The Press-Dispatch
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JULY BARGAIN PERIOD Save $ 4 on Your Subscription! SEE DETAILS ON PAGE A-3 Local ........ A1-10 Sports .........B1-2 History ........... B3 Opinion .......B4-5 Classifi eds ..B6-8 E. Gibson .. B9-10 Church ........C1-8 Home Life....C4-6 Obituaries....... C7 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, June 26, 2019 Volume 149 Number 27 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Three sections 28 pages Eight inserts See MILLIE on page 6 See JULY 4TH on page 2 See STORMS on page 2 Dennis Marshall has joined the staff of The Press-Dispatch as the sports editor. Marshall, 32, is a native of Evansville, where he previously worked for the Evans- ville Courier and Press. He also has been the sports editor at the Mena Star in Mena, Ark., and the Steele County Times in Bloom- ing Prairie, Minn. He earned a journalism degree from the University of Southern Indiana, where he won the Courier and Press Award for the an Outstanding Journalism Student in 2013. His university newspaper, The Shield, won the Indiana Collegiate Press Association weekly division's Top Newspaper of the Year for two consecutive years while he was on staff. "I am thrilled to return to my home state of Indiana," Marshall said. "I look forward to building relationships with the great peo- ple in Petersburg and providing the best possible coverage for area athletics." Marshall developed a passion for sports as a young man. He played football while at- tending Francis Joseph Reitz High School. He also belonged to a church league basketball team at Westside Chris- tian Church, and coached youth football for sever- al seasons at the Evansville Junior Football League. He said he looks forward to ex- ploring the area and becoming in- volved in local or- ganizations. Marshall replaces Ed Cahill, who suc- cumbed to complications from a serious stroke in May. Marshall named Sports Editor Dennis Marshall Sports Editor By Andy Heuring Three-year-old Millie Modesitt plays in the yard on a swing and plastic slide with her brother. The two laugh and squeal, and have a good time playing together, just like any other siblings. But Millie, short for Amelia, is a miracle of modern medical advancements. "You wouldn't notice anything about her now, if I didn't tell you," said Millie's mom, Candra. But Millie's life has been anything but typical for a three year old. While Candra was still pregnant with Millie, doctors learned Millie's heartbeat was unusual. The top part of her heart was beating at a different rate than the bottom part of her heart. She said the top part of Millie's heart beat at the normal 150 beats per minute, but the bottom part was only beating at 44 beats per minute. Consequently, Millie was born six weeks premature by emergency C-section at Methodist Hospital. Millie was taken and transported to the nearby Riley Children's Hospital, where she underwent heart sur- Modern miracle Millie Modesitt By Andy Heuring A July crammed full of summer fun is planned in Pike County. It starts with the Jefferson Township Ruritan Fourth of Ju- ly celebration. The Clog the Patoka river float is set for Saturday, July 13, and the Pike County Fair starts July 21 and runs through July 28. The Jefferson Township Ruritan's Fourth of July Celebration is scheduled for Wednes- day, July 3 through Saturday, July 6. This year's festival will have many of the staple events, such as their parade and fireworks on July 4, truck and tractor pulls, carnival rides and BBQ dinners. But they also will have a special event celebrating the 50th anniversary of Otwell High School winning the basketball sectional. The 1969 Otwell Millers will be the grand marshals of the parade at 10 a.m. The team consisted of Jim DeMotte, Tim Garland, Ellis Gray, Steve Meadors, Tim Teague, Mike Vaughn, Steve Barrett, Neal Pauw, Rick Weisman, Bob Whaley, Erwin Traylor and David Elkins; Coaches Howard Andy Anderson and Richard Helton; stu- dent managers Nicky Meadors and Walter Hazelton; cheerleaders Brenda (Summit) Rish, Pep (Dickson) Young, Rita ( Whaley) Weisman and mini-cheerleader Angie (An- derson) Merkley. There will be a visit with the team, and question and answer session at 2:30 p.m. in the Community Center gym. A community-wide church service at 11 a.m. Sunday, June 30, presented by the Southeastern Pike County Ministerial As- sociation, will start the annual event. The Little Miss Firecracker contest is set for 7 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $ 3, with children six and under free. The carnival grounds will open on Wednesday at 6 p.m., with a ride night for those with special needs. Up to two guests of each special needs person can partici- pate for $5 each. There will be a garden tractor pull at 7 p.m. THURSDAY, JULY 4 The parade starts at 10 a.m., followed by the midway opening with rides and the fa- mous Ruritan BBQ chicken and rib dinners available. A State of Indiana resolution will be pre- sented to the 1969 sectional champion Ot- well Miller basketball team at 11:15 a.m. Jefferson Ruritan July 4th festival begins month of fun By Andy Heuring The rain just kept falling last week. A f- ter near historic rains, with six inches fall- ing on Sunday, June 16, another four to six inches of rain has fallen in Pike County this past week. Strong but short-lived storms ran through the county, toppling numer- ous trees, some of which fell across power lines that caused power outages through- out Pike County. Vectren and Duke both had power out- ages on Friday afternoon. Then on Sunday, at 1:42 p.m., the power was out for about an hour in Petersburg. However, some neigh- borhoods didn't get power back on until 10 p.m. County Highway Assistant Superinten- dent Josh Byrd said with all of the rain, it was causing trees to be uprooted. Byrd and Highway Department employees were out Friday night, all day Saturday, then again until about 1 a.m. Sunday, and then back out Sunday afternoon and evening. Byrd said county employees were no- tified of nine downed trees on the roads by Pike County's central dispatch, anoth- er four through instant messages, three from text messages and another three by phone calls. Weekend storms damage homes, cause power outages By Andy Heuring A Velpen area woman died Saturday in a house fire. It was the second fire death in a week in Pike County. Charlene Schitter, 75, of 1239 S. High- way 257, was found in her bedroom after firemen were called to check on the house that was filled with smoke. Jefferson Township Fire Captain Doug Mounts said Schitter's family had not heard from her on Saturday and her son, Joe, went to her house to check on her at about 5 p.m. Saturday. Mounts said he was told Schitter tried to get into the house but couldn't make con- tact with his mother. Schitter called 911 reporting the smoke. He kicked the door in and tried to go into the house. But the smoke was so thick, he was overcome by it. Mounts said when the first firemen ar- rived, Schitter was on his knees coughing from the smoke. Capt. Mounts said when he arrived, the fire was already out. "It had extinguished itself." He said it appeared to be a kitchen fire that had burned through a water line. He said a combination of the house being closed up and limiting the oxygen supply, and the water line being burned through had put the fire out. State Fire Marshal Field Agent Matt Wells said the fire originated in the kitch- en and appears to be an accidental fire. Mounts said they are waiting on an au- topsy report for a time of death to establish a timeline on the fire. He said he talked to a couple of people who drove by the house prior to the fire but didn't notice anything. He said because the fire never broke out to the atmosphere before it self-extin- guished, it would have been hard to notice for passersby. This is the second fire death in just eight days. Melinda Sharp, 63, of Winslow, died in a fast-moving fire that was reported at about 12:30 a.m. Friday, June 14. Velpen woman dies in house fire Kurt Russell and Josh Byrd, with the Pike County Highway Department, work to remove a large tree from CR 150 E. It was one of nearly 20 they had to remove from roads over the weekend. Contributed photo Amelia (Millie) Modisett swings with "no hands" last week. Called a "strong and sassy girl" by her mother, Candra, Millie has been through three heart surgeries and three cardiac arrests, "but you would never know it," said her mother.