The Press-Dispatch
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Inside this Edition CHRISTMAS greetings Four sections 44 pages Five inserts Wednesday, December 19, 2012 75¢ Volume 144 Number 51 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-340) Schools review security policy By Andy Heuring Pike County Schools aren't sitting still after last week's tragic school shootings in Connecticut. Superintendent Suzanne Blake said on Tuesday all of her administrators had met with representatives of all the police agencies, EMTs and Emergency Management to review their procedures and policies. Blake said the administrators have all been through security training and procedures, but following the tragedy in Connecticut they wanted to see if there were any changes that needed to be made. "We mostly were just trying to make sure everyContinued on page 2 Early deadlines for next two issues The Press-Dispatch will observe early deadlines for news and advertising the next two weeks, due to the holidays. Since Christmas and New Year's Day are Tuesday this year, all advertising and news for the next two editions must be received by Friday morning, Dec. 21 and 28. The newspaper will be available on newsstands late Saturday, Dec. 22, and in the mail the same day. The Press-Dispatch office will be open until noon on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, and New Year's Eve, Dec. 31. All news items and photos can be submitted via email to: news@pressdispatch.net. Advertising also may be sent by email to: ads@pressdispatch.net. Breakfast with Santa Lucy Yon beams as she talks with Santa Claus during the Otwell Breakfast with Santa. Santa (Mike Capehart) talked with children Saturday morning at the Community Center and Mrs. Claus (Mary Capehart) made sure they all had treat bags. Children also got donuts and juice. EMS vacates building due to mold levels By Andy Heuring The Pike County Emergency Medical Service has moved out of their building in Campbelltown into the basement of the Pike County Jail. EMS Director Chris Young said the move occurred last Friday after they had reviewed an air quality study of the 32-yearold building. At a recent county council meeting, the council told Young to get an air quality study done to determine if visible mold was posing a health problem. Elite Environmental of Evansville took samples from the building and they were sent to Hayes Mi- crobial Consulting of Midlothian, Virginia. Young said they got the results back early last week. He said after he had time to assess the results of the study it was determined they needed to move the EMS staff out of the building. The study cited nine different types of organisms in the building, but only one of the nine were found at levels higher than outside air. Aspergillus/Penicillium was found above the bathroom and in the ambulance bay at levels "significantly higher than outside air." However, in the ambulance bay area, the report stated it was at an abnormal ratio of 59.6 percent. It stat- ed: "Significant increases (more than 25 percent) in the ratio of a particular spore type may indicate the presence of abnormal levels of mold, even if the total number of spores of that type is lower in the indoor environment than it was outdoors." The report states about the Aspergillus/Penicillium: "The spore count is significantly higher than the outdoor count and probably indicates a source of contamination." The other eight were found at a level described as "common allergens." The report states: "Although all molds are potential allergens, these are the most common allergens that may be found indoors." Three meth busts lead to five arrests Tonda Dixon supervises clean-up of Long Beach after Hurricane Sandy By Alden Heuring For two cold, dark weeks in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Pike County's Director of Emergency Management Tonda Dixon hunkered down in Long Beach, New York with a team of 36 other emergency management specialists. Their mission was to direct the efforts of throngs of volunteers, and to make sure the truckloads of supplies coming in were sent to the people who needed them most. Thanks in part to the efforts of Tonda's team, Long Beach now has electricity, usable roads and subways, working septic systems and a mobile hospital. The team was from Indiana—not for any particular reason, Dixon said, except that Long Beach needed a team to direct the rebuilding, and Indiana put in the lowest bid. They put together some MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and some water, and drove out for Long Beach on November 9. "One of our goals is to be self-sufficient, so that we don't use any of the town's resources while we're there. But we got lucky, and the fi re department in Jericho, a nearby town, told us to use their basement for sleeping quarters." Since Dixon's team arrived in the dark, left in the dark, and spent most of their daylight in the tents, Dixon said she didn't see much of the actual damage from Hurricane Sandy—but what little she saw amazed her: "It was a mess." Soon after they arrived, Dixon's team decided the fi rst thing to do was get Long Beach its power back. "We prioritized and laid out everything we knew we needed to do," she said. "Top priority was getting the electricity back on, then we needed to open the roads. We got our information in a daily meeting with local authorities and law enforcement, and we always planned one day ahead. That way, we could always keep moving forward." With the team processing information from people on the ground, using it to make a plan, and sending out marching orders to the colossal crowds of volunteers, work got done in a hurry. Soon the power was back on and the roads were clear again in Long Beach—and Dixon and her teammates were local celebrities. "Everyone knew right away who we were, because we're from Indiana and we talk differently. They would say, you guys are the Indiana guys. Thank you so much," she said. "These people had been through 9/11. The Jericho Fire Department lost people in that. They knew what going into a disaster was like, and they said they were very grateful we came to help." PIKE PUBLISHING Hayes' report gave a description of Aspergillus/Penicillium and its adverse health effects. "Habitat: The most common fungi isolated from the environment; very common in soil and on decaying plant material; able to grow well indoors on wide variety of substrates." Health Effects: This group contains common allergens and many can cause hypersensitivity pneumonitis; may cause extrinsic asthma and many are opportunistic pathogens. Many species produce mycotoxins which may be associated with disease in humans and other animals." Continued on page 2 At the end of their stay in the Jericho Fire Department's basement, Dixon (above) and her teammates received these "Long Beach Task Force" tshirts from the fi refighters. "It was a great honor that they thought of us as one of them, and not outsiders," she said. But this was New York, in November, and the team soon found that the debris, the boats washed up in the middle of roads, the sand fi lling septic pipes and covering everything, the water standing in houses and buildings across the island, were not the only obstacles to their efforts. "Of course, it snowed," Dixon said. "And out of nowhere, one of our team members got the flu. By the time he got betContinued on back page WHAT'S INSIDE: Local ........A1-12 Sports ........B1-4 Opinion..........C2 Obituaries ......A5 Classifieds. B10-12 History ...........C7 Shopping A10-11 Church .......C1-8 Greetings ..D1-12 NEWS TIPS: Phone:........................354-8500 Fax: ............................354-2014 E-Mail . editor@pressdispatch.net "It was a good week for law enforcement in terms of getting meth off the streets," said Petersburg Police Corporal Chad Tharp, as the Pike County Special Response Team made five meth-related arrests in three separate incidents this week. On Monday, December 10, a search warrant was issued for Frederick and Julia Krueger's house at 702 N. 5th Street in Petersburg. According to a report issued by Petersburg Police Corporal Chad Tharp, when the Pike County Special Response Team entered the Krueger house at 6:45 p.m., they found Frederick and Julia Krueger inside and read the two their Miranda rights and the contents of the search warrant. Frederick told officers he would take them to the meth, which was on a plate in a drawer of a nightstand in their bedroom. In addition to the plate, police found a straw cut to be a snort tube, a credit card used for cutting lines of meth and a clear plastic bag of meth. Police contacted Child Protective Services and placed the Kruegers' two children, who were 14 and 15, in foster care, then interviewed the Kruegers at their residence. They both admitted to using meth in their home and buying psuedoephedrine to trade for meth. They were arrested and taken to the Pike County Sheriff's office on charges of possession of methamphetamine, maintaining a common nuisance, possession of paraphernalia and neglect of a dependent. On Monday, December 10, a search warrant was issued for the home of Jeffrey Spaulding, at 1560 N. CR500 E. in Winslow. According to a report issued by Petersburg Police Corporal Chad Tharp, the Pike County Special Response Team entered Spaulding's home and found Jeffrey, his girlfriend April Rice and their two boys, ages three Continued on page 2 CONNECT WITH US: NETedition ... pressdispatch.net/edition Facebook .... facebook.com/pressdispatch E-Mail .......... news@pressdispatch.net