The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1065926
A-2 Front Wednesday, December 26, 2018 The Press-Dispatch See HIGHLIGHTS on page 3 SECURITY Continued from page 1 HIGHLIGHTS Continued from page 1 DOUBLE J COLLISION • TOWING 812-354-9670 350 W. MAIN, PETERSBURG HWY. 57, SOUTH OF TOWN We're overflowing with gratitude for all the folks we have served this year, and want to wish you much health, happiness and success in the year ahead. Your friendship is important to us and we look forward to seeing you again next year. Cassitty and Jersey Mills won both the 200 - and 400 -yard freestyle relays. • New light poles finally were put in place and illuminated on Main St., Petersburg. A wind storm in late November blew over nu- merous poles on a Saturday morning. When Duke crews inspected the downed poles, they found the support structures on the poles, believed to have been originally in- stalled in the 1950s, were badly deteriorat- ed. So they removed all the other light poles on Main St. except for seven new ones. Pe- tersburg was left without street lights for more than two months. FEBRUARY • Petersburg Attorney Lincoln Banker, 69, and Kimberly Nalley, 53, were both in- jured when they collided head-on near the Pike-Dubois County line on Highway 56. • Kyle Mills was hired by Petersburg as the Code Enforcement officer. He also serves as a Cpl. for the Petersburg Police Dept. • Pike Central junior swimmer Nata- lie Bohnert advanced to the state finals in both the 100 -yard backstroke and 200 -yard individual medley. She placed 25th in the 100 -yard back and 29th in the 200 individ- ual medley. • Pike Central seniors Silas Goff at 285 and Jake Sisk at 220 both were individual champions at the Evansville Central wres- tling sectional. • Brook Nalley was crowned the Winter Homecoming Queen and sophomore Shel- by Vaughn was named Winter Homecom- ing princess. • IPL at Petersburg announced 12 jobs were terminated at the Petersburg plant. It was part of a move by IPL parent company AES to eliminate 160 jobs nationwide. • Long-time Pike County EMT Janet Gray was seriously injured when her SUV was sideswiped by a semi-truck hauling a bulldozer. The impact ripped open her ve- hicle's door. She was ejected and then run over by her own vehicle. • Jake Sisk, Pike Central's 220 pounder, qualified for the Indiana wrestling state fi- nals after placing fourth at Evansville semi- state. • Pike Central senior Kyson Western signed a national letter of intent to play soc- cer for Kentucky Wesleyan. • Winslow Clerk-Treasurer Beth Ben- nett resigned after a continued dispute over whether she would received a pay raise. Councilmen had scheduled a special meet- ing to consider a pay raise. Instead, when they arrived, Bennett had left a letter of res- ignation for them. • A vehicle speed monitor and display was installed along Ninth St. in Petersburg near the school crossing zone. It flashes the speed of oncoming vehicles. • The Petersburg Elementary School ro- botics team won the VEX IQ robotics tour- nament in Seymour, which qualified them for competition in the State Finals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. • The Pike County Polar Plunge raised more than $ 60,000 for Indiana Special Olympics as 176 people participated in the plunge. • The Pike County School Corporation voted to spend about $1 million to make Pike County schools the "Safest School in America." They purchased safe school mea- sures from NetTalon, which connects each classroom with Pike County's 911 system, hardens the schools to attack and imple- ments numerous countermeasures inside the school. • Petersburg Scoutmaster Chuck Froeh- le received the Silver Beaver Award. It is the highest award a local Scout council can be- Security measures are starting to appear at Pike County Schools. These posts to provide protection from street traffic at the Winslow Elementary School were some of the first changes that will be visible. School Superintendent Suzanne Blake said they are working on Phase 1 of the project that will make Pike Coun- ty one of the safest schools in America. said they originally financed the proj- ect, but with the help of the grants and their Rainy Day Fund, they were able to pay the loan off early and save costs on the financing. She said another phase of the school security is to hire a School Resource Officer for each of the schools. The first of those, Pike County native Travis Co- chren, was hired in December and will be in the middle school. In the meantime, the schools are con- tracted with Lawman Security for offi- cers at the other buildings. "Definitely some things in progress. We will be doing another security drill in 2019 with State Police helping us. These are things we have to talk about. We can't ignore risk, we have to be pre- pared. I think we have always taken the approach 'it isn't going to be here.' There are definitely schools around us that have had threats and issues. We can't put our heads in the sand. We have to be ready," said Blake.