The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1158320
A-2 Front Wednesday, August 21, 2019 The Press-Dispatch We're not afraid to shed some light on the truth. Subscribe Today! 812-354-8500 FESTS Continued from page 1 2019 COACHMEN SPIRIT SPECIAL $19,999 1943RB MSRP $32,564 2020 CHEROKEE SPECIAL $21,985 264DBH MSRP $33,141 2019 WOLF PUP SPECIAL $13,582 16FQ MSRP $22,155 MOBILE SERVICE AVAILABLE! $15,995 2019 SPRINGDALE MSRP $19,628 260BH SPECIAL 285 W. Main St., Petersburg, IN 47567 • www.AmericanRVCenter.com 812-354-1000 Grand Opening Deals! PROJECT Continued from page 1 "County isn't giving up any existing taxes, just new investments," said Wheat- ley. On real property, it will start with paying no proper- ty taxes the first year, then 10 percent the second year and each year after, it will increase by 10 percent. Per- sonal property will increase by 20 percent each year over five years. Petersburg Mayor R.C. Klipsch said Petersburg is in the process of building a new water treatment plant. "We have the oldest plant in the state." He said the rev- enue generated by the in- creased water sales to this project would help keep Pe- tersburg's rates low. In other business, the commissioners approved rates for the EMS services. EMS Director Chris Young said they had not changed their rates since 2012. The proposed chang- es will change the rate from $ 300 to $400 for a BL S non- emergency run. BL S emer- gency run from $500 to $550 ; AL S non-emergen- cy run will be $ 600 ; AL S 1 will increase from $ 625 to $750 ; and AL S 2 from $750 to $1,000. Two new charges are be- ing added for BL S and AL S refusals. It previously was no charge, but now $150 for BL S and $ 300 for AL S refus- als will be charged. Young said Pike County's charges are still lower than most of the counties around. A chart showed charges for a BL S emergency run be- ing $553 in Dubois and up to $1,266 in Perry County. AL S 1 and 2 runs in Dubois are $ 805 and $ 984, but ranged up to $2,062 in Scott Town- ship of Vanderburgh Coun- ty. The rate increases were approved by a 3-0 vote and took effect the next day. In other business, High- way Superintendent Roger Ham told the commission- ers the Indiana Department of Transportation will be re- habbing a bridge on High- way 64 in Dubois County. However, he said the unoffi- cial detour will actually run through Pike County. It will use CR 100 E. to go north about one mile, then turn on CR 725 S. to go east into Dubois County and back out to Highway 64. "I don't know of another way around it," said Ham. He said INDOT had not given him a date for when the project will start, but when it does, Highway 64 will be closed. Ham also told the com- missioners they had a pump go out on the county's pav- ing machine and it might be down for a few days. The next commission- ers' meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sep- tember 3. frozen "I chilled out at the Winslow Community Festi- val" T-shirt. The contestant who thaws and puts on the T-shirt wins. The Petersburg Buffalo Trace Festival is set for Sep- tember 27 and 28. It features free carnival rides and free musical en- tertainment, including the Grammy-winning Parmalee, and fireworks. Other bands include' Joe Nobody, Vessyll with Adam Houchins and Co., Rodney Watts Band, The Brick Briscoe IV, Amer- ican Pie Unplugged, Eclec- tic Drive and Eighty-Sixt. The festival will again be on Main St., Petersburg, be- tween Ninth and Fourth sts. Other events will include a 5 -K run Saturday morning, Miss Buffalo Trace, Little Miss, Junior Miss and Teen Miss pageants, a cruise-in, a co-ed softball tourney, dog show and bed races. By Andy Heuring A rural Winslow man was arrested after police re- ceived a report of threaten- ing texts. David Wilson, 46, of 6727 E. CR 250 S., Winslow, was arrested Friday morning on charges of intimidation with a deadly weapon, a level 5 fel- ony, and driving while a ha- bitual traffic violator, a lev- el 6 felony. Pike County Deputy Sher- iff Brad Jenkins said An- drew Carrico called police and reported he had been receiving texts from Wil- son that threated to shoot him and others. Jenkins said Carrico, two days earlier, had gone to Wilson's residence after Wilson asked him to take his guns because he was afraid he was going to hurt himself or someone else. Carrico said Friday morn- ing he got a text from Wil- son that said he had anoth- er gun, and he was going to Winslow and kill other peo- ple, and then come to Carri- co's house and kill him. Deputy Jenkins said he went to near Carrico's res- idence and located Wilson driving a Jeep Liberty. Jen- kins said he stopped Wil- son and could smell a strong odor of alcohol and saw a ri- fle between the front seats. He had Wilson get out of the Jeep and removed the .22 caliber rifle, which was loaded. Deputy Jenkins said there was also a box of .22 shells in the passenger's seat. According to Jenkins' re- port, Wilson began to cry and said he needed help. He was taken to the Pike County Jail, where a porta- ble breath test showed he had a blood alcohol level of 0.2 percent. A license check showed Wilson was a convicted traf- fic violator. David Wilson arrested on intimidation charges A rural Petersburg man was arrested on meth charg- es after police stopped him while he was riding a moped. Bart A. Jenkins, 50, of 1008 W. CR 350 N., Peters- burg, was stopped at 5:44 p.m. Friday by Petersburg Officer Bryce Manning at Fourth and Cedar sts. after he failed to stop for a stop sign at Fourth and Birch Sts. Patrolman Scott Arnold assisted with the stop and said when he checked Jen- kins' driver status, he found Jenkins was a convicted ha- bitual traffic violator for life. According to Patrolman Arnold's report, Jenkins told him he had a small amount of marijuana in his moped and "maybe paraphernalia under the seat." When police searched the moped, they found a bag of a green leafy substance in a clear bag. They also found a glass smoking pipe with a white crystal-like substance in it that field tested positive for methamphetamine and an orange pill. Jenkins said it was a Suboxone pill. He was taken to the Pike County Jail, where he tested preliminarily charged with possession meth, less than five grams, a level 6 felony; habitual traffic violator; pos- session marijuana; posses- sion of paraphernalia; and possession of controlled sub- stance. Traffic stop leads to multiple drug charges Hires new assistant superintendent By Dennis Marshall A fter tabling the issue at a previous meeting, the Pike County School Board voted not to increase the hours of some of the district's em- ployees. In a narrow 3-2 vote at the board's monthly meeting on Monday, Aug. 12, board members voted down a mo- tion to increase elementary and middle school librari- ans, building level comput- er techs and reading inter- ventionists to 35 hours per week and high school reme- diation aides, title one class- room assistants, special edu- cation classroom assistants and remediation classroom assistants to 31 hours per week. 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. The increase in hours would've made some of the previously listed positions available for insurance, would have provided more time for working directly with students and poten- tially helped to avoid losing aids to other positions where they are offered benefits. Board members Chris McKinney, Howard Knight and Forrest Manning voted no, while Chris Satterfield and Steve Porter voted yes. "When it comes down to it, this is something that I want to do," McKinney said. "I think it is something that we can do in the future." Blake informed the board earlier in the meeting that she would be coming to them and asking them to adopt a resolution that would transfer some money into the education fund by the end of the year. "We already know that we are going to have to trans- fer money into that educa- tion fund," McKinney said. "I don't want to build on to something right now, that I don't know the direct impact of the funding." McKinney said the board has an idea on what the in- creases would have cost the district, but there was no way to know the exact amount because they don't know who would accept the insurance and who wouldn't. "I look forward to coming back and reevaluating this next year," McKinney said. In other news, the board did approve hiring Dana Deffendoll as the district's assistant superintendent and director of curriculum and technology. "I thank the board and Mrs. Blake for the opportu- nity to serve my school dis- trict in a position that's been needed for some time," Def- fendoll said. "Having some- one who can focus on grants, new curriculum, alignment, our great new technology venture and all these pos- itive things we have going on will benefit everyone involved because I know there's never enough time for anyone in education to do everything that we want to do. I'm really excited for this upcoming year." The contract length is 240 days per year with an annual salary of $ 85,000. The terms of the contract are valid for three years and under the provision, she pursues com- pletion of the coursework needed for licensure as a superintendent in the State of Indiana. Deffendoll has served as a business teacher at Pike Central High School for the past decade. She will replace Dr. Mike Harding who re- tired from the position sev- eral years ago. OTHER ACTIONS • Approved the 2020 bud- get hearing for Sept. 9, and the estimated bud- get of $28,877,204. • Approved the district's policy, operations and relations updates. Blake said it a was huge accom- plishment to complete the task and thanked the other board members for their patience through- out the process. • Approved all the fun- draiser requests from throughout the district. • Accepted donations of $452.25 from Superi- or Ag Resources Co-op, Inc. to support expens- es and needs throughout the year, and $250 for the Pike Central Preci- sion Machines Program from German Ameri- can. The donation from German American was for participating in the Clean Sweep Program. The board also accepted a $750 donation from the Winslow Aerie Fraternal Order of Eagles, with $250 going to Peters- burg Elementary, $250 to Winslow Elementary and $250 to Pike Central Middle School and Pike Central High School. • Approved the purchase of 12 Ballistiscan devic- es to be used as needed. It was recommended that the Ballistimax features be installed to the exte- rior of the middle school and high school. • Approved a $ 38.91 charge for the basic skills development indepen- dent living skills class. • Approved the varsity cross country team's re- quest for a field trip to Columbus, Ind., on Fri- day, Sept. 6 and Satur- day, Sept. 7 to take part in a cross country invita- tional at Columbus North High School. • Approved the extra-cur- ricular activities spon- sors (non-athletic) for the 2019 -20 school year. School board votes 'no' to increasing staff hours Vincennes man injured in Main St. crash A Vincennes man was injured last Tuesday, August 13 when he drove in front of a southbound semi at the intersection of Highway 356 and Highway 57 in Petersburg. Pike County Deputy Paul Collier said Jeffrey A. Cronin, 32, of Owensboro, Ky., stopped on Highway 356, but didn't see the semi driving south before he pulled out in front of it. The semi was driven by Karl Horton, 27, of Vincennes, and hit the front of Cronin's 2006 GMC Envoy. Horton suffered arm injuries and was taken to the hospital by his employer following the 2:30 p.m. acci- dent. Damage was estimated at between $5,000 and $10,000.