The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1319905
SHOP LOCAL LOCAL LOCAL LOCAL LOCAL LOCAL LOCAL Starts on A-4 PT. 1 SWIMMING AND GIRLS' BASKETBALL TEAM PHOTOS INSIDE NEWS TIPS Phone: ���������������������812-354-8500 Email ����� editor@pressdispatch�net INSIDE Local ����������������� A1-8 Shopping������������ A4-5 Obituaries ��������������� A7 Sports �����������������B1-6 Church �������������� C1-3 Classifieds ���������� C4-5 History ������������������� C6 School �������������������� C7 East Gibson ��������� C8 Home Life ������������D1-6 Opinion �������������D4-5 USPS 604-34012 Wednesday, december 16, 2020 PIKE PUBLISHING VOLUme 150, nUmber 51 $1.00 28 PaGes FOUr secTIOns Three InserTs PeTersbUrG, In 47567-0068 Solar Sources, Charger Mine to lose 24 employees By Andy Heuring More than 300 White Stallion employees have lost their jobs in southern Indiana, in- cluding 24 in Pike County. White Stallion issued a notice of closure on December 2 stating, White Stallion Ener- gy, LLC "will be conducting permanent plant closing and layoffs of approximately 338 em- ployees at the following locations effective De- cember 2, 2020, due to unforeseeable busi- ness circumstances and failure to secure ad- ditional capital and business beyond its con- trol. We expect that December 2, 2020, will be the first and only date of layoffs at these locations." In Pike County, the Petersburg Office at 625 N. Ninth St. will affect 20 employees and the Charger Mine near Pike Central on High- way 61 will affect four employees. Other locations in the southern Indiana include 27 employees at the corporate of- fice in Evansville, 105 employees at the An- tioch Mine near Washington, 73 employees at the Billings Mine in Cannelburg, 13 em- ployees at the Shamrock Mine near Jasper, three employees at the Liberty Office near Boonville, 42 employees at the Eagle River Mine near Harrisburg, Ill., and 44 who were laid off in October at the Friendsville Mine near Mt. Carmel. White Stallion's notice stated, "The past few months have presented White Stallion with significant unforeseeable challenges and circumstances beyond its control. For example, certain breakdowns in the busi- ness equipment resulted in financial losses. In addition, the unexpected recent increase in COVID-19 spread throughout the United States has continued to depress the coal mar- ket, at a point in time when expectations were for increasing coal sales." The notice also said White Stallion was working through the Thanksgiving holiday trying to obtain loans to continue business at its mines. But "these negotiations did not proceed as quickly or as productively as we had anticipated by the end of the Thanksgiv- ing holiday weekend. We now know that the company was not successful in obtaining the needed capital by the end of November, which was our deadline to avoid closing down our operations." It also stated they were working with one of the biggest customers to secure a long-term contract, but they were unable to do so before the end of the Thanksgiving holiday and "ran White Stallion issues notice of closure By Andy Heuring A Cato area woman escaped an early Wednesday morning house fire after her dog woke her. "I woke up with Roro licking my face vig- orously," said Marion Burger, of 5779 E SR 56, Winslow. Roro is part Australian Shepherd and part pit bull. "When I woke up, the house was filled with black smoke," said Burger. She said she felt her way out by crawling from her bedroom to the door. "It was only about eight feet, but it felt like a half-mile. I thought I was going to die trying to find the doorknob to get the door open," said Burger. "She (Roro) must have been right behind me, because she made it out, too." Burger lost three cats, but two newborn kit- tens survived. Burger was taken by ambulance to the hos- pital, where she was treated for smoke inha- lation and released, according to Jefferson Township Fire Chief Chris Young. He said the residence was destroyed by the fire. "Flames were coming through the roof when we arrived," said Young. "I pretty much lost everything in the fire," said Burger. She said she went there recently to see what she could save. "I might have been able to get five totes of items" she could keep. Her son lives with her, but she said he was not home at the time of the fire. Young said the kitchen area was so dam- aged, it was hard to determine the cause of the fire. He said it was an accidental kitchen fire. Burger said she thinks she may have left something on the night before. She works at Kimball Electronics and said they have been very good to her. "I'm staying in a one-bedroom apartment with my mother right now." She said she thinks she found an apartment, but won't be able to move in for a week or more. In the meantime, she said a friend at work is keeping items people have do- nated to her and her son until she has a place to keep them. "I keep getting pictures from my friend of things people have left for me. It is just overwhelming. They have been great." Young said firemen were there for about 2.5 hours. Jefferson Township was assisted by Pe- tersburg with a tanker and manpower. Young said Burger had fire alarms in the residence, but didn't hear them. Young rec- ommended people check their fire alarms to make sure they work and have a fresh battery. Cato woman escapes burning house Lauren Young named Lilly Award recipient Pike County Community Founda- tion has announced Lauren Young of Winslow is the 2021 recipient of the Pike County Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship. This scholarship provides her with otherwise unreimbursed full tuition, required fees, and a special allocation of up to $ 900 per year for required books and equipment for four years of undergraduate study on a full-time basis leading to a bac- calaureate degree at any Indiana public or private nonprofit college or university, accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Lauren Young By Andy Heuring Pike County's COVID numbers continue to climb, however they have slowed from their peak last week. There were 66 new cases re- corded in the last week. On the In- diana Department of Health's map, it shows Pike County with 721 to- tal cases as of Tuesday afternoon. But Pike County Health Nurse Amy Gladish said three of those cases were mistakenly attributed to Pike County. Last week, Pike County experi- enced a Thanksgiving bump in cas- es, as 104 cases were recorded from Monday, November 30 to Sunday, December 6. One more COVID death was re- corded in the last week in Pike Coun- ty, on December 14, which raised the county total to 23. It is the first death since December 5. The previ- ous death prior to that was on No- vember 27. Pike County remains at Level 3 in the Red Zone, which is the highest level. It was moved to the Red Zone last Wednesday. Gladish said once a county is placed at Level 3, it stays there for at least two weeks. The Red Zone is the most restrictive. Some of the restrictions are only immediate family members are allowed a sport- ing events. No gatherings of more than 25 people are allowed without a mitigation plan being submitted and approved by the Pike County Health Department. Gladish also said work places should restrict break room gather- ings. State-wide, the numbers are sim- ilar. The numbers of cases are still high. News cases in Indiana have been running more than 4,440 since November 4. It peaked at 8,439 on December 2, fell to 5,379 on Decem- ber 7 and then peaked again at 7,440 on December 11. Since then, new cases have fallen steadily to 4,316 new cases on December 14. Deaths in Indiana are on a similar track. On September 20, there were only four new deaths recorded, but by October 27, that had jumped to 40. It continued to climb to 65 new deaths on November 22 and crested at 79 new deaths on December 8. It fell to 51 on December 12 and was at 30 new deaths on December 14. Hospitalizations remain near their all-time high in Indiana. On June 26, there were 595 people in the hospital with COVID-19. That num- A Jefferson Township fireman sprays water in a window of Marion Burger's home early Sunday morning. She was awakened by her dog, Roro, just in time to crawl out of the burning residence. See COUNCIL on page 2 See CLOSURE on page 2 See AWARD on page 2 By Andy Heuring The Winslow Town Council said Monday night they are negotiating with the Patoka Township Fire De- partment to see if they would pro- vide fire protection for the town. "We are still engaging with them (Patoka Township)," said coun- cil member Debra Lamb. "We ap- proached them to see if they would be interested in it." She said they sent a proposed con- tract to Patoka Township, and Pato- ka had made some changes and sent it back to them. Lamb said council- men needed to look it over and see if they need to make some adjust- ments. Lamb and councilman Josh Popp said they would do that an "admin- istrative meeting," yet to be sched- uled. "We have had some issues with the fire department," said Lamb. In other business, the council vot- ed 3-0 to purchase two police cars from Crawford County, if after Popp looks them over, he decides they are in good condition. Popp said Crawford County of- fered the vehicles to Winslow for $5,000 if they wanted them. They are Ford Crown Victoria models that had been used by the Craw- ford County Sheriff's Department. All of the equipment such as lights and sirens come with them, except the radios. "So if we get two more cars, we could get two more cops," said coun- cilman Richard Brewster sarcasti- cally. "Now that we have a K-9 officer, one of the cars has a dog cage, which we could use," said Popp. He added the cars are probably in better shape than the ones Winslow is using now. "I don't want to buy them until we have looked at them. They might be in worse shape than what we have," said Brewster. Councilmen voted to give Popp the authority to inspect the vehicles Winslow seeks fire protection from Patoka Twp. COVID cases continue to rise; rate slows See WINSLOW on page 3 About 70 coats given away The Coat Wrap in Winslow distributed about 70 coats this year. It is in its third year. A group of anonymous volunteers collect winter coats. They then put them on utility poles and traffic signs along Main St. in Winslow. Anyone in need of a coat can take one. Winslow Town Council member Debra Lamb said the group of volun- teers estimated they put out be- tween 75 and 100 coats late Friday night. By Sunday after- noon, Lamb said there were only 13 left.