The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1228200
Local ����������A1-10 Sports ������������ A7 Classifieds ��� A8-9 Church �������� B1-3 Home Life ��� B4-7 East Gibson ���� B5 Obituaries ������ B7 Opinion ������� B8-9 History ����������B10 WHAT'S INSIDE: Two sections only this edition! Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Fax: ��������������������������812-354-2014 E-Mail ����editor@pressdispatch�net NEWS TIPS: PIKE PUBLISHING Wednesday, April 1, 2020 Volume 150 Number 14 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Two sections 20 pages Four inserts See JACEY on page 2 See COVID-19 on page 10 See ELEARNING on page 2 Innovative social distancing Petersburg Free Methodist pastor Mark Schlechty displays a specially rigged offering basket at his Sunday morning drive-in service on March 29. Rev. Schlechty delivered his message outdoors, and attendees listened to the low-power FM 87.9 broadcast on their car radios. The offering was collected through the car windows by an usher who was able to keep his distance from attendees by using the long-handled basket. By Andy Heuring A vandalism crime wave hit a Petersburg neighborhood Friday night and early Sat- urday. Five juveniles and an adult were arrested in connection with it. The one adult was Sarah Hammock, 24, 609 N. Fifth St., Petersburg. She is charged with two counts of aiding, inducing or caous- ing intitutional criminal mischief, greater than $750 damage, a level 6 felony, aiding criminal mischief, a level 6 felony and cri- inal mischief, a class a misdemeanor. The vandals mostly used a can of black spray paint and sprayed numerous racial epithets, offensive and vulgar drawings or sayings, and KKK on various buildings and signs. Petersburg Cpl. Kyle Mills said he worked a 16 -hour shift investigating the case on Saturday. He said the area affected was from 18th St. to Old Petersburg Gym. Cpl. Mills said the list of the places van- dalized included: Petersburg Elementary School, including a sidewalk, multiple build- ings at the Old Petersburg Gym and soccer field, a school bus, the scoring bench at the soccer field, a handicapped parking space and a stop sign. They also hit a house owned by Eric Pollock at 1601 E. Locust St., and a garage on Highway 356, across from the soccer field. They spray painted the brick wall at Petersburg General Baptist Church and smashed the glass pane out of their bul- letin sign. They also spray painted three cars in the area, ripped up a mailbox and threw it into the road, and slit the tires on two cars. Mills said the slashed tires were at the Hammock residence. "It doesn't make much sense," said Mills. "I believe we found it all," said Cpl. Mills. He said the police posted some of the damage on social media and asked if any- one had tips on it. Within a few hours, he said he got a call from a woman in Knox County. She told police her daughter had seen a post on Snapchat by someone saying they had done some of the damage. Police talked with the woman and her daughter and reviewed the Snapchat post. They then went to the individual who had posted it and questioned that person. Mills said all five suspects except Ham- mock were juveniles and admitted to the vandalism. They face juvenile delinquen- cy charges. "It wasn't planned. They just met up and decided to cause havoc," said Cpl. Mills. Former Pike Central student keeps going in face of pandemic Jacey Fears dreams of acting career while coping with Coronavirus in NYC By Alden Heuring A fter her time in the Pike Central theatre under Vance Hays, Jacey Fears dreamed about appearing on Broadway and finally committed to that dream near the end of her college career. She took on some the- atre internships, moved to Brooklyn in Jan- uary this year, and then Coronavirus hit the state of New York harder than any other in the United States. "I am lucky," Fears said. "I live in a neighborhood where everything is a block away, so I can just walk where I need to go... I haven't been on the subway in about a month." For Fears, the laundromat and the gro- cery store are her main essentials. Other- wise, she is working from home (her day job is a fundraising associate for Green- peace), writing and preparing audition ma- terials as she waits out the pandemic. "The streets are pretty much empty. Any- one you see is wearing masks and gloves... I think it's good that people are taking heed," she said. And despite the fact she's not able to au- dition or perform in person anywhere right now, she's not slowing down when it comes to her stage dream. Technology has been a huge boon for the arts community dur- ing this pandemic, as Fears and many oth- ers are collaborating on livestreamed per- formances over meeting and video sharing apps like Zoom. "Bands have been livestreaming perfor- mances. I have some theater friends who have been doing livestreams so people can perform... People are just finding different ways like that to keep art flowing," she said. "One theater in particular I've been work- ing with is releasing some of their old plays they've produced and giving rights to folks who want to perform it. So we work on it in our own home, then there will be a Zoom conference where people can get on and perform, and watch through the app." Fears and her family, most of which still lives in or near Pike County, are using sim- ilar means to stay in touch. "My dad (Tim Fears) and I text pretty much every day. We will send each other classic rock song titles and then the oth- er person is supposed to respond with the band or singer," she said. "And I call them a lot, and send letters when I can... That's something we're lucky to have, the ability for constant communication." As many sports fans have been doing during the pandemic, the Fears family has also been watching their favorite classic events. For Jacey and her family, the big one was the final game between Duke and Butler. "My family is all Butler fans. That was Five arrested for weekend vandalism spree Jacey Fears Not a snow day School Superintendant stresses students must finish eLearning assignments By Andy Heuring Pike County school students are warned to take eLearning days serious. 'They will get zeros," said Pike County Superinten- dent of Schools Dr. Suzanne Blake on Fri- day about unfinished assignments on eL - earning days. She said eLearning days are not and should not be treated as snow days with no consequences. "This isn't just busy work. We need it, so we can have a grade for these students and they can move on. We have to have something to show how we have been trying to have continuous learning," said Blake. She added, if students are having trouble accessing their lessons or other informa- tion online, they should immediately con- tact their teachers or principal to get help. She said teachers will be available four hours a day on the scheduled eLearning days to answer questions and many are an- swering email continuously. In Pike County, about 30 percent of the households have no or limited online ac- cess. Blake said if the question is phrased, "do they have hotspots or phone access?," that number drops dramatically. "We are offering paper packets to any students who don't have internet access," said Blake. "Our teachers did a good job getting ready for this," said Blake. "Most of our younger students, when they went home, had their assignments for the next two weeks." Parents of students without internet ac- cess can drop those paper homework pack- ets off at any of the schools in Pike Coun- ty. A drop box for assignments has been placed at the front of both Petersburg and Winslow elementary schools, as well as in the commons area behind Pike Central. Homework packets from any of the three schools can be dropped at any of the loca- Petersburg General Baptist pastor Chalmer Burden stands next to a glass door on the church's sign that was bro- ken. There was also spray paint on their brick wall of the church at 16th and Locust sts. It was one of many buildings, signs and other properties vandalized Friday night in Petersburg. No confirmed COVID-19 cases yet in county By Andy Heuring Local officials are urging resi- dents to stay away from other peo- ple, wash their hands often and, if you feel sick, self-isolate. "We still don't have any con- firmed cases. That doesn't mean we don't have any cases, just not positive tests results. It will be a matter of time and we will see our county light up on the map," said Pike County Health Nurse Amy Gladish. Pike County, as of Tuesday, was one of 11 counties in Indiana to not have any confirmed cases. Our immediate neighbors, Da- viess and Martin counties, are the only other two in southwest Indiana to not have any cases yet. (It was incorrectly reported last week that Daviess County had a confirmed case). A map of those counties which have positive tests for COVID-19 is available at in.gov. Gladish said there are a lot of rumors out there about this per- son or that person testing posi- tive. However, she said the Pike County Health Department would be notified promptly if someone from Pike County had tested posi- tive. As of Tuesday night, she had not been notified of anyone. She said it is probably just a matter of time. Indiana as 2,159 confirmed cases and 49 deaths attributed to COVID-19. Indianapolis is by far the hotspot of Indiana. In Marion County, there are 964 cases. Health officials say as testing becomes more available and more people are tested, the numbers will continue to rise. On Tuesday, Governor Eric Holcomb and State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box said they think Indiana is at the start of the surge, but warned we are "nowhere near the peak." Pike County Health Officer Dr. Nathan Grow said about 80 per- cent of the people testing positive for COVID-19 are only experienc- ing minor symptoms. Grow and Gladish said the test- ing is being done through hospi- tals. Gladish said most of the ar- ea hospitals have set up testing and triage centers to deal with this. Grow said this is hitting in the middle of flu, strep and aller- gy season, which all have simi- lar symptoms that can mask CO- VID-19.