The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1257677
Local ��������������������A1-12 Sports �����������������������A8 Classifieds ������������A9-11 Opinion ������������������B1-2 East Gibson ���������������B2 Home Life ��������������B3-8 Obituaries �����������������B4 Church �����������������B9-11 History ��������������������B12 WHAT'S INSIDE: Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Fax: ��������������������������812-354-2014 E-Mail ����editor@pressdispatch�net NEWS TIPS: PIKE PUBLISHING Wednesday, June 10, 2020 Volume 150 Number 24 Phone 812-354-8500 Petersburg, IN 47567-0068 (USPS 604-34012) $ 1 Two sections 24 pages Two inserts See CHASE on page 2 See 2020 FAIR on page 2 See KR AHL on page 4 Power line problems A delivery truck for Friends tavern got caught in a power line last Friday morning. Brandon Rhoderick, of Cynthiana, attempted to pull away from his parking spot on Eighth St. when a power line caught on the front lip of his trailer. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Baumgart said, "He parks there every week, but for some reason, Friday morning, the wire caught on his trailer." Baumgart responded to the call and told Rhoderick to stay in his truck until they could get the line removed. Baumgart said fortunately, Rhoderick noticed the line was caught after a few feet and stopped before it did more damage. The line was still connected, even though it pulled some of the conduit off the exterior wall of Friends. Baumgart said Duke Energy was able to disable the line and Rhoderick was able to get the truck free. "He wasn't really trapped in his truck. We just asked him to stay in the truck until the line could be disabled," said Baumgart. Petersburg Fire, Pike County Sheriff's Department and Pike Co. EMS assisted at the scene. County-wide yard sale set for July 18 A fter being postponed this spring, the county-wide yard sale is now slated for Saturday, July 18. Residents from the entire county are encouraged to participate in this long-anticipated event. The deadline for sellers to place their ad is July 13 at 5 p.m. Ads in- clude a numbered yard sale sign that corresponds to the map pub- lished in the July 15 edition. A list- ing starts at $4 for 20 words, plus 10 cents per additional word. Sell- ers can also add a bold headline for $1 to help draw attention to their listing. Sales will be grouped by area again this year. Call 812-354-8500 or email clas- sifieds@pressdispatch.net to list your sale. By Andy Heuring The 2020 Pike County 4-H Fair will be unlike any other. There will be no midway or events with any public gathering. "Basical- ly everything in person is can- celled. No rides, no amphithe- ater events," said Pike County Fair Board president Kara Willis. There will also be no Miss Pike County pageant, as well as no oth- er age group pageants. "With heavy hearts and long consideration, we would like to inform our community that this year's 2020 Miss Pike County Pageant is cancelled," said Sum- mer Sorgius. She added, "Due to COVID-19 and the Indiana State Fair can- celing the Miss Indiana State Fair Pageant in January, the Pike County 4-H Council and Pageant Committee voted to retain our current queen," said Sorgius. Willis said the State Fair Board recommended retaining the cur- rent Miss Pike County until 2021, which will be Pike County's 100th 4-H Fair. It will be the 72nd Miss Pike County. Willis stated they had hoped to have the pageant, but when the Indiana State Fair cancelled the Miss Indiana State Fair Pageant, they decided to follow suit locally. She said they will have all the 4- H projects as part of the fair. It will be different, but all the 4-H mem- bers can submit virtual entries. She said in recent years, the 4-Hers have had to go online to register their projects. They will go through that same process to register their project. However, this year they will also send in their entries digitally. Willis said with each project, there are in- structions on how and what pic- 2020 county fair to have no events on fairgrounds By Andy Heuring Pike County's new voting system got a trial run with only about 1,000 people vot- ing on election day. "According to our poll workers and in- spectors, no long lines were experienced," said Clerk Lana Griffith. Despite reducing the number of polls from one to three voting centers, voting appeared to go smoothly. Vote centers in the Winslow Community Center, Peters- burg Gospel Center gymnasium and Otwell Community Center were able to handle the voter turnout. Griffith said they had 33 voting ma- chines in use. She said they had 10 voting machines in each of the three voting cen- ters, as well as three in the clerk's office for people to vote early in person. In Pike County, the top vote getter was Donald Trump for president with 1,032 votes. Incumbent Governor Eric Holcomb was second with 1,027 votes. These totals were in accordance with Democrat and Republican balance in the county voters. There were 1,071 votes cast in the Republican presidential ballot and 642 votes cast for the Democrat candidates. There was a stark difference in how the two parties cast their ballots. The Demo- crats had more people vote absentee by mail than in person, as 305 ballots were cast by mail, another 65 by voting in the clerk's office and 272 voting on election day. In contrast, the Republicans cast 695 votes on election day and only 253 by mail- in ballots. Another 123 voted in the clerk's office. Both parties had minimal races. The Democrat party's only race on the Pike County ballot was a three-way battle for the Eighth District U.S. House of Representa- tives, won by Thomasina Marsili. The Republicans' only race was for the District 75 State Representative seat that New voting system used by only 1,000 people in primary See ELECTION on page 2 Krahl retires after 17 years By Andy Heuring Pike Central German teach- er Fritz Krahl is retiring after 17 years of teaching at Pike Central and he his going out with a bang. His German classes have won the Indiana University German The- ater Film Festival for the seventh year. They won the best drama and most researched awards this year. Pike Central is the only school in Indiana to be nominated each year and to have won a first place award each year. "I am proud of my people and am honored to have served with them for 17 years. As you can see in the attached video, IU al- so gave me a Lifetime Achieve- ment Award. I was deeply moved by that. I consider it the crown- ing of my professional career. But without my people in my classes, it would have been impossible. We were a team guided by honesty and mutual respect," said Krahl. "We want to thank you for your many years of wonderful and ded- icated service. And for your hu- mor, patience and dedication to your students, bringing them here for the competition each year," stated the presenter of the Life- time Achievement Award. Seventeen years ago, Krahl had no intention of teaching at Pike Central. Through a series of scholarships and an exchange program, he had made his way to the United States. He married a girl he met at Miami University of Ohio. He took a job with General Electric and was based at Mt. Ver- non, but he traveled all over the country. His scholarship was for teach- Suspect still at large as of Tuesday evening By Andy Heuring "Red underwear and one white sock." That is the clothing de- scription of the man who was be- ing chased by police after he fled on foot from a stolen car Tuesday afternoon. Numerous police agencies were involved in a multi-county manhunt Tuesday. It started at about 2 p.m. when Pike County dispatch got a call from OnStar that a black Buick car was headed south on Highway 61 from Vincennes toward Peters- burg. Petersburg Cpl. Kyle Mills was on duty and said OnStar start- ed giving him 15 second updates. The vehicle had been stolen from Casey's in Vincennes on Monday afternoon. Mills said the car was traveling about 70 mph south on Highway 57, and he caught up to it near the Pike Gibson County line on High- Man leads police on chase after stealing cars Pike Central German teacher Fritz Krahl holds up his traditional walking stick with medal- lions from places he has visited. "I don't need it to walk. It is just a German tradition to use one," said Krahl. He walks nearly every day around Petersburg. Krahl has retired from Pike Central after teaching there for 17 years.