The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1065926
Local ........ A1-12 Sports .........B1-4 Classifi eds ....B5-7 Church ........C1-4 Home Life....C5-7 Obituaries....... C8 School............ C9 E. Gibson ..... C10 Opinion .. C11-12 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 GUILTY on page 7 See HIGHLIGHTS on page 2 Wednesday, December 26, 2018 Volume 148 Number 52 Phone (812) 354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Three sections 32 pages Five inserts See SECURITY on page 2 Early deadlines for January 2 edition The Press-Dispatch will have early deadlines for the Jan. 2 edition, due to the holiday. The deadline for all advertising is 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 28. Line clas- sifieds and news items are due by 10 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 31. Readers can expect to receive their papers in the mail on Wednes- day. This edition will be available on newsstands and online by Mon- day evening. No injuries in Hanebutt, Bailey crash Serious injury was avoided Friday morning when two vehicles collided on Highway 61, near Poplar St., in Petersburg at about 8 a.m. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Baumgart said Kathleen Hanebutt, of Petersburg, was parked in front of an apartment at the corner of Highway 61 and Poplar Sts. and attempted to do a U- turn on 61 to head to school. Baumgart said Hanebutt didn't see Bruce Bailey driving a Hon- da passenger car north on Highway 61 and hit him in the passenger side door. Hanebutt's SUV came to rest with her front wheels on the edge of a steep embankment, while Bailey was spun around facing the other direction. Neither Bailey, nor his wife, Cindy, who was a passenger, were injured. Another year has come and gone. This is a review of the news in Pike County during the first six months of 2018. Watch next week's is- sue for the second six months review. JANUARY • Pike County and Petersburg hosted of- ficials from the Japan External Trade Or- ganization on a tour of the I-69 redevel- opment area and mega site. "It was a very good meeting. We talked about everything we had to offer. Mr. Inforzato (Director of Business Development for JETRO) indicat- ed he was excited and surprised at what we have done with the Master Plan and shovel-ready sites. He was surprised how far we have come in the last three years. I think pleasantly surprised," said Peters- burg Mayor R.C. Klipsh. • Pike County Commissioners repealed the county building ordinance. • Petersburg, Patoka and Jefferson Township fire departments participated in a joint ice rescue training on Prides Creek Lake. • Extreme cold temperatures gripped Pike County and southern Indiana as the area experienced single digit temperatures on 13 consecutive days. • Jim Gaskins was appointed to the Pike County Library Board by the Pike Coun- ty Council. • Pike Central senior Bryant Nalley scored his 1,000th point in basketball for the Chargers. He had a game high 25 points against Wood Memorial in a 63-5 loss and finished the night with 1,013 career points. • Pike Central's wrestling team won the Forest Park Invitational as Dylan Jones, Jake Sisk and Lane Miller were 5 -0 on the day. • Craig Cook shared his downward spi- ral into heroin addiction that left him in a coma in San Francisco and then his mirac- ulous recovery and path into ministry. • Pike Central's graduation rate im- proved 3.8 percent in 2017 from 2016. • Ice, about four inches of snow and ex- treme cold temperatures canceled school in Pike County for four consecutive days. • Brian White, 46, of 306 N. 10th St., Pe- tersburg, died after he was shot by his wife, Jennifer, during a domestic attack. An in- vestigation revealed a long history of do- mestic abuse. No charges were filed against Jennifer White. • Pike County Superintendent of Schools announced the school year would be ex- tended two days due to the number of days canceled because of snow and extreme weather. • Senior Silas Goff won the Pocket Ath- letic Conference championship at 285 pounds for the second consecutive year. Pike Central, as a team, placed fifth. • Pike Central swimmers Natalie Bohnert and Quin Bailey were individu- al Pocket Athletic Conference champions. Bohnert won both the 100 -yard back in a PAC record time of 59.15. She also won the 200 individual medley. Bailey won the 500 free. • Pike Central's boys' swim team had several individual champions as they fell just short of winning a seventh straight PAC championship. They placed second to Her- itage Hills. Senior Jacob Bohnert won the 100 fly, senior Lukas Hill won the 100 -yard breast, and the team of Bohnert, Hill, Ty News highlights from Jan. to June 2018 recapped By Andy Heuring A Petersburg man was arrest- ed on charges of domestic battery and domestic animal cruelty after being accused of shoving his ex- girlfriend and killing her two pet bearded lizards. Dakota Bayer, 20, of 6383 N. Veale Dr., Petersburg, is charged with shooting his ex-girlfriend's pet bearded lizards after she left him. Klarissa Wright, on December 12, told police she and Bayer were living together but she had left him. She said when she went back to the residence to get her and her son's things, Bayer grabbed her by the arms and shoved her back out the door. According to the probable cause affidavit, he then grabbed her Samsung 7 cellphone, took it outside and smashed it with a crowbar. Wright claimed while Bayer was doing that, she grabbed what things she could and went to her mother's residence, where she called 911. Pike County Deputy Brad Jenkins, in the affidavit, stat- ed Wright had red places on her arms, but the photos didn't show them very well. He also said she heard Bayer shooting a BB gun while she was there, and as she was leaving, noticed their two Bearded Dragon lizards were out of their cages. She said Bayer told her he couldn't afford to keep them if she left. Deputy Jenkins said at a later day, he and Klarissa went back to the residence and located the lizards across the drive, next to a field. Both were dead and had been shot in the head. Jenkins said he believes Bayer killed the lizards to "punish Klar- issa for leaving." Bayer was charged with domes- tic battery, a class A misdemean- or; criminal mischief, a class B misdemeanor; intimidation, a Lev- el 6 felony; and domestic animal cruelty, a Level 6 felony. By Andy Heuring Pike County Schools are in the process of becoming one of the safest schools in America. In February 2018, they voted to purchase a comprehensive system to make the schools less vulnerable to an attack. They purchased a system from NetTa- lon, which includes hardening the exteri- or of the buildings and providing numer- ous counter measures inside the building. Some are fairly simple, like putting a dot- ted line on classroom floors that show the area which can be seen from the windows. Others are more sophisticated measures, like every classroom having direct access to Pike County's 911 central dispatch. There are other measures in the school which will make it difficult for an intrud- er to get around in the school, as well as ways to monitor the intruder's movements. Some of the first visible signs of the sys- tem being installed appeared recently in front of the Winslow Elementary School. A series of posts were put in place to give protection to the school from street traffic. "They won't stay gray. They will be paint- ed to blend in better," said Pike Schools Su- perintendent Suzanne Blake. She said NetTalon has been working on weekends and at night installing parts of the system in the school when no one is there. Blake stated they have been good to work around the schools' schedules. "It is not a fast process, but that's okay. I want to make sure it is done correctly." She said most of the system will not be noticed by students or visitors to the school. "We want it to feel like a school. We don't won't a lot of things to be scary for the younger kids or anyone else. Things are going in place. . . We have taken some very positive steps as far as security in our schools," said Blake. The first phase of the system cost the county about $1 million. Blake said they received two matching grants from Safe Haven Schools and Secure Schools. One was for $100,000 and another $ 80,000. She Schools add new security measures Bayer charged with domestic battery, cruelty to animals By Andy Heuring A Taswell man was found guilty last week in Pike Circuit Court of dealing meth in the Petersburg Little League Park. A 12-person jury took only about 10 minutes to deliber- ate before returning a guilty verdict after hearing two days of testimony. Jason McMickel, 41, was accused of driv- ing his van and buddy, Jason Atkins, 41, of Birdseye, to the Little League Park to meet Natisha Branum, who was acting as a con- fidential informant. Atkins told the court he had made ar- rangements for himself and McMickel to sell two grams of meth to Branum for her mother. He testified he only had one gram of meth, so McMickel gave him one to sell. Austin told the court the two start- ed to drive to Pike County in his car, but as they pulled out of his driveway, they no- ticed it was leaking fluid badly. So they got in McMickel's van. He said he set up the deal for them to sell meth to Branam and then they would go on a date. He said Branum supposedly had ar- ranged to have a friend there for McMick- el. Austin said Branum came up to him in the van and he sold her the two grams and she gave him $200 for the meth, and said she was going to take the meth across the McMickel guilty of dealing meth at Little League park Santa brings joy to Winslow homes Two-year-old Adeline Havens beams as she reaches to hug Santa, who stopped by Saturday morning to bring presents and visit with her and her brother, nine-year-old Ciden Crume. Santa (Bart Stemle) and the Winslow Fire Department visited several homes Saturday morning in Winslow and presented them with toys and turkeys. See related photos on page A-6. H a p p y N e w Y e a r !