The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/964179
A-2 Front Wednesday, April 11, 2018 The Press-Dispatch FIRE TRUCK Continued from page 1 LEAVING Continued from page 1 If elected Sheriff, my areas of focus for the Pike County Sheriff's Office will include: ● Protecting our children and adults from active shooter situations, and keeping guns and drugs out of our schools ● Protecting our county from drug traffickers ● Protecting our children from domestic abuse ● Protecting our county from incidents involving toxic chemicals/gases; biological agents; radioactive materials; and explosive materials and devices ● Protecting our way of life by protecting our (a) generation and distribution of electricity; (b) clean water supply; (c) gas supply; and (d) phone/internet services ● Working closely with Sheriff's Office personnel to review and revise procedures where needed, such as management of inmates to prevent prisoner escape and injuries to deputies, jailers and others ● Reviewing the Sheriff's Office budget to identify areas where cost savings can be obtained – implementing procedures to obtain cost savings such as requesting annual competitive bids for goods and services provided to the Sheriff's Office Please call or email me with your primary concerns about public safety and the Sheriff's Office 812-766-2047 • JohnBellamyPikeCo@yahoo.com SHERIFF JOHN JOHN For Homeland Security. For Pike County. Democrat Ballot PREPARED TO YOUR FAMILY otect Democratic candidate for Sheriff, John Bellamy, with two loyal supporters, Eleanor "Boots" Bellamy and Angie Heuring. PAID FOR BY BELLAMY FOR SHERIFF COMMITTEE FREE Medicare BINGO Join SHIP and Senior & Family Services for an informative round of Medicare BINGO and help with your applications to money saving programs. If your income is less than $1,900 per month and you have limited assets, you may qualify for help with medical costs not covered by Medicare and with prescription drug expenses. Monday, April 16, 9:00 a.m. Petersburg Senior Center 801 E. Main St., Petersburg, IN (Donuts and coffee will be provided.) For more information, call Jackie at 812-354-8727. or Monday, April 16, 11:15 a.m. Winslow Senior Center 411 E. Porter St., Winslow, IN (Lunch will be provided with a $5 donation.) For more information, call Frieda at 812-789-9405. LOCAL HELP FOR PEOPLE WITH MEDICARE said. "It was a super-hard decision, so I took a lot of time trying to figure out what I was doing, and what was important." "Finally, I just had some stuff that I had to take care of at home and I needed to be there more," Hewig con- tinued. "And when this op- portunity came up, I just had to take it." Hewig said that he in- formed the members of Pike Central's wrestling team on Monday, April 9, regarding his decision. "I had a whole speech written out, but there was just no way to get through it, just because it's such an emotional thing," Hewig said. "I love my wrestlers. I've never had a group com- ing through that I didn't think was a special group." "I never thought I'd see the day when I'd leave, but then the parenting thing hits you hard, and you need to take care of that first," Hewig added. "That's kind of what hit me this year when I saw how much I was missing (Lane's) games and stuff that I needed to be at. So I kind of had to do it." Hewig, who will contin- ue serving as Pike Central's athletic director through the end of his current con- tract with the Pike County School Corporation on June 30, expressed his gratitude to the parents and students that he's had contact with during his 10 -year tenure. "I know a lot of guys will say, 'I loved my time there,' but the kids and parents at Pike Central are very spe- cial, and they make life very easy on an AD at Pike Cen- tral, just because they're such good people, such good kids," Hewig said. "My time here has been amazing, to say the least, and I'm just lucky to have been able to have this op- portunity to be here for 10 years." Pregnant... or think you are? Call:1-877-257-1084 or Locally Call: 1-812-354-2814 • Free pregnancy testing • Free counseling and info. on pregnancy options. • Confi dential counseling for women & men who are suff ering from post-abortion syndrome. • Residential Care • Health and assistance referrals. • Training and education. • Assistance in getting baby and maternity clothes washpcc@sbcglobal.net www.washingtonpregnancycenter.com it and then the fire depart- ment would pay them the $714 a month. Brewster said he needed to know how long it would take to pay for it. "Two years and three months," said Bottoms. Brewster said he wanted time to be able to find out what the balance was in the public safety budget. Bot- toms said the balance was about $19,000. However, Brewster said he thought the town had spent some of the money in that fund. He thought the balance might be about $13,500. "A lot of the money we have is restricted. We can only spend it on certain things," said Brewster. Councilman Terry Strobel said he wasn't against buy- ing the truck, "but we need to get the facts on how much money is in that account." "Until I can see the money is there, I can't approve you buying another truck," said Brewster. "Can we buy two weeks of time, so we can figure this out? " asked Strobel. Bottoms said he was al- ready two weeks behind because he had something happen at work and he was unable to attend their morn- ing meeting two weeks ago. Bottoms said Bruceville was holding the truck for Winslow, but he didn't know how much longer they would hold it. "What you are talking about is a major project, even though it is probably a good deal," said Brewster. He said this is something that should have been put in the fire department's budget "Public safety money is the only place I have to look at for this," said Brewster. "I think you are going to have to wait until the next meeting to get an answer. I hate to say that, but that is where we are. . . I'm all for it if we can figure out where to pay for it," said Strobel. Bottoms said he would call Bruceville and see if they could wait two more weeks until Winslow's next meet- ing. LITTLE LEAGUE, MEMORIAL DAY PARADES SET Two parades were sched- uled during Monday's meet- ing. Jason Bottoms said the Opening Day parade for Little League was set for 10 a.m. Saturday, April 21, with line-up set for 9 a.m. It will run from the Fire Depart- ment to Main St., and then north on Main St. to the Lit- tle League park. Norm Sweet asked the council for approval to have the annual Memorial Day parade. Councilmen ap- proved the parade and Sweet said it would be at 2 p.m. on Monday, May 28. Jim Johns asked the coun- cil about getting a discount on water and or sewer, and the possibility of abatement. He said he was considering buying a dilapidated resi- dence at 106 Walnut St. and refurbishing it for a rental property. Councilman Brewster, who was chairing the meet- ing in Greg Simmons' ab- sence, said the town didn't have any ordinances to do abatement. "We probably should have, but we don't." He added, "But if you are go- ing to refurbish that place, I would be willing to work with you on your water bill." Strobel said he would like to be able to talk to Council- man Simmons before they made a decision. "Let us talk this over," said Brewster. Johns then asked about campaign signs and the town's policy. Brewster said he would rather not have campaign signs in the town's parks. He said whatever the election board's rules are on sign placement would be fol- lowed by the town. In other business, Brews- ter asked the Zoning Board to look into fines charged by other towns to clean up messes at residences. Brew- ster said the town's current fine of $ 35 is not enough to cover their costs. Debbie Lamb and Stacy Russell said they would do the research. "We will go over it and get you figures if you will start enforcing it. I don't want to put the time in and then you not enforce it," said Russell. "We will enforce it," said Strobel. In patrons' concerns, Ka- vin Gayhart asked council- men, "I'm curious why we have film on the water." Strobel said, "My water smelled like sulfur." Strobel said he thought it was because Pike-Gibson was flushing their hydrants throughout their system. He and Brewster said Winslow will have to flush their lines once Pike-Gib- son is done. The next meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Mon- day, April 23 at Town Hall on Main St. By Andy Heuring A Petersburg man was ar- rested Friday on a charge of theft after a Petersburg mer- chant reported he had the man on video stealing lot- tery tickets. Zackary Wheatley, 27, of 900 E. Cherry St., Apt. C, was arrested by Petersburg Police Cpl. Scott Wright on Friday afternoon. Cpl. Wright said he was dispatched to the Petersburg Foodmart at 907 E. Main St., and spoke to the manag- er Prem Khadka on Friday, March 30. Khadka told Cpl. Wright he was originally unaware of the theft, but after a count of the lottery tickets, he noticed four tickets were missing. He had Cpl. Wright watch the video. Wright said he recog- nized the man in the video, who was wearing bright red shoes, blue jeans and a "bean- ie," and scratching lotto tick- ets, as Wheatley. Cpl. Wright, in his report, stated when the manager and other customers stepped out of the building, Wheatley can be seen reaching around the counter "in an attempt to re- move lotto tickets from the display case." He said the first attempt was unsuccessful as the man- ager returned quickly. How- ever, when the manager left the building to assist anoth- er customer outside, Wheat- ley again reached around the counter and this time was successful. Cpl. Wright's re- port stated Wheatley took the "Ultimate Multiplier" tick- ets, which have a retail val- ue of $50. It said Wheatley removed them from the dis- play case and put them in his rear pocket. Wright said Khadka was familiar with Wheatley, say- ing he is in the station often, usually walking there, but he didn't know his name. Cpl. Wright went to Wheat- ley's grandfather's residence, could not locate him. A war- rant was obtained for Wheat- ley and he was later located at the 900 E. Cherry St. apart- ments and taken into custody. Wheatley arrested for stealing lottery tickets Property taxes are due on May 10. Pike County Trea- surer Marta Query said state- ments were mailed Friday, April 6. The first installment tax for Real Estate and Person- al Property is due by Thurs- day, May 10, 2018. If payment is made within 30 days after the due date, a five percent penalty will be added to the tax. If taxes are previously de- linquent, a 10 percent penal- ty will incur on May 11, 2018. Query said, "This is the on- ly statement you will receive for tax payments due May 10 and November 13, 2018. We ask that you bring these statements with you, or in- clude them with your mailed payment, otherwise, you will be charged a re-print fee." She added, "Due to the huge volume of mail and of- fice traffic in Spring, we ask that you please be patient with us—we do not process any mail until after May 10, 2018. It could be two to three weeks for us to return your paid re- ceipts, but as long as they are postmarked no later than May 10, 2018, you will not be charged additional penalties." "The Treasurer's Office will be open Saturday, April 28, 2018, and May 5, 2018, from 8 a.m. to noon. Monday through Thursday, May 7, 8, 9 and 10, open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EDT)," said Query. Payments may be made by mail or in person, with a check, cash or money order. "We are now accepting Cred- it/Debit cards ( Visa, Master Card and Discover) in the of- fice or by phone 812-354-6363. A minimum of 2.95 percent fee is assessed to each credit/ debit card transaction for all transactions under $100. We ask that you do not wait until May 10 for phone credit card payments as we are not able to answer every call and voice- mail payments are not accept- ed, resulting in additional pen- alties," said Query. Property tax statements mailed out New county highway equipment Barry Dillon sprays a mixture of oil and rock on a series of potholes on County Road 900E. The new machine can be used to seal road pavement cracks or fill smaller potholes. County Assistant Superinten- dent Josh Byrd said it has been a lifesaver this year. Byrd said the winter has been the hardest on the roads he has seen.