The Press-Dispatch
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Local �������� A1-10 Sports ���������B1-2 Opinion �������B4-5 East Gibson ���� B5 Classifieds ��B7-8 Church ��������C1-7 Home Life����C4-6 Obituaries������� C7 History ����������� C8 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, July 17, 2019 Volume 149 Number 30 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Four sections 30 pages Seven inserts See FIREMEN on page 2 See 4-H FAIR on page 2 J ULY SEE DETAILS ON PAGE B-3 SEE D-1 PIKE COUNTY Planter Planter By Andy Heuring A former Petersburg man entered a plea of guilty to criminal deviate conduct, a class B felony. "Handsome Mick" Rowe, 51, preliminar- ily agreed to a 16 -year pris- on sentence on the crimi- nal deviate conduct charge in exchange for the prose- cution dropping two class A felony charges of child mo- lesting and criminal deviate conduct resulting in serious bodily injury against him. Rowe was arrested in July of 2017 after a wom- an came forward and told police Rowe had sexually abused her for years, even- tually pimping her to sup- port him. The criminal de- viate conduct charge stems from 2006, according to charging information filed on July 1, 2019. According to the plea agreement, Rowe will re- ceived 16 years on the Class B felony. He will get good tome credit of 714 days. Rowe has been in jail since July 27, 2017, when he was arrested on the charg- es. He will also be required to register as a sex offend- er for life. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tues- day, August 6 to finalize the plea agreement. By Andy Heuring A hearing has been sched- uled for August 22 in Pike Circuit Court for former Police Cpl. Scott Wright. Wright was charged with of- ficial misconduct by a public servant, a level 6 felony; two counts of theft, more than $750 and less than $50,000, a Level 6 felony; and theft, a class A misdemeanor, after police noticed money miss- ing from the evidence cage for Petersburg Police De- partment. Wright, who was the ev- idence clerk at the time, is accused of taking about $1,800 from sealed evi- dence envelopes in Peters- burg's evidence cage. Pike County Prosecutor Darrin McDonald said he and Wright's attorney Mark Foster began discussion about the case last week in a telephonic pre-trial case. "We are preparing to move forward with the case," said McDonald. Another hear- ing was scheduled for Au- gust 22. Daviess County Judge Dean Sobecki was appoint- ed special judge in the case as Pike County Judge Jeff Biesterveld recused him- self from the case. Hearing set for Wright Rowe accepts plea agreement By Andy Heuring The 2019 Pike County 4-H Fair starts this Saturday with the Miss Pike Coun- ty and other pageants in the Pike Central High School Auditorium. Miss Pike County, featuring Madyson Fettinger, Kassandra Evans, Emily Allen, Abigail Sutt and Sabree McDowell, will start at 8 p.m. The day will start with the Little Miss and Mr. at 3 p.m.; Junior Miss at 5 p.m. and Miss Pike County at 6:30 p.m. The fair will again offer free carnival rides Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, with the am- phitheater events being a rodeo, demo der- by and moto-cross races. SUNDAY, JULY 21 The traditional parade down Main St. be- gins at 3:30 p.m. at the courthouse and will go south on Main St. to Pike Ave. and out to Hornady Park. Opening ceremonies are set for 4:45 p.m. in the amphitheater, followed by a United Youth Rally with Christian Music Festival at 5:30 p.m. MONDAY, JULY 22 Poultry Show at 9 a.m., and the Pleasure Horse Show at 7 p.m. The 4-H Building will open each night from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday. TUESDAY, JULY 23 Goat show at 9 a.m. and Swine Show at 6:30 Saturday pageants kick off 2019 Pike Co. 4-H Fair week Winslow firefighters return to duty after ban By Dennis Marshall The Winslow Fire Department is back on the road. A fter looking through paperwork, de- partment officials realized the training was not required at this point for them to continue their fire service to community. During its monthly meeting on Monday, July 7, Winslow Town Council banned the department from operating its emergency response vehicles until members received the certification stating the training had been completed. "All we had to do was fill out a piece of paper with everyone's name on it to show that they were previously trained," WFD Fire Chief Jason Bottoms said. Bottoms said the department was off the road for less than 24 hours after the meet- ing. The department went ahead and had an instructor come in and teach a refresher course on Monday, July 14, just to err on the side of caution. The training was pro- vided by the Patoka Township Fire Depart- ment's Indiana Certified instructors and was done to state guidelines. There were no reported fires in Winslow while the fire department was off the road. Had there been an emergency, the PFD and WFD have agreed to provide each other Fire destroys vacant duplex An early Monday morning fire destroyed a vacant duplex at 1215 E. Main St., Petersburg. The duplex was owned by Michael Dunn, of Petersburg. Fire Chief Ross Elmore said Dunn was in the process of remodeling the duplex and no one was living in the building. Elmore said fire was coming out of the kitchen windows and the eves of the structure on three sides when firemen arrived. Taylor Clark, who lives across the street, said she called in the fire. Clark said she went out on her porch to smoke a cigarette and noticed there was a lot of smoke in the area. Then she noticed smoke coming from the duplex across the street. Pike County 911 center paged the Petersburg Fire Department at 12:24 a.m. Elmore said they were able to knock the fire down within a few minutes of getting water on it. However, the fire had gotten into the attic and cause significant damage to the roof and rafter structure. Petersburg was assisted by Jefferson and Patoka Townships, as well as Harrison Township in Knox County. He said the hot and humid weather made it difficult for firefighters, which is why they called for assistance from the other de- partments. Chief Elmore said the cause of the fire hasn't been determined yet. He said it started in the kitchen area. "There is nothing suspicious about it." See pageant photos on page A-3 Fundraiser for River Harbin Friday, Saturday A fundraiser for River Harbin is sched- uled for Friday, July 19 and Saturday, Ju- ly 20. It will include a co-ed softball tourney that starts Friday night and runs through Sunday. Registration deadline is July 12, call Jamie Blake at 812-259 -9421 or Desiree Perry at 812-582-9958. There will be 17 bands playing Friday night and Saturday. There will also be a cornhole tourney on Saturday with blind draw registration at 4:30 p.m. Clog draws 1,119 participants Justin Kennel and Bo Webster, of Jasper, wait in line to unload their giant pink flamingo float. They were with a group of 12 people from Jasper. In all, 1,119 people participated in Clog the Patoka 2019, which is the third year for the wildly popular seven-mile float down the Patoka River. See more photos on pages A-4 and A-5