The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1089368
A-2 Front Wednesday, March 6, 2019 The Press-Dispatch PETERSBURG ELEMENTARY Annual Carnival Friday, March 8 5:30 - 8:30pm Come ONE, Come ALL! Open to the Public GAMES • INFLATABLES • RAFFLES • CAKE WALK • FOOD AUCTION BASKETS (SILENT AUCTION) • PHOTOS LITTLE LEAGUE REGISTRATION BIG SURPRISE FOR SILENT AUCTION ITEM ANNOUNCED FRIDAY e numbers will be given out in the office for $1 and the bidding will start March 4 for the silent auction. ey will also be sold the night of the carnival. All auction items will be on display at the school starting March 5. ere are tons of silent auction items you will not want to miss out on! Bring your friends, bring your family. Fun for everyone! Is it TIME for your next eye exam? 8–7 . Mon. 8–noon . Tues. 10–7 . Wed. 8–5 . Thur. 8–5 . Fri. Locally Owned and Operated Dr. Clint Shoultz 715 S. 9th Street, Petersburg 812-354-9400 THEFTS Continued from page 1 tersburg City Council about the spree of car thefts, he said they have suspects in the case. He also empha- sized not leaving keys in the vehicle. Councilman John Mel- hiser, who previously oper- ated John's Sunoco, said it is nearly impossible to steal a car now unless the keys are left in it. "You have to be a pro- fessional," said Chief Baumgart. He added, along with not leaving keys in the car, peo- ple should not leave any valu- ables in a vehicle that are vis- ible. "It is easy to break out a window and take something if they see it." He also said, after talking with surround- ing cities such as Vincennes, Washington and Princeton, they are all starting to see an uptick in thefts and oth- er crimes. By Andy Heuring A Vincennes man was arrested on meth-related charges after police stopped him for swerving in his lane and having a broken wind- shield. Brian Bye, of 114 E. Swartzel Ave., Vincennes, was arrested by Petersburg Cpl. Jared Simmons at about 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Febru- ary 22. Cpl. Simmons said he saw a silver Buick passen- ger car swerving back and forth on Highway 61, north- bound from Highway 57. He also noticed the entire wind- shield was "shattered and spider-webbed." Simmons pulled the car over in the entrance of Wal- nut Hills Cemetery. When the car stopped, Simmons said he noticed the driver "making a bunch of erratic and jerky movements." Simmons said when he talked with Bye, he noticed the odor of marijuana. Bye told him he had just finished a marijuana roach, accord- ing to Simmons' report. During a search of Bye and his vehicle, police locat- ed in a hoodie front pocket a glass smoking device, be- lieved to be a meth smoking device, with burnt residue in it. In the car, Simmons said they found a plastic bag- gie with a crystal-like sub- stance that field tested pos- itive for meth and weighed 7.7 grams. Bye was taken into custo- dy on preliminary charges of possession of meth at least 5 grams, maintaining a com- mon nuisance and posses- sion of paraphernalia. Cpl. Simmons said Bye asked and was granted per- mission to call his mother before he was taken to jail. Kindergarten Roundup March 14 By Andy Heuring A rural Otwell woman was arrested on meth charges af- ter police were called to her house for the second time in one day. Kelsey Renae Kelley, 28, of 10142 E. CR 200 N., was arrested on charges of bat- tery to a public safety offi- cial, a Level 6 felony; pos- session of meth, less than five grams, a Level 6 felony, possession of paraphernalia; maintaining a common nui- sance; false informing; and resisting law enforcement. Deputy Paul Collier said Jefferson Township Fire Chief Chris Young request- ed he come to the residence. Young told him the fire de- partment went to the house in the morning because Kel- ley claimed her carbon mon- oxide detector was going off. However, when firemen ar- rived, the detector was not sounding nor did it at any time they were there. Also, the fire department's sen- sors showed no evidence of carbon monoxide. Then at 4:08 p.m., they re- ceived another call stating smoke was coming from a bedroom wall. She also told firemen there was a burnt place on the wall. Young said firemen could find no evidence of smoke or anything on the bed- room walls. They also used a thermal imager to check the walls and found no fire. Firemen also noticed Kelley was very anxious and jittery. Collier said when he ar- rived, Young took him to the bedroom, where a fireman was using a thermal imager to show Kelley there was no fire in the walls. Deputy Collier, in his re- port, stated Kelley's speech was rapid and slurred, and she was fidgety. He said these are signs of meth in- toxication. He said they urged Kelley to go to the hospital, but she refused. Deputy Collier said when he informed Kelley he was going to arrest her for false reporting, she tried to pull away from officers, and while they were walking her through the hallway, she "purposefully raised her right foot approximate- ly knee high and struck her heel on my left foot." Once at the jail, Depu- ty Collier said a clear glass tube with a burnt residue in it fell to the floor from Kel- ley's waistband. A search of her also locat- ed a small plastic bag with a white powdery residue in it. Both field tested positive for meth, according to Dep- uty Collier. By Andy Heuring An Otwell man was arrest- ed on charges of domestic battery and strangulation after police were called to his residence. David A. Schutz, 54, of 2185 N. Liberty St., Otwell, was arrested after his wife, Amy, called police. Pike County Deputy Paul Collier said he was sent to the Schutzes at 5:25 a.m. Saturday, when Amy called and told police her and Da- vid had been in a verbal dis- agreement and he put his hands around her neck. He also told her she was getting her Social Security check over his dead body. Deputy Collier said when he arrived, he found Da- vid slumped over the steer- ing wheel of a car parked at the residence. When he knocked on the window, he asked Schutz what was go- ing on Schutz replied, "noth- ing." Collier said he noticed the odor of alcohol, slurred speech and bloodshot eyes while talking with Schutz. Amy came out of the res- idence and told Deputy Col- lier she and David had been playing cards ealier and he got angry, slammed the cards down and went out- side to the car with their dog, Milo. Deputy Collier said he al- so smelled the odor of alco- hol while talking to Amy. She said she went to the car and found David sleep- ing. She tried to get their dog out of the car and a So- cial Security check with her name on it out of David's back pocket. She told Deputy Collier, according to his report, that David grabbed her and put her in a choke hold. He also threatened to kill her dog. Amy told police David had been drinking, and tak- ing pills and meth earlier in the day. He was arrested and tak- en into custody on prelimi- nary charges of strangula- tion and domestic battery (prior). Both are Level 6 fel- onies. Winslow and Petersburg elementary schools have their kindergarten and pre- school roundups scheduled for early March and early April. The Winslow roundup starts next week from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, March 14. Children enrolling in kin- dergarten must be five years old by August 1, 2019. The Winslow pre-school roundup is set for 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Friday, March 14. Children must be four years old by August 1, 2019. To schedule an appoint- ment for either pre-school or kindergarten, call 812- 789 -2209. Petersburg Elementary School kindergarten round- up is set for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday and Friday, April 4 and 5. The pre-school roundup at PES is set for Friday, April 12. To schedule an appoint- ment, call 812-354-6876. The age requirements are the same as Winslow. Kelley arrested on multiple charges after false fire calls Winslow Street Dept. at work Nathan Deweese and Steve Nelson, with the Winslow Street Department, were out most of last week patching potholes in Winslow. Above, they are working on North St. PROJECTS Continued from page 1 Pike Central. This will help provide water to the Pike- Gibson system and future interstate developments by providing an additional 750,000 gallons of storage. A new water well will be drilled to serve increased demand from the city's cus- tomers which include Pike- Gibson Water and Otwell Water corporations. The new well would allow Pe- tersburg to sell up to 1 mil- lion gallons of water a day to these customers. It will also make improve- ments to Petersburg's water lines, replacing aging cast iron and problematic wa- ter mains prone to failure. One of the biggest replace- ments will be the main line between the well field and the treatment plant. They al- so will install a modern GPS mapping system on the lines to help with ongoing mainte- nance of the system. The estimated cost of the system is $11.165 million. Petersburg plans to pay for it with a 40 -year USDA loan. Mayor Klipsch said they at- tempted to get grant mon- ey to help with the cost, but because Petersburg's water rates are so low they have not been able to get a grant. He said the grants typical- ly go to municipalities with much higher water rates. On Monday night the Water Board of Jon Welch, Bertis Jenkins and Mayor Klipsch voted 3-0 to approve the ordinance. This action moved it forward to the City Council. The City Council then had the first reading of the ordinance. They have planned a second reading of the ordinance for their next meeting at 6:30 p.m. Mon- day, March 18 in the city's new meeting room at the corner of Seventh and Main Sts. A fter the second reading they can vote on the mea- sure or decide to set the vote at a later date. CITY TO RESCIND CHARITY ROAD BLOCKS Mayor Klipsch said the city had contacted INDOT about charity road blocks. He said they were told it is against state statute. "A person may not stand in the highway for the purpose of soliciting a donation. They told me we have a lot of expo- sure because there is a state statute." Klipsch said Petersburg has passed an ordinance regulating these types of road blocks back in the 90s. "We probably should re- scind that," said Klipsch. The council voted 5 -0 to rescind that ordinance. They also told City Attor- ney Brian Mahoney to draft an ordinance banning road blocks for their next meet- ing. Klipsch said Petersburg recently had a problem with door-to-door salesmen. He said two weeks ago they had a very aggressive salesman. The police were called sev- eral times and eventually caught up to the person and got the situation stopped. Klipsch said Petersburg currently requires salesmen to get a permit for $75. However he said when they checked with other cit- ies and towns in the area most have banned door-to- door salesmen. "At the very least I would like to make it much more restrictive," said Klipsch. Councilman Gary Leavitt agreed with Klipsch and said in the past he had a problem with one. Mahoney said they need- ed to be careful how they draw up the ordinance. "There are certain freedoms people have," said Mahoney. Councilmen tabled any ac- tion until the next meeting when Mahoney can present a sample ordinance for their consideration. In other business the council voted 5 -0 to approve their 2040 Plan for future de- velopment. They also voted to donate one of their sur- plus police cars to the Pike County School Corporation to use for their Resource Of- ficer. Police Chief Chuck Baumgart said they have two older police cars the city has kept. He said be - cause of the mileage on them they have no resale val- ue. Baumgart said they real- ly only need to keep one as a pool car. Schutz arrested on charges of domestic battery, strangulation Bye arrested on meth charges The Lenten Breakfasts start this Saturday and will run through April 13. They will have a different host church each week and the men's and women's will be at different locations. The men's breakfasts start at 8 a.m. The women's break- fasts start at 9 a.m. Both will last about an hour and fea- ture 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; Peters- burg First United Methodist Church on March 30 ; Otwell United Methodist Church on April 6; and Petersburg Free Methodist Church on April 13. The women's schedule is: Petersburg First Unit- ed Methodist on March 9; Free Methodist Church on March 16; Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic on March 23; Otwell UMC on March 30 ; and First Baptist Church on April 6. Lenten breakfasts begin this Saturday