The Press-Dispatch
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Local ��������������������A1-12 Classifieds ���������� A10-11 Church �������������������B1-3 Home Life ��������������B4-6 East Gibson ���������������B6 Obituaries �����������������B7 Opinion ������������������B8-9 Sports �����������������������B9 History ��������������������B10 WHAT'S INSIDE: Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Fax: ��������������������������812-354-2014 E-Mail ����editor@pressdispatch�net NEWS TIPS: PIKE PUBLISHING Wednesday, June 3, 2020 Volume 150 Number 23 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Three sections 30 pages Three inserts See COUNCIL on page 2 See REPORT on page 5 See UPDATES on page 2 Tornado victims remembered on 30th anniversary Petersburg Mayor R. C. Klipsch places a wreath next to the monument honoring the seven victims of the June 2, 1990 tornado. Klipsch placed the wreath Tuesday morning, which is the 30th anniversary of the F4 tornado that de- stroyed 114 homes, caused major damage to 99 more and minor damage to another 179. See pages A-6 through A-8 for more stories about it. Rides still scheduled; local music to highlight stage By Andy Heuring The Buffalo Trace Festival, set for Oc- tober 16 and 17, is on until further notice. Petersburg Mayor R. C. Klipsch made the announcement Monday at the city council meeting. He said having moved it from September to October had helped to give them more time not only to organize it, but also to have a better understanding of the pandemic. "The Buffalo Trace Festival is not be- ing called off," said Klipsch. "It is still far enough out, we don't have to make a deter- mination now." He said he has contacted their ride oper- ator, who told him the Petersburg festival would be their last festival of the year. He said the ride operator is planning on start- ing up operations at festivals in Indiana be- ginning on July 4. "At this point, it is not necessary to call it off. We might have to at some point. We have not started on fundraising yet this year. I'm not worried about that. We are going to go with more local entertainment this year, so that will reduce our costs," said Klipsch. Klipsch said after four years of experi- ence organizing the event, "We can throw this together in a couple of months." He added he liked the later date because it made it more of a fall event than the date in September. In water and sewer related business, Klipsch said their claims for this month had a $423,000 bill for construction of the wa- terline to River Birch Farms and hog genet- ics facility, located southwest of Pike Cen- tral on Bowman Family Holdings proper- ty. Klipsch said Petersburg would be reim- bursed for it by the county. He said River Birch now has animals on site and are using about 30,000 gallons of water a day. That amount is expected to increase to near- ly 60,000 gallons a day and in the future, with other businesses in the area, it may increase to nearly 100,000 gallons a day. City Councilmen voted 4-0 to establish an industrial water rate of $ 3 per 1,000 gal- Buffalo Trace Fest still tentatively set for Oct. 16-17 improvement Summer Home SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE SEE PAGE A-9 1990 Petersburg TORNADO SEE PAGE A-9 SEE PAGE A-6 30TH ANNIVERSARY By Andy Heuring Pike County has had no new cases of COVID for nine days. As of Tuesday, they only had six con- firmed cases. Pike County Health Nurse Amy Gladish said five of those cases have recovered and none of them have been hospital- ized. Pike County continues to have the least amount of cases in Indiana. The nine days without a new case is despite increased test- ing. As of Tuesday, there had been 193 people tested. The next closest is Union Coun- ty with nine cases. Southwest Indiana has some of the lowest totals in Indiana. Gibson County has only 17 cas- es, Posey County 16 and Knox County 29. Dubois County, as of 8 a.m. on June 1, had 204 cas- es, with two new cases. The Du- bois County Health Dept. said 71 of their 204 cases are recovered. There have been three deaths in Dubois County and 1,417 people tested. Indiana, as a whole, appears to be on the downside of the curve. The first case in Indiana was on March 14. It quickly jumped to 303 reported on March 26 and peaked at 950 new cases on April 26. That number has steadily de- creased to 290 cases on May 31. June 1 had a slight increase to 427. The death rate also has con- tinued to decrease. The first death in Indiana was reported on March 15. That number steadily increased until it reached a peak of 50 new deaths on April 22. Then it began to fall, with some up and downs, but steadily declining. On May 16, there were 28 new deaths and 14 or less deaths since May 28. Gladish said Indiana's avail- ability of ventilators and intensive care beds remains in good shape. As of June 1, there were only 4.6 of the state's 3,052 ventilators in use for COVID-19 and only 14 percent of Indiana's 2,555 ICU beds in use. Ventilator and ICU bed avail- ability were two factors the state's Stay-at-Home order was designed to control. Indiana has had 2,022 deaths due to COVID-19, with 35,237 people testing positive for it out of the 257,919 people who have been tested in Indiana. No new COVID-19 cases in Pike Co. By Andy Heuring Pike County Commissioners got an update on Prides Creek Park, as well as the Economic De- velopment Corp. and Soil and Wa- ter Conservation District during their Monday morning meeting. Prides Creek Manager Bran- don Schultheis told the commis- sioners they were getting ready to make several improvements this year. Those include two new shower facilities. Schultheis said they would be adding a four-room, family-style shower house next to the original shower house. Once the new one is completed, the old one will be removed. He said they will also add a new two-room, family-style show- er house in the temporary camp- sites on the backside of the park. Other improvements include re- paving the current tennis and bas- ketball courts, and adding a new basketball court in the temporary camp area. Schultheis said the park lost about $45,000 of revenue during the time they were closed due to COVID-19. He said they were planning to Commissioners updated on Prides Creek, Economic Development, SWCD status Report exonerates Collier in Faries shooting By Andy Heuring The Pike County Prosecutor's Office has issued a seven-page report of findings in the fatal shooting of Michael Faries. A let- ter accompanying the report that looked at body camera video, 911 tapes, transcripts of officer interviews, scene photos, police reports and other evidence states: "The re- ports, interviews, photos, transcripts, and body camera footage were diligently re- viewed and support a finding that Deputy Paul Collier acted reasonably and within his duties as law enforcement." The report, authored by Deputy Pros- ecutor Sarah Christianson, goes over nu- merous points of its investigation and sum- marizing each. It also included a four-page letter from Prosecutor Darin McDonald to the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Coun- cil excoriating public releases of informa- tion about the shooting by the Indiana State Police. It also states: No criminal charges will be filed as a result of Mr. Faries' death." It continues, "The totality of the circum- stances show Deputy Collier fired his weap- on on a reasonable belief that it was neces- sary to prevent Michael Faries from caus- ing serious bodily injury to Deputy Collier, Officer Mills or Paula Faries." The fact finding part of the investigation shows that Faries called 911 on May 3 and Cradle to Crayons Preschool reopens Tom Willis holds his daughter, Elaina Belle, while her big sister, Avi Pearl, washes her hands before going in the preschool. Maria Manges said she built the rainbow-colored wash- ing station over the weekend so the kids would have a bright and cheery washing station. Manges said she was glad to reopen. Many of her parents were working from home for the last 10 weeks and watching their kids at the same time. "It will be a transition for the kids. I'm sure they will be pretty fussy today," said Manges.