The Press-Dispatch
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Local �����������A1-8 Sports ���������B1-2 Classifieds ��B3-8 Church ��������C1-9 Home Life����C4-7 Obituaries������� C7 Opinion �������C8-9 History ��������� C10 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, August 7, 2019 Volume 149 Number 33 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Three sections 26 pages Four inserts See SCHOOL on page 2 See COUNCIL on page 2 See HENKE on page 2 See ROWE on page 2 By Andy Heuring A Velpen man is being held on a $ 350,000 bond in the Pike County Jail after being arrested on child pornography charges. Dylan Cole Henke, 23, of 3686 S. CR 900 E., Velpen, was arrest- ed Friday on a warrant. He was charged with four counts of pos- session of child pornography, with an aggravator, a level 5 felony. The charges stem from an in- vestigation that began when a "Cyber Tip" was sent by the Na- tional Center for Missing and Ex- ploited Children to Facebook in July 2018. That information made its way along with 14 images to In- diana State Police Detective Matt Jacobs. He began an investigation in October. One of the images was a profile picture of a user. Jacobs said the images appeared to have been sent between Henke's Face- book page and a second Face- book account in the name of Hal- ey Maren. According to an affidavit of probable cause, Det. Jacobs said it appears the Haley Maren page was owned by Henke and used as a layer of identity protection. Det. Jacobs, in the affidavit, said the images were of a male, estimated age four to 10 years old. Some were of the child nude, and others of a child and an adult in various sex acts and one of an in- fant with "what appeared to be se- men on its head." Det. Jacobs, through the Pike County Prosecutor's Office, ob- tained a search warrant for the Facebook accounts of Dylan Hen- ke and Haley Maren. He received the files from Facebook on February 14, 2019. Jacobs, in the affidavit, states "Notably the only information shared between the Dylan Hen- ke and Haley Maren accounts was of pornography, both child and adult, and no text; all other users' conversations that interact- ed with the Haley Maren account included text." He went onto say, "This indicated that the account was used solely as a layer of pro- tection from other users discover- ing the true identity of the user." It also states, "The use of the Haley Maren account appears to be based solely around engaging males from age 15 -22 and entic- ing them to send images of their genitalia. The user of the account was successful in getting five sep- arate users to do so and attempt- ed another four users in the two- Henke charged with four felony counts of child pornography By Dennis Marshall The Pike County School Board held a special meeting on Monday, July 29. The board tabled a discussion after a rec- ommendation from Pike County School Corporation Superintendent Suzanne Blake to increase elementary and middle librarians, building level computer techs and reading interventionists to 35 hours per week and high school remediation aides, Title 1 classroom assistants, special educa- tion classroom assistants and remediation classroom assistants to 31 hours per week. The increase in hours would make all the previously listed positions available for in- surance. Blake said prior to 2014, when the district reduced hours, all assistants were getting 31.25 hours per week and computer techs were at 35 or more because they were eli- gible for benefits at that time. "This should allow more time for them to be working directly with students," Blake said. "In some cases, we are losing aids for other positions where they are offered in- surance. Hopefully, this will help us retain some of the employees that we might oth- erwise lose." The board ultimately decided to table the discussion until the full board could be present to vote. The board also approved a new In-Sea- son/Out-of-Season Insubordination Proto- col for coaches. "This is something our athletic director wanted to put into writing," Blake said. "It's the disciplinary process, if needed, for any coaching situations; in specific, address- School board has final meeting before school year begins By Andy Heuring Petersburg's City Council was told they may need an emergency meeting to build a water line to a prospective development proj- ect. They also mulled over options on what to do about Walnut Hills Cemetery during their Monday night meeting. Mayor R.C. Klipsch told the council they may need to have a special meeting on August 9. "All of the projects that hap- pen through EDC (Economic Develop- ment Council) are highly confidential," said Klipsch. He explained the EDC is working with a prospect considering Pike County. "One of the first questions we get is about utility capacity. Klipsch said the project is dependent on water availability. He said Monday night he was waiting on a phone call about the proj- ect. "A lot of these are maybes, but this one could very well happen. It probably will hap- pen" said Klipsch. He said it will require a lot of water. Klipsch said Petersburg has plenty of wa- ter available, but they will need to build a new water main to supply the project if Pike County is selected. "This will be happening fast. They want to have it up and running by the end of the year. He warned Petersburg's water board, "Just so you know, this committee will serve as the request for proposal committee." He said if it moves forward, they would need a special meeting on August 9, then they would advertise their request for bids and then open the bids on August 27. "That is really all I can say about it right now," said Klipsch. Another topic facing Petersburg is main- Game time at the Mosquito Fest Kids' games, like this egg toss, kept a small army of local kids entertained at the Mosquito Fest Saturday. Events in- cluded a wiffleball tourney, sack races and more for kids of all ages, a stationary parade, flower show and quilt show. See additional photos on page A-4. By Andy Heuring Quick action by an adult swimmer and lifeguard turned a serious situation into a close call instead of a tragedy at Prides Creek Beach last weekend. Saturday afternoon, an 11-year-old boy yelled for help as he went underwater. Prides Creek Manager Brandon Schul- theis said the boy had been out to the div- ing platform and was swimming back to- ward the beach. As he got to the first set of ropes, he yelled for help and went un- derwater. A Winslow woman, who only gave author- ities her first name, Diane, was nearby and grabbed him. Beach Manager Natalie Bohnert said, "He went under right next to her. She pulled him up and started hollering for me. I ran in and helped her get him out. A fter we car- ried him up, he was kind of out of it, but he said a few words before the ambulance crew arrived." Bohnert said he was breathing and had a pulse, but not responding. She said Di- ane tried to wake him up, but wasn't able to. Bohnert, a 2019 Pike Central graduate, has been a lifeguard for the past two years. She said this is the first time she has had to deal with such a serious situation. "Just ev- ery now and then someone will need help, but nothing like that before." "She did a good job. She stayed calm and did her job," said Schultheis of Bohnert. Quick action saves boy from drowning at Prides Creek Back to School registration Pike Central Key Club members Grace Brandle, Shelby Ridao and Makayla Stanley color while waiting for fellow Charger students to arrive for registration on Friday, Aug. 2. The trio volunteered their time to greet and help students with any questions they might have about high school. Petersburg prepares for pending development project By Andy Heuring A former Petersburg man was sentenced in Pike Circuit Court on a charge of crimi- nal deviate conduct, a class B felony. "Handsome Mick" Rowe, 51, of Evans- ville, received a 16 -year sentence Tuesday morning. Rowe, in July, agreed to plead guilty to the class B felony. Two class A felony charg- es of child molesting and criminal deviate conduct resulting in serious bodily injury were dismissed with prejudice. During the brief sentencing hearing Tuesday, Rowe's attorney, Doug Walton, raised two questions about the pre-sen- tence report. Walton said the pre-sentenc- ing report used the date of October 1, 2006, on the criminal deviate conduct charge. But that victim had turned 18 about two months prior to that. He said the prosecutor's orig- inal date of the charge was listed as "mid- to-late 2006." "We will use the prosecutor's date," said Mick Rowe sentenced to 16 years for criminal deviate conduct