The Press-Dispatch
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Local ...........A1-6 Sports .........B1-3 Classifi eds ..B4-7 History ........... B8 Church ........C1-3 Home Life....C4-6 Obituaries....... C7 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 Wednesday, February 27, 2019 Volume 149 Number 9 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Three sections 26 pages Seven inserts See ROBOTICS on page 2 By Andy Heuring The Polar Plunge at Prides Creek on Saturday raised $54,201.20 so far. Francie Smith, of the Indiana Special Olympics, which puts on the event, said donations are still coming in for the event. They had a record number of partici- pants, as 174 people took part in the event. "That was awesome. It is good numbers for us," said Smith. Twenty different teams signed up for the event that benefits Special Olympics. They were from Pike, Posey, Dubois, Gibson and Dubois counties. Thomas Sparks, of Petersburg, is new to the Polar Plunge. He is in operations at Am- ber Manor Nursing Home. Sparks said he was giving some thought to participating. "It is a good cause." He said he told the girls at the nursing home if they would sponsor him, he would take the plunge. They agreed, but a little while later, came back to him and said they wanted him to do it in a tutu. "I thought, 'well there is only two days for them to raise money.' So I told them if they could raise $100, I would wear the tutu. They came back in about 10 minutes and said 'here's your $100 bucks.' I'm pretty sure I should have set that total a little higher." Sparks went through with it Saturday, sporting a pink tutu. When he came out of the water, it matched the color of his goose- bumps. "It wasn't that bad," said Sparks. Smith said at the A fter Splash, a party following the plunge, they handed out priz- es for all the top awards. The most money raised by an individual was $10,263.91 by Randy Parker, of Posey County. The most raised by a team was Team Hy- po Therma. The largest group was the DC Duck Plungers, with 26 members from Du- bois County. Heather Zingelberg, of Posey County, was the torch bearer. She is participating in the Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi. She was one of four athletes chosen from Indiana. Record turnout for Polar Plunge Saturday The Lenten Breakfasts start next week on Saturday, March 9 and will run through April 13. They will have a different host church each week and the men and wom- en will be at different locations. The men's breakfasts start at 8 a.m. The women's breakfast start at 9 a.m. Both will last about an hour and feature a 15 -minute devotion. The men's schedule is: First Baptist Church on March 9; Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic on March 16; River of Life on March 23; Petersburg First United Meth- odist Church on March 30 ; Otwell United Methodist Church on April 6; and Peters- burg Free Methodist Church on April 13. The women's schedule is: Petersburg First United Methodist on March 9; Free Methodist Church on March 16; Sts. Pe- ter and Paul Catholic on March 23; Ot- well UMC on March 30 ; and First Baptist Church on April 6. Lenten Breakfasts begin March 9 Press-Dispatch Sports Editor Ed Cahill suffered a stroke recently. He is recuper- ating in the hospital. It appears Ed will re- quire a long-term recovery. He is undergo- ing rehabilitation in Evansville at Deacon- ess Gateway Hospital. A GoFundMe page has been established to help Ed with medical and other expens- es. Donations can be made to the fund at www.pressdispatch.net/ed. A account has also been established at Home Building Savings Bank in Petersburg where donations are also accepted. GoFundMe page for PD Sports Editor Five robotics teams heading to state competition By Kenzie Rudolph and Andy Heuring Two more Pike County robotics teams have qualified for the state finals. A middle school robotics team at Pike Central, all comprised of sixth graders, is headed to the 2019 VEX Robotics State Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium after successfully qualifying at the Kids Robots & Engineering IQ State Qualifier in Rock- port back in November. A fourth Petersburg Elementary School team Girl Squad has also qualified. The middle school team calls themselves "Pink Power Team," and consists of mem- bers Noah Meece, Parker Knust, Eli Ar- nold, Jacob Paw and Blaine Barnett. They are coached by Nikki Nalley, along with Randy Meece, assistant principal at Pike Central. Meece, Knust and Arnold all competed at the elementary level and bring experi- ence to the team, said Randy Meece, but newcomers Pauw and Barnett "bring enthu- siasm and work ethic to make up for their lack of experience." Randy Meece added, "They are all com- petitors and want to win. They take robot- ics serious and put in extra time research- ing and brainstorming ideas to improve. I believe their elementary experience helped them in the first competition they won to know what to expect at competitions." He also said that the Pink Power team has identified things they can do through- out competitions for a higher score, like "hanging high" and stacking bonus hubs, and have designed their robot to be able to accomplish those tasks. "I think some fine tuning of the robot and lots more driving practice is what will be needed to have a good showing at the state Oklahoma! premiers March 15 at PCHS Pike Central High School will perform Oklahoma! this Spring. Oklahoma! is set in a Western Indian territory just after the turn of the century. There is a high-spirited rivalry between the local farmers and cow- boys that provides the colorful background against which Curly, a handsome cowboy, and Laurey, a winsome farm girl, play out their love story. Although the road to true love never runs smooth, with these two headstrong romantics holding the reins, love's journey is as bumpy as a surrey ride down a country road. That they will suc- ceed in making a new life together we have no doubt, and that this new life will begin in a brand-new state provides the ultimate cli- max to the triumphant Oklahoma! Oklahoma! performances will be at 7 p.m. Friday, March 15 and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 17 in the Vance Hays Auditorium. Oklahoma! stars Mackinzee Key as Lau- rey, Draven Huff as Curly, Kylee Shoultz as Ado Annie, Colin Craig as Will Parker, Alys- sa Jenkins as Aunt Eller, Gage Reibold as Ali Hakim, and Austin Loveless as Jud Fry. Tickets are on sale now. They can be or- dered from any cast member or by calling Pike Central High School at 812- 354-8478. Seats will be filled in the order in which they are received. Warner arrested for battery Monday By Andy Heuring A Petersburg man was arrested Mon- day night on numerous felonies, includ- ing battery to a public safety official, a level 5 felony. Michael D. Warner, 55, of 1914 E. Main St., Petersburg, was arrested after threat- ening a pharmacist and fighting with Pe- tersburg Police Cpl. Kyle Mills. Warner has been preliminarily charged with two counts of battery on a public safety officer, one a Level 5 and one a Lev- el 6 felony. The other preliminary charg- es are resisting law enforcement and op- erating a vehicle while intoxicated. According to Cpl. Mills' report, the in- cident started when Warner was waiting in line behind another customer at the CVS drive-thru at about 7:30 p.m. Mon- day and he kept revving his engine. The customer at the window yelled at War- ner to stop revving his engine because he couldn't hear the pharmacist at the drive- thru. Warner yelled back at the custom- er, then when that customer drove away, Warner sped through the drive-thru and chased after the customer. Another person who was in the park- ing lot told police Warner ran a red light at the intersection of 57 and 56 as he was leaving the parking lot and nearly ran over a pedestrian. That person said he then returned to the CVS parking lot and returned to the drive-thru. Pharmacist Dave Gambrel told Cpl. Mills when Warner returned to the drive- thru window, he was playing music "very loudly" and wouldn't turn it down, even after being asked to turn it down. Gam- brel said he told Warner if he didn't turn it down, he would not be served. Gam- brel said Warner then became angry and yelled profanities at Gambrel and his staff, and threatened physical harm See BAT TERY on page 2 Joey Graves, Thomas Sparks, Daren Cook, Theresa Houtsch and Chris Clements run toward the water Saturday in the annual Polar Plunge at Prides Creek. These locals were members of the Frosty Flakes team. They were some of the more than 174 people who participated in the plunge, which raised more than $54,000 for Indiana Special Olympics. High waters damage county roads Flood waters in the White River bottoms damaged CR 250 W. just west of Petersburg. It was one of several damaged by the high waters. The Pike Coun- ty Highway Department went out to the area on Friday and started repairing CR 250 W. and River Road as the water was still at the edge of River Road. See story and more photos on A-6.