The Press-Dispatch
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Local �����A1-12 History �����A11 Sports �����B1-2 Classifieds ��B3-6 Planter�������B7-8 Church ����C1-3 Home Life C4-6 Obituaries ���C7 School C10-11 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, October 30, 2019 Volume 149 Number 45 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Three sections 32 pages Six inserts See FIRE on page 2 See BAND on page 8 See HALLOWEEN on page 2 See ELECTION on page 2 The Press-Dispatch Oc- tober Bargain Period con- tinues through Novem- ber 2. You can save $3 off the price of your yearly subscription, whether it is $33 for both the print + NetEdition, $28 for the print-only subscription or $32 for the NetEdition on- ly version. The office will be open Saturday from 8 to noon. You may call or come by to subscribe or renew. Bargain period ends Saturday Set clocks back one hour Sunday Time changes this weekend. Officially it changes at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 3. Everyone will get one hour of their life back, sort of. It is Fall back time. So when you go to bed Saturday night, set your clock back one hour. By Andy Heuring The Petersburg election is just six days away and has only one contested race featuring Republi- can Tricia Claridge and Democrat Scott Jenkins for the District 3 City Councilman position. (See profiles of each below.) Absentee voting has already begun and will run through Mon- day, November 4, the day before the election. As of Tuesday, there have been 21 people vote absentee in person in the Clerk's office and another 48 have requested ballots by mail. Every registered voter in Peters- burg is eligible to vote in the Dis- trict 3 race being contested in the four Petersburg precincts. The polls for all four precincts will be at the Gospel Center Church gymnasium on Illinois St. Polls open at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, November 5 and close at 6 p.m. The hours to vote absentee in the Clerk's office this last week are 8 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, from noon to 4 p.m. on Friday and from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday and Monday. The other candidates on the bal- lot who are uncontested are: May- or R.C. Klipsch (R); Clerk/Trea- surer Tamra Selby (D); Council At-Large Jody Hoover (D); Coun- cil Dist. 1 Gary Leavitt (R); Coun- cil Dist. 2 John Melhiser (R) and Council District 4 Brian Van Me- ter. DISTRICT 3 CANDIDATES TRICIA CLARIDGE Claridge is the office manager at Foot and Ankle Care of Jasper for Dr. Tim Barry. She has been a nurse and has managed offices for 25 years. Claridge is married to Kent Claridge and they have a son, An- drew, a senior at Pike Central. She attends the Petersburg First United Methodist Church, where she has held several positions. She is also a former 4-H Leader, Brownie Leader, Cub Scout Pack Leader and Cub Master. Claridge graduated from Pike Central and has an associate de- gree in banking and finance, as well as a nursing degree from Vin- cennes University. "I have managed physicians' of- fices for the last 19 years. I have had managed and set budgets. I have worked with regulatory agen- cies on staying in compliance. "I have also managed people and I have hired people. I set up pro- cesses and have set policies and procedures," said Claridge about her work experience. "Life in general is slowing down. I have switched from a very de- manding job to one not so de- manding. My son is a senior. He has joined the Marines and will be leaving and I felt like I will have By Andy Heuring A Winslow family of nine lost their house and everything in it when a fast moving fire destroyed their house at 301 S. Oak St., near the Winslow General Baptist Church. Ronnie and Rita Travis, and their seven children ages 18 to 4, lived there. Rita said her husband, Ronnie, was getting ready to leave for work when she smelled smoke. She said they installed a wood burner two years ago. "My first instinct was my husband or one of the kids had put wood in the wood burner that is located downstairs." She said she walked over and looked up the steps to their upstairs and saw thick smoke, and when she got closer, she saw flames going up the wall in her bedroom. She had six children at home. She immediately started rounding them up and herding them out of the house. "I grabbed my 4 year old in my arms and my six year old by the hand," said Rita. She was downloading pictures from her son's recent deer hunt outing into her laptop, so she got it out as well, but that was all, oth- er than a couple of pictures that were salvaged. "We got all the kids out and we thought we had all of our dogs, but we didn't get one of them." "Thank God all the kids were downstairs," said Rita. "I was in Evansville when we got the call," said Winslow Fire Chief Jason Bottoms. "When I got to Oakland City, I could see an or- ange glow in the sky and I knew we were in trouble," said Bottoms. He said when firemen arrived, the house was fully engulfed. The fire was fast moving and in- tense. Winslow and Patoka Fire De- partments battled the blaze, but within about 25 minutes of the 911 call, the roof had collapsed and fire was raging in every room of the Fire destroys Winslow family's home Petersburg city election is Tuesday; one race in District #3 Halloween fun Bailey Grant, in a robot costume, intently paints a squash. The Pike County 4-H, Cham- ber of Commerce and Pike County Library went together to have a trunk or treat outside and crafts inside. Participants said there were about 400 people who attended the event Monday night the 4-H Fairgrounds. See more photos on A-6. By Andy Heuring Pike Central Marching Band garnered their highest score of the season on Saturday at the In- diana State School Music Associ- ation Scholastic Marching Band state finals in Indianapolis. They placed 13th in the state with the performance. Pike Central band director Chris Ashworth said they didn't place as high as they would have liked, but they were glad to post their best score. "To me it hasn't been about placement, it has always been about improvement," said Ash- worth. "This year our scores were bet- ter than last year. Some were dis- appointed in our placement, but we scored higher this year than last year. They met the goal of getting back to the state finals. I consid- er it a success. We would like to have placed better, but at the end of the day, that doesn't' matter," said Ashworth. He said this year's contest was limited. Due to storms in the ar- ea, the contest was moved inside the gymnasium at Lawrence Cen- tral High School. "We had a weird competition." Because it was indoors, the band just played in place and the flag corps did their routine while standing in place, no dancing or marching. "It wasn't ideal for the state fi- nals. Our students have been working since June and July to per- fect the performance and then we didn't' get to do it." He said they got a phone call at about 8:30 a.m. on Saturday as they were in their bus on the way to the performance when they learned it was being moved inside. Ashworth said they normally are judged in seven categories, but that was reduced to four categories of music individual, music ensem- ble, music effect and visual effect. They had been performing Bent, which musically showed ev- erything bends. He said when they arrived in In- dianapolis, it was pouring rain and they had to get their equipment off the bus. Normally they have Charger Brigade places 13th at State Finals Winslow and Patoka Fire Departments battle a raging fire that destroyed a two-story house on Oak St. in Winslow. It was owned by Ronnie and Rita Travis, who lived there with their seven children. They lost everything in the Monday fire and have no insurance. Halloween activities continue By Andy Heuring Area Halloween activities con- tinue through October 31: • The Winslow Lions Club is sponsoring a costume contest and trunk-or-treat. It starts at 5 p.m. on Thursday, October 31, at the Main St. and Center St. park- ing lot. Categories will be deter- mined by what costumes show up. A trunk or treat will follow the event. • Trick-or-Treat at The Press- Dispatch from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for children in costume. Save $3 on your Press-Dispatch! See page A-4 for full bargain period details. FINAL DAYS! ENDS NOV. 2!