The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, June 26, 2019 B-9 EAST GIBSON NEWS Submit school news: Email: egnews@ pressdispatch.net Deadline: Noon on Friday SOMETHING NEWSWORTHY? Give us a call: 812-354-8500 First responders do spill drill on Patoka By Janice Barniak Roughly 50 first responders prac- ticed what they would do in the case of an oil spill during a full scale drill Tuesday in a joint effort between Mar- athon Oil and Indiana Dept. of Emer- gency Management, EPA, U.S. Forest- ry Service, Indiana Dept. of Homeland Security, Indiana State Fire Marshal's Office, Hazleton Fire Department, Pa- toka Fire Department, and both Gib- son and Posey County Emergency Management Agencies. The spill drill simulated what would happen if a pipeline broke along the Pa- toka River, and how local teams would work with Marathon to minimize the damage of such an event by first con- taining, then absorbing the spill. Marathon brought in a team of peo- ple who had worked spill situations be- fore, said Gibson County EMA Direc- tor Terry Hedges. "We would do this on the Pato- ka or the White River, for example," he said, adding there have been two spill situations in the last two years that he knows of, a Posey County spill near Crawleyville and another on the Wabash near New Harmony was a four-to-five-day clean up. "They get the training, and whatev- er fire departments show up can ex- perience what they're doing," Hedges said. "Once it gets in the creeks it can get into the bigger ones, the rivers. If they were doing an actual spill, this road would be lined up with trucks," he said of the area along the Patoka where they simulated the spill. To do the clean-up, Marathon repre- sentative Wyatt Kintner said respond- ers would deploy a polyvinyl fluoride plastic boom with a large styrofoam tube in the top and a chain in the bot- tom to weigh it down the water. Fire departments are especial- ly useful in spill situations because they have experience running ropes in their rescue training, and running ropes is a big part of working the boom. "Think about it like you're making brownies, right? You've got to get the batter off the pan with a rubber scrap- er? Think of the water as the pan, and the boom is scraping the water's sur- face. As the water flows past, the boom is going to take the oil where you want it." While spills happen, he said that when a person looks at the pipeline industry as a whole, the percentage of the fuel spilled is small—less, per- centage-wise than what the average consumer spills at the gas station fill- ing up their vehicle. "We put a lot of energy and effort in- to protecting the public at every stop," he said. Indiana State Fire Marshal Stan Capobianco oversaw safety at the Marathon spill drill Tuesday in Pa- toka on the Patoka River. County looking into guns, animals on county property By Janice Barniak According to Commis- sioner Gerald Bledsoe Tuesday, he's asked Coun- ty Attorney Jim McDonald to look at whether the coun- ty could enforce a weapons and animal ban for county properties, with exceptions for those in the law enforce- ment and service animals. The ban would cover county properties like the courthouse and north and south annexes. Law enforcement of- ficers and those in the ju- diciary positions would be exempt. Service animals would be exempt on all properties, and the animal shelter would be exempt from the animal ban. "They shouldn't be bringing in a gun or an an- imal that's not in service," Bledsoe said. Plat book maintenance leads to questions about fund use at commissioners meeting By Janice Barniak While maintaining the county's property descrip- tions doesn't sound con- tentious, disagreements came up at Tuesday's Gib- son County Commission- ers meeting concerning a fee the state requires for maintaining the records, where it goes and what a "plat book" actually is in the digital age. The state of Indiana has required the commission- ers to pass a real proper- ty endorsement fee of $10 for each deed or legal de- scription. The auditor col- lects the fee for the ser- vice, which, according to Indiana Code is for main- taining plat books. "Since the state said we shall do this, I'll make a motion," said Commis- sioner Mary Key. County Assessor em- ployee Sherri Greene said the county auditor's office hasn't maintained plat books since 2009, and she believed the money should go to support GIS, the digital replacement for the books. Right now, the money goes to maintaining some of the literal books that the county owns, includ- ing transfer and deeds re- cords. According to Commis- sioner Gerald Bledsoe, the state has been con- sulted, but hasn't given an opinion yet. The fund draws $ 9,000 to $10,000 per year, Greene said, and she questioned some expendi- tures including $15,000 in construction costs. "We used that to redo the area to create a place to maintain the books," said Auditor Sherri Smith. Greene said the books maintained were transfer books instead of plats. "I'm not in favor of it (the fee) to begin with, but I didn't feel we had a choice," said Key. John Howe, the coun- ty's GIS Director, ex- plained that GIS is the re- placement for plat books. "We don't have physical possession of them. Now it's all done electronical- ly," he said. The plat can be changed on a daily basis, and right now there's no money spent maintaining the old books, though some of the fund has been used main- taining the books that re- cord transfers. Greene said she be- lieved that would be an in- correct use, and maintain- ing the new digital system would be a better use. Commissioner Stephen Bottoms said the coun- ty would look to the state as to whether the literal maintenance of physical books was the intent, or if the digital records was more in keeping. The information on plat maps now comes from sev- eral offices and has eight to nine people updating in- formation. "You talk about a plat book, but there's no longer a physical book," Howe said. Greene said none of the $54,000 collected since 2009 has been spent actu- ally maintaining the liter- al plat books. "I think we've all learned something. We'll move on," said Commis- sioner Stephen Bottoms. Citizen urges paper ballots By Janice Barniak Concerned citizen Cec- il "Bob" Allen asked the commissioners if they would look at going to pa- per ballots only in upcom- ing elections, which he said he felt were safer than electronic ones which he worried could be hacked. Commissioner Ste- ve Bottoms said Coun- ty Clerk Jim Morrow told him there was no way the machines could be hacked. "I like the paper ballot," said Bottoms, who add- ed that is what he uses to vote. Allen said that's what he uses as well. "I've never voted elec- tronic but that's just my old fashioned way," he said. Commissioners approve $245k insurance package By Janice Barniak ONI Risk and Liabili- ty's Brian Hancock rec- ommended a combina- tion of two companies to commissioners last Tues- day at a cost of more than $245,000. Since the previous com- missioners meeting, he said one company, Chubb Insurance Group, had im- proved their property in- surance offer to give bet- ter coverage, increasing earthquake reimburse- ment from $20 million to $25 million without rais- ing the premium. With that in mind he recommended Chubb for property insurance and Travellers on casualty, lia- bility, law enforcement/le- gal, auto, umbrella, cyber. He said the key driving factors, were that Travel- lers was able to maintain lower deductibles. Commissioners ap- proved the measure, and the coverage goes into ef- fect July 1. Above: Mara- thon employees Ky- le Rowe, DJ Davis, Bill Lemon and Sa- rah Greer help tie down a boom that Jace McKeegan in- itially anchored by using a fishing pole to cast across the Patoka. Left: Local fire departments helped place the boom and learned how they would anchor and place it should there ever be an oil spill on the Patoka. Pictured are members of the Melody Makers of Gibson County who performed at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Indianapolis, first row (l to r) are: Sharon Davis, Julia Gentry, Rocky Lutz, Nedra West, Rhonda Bozikis and Brandy Mayer. Second row (l to r) are: Pam Wade, accompanist; Regina Rose, Judy McGillem, KayLee Ridge and Derek K. Barton, director. Contributed photo by Vincent Walter. Melody Makers perform in Indianapolis The Melody Makers of Gibson Coun- ty recently performed at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Indian- apolis as part of the Indiana Exten- sion Homemakers Association Home and Family Conference. The Melody Makers of Gibson County performed the song "The Slender Moon" with lyr- ics from the poem "Night Wind" by Jo- seph S. Cotter, Jr. and music by Greg Gilpin. This song was chosen to com- memorate and celebrate the upcom- ing 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing which took place on July 20, 1969. Following the performance, the local chorus members rehearsed several selections with members from other Indiana counties. Following the rehearsal, the Melody Makers of Indi- ana, comprised of members of the lo- cal choruses, performed several mu- sical selections in an evening concert under the direction of Dr. Scott Bu- chanan and accompanied by Dr. Krist- ofer Sanchack. The Melody Makers of Gibson Coun- ty is a women's choral club that is affil- iated with the Melody Makers of Indi- ana. The Melody Makers of Indiana is the Indiana Extension Homemakers Association state chorus. It was organ- ized as the Tippecanoe County Home Economics Chorus in 1934 and was di- rected by Dr. Albert P. Stewart, mu- sic director at Purdue University. This chorus led to the organization of other county choruses and by 1937 the cho- rus became the official chorus of the Purdue Cooperative Extension Ser- vice. The Gibson County Chorus was organized as the Gibson County Home Economics Chorus at Baldwin Heights Auditorium, in Princeton, on April 9, 1947, by Dr. Stewart.