The Press-Dispatch
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Local ......A1-B12 Sports .........B1-6 Opinion .......B7-8 Classifi eds B9-11 Church ........C1-3 Home Life....C4-8 Obituaries....... C8 School.... C10-11 E. Gibson ...... 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 METH on page 2 See REVIVED on page 2 Wednesday, September 5, 2018 Volume 148 Number 36 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Three sections 34 pages Three inserts See FESTIVALS on page 2 from PAWS Your new best friend is waiting on page A-7 By Andy Heuring The Winslow Fall Festival, Petersburg City-Wide Yard Sale and Monroe City Fall Festival are all scheduled for the weekend of September 15. The Buffalo Trace Fes- tival is set for two weeks later on Septem- ber 28 -29. WINSLOW FALL FESTIVAL The Winslow Fall Festival is set for Sat- urday, September 15 and will be in two lo- cations: at Main and Center sts. and in Riv- erside Park at the south edge of town. Events based at Riverside Park will in- clude a two-mile float down the Patoka Riv- er from the new bridge on CR 350 E. They will have an inflatable slide, food vendors, kids' games, karaoke, music, a tractor show and a flea market. The Main St. location will feature a flea market, dunking booth, street magician and karaoke. Also featured will be live en- tertainment by Tony Rothrock, Mark Mc- Candless and Chuck McCandless. They will also have Batman, balloon an- imals and an extrication demonstration by the Patoka Fire Department. A fter dark, the annual nighttime light-up parade on Main St. will finish off the day. MONROE CITY FALL FESTIVAL The Monroe City Fall Festival is set for Friday through Sunday, September 14-16. It will feature good food, amusement rides and musical entertainment. Friday, Sept. 14 Throughout the weekend, there will be music, flea market vendors, Walnut Grove homemade ice cream, sandwiches and cold drinks, Reed Family funnel cakes, a coun- try store, train rides and inflatables. The Monroe City High School Alumni Spaghetti Dinner starts at 5 p.m. and is fol- lowed by a Rodney Watts concert at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept 15 A pet parade starts at 10 :30 a.m. There will be queen contests in the Blue Jeans Center starting at 2 p.m. A variety show is set for 7 p.m., with fireworks at dark. Beech Hills BBQ by the Cow Muck Cook- ers will be available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will be a learn-to-paint class from 9 a.m. to noon. No talent or experience is needed and materials will be provided. It is limited to the first 20 people to register by calling Wini Francis at 812-444-9507 or 812-254-2486. Sunday, Sept. 16 A community church service begins at 10 a.m. The Jeff Black Fish Fry starts at 11:30 a.m. The parade starts at 2 p.m. and the South Knox high School Band Concert will perform at 3 p.m. PETERSBURG CITY- WIDE YARD SALE The Petersburg City-Wide Yard Sale is set for Saturday, September 16. Typically, there are more than 40 participating yard sales that draw a big crowd of bargain hunt- Festivals, city-wide yard sale in September Willis escapes injury A Petersburg man escaped serious injury Tuesday afternoon when he crashed on CR 200 N. at the Pike-Dubois county line. Jacob Willis, 22, of Petersburg, was driving west on CR 200 N. when he crossed CR 100 E. Willis told Pike County Sheriff's Sgt. Dallas Killian he met another vehicle that was on his side of the road, causing him to swerve to miss it. He then overcorrected and lost control, running off the left side of the road. Sgt. Killian said a wit- ness agreed with Willis about the accident. Willis had scrapes and bruises. The 1997 Ford Explorer owned by Ronnie Willis, of Petersburg, was a total loss. The accident was reported at 3:16 p.m. PC Color Guard salute to National Anthem Kena Cannon, a junior member of the Pike Central High School marching band's color guard, salutes during the playing of the National Anthem before the Heritage Hills-Pike Central football game on Friday, Aug. 31, at Weathers Field. The Charger Brigade will participate in its first competition this Saturday at Evansville Central. Ed Cahill photo By Andy Heuring A 49 -year-old Jasper man died Sunday while riding his motorcycle in the Depart- ment of Natural Resources Interlake area. Jeffrey W. Huls was riding a motorcycle in the off-road riding area, located on the Pike and Warrick county line east of High- way 61. Indiana Conservation Officer Ken Tinch- er said Huls was wearing his safety gear. Huls was riding with several friends, but the group was getting fatigued in the heat and got separated. CO Tincher said some of Huls' friends found him at about 3:30 p.m. lying in a mud puddle, with his bike about 100 yards away down a hill. Tincher said Huls was still conscious but having trouble breathing when his friends found him. They put him on his side and called 911. First Responders arrived at about 4:10 p.m. and started CPR. Warrick County EMTs arrived about 20 minutes lat- er and took over CPR. Tincher said Huls died at about 5:06 p.m. while still on the trail. He was a few miles into the riding area that is extremely rough terrain in old spoil banks and, in places, heavily wooded, which made accessing Huls difficult. Tincher said it was determined Huls died of hyperthermia. The Pike County Sheriff's Department, Lynnville Fire Department and Warrick County EMS assisted at the scene. Jasper man overcome by heat Sunday at Interlake By Andy Heuring A family Labor Day cookout nearly turned tragic for a local family as a three- year-old girl fell in the pool. Libby Shelton and her family were visiting with her broth- er, Mike Bell, for a Labor Day cookout Mon- day near Alford. Shelton said the kids had been play- ing in the pool most of the morning and her daughter, Presleigh, wore a life jack- et all morning. At around noon, lunch was ready and they went inside the house to eat. Presleigh took off her life jacket to go to the bathroom. There were six kids pres- ent, ranging from toddler to 17 years old. While the kids and adults were filling their plates, Presleigh had slipped outside with- out being noticed. Shelton said the swim- ming pool was just outside the kitchen. She said she looked out the door and saw Presleigh floating in the pool. She ran out and pulled the three year old from the pool. Presleigh was lifeless and her lips were blue. Both Shelton and her brother, Mike, have had CPR training. Bell had recently completed CPR training through his work at the Petersburg IPL plant. Three-year-old revived after falling in pool (Editor's note: This is the first a multi-part series on the evolving drug problem in the area.) By Andy Heuring While opioids are certainly get- ting the attention of officials at the local, state and federal levels, lo- cal officials think the area's big- gest problem remains meth. "Opioids is the political buzz- word we keep hearing about," said Pike County Prosecutor Dar- rin McDonald. Indiana had thousands of local, state and federal level elected of- ficials, police and emergency per- sonnel attend a task force in Indi- anapolis in early June. McDonald thinks there needs to be more focus on an old dragon that continues to plague southern Indiana and Pike County, meth. "The problem is there has nev- er been a task force on meth," said McDonald. He acknowledges the drug scene is evolving and opioids are a problem, but he thinks the state needs to put a bigger emphasis on meth. "I don't know if we have had an opioid case, but my drawers are full of meth cases," said McDon- ald. He said a shift away from home- made meth to purchasing meth made elsewhere, which is then imported into the area, is wors- ening the problem. McDonald explained, up until a few years ago meth was being cooked locally and the amounts of meth being produced were mi- nuscule to the amounts now be- ing seen. While it was a tremen- dous problem, it was easier to deal with for several reasons. "It was a collaborative enterprise. Each person would get an ingredient. They would trade and barter with each other to get a small amount of meth. Their daily life was spent trying to get ahold of ingredients," said McDonald. He said they typically knew each other and it was less violent because, "You typically aren't go- ing to kill someone if they owe you a couple packs of cold pills." McDonald said the biggest amount of meth they ever found in a local meth lab was 140 grams, which had been saved up from several cooks. Meth is now being import- ed into Pike County from Mexi- co via Louisville, Evansville and Indianapolis. It is also coming in much larger amounts, as big as 500 grams at a time. McDonald said now people can buy a large amount of meth for about $20 to $ 30 a gram in bulk and sell it lo- Meth remains biggest problem