The Press-Dispatch
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Local ����������A1-10 Sports ������������ B1 School �������� B2-3 East Gibson ���� B2 Opinion ������� B4-5 Classifieds ��� B6-8 Church �������� C1-3 Home Life ��� C4-6 Obituaries ������ C7 History ����������� C8 WHAT'S INSIDE: Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Fax: ��������������������������812-354-2014 E-Mail ����editor@pressdispatch�net NEWS TIPS: PIKE PUBLISHING Wednesday, January 1, 2020 Volume 150 Number 1 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Three sections 26 pages Three inserts See WILLIS on page 2 See REVIEW on page 2 See FIRES on page 2 MAY • An RV camper was stolen from John and Mindy Gayhart's Campbelltown resi- dence. Mindy had been at a worksite, where her husband, John, was working on roof- ing project. He asked her to go to the hard- ware store and get something for him. On the way to Petersburg, she noticed an RV in front of her and thought it looked like theirs. When she got back home, their RV was gone. A neighbor saw someone back into the Gayhart's driveway, hook onto the RV and drive away with it. They said they thought the Gayharts might have loaned it to someone. •George Bruce, pastor of House of Mer- cy in Winslow, threw out the first pitch on opening day of Winslow Little League. • Evan Simmons and Ashley Dulworh were named King and Queen of Pike Cen- tral's Prom. • Pike Central's German classes won a category of the Indiana University Ger- man Theater Project for high school for the sixth consecutive year. Their film was enti- tled Recht und Ordnung, which in English is Law and Order. Those working the project were Kristen Jansen, Trenton Mann, Jade Johnson, Caleb Cokerham-Willis and Joey Church. • Aaron Bellamy, 48, of rural Winslow, was arrested on a charge of possession of child pornography. • Pike Central's girls' tennis team beat Heritage Hills to post a 5 -0 record in the Pocket Athletic Conference. It is the most PAC wins in a season for the Lady Char- gers. • The Riley Dance Marathon at Pike Central raised $17,000 for the Herman Wells Research Center, located at the Ri- ley Children's Hospital Campus. • Petersburg Police Cpl. Scott Wright was charged with official misconduct and two counts of theft, all level 6 felonies. • The Pike Central welding team of Swayde Morgan, Nick Werner, Elliott Wise- man, Caleb Edwards and Gage Cummings won first place in the Patoka Valley Voca- tional Cooperative Welding Technology Program over 19 other teams. • Three people were arrested for dealing meth after police said they got information Mary Jo Shalabi had traveled to Louisville to purchase meth and returned to distrib- ute it. Police did a controlled buy from Shal- abi and then got a search warrant for Ed- ward Petry and Cody Hatfield-Lee's apart- ment. Police said they found 5.4 grams of meth. Shalabi, Petry and Hatfield-Lee were all arrested for dealing in meth, a level 5 fel- ony. Makayla Roach was found hiding in the apartment and arrested on a charge of vis- iting a common nuisance. • Jordan Hunt, 28, of Hazelton, was con- victed of killing a domestic animal and do- mestic violence (animal cruelty), both level 6 felonies. But he was acquitted of the most serious charge of intimidation with a dead- Year in Review II: events from May through August By Janice Barniak "'Twas the night before Christ- mas, and at all the sales/The Salva- tion Army volunteers were ringing their bells..." As last-minute shoppers filled their baskets Christmas Eve, closing in on the finish line for gifts, Salvation Ar- my bell ringers were also closing in on their goal, to hit $40,000 for the Pike/Gibson locations this year. While the final kettle count is not yet in, after Christmas Eve, the local non-profit was at $ 36,726 in paper money, which they estimated would be $ 37,500 after coin counts came in—just short of the $40,000 goal. In Pike County, just over $ 6,000 was collected. Bell ringing Chair- man Cal Biddle said they collect- ed $ 6,002.82 in the county. "That is the third-highest amount, which is remarkable since we had one few- er weekend to ring," said Biddle. He added, "thanks for a good year of collections goes to the donors and more than 50 volunteers ringing bells through the Christmas season." He said Cakes and Coffee had the highest amount collected in the ket- tles placed at area businesses. Christmas is one of the busiest sea- sons for the Army, and while volun- teers were needed at the bells, they also had an army of volunteers stock- ing and passing out toys and food to the under-served communities in Pike and Gibson counties. For online shoppers who still want to help the organization meet their goal this year, but whose Amazon habits bypassed the red kettle cam- paign, there is still time to donate to the local Salvation Army at https:// centralusa.salvationarmy.org/princ- eton. Salvation Army local donations are near record By Andy Heuring Three vacant houses caught fire over the last weekend. Two of the structures were de- stroyed. An early Christmas morning fire destroyed a vacant house at the edge of Union. The house was located just north of Union Com- munity Church. Petersburg Fire Chief Ross Elmore said he was one of the first people to arrive and it was fully engulfed when he got there. "It was about 75 percent gone when I got there." He added, it was more a matter or containing it and putting it out rather than trying to save it. Firemen were called out at 1:55 a.m. to the fire. Petersburg was assisted by Hazel- ton and Union. No one was living at the house, but neigh- bors said they had seen people going in and out of the house. Elmore said the State Fire Marshal's Office was trying to locate the owner of the house. Elmore said they thought it was owned by someone from Indianapolis. The cause of the fire was undetermined. Elmore said they hadn't been able to deter- mine if it still had electrical service or not. About two hours later, just before 6 a.m. Christmas morning, firemen were called back to the scene because the roof of anoth- er vacant house next door had caught fire. Elmore said embers from the first house had blown onto the second house and it caught fire while they were battling the first house fire. He said they thought they had put those small fires out, but apparently they re- kindled. He said the second house was dilapidated Three vacant houses burn over weekend Happy New Year! Celebrating Our 150 th Year Serving Pike County Ashley Willis Todd Mosby Ashley Willis named president of So. Ind. EDC Otwell native Mosby also appointed to board By Andy Heuring Pike County's Economic Devel- opment's Executive Director Ash- ley Willis has been appointed to the board of directors of the Indi- ana Economic Development As- sociation and elected president of the South- west Indiana Economic De- velopment As- sociation. She is joined on both of those boards by Pike Coun- ty native Todd Mosby. Mos- by is president and CEO of Perry County Development Corporation. In mid-De- cember, both Willis and Mos- by were ap- pointed to the board of directors of the Indiana Economic Development Associa- tion. Willis will begin her first term on the board on January 1, 2020. Mosby will begin his third term on the board. The IEDA board of directors is made up of a cross-section of active members from various in- dustries. "IEDA leaders have a robust dedication to attracting and retaining jobs for the people of Indiana. Each is committed to strengthening the economic de- velopment profession and sup- porting its professionals," stated an IEDA news release. "Through established relation- ships with state and federal agen- cies, and elected and appointed officials, the IEDA works to in- sure that economic development issues remain at the forefront of Indiana's agenda. IEDA members are dedicated to making broad- band, workforce development and regional development, and work- force housing their priority," stat- ed the IEDA release. Willis said IEDA is a statewide, non-profit organization that works to educate and provide resources for all the local development or- ganizations. They have quarterly or twice-a-year conferences and sometimes bring in site selectors while they are there and market Indiana to them." Florida-like weather for Christmas Elijah Chambers, of Petersburg, plays with a drone Thursday afternoon as temperatures were in the mid-60s for several days, including Christmas. The warm weather allowed kids and adults to get out and play with their new toys. Fire destroys vacant house Area firemen work to extinguish a fire that destroyed a house Saturday night on Highway 257, about two miles south of Highway 56. The unoccupied house at 1509 S. SR 257, Velpen, was owned by Eric Pollock and was being remodeled. Jeffer- son Fire Capt. Doug Mounts said central dispatch got several calls from passersby who saw flames coming from the house at about 6:30 p.m.