The Press-Dispatch
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Local ........ A1-12 Sports .........B1-8 Classifi eds . B9-11 Church ........C1-3 Home Life....C4-8 Obituaries....... C8 School.... C10-11 E. Gibson ...... C12 Opinion .. C13-14 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 FESTIVAL on page 2 Wednesday, September 26, 2018 Volume 148 Number 39 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 See LOAN on page 2 Four sections 54 pages Six inserts See BENTLEY on page 10 Roland and Helen Frey motored in- to Petersburg Tuesday afternoon after driving from Mt. Vernon, Ill., in the rain and stopped to visit with Wyatt and Betty Rauch. That doesn't sound too out of the or- dinary, except Roland and Helen are from England and are driving a convertible 1928 4.5 liter Bentley. They started in Los An- geles back in June, went back to Europe for five weeks, then returned to the Unit- ed States in July and began touring more. Tuesday, they visited with a handful of Pike County Timeless Classic Car Club members, as they oohed and aahed over the Frey's Bentley. Roger Whann present- ed the Freys with a certificate of honorary membership to Timeless Classics. "Isn't that great? " asked Timeless Clas- sic member Gene Keepes about the Bent- ley. "And for him to get it out and drive it in the rain. That is really brave of him." "He said they haven't had any mechani- cal problems and he can run it 70 mph all day long," said Keepes. Helen, a native of London, England, and Roland, a native of Basel, Switzerland, had moved to Belgium in the 1990s and met De- iadre Rauch and her husband, Tom Tuck- er, while they were taking French classes. The foursome became friends and have re- mained close through the years. Deiadre is the daughter of Betty and Wyatt. Betty said when visiting Dee Dee and Tom, they met the Freys and developed a friendship as well. Roland and Helen said touring is some- thing they have always enjoyed. They had a smaller three liter version of the Bent- ley. But in 2003, they purchased the 4.5 li- ter version. Roland said the 4.5 liter version will run European couple touring in 1928 Bentley makes local stop The U.S. Department of Ag- riculture's Office of Rural De- velopment announced Monday, Sept. 17, that it has approved a $ 9,230,000 loan to the City of Pe- tersburg for improvements to its water utility system. Assistant to the Secretary of Rural Development Anne Ha- zlett announced the loan – part of a $ 392 million investment in re- building and improving rural wa- ter and wastewater infrastructure in 42 states – while attending the Water Pro Conference hosted by the National Rural Water Associ- ation in Fort Worth, Texas. "Put simply, modern and reli- able water infrastructure is foun- dational to quality of life and eco- nomic development," Hazlett said. "USDA's partnerships with rural communities underscore Agricul- ture Secretary Sonny Perdue's commitment to rural people and the places they call home." USDA is supporting invest- ments in 120 infrastructure proj- ects – affecting more than 442,000 USDA $9 million loan for water plant approved By Andy Heuring Main St. Petersburg will be a happening place this weekend as the second Buffalo Trace Festival gets underway with a parade and free rides, free activities and free con- certs. The only thing people will have to pay for is the food and some contests. The weekend will be filled with concerts, fea- turing local and nationally known groups like The Martins and Rodney Watts, wacky events such as the bed races and numer- ous pageants. It all kicks off at 6 p.m. Friday when the parade starts and the rides on Main St. open. The parade will run a route opposite of most parades. It will line up on Nichols Ave. and start at the intersection of Illinois and Nichols with Highway 57. It will not be on Pike Ave. this year. The parade will trav- el up Highway 57 from Nichols Ave. to the downtown area, which will serve as the grounds for the festival. This year will also feature an adult co-ed softball tourney that starts 6 p.m. Friday at the Little League fields. Opening ceremonies are set for 6:30 p.m. Friday on the Buffalo Trace stage located on Main St. It will feature a welcome by Mayor R.C. Klipsch, the National Anthem by Adam Houchins, Pledge of Allegiance led by Boy Scouts, and Houchins singing God Bless The USA. The Pike Central Jazz band will perform at 7 p.m., followed by Joe Nobody Band at 7:45 p.m. and Rodney Watts Band at 9 p.m. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 A highlight of the festival will be a free concert by The Martins at 6 p.m. on Satur- day, September 29 on the Main St. stage. The Martins have performed at the The Grand Ole Opry and The White House. The Martin siblings of Judy, Jonathan and Joyce, natives of the small town of Hamburg, Ark., rose to national fame in the 1990s and have won eight Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association and been nominated for two Grammys. Saturday's events start early with the Amber Manor Walk-a-thon in Hornady Park beginning at 7:30 a.m. Pike County Has Talent gets underway at 9 a.m. It will be followed by the Buffalo Trace Pageants at 11 a.m. (See rules for tal- ent contest below). Also starting at 11 a.m. will be the pie eating contest, followed by the dog show. The free carnival rides on Saturday will start at 1 p.m. and run until 10 p.m. A fternoon activities include a water bal- Buffalo Trace Festival begins Friday By Andy Heuring A fire erupted early Sunday af- ternoon on Unit 2 at IPL Peters- burg. "They had a cable tray fire. It traveled the cable tray from the third to the fifth floor. Plant per- sonnel pretty well handled it. We were there in case they needed help with it," said Petersburg Fire Chief Ross Elmore. He added, "It could have been a bad situation, but they were able to handle it pretty quickly." Mark Flint, of IPL, said the ca- ble trays have large cables in them and it appeared they had a small oil leak. "It sparked on the cable tray and got hot, and caught fire." Unit 2 is a 430 to 450 megawatt unit. It is one of four units at the Petersburg plant. Flint said they hope to have the unit back in oper- ation by the end of the week. Elmore and Flint both said sev- eral Petersburg and other area fire department members work at the plant and helped get the fire under control quickly. Last year, the Petersburg Fire Department had training to certi- fy about 20 employees from IPL as Level One Firefighters. "We have several employees who are mem- bers of area fire departments and we encourage that. It definitely helps in these type of situations," said Flint. Fire erupts at IPL Unit #2 Pike County tractor drive The Gayhart gang gets ready for Saturday's tractor drive. Wyatt Gayhart, Abigail Gayhart, Kieara McCallister and Alexis Gayhart try to prepare for the rain they would experience dur- ing the tractor drive that started in Stendal and went to Selvin, Lake Helmrich, Rattle Snake Branch and Holland. They were one of more than 20 tractors and more than 60 people to par- ticipate. See page A-12 for more information. Above: Timeless Classic Car Club members Roger Whann, Gene Keepes and Darrell Coomer talk with Roland Frey on the left about his 1928 Bentley. Frey and his wife Helen are driving across America in the vintage Bentley, and stopped to visit with Betty and Wyatt Rauch of Petersburg on Tuesday. Left: One of their favorite stops was at Mount Rushmore, where they photographed their car in front of the iconic landmark.