The Press-Dispatch
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Local ����������A1-12 Sports ��������� B1-7 Classifieds ��B8-10 East Gibson ���B11 Church �������� C1-3 Home Life ��� C4-7 Obituaries ������ C7 Opinion ������� C8-9 School �����C10-11 History ����������C12 WHAT'S INSIDE: Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Fax: ��������������������������812-354-2014 E-Mail ����editor@pressdispatch�net NEWS TIPS: PIKE PUBLISHING Wednesday, January 29, 2020 Volume 150 Number 5 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Three sections 36 pages Six inserts See FLU on page 4 Mills honored for life-saving actions By Andy Heuring The City of Petersburg honored city Po- liceman Kyle Mills for his fast reactions in helping save Tammy Holman's life in De- cember. Cpl. Mills said he was, "just in the right place at the right time," of the incident. He was sitting along Illinois St. when Hol- man, who had gotten choked while driving, stopped and got out of her car, fearing she was going to lose consciousness. Wright was able to do the Heimlich maneuver and free what was choking Holman. "It was so scary. All I could really think was about my grandkids and Christmas. I have my daughter here from California and my newborn grandson. I thought 'oh my gosh, I'm going to die and not get to see my kids at Christmas,'" said Holman. Petersburg Mayor R.C. Klipsch present- ed the award to Mills at last Tuesday's City Council meeting. "Through his training and dedication of service, Kyle is an example to the City of Petersburg," said Police Chief Chuck Baumgart. OTHER BUSINESS Mayor Klipsch updated councilmen about Trafzer St. At the last meeting, he said the Indiana Department of Transpor- tation had asked the city to consider hav- ing a barricade put up at the intersection of Trafzer St. and Highway 61. INDOT is in the process of finalizing the design of a project that will reconstruct Highway 61 from its intersection of Highway 57 to the White River. Part of that includes sidewalks and curbs for the length of the project. Klipsch said INDOT is going to be put- ting retaining walls along both sides of Trafzer St. at Highway 61. They said it will be dangerous because the walls will restrict a motorist's view even more as they are try- ing to pull from Trafzer onto Highway 61. Klipsch said when he was talking with res- idents along Trafzer St., they warned him as he was backing onto Trafzer from their driveway it was nearly a blind view from both directions. He said because it is a steep hill to the east and the embankments to the west, you can't see either direction. "This is probably something we should have addressed before now," said Klipsch. Councilman John Melhiser said he want- ed to see a design for the walls and barri- cade INDOT is proposing to put in place. He also wanted to know who was going to be paying for the barricade. Councilmen didn't take action on the project, but agreed to get more informa- tion from INDOT for their next meeting. Councilmen also opened bids for the street paving projects they submitted last August. Petersburg was selected for a grant of about $250,000. They received three bids on the projects. Those bids were Cal- car Paving of Jasper for $126,474.06, JH Ru- dolph of Tell City for $218,177.02 and E&B Paving of Bloomington for $205,966.30. The bids were taken under advisement by the council. Klipsch said the city will re- view the bids and he hopes to award a con- tract at the next meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, February 3. See RIGHTS on page 4 By Andy Heuring A gun rights advocacy group quickly formed in Pike County after several bills have been proposed in the Indiana Senate to restrict guns rights. Some of the pro- posed bills call for confiscation of certain weapons. Andrew Porter, a resident of Pike Coun- ty, said the movement was started in Pike County on January 16, when he and some others saw a state-wide movement being started to establish 2nd Amendment Sanc- tuary groups in each of Indiana's 92 coun- ties. Porter said he and Jacob Russell decid- ed to step up and form the local group. The group is concerned about several new leg- islations proposed in the Indiana Legisla- ture to create restrictive gun laws. Porter highlighted a couple of the pro- posed laws. He said they are going to make it illegal to possess many weapons people already own. "Basically, anything that was affected by Hillary's ban that was repealed back in the 1990s will be illegal to own," said Porter. He said other new bills will put restric- tions on how gun dealers can store firearms that are so strict, it will make it next to im- possible to comply and stay in business. "It will destroy anyone who has a federal fire- arms license," said Porter. Porter said the group expanded quickly from its start on Thursday, January 16. By the Pike County Commissioners' meeting on Monday, January 20, Porter said it had grown to nearly 400 members. Last week, it was at 430 on Thursday and on Tuesday, January 28, that number was up to 530 members. Porter said, overall, he was pleased with the Pike County Commissioners' response. He asked them to adopt a sanctuary ordi- nance in Pike County to protect county res- idents from the proposed state laws. He said it is the hope of the group that each of Indiana's 92 counties will adopt sanctu- ary ordinances. He said the main purpose of the group is to show the commissioners the community supports preventing new gun laws. He said the group hopes to have a strong showing at the next commission- ers' meeting set for 10 :30 a.m. Friday, Feb- Gun rights advocacy group forming By Andy Heuring 'Tis the season. No not Christmas. The runny nose, coughing, fever and chills, up- set stomach season. Flu season is in full bloom in Pike County and southern Indi- ana. Pike County Schools Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Blake said it is starting to have a significant affect on their attendance. It is hitting especially hard at Pike Central, where they decided to call off two sport- ing events set for Tuesday and Wednesday. The Pike Central junior varsity game with Tecumseh has been cancelled because of the number of girls ill. The Chargers' swim meet with Mater Dei on Wednesday was al- so cancelled. Charger head coach Travis Cochren said as of Tuesday, he only had 11 of 21 boys and girls available for the swim meet due to illness or appointments. School-wide on Monday, there was a 90.5 percent attendance rate. Petersburg had just 7.1 percent of their students absent, while Winslow Elementary School was at 9.2. But that increased to 10.7 percent at Pike Central Middle School and 11 percent at the high school. Dr. Blake said those numbers are just those absent due to illness. However on Tuesday, that took a dramat- ic increase. Pike Central High School had 23 percent absent on Tuesday and 15 per- cent absent in the middle school. Peters- burg jumped from 4.2 percent to 11.3 per- cent absent, while Winslow stayed fairly level at just a 0.3 percent increase to 9.6 percent absent. Blake said there isn't a hard and set num- ber for them to decide to cancel school. "I think to some extent, it is whatever is the best call for the school. We are required to report it to the state if it drops below 80 percent. We aren't quite there," said Blake. However, she said having an attendance rate of only 90 percent is unusual for Pike County Schools. She said if they drop into the low 80s or below 80 percent, they will start to look at their options. "We are definitely seeing an uptick of flu positives in our practices. It is affect- ing all ages and we are getting a lot of kids with it," said Pike County Health Officer Nathanial Grow. He urged people to practice the basic prevention methods of frequently wash- ing hands, and if you start having symp- toms, stay at home, and when coughing, cover your mouth. Grow suggested keeping kids home at least 48 hours after having a fever. He said if someone has a fever of between 100.5 to 101, they should stay home from work and or school. He said the typical symptoms of this year's flu is coughing, body aches and pains, fever and chills. He said some, es- pecially kids, are having vomiting. "Seems like most people are having the respirato- ry symptoms." Grow said they have been seeing some flu viruses for several weeks, but it has re- ally picked up in the last two weeks. One note of good news is so far Grow said he has not had a patient who got a flu shot come in with the flu. He said earlier this year, there were some reports the flu Flu virus hitting Pike Central hard By Andy Heuring The deadline is quickly approaching for candidates wishing to run for office this year. Statewide the deadline is noon on Fri- day, February 7. So far in Pike County over the last two weeks, Richard Williams is the only per- son to file for county-wide office. Williams is seeking re-election as County Surveyor. Susan Brittain is currently the only non- incumbent in Pike County to file for a coun- ty-wide position. Brittain has filed for Coun- ty Treasurer, a position that is open due to Marta Query reaching the term limits. Other incumbents to file so far locally are all three county councilmen: Democrat Todd Meadors and Republicans Greg Wil- lis and Dennis Bishop. Both Republican Commissioners Ryan Coleman, Dist. 3 and Jeff Nelson, Dist 1 have filed. Incumbent County Clerk Lana Griffith, a Republican, is seeking a second term. Two people have filed for Coroner. Repub- lican Ray Brooks filed last week and Dem- ocrat Nick Henson have both filed. They are seeking the open seat currently held by Gretchen Harris. She also is in the last year of her second term, which is the state term limit. At the state level, a couple of races are starting to form. In State Representative District 75, Dem- ocrat John Hurley has filed and on Tuesday. Republican Rick Martin announced he is filing. District 75 includes several precincts in Pike County. District 63 incumbent Republican Shane Lindauer has filed to seek re-election. Cur- rently he is unopposed. In District 64, which has three precincts in Pike County, incumbent Republican Matt Hostettler is seeking re-election. He is be- ing challenged by Democrat Ian R. Gam- roth. More candidates file for election as deadline approaches Otwell Flea Market packs them in Randy Schaefer of Ferdinand looks through one of many tables of items for sale at the Otwell flea market. Schae- fer said he was mostly trying to find something tractor-related. They also had a breakfast and lunch at the Communi- ty Center to go with the Flea Market on Saturday. Petersburg Police Cpl. Kyle Mills received a Life Saver Award from the City of Petersburg. It was presented to him last Tuesday by Mayor R. C. Klipsch. Cpl. Mills was running radar when Susan Holman got choked while driving and saw him parked along side the road. She stopped next to Mills' patrol car and got out and he was able to do the Heimlich maneuver to free what was choking her.