The Press-Dispatch

July 1, 2020

The Press-Dispatch

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B-3 Wednesday, July 1, 2020 The Press-Dispatch DINNERS BEGIN at NOON at the hamburger stand (dining room closed) Chicken and Rib Dinners Homemade Ice Cream Kids' Meal: Hot Dog and Chips No Parade or Fireworks This Year Social distancing recommended. Masks are optional. Otwell Celebration JULY 4 ONLY CITY OF WASHINGTON PARKS & RECREATION DEPARTMENT BRADY'S AMUSEMENTS Arm Band Bracelets MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE AT WWW.WASHINGTONIN.US For questions or information: Kip Kelley / Superintendent (812)254-6010 or parksuperintendent@washingtonin.us July 4th Join us for a Big One-Day Celebration! Rides, games, food vendors, music and a BIGGER FIREWORKS DISPLAY! e parking lot will be packed with all your favorite rides and food! Come out and support Washington's July 4th Celebration! 1 to 11pm ........ Carnival Rides, Concessions and Games start 1 to 3pm .......... A Brave New Wave on the Bandstand 4:30 to 6:30pm .. Million Dollar Band on the Bandstand 8 to 10pm ........ Dirty Deeds on the Bandstand 10pm ............... Fireworks Over the Lake ** More Concessions Added Daily ** Big Al's Barbeque Scoops Homemade Ice Cream Washington Girls' Soball Outstan ding entertain m ent PRIVATE MEDICAID ROOMS AVAILABLE SOON Call for information 812-354-8833 Enhancing Lives Through 309 W. Pike Ave., Petersburg Blood drive Nurse Ariel Phillips, with the American Red Cross, prepares Kim Mehringer to give blood during a blood drive in Petersburg on Friday morning. It was sponsored by the Pike County Library at the Petersburg Fire De- partment. BALLOT Continued from page 2 Sorgius will oppose Repub- lican incumbent Lana Griffith. Democrat County Chair- man Twyla Flint said she has talked to several people who have expressed interest in the positions still open on the Democrat ticket. Locally, those open spots are county surveyor, commissioner dis- trict 1 and commissioner dis- trict 3 and two at-large coun- cil positions. The deadline for a party to add a person to the ballot is noon Monday, July 6. Burkhart arrested for domestic battery By James Capozella A Francisco man was ar- rested for domestic battery June 26 when he was accused of an altercation with Jessica Cansler in her home at 2909 N. SR 57 in Petersburg. Eric D. Burkhart, 19, of 5853 E. 390 N., Francisco, was taken into custody by Pike County Sheriff's Deputy Jared Simmons following a report of a domestic battery committed in the presence of a child less than 16 years of age. Cansler reported that her boyfriend of one year, Bur- khart, came to the house yell- ing and woke her up. He then grabbed her by the hair on the back of her head, and dragged her out of bed and over her kids, who were sleeping on a mattress next to the bed. Cansler stated Burkhart con- tinued to pull her by the hair down the stairs, according to the report. She said he had al- so grabbed her by the arm, at which time Cansler grabbed a large wooden stick and point- ed it at Burkhart, telling him to get out of the house. Burkhart took the stick away from Cansler, then smashed the glass top on the entertainment center. Bur- khart then shoved Cansler out of the way when she said she was calling the police, accord- ing to the report. He then left the residence, heading south on SR 57 in an older model blue Ford truck. Deputy Sim- mons noted when he and Pa- trolman Arnold arrived at the residence that the glass top of the entertainment center was broken and that there was no- ticeable redness around Cans- ler's hairline, and visible fin- ger marks on the back of her right arm. Simmons called Burkhart and told him he needed to speak with him in person. Burkhart advised he was in Evansville and to call him back. When Simmons called back, Burkhart answered and said he was coming back. In about 15 minutes, Burkhart was back and Simmons inter- viewed him. Burkhart admit- ted that everything was his fault, but that he had not put his hands on Cansler. He did say he shoved her out of the way when he was trying to leave the residence. Burkhart said he took a big stick away from his grand- mother, Paula Whitehead, and smashed it on the enter- tainment center. A fter Dep- uty Simmons explained do- mestic battery to Burkhart, he then stated to Simmons to just take him into custody be- cause it was all his fault. Burkhart was placed in handcuffs and transported to the Pike County Jail, after which Simmons advised the Department of Child Services. By Andy Heuring A Velpen man was arrested after police were told of a vehi- cle sitting in the middle of the road with its hazard lights on at 1:44 a.m. Saturday. Mark Hanselman, 54, of 6048 S. CR 1075 E., Velpen, was arrested on a charge of operating a vehicle while in- toxicated, (refusal), at about 2 a.m. Saturday. Pike County Deputy Sher- iff Jared Simmons said he was notified by central dispatch of a man in a pickup truck that had the front end smashed in. The vehicle was sitting in the road with its hazard lights on. The caller told central dis- patch they talked with the man who said he wasn't hurt but he appeared intoxicated. Simmons said he and Sgt. Buck Seger arrived and talk- ed with Hanselman. Sim- mons said Hanselman's eyes were extremely bloodshot, his pupils were unresponsive to light, and his speech was slurred and rapid. He was al- so hyper, fidgety and sweat- ing profusely, all of which are signs of meth intoxication. Hanselman told Simmons he swerved to miss a deer and hit some trees, and then his engine overheated. He failed field sobriety tests and said he had last used meth three days before, according to Simmons' report. He refused a chemical test and was taken into custody. A Petersburg man was ar- rested at 11:46 p.m. Friday af- ter police stopped the Ford Fo- cus he was driving for having an expired license plate. Parker Chandler, 21, of 3052 W. CR 200 N., Petersburg, was arrested on charges of operat- ing a vehicle while intoxicat- ed (refusal) and possession of marijuana. Petersburg Patrolman Bryce Manning noticed a ve- hicle with a license plate that had expired in March. He stopped the vehicle and when he talked to Chandler, who was driving, he noticed the strong odor of marijuana. Officer Manning, in his re- port, said Chandler denied anyone possessing or using marijuana. All his passengers, Kaleb Boline, Dylan Evans, Kolbi King and Honey Ralston, all said they didn't know any- thing about the marijuana. Manning said K-9 offi- cer Bleck indicated illegal drugs were in vehicle. Dep- uty Jared Simmons conduct- ed a search of the vehicle and found a "burnt rolled cigarette containing a green leafy sub- stance that smelled like mari- juana and a small green stem associated with a marijuana bud." They were located be- tween the front seats, near the emergency brake. A fter interviewing all the people in the car separate- ly, Patrolman Manning again talked with Chandler and told him they found marijuana in the car and no one was admit- ting to it. He told Chandler be- cause it was found in the mid- dle of the car, everyone could be charged. Chandler then told Offi- cer Manning he didn't know whose it was but he didn't want everyone else charged for it. Chandler then failed field sobriety tests. According to the report, he said he had not smoked marijuana in weeks, but they could revoke his li- cense if they wanted. He refused a chemical test and was taken into custody. He was preliminarily charged with operating a vehi- cle while intoxicated (refusal) and possession of marijuana. Two arrested for OVWI in separate incidents By Andy Heuring A Petersburg man has been arrested on charges of intim- idation with a deadly weapon, a level 5 felony, and carrying a weapon without a permit, a class A misdemeanor. Steward Atkins, 36, of 1111 N. Vincennes Ave., Peters- burg, was arrested at about 9 p.m. Sunday after the people he was chasing at high speed called 911 on a cell phone. At 9:06 p.m. Sunday, Pike County's central dispatch got a call from a woman who said she was in a vehicle with four other people and they were being chased by a man with a gun in a vehicle behind them on River Road, according to a probable cause affidavit. Petersburg Patrolman Bryce Manning located the two vehicles driving towards Petersburg on Highway 56, near CR 250 W. He pulled both vehicles over and waited for backup to arrive. Trooper C.J. Boeckman ar- rived and ordered the driver of the back vehicle to get out of his car and walk toward him. Atkins was driving that vehi- cle. He told police he was chas- ing the people in the front ve- hicle because he didn't want them to beat up his son. Police then talked with Timothy Evans, 20, who was driving the front vehicle. Ev- ans said he and some oth- er friends had taken Devon Chaney to Atkins' residence to talk to Atkins about some items Chaney thought Atkins' son, Avery, might have stolen from him. According to the affidavit, Evans said Atkins came out of the house on Vincennes Ave. with a gun and chased Chaney back to the car. Evans said he also fired the gun while chas- ing Chaney. Evans said Atkins then got into a vehicle and started chasing them. Evans was driving in excess of 100 mph trying to get away from Atkins. Evans told police the only reason he was there was be- cause he knew Atkins' dad was crazy. Police then talked to Chaney. He told them they parked in the Odd Fellows parking lot, next to Walnut Hills Cemetery, and he walked over to the Atkins' residence while the others stayed in the car. Chaney, according to the affidavit, talked with an "old man" he thought was Avery Atkins' grandfather. Chaney said that man was nice and reasonable. Chaney stated Steward then walked out and asked what was going on. Chaney asked if he could talk to Avery. Ac- cording to Chaney, Steward went into the house and was calling for Avery to come out. However, Steward then came out yelling and telling him to get off his property. Chaney noticed Steward had a gun. Steward then began running after him. Chaney said while he was running toward his friends, he heard a loud bang and thought it was a gunshot. He jumped into Evans' vehi- cle and they drove off. Atkins jumped into a vehicle and be- gan to chase them. Steward Atkins told police he had a gun in the car, but did not fire it. Police retrieved the XD45 pistol and found a loaded round in the magazine, and a total of 12 rounds in the 13-round capacity pistol. Trooper Boeckman said while talking with Atkins and Evans, central dispatch got a call from a woman who said she witnessed the confronta- tion while she was walking in the cemetery. She told police she saw a white car, which Atkins was driving, pull into the Odd Fel- lows parking lot. She heard a lot of screaming and yell- ing, and then saw the blue car drive away and the white car followed it. Both were driving aggressively and headed to- ward the White River. Police said Atkins did not have a permit to carry the pis- tol. According to police, anoth- er passenger and Steward At- kins' father both told police a story similar to Chaney and Evans. Atkins was taken into cus- tody. Atkins faces multiple charges after 100 mph chase ternoons off. "That is the on- ly time we took off during the week," said Dunigan. He had lots of house calls mixed in. "If someone called with a problem, I would go out to them. I went to someone's house at 3 a.m." He said he had a call from a man whose elderly mother needed atten- tion on a Sunday morning. Dunigan went to her house and took care of it. He often saw as many as 50 patients in a day. "I had three or four chairs going at time. I would put medicine in one for an extraction, go to the next chair and put in medicine for a filling, and then go clean teeth in the other room while the medicine took effect," said Dunigan. He did it for 10 and 12 hours a day. In 1975, he moved to a new office he built near the inter- section of Highway 61 and Il- linois St. in Petersburg. His wife, Grace, was his book- keeper, receptionist and helped with whatever need- ed to be done. "She probably worked 50 years." His son, Greg, followed in his footsteps and joined the practice in 1989. He has been practicing for 31 years. "I probably would have retired before now if I didn't have him helping me." Dunigan saw a lot of things through the years. One of the stories he recounted was of a man who came to his office on a Saturday. "He said, 'My teeth don't fit right.'" When he talked with the patient about the dentures and where he had gotten them, the man told him, "I found the lowers on the railroad tracks and my uppers are my aunt's. I can't figure out why they don't fit," said Dunigan laughing. Along the way, he picked up the hobby of working on and collecting cars. He said he has about 50 cars, but either there is no official count or he just isn't saying. What he will tell you about is his first project. "It is the only car I ever really fully restored," said Dunigan. It was his father Arthur's first car, a 1924 Model T Ford. Howard got it after the car sat in a field for years. He com- pletely restored it and applied for the original title, which he displays with it. He can tell you all about the car and how it doesn't have a distributor and the gas tank is under the seat, that the only door to the gas tank is on the passenger's side, and to fill it, you have to remove the seat. He told a story about his fa- ther driving the car to Ft. My- ers, Fla. Because it had no fu- el pump, which means it was a gravity feed, it had to back up a steep hill. "He (Dad) had to back up Monteagle. Can you imagine backing all the way up Monteagle? " The car had a top speed of about 35 mph. Driving to Flor- ida in the 1920s was a bit more of an ordeal than taking an in- terstate and making the trip in one day. Going back to discussing his career, Dunigan said he doesn't have any idea how ma- ny patients he has seen over the last 60 years. "We have 18 filing cabinets full of records out there." He said it has been a re- warding career. "I feel like I helped people. I enjoyed see- ing my patients I have had for the last 60 years." He said being in a small town like Petersburg, he got to know almost everyone in town because they were his patients. "It has been reward- ing." He said he doesn't have any big plans for retirement. "I'm sure I will go in and help a lit- tle, when they need it." Mon- day he had helped out at the office for an hour or so before returning home. Clouding his plans is the COVID-19 pandemic. He said it makes it hard to be able to make plans. He is pretty sure the future will involve work- ing on cars, which has been a hobby since 1963, when he re- stored his dad's Model T. "It is nice to see everyone you have worked on for 50 years. It is rewarding to see them," said Dunigan. DUNIGAN Continued from page 2

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