The Press-Dispatch
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Local ����������� A1-8 East Gibson ���� A7 Sports ��������� B1-5 Opinion ������� B4-5 School ����������� B6 Classifieds ��B7-12 Church �������� C1-3 Home Life ��� C4-7 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, February 26, 2020 Volume 150 Number 9 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Three sections 28 pages Four inserts See BREAK on page 2 See PATHWAYS on page 4 See MASON on page 2 Toddler injured, charges pending against father A four-year-old girl suffered a laceration to her face when she was partially ejected from a mini-van, as it went off Highway 356 at the overpass with I-69. Aliah Postin, 4, of Petersburg, suffered a "severe laceration" on her face in the crash. Gabriel Postin, 30, of 406 S. Fourth St., Petersburg, was driving a 2002 Chrysler min- ivan west on Highway 356 and ran off the highway just before the overpass. The van then went over the abutment and crashed on the northbound lane of I-69, hitting the guardrail and coming to rest facing east on I-69. Postin complained of arm pain and believed his arm was broken. Deputy Collier said he could smell the odor of burnt marijuana coming from Postin when he talked to him. He passed a breath test, but failed field sobriety tests. Both Postin and his daughter were taken to St. Vincent Hospital in Evansville. A blood test at the hospital showed Postin tested positive for marijuana, benzodiazepines and buprenorphine. Charges are pending against Postin follwing futher investgation. The crash happened at 9:43 a.m. Sunday at the 48-mile marker. The mini-van was a total loss. By Andy Heuring A boil order for some Peters- burg water customers was lifted Tuesday morning after a weekend waterline break. A 12-inch waterline burst at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of Lakeview Drive and Highway 57 and sprayed wa- ter high in the air. Because of low temperatures in the low 20s, it al- so created an icy driving hazard. Petersburg City Services Man- ager Ross Elmore said the line break drained the water tower on the north side of Petersburg quickly. So customers on the north side lost pressure early. "We were able to get things valved off and then start pumping water to the Hornady Park tower before we lost pressure on that side of town," said Elmore. While they were working on the Highway 57 break, Elmore said a motorist stopped and told him there was another break on Highway 356, also near Lakev- iew Drive. He said INDOT brought salt and spread it along both sections of road to prevent it from freez- ing. On Highway 57, the water ran Major water line failure causes boil order By Andy Heuring Pike Central mourned the death of teacher Ivan Mason and celebrated his life during a cere- mony in the Pike Central Gymna- sium, that was attended by more than 300 people on Monday. On Sunday, about 1,500 people attended the visitation that was al- so at Pike Central. Mason taught school in Pike County since 1986. He was in his 40th year with the corporation. Much of that was at Winslow Ele- mentary School. Then four years ago, he moved to the Pike Central Middle School, where he taught sixth grade social studies. Mason's death caught the school and community by sur- prise. "He kept score Tuesday night and was at school on Wednesday with a smile on his face. I remem- ber telling him goodnight and hope you have a good evening," said Pike Central Middle School principal Mindy Keeker. Keeker said, "Mr. Mason was always one of the first people to get to school. It was just anoth- er example of how dedicated of a teacher he was. When he didn't arrive Thursday, we started mak- ing phone calls to check on him. When we weren't able to get a hold of him, we start- ed contacting family to see if they had heard from him." She said fam- ily members called and told them he had died. "Thursday morning, when we first learned he had passed, it was unexpected, everyone was in shock," said Pike County School superintendent Dr. Suzanne Blake. "We were making sure we had all the appropriate resources in place. It was going to affect staff and students." Blake said when they learned the funeral was planned for Mon- day, she talked to the school board, telling them it might be a good idea to cancel school on Monday. "We knew there were a lot of staff who wanted to attend. In or- der to allow all the teachers and aids to attend, we felt like it would be a struggle to get enough sub- School closes as friends mourn loss of Ivan Mason Ivan Mason The Sixth Annual Polar Plunge in Petersburg is set for noon Sat- urday, February 29 at Prides Creek Beach. This year's Plunge is the by far the biggest so far. Francie Smith, of Special Olym- pics Indiana, said more than 200 people have already registered on- line for the event. People can reg- ister online at polarplungeIN.org or the day of the event at Prides Creek from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on the beach. Plungers need to raise $75 in donations to take part. Those not wanting to plunge into Prides Creek on a February afternoon can participate by attending the A fter Splash Bash at the Gospel Center Activities Center on Illi- nois St. in Petersburg. The Polar Plunge benefits Indi- ana Special Olympics. Polar Plunge Saturday at Prides Creek By Andy Heuring Nine people escaped a fast- moving fire early Monday morn- ing near the community of Scotts- burg. The house was located at 828 S. CR 300 E., Oakland City, and was owned by Stanley and Tri- sha Smith. Spurgeon Fire Chief Donnie Pancake said four adults and five children of unknown ages lived in the residence. The fire was re- ported at about 3 a.m. Pancake said Trisha was still up and no- ticed something. She went to an attic ladder and pulled the lad- der down. When she did, she saw smoke. The family was able to get out of the two-story residence. They were able to save little or nothing from the house. They lost a pet cat in the fire. "Smith said his wallet and cellphone were still in the house," said Pancake. He said when firemen arrived at the residence, it was fully en- gulfed. Flames soared into the night sky from the house, which was believed to be 100 years old. Firemen from Spurgeon, Pato- ka and Lockhart fire departments helped battle the blaze. Pancake said because of the re- mote location, they had to use a series of tankers to haul water to scene. "We put about 39,000 gal- lons of water on it," said Pancake. Crews were at the scene until after 8 a.m. on Monday. Pancake said they don't know the cause of the fire other than it is believed to have started in the attic. A Go Fund Me page has been set up for the family at https:// bit.ly/2w2dJQC. Family of nine escapes fast-burning house fire By Andy Heuring Pike Central freshmen are go- ing to have a lot more pathways to a diploma than their fellow upper- classmen, as big changes in grad- uation requirements are chang- ing. Pike Central High School Prin- cipal Brian Holland and Guid- ance Counselor Karen Richeson said for the top students little will change. But for those who don't pass the ISTEP test as a sopho- more, a lot is changing. Holland said for the past 20 years or so, all sophomores took the ISTEP test. If they passed, everything was fine. However, if they didn't pass the ISTEP as sophomores they had to start remediation and take a GQE or Graduation Qualifying Exam. Holland said typically they would have 50 to 70 students taking the GQE spread over a couple of grades. This is changing. Students no longer had to pass the GQE. Now they are being offered "Path- ways." Holland and Richeson ex- plained there are numerous path- ways, or groups of classes, in CTE (Career and Technical Edu- cation.) It used to be called voca- tional skills. Some of the pathways being of- fered at Pike Central include: Ag- riculture, Business and Market- ing, STEM Information Technol- ogy, STEM Engineering, Health Sciences, Manufacturing and Lo- gistics (Machine Tech and Weld- ing), Public Safety (Criminal jus- tice, fire and rescue, EMT Para- medic), Architecture and Con- struction and, new for next year, Fire Sciences. Students will be required to take at least two years or two blocks of a pathway. Consequent- ly they need to start early, decid- ing what area they want to pursue. "We know kids aren't going to decide what they are going to do for the rest of their lives when they are freshmen," said Holland. However he said they need to start thinking about what they are good at, and what they enjoy, so they can select a pathway they want to choose. Much of every student's sched- ule is locked in with required classes. Those requirements in- clude Physical Education, Biol- ogy, Algebra and English 9 as New pathways available for PC students to graduate Firemen battle a raging inferno that destroyed Stanley and Trisha Smith's house early Monday morning. All nine people who lived in the house on CR300E, near Scottsburg, were able to escape the fast moving fire.