The Press-Dispatch
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Local ...........A1-6 Sports .........B1-8 Classifi eds . B9-11 History ......... B12 Church ........C1-3 Home Life....C4-6 Obituaries....... C7 Opinion .......C8-9 School.... C10-11 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 STEPHENS on page 2 Wednesday, January 30, 2019 Volume 149 Number 5 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Three sections 30 pages Six inserts See COUNCIL on page 2 See ROBOTICS on page 6 PES student Josiah Ross works with intensity with his robot to complete the competition's task. Kenzie Rudolph photo PES Robotics qualify for state competition By Andy Heuring Flooding in the White and Pa- toka River bottoms continues. The White River is projected by the National Weather Service to crest at 21.4 on Wednesday, Janu- ary 30 at Petersburg. That is more than five feet above the flood stage of 16 feet. The White River went above flood stage early last week. Flooding along the White Riv- er closed Highway 257 at the Pike-Daviess line at midweek. It remains closed and will probably be closed until late this week or weekend when the river is pre- dicted to fall below 20 feet on Fri- day. It is projected to fall quickly after Friday, and drop below flood stage of 16 feet late Friday or ear- ly Saturday. Assistant Highway Superin- tendent Josh Byrd said there are roads flooded in both the White and Patoka River bottoms. "It is mostly roads close to the rivers," said Byrd. Flooding continues in river bottoms areas Flood waters from the Patoka River cross CR 500 W., near the Pike-Gibson County line, on Monday morning. The White River is expected to crest at 21.4 feet on Wednesday. It will then start to drop and go below floodstage of 16 feet on late Friday or early Saturday. By Kenzie Rudolph Petersburg Elementary School advanced two robotics team over the weekend to the state finals. PES hosted the 32-team VEX Robot- ics competition on Saturday. It is only the third year Petersburg had participated in the competition, but team sponsor Terra Knust said Robotics at PES is building in- terest, excitement and participation. Saturday's success is expected to only enhance that. Knust explained the competition. Teams have Lego-based robots and they use re- mote controls to operate the robots to pick- up hubs over a field of operation. They then move them to a designated area. Teams get points for each hub moved to the designat- ed area. If they are able to stack the hubs, they get bonus points. Also, there are bonus yellow hubs that have double point totals. She said the main event of the compe- tition is the teamwork challenge event. Teams are paired together with teams from other schools. They each have two drivers who get to drive the robot for 30 seconds each and then hand off the controls to the other school. The top 12 schools advance to the finals, where there are six allianc- es formed. Petersburg's Team Trump, composed of students Lane Frederick, Carter McCain and Aksel Onyett, paired with a team from Tell City to win the competition, which qualified them for the state finals on Sat- urday, March 9 at Lucas Oil Stadium in In- dianapolis. Knust said the alliance pairings are great for the kids because it required them to meet with their alliance team and discuss strategy for the competition. "Kids this age By Andy Heurintg Multi-term incumbent Gary Leavitt officially added his name to the ballot this week for Peters- burg City Council District 1. Leavitt had said he intended to file, but just made it official on Monday. The deadline to file is noon Friday, February 8 at the County Clerk's office on the second floor of the courthouse. Former County Assessor and County Recorder Jody Hoover filed the prior week for the at- large seat of the City Council. It is the seat Fran Lewis has held for three terms. She announced re- cently she was not going to seek re-election after serving more than 20 years on the city council. So far, incumbent Mayor R.C. Klipsch, incumbent District 4 Councilman Brian VanMeter, and incumbent Clerk-Treasurer Tam- my Selby, along with Hoover and Leavitt, are the only ones to file. Incumbent John Melhiser in District 2 said he intends to seek re-election, but he hasn't filed yet. District 3 Councilman Bertis Jen- kins also has not filed. Incumbent Leavitt files for city council $269,000 + designated for improvement project By Ed Cahill Petersburg Mayor R.C. Klipsch opened bids for the city's Community Crossings Matching Grant paving project during the Common Council's regular meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 22. E & B Paving, Inc., with corporate offic- es located in Anderson, Ind., submitted a total bid of $292,797.43, while All Star Pav- ing of Seymour, Ind., submitted a total bid of $ 365,577.49. Last November, the Indiana Department of Transportation awarded Petersburg a Community Crossing Matching Grant in the amount of $269,222, which includes the city's local match of $ 67,305. The city's application for the Community Crossing Matching Grant proposed paving and sidewalk projects on 10 city streets – all of Lakeview Drive, Nichols Avenue and 16th Street, and portions of Poplar Street, 3rd Street, 4th Street, 5th Street, 12th Street, 15th Street and Sycamore Street. Klipsch said that the city – in conjunction with its consultant, Chris Jobe of RQAW, an engineering and architectural firm – had sent out invitations to bid, which resulted in five companies requesting information about the project. "I'm a little surprised that we didn't have more interest," Klipsch told the council. "One thing that's happening with all this Community Crossing money, everybody's really busy. In fact, if you can't get your proj- ect completed in time, you have to refund the money back to the state." Klipsch asked that the council take the bids "under advisement" to give Jobe time to inspect the bids before making a deci- sion. "I'm going to have Chris take a look at these, make sure everything's bid accord- ing to specs, and if everything's the way it's supposed to be, it's pretty well obvious here, isn't it? " "I'll review these probably tomorrow and get you some feedback on whether all the bid documents are in order, both bids, see if those bids are responsive, and then make a recommendation," Jobe said. "Obviously, it would be up to you guys on the selection of the contractor." The council is expected to take action on City opens bids for paving, new sidewalks Pike Central High School's 2019 Basketball Homecoming fes- tivities will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 8, prior to the start of the Chargers' junior varsity game against Tell City. Homecoming was originally scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 19, but was postponed due to inclem- ent weather. Following are the attendants listed by class: Seniors – Bridget Barnett, Madisyn Guth, Abigail Sutt. Juniors – Jenna McLain, Mad- ison Warner. Sophomores – Makayla Stan- ley, Maddie Williams. Freshmen – Abbie Harrison, Aspen Humbarger. Pike Central Homecoming rescheduled By Andy Heuring Pike County is reaching out to help a little boy who has spent more than two-thirds of his life battling cancer. Aden Stephens, 6, and his family will be the recip- ients of pro- ceeds raised at two events next month. Pike Central Coaches ver- sus Cancer event will raise mon- ey for Ste- phens. The coaches and players will be taking up donations for Stephens prior to their game against Forest Park on February 16. They are also selling # CaptainAden T-shirts. Aden's fa- vorite superhero is Captain Amer- ica. Those shirts will be worn by both Pike Central players and For- est Park players during the pre- game warm-ups. Anyone wishing to order a T- shirt can do so, but orders must be turned in by this Friday, Febru- ary 1 at Pike Central. Order forms are available at the schools. Stephens is a kindergarten stu- dent at Petersburg Elementary School. He is the son of Aaron and Lyd- ia Stephens. Lydia said, in 2014, Aden, prior to his second birthday, was diag- nosed with stage 4 Neuroblasto- ma. It is a type of childhood can- cer that started in his right adre- nal gland. Aden Stephens Fundraiser scheduled for boy battling cancer