a brief update on a recent jail inspection. He said the in- spector complimented the county for fund- ing another jailer position and some rear- rangement of the jail staff. Britton said Pike County had increased Council deals with funds transfers The Annual Pike County Ag Day Break- fast is scheduled for 7 to 10 a.m. on Sat- urday, March 24 at the Otwell Communi- ty Center. Along with a hot breakfast of eggs, sausage, pancakes, Cup Creek Ma- ple Syrup, juice and milk for $2, it will fea- ture numerous activities. Area legislators, including State Senator Mark Messmer and State Representatives Shane Lindauer and Ron Bacon, will discuss recent legislation. They will speak at 9:30 a.m. There will be free health screenings, an inflatable bounce house and obstacle course for kids in the gym and an antique tractor display. The event is sponsored by the Pike Coun- ty Young Farmers, Pike County Farm Bu- reau, Inc., Pike Central FFA and Purdue Extension—Pike County. Ag Day Breakfast Saturday at Otwell By Andy Heuring Winslow appointed a new clerk-treasurer, changed their meeting times and disband- ed the park board again during two meet- ings in the last week. Stacy Worthington was appointed the new clerk-treasurer. Worthington, a native of Lafayette, moved to the area in 2000 and previously worked as a real estate agent. She was the office manager of the ER A of- fice in Princeton and has since moved to Winslow. Her daughter attended Pike Cen- tral until this year, when she started attend- ing the Indiana Academy at Ball State. Worthington said Town Marshal Steve Nelson told her about the job opening and she decided to apply for it. She took the oath of office on Wednes- day, March 7 during a special meeting of the Council to appoint her. "We have got a good one," said Council- man Dick Brewster. "Yes, we do," added Council president Greg Simmons. Brewster, in Monday night's regu- lar meeting, said about 60 to 100 of Win- slow's water customers had been billed in- correctly. Councilmen first discussed it last Wednesday when Tina Gayhart, who works at Town Hall as the clerk-treasurer's assistant, said people were coming in say- ing their water bills were way off. She said some of their bills were for only $28. She said they wanted to pay more because they feared they were going to have a huge bill to make up for in the next month. Council- men, on Wednesday, thought the discrepan- cies were due to averag- ing for a month. Howev- er, by Monday, Council- man Brewster said they had finally figured out the problem when a customer came in and showed them her ac- count had been credit- ed the exact amount of her bill for last month. He said when he saw that "a bell went off." He explained instead of entering these customer's payments as a payment, they were entered as a credit. Brewster said by entering it as a credit, that amount only went towards future bills and was not post- ed against the amount on the bill they were paying. "That wasn't done on this young la- dy's watch," said Brewster pointing to Worthington. He continued, "That has to be done intentionally," said Brewster. He added, "There is no way you can take a check and water bill stub and enter it as a credit in lieu of a payment." Councilmen also voted to start meeting two times a month. The second Monday of the month, they will meet at 7 p.m. in Worthington named Winslow Clerk-Treasurer Stacy Worthington By Andy Heuring Easter egg hunts in Pike County will be- gin this weekend with the Otwell hunt. The Winslow and Petersburg hunts will be on March 24 and the Union hunt will be on March 31. The Otwell hunt is set for noon at the Ot- well Community Center. The Winslow hunt, sponsored by the House of Mercy, is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday, March 24 at the Winslow Lit- tle League Field. There will be three age groups: 0 -4, 5 -8 and 9 -12. They will give out 10 prize eggs in each group. There will al- so be games and activities until 1 p.m. fol- lowing the hunts. A rain date of Saturday, April 7 has been set. Petersburg's hunt, sponsored by the Moose, is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, March 24 in Hornady Park at Shelterhouse #3. It has a rain date of March 31. There will be five categories: special needs, 0 -2, 3-5, 6 -8 and 9 -12. Union's hunt is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sat- urday, March 31. It is for children ages 2 to 12. They will give a grand prize of a new bi- cycle in each age group. The Union Com- munity Church will also provide hot dogs, chips and drinks. Area Easter egg hunts scheduled for March 24 & 31 By Andy Heuring A former Winslow man was arrested on a charge of child solicitation after he drove from Princeton to Petersburg to pick up a girl he believed was 14 years old. Instead, it was Petersburg Police Sgt. Chad McClel- lan posing as a 14-year-old girl. Keith A. Stanton, 44, of 104 S. Prince St., Princeton, was arrested at about 6 p.m. Fri- day, March 9 on Pike Ave. in Petersburg on a Level 4 felony charge of child solicitation. According to a probable cause affidavit, Sgt. McClellan said his decoy profile on Facebook received a friend request from Stanton in November 2017. The decoy pro- file then got a private message from Stan- ton, which "began a conversation that last- ed several weeks, where he messaged her (the decoy) nearly every day." McClellan said Stanton almost immedi- ately asked about the decoy's age because the profile had been up for nearly a year and showed its age as 13. McClellan said Stan- ton responded to the decoy "you are one year older than my daughter." As the conversations continued, McClel- lan said Stanton turned them to a sexual na- ture. McClellan claimed Stanton asked the girl to perform a sexual act on herself and told her talking with her sexually excited him. He also described sex acts he wanted her to perform on him and sent pictures of Former Winslow man arrested for child solicitation Close inspection Jay Wiggins, of Huntingburg, gives the knife selection of Paul and Susan Schroeder a close inspection during the Stendal Flea Market on Saturday. Their stand was one of many filling the old Stendal Gym during the flea market. (See more pictures on page A-10.) Robotics team open house Cameron Smith and Paul Jansen adjust the Pike Central High School ro- botics team's robot during an open house on Saturday afternoon. Pike Cen- tral will compete on March 24 in a regional competition at Plainfield in the First Power Up. They had six weeks to complete the robot, but due to ex- treme weather canceling school, they only had about four weeks to complete the project. They received donations from Toyota and Andy Mark to purchase the robotics kit. Eric Wilson and Phil Claus have been working with the team.