The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1254479
A-2 Front Wednesday, June 3, 2020 The Press-Dispatch SUBSCRIBE TODAY! P ost P ro m Pike Cen tra l T-Shirts PLEASE NOTE: • Students may also want to include a shirt order for their guest, if their guest is not currently a PCHS junior or senior. • If prom would have to be cancelled due to COVID, no refunds will be issued, because the order would already be in progress. Students would still receive their shirt order. Student Post Prom T-shirts will be sold from Monday, June 1 to Friday, June 19. Small-XL are $12 each 2XL to 4XL are $14 each Payment must be made at the time of order. Payment can be made through: PayPal or Venmo to dcbeck08@msn.com. You may also drop payment off at Petersburg Hardware. A form was sent to students' school email or you can order directly from this link: https://forms.gle/ HNq2t8zM9VKmb2TY6 Questions: Please contact Charlotte Beck at dcbeck08@msn.com 8–7 • Monday 8–noon • Tuesday 10–7 • Wednesday 8–5 • Thur. & Fri. Dr. Clint Shoultz 715 S. 9th St., Petersburg 812-354-9400 The Shoultz Eye Care office in now open for routine care and exams! We are following new guidelines set by the Governor's office and Indiana Optometric Association by limiting the number of patients seen to limit patient interaction and to properly sanitize between them. Patients will be required to wear masks into the office. Please bring your own mask or bandana due to limited availability of PPE. Call 812-354-9400 to schedule your appointment! Locally Owned and Operated NOW OPEN FOR ROUTINE EXAMS PRIVATE MEDICAID ROOMS AVAILABLE SOON Call for information 812-354-8833 Enhancing Lives Through Innovative Healthcare From recovery care and wellness to management of long-term health conditions, Golden LivingCenter - Petersburg offers a full spectrum of innovative programs and services, provided by compassionate, dedicated ™ 309 W. Pike Ave., Petersburg COUNCIL Continued from page 1 lons. Councilman John Mel- hiser was not at the meeting. Mayor Klipsch said it is for River Birch Farms and other businesses that locate in the I-69 interchange ar- ea. He said having large water customers will help keep the city's water rates low. In other updates, Klipsch said plans for the future wa- ter and sewer plant systems are pretty much complete, but have been delayed by COVID-19, as Indiana De- partment Environmen- tal Management only had one person working. Pe- tersburg has been wait- ing for their designs to be approved and permitted. Klipsch said he is hopeful this happens fairly soon now that IDEM is working again. He said Petersburg is also in the running for a $4 million grant to help pay for the water plant im- provements. The grant will reduce the amount Peters- burg was expecting to have to fund with a loan. "Everyone I talk to is very positive about this," said Klipsch. The next phone call we get on it will either be to tell us "sorry" or "congratulations." Part of the improvements include a 750,000 -gallon water tower to be built at the top of Half-Mile Hill. Klipsch said he was wor- ried last year they were go- ing to miss an opportunity to get a good bid on the proj- ects. But he said it being de- layed may have benefited Petersburg because firms are needing business now. In other business, Klipsch said their are a couple of dilapidated hous- es the city is going to tear down and clean up. They are located at 508 N. Sev- enth St. and 509 White Riv- er Ave. He said the former Val Fleig building is going to be razed as well, probably in June. Along those lines, he said contractors are tak- ing the lead-based paint off the front of buildings at 606 and 608 Main St. That is supposed to be complet- ed this week. In other updates, Klipsch said the playgrounds are still closed in Hornady Park, but they hope to open the Splash Park after July 4. Monday's meeting was conducted in person, with social distancing. Their next meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 15. By Andy Heuring A 35 -year-old Bicknell man was arrested after he contacted a Petersburg Po- lice decoy, who he thought was a 13-year-old girl, on- line. Jeremy Westfall, 35, of 712 Cleveland St., Bick- nell was arrest- ed on a charge of child so- licitation, less than 16 -years- old, using a comput- er net- work and travels to meet child, a level 4 felony. Petersburg Police Sgt. Chad McClellan said West- fall first contacted Peters- burg Police's decoy at 8 p.m. on March 17. Petersburg Pa- trolman Scott Arnold recog- nized the name from when he was an officer in Bicknell, prior to joining the Peters- burg department. According to a probable cause affidavit, Westfall ac- knowledged the profile he was chatting with online was a 13-year-old girl. One of his messages stated he could get in trouble if she told any- one about him. As they con- tinued to chat over the next few days the affidavit claims Westfall asked for pictures of the girl "in different states of undress" and asked her if she did sexual things. He also asked if he could show her his genitals, if she would touch them and if he could touch hers, according to the affidavit. It also claimed while Westfall was asking the de- coy these questions on May 22, he sent a message say- ing he was driving to Peters- burg and sent her a picture of the water tower. He also said "You sure you're not going to turn me in if we do stuff? " He then sent a picture of the Gil Hodges billboard taken from the Sunoco sta- tion. Officer Arnold saw Westfall there putting gas in his truck and placed him in handcuffs. According to the affidavit, when Patrol- man Arnold asked Westfall if he knew why he was ar- resting him, Westfall said "texting." Jeremy Westfall Bicknell man arrested for child solicitation in Petersburg Dillon Wiscaver charged for sexual misconduct with minor By James Capozella An Otwell teen was arrest- ed on a level 6 felony for sex- ual misconduct with a minor following an investigation by Pike County Sheriff's Depu- ty Brad Jenkins and Peters- burg Police Sergeant Chad McClellan on May 15. Dillon Matthew Wiscaver, 19, of 10450 E. CR 250 N., is being charged with sexu- al misconduct with a minor under age 16 in connection with an incident involving a 14-year-old female. The father and his 14-year-old daughter came to the sheriff's office and ad- vised Deputy Jenkins that he learned his daughter had sex with a someone named Dillon, who he believed to be 19 or 20 years old. Deputy Jenkins spoke with Dillon Wiscaver, of Ot- well, that day and asked him to come to the sheriff's of- fice to answer some ques- tions about accusations made against him.Dillon complied and at 1:40 p.m., he was interviewed by Sgt. McClellan about the accusa- tions. Dillon stated that the juvenile came to the house and began coming on to him repeatedly. He stated at first he said no to her advances, but that they did eventually end up having sex that day. He said during the course of the day, the 14-year-old be- came intoxicated and he had smoked some weed, which he felt altered his judgment, according to the report. In an interview with Mc- Clellan, the 14-year-old girl said she and Dillon went to his room to talk, but he locked the door and began kissing her. She kissed him back and they laid on his bed, at which time he pulled down her pants and had sex with her. Text messages from Dil- lon to the 14-year-old stated that he had not had sex with her and that she was a liar, according to the affidavit. Wiscaver is scheduled for an initial hearing on June 23 in Pike Circuit Court. A late night shooting spree resulted in a Hunt- ingburg man being arrest- ed at about 2 a.m. near Tem- ple Hills campground last Wednesday. Police respond- ed to a resident's report of about 45 shots being fired. Sheriff's Sgt. Buck Seger located a Toyota pickup stopped at the intersection of CR 400 E. and CR 425 E., just north of the Temple Hills entrance. Seger saw the truck drive away and no- ticed its license plate was ob- structed from view. When he stopped the truck, the driver, Jason Coo- per, 33, of 1918 N. Windsor Ct., Huntingburg, was lean- ing out the window yelling at Seger that he didn't do any- thing wrong. Sgt. Seger called for back up due to the aggressive na- ture of Cooper and the ear- lier report of shots being fired. Deputy Mike Willis said when he arrived, Cooper was still partly out his driv- er's window speaking errati- cally and "not making much sense." Cooper refused a chem- ical test. He asked police to retrieve his cell phone and billfold from his truck. When Sgt. Seger got in the truck to get those items, he smelled the odor of marijua- na and found a pipe that had a burnt residue of marijua- na in it. They also found a revolver pistol in the passenger side floor. The revolver was load- ed and the hammer was in the cocked position. They al- so found an "AR15" type rifle with an empty .223 casing, as well as two 30 -round load- ed magazines, two 30 -round magazines empty, a loaded 100 -round magazine, and a bag of loose ammunition. Cooper failed field sobri- ety tests and tested 0.122 percent blood alcohol con- tent on a portable breath test. Cooper was taken in- to custody. On the way to the Pike County Jail, Dep- uty Willis said Cooper told him, "You guys got to the scene pretty fast because I only dumped 1,200 rounds." He claimed he was shoot- ing at fireflies. He was charged with criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, a level 6 felony; operating a vehicle while intoxicated (refus- al); possession of marijua- na; possession of parapher- nalia; carrying a handgun without a permit; and false informing. Huntingburg man arrested for shooting incident near Temple Hills By Andy Heuring Police arrested a rural Winslow man on a weap- ons charge after they were asked to check on him. James Clinton Hughes, 34, of 7070 S. SR 61, was ar- rested late Friday afternoon on a charge of a convicted felon in possession of a fire- arm. Pike County Chief Dep- uty Sheriff Dallas Killian said he was sent to check on the welfare of Hughes after Hughes' girlfriend called po- lice and said he had a gun and was possibly suicidal. Deputy Killian said he saw Hughes in a pickup truck on CR 75 E. Hughes turned off the road, drove up a steep embankment and out into a field. Killian said he tried to get a cellphone num- ber to call Hughes, but dis- patch told him Hughes had left his phone at home. While Deputy Killian, Sgt. Buck Seger and State Trooper Chase Eaton were talking, they heard two gun- shots and feared Hughes had shot himself. They were located in an area when they couldn't see Hughes' truck, so they started to approach the truck, then heard it start up and start driving toward them. They blocked the lane and stopped Hughes to talk with him. Killian said Hughes pulled up to his police car, rolled down his window and put up his hands. They talked with Hughes and explained why they were there. He admitted fir- ing the shots, saying, "Yes I fired the shot, now I am go- ing to go to prison for the rest of my life for not killing myself. I am a felon." He had a Ruger .45 caliber pistol he said he bought off of Facebook. He was taken into custo- dy on the firearm charge and transported to the Pike County Jail. Hughes arrested as felon with illegal firearm possession UPDATES Continued from page 1 open in June, then Governor Holcomb moved the date up for them so they could open on Friday before Memori- al Day. "I wasn't quite geared up for that," said Schultheis. But he said they had a great weekend and were packed out. The playgrounds and shower houses are still closed due to COVID-19, but the campsites and beach are open. The beach has a 100 -person limit to allow so- cial distancing. Schultheis said they reached the limit on both weekends at the beach and campgrounds. "If we keep up this level for the year, we are going to more than make up for that $45,000 lost revenue." In other business, Ky- la Estey, with the Soil and Water Conservation Dis- trict, said they were reduc- ing their budget this year. She said they reduced their request to the county to $15,400 for the 2021 budget. Ashley Willis, with the Pike County Economic De- velopment Corporation, said they also were reducing their budget slightly. They are requesting $118,000 from the county for 2021. They had received $125,000 the previous two years. In other business, Auditor Judy Gumbel told the com- missioners the Department of Local Government and Finance gave Pike Coun- ty notice they were compli- ant with the state-required Phase II software certifica- tion. DLFG tested the Pike County system in the Audi- tor, Assessor and Treasur- er offices and they passed. Pike County is now certified until March 17, 2025. The next commissioners' meeting is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Monday, June 15. Sheriff's Dept. helps secure voting machines Pike County Sheriff Kent Johnson loads voting machines into the back of his pickup truck with help from Chief Deputy Dallas Killian on Monday. They delivered the machine to the three voting centers in Pike County to prepare for the primary election on Tuesday.